Went to Fairmont tonight at around 9pm. There were only a few other people there.
I warmed up pretty quickly, and started small just doing boardslides, popshuvs, kickflips and manuals around the park. Then I found a metal chair sitting on the ground by the hubba, so I set it up (on its side) at the top of the small ramp to try to jump over it. I botched the first try because I had set it too close, but after I moved it back I was getting it every time. Then I put it at the top of the big ramp, right side up. Simply pushing from the opposite end didn't get me going fast enough to clear it, but doing the whole running start thing worked. I was clearing it easy, but not landing it. Finally I got it, and it felt so good. Just floating over it busting a huge ollie and landing solid, rolling away clean.
That was really the highlight of the evening--I'd never gotten my ollies that high before. After that I was doing some grabs out of the quarter pipe, and I got a solid nosegrab that seemed to go in slow motion and felt amazing.
I left the park feeling really satisfied with how my skating is progressing. I have to make sure that I skate every day until Saturday, so that maybe I have a shot at placing in the (Volcom) contest this year. My neck is hella sore from sleeping on it wrong, and I'm super tired from the three hours of landscaping I did today. The yard is definitely coming along though. Night, y'all.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
5/1/09
Street skating!
Went street skating with my roommate. Yesterday we skated down to have sushi, and today we skated down to the bank. Hit a few spots along the way. There's this great spot going down Main Street where you can hit a 3-stair without ever pausing...like the rollup is integrated from the rest of the sidewalk, so you can just keep going, ollie the 3, and continue on your way.
Next Saturday is the Volcom Wild In The Parks contest at American Fork park. I already registered...I know there's no chance of winning a spot, but I just wanted to be a part of it anyway. Maybe if girls show up often enough they will do a special girls' division or something eventually. At the very least, maybe some other girls will see me skate and want to start skating themselves.
I've been getting kickflips pretty much on command lately, so I've started trying them off of ledges & stairs now. I've gotten close, but it's going to take some getting used to.
I'm trying to figure out what I'll do for the contest. Naturally I'll do whatever I can do, but I kind of wanted to get a new trick that's a little more flashy so that maybe I could actually place this year. I think if I can get that boardslide on the hubba, that might be good. I also need to really work on my speed ollies...I tend to throw my weight wrong and land crooked while I'm rolling, which usually isn't too much of a problem but it could end up being bad one of these times.
It'd be really great if I could get a kickflip to manual on the euro, since I've already got the manuals down. I think I really just need to get the timing right, and figure out how to add height to my kickflips. Figuring out how to land varial flips consistently would be good, too. Maybe I'll try a boneless to manual on the euro...yeah right. Also that's only one section of the park...there are two other sections, I believe, and one of them is a stair set. I can't do 8 stairs yet, and I can't do handrails...I'm a little concerned about that...but maybe I can learn how to firecracker down them & that could be my trick on that obstacle.
Last year, Brodie Penrod won, and Aaron Lopez didn't even place, which was BS. Well, it wasn't BS that Brodie won, because he's so good. But Aaron was on the same level & didn't even place second or third...so it was kind of ridiculous. A lot of people left that contest hating Volcom...I was one of them. And yet I'm entering again this year. Whatever, skateboarding is skateboarding.
Went street skating with my roommate. Yesterday we skated down to have sushi, and today we skated down to the bank. Hit a few spots along the way. There's this great spot going down Main Street where you can hit a 3-stair without ever pausing...like the rollup is integrated from the rest of the sidewalk, so you can just keep going, ollie the 3, and continue on your way.
Next Saturday is the Volcom Wild In The Parks contest at American Fork park. I already registered...I know there's no chance of winning a spot, but I just wanted to be a part of it anyway. Maybe if girls show up often enough they will do a special girls' division or something eventually. At the very least, maybe some other girls will see me skate and want to start skating themselves.
I've been getting kickflips pretty much on command lately, so I've started trying them off of ledges & stairs now. I've gotten close, but it's going to take some getting used to.
I'm trying to figure out what I'll do for the contest. Naturally I'll do whatever I can do, but I kind of wanted to get a new trick that's a little more flashy so that maybe I could actually place this year. I think if I can get that boardslide on the hubba, that might be good. I also need to really work on my speed ollies...I tend to throw my weight wrong and land crooked while I'm rolling, which usually isn't too much of a problem but it could end up being bad one of these times.
It'd be really great if I could get a kickflip to manual on the euro, since I've already got the manuals down. I think I really just need to get the timing right, and figure out how to add height to my kickflips. Figuring out how to land varial flips consistently would be good, too. Maybe I'll try a boneless to manual on the euro...yeah right. Also that's only one section of the park...there are two other sections, I believe, and one of them is a stair set. I can't do 8 stairs yet, and I can't do handrails...I'm a little concerned about that...but maybe I can learn how to firecracker down them & that could be my trick on that obstacle.
Last year, Brodie Penrod won, and Aaron Lopez didn't even place, which was BS. Well, it wasn't BS that Brodie won, because he's so good. But Aaron was on the same level & didn't even place second or third...so it was kind of ridiculous. A lot of people left that contest hating Volcom...I was one of them. And yet I'm entering again this year. Whatever, skateboarding is skateboarding.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
4/28/09
Did the most ridiculous thing today. On my way out to my car, getting ready to go skate American Fork, I tripped & fell in the road, sprawling & falling right on my hand. It bent in half, backwards...soooo painful. I was like...ARRRRGH! And wiggled my fingers through the pain to see if I broke anything...at this point I'm still not sure. It's kinda swollen but it doesn't hurt so much anymore, it's just real stiff. But right after I fell, I got a text from this Japanese language Twitter I'm subscribed to, and it said "Chikusho: Damn". Haha needless to say I used that one immediately.
So off I went to American Fork to meet Jenn. (No way was I going to the hospital, I didn't think it was broken & I've been waiting way too long to skate there.) About 3/4 of the way there, the sky before me suddenly turned dark as sin. I was like "oh, great--it's going to start raining before I even get there." Luckily, it didn't! The only real problem was the wind, which was blowing so hard by the time we left that it shifted a porta-john sideways.
Warming up didn't take too long. I got mad kickflips & I hit the euro a few times, successfully manualling across the entire thing. Almost got a bs crooks on a high ledge, and re-attempted the boardslide on the big ledge. Busted a few insanely high ollies (insanely high for me,) & ollied the wide 3 1st try with little trouble. Hella.
Little kids are funny. I always, always hear them say something about "whoa, I've never seen a girl skater before!" to their friends, and then later on as I'm passing them again "watch this, guys, watch what she does!" And I get asked if I can drop in/kickflip/ollie. It's kind of flattering but mostly just annoying.
Something else--it feels kind of patronizing when I am trying a trick & don't land it but guys my age who were watching it cheer for me anyway. Something simple like a popshuvs out of a ramp. It's like, no I didn't land it, & even if I did, it's just a popshuvit. It's like they're saying "that was REALLY good for a girl." The bar is set so low in their minds.
I know most other girl skaters can probably relate to that.
Oh, & one last thing, apparently the Volcom WITP contest is coming up again, next month. Probably gonna enter again, even though they still don't have a girl's division. Oh well.
TTYL, BFFs!
So off I went to American Fork to meet Jenn. (No way was I going to the hospital, I didn't think it was broken & I've been waiting way too long to skate there.) About 3/4 of the way there, the sky before me suddenly turned dark as sin. I was like "oh, great--it's going to start raining before I even get there." Luckily, it didn't! The only real problem was the wind, which was blowing so hard by the time we left that it shifted a porta-john sideways.
Warming up didn't take too long. I got mad kickflips & I hit the euro a few times, successfully manualling across the entire thing. Almost got a bs crooks on a high ledge, and re-attempted the boardslide on the big ledge. Busted a few insanely high ollies (insanely high for me,) & ollied the wide 3 1st try with little trouble. Hella.
Little kids are funny. I always, always hear them say something about "whoa, I've never seen a girl skater before!" to their friends, and then later on as I'm passing them again "watch this, guys, watch what she does!" And I get asked if I can drop in/kickflip/ollie. It's kind of flattering but mostly just annoying.
Something else--it feels kind of patronizing when I am trying a trick & don't land it but guys my age who were watching it cheer for me anyway. Something simple like a popshuvs out of a ramp. It's like, no I didn't land it, & even if I did, it's just a popshuvit. It's like they're saying "that was REALLY good for a girl." The bar is set so low in their minds.
I know most other girl skaters can probably relate to that.
Oh, & one last thing, apparently the Volcom WITP contest is coming up again, next month. Probably gonna enter again, even though they still don't have a girl's division. Oh well.
TTYL, BFFs!
4/27/09
I didn't skate for long today. But I managed to get up the big euro at Fairmont for the first time ever, and nearly got my first kickflip off the manny pad. Mostly today was just spent eating octopus-flavored chips & reading Japanese-related books. Also, Ratatat is an incredible band.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
4/24/09
Just a mini update...last night while skating in my room, I landed 3 tricks for the first time ever: (!)
1) Heelflip
2) Oldschool kickflip
3) Varial Flip
So stoked.
1) Heelflip
2) Oldschool kickflip
3) Varial Flip
So stoked.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
4/22/09
Well, I skated yesterday. I went at around 11AM so I basically had the whole park to myself. Even though it was pretty warm, it took me a bit longer than I thought was necessary to warm up. I had a good run, though--despite the fact that I seem to have lost my popshuvs since the last time I skated, I still felt accomplished. Here's why.
On the concrete QP in the northwest corner of the park, I usually air out doing an indy or nosegrab or something. This time, I did the usual indy, but when I landed, I landed in a manual! Naturally I took advantage of that & held it as long as I could. I didn't skate for that long, because the noonday sun was glaring down on my superfair skin, and skating alone gets old fast. I am a social creature.
On the concrete QP in the northwest corner of the park, I usually air out doing an indy or nosegrab or something. This time, I did the usual indy, but when I landed, I landed in a manual! Naturally I took advantage of that & held it as long as I could. I didn't skate for that long, because the noonday sun was glaring down on my superfair skin, and skating alone gets old fast. I am a social creature.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
4/14/09
Skating in Washington sucked. There were a grand total of two parks in the area we were, and one was really ghetto and the other was crowded and not very well built. Plus it was pretty windy the whole time, so that made it more difficult as well.
The first thing I did when I got into the park was look like a total beginner and fall flat on my face before I even had a chance to warm up. I banged the side of my knee in the process and it ended up crippling me for the next two days. RETARDED.
I'm back in Utah, now. It's raining cats & dogs, and perhaps will snow tomorrow. I wish it would shape up and be spring already. COME ON UTAH YOU CAN DO IT.
Okay there's not really anything more to say. G'night.
The first thing I did when I got into the park was look like a total beginner and fall flat on my face before I even had a chance to warm up. I banged the side of my knee in the process and it ended up crippling me for the next two days. RETARDED.
I'm back in Utah, now. It's raining cats & dogs, and perhaps will snow tomorrow. I wish it would shape up and be spring already. COME ON UTAH YOU CAN DO IT.
Okay there's not really anything more to say. G'night.
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