Planning A Dream - Part 1: One life:Live it

In the first post of this blog I said that this road trip of Southern California wasn't a mid-life crisis. I stand by that, though what I will say is that one of the motivating factors was the sense of one's own mortality, which comes with age. And on the 29th of May 2014, I was going to reach my 50th birthday.

If you are anything like approaching my age then, the chances are you have lost someone close to you, a family member, a friend you grew up with or even a childhood hero or icon that was the same age or younger. I have. I've lost both my parents now. I lost one of my earliest skateboarding friends to a motorcycle accident. My friends and myself lost a beautiful friend to cancer a few years ago, another to a broken heart, and I've lost count of the times I've read stories of people much younger than myself who have lost their lives far too young. This is something that was going to come into focus again just before I left on my journey.

Solid Surf Skatepark in Southport - 1978

When you're young, perhaps you don't notice it as much, but now, each time I hear sad news like this, it stirs something inside me. I find myself thinking that none of us ever know when we won't be able to do the things we always wanted to do anymore. I find myself thinking that time really is precious and we should take advantage of the time we have, when we have it. All those cliche's that appear on social media sites like "One Life : Live it" and "Today is a gift" suddenly come sharply into focus and don't seem quite so cliched. Dirty pots can be washed when it's dark or wet outside. Dirty laundry can wait for a rainy day. But if the sun is out and the sky is blue and work has given you a day off, then it's time to play.

At some point in 2011/2012, I decided that I had to live my dream. I didn't want to get to a point in my life where I would look back and think "I wish I'd made it to California", or worse, lose the opportunity to even think that through some misfortune or other. So I made a promise to myself, that on my 50th birthday, in 2014, I would wake up in Santa Monica. Now, it's important that readers of this blog don't think that this was something I could just do at will, because I'm wealthy enough to do things like that. Far from it. For most of my life I never thought I would ever be able to afford to travel to California. But, in 2004 I took out an insurance policy that would mature after 10 years, when I was 50. I paid £13 a month into this policy. At one point, I nearly broke into it to pay for some building work on my house, but managed to avoid it, thankfully. That was, of course, before I had formulated my plan. So I was able to start to think about my dream journey, in the knowledge that this policy would fund it in 2014, and I wouldn't have to use any other savings. That certainly helped, but at this early stage, it still remained a promise to myself, but without any structure. That started to develop in mid 2013.

A Honda 250N Superdream, identical to my first bike

So, my initial idea was to wake up in Santa Monica on the 29th of May 2014, my 50th birthday. Once it became a firm commitment though, I found myself looking at other dates. Skateboarding was my initial motivation for wanting to go to California, but over the years I've also become a biker myself too. I got my first motorbike, a Honda 250 Superdream when I was 17 and now I ride a Triumph Daytona 675. I'm a HUGE fan of motorcycle racing and regularly watch Moto GP, World Superbike and British Superbike racing on television, and occasionally get to the odd circuit or two to watch the racing live. So this got me thinking."What date is the California Moto GP at Laguna Seca going to be in 2014?" The Mazda Raceway circuit at Laguna Seca has always been one of my favourite tracks to watch the racing from, and Valentino Rossi, the Italian legend has long been a huge motorcycle racing idol for me. So the opportunity to see Valentino race on the circuit and especially through the legendary 'corkscrew' turn, seemed too good an opportunity to miss. There were two hurdles to overcome to make this happen. Firstly, when was the race going to be? And secondly, where exactly IS The Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca? The second question was the first to be answered. A quick google search and I found the circuit, just outside Monterey, far further up the coast than Santa Monica. The question of 'when', was a bigger issue, as the date had not yet been announced. I found myself waiting for weeks for the announcement, but when it came, the news was not good.

Rossi overtaking Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca corkscrew, 2008

After 15 years of racing at Laguna Seca, Moto GP, the Formula 1 of motorcycle racing, scratched Laguna Seca from the schedule! After 15 years, the year I was planning to go, the race is pulled. I was GUTTED! Although the bike racing hadn't been in my initial idea, once it had become a possibility it became a real focal point. There was an alternative though.

The World Superbike Championship had begun racing at The Mazda Raceway. So I decided to wait for the announcement of the dates for that race weekend and then plan the rest of my journey around that. 

I had to wait till September for the dates to be announced but eventually, Friday July 11th - Sunday 13th were confirmed.

I had the dates for the centre piece of my trip. Now it was time to plan my skateboarding dreams for the rest of my journey.

Next time: Making it real

"Two hundred years of american technology has unwittingly created a massive cement playground of unlimited potential. but it was the minds of 11 year olds that could see that potential." Craig Stecyk 1975

This is a blog of a road trip. It's a blog about living a dream. If you're not that familiar with skateboarding it may even seem like a blog of a mid-life crisis! But I don't think so. Then again, the last person to know about that would be the person having the crisis! I mean, "Crisis? What crisis?" Right?

No, skateboarding may be at the heart of this blog, but many different types of wheels rolled on this road trip. 

C'mon, let me tell you more...

My name is Chris, I grew up and still live in a small town called Southport, on the north west coast of England. There are two things people will tell you about Southport. The first is that the sea never comes in. The second is that Morrissey wrote 'Every Day Is Like Sunday' about the town! The first one is false. The Irish Sea DOES come in at Southport although, it often seems, reluctantly. In the 1970's, before the current sea wall was built, the sea used to wash right across the coastal road and water-log the bowls of the original Solid Surf Skatepark that was built on the seafront. More about Solid Surf later.

Southport can be a frustrating town to grow up in. It's conservative with both a small and, for most of the 1970's, a big 'C', with a large elderly population, and it often seems that the Council focuses on that section of the population, at the expense of the younger generation. The experience of age has made me realise that in fact, Southport is a pretty great place to live all in all. It IS on the seafront and although it has the same problems as every other town in the UK, they are generally, to a lower level, and Blackpool, Liverpool and Manchester are all in driving distance. There are FAR worse places to live than Southport.

But it's still frustrating if you are a young person here.

A postcard from Southport (1970's)

In 1976 skateboarding came to the UK. It was the 'latest craze' from America and soon exploded across the whole country, but with a focus in London and the now legendary banks at the Royal Festival Hall, better known in skate history as 'South Bank.' I was 12 years old and had grown up watching US TV shows like C.H.I.P.S., Hawaii Five -O and Starsky and Hutch. I was already fascinated by the USA and so from the moment I saw a skateboard, I wanted one. From the moment my mother saw a skateboard, she said "NO!" They're too dangerous". So, I did what most kids would do in that situation...worked on my dad! Dad was a biker. He used to go away to the Isle of man TT Races with his mates for a week each year. Which meant he missed my birthday! But I didn't mind. We weren't a 'huggy' family, but I wouldn't have wanted another one. No, as a biker, dad loved to ride fast, but safely too. He was a police traffic officer and regularly rode a Norton Commando at work. Occasionally a little too far towards the Trough of Bowland in the Lake District if the stories are to be believed but, ahem, back to the point. After a few weeks of pestering my dad he gave in and bought me my first skateboard from Fays sports shop on Hoghton Street. It was rubbish! A poor copy of a 'Surf  Flyer' skateboard. Little more than a plank of wood with what looked like table tennis rubber on top for 'grip' and two roller skate axles with black rubber wheels.

I loved it!

That first Saturday afternoon dad took me up to the Promenade, where the local skateboarders had started to gather, at the top of a smoothly asphalted hill that dropped down into Kings Gardens.  I picked skating up pretty quickly and over the coming weeks, made friends there easily. Simple rolling down the hill became pushing to get down the hill as fast as we could. We did slalom between Coke cans and learnt how to do some flatland freestyle tricks. At some point we started to build ramps out of waste wood under the shelter of the Floral Hall gardens. An hour on Saturday afternoon became 2 hours, then all Saturday afternoon, then all day Saturday and Sunday. After a couple of years, in 1978 Southport got its very own concrete skatepark, Solid Surf. And then it was all day of every day of summer and any evening I could get there.

Me, at Solid Surf Skatepark (1979)

I could write a whole blog just about Solid Surf but I won't because myself and my friend Neil host a Facebook page in honour of the skatepark which you can find here. By this time in 1978 there was a new force in skateboarding, a new attitude, Dogtown and the Z-Boys of the Zephyr Skateboard Team. These skateboarders were from Southern California and specifically, the area between Santa Monica and Venice. The Zephyr Skateboard team were: Nathan Pratt, Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, Jay Adams, Jim Muir, Bob Biniak, Chris, Cahill, Paul Constantineau, Alan Sarlo, Wentzle Ruml, Shogo Kubo and the sole female member of the team, Peggy Oki. The Svengali's behind the team were Skip Engblom and surfboard shaper Jeff Ho. Solid Surf Skatepark may have been a world away from California, but when the sun was out, the sea was in and the sky was blue, this was our Santa Monica; our 'Dogtown' and I and many others like me have some of the fondest memories of our lives from that time and place.

Here now, in 2014 (or whenever you are reading this) it's difficult to describe the impact these skaters had on skateboarding, because it has evolved so much over time. Suffice to say that, without the contribution these guys made, skateboarding is unlikely to have been the same. They were mostly 2 or 3 years older than us, but were about 10 years ahead of us at skateboarding. We bought there boards and T shirts (or rather our parents did!) and we strained to look over shoulders to see the photos of their latest moves in 'Skateboard Magazine', trying to work out how they'd done them. There was little or no video at that time except the bits we saw on TV, and no internet. So everything was in still photography and we had to try and work out how they had got to the positions on the photos. We did pretty well, and if you look at the photos on the Solid Surf Facebook page, you'll see some great skating went down there. Felt like 'Endless Summers'. From this point, between 1976-1978 I knew I wanted to go skateboarding in California, in Santa Monica...Dogtown.

I skated regularly until 1980, when my my first job and then motorbikes took me away from it, and I came back to it again in 1986. I skated again then until around 1990 when life got in the way of skateboarding again. This time, apart from the odd quick roll along the promenade, I didn't skate properly again until 2004. But all this time, I never parted with ANY of my skateboard stuff. I'd had some of the best times of my life skateboarding. It was part of me and I didn't want to let it go. What I didn't realise at this time was... I wasn't the only older skater that felt this way.

Cut to 2004 and the last day of a week snowboarding in France. On this day myself and Neil found a snow half pipe. Neither of us had ridden a skateboard in anger for years, but straight away I said "I need to have a go at this". I made it to the bottom, but not in a very impressive fashion. We had a few more goes and then our trip was over and we flew back to England. That night, Neil was staying at my house before heading back to London, so we went to the pub and spent most of it talking about that last hour or so on the half pipe. After a few real ales at The Guest House we came back to my house and, as skateboarding had come up in the conversation, I put the 'Dogtown and Z-Boys' documentary movie in the DVD player.

Stacy Peralta, one of the original Zephyr team skaters directed this movie, which is essentially a documentary about him his friends. It got rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002 and has since become highly regarded as a documentary in it's own right, with appeal way beyond the skateboarding community. It is though, part of skateboarding history. I'll never forget Neil's epiphany moment as, through  an alcoholic haze, in the middle of the movie he stated, in true 'Bill & Ted' style,  "DUDE! WE'VE GOTTA SKATE AGAIN!"

I was totally up for this. I suppose all I'd needed was someone to say it out loud like that to make me root out my boards again. Neil went and bought a new, modern board. So I did too! A few days later I bought a Karma deck, with Krux trucks and Karma wheels from Arcade Sports and walked with it from Cambridge Arcade, up to the Promenade and sat on the war memorial at the top of the hill. The same hill I had first rolled down 28 years before, in 1976. It felt like a ritual I had to perform. I took a few moments to get the feel of the board and then pushed off.

Readers who don't skate may not understand this but, there's a feeling, a vibration that goes through from the urethane wheels of a skateboard, through the metal of the trucks and wood laminate of the deck and up through your body from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. You don't always get it if you skate regularly, but if you've had any time off, or the pavement surface is anything less than very smooth...you get it. After 28 years it was still the same and now, after 38 years I still get it. I hope it never changes. It's one of the things that makes skateboarding so special. But just one of the things.

Soon after this, Neil stumbled across the www.middle-age-shred.com website and then we realised, we were not alone. There were loads of other older skaters across the country. The internet helped us to connect with each other and now there is a very healthy scene of older skaters across the world, some skating better than they ever did when they were younger, and some finding their 'feet' again. But all LOVING skateboarding.

Me at Leeds Worx Skatepark. Photo: Darren Burdell

Now, in 2014, I've been skateboarding for the last 10 years, the longest single period of all. It isn't a 'craze' any more. It's a lifestyle. And it took all this time and all the life experiences building up to this year for me to start making plans to actually LIVE the dream that I had when I was 12 years old, to make it to California and skate in Dogtown.



Oh, and did Morrissey write that song about Southport?  No one actually seems to know.

Next time: Planning a dream.