skate journal: Arvada park solo fun (Feb 19, 2013)

Posted in New Wheels, Skate Journal on February 20th, 2013 by corpo

wheels

Ollie totally wanted me to sit and watch the Nuggets game with me. I was so tempted. My legs were still really sore. But with the threat of snow a day away Liz made me go skate. Ok, well she told me I should. Good woman. I had finally setup some new wheels. As you can see those little 50mm wheels had worn out quite a bit. I’d say they were 48, maybe even down to 47. So bad! So I went back to the good ol’ supernullethane. When I got to the park there was about 5 people total there. For such a huge park that is almost nothing. I just cruised around for awhile not doing much of anything. It was a blast. I pumped the vert wall of the snake run a few times and probably got about 3 feet from the top. That thing is gnarly. Did some tricks on the tiny qp above it for awhile and ended up with a really fun run. Front feeble on the tiny qp, front 50 the ledge into the bank, ollie into the next bank, ollie into the next bank over the mini step up, ollie up the euro (missed the manual), backside flip on the blue bank. Good times. For the most part I didn’t really skate anything for longer then a few minutes. It was fun cruising around and hitting stuff. In the mini ramp it took a few tries, but I got a run with a front rock, front d and a fakie back smith to fakie. Doing flip tricks was a bit harder getting used to how the bigger wheels rotate. I didn’t land many of them. Then again it was in the low 30s and I was wearing long johns and a jacket. At the end of the session I battled back 50s on the little granite Pier 7 replica thing. It basically took until 30 second left of light to get it. Whew. I’m not sure what’s up with me enjoying skating parks so much, but I’ve never really done it solo before and it’s fun working on stuff I would never do in front of people.

Lakai Brea shoe review

Posted in Product Review, Shoe Reviews on February 20th, 2013 by corpo

click for high res action son

shoe-lakai-brea-sole

Rating: ★★★★½ STYLE
Rating: ★★★½☆ COMFORT
Rating: ★★★½☆ BOARD FEEL
Rating: ★★★½☆ BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: ★½☆☆☆ SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: ★★★★½ UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: ★★★☆☆ OVERALL

These shoes lasted 11 skate days.

It isn’t any mystery that Lakai is one of my favorite shoe brands. And for good reason. They are skater owned, their shoes are simple, their team is amazing, they make videos and the colorways are always on point. I’ve had a couple of the Brea’s and decided it’s time to get my shoe reviews going again. I am not a fan of the thick insole Lakai has been putting in their vulcanized shoes. I take them out and use some old sole tech insoles along with my orthodic insoles. I have never cared about insoles in shoes though. If I don’t like them I will just use some old ones that I do like (although I should note that my wife probably cares considering some insoles I’ve used for like six months straight). I always wear my shoes for awhile before skating too. I have never thought shoes should be perfect for skating right out of the box. With that said, I may have put these in the work rotation a little longer then most meaning they took awhile to break in. But it was worth it. It’s a great skate shoe. The upper never needed shoe goo which is incredible by my standards. The sole was not so durable though. The tread pattern wore off pretty quick and as you can see I eventually wore through it. I am pretty well known for blowing through shoes quickly though. I do a lot of flip tricks, clean my griptape and weigh almost two hundred bills.

Overall I like this shoe.

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