This is from last week. Got my gear in the back of the rental car, ready to hit a meeting and then hit the manual pad!
Conciliatory session
Between work, more work, writing, wife-mandated church, friggin’ grocery shopping, me-mandated meditation, didn’t look like a skate session was happening. But then my wife took FOREVER to get ready for the food mission, and I skated in the alley by the rental car for almost a half hour.
I have a rental car because my transmission recently died. Great luck though, it shit the bed literally four hours before my 4 year extended warranty expired! Everything was covered. Back to the skate update…
These canvas Vans were given to me by my skate bro. He wore holes in the right shoe, and for me that is not my main ollie foot. He’s goofy, I’m regular. Same shoe size. Wonderful!
Fakie no comply big spin
I was just goofing around with fakie 180 frontside no complies. Have had these for awhile. I’ve noticed that when I hit the tail with more of a vertical angle, the no comply pops higher. When I do it with more of a lateral motion, it tends to want to spin more than 180 degrees. Of course various combinations of the two can lead to nice height with nice spin. Sometimes my intended 180s spin almost 270, and still with control. So I decided to try to spin it 360 and do a 180 body varial (as I normally would do in the “fakie” 180 no comply. They could probably be called Frontside halfcab no complies).
Within a few tries I landed the first 360 with the 180 body varial. That’s also the definition of a big spin, whether it is fakie, nollie, straightforward. It felt great. I tried about 20 more times and didn’t land another one, but there were many “almosts”.
The above mentioned gifted skate shoes have now worn out on both sides. Shoe goo to the rescue!
Redacted
In my previous blog post I mentioned how I’ve been practicing kickflipping over another board on its side. I wrote that I’ve felt progress, and they are coming more easily. My first session trying this, I landed 1 out of 50. Six sessions later, as mentioned in my previous post, I landed 1 out of 10, and almost landed an additional 3 or 4.
Yes indeed, my timing was better than it was before, so there is still progress. Yet am feeling like subtracting from any boast about great progress. I was getting the board up and over the target without smacking it, more than I used to. I was getting the cleaner flip too. And more almosts. However, I tried about 35 times and didn’t land any. Mostly, I was getting a clean flip over the target board, but landing with my front foot near the middle of the deck, and my back foot on the pavement.
Commitment problem? Maybe. Flicking too hard with the front foot? Maybe. Am I a 41-year old dude relearning how to skate? Definitely.
Tonight
Oh man I’m hoping I don’t get suckered into the “let’s do laundry together, ” and then the old bait and switch, “Let’s get mexican food and watch a movie, we’ll do laundry tomorrow night.” I have clearly earmarked the evening to skate! Yet I’m trying to be a more physically present husband nonetheless.
These are just some of the challenge of an adult relearning to skateboard. It isn’t just all about the hardness of the pavement or the timing of the front foot.
Relearning to Skateboard 