Ride

Park

Slappy Morning

I‘m going to go out on a limb and say that the frontside carve grind that I‘m more confident with now also helped unlocking frontside slappies. A few other things I‘ve paid attention to today, that helped me to finally land a slappy grind: * Shoulder position and

Park

Back tail scratch

40 min session this morning, and I'm not sure how many backside pivots I've done, but the most important thing is that towards the end, the tail was scratching a few times on the coping. Not pretty, but I'll take it. Pivot, pivot, pivot.

Bowl

Carving

2 weeks ago I finally dropped into the medium bowl. Turns out that it's much more manageable than the big  bowl. In the bigger one I get one good lap at most, loosing my speed quickly. In the medium bowl I'm able to do a few

Park

Backside pivot

To be honest, I was going for a backside tail stall, but all I could muster today were some sloppy backside pivots. Sloppy backside pivot (plus a lousy tail stall attempt)I guess what I'm seeing is that I need to turn earlier and faster, with more commitment

Park

Frontside tail stall

Went out to the pumptrack for a little bit this afternoon and tried a few tiny frontside tail stalls on a smallish noping quarter/wave type-of-thing. Trying to get timing and balance right. Not sure if the truck or wheel should go over the coping/edge or not. Frontside tail

Bowl

Frontside carve over tiles

I started getting up to the tiles on frontside carves last week, and today I reached them pretty consistently. It all depends on how much speed I can get pumping out of the corners from the shallow end of the bowl. The important part here is that confidence is building

Park

Lunch break no comply

A nice spring day and a little time to venture out over lunch to the small local park. Practicing no complies in the bank, and also some slappies on a slippery steel-edged taco shell. Need to work on getting no complies quicker, so that I actually catch the board before

Bowl

Frontside carve grind unlocked

That was a long battle on multiple fronts. First challenge was to maintain speed to be able to reach the coping. Second challenge was not to freak out and jump off the board the moment I heard a metal-on-metal sound. Eventually my mind calmed down - skateboarding is such a

Setup

Gonz is here!

It took about 8 months refreshing Parade World to find one of these: a Krooked Mark Gonzales Sweatpants deck. That's going to be my new dedicated bowl riding deck. At 9.8 inch wide it gives me enough space to comfortably place my feet however I want. The

Snow

Back at Mount Firescrew

Just ventured out quickly this morning. There was a good amount of new fresh snow on the ground, but also rain on the forecast. Skinned up to Mount Firescrew again, with better orientation and more efficiency. Now I know where to look for the snow fields, and where to set

Snow

My new backyard

I've decided to make Mount Cardigan my backyard. It's close and such a great destination to get out quickly when conditions line up. And boy did conditions line up today! Tried a different trail today and went up to the other peak, Mount Firescrew. It'

Snow

Huntington

The Mount Washington Backcountry Festival got broken down into individual clinics this year, all happening throughout the season. I signed up again for an advanced backcountry clinic. Our guide recommended Hunting Ravine. Avalanche risk was low and conditions looked OK. It was a really good day tour, although condidtions at

Snow

Mount Cardigan

I thought I give this mountain a try: it's a 2 hour drive away and according to the guide book one of the more interesting tours that are not around Mount Washington. And it was a success! I spent half a day on the mountain. Skinned (or better

Setup

Shoes are done

8 months and 2 pairs of skate shoes later, I'm seeing holes again. The Busenitz is through and the Lakai Newport Hi, that I got in addition, because I really like ankle support, is also through. I'll buy the Lakai Newport Hi again. It has solid

Park

Frontside standup grind

Finally, after more practicing, I've got the frontside standup grind motion down on the small 2ft practicing quarter. I managed to get onto the coping, grinding a little bit, and dropping back in. It's not fast or long, but that's the best I can

Street

Quarantine

We have a COVID positive case in the house and have to quarantine for 14 days. No symptoms, just a postive test. Not being able to go somewhere, I've found a few materials in the backyard to play with. A skateboard and random yard stuff

Setup

2 Noras

I decided to try and scale down from 9 inches for non-bowl riding and get a smaller width board. Eventually I landed on Welcome Nora Vasconcellos 8.6. The Wicked Queen shape just looks really good to try out. The grip tape job took a little bit this time. I

Park

Game of skate: round 11

The frontside axle stall: I manage to stand up on the coping, but then loose the momentum to get back in. Just leaning and turning back into the transition feels too sketchy. Scooching over into a tail stall, and then dropping in is the way to go for now. I

Park

2 steps

Ventured out to a playground nearby with some skate features. It only has 2 ledges, a small round rail and a small table down this little set of 2 steps. First time I've ollied down stairs again since over 25 years I guess. Not my favorite thing, I

Park

Ride-on grind

A classic old-skater trick, on my favorite obstacle in that small neighborhood park: ride-on grind along the taco shell. So easy on the joints, but so satisfying to grind all over that little thing! Wake up grind

Park

No comply 180

Short evening session on the blacktop of our neighborhood school. I'm trying to get no comply 180 more consistently and above all faster, so that I catch the board in the air. Slow and steady we're getting there, but it looks like it's still

Setup

Oh my, another cruiser

One can't have enough cruiser boards, right? Just couldn't pass on the pointy purple Krooked Zig Zagger. To stay in the racing theme, I put a racing grip tape stripe on top of that 8.6 inches wide board. Wheels are black 55mm OJ Super Juice,

Setup

Sageman

Couldn't resist when I saw it: an Orchard shop board with subtle artwork and a solid 9 inch "Bully" shape. Mouse tail or balloon?I was inspired enough to go for a custom grip tape job. When I asked around what people saw, I got "

Surf

Chilly

That was a cold afternoon! The last storm must have brought a really cool stream to our shores. My upper body, arms and legs are OK in the wetsuit, but my toes were freezing because I'm not wearing any boots. I only lasted half an hour in the

Surf

Afternoon at the beach

That was a solid session. I feel like I'm getting more control over the board and waves, and slightly better at picking waves. I probably should pay more attention to my takeoff location. There's a pattern: more novice surfers hang around where I am, better surfers