u/Tedanki

Added a black Tailbone and some pink rails for maximum 80s vibe. This barn door was never going to be light anyway!

Just over 2 weeks ago, I bought my first board: a Santa Cruz Salba Tiger cruiser. I love the board, and I've been trying to get out a few days a week to roll around on it. Progress is coming, albeit slowly. I've been focusing on nothing but trying to stay on the board, push, and cruise. I don't even want to start trying to anything more until I'm absolutely comfortable just getting around.

Anyway, the things I've figured out so far:

1. I'm goofy footed. I'm left-handed, so this stance just made sense to me. It's like batting left-handed in baseball. Just seemed natural. I know at some point, I'll figure out how to skate both ways, but first things first.
2. No mongo pushing! Initially, my feet just wanted to mongo push. But, I know this is a BAD habit, so I simply refused to do it. Only pushing with the back foot!
3. I fell. It was bound to happen. But, it wasn't that bad. Because I'm a noob, I knew I was going to eat shit eventually, so I was committed to wearing wrist guards and a helmet. It wasn't bad. I'll fall again. It is inevitable.
4. Trying not to do short, choppy pushes and going for long, smooth pushes. This has actually been the hardest thing. I kept jumping off the board, losing my footing, etc. I read that it's important to keep your front foot more or less over the front truck and keep most of your weight on that front foot. Since trying to keep that in mind, I've been able to do more smooth/long pushes with my back foot. It's slow going, but I feel a little progress each time I go out there.
5. It's going to take a long time to get comfortable. I understand that I'm gonna suck for a while. That's OK. I'm just having fun, being out in the sun, and doing something for myself.
6. Even though it's hard, it's fun. Honestly, even when I keep falling off the board or find it challenging, those moments when I'm just cruising in the sun are worth it. It feels good and weirdly meditative. I wish I was able to get on the board more, but between work and having 2 kids, I get out there as much as I can.

So, those are my observations. I'm open to any suggestions or constructive criticisms geared toward a dude in his mid 40s that randomly decided that now was the perfect time to start skating, despite having no experience.

For some reason decided 46 yrs old was the perfect time to pickup skateboarding. Got out of work and went to a big empty parking lot and tooled around for an hour. This is hard! Basically just went from one side of the lot to the other, back and forth, some wide turns here and there. It's not much at all, but I got on the board. Now, I have to get home for dinner and put my kids to bed!

Oh, the board is a Santa Cruz Salba Tiger. I was told that it was big, wide, and stable, which is what I probably need. Wheels are far and soft and didn't seem phased by cracks and pebbles.

Psyched to dip my toes into this community!