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.