Posted inSkateboarding

Dude! I’m featured by NW Skate Coalition!

Googling myself today, one of my favorite self-absorbed activities, I came across a profile of a 65 year old longboarder/skateboarder on the NW Skate Coalition web site.  ME, ME, ME! Several months ago Cory Poole took some photos of me doing my land paddling thing at Minto Brown Park, and asked some questions about why I enjoy senior citizen skateboarding. The story was told earlier this month. NWSC Rider Profile Location: Salem Oregon Rider: Brian Hines Age:65 Ride: Longboard Larry Walkabout with Kahuna Big Stick Occupation: Writer / Blogger Why do you skate? Brian: I use it for exercise. How…
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Posted inHome life Skateboarding

Video of me longboard land paddling on Venice Beach’s boardwalk

I don't like the term "bucket list." The idea of scratching items off a list of stuff I want to do before I die seems too organized and Protestant-ethic'ish. Why not just do what you want to do, when you feel like doing it? Which is pretty much how I ended up taking my longboard to southern California this weekend. A dream of mine, though let's not call it part of my bucket list. Some time ago I'd told my daughter that one day I wanted to land paddle on Venice Beach's boardwalk -- one of the meccas for this…
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Posted inSkateboarding

Shark Wheels green up my longboard for St. Patrick’s Day

Today I got around to pimping my ride. Longboard ride, that is. I was a Kickstarter backer for the way-cool Shark Wheel -- looks square but rolls round. Got my green wheels a few weeks ago.  Haven't been too motivated to put them on my Roe Racing Mermaid, since I've gotten as addicted to my StreetStrider outdoor elliptical bike as I used to be to longboard land paddling.  But I'll be visiting my daughter and her family in southern California fairly soon. My dream has been to experience the Land Paddling Holy Land, the boardwalk along Venice Beach (well, it…
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Posted inSalem Skateboarding

Video: senior citizen skateboarder rolls at Salem Sunday Streets

I had a great time at the Salem Sunday Streets event a few days ago. Well, my experience could have been even greater if I'd gotten the media coverage that I had shamelessly sought in my Statesman Journal press release. Which began with: For immediate super-important stop-the-presses release Salem's Senior Citizen Skateboarder, a.k.a. Brian Hines, a.k.a. me (though I will speak in the third person for greater dramatic effect) will be making an appearance at the Salem Sunday Streets event tomorrow. All available Statesman Journal reporting and photographic resources should be diverted to this locally, stately, nationally, and, arguably, cosmically important event. …
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Posted inSalem Skateboarding

Salem’s Senior Citizen Skateboarder makes appearance tomorrow

I just sent a press release to the Statesman Journal. Didn't have the New York Times' email address. Also, probably too late for them to get a news team to Oregon by tomorrow noon. Local newspaper, it's up to you! For immediate super-important stop-the-presses release Salem's Senior Citizen Skateboarder, a.k.a. Brian Hines, a.k.a. me (though I will speak in the third person for greater dramatic effect) will be making an appearance at the Salem Sunday Streets event tomorrow. All available Statesman Journal reporting and photographic resources should be diverted to this locally, stately, nationally, and, arguably, cosmically important event.  Syria will…
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Posted inHome life Skateboarding

Strange creature roaming Minto Brown Park is… me!

My secret is out. Entirely willfully. Because I wrote the Salem Weekly Strange Up Salem column that begins with: Have you heard the rumor? Of a strange creature roaming the trails of Minto Brown Island Park. It’s like nothing seen before. Fortunately, it elicits smiles rather than screams. The rumor is true, because I am that creature. A senior citizen skateboarder. More than that: a longboard skateboarder who propels himself on flats and mild uphills by pushing with a stick, not his foot. I’ve gotten pretty damn good at this, a super-fun activity called land paddling. I mention my longboard…
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Posted inSkateboarding

Shred Oregon makes a true video: “Skateboarding is Transportation”

I'm a senior citizen who gets around on a skateboard. Well, longboard actually. That's a skateboard which is -- get ready for a non-surprise! -- longer. But almost all of my longboarding is on trails in Salem (Oregon) parks. Usually I land paddle my way along for five to seven miles.  For other skateboarders/longboarders, their boards are a principal means of transportation. Kudos to Shred Oregon for making a video that will help to educate people, including policymakers, of this fact.  "Skateboarding is Transportation" should be required viewing for city councilors, county commissioners, state legislators, and others who make decisions…
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Posted inSkateboarding

Land paddler reviews LongBoard Larry’s Walkabout

At the age of sixty-three, I took up land paddling on a longboard. This was after I spent a few months doing the push with your foot thing, which I never felt comfortable with. Discovering the Kahuna Big Stick changed my longboarding life. Being a senior citizen land paddler, I figure that I need to evolve my longboarding approach as expeditiously as possible. After all, when you're sixteen you've got a lifetime of skateboarding/ longboarding ahead of you. Same is true at sixty-four, but with a big difference: my remaining time of being alive likely is much less. So in…
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Posted inHome life Scootering Skateboarding

USA Today story about older motorcycle riders mentions…ME!

Here's what I found most interesting in a USA Today story by Kim Painter, "Older motorcycle riders more likely to get badly hurt" -- the parts that mentioned me. Brian Hines, 64, a writer from Salem, Ore., rode a motorcycle as a younger man, but when he wanted to return to two-wheeled riding in 2009, he took some extra safety steps: He got a motorized scooter instead of a full-sized bike, repeated an optional safety course, bought a highly-visible white helmet and avoided riding at night or in the rain. His precautions paid off and he never had an accident,…
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Posted inSkateboarding

My first impression of Brakeboard longboard brakes

At 63 years old, I came late to longboarding (skateboarding on, duh, a long board). But I'm on the early cutting edge of those trying out an innovative way of stopping on a longboard or skateboard: the Brakeboard.  I must be one of the first to order a Brakeboard, which recently started to be sold by Ben Newman, an Australian. They're pricy, including shipping from halfway around the world. However, I was drawn to buy this braking system for a simple reason: Stopping on a longboard is important, yet not easy. Especially at speed. Sliding (either sit-down or stand-up) takes…
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Posted inSkateboarding

Why longboarders suck (I proudly suck triple)

I'm a skateboarder.  That's how I started off referring to myself last July, when at the geezer'ish age of 63 (496, or thereabouts, in skateboarder years) I decided to get a longboard skateboard. So actually... I'm a longboarder.  Except it didn't take me long in my longboarding career to realize it was going to take me too long to learn how to push with my foot and stop by foot-braking or sliding, so I decided to get into pushing myself along with a stick on an even longer longboard. So... I'm a land paddler.  At least, that's what I say…
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Posted inSkateboarding

Videos of my longboard land paddling, at 64 years young

If you've been waiting to see videos of me pushing my way along on a longboard with a stick (not a foot, which distinguishes land paddling from regular longboarding)... I'm amazed.  But sometimes people don't know what's been missing from their lives. (Which, of course, is the secret of Apple's success; don't give people what they want, give them what they will want once they know about it.) Regardless, I'm pleased to share the first four videos made with my newly acquired GoPro Hero3, silver model. I put it on a chest mount yesterday without really knowing what I was…
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Posted inSkateboarding

Brakeboard skateboard brakes to be sold soon. I’m stoked!

Here's why I'm stoked after learning that Brakeboard is about to begin selling an innovative, functional, cleverly designed skateboard brake. One of the first things I learned when I got my longboard was... skateboards don't have brakes. Well, allow me to be more descriptively accurate. After I jumped on my longboard for the first time and started rolling, my first thought actually was Fuck!!! Skateboards don't have brakes! How the hell do you stop this thing!!?? Answer is: not easily.  Foot braking is one way. But that requires standing on the board with one foot and dragging the other foot on the…
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Posted inSkateboarding

Longboard land paddling in Pacific Northwest: not a sunny warm beach

Last July I took up longboarding (skateboarding on, duh, a longer board). I was a youthful 63 years old back then. Now I'm an even more youthful 64.  Not a typo, because my fitness level has skyrocketed after discovering the joy of land paddling on a longboard (a lot like stand up paddling on water except, duh, on land). You can peruse previous posts in the "skateboarding" category of this blog if you want to learn about the trajectory of my longboarding. I started by pushing with my foot, as most longboarders do, but quickly learned the drawbacks -- especially…
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Posted inSkateboarding

Norgeboards Kalai gets my senior citizen longboarding thumbs up

At 64, I've become a land paddling addict. (Check out a story in the Portland Oregonian about me, "Paddling a longboard keeps him young.") Land paddling is a lot like stand-up paddling on water. Except, obviously, you're on land. And you don't really paddle, you push a longboard skateboard with a stick.  For me, land paddling transformed longboarding, which basically is skateboarding on a longer board and without the tricks. Last July I got my first longboard, a Landyachtz Switch. I was learning how to get around on it fine, until I practiced on it two days in a row.…
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Posted inSkateboarding

64 year old longboarding stud featured in Oregonian’s “My Workout”

Man, I was totally impressed with the dude shown in today's "My Workout" feature in the Portland Oregonian.  And the fact that I happen to be that guy doesn't take away from the sincerity of my compliment.  "Paddling a longboard keeps him feeling young" spoke the truth. Nice job, reporter Nancy Dow. You captured the essence of my Big Stick Stand Up Paddling Longboardedness, as well as other details about My Workout. Who: Brian Hines, 64, Salem; 6 feet, 180 pounds. Hines is a writer who retired from the health planning and policy field. He has a daughter and a granddaughter.…
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Posted inSkateboarding

Beautiful downhill longboarding video: “Let go”

Let go. Wonderful advice. For living. For dying. And... For getting on a longboard at the top of a long, winding road down a picturesque hill. What the hell is there else to do, but let go? This guy is highly skilled. Yet what struck me the most about his ride was the simple flow of it. He makes letting go look easy.  I was moved by "Let go." Struck me as a metaphor for life, yet also exactly what it concretely was. Have a look. (Thanks to bayrider for sharing the video link in a comment on this longboarding…
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Posted inPhilosophy Skateboarding

When I’m 64… longboard-inspired thoughts on living life crazily

I don't need an excuse to get all philosophical. It comes naturally to me. But armed with a strong cup of coffee, a warm dry Oregon early evening, and a memory of a pleasant afternoon spent longboarding at Salem's wonderful Minto Brown Island Park, I feel especially inspired to muse about what life means to me on my 64th-birthday eve.  The Beatles released "When I'm 64" in 1967. I was a college freshman. Loved the song. Hated the idea of being 64. The lyrics seemed depressingly fantastical back in those youthful days.  When I get older losing my hair,Many years…
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Posted inSkateboarding

Senior citizen skateboarder with his new Haka Moko longboard

Here I am, timer-photo'd with my iPhone propped against my backpack, standing in the shadows on a sunny October Oregon day, on the Minto Brown Park trail which runs along the Willamette River (in the background) near Salem. I like the looks of my new longboard, Kahuna Creations Haka Moko 47". Since my birthday is approaching -- I'll be a freaking ancient 64 -- I felt entirely justified in getting myself a present to give to myself, my only problem being that I now need to forget what I've done so I can surprise myself on my actual birthday.  Where's…
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Posted inSkateboarding

My old guy longboard land paddling is going great

At the risk of sounding like a Viagra ad... The Big Stick has changed my life! No, not that Big Stick. This Big Stick -- the Kahuna Big Stick, an adjustable pole for pushing a longboard skateboard without having to put a foot down. I'm really enjoying it. Went to Salem's Riverfront Park yesterday. Did about three miles in forty minutes or so. That includes some walking when an uphill section seemed like too damn much work, and also when a downhill section seemed too damn scary. The reactions of other skateboarders have been interesting. Not surprisingly, so far I…
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