New York is already loud before you even open the door. You can hear the trains, cars, and people before you get outside, and by the time you step out, you’re just in it. There’s no warming up, no easing into it, nothing gradual. It’s just go. That’s kind of how the city works, and you get used to it pretty fast.

I’ve been skating since I was 10. Back then, it was pretty simple, honestly. I’d find one spot and just stay there forever. I’d do the same trick a hundred times until I finally landed it, or I'd get so frustrated that I would just go home. I didn’t really think about it that much. I just went out and skated. There was always some reason I picked the spot I picked, but I probably couldn’t explain it if someone asked me. I just knew where I wanted to go and I went there.


I don’t really do that anymore, though.

Now I just grab my board and a Yerba Madre and leave. I don’t plan anything, look anything up, or decide where I’m going. Most days, I’ll have a loose idea of where I’m starting, but once I’m outside, the city kind of takes over, and I end up following whatever feels right in the moment. One place turns into another, and after a while, I don’t even know where I am or where I’m going. I’m just skating around the city with no real direction, letting the blocks, the traffic lights, and whatever spots I pass pull me into the next thing. That’s honestly my favorite thing now, and I didn’t expect it to end up that way.

New York kind of decides how fast things go, and you can’t really do anything about it, so instead of trying to slow it down, you just go with it. And for a while, it’s actually really fun. There’s so much going on everywhere you look, and it gives you this rush that keeps building the longer you’re out there. You feel like you could skate for hours and not get tired. The city kind of carries you a little bit, like you’re not even the one choosing the pace anymore.



But then it gets tiring.

It’s not like it hits you all at once or anything. It’s more like the noise slowly starts to get to you, and everything feels a little too fast and a little too much. You didn’t really notice it building up, but then at some point it’s just there. I never really decide to leave. I just keep skating until things start feeling quieter and less overwhelming.

I always end up at the park.

It’s kind of odd because the park isn’t even that far away from everything, but it feels completely different the second you get there. It feels like you actually left the city somehow, even though you didn’t go far at all. You can hear your board on the ground again. You start to notice little things like the wind, people having conversations nearby, and random sounds you never would have caught before. After being around sirens, traffic, construction, and people yelling over each other, even the small sounds start to feel bigger. It actually feels calm, which is not something you get a lot of in New York.


I’ll sit there for a little while when I get there, usually with my board next to me and my Yerba Madre in my hand. I’ll take a few sips, let everything slow down for a second, and after being pulled around by the city all day, it feels like something in me starts to come back online. It sounds boring, but it doesn’t feel boring. It just feels like a break from everything, and somehow that little break is usually what makes me want to get up and keep skating.

Then I’ll get back up and skate, but it feels different than before. I’m not trying to prove anything or land anything specific. I’m just skating because I want to, and that’s the only reason I need. The city is still moving the same way it was before, but after that pause, I’m moving with it instead of feeling like I’m being dragged by it.

I used to think I had to land something or do something impressive for the day to actually matter. I know I'm not the only one who feels like that—pretty much every skater I know talks about the pressure to have something to show for your session. If I didn’t have anything to show for it, then I basically wasted my time going out.

But the days I remember most are the ones when I had no plan at all, when I just went out and skated around without worrying so much about what I was getting out of it.

After a while, not having a plan just stopped feeling like a bad thing. It’s just how I skate now, and I think I like it better this way.