About that Olympic skateboarding . . .

[madamesilverspurs]

Watching the skateboarders at the Olympics, and wincing every time one of them takes a spill. I'm curious, though -- What is the surface they land on? If I fell like that, there'd at least be road rash if not significant bleeding, not to mention broken bones. I'm relieved when they get up and walk away unbloodied and unbroken, but I can't help wondering why they bounce where I would most certainly break. So where does one find such gentle pavement?


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[abqtommy]

1. I think it may have more to do with having a younger body than some of us do!

[tinrobot]

2. The surfaces are by no means soft.

Much of it is concrete. The pipes and some of the features are usually made of wood.

They learn how to fall properly and wear protection on knees/elbows/head/etc. But some of those falls will hurt. Part of the sport.

[Lochloosa]

3. Nothing like the concrete drainage ditches I used to ride in the 70s.

Pads and helmets? What are those?

[blugbox]

4. Yep, it sounds funny, but tinrobot nailed it ..

They learn how to fall properly. It literally makes all the difference.

[GulfCoast66]

5. I still think I lost IQ points with some of my bike wrecks!

I had knots the size of duck eggs. Of course in the 70’s helmets were not a thing. And I was reckless.

[Shellback Squid]

6. how did we survive, lol, I remember taking the nuts and bolts off bicycles wheels so they

deliberately come apart, we had the huge grass hill we would fly down if any contraption
had wheels, toddlers wheeled horses, makeshift go-carts, big wheels or bicycles, no helmets at all

[GulfCoast66]

7. I'm thinking about the bike ramps?

And lord, tree houses 25 feet up.

[thund3rbox]

8. Skaters are more at risk in the streets..

..than in a skatepark. Of course injuries happen, but certain team sports have more injuries than users in skateparks. (https://skatepark.org/faq/)

Anecdotal, but I have an empty backyard pool that I've had dozens of riders use. Hardly an injury (though we are pretty good about screening skaters first.) One ripper that was here, at a later date, got seriously injured riding down to a store, serious coma. He's making a good recovery, but skaters getting injured in the street is WAY more common than in a setting like a skatepark.