Back for the Fall

It is now September 2022. In the months since October 2021 I have skated probably less than I ever have in the last 20 years. As I have complained about before, the days get short in November and then the weather turns bad. Then the first few months of this year I was very busy with our home being remodeled, and just didn't have the time to skate. Not happy about that, but it was worth it to have the house fixed up. Didn't help that this was a very hot summer, even by Texas standards. I just don't want to to out when it is still 100 degrees F at 10pm. 

But now Fall is here. Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the weather. When the sky is gray I love it. I love the temperature. I love wearing a hoody when I skate. 

I got out to skate this last Sunday, then again last night (Wednesday). It felt good. Eventually. I was pretty rusty, but in each session after about 30 minutes I was feeling pretty good.

I've been riding my big boards. I did take my freestyle board out last night, but after what has now been almost three years of skating just bigger boards, I just have no interest in riding my freestyle setup. Even though I am basically doing freestyle. It just doesn't feel as good. It isn't as fun to ride. Sure, it is better for some tricks, but I think it strips what is best of my skating away. I kind of hate to say this, but I may just be done with the traditional freestyle board. 

For almost the entirety of the pandemic, I've been riding two boards. The Mode 9 x 32.5 Pool model and the standard Mode 8.25" popsickle shape. Honestly, I live riding the pool board most. The small pops is good, but man, when I step on that 9" shaped board, it has such a nice pocket for my front foot. The Indy 159s fit it so perfectly. I run one thin riser under each truck, and use 54mm Bones STF wheels. The setup is perfect. The proportions are perfect. It feel solid, stable, and maneuverable under my feet. Sadly, I think after this one is used up, I have one more and that's it. No more of them. 

The 8.25 pops, however, is a very good all-around board. It's big enough to ride in a lot of situations - ditches, banks, flat, parks, etc. And an 8.25" pops is easy to find. I run Indy 149s and 54mm Bones STF on it, and it is also perfectly proportioned. I usually run some risers to help reduce tail scraping during 360 spins, though right now I'm not using any.

Given the soon to be extinction of the pool board, I will likely just move to the 8.25 pops, and whatever size pops fits 159s. I am tired of thinking so much about what boards are available when I need them. 

Riding these boards DOES mean I will "lose some tricks." I don't care. They are tricks I don't really enjoy doing anymore. They are tricks I've done hundreds if not thousands of times. I've got nothing to prove with regard to those tricks. I know what I like to do, and I know what I enjoy. Riding a board with more speed and flow is really joyful.

Anyway, the days will soon be short again, which means weekend-only skating, really. I will not be going to a skatepark in the evening. It isn't my scene. 

May 30, 2022 Session

Well, I have had a few skate sessions so far this year. I think 3. Maybe 4. That isn't enough to be skating well, but we've been busy and it's all I've managed.

Last night I got out for a couple of hours. I was tired from three days of working hard on house projects, but I went anyway. It's always better to roll than to no roll. Upon reviewing the video footage I shot I think it was not as bad as it felt -- heh heh. I was worn out, which affected how I felt about the session, but truth is I skated alright considering the utter lack of practice. 

There are some tricks and combos and lines I've been working on for a while. Stuff I came up with last year, that I've not really had a chance to get good with. It's tempting to post some of them on social media, but I don't want anyone else stealing them. Really. When you post stuff, it gives people ideas. And it is of course understandable and standard practice to see a move you like and try to do it. That is how people learn. But I don't want people ripping of things I've come up with that I've never seen before. It's not like I'm coming up with super tech stuff.

January 2022 - Winter still sucks

 Haven't posted because I've not been able to skate in a couple of months due to cold weather and rain.

Winter...sucks...

 Well, it's that time of year again. Short days. I mean REALLY short. No skating after work. If it is cold or rains on the weekend, I don't skate. 

Oh well, story of my life. Luckily I don't really get worse from not skating. 

Hoping to get back on the board this coming weekend, but again, I think it may rain. 

Just thinking

 Well, I had a good weekend but didn't skate. Was out of town, and doing other stuff.

The weather for this coming weekend looks like it might be OK. Yes, I'm already looking for the weekend. It is dark when I get off work. I guess I need to find a nice, well-lit parking lot nearby to skate. 

As I think forward to the coming year I just wonder how things will be. Will travel to Europe be feasible? Will a relaxing vacation anywhere be feasible? This pandemic has been very up and down. We're heading into the winter months, which last year combined with the holidays to produce a fairly massive virus surge in January and February. Hell, I don't know. I'm triple-vaxxed, so I got that going for me. 

So essentially thinking about going to Paderborn again is part of my Very Important Fantasy Life. I really miss my friends from over on that side of the Atlantic. 

Obviously if I've not been able to skate I've been thinking about skating even more than normal. As I've written before, I think the pandemic had the effect of boiling the impurities out of my skating. I really understand who I am as a skateboarder now. I know, at 57 years, what I enjoy and what others like about my skating. If you think about those two things as separate sets,  my contest skating needs to come from the intersection of the Venn diagram of those domains. Those are the things that will stand out in a contest while being authentically me. 

So, here's another thing. I think the best looking skating is always relaxed skating. I think of the skating of Tommy Guerrero. So great. Great style, of course, but the style comes from relaxation.

So I'm going to really focus on that in all my skating.

Skating, or lack there of

Been a little hard to get out skating the last few weeks. Days are short. Weekends busy. But I'll get out and skate.

Longboard

 So I've been back on the longboard of late.

I just needed a change, and man, it is going to take a few sessions to get used the a longboard again.