Just received a pair of Scoff “military grade” shoe laces (created for skating) in the mail this afternoon. Here’s a pic:
These came just in time to replace the horrid yellow x-country ski boot laces that are standard with my new Osiris Bronx Slims (picked up from the clearance shelf at local Board of Provo):
Unfortunately, these are too short to fit hi-tops, so I’ll have to use them on another pair and hope Scoff releases some 60″+ sizes.
I ordered new bushings and soft risers from Socal Skateshop, which I installed last night and tested before work this morning at the Orem park.
If you notice, my old bushings were crushed and deformed. I realize now this is because they were replacements for Grind King trucks, and GK has it’s own unique style of bushings. So not only do these new GK bushings fit better, they perform better, and I think it has straightened out the hold of the board. You’ll notice that I have replaced the kingpins on these trucks, as the hex bolts that GK packs drill into the board when I tighten them down.
My ride this morning was noticeably smoother; the Orem skatepark has a lot of roll-ins and good transitions. I left my trucks a little looser than normal, so I don’t know if that improved the overall ride, or if the risers had anything to do with it. I really have no way to tell immediately if they disperse the impact and protect my joints, but I may be able to tell after a week of skating.
This trailer for the upcoming movie Machotaildrop gave me chills (think Brazil + Willy Wonka + Animal Chin):
A number of skaters have been talking about the passion and skills demonstrated by the Uganda Skateboard Union, but you have to see it to believe it:
USU Pt 1
USU Pt 2
These guys push equipment and terrain to the limits! You can donate to the Uganda Skateboard Union and help keep that fire alive.
Those of you who know me personally probably know I’m into education and instructional technology. The following 4 minute video highlights some efforts to bring skateboarding into K-12 physical education, and even using skating as a gateway to learning about physics and construction. Au-then-tic!
My brother sent me this vid on how to kickflip, since he knows I still can’t land one moving, and only randomly land them stationary:
Ugly guitar riffs aside, this was probably the best how-to-kickflip video I’ve seen, since it covers positioning of both feet, and mentions that you shouldn’t flick until after you’re well into the ollie (I do that sometimes).
Call it a novelty, a gimmick, but I’ve always been fascinated by the old school freestylers who had mastered the 360 spin. Russ Howell currently holds the world record at 163 360s.
In that context it seems almost asinine that I found it remarkable to pull off 3 spins last night, breaking my previous record of 2. I found that I had to counterintuitively think about moving my upper body before my lower body, otherwise keeping my back aligned and untwisted. The untwisted part seems important to maintain momentum without losing the center.
Motivated by that little step forward, I decided to search online for more tips. I discovered that the champ himself has written extensive instructions on spinning 360s. Here are a few of his many insights:
If the rain lets up today I’ll go out and try again. In the meantime, here’s some video of Russ, in 60s, skating:
I watched “Almost Round Three” tonight courtesy of Netflix. Rather, I gaped, with my mouth hanging open, eyes bulging occasionally, small grunts and whoops emitting from my throat. Aside from a few short clips on YouTube, Round Three was the first skate video I’ve seen since, oh, probably 1993. Things have changed quite a bit.
As with the Jason Adams video I linked to earlier, the Almost team impressed me most by skating anything, anywhere, and constructed crazy stunts around found objects.
My 7 year old son, who hasn’t been interested in skateboarding yet, is suddenly amazed.
I failed to find myself a classic “HAVE YOU SEEN HIM” t-shirt online, so I thought about making my own. Now I could have just taken the Animal Chin newsprint-like photo and ran it through a half-tone filter on Photoshop, but I thought I would try to make a vector version with 1 and 3 colors that would be easy to silk screen. Here’s what I came out with:
animalchin2.ai
They feel a bit “sharp”, and still have some noise that I could work out, but it’s not bad for half an hour in Illustrator.
Discovered this video clip through Tea and Whizz, but had to repost it here as this is what street skating is all about…
In this balls-to-the-walls assault Jason proves NO terrain is unskateable.
