Went M.I.A. to the blog for the past few weeks. Didn’t mean to… was busy skating and not documenting anything.

Halloween day went to Tempe park and did some shreddin. T’was a Saturday, so as the day rolled on, so did the youngsters.

The first Thursday of November was the kick off to the OMA BBQ weekend. Party at Jean’s ramp in Tempe/Mesa. Good times. Haven’t been on a backyard ramp in a while.

Missed the rest of he BBQ festivities. Bummed, but will plan better next year. )

Last Thursday (after the BBQ weekend), went to Justin Webster’s “Cockbarn” ramp in Gilbert. Thing is BIG and FAST! Took some getting used to. Wasn’t in full “thrasher” mode, but at least now I’ll be able to get my mind right mentally before going there.

Skated a few hit and miss days at Pecos park. Spending lots of time focusing on single tricks more than some sort of line.

Today! 11/17/2009… went to Pecos at about 11:30am. Were three other skaters there for about the first 10 minutes, then everyone left.

Am trying to work on no-comply variations on the bank. First try no-comply to fakie resulted in me learning weight distribution the hard way. Still uneasy about it. Technique is “off”.

B/S axle stall sex change almost made me see stars a few times.

F/S lip stall, f/s ollie, ollie to fakie surprisingly consistent.

No b/s disaster for some dumb slip-out reason.

Still trying to hit the big f/s hip transfer. It’s all or nothing and 100% mental block for me right now. “YES! it is going to be BIG! but you can do nothing but just go for it!” Had myself pumped to try it over and over again, but dropping from about 5 feet over the coping to the flats takes its toll.

Looking forward to some one-hit-wonder skate missions coming up soon. My camera went tits-up and isn’t taking pictures/video which has me bummed out. I got shocked good a few times trying to tinker with its workings. But… to no avail.

Only got to skate for about 15 or so minutes cause we were headed off to get some dinner. Was cool though because I ran into Tony and Jerome whom I haven’t seen in about 7 years. Setting up some time so I can go skate with those guys. Should be fun.

Right as we were taking off I got to show Taunia the f/s board to fakie. Felt good. Left stoked.

AIMS testing this week right at I-10 and Chandler Blvd which happens to be real close to the park. Picked Tae up from the test today and we headed straight there.

Only 5 other guys there who were posted up at the C-ledge by the “mini-ramp-corner-bowl”. Happened to be some of the OMA-ish guys. They seemed to be having a good session already, so I was pumped to join in.

Had a few solid runs at the mini bowl deal. Bringin the fs slasher back into the mix. Switch axle stalls, 50-50/salad/5-0. Sex-change rock is coming back. Must be pushing them over too hard or something.

F/S board to fakie 2nd try on the flat rail. Landed it again smooth before I left.

F/S and B/S 50-50 180 out on the first manny pad into the park.

Really good session. Was nice to have the place to ourselves.

Hit up Tempe park today. Arrived at about 10:45am, left at 2:15.

Really only skated here a handful of times when I was skating regularly, so it took me a little while to decide what was possible or not.

Rolled into the park and set up “my spot” in the back near the bowl. There’s that ledge to bank right there that people tend to gravitate to. I actually looked at doing a backside grind to bank on it at one point, but decided against it.

Started taking a few runs through he bowl, which was really fun. That thing has gnarly written all over it. Some of the transitions are misleading until you’re going straight up it! Managed to pull of some tricks from the old bag that kept me on my toes.

Up the large quarter, sex change. Pretty uneasy coming back down.

In the far corner, from the low part up to the transfer, I wiped out pretty good on the first attempt. By the end of the session I pumped myself up enough to just go for it. Hit 50-50 next shot. After rolling away from that I went for the 5-0 and nailed it. Only for about 3 feet, but rolled away clean anyway. No truck tap.

Couple other older dudes cruisin the bowl for awhile. I’m not good at remembering names of people, even when I remember to ask. Cool guys though. We did a couple of “follow/doubles” runs with no problems.

Running elsewhere through the park I was happy to find that frontside noseslides on some ledges WILL come back soon. I’ve missed that trick so many times by way more than all the attempts I made today.

Mini-gap-up to boardslide, to manual, to manual to backside 180 went down.

Popped a 360 shuv and threw a front side body varial (sex change) and was super surprised. After a few more attempts I landed it. That’s a new trick I’ve never done before.

Landed my first heelflip on the new deck.

Was happy enough to have kept skating that long. Had a really good time. Can’t wait for the next session.

Friday.

Got my new deck all gripped and put together. Ready to shred.

First trip out to Pecos Park, approximately 11am.

Between 5 and 2 people here for the 1/2 hour I spent trying to refind my lines. Just a couple of run outs, but a couple of tricks that actually surprised me.

All in all… good times.


First true session went down today. You were correct, Pecos is still free-ish. They say to pay, but today I opted out. I do believe in donating to something I support, so yeah... i WILL pay soon enough.

Things to remember for next session... respirator and/or extra lung.... body bag.

All in all, a good time. Tried to get some of the ol' staples back into business. Nailed a few. Been too long since I skated last so a nice long b/s grind felt good. :thumbup:

See you guys next time.

Thursaday October 22nd brought the beginning of the new era in my skating life. Bought a new 8″ Flip Lance Mountain Extremely Sorry deck, along with a new pair of DVS Premiere shoes. Super stoked to get back into it.

Below is a post I made at Old Man Army forums.

It looks like after this past weekend we may finally be in the "cool" weather for our "winter". YAY! Plus, the kiddies are away to school so day-sesh's should be in full effect. Which... as I think about it, is probably the reason no one has posted a new session in almost 2 weeks. Maybe I've missed the boat.

In any case... working from home has started to cause a mediocre rift between me and the misses. Apparently I spend too much time sitting in front of the computer and don't go outside. Well... yeah that's the case, but she's sick of it.

The conversation went like this...

Her: "You don't ever leave the house! YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!!"
Me: "I'd go and skate, but I need a new deck and new shoes."
Her: "Let's go."

... off to the skate shop. Got a new pair of shoes... got a new deck. Although they had two OMA decks to choose from, both were "too big" for my trucks. I previously had a 7.5 on 8" trucks "mexi-ridin" with the wheels sticking way out the sides, so getting an 8.5 on 8" trucks is not any better. Jumping on the "now's the best time as any" I got the new Flip Lance Mountain from Extremely Sorry. $10 more, but the right size and feel. Back to the rest of the conversation...

Her: "Now, it's MANDATORY that you skate a minimum of 3 days a week."
Me: " "

So... I live in the Ahwatukeee foothills. Relatively close to Pecos park. I used to skate there all the time when it was "new". Haven't been there in forever and I hear I will have to pay my $5 membershit fee. Fair enough. This, and hopefully I will be able to get in on some mid-week action elsewhere if this thread ever re-stimulates itself.

Will most definitely see y'all around. Gotta get my skate-legs/skate-lungs back before BBQ.