skate journal: #cali4niahotstubborns burning up at griffith then late night curbage (sept 1, 2017)
First spot was Griffith Park. The minivan said it was 104 degrees. It felt hotter then that as we walked up the ditch from our car and even hotter as we began skating in it. I was kind of the loner that skated the smaller bank for awhile, dropping in and eventually ollieing in. Most skating the weird opening at the bottom of the tall bank. I guess Nate did a front board shove transfer. Fuzz did front tail to fakie. Jack did a kickflip manual down it. Wow. Rob and Dave joined me trying tricks into the smaller bank. Surprisingly Dave struggled to ollie in. It was weird though because the roll away was obstructed with water so you had to roll down the bank at an angle. I tried fakie bigflip for awhile. I thought it would happen quickly, but at one point Rob came over offering water and I said “not until I land it”. At that point I knew I was going to keep struggling and the risk of heat stroke was real. As I was trying it Jack was trying the kickflip manual in the big bank again. The heat really sucked. Then Carleigh and Nate started joining me trying tricks in. It hyped me up, but after a bit I had to give up and rest in the shade. I was close to throwing up. Jack did throw up. Carleigh got a pop shove in and Nate did back 180. Jack and Dave joined in on the fun. Dave got wallie off this weird cement chunk into the bank. Jack did a gnarly kickflip in then ollie into the tight bank by the opening, ghetto bird in too. I went back up as Carleigh battled varial flips and Nate tried nollie big heel. Carleigh was first landing it so good. I got her back with a very terrible fakie bigflip where I stopped at 90 degrees then kind of slid for a bit and turned it in. I should have tried again, but I was too hot and lost all my motivation. Nate got his trick a few tries later. So sick! We skated the ditch area for awhile. Dave had some sick front board pop outs and front 50s. But water in the ditch prevented it from being easily skateable. Fuzz got into some locked back smiths on the no-curb part, Rob got front smith 180 out and some steezy bean plants. I had some fun back 5-0s.
After a break, some food and a drink or two we went skating around 10pm. We started by just pushing for blocks. I hated it. Others enjoyed it, but pretty much nothing is worse for my plantar fasciitis than pushing non-stop. Nate and I stopped at kind of famous manny pad stair spot for a bit. There are 3 sets of 3 or 4 stairs in a row that can be skated as ledges or manny pads. We caught up to the crew around the block at a Jack In The Box and enjoyed some excellent socal red curbs. We skated it for a long time, it was a blast. Everyone got slappys. It’s hard to remember them all, but Jack had some super long ride on back 5-0s, a hilarious slam trying to kickflip in the middle of a slappy, some incredible no comply flips over a median. Carleigh had ride on grinds and toasted the curb with a few slappys. Dave got buck with slappys in all directions, sometimes to tailslide, sometimes crooks to fakie. Regardless of what Rob says he was indeed slappying and they were super long and sick. I know he had some unique ones, but I’m forgetting now. Fuzz and Nate had long ride on grinds. Man it was fun. We hung out at the Convention Center hubba for awhile. It’s amazing that people can skate that. Then it was the long push back. We hit a couple random spots here and there briefly. Dave had a horrendous slam off a 3 stair right in front of a guy sitting near the stairs. I feel bad for laughing, because I could tell he was bummed, but the guys reaction was too funny. I mean he’s just sitting there and all of a sudden this grown man slams right next to him and he just kinda bugged out wondering if he needed to call an ambulance. There was a spot with some long stairs and I couldn’t believe Rob still had the juice to ollie up them and try manuals. Day 1 done!
(setup 8.38 null spanbauer deck, venture 5.8 trucks, venom 91a bushings, no bottom washer, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, nbnumeric 212 burgundy, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)