Ride free

As the years start to pile up behind you and the miles tick away,the simple act of just being on your board becomes what matters more than tricks and trends. It's the ride,it has always been about the ride. As Big Tim once told Noah and I, "I just want to catch the feeling under my feet." a lot of times I would rather go push around aimlessly,ollieing over trash than go to a blown out skatepark that feels more like a training facility than a place to get free and creative. You see a lot of regimentation in skateboarding these days. Go to the park at this time,pay your money,skate from this time to this time and practice your tricks on the perfect ramp so you can go ride the dew tour or whatever bullshit is out there. This sounds like it's turning into a old guy rant,"back in my day it was so much better blah blah blah" but that's not my intention. I am just saying skateboarding has no set time or place,it is supposed to be loose and spontaneous. It's dangerous and dirty and you are going to get hurt. What about going to skate the fucked up stuff? The ramp with the holes in it? The rough sandpaper banks? Some crazy concrete concoction in a dudes backyard. Bombing hills at 2a.m. Just because you got juiced with your friends after having some beers! That is the true spirit of skateboarding to me,riding when and where you want with your crew with no rules. Existing in the zone of the in-betweens. We can come into your pay to play world anytime that we want but you can't just walk into our scene and think you are gonna roll our spots. Skateboarding is everywhere now and for the most part it is accepted, but only if it's placed into a box and labeled, corralled behind a fence so it can have a watchful eye kept on it and have "extreme" products shoved down your throat.  But just under the surface the underground will always exist. Just like rats and roaches you can't kill us or get rid of us and there are more of us than they can even imagine! The weirdos,geeks and creeps are who i want to roll with. Keep the fire lit and ride free...