It came from the 80's... D.I.Y. Fingerboards!

I was digging through the closet tonight and I found some old Fingerboards that I made in the late 80's!
Back in the days before Tech Decks we had to make our own fingerboards.

Most of my old fingerboards are long gone but somehow I managed to save this Hawk and Staab.

I found the fingerboards hosed in a reclaimed Crayon box, covered with pics from an old thrasher. There is a Cab pic, a McGill snake, a bikini girl and a small pic of John Lidden on the box.

The fingerboards are constructed of several thin pieces of cardboard laminated with Elmer's glue.

The trucks were made of tiny pieces of balsa wood, the wheels cannibalized from Hot wheels cars.


I would cut graphics from adds in skate magazines and glue them to the deck with stick glue, then I would finish it off with a piece of clear contac paper. Keep in mind, I was like fourteen when I made these so the craftsmanship is a bit inmature .

The grip tape job is unfinished. I planed to put R.I.P.-Grip on the top for finger control!




At one point I had an awesome fingerboard vert ramp which I made in shop class. The vert ramp was about 24"x40" complete with coping, full decks, a roll-in, channel and plenty of tiny stickers at the tile level. I kick myself for throwing that ramp away. Ah, but I digress...

Western Colorado Skateparks vol. 1

I have decided to do a pictorial on western Colorado skateparks. Here is the first installment. Cedaredge, Montrose and Ridgway. These parks are within an hour drive of each other. You can session them all in one day.Cedaredge seems way too spread out for me. Lots of crossing traffic. If bmx bikes show up your session is over. The street features are laid out around the perimeter of the park. The 6' kidney bowl is very tight much like an old (undesirable) backyard pool. The deeper bowl is about 8' or 9'. I didn't have much fun (chasing my kids around instead of skating) but I am willing to give it another try.

Montrose is cool, strange but fun. The "big" bowl has an angled flat bottom. I think this was designed to give you options when learning new tricks. You can start shollow and move deeper as you progress. The 6' bowl is fun. It's round and it connects to a half pipe-ish area where all the groms fly out. There are to 5' deep snake runs that are somewhat parallel to each other. I had a few good lines. Bring a broom to clean out the big bowl.
Ridgway is a small grindline park. Pool coping all the way around. A little too GNAR for me. The deeper bowl is around 9'. The large wall section is 6' ish and the shollow section is around 4' (with pool coping!) As you can see from the picture this park has one of those iconic wave wall things. The park was fun. I think in time I could find some good lines at Ridgway.

Say skate

My little Say-say is a real joy! She is growing up so fast. Right now she is into skateboards, tearing up paper and splashing in the toilet. "Boys, SHUT the lid when you are done!"

Paint that deck!

Last weekend was awesome. In-spite of the fact that our family has been fighting off sickness for almost a week and a half, we pushed through. It was a weekend of choosing to have a good attitude. We look for and find simple joys in everything we do. Friday night kicked the weekend off with a birthday party for my niece. It was great to see the in-laws. Saturday was a mix of Skating and home projects. To finish the day we had a fun hangout with my friend Rich and his family to warm their new house. Late Saturday night I got the wild Idea to paint my skateboard. It's crazy, I haven't done this for... twenty years or so. I decided to do a spin off from an old Neil blender graphic. Here are a few pictures to document this hair brained idea.

Tape, draw, cut and peal

Paint

Finish

Assemble

Skate!

Keep Skating.

"This aint no vert ramp... but it aint no launch ramp either!"

Playing music, working on home projects, skating and just plain fun in the back yard! Another dream weekend is on the books! Unfortunately, I didn't shoot photos of anything but skate. We had four skate sessions total. I had a solo fifth session.
I will attempt a more well rounded photo documentation in the future. For now check out some highlights from Saturday night!A9 and D
Kvon
Kvon
D
A9 wants you!
Kvon
A9
D
D

STOKED TO THE ROOF!... Memoirs of a Rad Dad

Twenty years of practice finally pays off! I got my hand plants on the coping and I am landing them! Now... if I can build an 11' vert ramp I can practice the real deal!
I am not as rad as this dad or this dad but I am not as old mature either... what I mean is... I have a few years to catch up! These guys are quite an inspiration to me because they are bucking the stereotype... but more than that they are skating for the love of skating.

After landing my hand plant several times I went inside the house to find a poop catastrophe. No picture. My yongest son had an accident, "o.k. no problem" but then he tried to clean it up..."uh-oh!, big problem". I love being a dad!

I GOT IT!

Well it's not the full on tuck knee air but I am calling this a personal milestone none the less. I have done the same old frontside air for over twenty years. I tried the tuck knee a few times but it felt weird so I bailed. Today I pushed through to land several demi-tuck knee airs. Now I just need to pull the board back and get that knee down! I don't have access to a real eleven foot vert ramp, Still I press on hoping that my work here on the six will help once I get to ride the real deal. Regardless... I am stoked!