Handrails

My second handrail, and first frontside on a handrail.
It's located at a bank

     I love handrails... well really small ones at least. When I started skating, handrails were considered to be a benchmark accomplishment. If you could hit a handrail, then you must be pretty good. So literally for the first several years of skateboarding, I would constantly be looking at handrails to attempt in the future. This quest for the perfect handrail was difficult, but if you could find a nice rail then it was well worth the effort. In many ways I have kept the 1990s mentality that handrails are king. Because of this, I have set a goal for myself to be able to hit a handrail (not necessarily a large one) at the age of 30. Handrails are funny things. They are 95% mental. Because of this, I have often gone through droughts of not being able to do them. I hit my first handrail in 2000. I was able to do both backside and frontside boardslides on them at that time.

     Then I moved to Idaho on a religious mission for two years and lost my ability to do them anymore. I was unable to do a handrail again until 2009. So after 9 years of not skating handrails, it took a lot of mental energy to convince myself to try them again. I then had another short drought in the last 2 years. Handrails are problematic because the longer you go without trying them, the more difficult they become. After a seemingly long 2 year drought, I just recently was able to do one again. A friend and I have named this handrail "Twigs", because it is so small (as seen in the video above). It's only a four stair rail, so it's perfect for regaining your confidence. After a couple of years of being pyched out , Doug (my friend) and I just recently were able to take down Twigs again.

Me, Doug, and Josh after taking down Twigs
again after a 2 year drought.

     This has inspired me to try and branch out (pun intended) and try to boardslide other small handrails. These may be found in my Handrail Hitlist. My second target was a five stair rail at a skatepark North of Atlanta (video at the bottom). Although it took me quite a few tries to finish it off, I finally was able to take down this little rail. I still love the feeling of sliding down a rail more than anything else while skateboarding. Landing a handrail brings with it an intense rush of excitement. Although all the handrails that I now hit are located within skateparks, handrails are really the strongest link between park and street skating for me. They are sort of a liasson between the two. When hitting a handrail, you can still feel the vibes of street skateboarding as you appropriate an aparatus created for safety into the most dangerous place in the park.

                   Swift-Cantrell Park Handrail