Bowl Curvy That radius is really hard to get right. Before work this morning, and while temperatures are bearable during this heatwave, I tried my luck on improving standup backside 50/50 grinds in the small bowl. While it's easier now to get up to the coping, the next challenge
Bowl Medium bowl progression #1 Got a little further today in the medium bowl. It’s about 5 to 6 1/2 feet deep, with a slightly different transition and much faster concrete surface than the other bowl I usually go to. It took me a few minutes to adjust and warm up. After half
Bowl Small bowl progression #2 Nothing big, just feeling a little bit more progress and more continuity in the small bowl. A week ago or so I tried fly-outs for the first time. As long as I get up to the coping with enough speed, they're fine and work pretty consistent. The roll-in
Bowl Small bowl progression #1 I'm getting more consitent in maintaining my speed in the small bowl, frontside and backside. The backside carve in the shallow section has been a problem, I always lost all my speed there. That problem got solved by using the hip more when coming out of the frontside
Park Pre Vaxx Session I got my first COVID-19 shot today. Needless to say the proximity to a skatepark played a role in which vaccination station I selected. I found one and managed to get an hour long session in before my appointment. It's a skatepark a usually don't get
Bowl More tiles Sunday morning bowl session, getting better and more conistently up to the tiles on the medium or lower ends of the bowls. The deep end of the big bowl still seems so far away though. Worst is, that I loose speed after the first round in the big bowl. So,
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
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
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
Bowl Rats Every now and then you'll find unwanted compadres trapped inside the bowls, unable to get out. It's then often a question of finding stuff around the park to rig something up and get them out. Poor thing, totally trapped.Eventually we got her out by chasing
Bowl Frontside slash grind That was a pretty exciting morning: first time I got the back truck all the way up to slash or grind over the coping on a frontside kickturn. Gnarly shit! In the back of my mind there's always the fear of slipping over the coping and landing back
Bowl Backside slash grind I have been riding the back truck up to the metal coping in the small bowl, but today I also got my back truck up to the pool coping in the shallow end of the big bowl. Bit win! It's just such a satisfying sound when the metal
Bowl Gaining confidence Feeling more and more comfortable carving the big bow. It's a lot of fun cruising around there, and it's exactly what I had in mind: continue riding and experiencing a litte dose of gravity once the snowboard season is over. It's getting better, but
Bowl Overnighter Not that I was planning to drop into the medium bowl today, but I still found it surprising that one would decide to cudle up inside a concrete bowl, and spend the night there. Especially since there's a much comfier lawn right next to it. Oh well, what
Bowl Baby steps After getting over the hurdle of dropping in, and slamming along the way, I'm finally getting the hang of carving the big bowl. It still feels pretty scary in there, at times a little bit wobbly on on the board. But at the same time it's
Bowl Metal on metal Looks like a baby step, but it's the most gnarly thing I've done so far: conquering the fear of hangups, I let he back track slash grind over the coping! Mini backside slash grind
Bowl Learning the hard way When I started skating again, I didn't think about any protective gear. Never used it when I was young, and I felt confident that I can manage the risk. It hasn't really been an issue in the small bowl, or on smaller obstacles. First, I'
Bowl Pump progression Getting a little bit better after some practice: making full figure eights in the small bowl without any tick-tacking and starting to get higher up in the deeper end on my backside carves. Pump progression
Bowl Learning to pump Dropping into a ramp wasn’t that hard after all that time that's passed. I guess the one thing I remember from skateboarding earlier in my life is that it’s a lot about commitment, and overcoming the mental barrier in your head built up by the fear
