Sunday afternoon at the Park and Ride

19/06/2009 | By kendallguy | Comments (6)

Sunday Afternoon at the Park and Ride

Some might say that the Park and Ride is a strange place to be on a Sunday afternoon, especially when you take in to account the fact that it is closed. If you were to go there on a typical weekday or a Saturday, you would find it teeming with people, cars and buses, a selection of shoppers and commuters all avoiding the chaotic, aggressive drive into the centre of town. The atmosphere is one of quiet, polite impatience, everyone is eager to get to where they need to go and do what they need to do, be it splurging on the credit cards or slaving away in an office somewhere, everyone has a purpose and a desire to get on that bus and get on with it.

A select few have looked beyond the cars and the buses and seen a place that can be used for fun. The smooth tarmac, long hills and wide-open spaces have become a playground for those that challenge gravity. Those that push themselves, and their tools of choice, through the tight turns of the car parking bays, down the steep hills of the bus ramps and across the steep banks under the bridge.

Mini-motorbikes can be seen racing through the car parks, turning the empty space into a mini silver-stone, big men on little bikes, an odd sight I grant you, but the principle is fun here.

BMXers are in abundance, performing flat-land tricks across the smooth under cover tarmac of the car park, some of the older ones are hitting the banks at great speed and getting about 2 to 3 feet of air.

There are a few younger skaters huddled together in groups, trying to ollie and kickflip in earnest, their faces contorted into grimaces of pure concentration, I’m sure their minds are screaming to them “it works on Tony Hawks Pro Skater, I only need to press the cross and the square buttons, why is it so tough?”

The older skaters are pushing each other to greater heights, one guy is pretty wired, he skates hard and fast towards to a kerb, flips up it and lands in an impressive nose manual. The look on his face is one of pure joy. These guys have figured out that skating is about fun, not about tricks. The younger of this crew is having a blast, he’s skating fast, spinning 180’s over and over again, I wonder how he keeps his balance, I’d be dizzy.

Taking my longboard out of the car, I skate towards the bus ramp, run up it, stop and point it downwards. Sliding gloves on, three big pushes, a slight wobble and I’m bombing down this hill, crouching low into my carves, pushing the wheels against the road, controlling my speed, yet keeping the momentum. At the bottom of the hill is a steep turn to the right, there are four metal bollards that I need to carve around, I work out my line, I crouch even lower, hand trailing behind me, pushing the back of the board, the wheels are fighting me, gripping to the tarmac, I push harder still, they start to give, my hand is now trailing behind me on the floor, my vans are hanging off the back of my board, using my trailing hand to balance and my other hand gripping the left of my board, I push even harder, the wheels start to give, my board is now sliding into my line, the bollards rush past me, I feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins and I see the long straight flat ahead of me, just a few more degrees and I’m on it, coasting back towards my car, standing up, my legs are aching from the exertion, I foot brake to a halt and catch my breath. Sundays are made for this.