Costco Curbs In The NY Times with Conor Dougherty. May 31. 2026. Mostly Skateboarding Podcast.

The most haunting moment in skateboarding isn't a perfect trick or a viral clip—it's the quiet, unspoken awareness that you might never do a trick again. In a deeply personal conversation with Patrick, journalist Conor Dougherty reflects on the emotional weight of 'last times'—the final session with a friend, the last time you land a 360 flip, the last time you see someone you thought you’d always have. These moments, he argues, are where skateboarding’s true power lies: not in athleticism, but in presence. He recounts how a chance reunion with a former skating partner at Costco—after decades apart—became a meditation on impermanence, loss, and the bittersweet beauty of fleeting connections. Dougherty also challenges the myth of skateboarding’s 'golden age,' questioning why younger generations aren’t pushing the sport forward as they should, and why the industry still glorifies elite performance over community. His most radical insight? That the real magic of skateboarding isn’t in the tricks—it’s in the shared, imperfect, everyday act of showing up with friends, even when you’re no longer the best.