Here's a video I made of the inauguration of my miniramp two summers ago:

See if you recognize the song.

The surface is masonite and I would religiously put the tarp on when it rains. Tarps aren't completely waterproof but I'd put a beam across, tent style, so that the water doesn't pool up.
The masonite lasted 1.5 summers but next spring I'll redo the bottom probably with 1/4" plywood. The transitions are still in decent shape because the water doesn't accumulate there.

I was riding it one night thinking "this is so much fun, that's all I'd ever do" when my neighbour came to tell me the noise was driving he and his wife nuts so I had to cut down my riding time - I also can't ride it in the winter, obviously. I don't have a garage nor room to build one large enough to put a miniramp in so I've been trying to figure out how I can ride more...
Was thinking of renting a space to build one in and have it be some private club to spread the cost, but then the logistics of it seem like a little bit too much trouble.

We do have bigger pools and ramps around town, but I'm a bit of a chicken little so I like working out tricks in the miniramp at home before trying them on the bigger stuff (if I ever do).

Nice! Is that screenprinted or stenciled?

Wow! You're good! Beautiful ramp too!

It's the Thrashin' theme song:

pasted_image (resized).png

I know that's not exactly the kind of stuff you're referring to, but I love Jeff Grosso's Loveletters to Skateboarding on YouTube.
The Tony Alva documentary he made is great:

Watched this on Amazon and I loved it: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Steel-Cedar-Crest-Country/dp/B07K5BKNBF

My daughter is getting into it - I'll get her a proper skateboard for christmas...

I never was very good to begin with and skated between I guess 16 and 20. I'm 40 now. In the last years, I'd ride my bicycle past this 3 foot mini and each day I'd think, hey I could ride that.

pasted_image (resized).png

So at some point a friend of mine gave me an old board and I did. I just decided, if I can rock n roll to fakie today I'll be happy, and I did. The guys said the ramp was super crappy - not smooth, not wide enough, etc. but I still had a good time.
I looked around town for another 3 ft mini and there wasn't one, so I started thinking of building one. I was thinking of a way of bringing it up to my girlfriend and I was sure she'd think I was crazy, and she said "good idea!".
So I went and bought all the material and set it on the snow (that was during the spring) until I could actually build it. I kept looking at the materials afterwards and thinking "oh man what did I get myself into". I didn't feel like building the ramp all that much, but I still did when the time came around and I love it more than anything else I own now.

I'm still not all that good nor very brave but I progress a little each time. Since I first rode that crappy ramp 2 years ago I can now do many more tricks - grinds, boardslides, stalls, etc. Next year I'd like to get disasters down, maybe tailslides.

I love this guy, taught me a lot: https://www.youtube.com/user/thebeststee

I went to Montreal this summer and I heard there was a nice mini next to the Vans Park Series pool so I figured I'd go ride it all afternoon. When I got there I saw they had removed it and all that remained was this crazy pool with 6 ft - 10ft drops if I'm not mistaken.
I wasn't game to drop it until some kid told me "if you can drop 3ft you can drop this", so I did and had a blast. So I can add that to my small increments too for this year.

The picture is not me obviously
pasted_image (resized).png

My plan is to keep picking up a few tricks over the next few years then keep myself in shape so I can ride for as long as I can.

Just got this - didn't read the words yet, but fun to look at:
https://www.amazon.com/Disposable-Skateboard-Bible-Sean-Cliver/dp/1584233273/ref=sr_1_3

pasted_image (resized).png

Awesome! That's Solar City, the 2 player version of El Dorado. Do I see a rollerblader on the PF? That would mean it's not from the olden days.

As promised, we got my daughter a decent skateboard for christmas:

pasted_image (resized).png

Right! Ok I see it. I'd be curious to know the backstory.

What are the dimensions? Man I so wish I could have a ramp to skate in the winter - I'm thinking up all kinds of schemes like buying an apartment building with a big garage just to build a ramp in the garage Or spending my winters in Florida - I'm in software so I could do it if it were just me, but the wife and kids aren't as mobile

Ok so rougly 10x24 footprint I guess. I was wondering if it was even smaller than that and if it was still fun.
I have a 12ft wide 3ft mini with 6ft transitions in the backyard so pretty close, but this is what it looks like right now. 1609419902364-1860614783 (resized).jpg

That's the spirit, brother!
Just watched this yesterday with the 60 year olds who just got back into it - inspiring!

Came across this Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/miniramplife/
The https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/lets-see-pic-of-games-rooms of mini ramps

Never saw that kind of surface - what is it?

That's the only time I ever go to the skatepark. That or during the day on workdays.

Not a regular Tony Hawk like some of the guys here but I filmed a little run I did this morning. I did my first rock n' roll to fakie 2 years ago so I am (slowly) progressing.

The early bird catches the worm!

Little family skate party I hosted 2 weeks ago:

I'm on the couch next to my daughter who's using a big book as a support to do her drawing.

1634474098182-2047946353 (resized).jpg

I've got a cool story about this book.
I have a colleague from England who's a skater - we started going to local miniramps on lunch breaks and such. At some point he told me a story about how he and some friend, many years back, went into some local distributor in England where they had a bunch of old mint Powell-Peralta boards such as Tony Hawk and stuff like that.
The owner let them grab whatever they could carry out on the cheap. My coworker's friend got 5 mint Tony Hawk's that he sold at some point to pay for tuition or something.
So when I read the book, there's a very similar story and I tell him "hey that really sounds like the story you told me". And sure enough, it is the same story and it's been written by his friend. He's even referenced in it, although not by name.

Doesn't replace skateboarding but still fun to pass the time outdoors.

Nice! How does the spot thing work? I was thinking of renting some space to have a miniramp in with friends but not too sure of the logistics...

Dang. That's the life. I don't have room to build a decent garage...

Shoveled all weekend, sunny day, looking forward to coming home from work to skate and....

Crap...

20220411_174155 (resized).jpg

(Also, need to wash the windows )

Came across a Bally reference while reading about skateboarding.

IMG_20220918_201055800 (resized).jpg
IMG_20220918_201049141 (resized).jpg

Built this 2 foot quarter pipe last week and the kids in the street are skating it non-stop. It has wheels on the side so I can roll it back in the driveway at night.
I ordered orange cones for safety and I'm already thinking about the next module.
That my daughter and I.

IMG_4505 (resized).jpg

Nice!
My brother in-law lives in Jacksonville and I was planning to go last time with the kids but ended up going to the Jacksonville Beach skatepark twice instead which I thought was great as well.

pasted_image (resized).png

How did you like Kona?

I think this was my dream deck (I only remember it was a Bart Simpson one but can't remember it exactly)
Screenshot_20230226-145412 (resized).png

But this is what I had

sa-rood (resized).jpg

Probably rode like crap but I didn't know any better and still wish I still had it.

Good times.

IMG_20230319_124225108~2 (resized).jpg

Magnetic skate mech!

Uses the small balls from my Slap Shot.

IMG_20230414_215433381_HDR (resized).jpg