Here lies another, much longer rail
Winnipeg mourns the Woodsworth rail, a race for the longest 50-50 on a round rail, Lakai and/or die, Toby Ryan is PRO, and more.
The definitive weekly ranking and analysis of all the skateboarding and other things online that I cannot stop consuming and how it makes me feel, personally.
Here lies a rail
Rank: 9
Mood: 💐
It's only natural for the skateboarder to mourn space. Hard, physical, gritty, grimy, space. Spaces with sharp concrete edges, steep asphalt embankments, steel railings, steps that take you up and allow you to fly down.
Guardian staff reporter
It's in those spaces that the obvious happens: skateboarding. It's also where the more subtle happenings take place: friendships born and fostered, a sense of self established and explored, on-board history made and broken, etc. When skateboarding loses these spaces, it understandably leads to heartbreak. That pain can be minor or hit the community like an aluminum baseball bat to the gut.
As general development and gentrification turn over the built environment, more and more of the spots that have served as benchmarks in skateboarding and touchstones for local scenes will disappear. Thankfully, the skateboarder loves to point cameras at them.
Regretably, the closest I've ever been to Winnipeg is driving past on the way to Toronto. I know Winnipeg as the home of Guy Maddin, The Den, the Jets, the late Jason Crolly, and Woodsworth. Woodsworth is Winnipeg's most famous skate spot. A mellow, decent-sized black handrail down nine stair steps. It looked perfect. Crolly owned the spot. As a teenager living in Castlegar, BC, Crolly and that handrail were the only things that came to mind when the city came up in conversation, as they did one summer when a skater from Winnipeg whom I knew only as Barry spent a few weeks in town on a job.
Barry was older, he ripped, and was kind. As we skated the local park, he told me that he was friends with Crolly and that I should visit Winnipeg. He could get me a place to stay and work if I wanted it. I never took him up on the offer but I thought of it often. It was one of the first times I realized that skateboarding as a community was expansive. Could be expansive, personally. I learned of Barry's passing, and his last name, Arklie, last year.
The Woodsworth nine stair rail is now gone. These things are not anywhere near equal, of course, but for me, that rail served as a connection point to Crolly, who was my connection point to Arklie — the inanimate as a bridge to the living. Now dead. I'm not alone. When the inevitable tributes to this handrail poured in, so did tributes for Crolly.
Careers were kickstarted and local legend made on that piece of metal. Everyone from Bam Margera to Arto Saari and Forrest Edwards had skated it. It means so much to so many people that a local skater reportedly asked the building manager if they could keep the rail and they agreed.
Somewhere out there, that piece of a space that drew in so many still exists. An active artifact, a live wire of memory, worthy of being planted back into the ground or put on display.
Here lies another, much longer rail
Rank: 300'
Mood: 〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️🛹〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️
There are many ways for the skateboarder to imbue a rail with meaning. It can serve as a hallowed grind like Woodsworth; a place to test and sacrifice yourself in the shadow of those who stepped up before. A rail can also be untouched, fresh snow, a pristine accessibility feature whose potential is yet unknown, a cross-lock unlocking an additional and culturally-specific purpose. Or a rail can just be really, really, really, really long.
Like I'm talking really, really, really, really, really long.
What meaning can be derived or divined from sliding or grinding a really, really, really, really, really, really long rail? That it's really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really long, pretty much — and that's great. It's been fun to watch Maxim Habanec set the "world's longest 50-50 grind on a round rail" record or whatever at 256' in a Red Bull-sponsored stunt only for it to be broken that same day by Kanaan Dern's 256' and 5" grind at Bam Margera's house, which was broken a few days later by Kyle Walsh's 300' grind, that was made possible with support from Ripped Jerky(?).
YouTuber Garrett Ginner then spent a few thousand dollars and a lot of overtime hours fabricating his own really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really long rail, that he says extends beyond the length of an American football field and the current record. He's been vlogging his process. It's not going so well at the moment.
Hell, even Alien at Driftopia wants to get in on the really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, long rail action.
This is all really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really stupid and I absolutely love it. Not everything needs a deeper meaning; sometimes what you see is all there is and that rules. Don't ever stop grinding, gang, and always make sure you only have a couple sheets of plywood as a landing.
Lakai and/or Die
Rank: -69
Mood: 👻🤷♀️
Chris Joslin on Instagram
Continuing the long and cherished 21st-century tradition of making personal and professional announcements via front-facing camera video from the front seat of one's motor vehicle, Thrasher Skater of the Year Chris Joslin took to Instagram on Saturday to assure all of his fans that his shoe sponsor Lakai "is still here."
That might be news to some, as the fallout from Marc Roca's acquisition of Lakai in late 2024 has continued its awkward and embarrassing pace throughout 2026. At one point, it seemed like the voyage under Roca's hand might be coming to an end after Luis Mora, who Roca brought on as brand and team manager, announced his desire to take over the company (from the front seat of his car) in an obvious pressure tactic following Roca's many public and (alleged) private missteps.
That effort was curtailed when Mora was fired by Roca, which we learned about via, you guessed it, front-facing camera video (another seemingly AI-generated video of Roca taking responsibility for Lakai's assumed collapse while in the front seat of a car was briefly uploaded to Instagram by a newly created account bearing Roca's name).
So, somewhat surprisingly, the Roca regime sputters on, and Joslin is bullish on the future.
"Me, Nassim (Lacchab), Bastien (Salabanzi), Evon (Martinez), Roman (Hager), we're all still on the team. There's been some mistakes made, we understand that. We're not going to ignore that. We've got a little ways to go before we earn the respect back of the skate community, and we understand that."
A clear-eyed perspective. So how does a tarnished brand like Lakai start to earn back that respect?
"To start off, they're dropping the shoe prices to $69 bucks. So head to the site and get yourself a pair, 'cause Lakai is sticking around." Says Joslin. "We're very excited. This new chapter is going to be awesome. We're going to take it to the moon... Lakai or die, baby. Woo!"
Why are you doing this?
Rank: 1
Mood: 🎉🍾
Watch Toby Ryan's REAL Road to Pro video, released earlier this week in celebration of his PROmotion and in advance of his new video part, which should be online by the time you read this, and you'll gain an understanding of just how much of himself Ryan has put into skateboarding — and how much his family has put into Ryan and his skateboarding.
It is genuinely moving to hear his mother talk about what skating has meant to her son, as an outlet, conduit to friendship, and as a career goal. There have been multiple lives and lifetimes dedicated to making this moment happen, from driving Ryan to the skatepark as a kid to being there on the phone after he nollie-backside-kickflipped Wallenberg.
Besides a long overdue initiation to the professional ranks, it's also a welcome reminder of everything these high-level athletes sacrifice for that moment. And for skateboarders like Chris Joslin, Bastien Salabanzi, Roman Hager, and others who have attached themselves to a rancid, hobbling homunculus like Lakai, it can perhaps answer the question posed by Emerica earlier this week: Why are you doing this? Because this is their lives, their livelihoods, and what they've poured all of themselves into for as long as they can remember. It's not easy to give that up.
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Something to consider:
Ruth Hogarth
Good thing:
Anthony Pappalardo
Another good thing:
Niko Stratis
Good pod round-up:
Posted by
Templeton
An interesting numbers thing:
A nice thing about one of my best buds (and skateboarding's leading climate scientist?):
Alison Auld
A coupla good Dolores things:
Dolores Magazine
Dolores Magazine
An incredible piece of reporting:
Get your hard copies:
Sally Sax, Carleton University
A dispatch from the digital and literal dump: I've got an essay in Welcome to Hell World today about writing to write and the indignities of the modern job market.
Luke O’Neil
Until next week… don't look back in anger, look back like Arto.
Laser Quit Smoking Massage
NEWEST PRESS
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A collection of essays that I think you might like. The Edmonton Journal called it a "local book set to make a mark in 2024," The CBC said it's "quirky yet insightful" (lol), and it won Trade Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2025 Alberta Book Publishing Awards.
Book cover by Hiller Goodspeed.
Right, Down + Circle
ECW PRESS
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I wrote a book about the history and cultural impact of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater that you can find at your local bookshop or order online now. I think you might like this one, too.
Photo via The Palomino.
