Stepping it up

     Yes, I realize that the title of this post is lame. However, I simply couldn't resist. For some time now I've been focusing quite a bit of attention on my near obsession with boardsliding small handrails. For more details on why I'm obsessed and how this happened you can refer to this post. Well, last week I was able to "step up" my handrail hitlist by adding a new and exciting rail. Up to this point, I have never hit a handrail that had more than 4 or 5 stairs underneath it. In all honesty, the amount of stairs underneath a rail is sort of a lousy unit of measurement as some 4 stair rails could be more difficult than 5 stair rails depending on their hieght and length. Nonetheless, I can finally say that I've hit a 6 stair handrail. It's located at Hazard County Skatepark and is actually much easier to commit to than the rail at Brook Run (a 4 stair, which further demonstrates my earlier piont).


The rail is actually really low in height making it relatively easy.
The only intimidating factors are it's length and more so it's significant
drop if you were to fall towards the outside of the rail. This would not be as
intimidating if you were to attempt the other rail next to the pyramid (I'm talking to you Batman!).

      After a few attempts and despite it's terrifying lack of stairs or ramp on the outside of the rail, I was able to land the rail several times. I recognize that this post is really just me tooting my own horn, but honestly that's mainly the point of this entire blog.

Someone at the park caught me taking pictures of the rail for

the blog and asked me if I wanted to be filmed with my camera

 phone. The quality is horrible which is compounded

even more by the lack of good lighting at the park.

Thanks L.L.!

Here is the culprit. Although it looks small, it's actually pretty long making it difficult to commit to.

      Music, it can make or break a skate jam. Recently I've been experimenting with all types of different music when I skate. I find myself listening to Woody Guthrie in the bowl, Janes Addiction on the mini, and Otis Redding when I skate street. None of these things are typical I suppose. Most kids listen to either hardcore (or whatever it's called now) or rap when they skate. That's cool, whatever feels right you know. Well, what does this all have to do with skating? It all goes back to handrails of course. It had been a month to the day when I last hit the handrail at my local park. You may even recall the terrible bruise that I recieved last time after doing the rail. That bruise and not doing the rail for a while really made it difficult for me to try the rail again. Enter L.L. Cool J. So I was considering trying this rail again after a very unpleasant experience and some time away. Suddenly, L.L. Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out" started playing on my mp3 player. Here are the songs first lyrics:

Don't call it a comeback
I been here for years
Rockin my peers and puttin suckas in fear
Makin the tears rain down like a MON-soon
Listen to the bass go BOOM
Explosion, overpowerin
Over the competition, I'm towerin

     So being a washed up skateboarder, these lyrics hit hard and I decided to try the rail again. Thank goodness, I was able to do it again. Not unscathed though. Not nearly as painful as last time, I hit my knee in attempting the rail and recieved a nice bump. Nonetheless, I wanted to thank L.L. for convincing me to get back on the Brook Run rail again and not overthinking it. Now that that's out of the way, it's time to get back to Otis and Woody.

You can see the bump on my knee here. It's like having two knee caps.
It didn't actually hurt at all though, just a wierd impact I suppose.



Christmas came early!

     After skating pop-lite blanks for the past few years, I finally decided to spend some money and get an Element again. Also, since I've started skating pools and flow bowls more, I wanted a board with some width on it. Christmas came early this year and I ended up buying two new completes. Throughout my entire skateboarding years, I think I've only had two new completes in my life, one of which was stolen within a month. So, this was a huge deal for me.



Here's my new Element board. I forgot how much pop these have. Feels so nice!

       I built each of them custom to what I wanted. The first is my street board (which oddly enough I only skate at parks... using my old board for actual street). I bought an Element deck because I miss the pop. I'm mostly confortable with an 7.88 width, so that's what I did. Then I put some Destructo Trucks (mid) 7.75s on it, making a nice fit. China Bones (always!) for bearings and the Powell STF wheels. The deck rides excellent and has a nice pop to it. I have really been enjoying it!



I always eyed this board growing up, but never wanted to skate an 8.5 inch board. Well, the time has come!

       Next, I set up a pool/vert deck. I have always loved the Toy Machine fist deck, but never understood who would skate a deck so wide. It's 8.5 which is exactly what I was looking for in the width so I finally got the fist deck after all these years of admiration for its art. I slapped Independent stage 11 trucks (red hangers) on it. This was bizare because I think Indy was on stage 6 or 7 when I started. Kinda crazy. As risers were free I went ahead and put some 1/8ths on there. China Bones as always and 60mm Powell bombers for wheels. I think I messed up and went too soft on the wheels, but other than that this deck is amazing! It's so ridiculously smooth. The width feels wonderful in both the pool and flow bowl. It's very confortable and easier to carve than my street board.



You can really tell how wide this board is here. My foot barely hangs off the deck.

       After these two purchases I now have too many skateboards. So I've used taken a new approach for using each board. I've done what Marx called the "division of labor" I suppose. I now have a board for cruising, a board for longboarding, a board for street, a board for the street section of a skatepark, and a board for pools, bowls, and vert. I am in hopes that this process will prolong the life of each board.



Here is everything together including my new shoes.

      I was also in need of some new shoes. I sold out and bought some Nike's for the first time. I remember when I started Nike's were hated by skateboarders and were having a very difficult time getting into the market. They've since become the most popular skate shoe. I really didn't want to get a pair, but after hearing how much better the souls were on them and having lived with heel bruises for a while now decided to try out a pair. Fortunately I was able to find my size at Marshall's and get a pair for 40 bucks. They are very nice shoes, I'm still wierded out by how light they are though. They feel like skating in running shoes a little bit because of the wieght. So in the end Christmas came early and it's been great to have such nice equipment to ride, especially after being used to no-grip Circas and Pop-lites. Thanks Santa (you know  who you are)!


Here's the family portrait after the two new additions.