Extreme Sport

A long time ago in a neighborhood far, far away, a couple of high school kids decided to take skateboarding to the next level...
The events I will describe transpired in the late 1970's and it should be pointed-out there were very few kids who skateboarded in Athens at the time.
My cousin Stefanos and I, having mastered the basics of skateboarding were getting to the point where we were experimenting to see if we could push the boundaries of what could be done on a skateboard.

We would go down the steep sidewalks and roadways of the foothills of Mt. Hymettus sitting, kneeling, or finding other ways to use our skateboards in ways they were not originally designed to be used. We invariably went too fast and ended-up performing various experiments which tested the "coefficient of friction" between asphalt and various materials: polyurethane skateboard wheels, athletic shoe soles, jeans, copper rivets (if the aforementioned jeans happened to be riveted), leather (skateboarding gloves), even human skin (not by design, I should point out).
These feats, while resulting in various bumps, abrasions and bruises, did not end-up inflicting any permanent bodily injury.

Since this was before the time video became mainstream and well before the advent of "Reality TV" our feats were not captured on video, nor broadcast to any network.

Fast-forward about 30 years, where every kid can now capture video on their cell phone and broadcast it to various channels on the internet for almost instantaneous consumption.

A friend forwarded the attached link to a video of what was christened "Asphalt Sledding" in Switzerland.

While we did not go that far in our younger years, I feel the need to salute this guy because he's exhibiting the same passion for speed and uses a definitely wacky conveyance to satisfy it.