Ride the Spiral

Long boarding is a fun hobby that I took up a couple years ago towards the end of high school.  It became an event that a lot of social activities revolved around at the time.  "Hey lets go long board Provo canyon."  "Hey lets go long board around campus."  "Lets go long board the stadium parking lot."  "Lets go long board around BYU and see if we get caught."

Long boarding for the first time isn't that hard.  Humans can adapt pretty quickly as figuring out how to balance isn't too hard... learning how to turn isn't too hard, but learning how to stop?  That's a different story.  Long boarding is set up so that your cranium is in the least inertial stable position and you have no brakes.  If you find yourself in an uncomfortable position,  travelling too fast down a hefty hill you have a few options.  You can attempt to drag your foot, changing the center of gravity of your body over the one foot on your board and slowly placing your other foot in a position to create friction with the asphalt (not too fast or else you'll eat it).  You can slam your foot down in a "reverse" pumping action, slowly chipping away at the growing acceleration you've managed to pick up with the force of gravity, or you could ride your board into a patch of grass and "run" out the momentum.  All of these options are relatively tricky unstable maneuvers and bring mass potential to totally eat it on the asphalt.

The first time you truly eat it on the asphalt will change how you ride forever, but you eventually figure out that sometimes in those moments where you want to bail, if you just stick it out a little longer you'll end up alright.  Getting too fast?  just ride it out and you'll be able to carve it out later.  Getting speed wobble? Just lean into it.  But sometimes if you ARE going too fast, trying to slow down ends up disastrously anyways... all you can do is ride it out.

Other times there are just unforeseen obstacles.  A crack in the road, a hole, a rock, a branch, gravel, water or even ice.  Your wheel catches it just right and you find yourself in a world of hurt.

Why do we even long board?

Sometimes I feel like life is like bombing one major hill.  At this very moment I'm going way too fast, and at times I get these moments of panic.  "COLTON... WHAT ARE YOU DOING... YOU NEED TO BAIL... YOU NEED TO SLOW DOWN" but I know if I try to put my foot down or bail I'm going to eat shit and die.  All I can do is lean into it and hope there isn't any unforeseen obstacles in my path.  Its exhilarating in a way, but part of me is scared shitless.  (my apologies for the big boy language)

One of the lyrics from my all time favorite album is "Ride the spiral to the end, we may just go where no ones been".  I remember the exact moment I listened to the album all the way through as a moment that was as much of a spiritual moment as I've ever had.  As corny as it is to place any form of music in that position.  The album is about living and life.  Its dark and heavy, its music is "evil" in an overly mormon sense. Its realistic, the lyrics are written by a guy who has a significant amount of trauma but it also has a very positive message ingrained in it.  Life is hard, parts of it can be messed up in its most raw and realistic form, but there is also a lot of potential for positivity.

But I digress.  I'm putting my head down, I'm leaning into it.  I'll either have one hell of a ride or I'll go out in a smoldering wreck of flames, and there's no better way to go.