It’s a good thing it’s summer holidays and I don’t have to go into a classroom tomorrow morning.
If it were a school day, I would have wobbled in awkwardly. The students would have all asked, “What happened?” and I’d end up sharing another skateboard injury story. But I thought I’d share the story with you here nevertheless.
Kiwanis Skateboard Plaza just opened up this summer in London, Ontario. It is an absolutely gorgeous park that I’d been dying to visit for some time. If you want to go it is located at 1475 Brydges Street.
This picture is from the Facebook page for the park and was taken at the opening ceremony.
Completed Skateboard Park is a “plaza” style design covering approximately 1,700 square meters. Some of the features included in the park are: hubba style ledges, banks, pier 7 manual pad, lilly pads, jersey barrier, hips, curved ledge with extension and gap, pump bump sequence, transition gap, concave ledge, corner C-ledges, euro gap, transition/miniramp feature, coin bank. This park is geared towards beginner and intermediate skill levels – info from “Ready to Skateboard: London’s places to skate”
I have to say that I have never seen such a great park before. It has so much in it, including two halfpipes complete with coping bars.
I have been skating at parks that only have quarter pipes and most of those don’t have the coping bar at the top.
It had been a while since I’d skated an actual halfpipe. I love halfpipes.
Of course, since it had been so long, I started off slow. I didn’t try to do anything outlandish. I just tried to get comfortable on the ramp. I was doing just fine for about ten minutes.
The next thing I know, I was rolling down the ramp and wasn’t quite properly balanced on my board. The board shot out from under my feet and I went crashing to the ground.
Fortunately, I was wearing a helmet. Still though, it was quite the wipeout.
I took some skin off my elbow in the fall, scraped up my hip and bruised it quite a bit. Ouch!
It hurts to just walk right now. I know that it’s gonna continue to hurt for a week or two as well. But falling is a part of the sport. You can’t expect to skateboard and never fall. I’m just glad I have the sense to wear a helmet when I go to these parks now.
8 responses to “Wicked Skatepark – Wicked Wipeout!”
Hi Chase .. looks a fun place to be & probably a good thing the kids weren't around ..they'd be mocking you for ever!?
Just a wee recovery time .. but as you say good thing you were wearing a helmet – a kid was killed here recently in a skate park – very sad.
Fantastic if no harm comes to you .. and it obviously hasn't … just a bit of scrape and a bash and a loss of pride for a while!
Enjoy the holidays .. Hilary
Hi Hilary,
Too many people think that it simply isn't cool to wear a helmet. But there certainly isn't anything cool about sustaining a head injury. That's why I wear my helmet at skate parks. I don't often wear it if I'm just street skating though.
Thanks for the well-wishes!
Ouchity-ow-ow.
Hi ECD,
The bruise on my hip looks a lot worse today. I'm taking it easier for the next few days. I'll heal up just fine though. No worries.
Oh no! I hope your tetanus shot is up to date. Ha ha ha.
S
Hi Silverfish,
I don't know if it is. Those last for ten years though, right? I don't think it's been longer than that. I could be wrong.
My bruise still looks horrible today. It hurts to roll over in my sleep too. But it could have been worse. I'll survive.
hey chase i know what you mean everytime i go there i see people wiping out hard and they dont ever think that maybe they should wear a helmet, its my fourth year skateboarding and things are getting more and more advanced so now i n wear my helmet more than ever. but like you if im street skating i dont wear a helmet because i just see a good spot and go
Hi Ayden, have fun and be safe. Are you going out for Go Skateboard Day tomorrow. I’ll be at a few events throughout the day!