It is the simplest of things in life that can bring a person the most joy. As skateboarders, we often overlook this idea and strive to push our abilities to the limits, sometimes trying for hours on end to land a trick that tests the pinnacle of our skill. At times, it is worth it to step back and enjoy just riding the damn thing, feeling the vibration on your feet as you navigate over rough asphalt.

In a world where every up and coming grom can skate double-digit rails and man-sized transition, it’s daunting to think that skateboarding will continue its steady progression. Undoubtedly it will, though, and it’s an exciting time to witness the expectations of what’s possible on a skateboard being shattered by a new generation of rippers.

Supreme satisfaction can still be found in things we overlook and often take for granted. Set aside expectations of switch flips, inverts, or back smiths, and remind yourself that simply rolling around is fun in itself. Moments of clarity can be found in the still of night, pushing down a lonely street, testing your manual distance on a discolored patch of asphalt. Full- speed ollies over man holes and sewer drains, or resisting a final powerslide to feel the rush of speed while bombing a hill into your city.

This is to take nothing away from the mind-boggling things that are happening in skateboarding daily. With technical ledge wizardry combined with robot-like consistency being the norm, preteens spinning 1080s, and skaters literally dropping from rooftops, skateboarding is expanding in all directions, in all corners of the globe.

The point is that while all of this is happening at such a rapid rate, it’s worth it to reference our roots from time to time, and remind ourselves of why we started. The silly stuff, the simple things, they’re still there, and that’s where the fun began.

–Coltyn Nelson