skate journal: random nearby school struggles (july 20, 2020)
After work on a hot afternoon I drove by Southern Hills to skate some flat and benches. However there were several people there playing basketball so I turned around and moved on. I ended up at a random nearby school that has a weird flagstone bench with gaps on each side, a sketchy butter bench against a bush with flowers, an alright curb, some decent flatground and a million stop rocks. I had brought out my old 8.25 with low trucks because I felt desperate to have better flippers. It worked. Although I did struggle to ollie up a curb with any confidence. Anyway I tried a line to get things going. Back tail a curb, kickflip on flat, ollie up a curb, ollie onto the bench. I never committed to the bench. I couldn’t last time I was there either. I hucked a lot of flippers. Got kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, b/s flip, halfcab flip, f/s halfcab flip, close to varial heel. Hucked kick back tails on the curb for a bit and got really close. Did a bunch of crooks on the bench which was really fun. I did a few other tricks on it too, but they were even less good than crooks. I couldn’t get a front 50 on it to save my life. I was upset about this initially, but really that ledge is something I would normally never touch. Cracks, stop rocks, a family biking in the parking lot watching me. Yeah a lot of forces working against me. I left on peaceful terms even without getting the front 50. Then I watched Back To The Future with the kids. That movie rules and was the first skateboarding I ever saw. I got a skateboard shortly after that. 35 years later here I am still not able to front 50 a bench. Ha.
(setup 8.25 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric foy b/w/y size 12, nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 3/10)