With an insatiable desire to snowboard and zero ability to actually get on the mountain (I live in Phoenix where is hasn't rained in 130+ days) I did the next best thing. I bought a skateboard.

Nevermind that I'm 35 and am TERRIBLE on it. I still bought it - much to the bewilderment of my wife. The only problem is that it's tearing up my left calf muscle - so badly that I can't ride or run for days after I get off the board. Is this a common propblem?

I hope this is better.

I have skiied for years and a few seasons ago my "friend" put me on his extra snowboard. I thought OK, I am going to show them how easy it is. 2 Hours of humiliation later and dripping sweat from stuggling to keep getting up I gave it up.
So at 50 plus I bought an offroad skateboard with rear brakes. It didn't take long to get the hang of it and next time I tried snowboarding it was almost easy.
I never had any calf problems.
Later on I bought a motorized skateboard which was fun but a little to dangerous for my taste, so I traded it for a snowboard.

I've found skateboards to be pretty precarious. Poor steering and braking. That said.. I've also found them to be pretty fun :D

its a 44" sims taperkick. Its so much fun on driveways and banks..