Skate Reanimate

My first meeting wasn’t until 10am, and it was a webinar, so I took advantage and skated a quick session at the Pacifica park, just like old times. I worked the whole park as well as I could, finding myself pretty out of practice, and my feet clumsy. I lacked mastery of speed to really take advantage of the park side coping, so I should work on that.

I returned to the park on my lunch break and spent a good hour working the shallow bowl, feeling out some early grabs on (but not over) the hip, grabbing the nose during my kick turns on the deep end in the hopes of making BS airs an inevitability sooner or later. Still pretty freaked out by true 50-50s on the pool coping, though carved 5-0s are feeling pretty decent, if short.

I felt pretty good ollieing on the new board, and managed stepping up the levels on the far west side of the park.
To do: Speed and control

I landed in San Jose for a couple days of business meetings in the Bay Area, but unfortunately I didn’t land early enough to hit Lake Cunningham, so I settled for Roosevelt skatepark, which is a bit closer to the airport.

This park is pretty sick. It was a perfect mini-ramp end of the bowl, and the bowl itself is a perfect mix of vert 8′ and pocketed 6′ walls with a big hump in the middle. I learned a lot watching the locals cruise around, and was able to make a few runs of it myself. I spent most of my time on the mini-ramp end with some of the locals, just working my very small and humble repertoire. Still need to get comfortable with more speed. I did find I can launch out of transitions better just by being a bit more aggressive and even just jumping as if the board were glued.

To do: Pick up speed on grinds, launch out of transitions

David and I skated Springville. I worked the mini-ramp most of the time, working on fakie to BS 50-50s (a 270 turn?) without much luck, and board slides. The board slide thing I think I’m getting: keep your weight on the back foot, stay over the board, and you are glued to the grip as you come back in.

To do: boardslides on the mini-ramp

With a little time after work but before dinner, I spent just over an hour at the Mission Valley YMCA park, a favorite skatepark of mine thanks to it’s great bowl, a solid street course, a nearly perfect 3′ mini, it’s 12′ half-pipe and a beautiful wooden bowl.

The wooden bowl was in good repair, and I found several other middle-aged guys ripping it up. I found under their influence I rode more aggressively, if sloppily. At any rate, last time I was here I couldn’t pull off either a smith or rock-to-fakie, but managed both today.

I ran up to Encinitas tonight to skate the Ecke YMCA park only to find it closed, so I scuttled down to Carmel Valley, where the huge 6′/11′ bowl was empty and, to be honest, well beyond my meagre skills. But I rode it a few times anyway just to prove I could.

What I couldn’t do, was hit the tile. Next time, maybe.

So I spent the rest of the time in the street section, working my little 50-50s and smiths on the quarter and making ollie-like movements over the hips and banks.

Chad and I skated the new mini ramp at We Are One in Sandy. It’s a nice little 4′ design, but the pine surface is still really slick, and I spent most of my time getting used to it.

I pulled David out of engage-retirement to skate Springville, working hard across the park. I spent enough attempts on boardsliding the mini that I think I’ve figured out the balance, and weighting on the back foot.

Again I rose early to discover the Channel Street skatepark, a super-gnarly, independently constructed series of bowls under the freeway overpass in west Long Beach. Seriously, this park was several grades above my capability, but I did do my best on the smaller section, exercising my wits and reflexes on this tight and unpredictable set of walls:

Here’s the rest of it:

I rose early and found the Houghton Skatepark in Long Beach empty and beautiful:

I didn’t push myself nearly hard enough on this smooth and very tight little bowl, but still enjoyed a short session before starting the workday.

I managed a quick sessions at the Sandy park during my lunch break. Nothing special, just taking it easy and heating the blood.