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GALLERY
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©2002 Team Ping All rights reserved.
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Friday |
| Lazy afternoon session....except for all the traffic headed south on I-65 for Labor Day.....JW8 threw down the Gauntlet with his post on here....he said 4pm but it was close to 5pm-ish when he got through traffic. Soooo Friday was just a laid back fun session with PERFECT weather.....JW8...Me...and Tim Spin-note-see. We were also joined by our new friend and visitor from afar....Kent from Little Rock, Arkansas. FUN sesh! Kent and JW8 traded stories about local Arkansas pool and parks. Kent represented with sweeeeeet grinds and big frontside ollie airs (pics to come). |
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Tim Spinosi, frontside grind
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John Waight, frontside grindage (he goes about 3 coping block lengths!)
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Kent from Little Rock, Arkansas with a nice, long 5-0 frontside
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Kent with a big frontside ollie grab
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Another ollie fron Kent and the cig still hangs in there (haha)
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Saturday |
| ...or "let's all wait till Sunday to skate"......very very laid back session. Seems everyone was waiting till Sunday to come skate....everyone except C.Solomon (Me), JW8 and Tim Spinosi (sound familiar?). Really incredible day to skate too. Weather was perfect! We all took advantage of it by taking the occassional "let's just see what I can do" run ....and by that I mean, trying a few new tricks in the mix. Lastly...almost forgot...Darren from Clanton (used to live in Alabaster) came out with his kids again. He is really progressing well and getting his feet back under him again.....this session, he was under control with frontside/backside carves on tile and had a nice run/line going. He says he is almost ready to try re-learning airs again. Good to see him there. |
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Darren from Clanton working the tiles
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Backside view of a frontside grind from Tim Spinosi
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Tim Spinosi frontside grindage (look how low he is in the bowl!)
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John Waight bowl run (43.3 MB video)
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Tim Spinosi 3-grind run (47.6 MB video)
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Sunday |
Pre-Labor Day celebration......also happened to be the second "Step It Up Sunday" (SIUS) event! I got out to the park around 2pm thinking I would be the late one. Turns out, I was one of the first....including Gardendale Brad and his wife (he finally brought her to meet all us hooligans!). Brad and I got started skating...just warming up really....and Tim Spinosi soon showed up as well as Patrick Jackson. We were all working out some soreness and generally just getting loose. About 30-40 minutes into the session, Brad came out of a rock n' roll funky and bailed. At first, it didn't look like much. Turns out, he rolled his ankle pretty good....by "good", I mean "bad" of course. It swelled right up. That was it for Brad's day...he and the wife packed up, said good-bye and were off. What a friggin bummer...and he was sooo stoked to skate with everyone too.
Well, slowly, the usual suspects trickled in....seems the word of SIUS had spread because everyone made sure to come today. haha By the time the session got rolling good, we had in attendance....Tim Spinosi, Barry Gililland, Patrick Jackson, John Waight, Butch White, Kent (from Little Rock), Kerry Johnson, Brian Kelly (yes, he came on his off day to skate!), and me....and a handful of little kids wanting to learn to ride the bowl (good for when we all take breaks! haha).
Where to begin with this report ?!?!? This "Step It Up Sunday" was definately even more fun filled and exciting than the last weekend! The session got pretty hot as everyone was pushing each other and cheering everyone on. I don't know if it was just me, but it was one of those sessions where you feel the electricity in the air! Let's see....Tim Spinosi was all over his grinds again....showing he hadn't lost them in a week (haha). Patrick Jackson was having troubles on his backside 50-50s which he seemed to take out on the bowl by flying around faster than ever and hitting some nice frontside grinds and his HUGE pop-out ollies. Kent from Little Rock was doing his big fronstide 5-0's and frontside 50-50's-to-air in...as well as just trying all kinds of insane stuff. John Waight was in rare form...aside from his usual frontside "rape and pillage" of the coping, he was trying lots of new tricks for him....backside and frontside airs.....big frontside layback grinds...axle stalls....and trying to find the weirdest lines he could...he definately was a motivator for me in the session! Then there was Kerry....he showed up with a pounding headache and like a trooper, he stuck it out. He was all over backside airs now....going much higher than I have yet seen(I never could get a good picture either!) He did ONLY late grabs...bye bye to the ol' "bunny hops" he used to love. haha Butch seems to adjusted his way of thinking....as he said to me "I got tired of just being mediocre out here....if I am going to do this, I am going to push myself"....and he has done just that....could it be his new Flip Lance Mountain deck? his new way of thinking? Who knows. Whatever it is, it has him ripping and progressing these days. He is flying around the bowl now and hitting grinds at will where ever and whenever. I think he is to the point of getting on top of coping now....as well as trying his hand at floating above coping *cough airs cough*. Barry and Brian didn't skate much as they were preparing for the cookout. Barry was hitting his grinds but having troubles with 50-50s like Patrick too (must be something they drank). It was good to even see Brian skating again...he has been on injured reserves for a while....hopefully the skating is some stress relief from all the crap he deals with from the city these days (another story). Finally in the mix....I try to never EVER talk about what I do or did...but this past weekend, I was pretty proud of myself. Getting frontside airs now at coping pretty consistently, I decided to step it up too and try some other tricks....one I have always wanted to do is a big Madonna....but doing that means starting with Lien-to-tails first...which I have never done on anything over 8 ft before....so for the hell of it, I started trying those....they felt pretty good and I think I was close to a few....just getting the feel right now...didn't land any, but it is a start. Just gettin use to going up, turning my shoulder(thanks JW8!) and trying to put the tail down...and not the trucks(haha). My biggest joy that day though.... I was landing tuck-knee frontside airs and heading back to shallow, doing rock-fakies and then getting stuck on what to do back in the deep on the big wall (aside from fakie ollies). Patrick just yelled out, "try a Gay Twist". I forgot all about that trick! It was the last trick I ever learned on vert at the old Comp ramp. So I gave it a go. About 3-4 tries in, I had the rotation again! I couldn't believe it! Again...not landing it yet, but I feel VERY close to putting it down!
Soooo as SIUS kept going but the daylight began to fade, Brian and Barry broke out the grill and cooked up burgers and hot dogs....kinda of a pre-Labor Day celebration. That was super cool of Brian to do (and for Barry to provide the grill and much of the food). A lot of the kids at the park had no idea this had been planned and were so stoked to get food. As it grew darker, the bowl began to clear. Kerry was about the only one still skating. Travis showed up and threw down some of his mini-ramp skills with some nice tricks in the shallow (frontside rocks, slide-n-rolls, etc). I wasn't very hungry at the time, and really just wanted a shower and to lay on the couch as my knees were throbbing and my lower back was pounding by this point. I packed up and quietly headed out....and that ended a great 3 days of skating at the park! |
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Gardendale Brad's session ends quick with a rolled ankle
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Another view of Brad's ankle
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Patrick Jackson's warp speed backside 50-50 in the shallow
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With a look of stone determination and focus, John Waight works the coping
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John Waight again coming out of a frontside grind
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John Waight steps it up on "Step It Up Sunday" with a frontside air attempt
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Session line-up
Kent, Tim, JW8, Butch and K-Jo)
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Kerry Johnson backside air out (it's not an edger, trust me! bad angle...sorry)
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Brian Kelly making the park look nice
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Pre-Labor Day park party spread
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Barry/Butters/BS/Old_Timer works the grill. Do you really want this guy making your food? (haha)
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Travis shows up late to the party but brings a nice frontside rock
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Kerry Johnson frontside air at dusk
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