skate journal: dog park marathon then some glenn close later (july 2, 2019)
On a warm morning Neil and I went to Dog Park to meet Eric, Dave and Rob. To our delight Collin and Dan were there too. There were a ton of puddles still and we did some sweeping to thin them out and dry quicker. Dan and Collin were going for ollies over a tall cone. Well, Dan was going switch and he did it. Wow. Dave and I warmed up on the kicker ramp. I was once again feeling a bit out of it and not as motivated as I would think. But we had fun. We did windshield wipers and all kinds of tricks like that, some fakie flips on flat, etc. Dave did nollie shove to rock fakie and I had to try it too. I got it a few tries and it was quiet fun. Dave did halfcab to rock transfer into the bank. After that we were all over the park. Neil was filming everyone as he had quickly worn himself out enjoying the spot so much. He got some good lines from Eric, Dan, Collin, Rob, Dave. Eric had crooks the butter bench, 50 the picnic bench, wallie 180 the barrier. Rob crooks the butter bench, boardslide the tall metal bench, 180 the barrier, back 50 shove the little metal ledge. Dave front board the kinked rail, quick up hippy jump the manny pad, no comply wallie the barrier, boardslide fakie the tall round bar. Dan quick up to boardslide the manny pad, back 50 the round ledge, nollie front 180 the barrier, switch backside flip the manhole. Watching Dan skate in person rules. He has the best east coast powerhouse style. Collin switch wallie the barrier and halfcab flip on flat. I was kind of hiding is a very depressed state struggling to land anything. Seriously though, I took like 10 tries to get a slow 50 on the picnic bench. I had one brief moment of skating okay with a first try front 50 shove then a halfcab flip. Neil get banging line or two. One foot off the kicker, nosegrind the ledge, quick up to nose manual the double manual pad, ollie the barrier like it’s absolutely nothing. He asked me to film a line and it was looking good at first. Crooks the picnic bench, kickflip over the parking block then ollie the little kinked rail, but I messed up the rail. Then I couldn’t do the kickflip again and lost it. Threw my board hoping it would stay in the rafters. Luckily it didn’t so I just went and sat down. After some chilling I joined Dave as he casually boardslid across and up the double parking block combo. I was only able to boardslide up it though, not the flat part too.
After some food and chilling we went to Glenn Close feeling totally exhausted. It was pretty fun actually. Neil just chilled. Saul joined after a bit. Rob had some good back 50s with the no comply shove out (I think), slappy crooks. Saul had his great slappys. I struggled with regular slappys, but had some fun crooks one and somehow managed a line for Neil of slappy front crooks then front shove off the curb cut. After that we had a nice dinner at Southern Sun and I said goodbye to Neil for awhile. Doh. Man it rules skating with him, such a skate rat, such great energy.
(setup 8.5″ abstract 6 deck, venture titanium 5.8s with regular cast baseplate, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, new balance numeric 212 maroon size 12, footprint gamechanger orthotic insoles)
(pain level 3/10)