Just a quick note to everyone here… I turned 30 years old today… but that’s not the main thing I want to bring up.

When I was younger (15-18), I always told myself that I would skate until I’m crippled. A lot of my friends said the same thing.
Through the years, I saw nearly all of those friends stop skating for various reasons, like, “my job has me working too much” or “I’m working on this relationship with my girl” or whatever.
I just want to say that all of these excuses are bullshit. I work full time, I pay bills, I have a girl that I’ve been with for 11 years, I’ve had major injuries, and every other excuse you can have… but so far, I’ve kept my promise to myself. I still skate… in fact, I probably push myself harder now than I ever did.
Every one of my friends that quit skating regrets it. They don’t have anything else that truly fills up that part of their life now… they go to work, they go home, drink a beer, watch the game, and go to bed.

If you choose to quit skating because you hate skating, I can understand that… if you don’t like it, there’s no real reason to ride. But if you ever find yourself trying to make an excuse for stopping, or you find that something stupid is taking away from your skate time, then you need to stop and think.

Most of you here are a lot younger than me and still have a lot of experiences to dive into. Most of you will go to college, nearly all of you will party your asses off, and some of you will mess around with drugs. Personally, I don’t care… and I’d be the last person in the world to stop you from doing any of the above. What I will say though… none of those things should come before skateboarding. You may party your ass off, you may experiment with different things, but don’t ever quit skateboarding.

I’m not in ANY WAY saying you should do drugs or drink… what I’m saying only applies to those of you that choose to do so when you get to that point in your life. All I’m saying is that if you let any of those prevent you from skating, you’re messing up.

In my experience (and everyone will have their own, so experiences will differ), I did a lot of drinking and my fair share of other things…. but I never forgot that at my core, I was a skater.

All I’m saying is that if you stop skating, you’re a fool. For a lot of you, 30 years of age seems like a long way away, but it isn’t. When it does hit you, I hope you’re riding as hard as I am, if not harder. Hopefully when you’re 30, I’ll be riding with you.