skate journal: jake’s bday bash valmont/dog park/saul’s (jan 23, 2022)
On a very nice morning I arrived to a very icy and wet dog park. It was too frozen to spread out, but we did some then hit Valmont park for a while. There were a lot of people there which makes writing this mostly impossible. Rob is back so it was great having him in the mix and getting reacquainted on the board. Eric, Cass, Brian, Dave, Ted, Kyle, Kevin, so many more in the mix. At Valmont I got a first try kickflip to fakie on the bank and a couple new things on the hip ledge. I did noseslide then kickflip fakie which I’ve done before but then I also did b/s flip after which was harder for some reason. Also managed to get a crook! Been wanting to do that for a long time. Jake played noseslide with me. Ed had some popped ollies.
Then we went over to dog park and gave it a good squeegee and had some dry stuff to skate. Jake and I played our traditional game of SKATE. I got lucky this time around as it was SKAT-SKAT and I won the treflip battle. And maybe even in less than 10 tries and I think it was at least 300 degrees. Ha. Cass had joined us for some flippers. Kevin showed an did some ledges basics that make me jealous first try. I would have some fun on the little ledge with front 50 180 and Joe H first tries, crooks the benches, a very bad slam trying to switch front nose off the pad that took me out for a while. Collin had sick slappy feebles on the green curb. Jake nollie back tail the narrow bench then bluntslide the flat bar. Brian bluntslides the parking block and trying to back 50 like Rob. Kevin doing his signature trick (switch nosegrind 180) was a thing of beauty. Eric heelflip a parking block all smooth like in a line. Dave was crushing it as I sat with Kevin and Cass chilling and drinking my breakfast smoothie. Front 5-0 180, back 5-0 180, switch 180 50.
Then we went to Saul’s. I thought I would be too sore to skate, but somehow got a second wind. Maybe it was because I felt inspired by how hard Kevin was shredding. Seriously shredding. Just look at the line above! That was his end game. My end game was a line of carve grind, axle stall, kickturn then kickflip. I was hyped to get the kickflip though even if it was only 1/4 up the transition. Dave had some good grinds while adjusting to how weird Thunders turn. Ted had never been there before and was doing switch carves and back ds within a few runs. Saul treated us to his patented firing lines. Fun day, great homies, beautiful weather. Sorry for beating you at SKATE on your bday Jake ( I mean not really since I landed a treflip in like 10 tries).
(setup 8.25 null vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer no big washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 with thin 440 insole)
(pain level 4/10 some achilles mostly just general soreness)