skate journal: fun cloudy dog park and some flatground in the evening (july 30, 2023)
After some hesitancy I went to meet Rob and Mike and the standard dog park crew. Eric was there which was cool because it’s been a minute. The sun was out for a while, but then we got some good cloud cover that lasted for a couple of hours. I saw Eric get front boards on the taller concrete curbs and almost shove out. Didn’t see him get his patented quick heelflips which we’ll blame on an extended vacation. Rob seemed to rattle off the hits right away. Nollie front lip, nollie front 50 back 180, nose manuals, boardslide the tall bench, crooks, etc. It was good seeing Bratcher again as it’s been a minute. He switch ollied a parking block when I got there which he had never done before. Mike was getting his slappys on. I had a decent session. i think the clouds really helped out. Got a manual or two which has been rare lately, the best crooks I’ve done above the manny pad (which was only a couple of feet long and I have about 10 more to go but its progress) and finally got a Glen 50 on the bench which I’ve been scared of for months. i followed it with a terrible treflip. Mike and I went and played in the pond at the park for a bit. He had some good front slashes and a killer no comply. I did some axle stalls and took too long to do a kickflip fakie on a hump (what do you really call Evergreen skatepark’s “banks”? they aren’t banks, they aren’t quarterpipes they are just like dumb mounds that are sometimes kind of fun).
After some napping, cleaning and dinner I went to the side of the school with no real plan and did some flatground. It was a mellow little session with some dorking. I got 10 flippers total in an hour. Argh. Kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip, halfcab flip, f/s halfcab flip, heelflip, f/s halfcab heel, varial flip, fakie bigflip, sex change. Was hyped to have skated.
(setup 8/10 null 8.25 spanbauer dead spots, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-cast low royal bushings, spitfire f4 51or52mm wheels 99a classic shape 4 washers inside, es melange black size 12 footprint gamechanger lite insoles)
(pain level 4/10)