It was quiet also, and there was too much wind. Anyway, I tried to drop onto the straight bank from the ledge….
I landed with too much weight over my front wheels, and was launched. Launched onto the flat where I neatly landed on my side.
My right elbow was under my ribcage, and the impact forced all the air out of me. I gasped then hurled, scaring all the kids.
A bmx Grrl came up to me and asked: “are you ok, Mister”. I was, as i hadn’t broken anything. But later on I found out I bruised two ribs. Such slow and painful agony… Now two weeks later and it is almost manageable, but still, it hurts quite a lot, and lifting things or grabbing things, or just sleeping is not fine and dandy.
So, although this homeskillet won’t be riding anytime soon…
Today was the 16th of December, about a week away from the shortest day of the year.
We had a long long stretch of bad weather in the Netherlands, but today the sun was out! It was cold, about 2 or 3 degrees (celcius of course, you barbarian!). But the sky was crystal clear, blue and beatiful.
We had arranged a longboarding meet, some call it a bomba :), with the excellent folks of www.longboarden.nl and it was fun! We were supposed to go to the “vlasakkers” and even though we had checked in the week, it was closed today :( Dissapointment. But the “dode weg” (dead road) was really cool!
This is a picture i made, but the battery on my canon died too quick :(
What was really cool about today is that i succeeded to slide!
I started out to slide on my trusty Jason Lee Blind, which was not only apreciated by me today.
I succeeded to perform stand-up slides, backside slides, and even a semi succesful frontside!
I really wanted to slide my Dervish also, even though the wheels are basically much to soft, BUT, I succeeded. It seems that once the edges of the wheels are a bit worn, it begins to move easier..
now its practicing time, and before you know it, i will be sliding like this:
I know some pictures were made of me, so I am waiting to include these, stay tuned…
I only rode it a teeny weenie bit today, but I really enjoyed that little ride. Tomorrow I will ride it harder, do a bit of downhill, and maybe even try out my slide gloves…
The whole thing is loaded to GO! There is a slight discoloration in the board, but I don’t really mind…
Let me know what you think, and what tricks i should learn first. Dying to learn cross-steppin and chopping-wood.
Oh, by the way, the asphalt underneath that Derwish is the brand new stuff of the biggest skatepark of the Benelux, right here in my hometown of Amersfoort.
“Today was a good day”, you know that tune by Ice Cube? That is what is buzzing through my head at the moment.
This morning i got up, saw it was nice weather again. Breakfast with the family like it is supposed to be.
Then i jumped in the car and drove to “Vlasakker”, a military training park where the army learns to drive with tanks, and probably all kind of different things as well. This place is BIG.. Check it out on google maps
And here is a picture:
The orange lines are very mellow donwhills, you really need to pump or push to get some speed.
The green lines are a bit better, but you don’t have to slide or break anywhere…
What is very nice about it, is the total quietness of the place. No cars, hardly anybody around. I even saw some wildlife.
Cruising here on sunday morning was awesome..
Here is how it looked today, iphone is great for taking pictures :)
I even started to learn skogging although i do it different, regular pushes and then a a couple of switch mongo pushes.
Ideal for going up these slight hills.
The walk back up the long green line took me 10mins. The view there is awesome, check out the pano over on flickr.
After that i went back to the Amersfoort Schothorst Pool, aka Kippen Pool (chicken pool).
I took a snap of that too:
And guess what, i could at last carve the basic line. Drop in in the corner, carve frontside through the pocket you see, and then backside around in the other side of the pool. My lungs screamed and i felt my muscles “souring” up. But that’s ok cus:
It’s quite unbelievable. Last week I started rolling again. This morning i was googling to see if there were any boarders around whose Loaded i could use.
What do i find to my great surprise; Amersfoort, the city I live in has its own skate pool. This is so strange. I used to dream about skating in such a park.
And today dropped in. It was such an adrenalin rush, dropping in, carving. I even pulled a 5-0 the guys there told me.
A 5-0 is when three of the four wheels leave the ramp, or pool.. Anyway, it is briliant, i am going to skate there much more…
This is a video from that pool:
and an image
I also found out that Amersfoort will host one of the largest skateparks in the benelux, 4000m2. Just beside my house! Too crazy.
It hasn’t been constructed yet, but i went there today. A huge asphalt slab. Lovely to carve around on… I will keep you updated.
The last thing i found out was that there is an army base with a huge downhill just outside my town. I think i am going to ride there tomorrow…
If my muscle ache will permit it, because all that pushing is really hurtin.
Last week I saw an movie clip of Adam Colton riding a longboard.
It got me so stoked i started riding again. I first went to the attic where i had to move a ton of junk to get to my old skate stuff.
I finally found the little shoe box with spare parts. I needed that because the Mark Gonzales paris board i have is from when I was focused on streetskating. But i also had a really really old Jason Lee Cat in the Hat model from Blind skateboards.
I took that, put a pair of thunders underneath, mounted a couple of slimeballs i still had and hit the streets. I almost slammed straight away, but then i got the hang of it. I skated my lungs out, carving and sidewalk surfing. It was a blast.
Today it was nice nice weather again so when i went to the playground with my wife and daughter I decided to ride there. It was nice. My three year old daughter wanted to skate also, which made me feel very proud :-).
I love the feeling i get from the films of Adam Colton and the films on the Loaded site. I am sure i want a long board, just for cruising and sidewalk surfing.
I am doubting between the pin-tail, the dervish or the vanguard. What would you choose and why?
Update:
Wow, thanks for all the advice.
It seems the Dervish wins hands down for being a better all rounder…
I actually mailed Adam Squared and he hinted that the vanguard might be more comfy…
I will have to find a shop and try both.. If i fail to do so i will go for the dervish :)
Here are the other 
