Archive for July, 2007
OK this is kind of sad in a way but… probably for the best in a lot of ways. I am going to be taking the next 2 months off from skating to train for a half marathon. It’s not so much that I think the act of skating would interfere- I think skating is a great workout, and I don’t think my thighs have ever been this ripped- it’s my fear that I would sustain an injury that would slow or stop my tarining to the point that I would not be able to run. Another thing is that I am planning to loose a few lbs during my training, which should benefit my skating (somehow).
The 1/2 marathon is on Sept 23rd. I will resume skating after that!
July 26th, 2007
well, it has been a while since I updated- sorry about that! I have been busy doing a lot of things and neglected to update. I’ll post some pics and videos then!
here’s a bruise:
here’s the board:
here’s a pretty typical ollie- as you can see I don’t slide my front foot forward enough to bring the tail all the way up horizoontal. another thing I’m dealing with is the board turning during the ollie. makes it harder to do rolling ollies. I am working that out. anyway here is a typical ollie:
and here is a more successfull ollie - over the huge obstacle of a turned over Gatorade bottle. If you look REAL close you can see the Gatorade bottle.
and if you look even closer you can tell that I cheated and didn’t actually go OVER the bottle, just NEAR it. I was afraid of landing on the thing and slamming. I am still a wuss, but I’m trying dammit.
July 25th, 2007
it’s Sunday morning. it’s 9:30 am. it’s already 81 degrees. it’s time to skate.
July 8th, 2007
today I got in about an hour and a half before the heat was unbearable. It’s like 97 degrees here today. Yuck. Anyway I spent a good amount of time just riding around, doing manuals, riding fakie and doing 180 turns, and practicing ollies. I even pulled a few really good ones that popped and floated and … they were great. I was focusing more on my footwork and it was working. The bad thing is that I can still only do it about 10% of the time. Not just ollie, but focus and pay attention to what I’m doing. The other 90% of the time I totally whiff it. Well, at least the 10% is more than the 5% I was doing a couple weeks ago. so… progress is happening. And it is slow because I only devote a few hours a week. I need to do more. I will do more.
July 7th, 2007
I went to the baseball stadium fully intent on hanging around for an extended session. It was already close to 85 degrees, but I had some Gatorade and a stay-dri shirt, so I thought I would be able to hang. I only made it 40 minutes before giving up for the day. Heat is my enemy.
The good news is, I am getting a ton better at rolling Ollies. I am starting to get them more consistent, and I think I have the turning thing figured out too. I just need to get out and practice more and more. I was practicing them on the flat, then working on hopping some curbs. I think it will just be a matter of time before I have them solid. Then I suppose I’ll start working on 180s.
I was wearing shin gaurds for the first half our or so, but I was getting so hot I decided to take them off. Litterally 5 minutes later I landed an ollie on the nose, and the tail of the board sliced into my leg. Damn it hurt bad. I don’t know that the pads would have saved me on that one, but it might have reduced the impact a little. Unknown. Those pads get dang hot though.
July 6th, 2007
WOW - I watched some old school Powell videos from the 80’s. They are amazing. Almost all the footage is pools, street skating those huige old decks, freestyle, and goofing off. It’s awesome.
I can basically ollie a curb 50% of the time. I’m working on my timing and pop. Next step- ollie this milk crate that showed up in the lot I skate at. Also- I am working on some lip tricks on this parking block. Hope to spend a good part of the 4th out there!
July 3rd, 2007
