…and one ripstik to rule them all….
Back in March, before Matthew’s birthday, we were talking about what to get him. These things, these ripstiks, have started to show up around the neighborhood and at school and we thought, hey, why not? Asked Matthew what he thought of them and he was emphatic, no way, didn’t want it, too hard to do.
The ripstik is a skateboard with a few really important differences; the first is there is only one wheel on each end, the second is that the board is in two parts connected by a round metal/ composite rod, and third, because there is only one wheel it’s not stable when it’s not moving; you can’t stand on it without having some forward or backward motion.
Obviously, we decided to get him the ‘stik; couldn’t believe it would take him long to pick up how to ride it. He was thrilled to have it and within a day was motoring up and down the sidewalk on it.
Within 6 weeks of Matthew having his ripstik it seemed like every boy in the neighborhood had one. Heck, Matthew’s best buddy, 9th grader Ashton, spent his own money to buy one (and often both him and Matthew would ride their ‘stiks in circles in Ashton’s garage, or play ripstik basketball…). The main street into our neighborhood was paved last summer; you can’t believe how smooth that surface is now and how much time the boys, of all ages, have spent going up and down that blacktop hill.
Front wheelies, back wheelies….all of the basic tricks are pretty much mastered. Matthew loves his ripstik so much that he’s begged to ride it to school, and, we’ve said ok, every other day you can do that (it’s annoying in some ways…if Matthew is ripstik-ing he’s not travelling at the same speed as Christopher on the bike, and the goal was to try and have them go to school together).
Without further ado, the video of the ripstik wonder.
