The Boardrider Learns to Wakeboard

First time ever, so don’t laugh too hard.  I fully plan on owning the wake on my next trip!  Hats off to Jiz for the epic editing!

There’s a Pretty Big Hill by Tahlequah High School…

In town for the 4th of July holiday, Jiz and I wanted to check out hills around the ‘Quah and see what we could find.  We headed over to the high school to see a hill that two months ago I pronounced “unrideable,” not because of it’s height, but because I had no fucking idea how I would ever stop! The solution of course is to carve to slow down and it really was quite easy. The video does the hill no justice, it is long and steep, following in the car Jiz clocked me at about 34 mph. 

Compared to the parking garage the Tahlequah hill is extremely competitive.  It’s nice to have a long straight ride and really be able to pick up speed.  With the exception of having to walk 5 minutes back uphill without the convenience of an elevator, hill skating is just as cool as parking garages.  Nice to be able to work on my tan too!  

I’m trying to work on translating my surfing skills to my longboarding and you see some of that in these videos.  Sliding the tail, long sloping turns.  However, I hope to put on a real display of surf skills in the future during my family trip to San Diego! Stoked!  That isn’t until September so in the meantime, longboarding and wakeboarding will have to do.  Speaking of wakeboarding, I hope to have video of my first day ever up on a wakeboard very soon.  The video exists, Jiz needs to cut it and send it to me.  It should be entertaining as it includes some wipeouts.  

By the way, while in Tahlequah I was lucky enough to help welcome little Destiny Marie Baron into the world.  Yes, Baron and Nicki are now parents!  

On that same tip, I would also like to welcome Preston Scott into the world.  I regret I have not had a chance to see him yet because Veronica was sick last week, but I will very soon. Congratulations to Joe and Gina!

McNellie’s Public House

     

Mayor Cornett and friends opening McNellie’s

Before and after sessions, the crew and I have taken to a new Midtown OKC hotspot, McNellie’s. 

Imported from Tulsa, McNellie’s features many import and domestic beers.  I highly recommend Anchor Steam, however for in-depth beer descriptions visit http://theviceblog.wordpress.com.

McNellie’s opens up as does any classy-yet-dressed-down pub, with a borderline-hippie host leading you into a cavernous, yet cozy three-story bar.  The scene is set with wall sized windows viewing the far west side of downtown OKC;  we can actually take a shot and visualize the next run at the parking garage.  The first and third floors are bars with a restaurant sandwiched on the second.  Upstairs is the smoking bar, downstairs non.  The view upstairs is pretty spectacular, midtown is quite the vantage point.

I love Midtown, I predict it will become the new place to see and be seen; coffee shops, trendy retail stores and overpriced restaurants are bound to spring up, especially with the Sonics coming to town!  There can never be too much to do or too many places to hangout near downtown.

I give McNellie’s a rousing 4 out of 5 boards!  I have eaten and had drinks and can certainly attest to its “merriness!”

Garage Skating in the Dark

    

Bill skating after dark in parking garage

In the past few weeks my skating has achieved new heights. Thanks to more activity, mainly more skating , but also a few power cleans from time to time, I’m carving tighter and skating longer.

My buddy Dave scooped a longboard and it’s healthy to have a new person in the crew. Dave was always an accomplished shortboarder, as I presumed he picked it up well. Last Saturday afternoon he, Bill and I all rode the parking garage downtown. Dave picked up the nuances well, however that only led to Dave becoming dangerous. Over 75 runs under my belt at the time and not a fall yet…then came Dave. Dude was trying to squeeze both of us through the tighter turns at the same time, usually without me being aware he was right on my ass! On level 4 he forces me to go too wide and I basically ran between two poles! The worst injury was to the camera I was filming with, but I did stub the hell out of my toe and it bled! Dave ended up doing it again later, which caused me to fall-but not as bad as the first. Dave is smart but when it comes to having that “Hey I actually give a shit” type of attitude, Dave doesn’t. He has no regard to safety or any other crap he thinks is lame. He was apologetic though, through his laughter. He finally calmed a bit and we ended up staying for 3+ hours, a ripping session and a great workout! 

When you’re skating you’re not sore, but when you hop off the board to walk you notice how tight you’ve gotten. Riding and carving is taxing work, don’t kid yourself! Combine that activity with my power cleans I’ll be putting people in their places in no time!

Since that day I’ve decided that I’m not falling enough. If I’m going that many runs with no falls I should try to add some new difficulty? I love just cruising down the garage, it’s fun even when your not trying difficult maneuvers, however I’m in this for the pleasure and the pain so I should be tasting slightly more pavement.

So last night, after a rousing day on the lake with my buddies John and Reed, John and I had gone to get a few beers and hang out. I’ll spare all the details, but phone calls were made, decisions executed and next thing I knew John, Bill and I were in Bill’s truck headed to the garage at around midnight.

John has a boarding background but this was his first time on a longboard. The three of us split time riding the two boards we had among us and went about it. John was impressive for his first time at the garage and being at night. Several floors are almost pitch black! You really have to have a feel for the place and I was surprised that John held it together…especially considering the alcohol! Actually, he mostly held it together. He did take a bad spill on the top floor and skinned his palms and knees; he also t-boned me on the 3rd floor but miraculously we both were able to run it off with no fall, so oh well!

Skating the garage at night is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life! Standing up on the top floor waiting my turn to go again, I was mesmerized by all the buildings surrounding me. They were shining and lit-up and some were so close I wanted to reach out and touch them. I don’t know if I enjoyed the skating, the scenery, or the homeless lady sleeping in the elevator the most? Staying until after two o’clock, this was truly an epic session. I cannot wait to go back at night again… I’m hooked! 

We now have four of us in the OKC group and we seem to be growing weekly. All it takes is one visit and anybody who can ride a board is hooked! Coolest thing going on in Oklahoma right now…period!

We also have representation in Eastern Oklahoma now, with Jiz picking up his very own longboard. Talk about a big fish in a small pond…he skates alone while people follow him in vehicles…filming! That’s cool, hopefully he can get to OKC and the parking garage soon. We’ll try to head that way as well.

One last thing. I traded boards with Dave and I now ride a 43.5 ” Arbor Koa Pintail. I love the pin shape, it really is the best for carving hard and maintaining speed.

Thanks for reading.