skate journal: some street spots in portland before i headed out (march 3, 2015 day 62)

Posted in New Deck, Skate Journal on March 4th, 2015 by corpo

We hit this right after getting off the bus. Nate front boarded up and across a lot of the ledge. It was amazing. He had also front 50’d up pretty easy. I couldn’t 50 because my trucks were too wide and would lie flat on the curb which wasn’t slick enough for that. I wanted to boardslide across and down the ledge, but never got that warmed up. We went and ate and Ben Raybourn walked by. That was cool.

Then we skated this spot for a couple hours. Nate did nose manual drop down to nose manual. So sick. He got close to a bunch more as well. Fakie manual, pop shove nose manual, and more. I did quite a few little 180s, came close to nose manual to tailslide, did switch 180 up one then quickish b/s flip up the next. Kickflips up. Not enough manuals though. We ended with a game of SKATE. Nate once again avoided the tricks I’ve never done therefor allowing me to win. Although I did land some good ones for me. Heelflip, 360 flip, nollie 360 flip, b/s flip, fakie bigflip. Fun trip. Man that was a lot of skating.

(setup 8.25 venture wides bones med bushings no washers null wheels)

skate journal: bellevue and northgate parks in seattle (march 2, 2015 day 61)

Posted in Skate Journal on March 4th, 2015 by corpo

A video posted by Joshua Pluger (@boredzinejp) on

Bellevue park. Wow if you could have seen us attempting to warm up at this park early in the morning. We were all hurting. It was hilarious, or depressing. You choose. We started a little session on the stairs where we would ride on to the stairs and grind across them. It helped us get going. In fact I was pretty hyped on front 50 back 180 out I landed. Josh had some bad slams, but pulled through for some ripping. Lots of tricks over the qp hip. Manuals around the bank. Nate ripped too. The feeble transfer was amazing. He also had some crazy manuals on the banked manny pad. Good back 50s on the pier 7 ledge, maybe back 5-0 too. I managed one lousy back 50 on in, but lots of crooks which felt good because grinding granite is awesome. Chip from Old Dog Skates joined us and put together a sick kickflip to fakie. Filming each other’s lines was pretty fun.

Then we attempted to skate more. This was a new park. It was bizarre. Shove as many features as possible into one area and hope for the best. Josh figured it out pretty quick and was linking lines with lots of f/s ollies. He didn’t hesitate to do front and back lips all over the place. The front lip on a 5foot qp to 1 foot qp was sick. Pushing up to the park I could barely lean down to push. It was surprisingly cold. Nate and I found some stoke on a mini qp. We both did our first transfer to front tails. Also transfer front 50, front lip. Pretty fun. I got a little hurricane on it too. The tight qp that Josh did the front rock on in the photo was fun. Nate got boardslides and board to fakie. I got rock ‘n roll and axle stall. Josh may have gone as far as front tails even. I had a fun line in the park with back 50, front d and then front rock. Josh has me inspired to not suck at transition so much. Then we skated the ledge area for awhile that had a big puddle making it hard. I was sucking so bad, but somehow in a good mood about. Giggling and making fun of myself. The locals were laughing. Josh and Nate did quick up nose manuals. I kind of got quick up back 50. Then I tried front 50 shove and cracked my board. Kept trying it and snapped my nose real good. It was funny because the three of us cheered and said “Yeah now we can go!” We were so beat. Normally when I’m so tired and skating bad I get angry, so that was nice.

(setup 8.25 venture wides bones med bushings no washers null wheels)

skate journal: lots more skateparks in seattle (march 1, 2015 day 60)

Posted in Skate Journal on March 4th, 2015 by corpo

Up early on another sunny Seattle day we started at Crown Hill skate dot. We mostly skated the ramp. Josh killed it. Bean plants, back lips, front lips, slob plants (I think), front tails, back tails, he got it all. Nate and I struggled. I would eventually get front disasters, front rocks, fakie stall to fakie and it felt like more, but I can’t remember it now.

A video posted by Joshua Pluger (@boredzinejp) on

Then Nate and I skated the ledge for a bit. You can see what we did. It was really tight.

A photo posted by Joshua Pluger (@boredzinejp) on

Then we met some of the Amigos owners at another skate dot. This one was more ledge oriented. I’m guessing I accidently got some gluten in me as I was stiff as a board. I didn’t feel like skating at all which kind of sucked because the ledges were cool and meeting those guys was rad. Nate went off. Nosegrinds both ways, front 5-0 back 180 out, tailslides, so much more. Sasha can do every front 50 variation there is. It ruled. Fakie front 50 switch bigspin out? Yeap. Justin has super good style and knocked down some fast basics. Josh did a no comply on the bank that was crazy good, big ollies on the gnarly qp, back tail, back tail shove on the ledge. I couldn’t even get front 5-0 shove. Did a decent crooks to fakie for me and managed to win the big group game of SKATE.

Then we went to Green Lake again. I tried to skate, but my body was shut down. After throwing my board out of the park I settled on just filming Josh rip it. I mean look at that!

A video posted by Joshua Pluger (@boredzinejp) on

After dinner with Josh’s fam we went out to ATS indoor skatepark for Old Man night. I thought I was gonna have to sit it out, but a warm up run of boardslide then kickflip on the bank worked so I kept at it. Josh was cruising around doing all kinds of radical maneuvers. Fakie fast plant, front 360, boneless, lipslides, f/s flips, everything. Nate and I skated the corner for a bit. He was doing rad powerslides down a hump, carving the vert wall good then almost getting pivots to fakie. I managed a front feeble to fakie. Nate beat me to bonelesses on the bank. I almost got a few trannie tricks on the little qp. Took a long time to get a bigflip on the bank and Nate worked for a sick f/s flip that Josh and I both missed. There was lots of rad skating going on. Seattle has a sick scene. Stoked to see it for a bit and happy that Josh has so many friends to skate with.

(setup 8.25 venture wides bones med bushings no washers null wheels)

skate journal: martha lake, shoreline parks in seattle (feb 28, 2015 day 59)

Posted in Favorite, Skate Journal on March 4th, 2015 by corpo

martha lake skatepark

Saw this skatepark in Josh’s 40th Bday clip and thought it looked really fun. Turns out it’s even funner then it looks. Maybe one of the funnest parks I’ve skated. Once again it’s been almost a week since I skated before writing this so remembering everything that went down is impossible. We met a few of Josh’s friends there. Austin, Ted, Billy, Russel and probably a couple names I’m forgetting. Josh flew all over that park like it was nothing. He might be the only person that skated the mellowish quarterpipes. I had a blast. I was even little-kid-excited at the start not knowing what to try. It was all so fun. Nate and I agreed this was our favorite park. Mainly because it had an absolutely perfect ledge surrounded by fun stuff. I did a manual across the steeper bank, almost kickflip manual, kickflip over the f/s hip, b/s flip over the hip, was the last to nose manual the first pod. Nate and Josh manualed then dropped to nose manual on the second one. I went nose manny to manny. Landed on crooks shove a few times. Bigflip on the bank, fakie flip, kickflip to fakie from low to high. Nate did a Texas Plant!!! So rad. Maybe he’ll get to posting it some day (hint).

A video posted by Joshua Pluger (@boredzinejp) on

hammer

Then we went to Shoreline Park. We were warned the locals might not be so nice. Turns out they were incredibly nice. Ha. Except the parents. I was trying to wallie onto the ledge in the photo then drop to the lower ledge and my board came close to a toddler playing near the park. I told the parent her son was in danger and she yelled at me telling me she had a right to be there. What a stupid lady. The park was crowded when we first got there. So much was going on. It ended up being a really fun park. Maybe as good as Martha Lake, just different. Nate and I skated the ledges a lot. I had made a mental note of the tricks I wanted to do and did all of them. That is about as rare as it gets for me. I did the front 50 on the top ledge and dropped onto the downhill ledge, front 50’d the downhill ledge, front 50’d the ledge into the bank, did the really fun boneless over the rail, kickflip over the hip and ended with b/s flip over the hip and setting up with an axle stall on the qp. Nate back 50’d the ledge to bank and the bank to ledge. Ha. Kickflip over the hip and maybe nollie heel. Josh did every transition trick on the quarterpipe, front 50 and front tail the ledge on the pyramid and across the bank to ledge, slappy down the ledge. It was warm. Then we had to leave. Such a fun day. One of my favorites.

(setup 8.25 venture wides bones med bushings no washers null wheels)

skate journal: some street skating in portland then some green lake action in seattle (feb 27, 2015 day 58)

Posted in Skate Journal on March 4th, 2015 by corpo

Nate and I missed the bus the early bus to Seattle which ended up working out because it was pretty darn nice in Portland. We started here and played a game of SKATE. Nate took honors with tricks like treflip and fakie treflip. He had thought he’d be feeling bad and resort to switch and nollie tricks, but he didn’t. Which is even more of an insult! Ha.

balls

Then I ollied one of these balls and 180’d off the two stair before we went and skated one of the jankiest banks ever.

natedog

This was seriously so hard to skate. Especially the bank to curbish side. The concrete was so rough. You would take three steps, throw your board down, push as hard as you can twice and most likely not even make it up to the rock to pivot on. I managed a front tail. Nate managed a front pivot and a back pivot after slamming super hard. Then we skated the other side and did the professional level tricks you see on the gram yo.

greenrake

After a bus ride to the colder and drearier city of Seattle Josh quickly brought us to his favorite “Street spot”. Green Lake Skatepark. I did not skate well. Josh murdered it. Nate struggled a bit too, but always does rad stuff. I’m trying to remember specifics which is hard since we went there twice. I was really surprised by the mandatory Chuck Taylors to look cool there. We pumped around the flow bowl for awhile. Well, Nate and I pumped around it, Josh did tricks in it. Nate and Josh did boardslides off the edge of the jersey barrier thing. And learned front boards off it too. Some dude did a Texas plant right in front of Nate which was really funny. He still had to do them for our game of OLDFART. I did a dumb early grab off a ledge to ride across the park holding on still to grind off a ledge. Nate cali grinded off the kicker. Josh ripped the spine, quarter pipes and bank to curb. So many tricks. I managed to roll in backside and do a front tail, but couldn’t get a front smith. I had to give up. Right at the end I started trying kickflip wallrides on the bank to steeper bank. Got close to a good one, then landed a sketchy one. It cheered me up a little at least.

(setup 8.25 venture wides bones med bushings no washers null wheels)

skate journal: street skating in portland!!! (feb 26, 2015 day 57)

Posted in Favorite, Skate Journal on March 4th, 2015 by corpo

What a crazy day. Started at 4am Mountain time running to a bus stop in a bunch of new snow and 5 degree temperature. Then I was in soggy Portland eating and drinking coffee with Nate and PJ. After lunch it was dry. So naturally Nate and I went skating. We started out at the curved ledge/bank spot that our big crew had skated for hours over the summer. The ledge itself was wet. We did a few basic flippers and stuff before Nate suggested we move on. So we went to the spot above that we wanted to skate last time. Nate front 50’d it first try and it was on. Took me a little longer to get going, but we ended up tally’ing quite a few tricks. Nate did front 50, front 5-0, front 5-0 180 out, front tail, front tail to fakie and front noseslide. I got front 50, front 5-0 (intended to be front 50), front noseslide (not past the crack), front noseslide to fakie (past the crack!) and front 50 shove which took a long time. At this point I was already super hyped on the trip. We skated the metal thing in the middle a bit too. We both did ollie on then front slash then ollie or 180 off.

quick step

Remembering all of what happened next is going to be impossible a week later as I write this. I think we ended up here next. It was slightly drizzling which made it scary at first. So I just dropped in and did cali grinds off of it. Then an early grab cali grind off it. That’s what the photo of me is. Not even close to what you thought eh? It was fun. It dried up and we skated the ledge. Nate killed some fast back 50s and maybe back 5-0 too. I got crooks. We both did front 50s.

nate-noseman-portland

This was right up the block and was one of my favorite spots of the trip some how. We both did nose manual into the bank then manual the 2 stair section. Sounds basic. It was. And surprisingly fun.

nate-curb-portland

We ended up here for awhile. Nate manual’d and nose mannyd the thread the needle pad quick. I took a long time to manual it. Nate got a no comply flip over the parking block. I fell on a few. We had fun surfing the little reflectors.

whiteledge

This was fun for a minute. Had a fun noseslide to fakie then switch 180 off the curb. It was scary though because of so much traffic. There was also a little ledge drop that I rode off of that was kinda tall. Then we ended up at the crazy mossy area that Silas destroys in a Portland video. It was a really humbling spot that was so much harder to skate then I would have imagined. Nate did some super rad nose mannies the hard way (backside) and manualled another ledge before trying to 180 nose manual a 3rd. I could not ollie onto the ledge backside. All I did was some front 180’s up and switch front 180s off. Might have done kickflilp up/off. Then as the rain started up again I manual’d a box that Nate manual’d ever try and then sloppily ollied onto a tall ledge and slowly dropped off it. Pretty fun. We were beat so the rain was probably somewhat of a blessing.

(setup 8.25 venture wides bones med bushings no washers null wheels)