Monday, February 20, 2006

Bowls and Street

Last Wednesday Mike and I went to skate at the Exhibition Park in Newcastle. Mike decided he wanted to learn to get air above the coping. We thought a good place to start would be to do 180 ollies on the transition - so that's what we did.

It was so hard at first, but then we started to get the hang of landing on the transition. Mike was using the curves in the small bowl wall like mini hips, and I must say his ollies looked pretty sick (all relative remember). They looked good because they were super smooth... he was stomping the landing.

We moved into the bowl area to try and link stuff together. We're complete beginners, but the feeling of mixing up kick-turns, ollies below the coping, and rolling up regular then coming down switch is so good. It's so addictive... we ended up leaving the park just after 10pm.

That night I made my first rock to fakie (albeit it was on a 3 1/2' wall, and I bottled nearly all of my attempts). I also started to drop in on the medium sized bowl, which I reckon is maybe 5 1/2' high (probably feels bigger than it is).

On Saturday morning we went to the park in Gateshead - the Five Bridges I think people call it. I like it there, in fact that was the first place I skated on my board. However, right now I just want to ride more in the bowl. It feels closer to snowboarding somehow, smoother... but what do I know, I've only been skating for a month or so.

Next, I think we're gonna check out the skate park in Redcar.

2 comments:

Mal said...

Nice progress, man! I'm glad you put the links in for the tricks, mind - I had no idea what a rock-to-fakie was, but the link explained it beautifully. Will have to come along and watch you sometime.

Gavin Hope said...

Mike and I might be going tonight if it stays dry...