Posted in Skate Journal on December 16th, 2015 by corpo
I probably should have skated outside int he cold as the forecast was calling for a lot of snow later in the night, but I lazily went into the garage instead. I did some manuals to begin. Then took a bit to do a few basic frontside stalls. Front 50, front smith and front tail. I tried to do a back 50 stall, but couldn’t get up the courage in the tight space. I did a few kickflips and was 1/20 on heelflips.
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Nate and I went to the research center in search of dry and found it! We were there a bit before others showed up. Nate had some some good no comply 180s up the curb and flailed some noseslides. I had some noseslides. Then we kind of kept going up the hill further and trying lines and that’s when other people started showing up. Rob, Matt, Dave and Carleigh. Rad crew! It ended up mostly turning into a flatground session and no one was really getting down the hill so we were mostly all together at the top. Rob had long manuals and nose manuals. I also saw a long line with kickflips, shoves, 180s, no complys. Nate had a textbook nollie heel, followed by a nollie tre, a switch front heel, an amazingly long and awesome nose manual. We all tried b/s flips for awhile. Not very many were landed. Matt had his patented treflips flowing, had a couple bigflips, a switch treflip or two. Carleigh had kickflips, nollie shoves, 180s, came really close to b/s flip. Dave had some buttery manuals, regular and switch no complies, kickflips. I had one slow 360 flip, a few fakie big flips and other regular tricks of mine, but mostly struggled. We hit the shady ledge for awhile. Nate had good back 50s, couldn’t quite get back 5-0, and did a good noseslide. I had a few crooks that felt awesome and a couple bad back 50s. Matt had back 50s, tried back smith and back tail. I can’t seem to remember what the goofy footers did. Carleigh may have done noseslide shove. Rob halfcab boardslide pop out I think. Dave had a solid front 50 and may have gotten into front crooks. Then it was time to drop Nate off at the bus for his flight back to Portland. Doh. Fun skating with you dude!
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After dropping off Nate I went in search of a place to do wallies for the game. At first I tried on this kink of a wall off the bike patch near my house. Technically I got a couple, but they were so bad I didn’t put them in the clip. Then I went to campus in hopes of finding something to wallie. I ended up above. The spot was harder then it looks as there is no runway. I should have probably cleaned it up, but the slam hurt more then it should and it was getting cold. I was walking back to my car thinking I would wait to try a new trick until some other day. But then I saw the 5 stair and it was saying “Hey Glen, firecracker me!” So I tried. It took me awhile actually. I’ve never done more then 4 shorter stairs so this was a challenge for me. When I got it I was quite hyped. It was funny because there were a ton of students in the building behind me studying and I kind of felt bad. On top of that I had my phone propped up against a cup I found in the trash in the middle of a busy sidewalk. Luckily no one stepped on it. Fun day!
Posted in Skate Journal on December 12th, 2015 by corpo
Had an extremely lazy day full of resting and chilling. It was wonderful. During the day I changed my setup in a couple ways. First I switched out baseplates to the regular baseplate. It doesn’t set the axles as far apart. I haven’t been super hyped on how my trucks were turning and seemed to recall them turning better when it’s set back a little. Who really knows. I also put some pretty much brand new spitfires that were in my garage. I’m not sure why i swapped them out awhile ago. So yeah. I spent more time switching my setup then I did skating. I basically just did tricks until I almost fell and then went inside. It was still very fun. Nose manual, nose manual both 180s out, front 180 nose manual 180 out, switch too, back 180 nose man 180 out. It’s all so fun.
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Nate and I met John, Blake, Rob, Dave and Matt at the Lafayette park on a cool, but nice Friday around noon. We were the only ones at the park. This park rules when there aren’t a bunch of people there. Everyone kind of did their own thing to warm up. It seemed like there were quite a few people in the toilet bowl. Matt was front boarding and back lipping the bump to flat bar though. He’s good. Dave seemed to be on a mission. He was doing back 50s across the whole manny pad ledge and slappy crooks on the shark fin, he would eventually 50 up the whole thing too. So gnar. I got a couple front 50s to manual, but I was kind of plagued with that slow feeling and not very confident again. There was a ton going on, so it’s so hard to remember what everyone did. Eventually a hubba/ledge session would transpire. It was rad. Nate had boardslide and feeble down the round rail. Matt front lipped it, but that was probably too easy for him. Dave worked up to it and then did a bunch of boardslides to fakie with a ton of style. Blake had some moves down it too and did front 50 shove off the enlarged Pier 7 replica. I would eventually get a little noseslide on that too. Rob boardslide the whole bump to ledge, Nate 50’d it, Matt back tail’d it. John, Nate and Matt did ollies over the round hump in the snake run. We played a game of SKATE that Blake would eventually win with a 360 shove it. I had done decent earlier in the game until acquiring a bunch of letters from Rob tricks that I should probably have learned by now. Cab, backside no comply 360, and a couple others, but I was hyped to actually land a backside 180 one foot. After the game most of us tried 360 shoves for awhile. I think most people would get it. Then it was kind of a free-for-all and at one point Nate did a 360 shove, then John did an impossible and I followed with 360 flip. Fun times. Then it was off to eat with Rob and Nate which was awesome. Well, except there wasn’t much for me to eat, but hanging with those guys was cool at least.
After that Nate and I stopped at Arapahoe Ridge for what we figured would be a 5 minute skate before realizing we were too sore to skate. But nope, Nate shredded. I didn’t do much of anything, but after seeing Nate nose manual down the long 3 stairs I was able to nose manual down one set. Then I filmed Nate for awhile get the double down nose manual as well as a banger going up. Manual to nose manual to nollie shove up. Sick! Stubborns!
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Feeling sore and tired from the Crisis premiere Nate and I went to Thornton park. Nate was super hyped as I suspected because this park rules. We pretty much had the park to ourselves and Bernie showed after about an hour of skating. Everyone skated decent it seemed. I was still in a bit of a funk, but skated better. The noseslide to manual to back 180 out hyped me up as did Nate’s line above. Nate did back 50s over the manny pad all easy, had some cool manuals/nose manuals across the slant. Bernie showed. We took awhile to do the kickflips/180s above. I made the physical challenge of 10 tricks on the ledge at the bottom of the bank above. I started off really sucking, but would eventually get to 10 or more. The back 50 was the scariest. My legs didn’t want to pop at all. Bernie and Nate did some bangers. Bernie had front smith 180, almost front smith kickflip out. Nate had back 5-0, back nosegrind, back smith. My “better” tricks were front 50 back 180 out, front 50 shove out. As much as I sucked it made me how rarely I skate a ledge like this. I need to do it more. We played a “no mercy” game of SKATE that I think Bernie would eventually beat Nate with a cab flip. I couldn’t back nosegrind the tiny ledge. Good session.
After some Chipotle we met Matt at Safeway ledge. I was beat. I got a couple 50s then just hucked front crooks for awhile before giving up and walking over to the auto parts store to get a new headlight. Matt and Nate ripped it up. Nate did a fakie back tail, front tails and some other tricks I’m forgetting. Matt did all of the basics going fast. Front 5-0 180, fakie nosegrind 180, front 5-0 shove, front tail front shove. So good.
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You know those people that you skate with really well? That you always have fun with. Nate is one of those people. I picked him up at the airport after working a half day. It was very nice out. I didn’t have a real plan and we ended up going to Commerce City park on a whim. Man that park is awesome. Especially when no one is there. We both just kind of carved around for awhile before the ollies and grinds started flowing. One of the first things we tried was to manual the long backside ledge. Neither of us got it, but for different reasons. Mine was that I couldn’t comfortably ollie that high. Ugh. Nate’s was that he couldn’t drop off that far. I went on to suck at back 50s, and well all grinds and slides. Nate on the other hand was totally ripping. Back 5-0s, back nosegrinds, front 5-0s, front tails to fakie, front lips, all easy. At one point he did a fakie back 50s first try. Ripping. I got close to a few nosegrinds, but basically didn’t skate the ledges worth a crap. Nate and I both kickfipped and back 180’d up the euro.
We hit this little manny pad for a bit too. I manualled it first try which beat Nate to the manual. But then I couldn’t nose manual it to save my life. Nate however, got to nollie nose manual shove out and I filmed it. Radical
Then we went to the DIY spot and Carleigh and Lazer met us. Nate was ripping and hungry. He did lots wallies over the smaller qp, boardslide transfers, blunt transfers, wallies, ripping. Lazer did quite a few tricks on the qp. Carleigh was kind of in chill mode for obvious reasons (Crisis premiere a few hours away). I posed wallies. After awhile Carleigh, Lazer and I tried 10 tricks on the QP. Carleigh and I started out with the same few. Lazer rattled off a bunch of cool ones, the pivot on the side into the steep was rad. I was fishing for ideas for a 10th trick when Lazer suggested kickflip to fakie. I posed it. It felt doable. 50 tries later I landed it very poorly. It hyped me up. Off to dinner and the Crisis premiere!!!
Met Rob and Dave at Blue Skies on a warm December day. Like 55 degrees! It was a little breezy at times, but basically perfect. I had a new pair of PJs. I’ve been wearing them for like 6 months so they are more then broken in. I did quite a few kickflips to get them broken in though. Dave and Rob warmed up in their normalish ways too. Fakie shoves on the bank for Dave. Crailtaps for Rob. Boardslides on the flatbar for all. Rob would go on to do crailtaps on the “quarterpipe” too which I thought was gnar. Him and Dave would try them on the big bank as well. I had did both kickflip to fakie attempts so I didn’t have to worry about Dave showing me up again. Dave was trying feebles on the dragon rail. Rob almost crooksing a tall ledge. I was trying a line of crooks up an escalator ledge, b/s flip on the main bank, back 50 up the other escalator ledge. I was struggling with the last two tricks and having confidence issues. Flip tricks were going ok though. I would eventually get the line, but I was hardly even moving on the back 50. It was so scary to me for some reason. I need to start skating faster again, but it’s hard this time of year. Something happens to my confidence. I had a good time with the boys though.
Picked up Carleigh and met Blake and Nolan at Lafayette park around 7:30. The park wasn’t crowded and the only people there were skateboarders. That’s a rare site at Lafayette so that was cool. Carleigh hadn’t skated in awhile. I hadn’t skated tranny in awhile. Blake and Nolan were ripping the toilet bowl. We were all there for a bit then kind of spread out and did our own things before we mostly skated the main rock. Carleigh almost got a line of feeble on the rock and then feeble to fakie on the tight qp. Nolan did that line above 3rd try. Blake almost did a backside nosepick which would have been crazy. I had a wallrides and wallies over the corner of it. The wallies over the corner are one of the funnest things at the park. Also fun is the little granite ledge. Although it is a bummer you can really only hit it one way. I saw Blake back 5-0 back 180 out. Nolan would get a darkslide on it towards the end of the night. Yes, that was correct, a dark slide. Nolan can do anything. I love grinding granite and got a few tricks on it. Front 50, front 5-0, front 50 shove, front 5-0 shove, front 50 front 180 out. The front 5-0 shove out was first try and it’s been months since I’ve landed it so it felt great. I know a lot more went down then I’m listing here, but it was a fun night for sure.
I had a busy morning of yoga, tennis with Liz and then basketball with Ollie. For some reason basketball KILLS my legs. So after all of that Ollie and I went to the legendary Boulder spot downtown. Rob and Dave were there too. Omi randomly appeared on his cruiser board after awhile and sessioned with us. For awhile we rotated on the quarterpipe rattling off tricks. I was happy with a backside blunt. Ollie was doing rock ‘n rolls both ways and little grinds. It was cool to see. I did some lame ollies onto the ledge then dropped into a pole ride which wasn’t very hard, but pretty fun. It took me a few tries. Dave did it first try. I started trying to line out with the curb earlier in the alley. I got a couple of lines, but I was moving at a snails pace. Kickflip up the curb, back 180 off, halfcab flip, front pivot to fakie. Kickflip up the curb, back 180 off, fakie flip on flat, fakie pivot to fakie (although I think it was more of a smith). I also got a shove it off the curb. So I kind of missed what the others were doing. After that Rob, Ollie and I were mainly skating the QP while Dave and Omi were skating the manny pad. Rob did front tail, back disaster, crailblock all steezy. Ollie was trying blunts and SLAMMED. Maybe his worst skate slam that I’ve seen. He took it fine. I got a couple front blunt to front axle, but couldn’t quite get front pivot. Ollie and I were pretty much done at that point. We watched the others skate the ledge for a bit which was cool. Rob did a couple good manuals. Dave did ollie up, back 180 off (the hard way), Omi almost got ollie up, kickflip off. Fun day. Stoked that Ollie had fun.
Met Dave, Rob, Bernie and Garrett at this spot shortly after lunch on a nice winter day. I hadn’t been to this spot since they redid it. It is amazing. The warm up process is easier when pumping a bank is involved. Warmups were no comply bigspin for Rob and I. B/s flip for Bernie and I. Hardflip fakie for Bernie. Wallies on the corner for Garrett. Filming for Dave. Ha. I started messing around with a bean plant wallride/bash to fakie. I have no idea why, it just seemed like a cool trick to do there. I would get one kind of quickly with a hand push off then took like 30 more tries to land another one. Garrett did wallie front 180 over the hip so sick. Bernie was doing f/s flips and trying this crazy rock ‘n roll on the corner of the wall. It was bonkers. He got close quite a few times. Rob had smooth wallrides, b/s one foot ollies, close to b/s no comply finger flip. Dave started skating after I finally landed the beanplant trick and quickly rattled off a bunch of tricks. Fakie wallride, switch no comply, switch no comply 360, invert wallride. Bernie won a fakie treflip race. I slammed pretty hard trying to push switch through a crack before the bank. Everyone left except Dave and I. We just kept messing around having fun. We skated the hip for awhile. Dave did 360s, boneless, almost cab big spin. I did a weak sauce b/s flip, boneless, a fakie bigfip where I landed going the same way I came from. The ‘hip’ is round and there is no defined spots to take off from so it’s just kind of weird. After awhile this lady with a baby and a dog showed up to the playground that is right there. The dog was running after us behind the fence barking and barking and barking. It was quite annoying. I did a fun varial flip to fakie. Then we ended as I tried 360 flip to fakie for a long time and Dave tried varial flip to fakie. I managed to get an ‘over 40’ make of the treflip which was a pretty rad ender for a super fun session.
