Concrete Lunch

Made this from the video from previous post.

Sometimes when I go to the old parking lot where I learned to skate I imagine myself at ages 12-16 out there skating around.

Click for full size image.

I’m not posting on social media this month, but when I return to it (maybe) in December, I’ll post this. I love posting stuff like this that a lot of people will hate. I’m that guy sometimes.

This is my friend Eli. She died on November 2.

I met Eli at the Paderborn freestyle contest in 2015. She, I, Yoyo, and a few others were in the Masters division. Eli was a long time skater. She competed at the Oceanside contest in the 1970s. How amazing it must have been for her to travel from Belgium to California as a teenager to skate in that contest.

I always enjoyed seeing her at Paderborn, as did everyone else. She was a beam of light.

She will be missed very much.

OK, here is that thermocarbon Boom Box all set up. I took the Paris 180 trucks and 60mm 78a Hawgs wheels off the “dancer” style board they were on and put ’em on this. That particular board, the Zenit Judo, is extremely nice, but I think that kind of longboard is just not for me. It is too bouncy, and frankly just to specialized for fancy prancing. Not into it, so I might sell it.

This version of the Boom Box is a lot lighter than the all-wood version I’ve had for a while. Going to keep them both setup.

I have always been a Randal trucks user. When Paris trucks came out I have to admit I was skeptical, and remained so until my friend Eric sent me these Paris V2 180mm trucks. That are damned good, and apparently (according to my friend Tony) the V3 is even better. They turn like butter. Really good. I’m not going to to replace all my Randal trucks, but I might not buy any more either.

I know I talk a lot about longboards that are just stretched regular boards, but I do like this board. There’s a part of me that enjoys the limitations imposed. Creativity can be spurred sometimes by limiting yourself to certain elements. If you are just going to try to ride a longboard like a normal board, what’s the point?

Me, on the all-wood Boom Box, today. Wheeee…look at me go!

Another longboarding post.

I feel like the death of Brad Edwards as also the death of what I think of as classic longboarding. Gravity was just about the last company to make boards to really rip on. I know they are still around, but since Bream sold the company it just isn’t the same. I can’t think of a single manufacturer of a stretched 40″ – 45″ skateboard. A board you can really ride in a park, ditch, hill, or parking lot.

Clearly if you already have a board, or can find one, you are good for now. I suppose there just isn’t much of a market. A lot of us returned to skating with such boards, but as our skills came back moved to regular sized boards. That’s great, but man, the classic longboard really needs to be available. It has its place.

Anyway, here’s some Brad.

Folks – check your blood pressure, and if you need it, get the medicine. It’s cheap. Even without insurance BP meds are generic and you can get a coupon so 3 month supplies are like $20.

OK, here is the thermocarbon Boom Box, next to the older one. They refined the shape a little bit. I like the old shape, but the new one is good too.

Just quick lunchtime post.

When I get home today my new Bustin Boards thermocarbon Boom Box deck should be here. Not sure when I’m going to set it up. I like my older Boom Box a lot, as I have said numerous times. If this one is a lot lighter though I might just start using it instead.

It’s hoodie weather season, which is much to my liking. Hope to ride this weekend.

During our last podcasts, David Thornton and I decided to do a very short longboarding video clip project. Just shoot 4 or 5 clips each, and he’ll put them together. I think short projects like that are nice. I don’t get bogged down in them. Go out, skate, shoot, and it’s done.

A couple of years ago my friend David Thornton and I started a longboarding podcast called Frontside 360. The podcast is still there at frontside360.libsyn.com.

We both had a lot of fun with it, but eventually  we felt kind of constrained by the world “longboarding” in the tagline. Then we both got busy, and a pandemic hit, and I have lots of other projects, etc, etc.

Well, I just got a comment on the previous post from a reader who enjoyed that podcast. He is not the first who has contacted me. I’m not sure, but it seems like that podcast was filling a niche with some listeners.

We started that show because both of us missed the days when people rode boards in the 40″+ length range all over — skateparks, ramps, ditches, etc. These days it is hard to find, for example, a board that is 42″ long but shaped like a normal board — just stretched out.

These days, longboarding has become synonymous to some extent with two forms: the so-called “longboard dancing” and downhill. Now, downhill skateboarding is really its own monster. The boards maybe be longer than a typical board, but I would consider those to be downhill boards first and foremost, and longboards second. The Dancing style and the boards associated with it came about in the early 2000s, when Adam Colton made a series of influential videos on homemade longboards, and coined the term “dancing.” Soon Longboard Larry started making a board called the Oldschool Dancer for Adam, and then Adam hooked up with Loaded Boards and put the on the map, and the dancing thing took off. It has evolved to include staggeringly good cross-step footwork and whatnot. Essentially freestyle on a longboard, but including some ghastly step off your board and twirl the board in your hands and jump back on stuff. Obviously that stuff is not my thing. My point, however, is that longboarding is, in general, not the kind of thing you saw in the old Gravity or Sector 9 videos anymore. Not to the great unwashed hoards, anyway.

I was looking at longboard stuff on the interwebs last night. Checking out the “team” from Paris Trucks. No doubt they are all really good, but also they are just a different kind of skater than those from 2001. I am getting older, and they are young, and I have to admit between the age gap and general stylistic differences, I have a hard time relating.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, David and I are recording tonight. New episode on the way.

True story.

My friend Kris and his wife Trish are awesome.

Trish told us that when she met Kris he always had at least one skateboard in his car.

She asked him why, and he said “In case I’m called to skate.”

I’ve had a good time riding in Pandemic Parking lot the last 19 months (or whatever). Just relaxing, “feeling the flow” as they say. I was looking at my seldom-looked-at Flickr account this morning. Yes, I still keep my “Pro” account there.  I have a lot of good images stored there.

Anyway, looking at some of my longboarding pics today, I was thinking of my friend Eric Sanders, who is all about the flow. Eric, it is so good, isn’t it?

Here’s a picture of me just riding my longboard. Frontside carve. Is there any better feeling in skateboarding? The pure simplicity. But man, if you really dig into this feeling, it is deep. Soul-level deep. I think I need to do this a lot more.

Carving around on a longboard. Click for full size.