2009’s Gearsplosion

Recently, I sold a board to a podcaster in LA.  Check out my girl Vanessa Gritton on any of your favorite podcast apps, she’s been on Small Beans, in every show on the Unpops Network, and probably countless others.  But, that’s not what this post is about.  This post is about the sudden infusion of a little bit of cash into my Paypal account.

I sold that board, then began taking inventory of the boards I have in my possession:  Offhand, there are somewhere around 15 complete, assembled boards between me and my wife.  I can’t even tell you how many spare sets of wheels I have.  I have at least 3 unmounted decks, and there are at least 3 complete sets of trucks that are unused (all inappropriate widths to fit the decks).  So, I began looking at all of my gear.  I’m stuck in “Old Standby” mode, wherein I fell in love with certain bits of gear around 2009, and since it’s always been good enough, I’ve accepted the fact that I’m not going to be a world-class skater and don’t need high-end gear, and I’ve gotten used to that equipment, there’s no reason to change.  Good ’nuff, right?

The problem with that line of thinking is that I literally haven’t pursued any new gear for a decade.  I missed the gearsplosion of 2009-2012, the meteoric rise of hardgoods, and the self-perpetuating snowball of gear and trick advancement that came from the Longboard Boom of 2009-2014.  I’m still riding the same ol’ Randal Trucks and Abec11 wheels I was in 2009.  My ventures into “exotic” boards were Independent trucks rigged up in a downhill fashion on Sector9 urethane, Road Rider trucks (on Abec11 Retro Freerides, of course), and Gullwing Shadows (OG from the 90’s) on Spitfire 80HD’s.  There’s a lot of boards in my quiver, but not a lot of variety.  I was too stubborn, too stuck in the “good ’nuff” mentality to see the veritable cornucopia of gear that was all around me, despite being involved online with these movers and shakers of industry, despite selling all of this great gear in the store, despite being harder and harder to find this “good ’nuff” gear through the years.  I’d try a product once, say “It’s good, but it’s not as good as it’s hyped up to be,” then put that product in a box forevermore.  Instead of chasing innovation, I was chasing memories…memories of subpar gear, memories of bitch-slapping gear into working properly (fuckin’ Jeep suspension bushings from Autozone instead of using proper Venom bushings, as though my “boycott” of Venom has any impact on them whatsoever), memories of struggling to slide on a grippy wheel.

As a result, I saw this lump of cash in my Paypal account as a beacon of hope; a chance to expand my gear horizons.  I had an 8.5″ popsicle stick deck from Creepshow Skates, and some Cult wheels, and I began searching for some trucks.  I exercised as many contacts as I could, trying to find some 8.5″ trucks, and kept getting the same ol’ “good ’nuff” answers:  Ace, Indy, Tracker, Gullwing.  Finally, Muirskate recommended some Paris Street trucks to me.  Perfect!  They’re a brand outside my norm, and developed squarely in the aforementioned Gearsplosion.  They’d fit perfectly on the (trendy, circa 2013) Cult wheels!  I could use this deck as an all-terrain shredstick…anything from parks and ditches, to downhills and freerides.  And, I can’t wait to try this puppy on a hill in a slide setting.

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