This winter got off to such a late start, I never was inspired to get out snowboarding. Now that spring's here, tho, I'm looking forward to breaking out the skateboards.

I've just signed up for what will be my first race, the Needham Open, in Needham, Mass, on May 19.

I recommend it to anyone and everyone; it costs nothing but gas money to go check it out!

I've been skateboarding since I was a kid. You'd think I'd be really good at it, after all these years, but that is far from the case. I can't do any tricks, hardly. I just like to cruise around. I got interested in the slalom skateboard scene last fall, after taking my son to see a race in Antrim, NH. Dogtown legend Wentzle Ruml was there racing, and we got to meet him (he was kind enough to sign the DVD case from Stacey Peralta's excellent documentary on that scene, Dogtown and Z-boys) and a whole bunch of other cool, friendly folk.

I brought my extralong board (wheel base is nearly four feet), and was having a blast doing straight runs down the hill; they had one of those speed warning boards, that clocks you on radar. I topped out at 26 mph, as I recall. When they set up the beginer course, I ran that and next thing I knew I was buying a second-hand Supaflex… I had fun practicing last fall. So far I've only hurt myself once, and not too badly. I've since bought all possible protective gear, but I'll probably remain a conservative rider, as I don't want to put myself out of commission for running. I don't bounce off asphalt quite so well as I used to.