1/3-life crisis
If the stereotype is that at 40 men buy a fast car to console the passing dreams of a once adventurous life, then at 30 (or as we approach 30 in my case) we cling to our fanciful childhood (especially those of us with children) by delighting in new gadgets and toys that transport us back to the games of our youth. It was for this purpose that I have this past year been eye-ing a most excellent riding toy called the Whiptide. For those of your familiar with Snakeboards (now called Streetboards) the device is of similar design. Imagine a skateboard with two inline wheels on each of two paddles (for total of four) connected by an axis that has three degrees of freedom (or click the Whiptide link and watch the video - that’s me doing the Ollie).
As with the Streetboard (and unlike a skateboard), the rider must self-propel by wiggling back and forth (see the Streetboard link for a beginners demo video). Unlike the Streetboard, a Whiptide (or Waveboard or RipStick) rider cannot stand still (because the wheels are inline). The advantage is that as with inline skates the rider can carve as one does a snowboard or surfboard (again because the wheels are inline). The combination of wiggling and wobbling when properly executed by a skilled teenager produces a graceful choreography that creates a sense of majestic motion.
Following months of negotiations my loving wife (after renewing the life insurance policy) conceded to purchasing a Whiptide on the condition that we also present my 2 year old son with a Strider Bike. The goal we agreed was to promote father-son bonding as we both might stumble our way down Memorial Drive on Sunday mornings.
With the board delivered this past Thursday night I spent the following evenings practicing my balance in our dining room hall, knocking all of the books, pictures and other assorted items off the shelves. With ten feet of practice under my belt, I was ready to take it up a notch. Thus this morning, brimming with confidence, we set out to the park down the street so I could acquire my bruises and scrapes in the confines of a fenced in street hockey court.
To my surprise the Whiptide was incredibly easy to learn. After a few false starts, my snakeboarding skills (which I earned sophomore year of college and refined in the wide open spaces of the dorm basement…and a certificate to prove it) aligned with my snowboarding skills and I found myself whipping across the court at a blistering 1 mph. A half our of practice later and I was carving like a 10 year old…ok, maybe 8. Tomorrow we adventure out to Memorial Drive to either impress or bemuse the runners, bikers and rollerbladers - Gideon just discovering the delights and freedom of his childhood and me reliving mine.