How It All Began

I would like to begin with a moment of silence to all of the longboard blogs that haven't made it past their 3rd post.

Hopefully this one won't disappoint as such.

I think that this might…will…work because there aren’t many (if any at all) major blogs dedicated to longboarding for beginners. In fact, most blogs that I’ve found are more about advanced longboarding, like downhill longboarding (which…is a little dangerous, cause longboards don’t have brakes. LONGBOARDS DON’T HAVE BRAKES. I nearly crapped my pants upon realizing this after my first downhill experience – the slope at the end of my driveway. It’s a very steep driveway.

…stop judging me.)

I want a blog for beginners, by an experienced beginner, because in truth that’s all I really am, and I feel as though most blogs skip straight to the experienced stuff. I don’t yet know the difference in trucks and struts, and when I eventually learn the difference (cause I came to college to learn something important, right?), I want to describe it to people in a way that they might understand, and why some things or equipment might be better than others.

Philosophically speaking, I’m looking to marry the laid-back attitude and demeanor of skateboarders and longboarders with the practicality that a longboard can provide from the prospective of a potentially morally-responsible human being who is transitioning from student to employee. I want to examine what is proper longboard etiquette (because I seem to freak a lot of people out when I roll on past them), and even go as far as to touch on how other people view longboarders, but I don’t want that to be the main focus of the blog. I want the main focus of the blog to be ultimately giving non-riders a couple of pros and cons to help them form an idea of whether or not it’s right for them, and to rub elbows with the big shots who regularly longboard and find out from them what works best.

This is basically where I want to go with this; I mean, I got into longboarding just because a roommate I had once has one, and I figured it would be a great way to avoid paying for parking at my university. I think that there’s potential for a lot of people like that out there – those that are looking for alternative transportation more so than a new sport – and I think that a blog that would help these potential longboard purchasers cross over to “the long side” would be very beneficial in the longboarding community.

-Andy