Things this trick has made me think of…
🛹
I ramble a little bit in this episode, talking about my trip to stupid fest, being 60 years old, video clips, and my friend who is skateboarder and academic. 🛹
My new friend Noah, who I met at StupidFest, sent me this video yesterday. One of the same runs I’ve posted before, but from a different angle. I like that it shows the walls of the ditch really well. I love big, flat banked walls. They really provide the best terrain for the way I skate. I have at least a dozen other moves I want to so there using that parking blog.
End-Over to Frontside Fakie 360. Zombie Baby ditch, Austin, TX. Sept. 2024 🛹
Yes - that is DEARTH, not death.
A couple of times a year I search for new skateboarding blogs. I mean real blogs. Like this one and the ones I point to on my skateboarding blogs page here.
So yeah, this is going to be one of those posts. The kind where I’m a little pissy. It’s disappointing, year after year, to find no good new writing or writers, only more “Best 5 skateboards for beginners” spam bullshit sorta stuff. Or links to Thrasher. Or “blogs” on company websites. Sorry folks, those are marketing. Those are part of the great global avalanche of “content” of no value.
I realize I am increasingly an outdated person, but it astonishes me that so few people write about skateboarding, on a blog, simply because they enjoy it. The dearth of people simply writing their thoughts about skateboarding, without thought of monetizing it as their side-hustle, is amazingly stupid.
All the while my Instagram and YouTube feeds are FULL of skateboarding “content”.
Of course, I have installed the plugins here on this blog to prevent Google and similar bots from indexing (stealing) my creative work, so there is no way this blog will ever show up on someone’s search even if they were interested. So I suppose I’m not helping matters. I just don’t want my work stolen by AIs, and I don’t want to feed the beast. I guess what I really want is a thriving Fediverse of truly independent bloggers, photographers, videographers, and podcasters. An alternate ecosystem - a BETTER ecosystem - for skateboarders on the web.
Well, I’ll close this rant with an old video, from my now-defunct freestyle spot. 🛹
I’m bored, so I’m posting a pic of my boards. 🛹
A couple of things today.
First, a skateboarding friend of mine was found dead in his camper-van, up on a mountain in Montana. Apparently carbon monoxide poisoning from the heater he had in there, or so I’m told. I wrote this thing on my other blog. www.concretelunch.info/a-friend-…
Second, compelled by the news of his death for some reason I set up this new board. I’ve had the deck and wheels sitting around for a while, and was moved to assemble them - one might say I was called to do so. Looking forward to riding this with Frank in my memory. 🛹
A still of me spinning an end-over to fakie 360 at Zombie Baby. 🛹
In this episode, I go on about stupid fest, ideas for tricks, and a few other things. 🛹
This episode is a quick summary of my trip down to Austin for the event this year. 🛹
Here are a couple of videos from a ditch session in Austin last weekend. I had a good time down there. This ditch is pretty gnarly, and I only skate it about once a year, so I don’t exactly have a lot of lines. Rather than going all the way down the ditch and having to walk back up the hill, this year I just dropped in, did a trick on the face wall, and then popped back out. It was fun. 🛹
In this very short episode, I just talk a bit about my life as a skateboarder and what it’s meant to me. 🛹
Ready to roll. Bring on tomorrow. 🛹
A quick check in. I’m in Austin for the event. 🛹
So tomorrow leave for StupidFest, in Austin. 🛹
I feel like I talk about Austin traffic and street challenges a lot, but honestly those things are always a minor point of stress when I go there. Driving 4 hours from Dallas I am usually a little tired when I get there, and the idea of then creeping along the crowded city streets just to find, for instance, some food, is not attractive to me. So the plan is to go down there and time it so I get to my Air BnB at 3pm. Gonna try to stop and have lunch with my friend Jack, so looking forward to that!
So, it is nice to find a nice private Air BnB in a quiet neighborhood. Our last trip to Austin we were in a hotel. It was one of those new kind of hotels where there’s no carpet, all the surface are hard, everything looks “new” but kinda slapped together, and seems to cater to people who want to party. Now, combine “party” with “hard surfaces” and you have the makings of a noisy, horrible, not cozy or relaxing experience. We took our dog, who is really good in a crate, and he could not relax. So we ended up coming home in the middle of the night rather than even staying for one night. Basically I hate drunk people. Yes, I know I’m going to StupidFest. I can deal. But drunk strangers who are douchebags are not on my preferred agenda. I’m ranting a bit…
What I’m saying is simply this: I enjoy having a peaceful place to stay. And I’m not even a fan of the Air BnB business model. I don’t want any Air BnBs in my neighborhood, but I will hypocritically stay in one in Austin. So there.
As I write this I am sitting at the car dealership, getting my car ready for the trip. It is nice being and adult and having the cash to take care of my car properly. I’m working from home the rest of the day, so I’ll have time to get my boards and stuff ready, do some laundry, etc.
Anyway, I’ll get to Austin Thursday afternoon. A lot of people get there a day early and go to San Antonio on Thursday, but I’m skipping that. We might have a skate session Thursday night. If not, depending on logistics, I might meet some of the blokes for dinner. If not, I will be content to chill at my lodgings and read, work on D&D and Traveller stuff.
This year’s StupidFest apparently will feature spots I’ve never skated. I’m good with that. I need to open my mind a bit. Frankly, some of the old spots are not favorites of mine. Pink Ditch? Ugh. It’s a hassle to get to, and while it looks interesting in pictures it actually sucks. We usually meet at this skatepark of which’s name escapes me and then go to Pink. I’m not a fan of that park either. You might be asking yourself at this point “what does Bob like to skate?” Not a big skatepark fan. I like a good, simple ditch with big flat walls. I don’t need a bunch of add-ons beyond a few parking blocks. When I see DIY shit that’s been poured at a ditch my first thought is usually “this place is gonna get shut down.” I know a lot of people are into the DIY additions. That’s cool. It’s just not my thing usually. I have this philosophical position where I like to pretty much skate terrain as it is found. This position is based on laziness. Some folks NEED the DIY stuff, because without it there isn’t anything to skate, so I understand and support that.
Going to an event like StupidFest is really about connecting with people you enjoy skating with, almost more than the actual skating. I can go skate any time I want, really. I could go to San Antonio by myself and skate the ditches all I want. Get all the skating I want, without really having to wait my turn. That’s not the point of going to a gathering. So yes, I am looking forward to seeing the NeverWas folks in-person.
I will likely post a few podcast updates from the road tomorrow.
Writing the previous post about preparing for StupidFest got me thinking and remembering about getting ready for events when I was in my early 20s. Or more properly stated, “not getting ready.”
I’d go off to an event with my board and not much else. No water. No food. Maybe $5 in my pocket.
Once when I was in college in Waco, pretty sure it was 1987, this local dude name Danny showed up at my apartment door on Saturday morning and said “There’s a street contest down in Temple today. Want to go?” Of course I said yes. So I grabbed my board, got in Danny’s old shitty car, and drove about 45 minutes down the highway to Temple. No money in my pocket. No water with us. No food. I had not even eaten breakfast.
The contest was in the parking lot of a K-Mart store. There was no water or food being given away as you might find now. We skated all day. I got back to my apartment about 6pm that night and saw myself on one of the local news channels, as I had won the contest.
What kept us alive and functioning all day with no food or water is beyond me. I think I might have used the water fountain and bathroom inside K-mart.
Funny thing is I wasn’t a poor student. I just didn’t have an ATM card, and I didn’t bother to have Danny stop at the grocery store where I could cash a check. I just went. 🛹
Well, I go to Austin for StupidFest in two days, and I’ve not done any tinkering with my boards. Maybe that’s a good thing?
Austin is, frankly, not a town where hard wheels serve you well anywhere but in a skatepark. The ditches and other spots tend to be rough. Hell, there’s not a single moderately smooth street in Austin that I’ve ever found, and I’m sure they are a lot worse now than when I left in 2005. Not sure where all that tax money goes from the super economic tech-bro boom situation down there, but it’s not going into public streets. But I digress…
Weirdly, the surfaces I skate at street spots in Dallas are not too horrible for hard wheels, but I’ll probably need to switch ‘em out in Austin for some softer ones. I’ve been riding some 92a 54mm OJs, and those are pretty good. I have some 95s too. My old trusty Fickle Knuclehead is still set up with OJ 87a Keyframes, so I’ll just keep it set up.
I don’t have a lot of free time before I leave, so what I’ll mostly likely do is throw a bunch of boards and wheels in the car and deal with it when I get to my Air BnB. Mainly I just need the Fickle and another board with 95s or 92s. Which I have. I’ve been riding this old Cockfight deck set up with 92s, and there’s a good chance I’ll just ride it.
That’s a fair chance I’ll bring my Mode pool shape deck with 159s and some 95a wheels on it as well. I have a brand new deck – probably the last of its kind – and it is way past time to start destroying it.
Other necessities include helmet, sunscreen, bug spray, a couple of White Sox ball caps (flex fit – not truck style shit hats), non-soy energy bars and a bunch of bottled water, computer, phone, charger, extra battery, extra skate shoes, and sunglasses.
I am horribly out of practice. I think the last time I skated was June. The infernal Texas summers are getting old. Actually, I am getting old, and the summers are getting old with me. Whatever. I’m sick of ‘em. Luckily for me, after 49 years of skating, I neither get much better with lots of practice or worse with no practice. I just kinda skate the way I do, and I’m happy with that.
This year is the first time I’ve not submitted anything for the new NeverWas video. I just didn’t get out to skate or film this year. There’s been a lot going on, and I’ve been reprioritizing the various elements of my life over the last two years. Maybe I can do some filming for next year while I’m down there. 🛹
In this episode, I talk about my upcoming trip to stupid fest, as well as some other stuff. 🛹
Well, I am going to skateboarding get-together in Austin in a few weeks. It has been hot AF here and I’ve not been skating at all. I mean - AT ALL. Luckily 49 years of being a skateboarder have prepared me well. I don’t really get worse. A couple of hours on the board and I’m about as good as I’ve ever been.
I’ve been concentrating more in my spare time on Traveller and D&D, reading, doing fun things with my wife, and enjoying our dog and cat.
I’ve been working with Mike Osterman to fine-tune and adjust the freestyle skateboarding judging system we used a couple of weeks at at the U.S. Opens. The system worked pretty well, but we immediately realized its weaknesses and started brainstorming ways to address them. Mike and some of the other guys have some great ideas for how to move forward. You can debate judging systems forever, but they are doing this right. 🛹
Well, two weeks ago I judged the U.S. Opens of Freestyle Skateboarding in Lake Forest, California. I was one of three judges. Great event. Probably the best surface I’ve seen for any modern-era freestyle contest. Smooth but not slick. It was the Etnies Skatepark. I’ll probably record a short podcast about it soon. Been kind of busy since getting back.
It made me want to skate. Then I got home to 100 degree F temperatures, and the feeling went away, haha.
In a couple of weeks I’m serving as one of the judges at the U.S. Open of Freestyle Skateboarding. This is, obviously, “open”, which means that pros and ams will be competing all in one big group. A chance for a good amateur to teach the pros a lesson!
Judging at freestyle contests can be a thankless job. It is hard. For quite a few years now people have been working on new judging systems, hoping to make it a bit more of a science. What is really needed, however, is good judges. People with years of experience in freestyle, who can judge with as little personal bias a possible, appreciate different approaches to freestyle while honoring the past and what I would call the “shared understanding” of what freestyle is, and hopefully a panel of three judges of different generations. I don’t think any system can replace knowledgeable and capable judges.
My goal is that we get the top three people right, and that there are no absolutely incorrect placings. I don’t want someone who should have been in the middle, for instance, coming in last.
The other two judges and I will do the best we can. Ultimately you want people who come to a contest to have a good experience.
A very short recent clip. 🛹
A few things:
More to come.
In this episode, I talk about an upcoming contest and an award that apparently I may get, and my friend Chris’s new blog about skateboarding as you get older.
My friend Chris has started a new blog on which to explore his journey as a skateboarder now over 50 years of age.
I’m very much looking forward to reading his thoughts on this matter. As I will turn 60 this year, such things are very much on my mind, and maybe his writings and thinkings will inspire some new personal insight for me.