Words, Photos, and Ramp by Kyle Hofsass

Sometime back around 2009, with my family’s old hay barn at my disposal, I started building this ramp with the help of my dad and some friends. In hindsight, my dad was probably mostly on board because he wanted to see me struggle to move 20 years of junk he had piled up in the back”” junk that included old washing machines, furniture, boxes of prime antique store swag, as well as a rundown Triumph convertible. But growing up in a small rural town that has barely anything to skate is a pretty big motivator to push you through the dusty allergy induced haze.

The finished ramp sits 4′ tall and 12′ wide, with a nice deck large enough for our old dirty recliner couch. Despite the fact that the underside of the ramp is a wild amalgamation of spare pieces of plywood and 2×4’s, the ramp actually looks pretty clean and polished from the top”” even after 8 years. Sadly, it hasn’t seen much use in recent years, resting pretty quiet until I drive back to visit the folks. On the bright side, the whole thing is screwed straight into the floor of the barn, so it’ll probably stay standing until the barn crumbles in on itself. That’s enough time for me.