Stoke

It was Friday night. Was way too pumped up about hitting the mountains for the first time in many years tomorrow. Had to get on the asphalt tonight in a serious way and the pavement was wet all night between rainfall and humidity. Makes for great sliding conditions but also a very loose and skatey board, i.e. great surfing motor control practice. I've been repping snaps, rail grabs, cutbacks and any and all standard surf carves, trims, and maneuvers diligently the last several weeks.

Tonight is when I decided new ground would be broken. All I had in my mind was Danny Way's first attempt at heaving himself over the Great Wall of China and how he came up a few feet short which had great consequence when he just covered a 70 foot gap and feel down the next ramp. Which was not exactly a mini-ramp. Watching and listening to those guys lately has reiterated everything I've always told myself and put into action. You won't gain anything worth having without venturing into new ground and risking a considerable amount to lose. That's what's great about it and why we feel the stoke - if it were easy or automatic or handed to us, it wouldn't give us stoke.

The last week or so, I've really been repping hard power slides in the Bert fashion and have gloved up to do so. With the C7 truck in the front of the Carver, it's not like riding fakie is any easy or reasonable task. But tonight I threw it all on the line. Not only was I intent on finally landing clean reps of Bert slides front and back, I was determined to ride them out to completion fakie. I also was intent on nailing 180 slides if not 360s. Wasn't gonna stop there, I wanted to crush legit laybacks which I talk about with all types of skaters and they just say "that's crazy Dogtown surfy ****t".

Screw it. My ramps of choice that I typically rep out on late night on empty streets are in the middle of the downtown and thus was a Friday night with packed bars and restaurants. Most skaters say to craft your tricks and maneuvers by yourself in empty parks and lots until they're sound. The indoor parks were closed and where my asphalt waves were breaking, there happened to be all sorts of life kooks (and cars) crowding my one-man lineup. I still pumped into those waves and any window of clear street that intermittently presented itself I charge with no relent and used the manhole covers as my landmarks to snap front and back on.

Ended up not only landing the vast majority of board slides I'd yet to get consistent with, I was crushing legit laybacks that I slid with locked up wheels for several feet on end and then rail grabbed from while pushing off the ground into a quasi-air grab off basically flat ground while still in motion from the slide. Did a few dozen of those improvising in between some sick and fun wipeouts, and mixed in a bunch of frontside Bert powers that I rode out of fakie. Next up is throwing a CX truck on the front so when I end up fakie I don't have a tight "front truck" and swivel rear.

Bottom line: was jonesing hard for stoke and had a small bag of basic surf-skate tricks is been working on or aspiring for constantly the last week or two. So I went out with nothing to lose in front of the townsfolk and ended up transcending my game multiple levels. They just happened to be there, I wasn't gonna fiend the stoke and not answer the bell just because there were a bunch of people who'd see me wipeout repeatedly at their feet. I was in the zone and the only one out there in my mind along with my iPod shuffle. I hit moves that I'd been trying for hours and hours lately, and I extended that into hitting advanced versions of those moves that I'd yet to try. Most all of this will transfer to the water as I'm purely focused on skating to better my surfing. Regardless, I'm pushing myself hard and taking chances and it's paying off.

Can't wait to hit the snow tomorrow. I'll take my spills for certain, but it's not like I didn't kiss pavement for much of a 2.5 hour sesh tonight. Stoke is stoke. This turkey swell better come. If it doesn't, so be it. I'll just have to transcend my surf-skating and snowboarding in the meantime.

1907: George Washington CARVER collaborates with NOAA for the Preserve America Initiative with comprehensive meteorological and climate study, which work later significantly enhanced agricultural techniques resulting in over 300 uses for the peanut.

 

Yah brah, you just got infected with the advantageous disease of stoke. Either that or you're unfavorably mentally diseased to the point where you're still up at 4:35 EST waiting for the last several hours for the next SI post to troll. And I'll bet my Carver quiver that you've yet to sleep Friday night while even the seldom sleeping Spicoli cat-napped before rising now to head to the mountains.

I'm gonna give you the Benny of the doubt (in light of your something positive thread and recently upbeat posts) and assume it's the former, that you're infected with stoke. If it's the latter, I'll still wish you well, hope for the best for you, and thank you and the other haters of the world eternally for blessing me with the twin-screw supercharger of extra mojo.

Do the right think and jump on the stoke train, yankee. BTW, you better not tell Chuckie how the palm disc on slide gloves would actually make his sonic clap dangerous to potential victims of cymballic percussion by the hand.

 

Grom brah - so many things wrong with your post. First, this thread, it's about stoke. A grom should be frothing with stoke at all times. Secondly, you're clearly not too lazy to post seven syllables so your aspirations are low. Grom brah, you're a key piece of the mosaic here at SI because you're the token teen grom (not to be confused with tan mom) of the forum and you're an especially valuable mascot because your regular attitude you display here is so far from the worthless toxic waste that your peers in age have brought down society with. Who've you been hanging out with lately? I bet your pops doesn't approve of whatever stoke-sapping bad influences those dudes are. The grommettes you got your eye on in the schoolyard won't fancy this crap any more than I do.

 

Ya SUPbrah, that's an informed pickup you just made. Nothing I like to see more than my dawgs getting stoke. Setting up the Carver or any stick is geared to personal preference and intended function. The stock wheels are excellent and really don't need to be replaced. Since I ride them so much and want to push their limits and my own, I've experimented recently with wheel sets. I took the stock 70mm 81durometer Roundhouse wheels off the Knox to put the 63mm 78duro square lip Metro Retro wheels on. Mainly did that to go smaller due to wheel bite on the deck bottom which I've not had on the Pintail or the Revert Koi even though those came with the same wheels. Perhaps it's the shape of the deck compared to the others, and I plan to put more risers on than the 3 that come with it and go bigger with wheels again.

The Knox has too much potential to go smaller and lose speed production even though I tried to go softer on the duro thinking that the extra grip and traction would be a trade off with no loss in speed. Adding a riser or two will solve the wheel bite issue. Can't lose speed because just like on the water, more speed more and better maneuvers. The Revert experiment has been a huge success going with the Orangatang Kilmer wheels (round lip, 69mm 86duro) and the sliding capability of them is immense while not getting too skatey. If I can pump full speed on wet pavement and not have any issue regaining balance in an instant when the back wheels start to inadvertently slip, those things offer the benefit without the cost. I plan to try some with a duro into the 90s and perhaps go bigger too maybe up to 73mm.

This is all on the street, however, and dialing in the Carver in the vert and bowl is an ongoing project. Because you're not pushing much, if at all, for speed (my foot doesn't touch the ground once for help in speed) you do need to maintain a certain amount of grip. Harder wheels = less grip = better slides. The way the front truck is set up, you're able to go rail to rail on this board like no other skate. Rail to rail plus shoving the tail kick and back foot is how all speed and maneuvering is done, which essentially makes it a surf skate. The more you dial it in the board in the ways I'm talking about, the more of a surfboard it will feel like.

Carver makes other trucks than the C7 and I may experiment with one of those for maneuvers that I want to ride out fakie. I'm doing that now but just barely and not near full speed because now your C7 is swiveling as your back truck and that's no bueno.

If I'm you, I'm getting used to the Knox in stock form which we are calling "stock" for no other reason than that's how they come complete. These are in no way not customized, and you'll see right away that these are the Coil board of skates. Once you feel the potential of the C7 and Knox (all-purpose and dynamic), you'll have an idea of where you want to take it. That will again be based on how you plan to ride it, where you plan to ride it, and your athletic style. You're a taller dude so you'll have to be nearly at the edge of the 31" Knox for stance. I like wider stances and I'm not as tall as you but on the edge of the board myself.

You're gonna love this thing. Your lady is therefore gonna hate it.

 

Then stick to the threads that you know will be nothing more than grunts, fart jokes, and dummy slapping. You see 1) a thread started by me; 2) a thread started by me titled "Stoke"; and C) a thread started by me titled "Stoke" and about Carver boards...and you need a further disclaimer for potential high word count? Is this your first day on SI brah?

GET OFF MY PEAK

1933: Duke Kanahanamoku wraps up his 12-year Hollywood movie career the year following his bronze medal in water polo at the Olympics in Los Angeles, California.

 

Yeah I got a bit of height on you and you'll be fine on this length. Your skating experience will definitely help you. Imagine a world where kick turns aren't necessary.

You just want smooth pavement and you guys have that down there. You're in for a treat.