Technical difficulties.

One of my favourite video parts of all time is Natas Kaupas' part in Streets On Fire.
Aside from the obvious first outing of the "Natas Spin", some wild tricks and the cool hi-tops, one thing that always sticks with me is the big ollie into axle stall that he does (0:47 in the video below).



Natas could make almost anything look good. I've got a long way to go before I get anywhere near that level, but there was no harm in trying.

Sunday was a difficult day for me in terms of logistics and technology.
First of all, I had been invited to dinner at my parents at 4pm. It wouldn't have been very polite of me to let them down, so much of the day was spent trying to figure out how to get there in time on public transport, whilst also getting to skate for a while.

This was proving difficult. The normally frequent trains from Dunfermline to Edinburgh are greatly reduced on a Sunday and as I was already on course to miss the first train. The next one would leave me with no chance of getting a skate in.

So, my options were quickly dwindling, what was I going to do? I decided that I had to skate something. Two days of being on call and stuck in the house had given me a hunger for it.

Time was of the essence and I could see any chance of skating quickly slipping out of my grasp, so I decided the best thing to do was to just head into Edinburgh and skate the first thing I found...

Beggars can't be choosers, some gnarly tarmac. But with a kerb nonetheless.

I don't know why I need to listen to music when I skate. Perhaps it is a mild agarophobia, But without my trusty MP3 player, I find it difficult to leave the house. No sooner than I had left to get the bus (which seemed to be the best option to facilitate a bit of skateboarding before dinner time), I noticed that the sound coming from my MP3 player was intermittent.

I've owned a number of sets of earphones in my time and I get through a set every few weeks. I know when there's a problem and it was quickly becoming apparent that I had a loose connection in the cable  of my earphones at the jack plug. I tried in vain to overcome the problem, but it was too far gone. No amount of cable wiggling was going to result in an uninterrupted musical experience.

Crappy spot to skate, nice scenery.

As if that wasn't enough, shortly into the hour-long bus journey, the music stopped once and for all. The battery was dead and that was that. Disappointed, I rifled through my bag to check my gear, only to find that not only was my camera almost out of batteries too, but I had left my SD at home. In my laptop!

So all there was left was my board. The last thing I could rely on.
Fortunately, I wasn't disappointed and after a quick detour for batteries and an cheap SD card, we were back in business, albeit without some inspiring music.

Once in Edinburgh, I spent a while looking for a kerb low enough and local enough that I could guarantee to get the trick and get it in time. Next time, check, check and check again before heading out...

Some graffiti, yesterday.

In the space of twenty minutes I had found two spots within spitting distance of my mum's house which fitted the bill for some Natas-inspired axle stalls and got them down after several attempts.

The beauty of having 66mm wheels is that you can pretty much skate anything and it's just as well as opportunites were certainly limited this day...

Mad Tech, the ledge and the art of the no-comply.

Yesterday after taking in a bit of soul-searching at Cramond I couldn't resist returning to the spiritual home of Edinburgh's street skating scene. Bristo Square.

Bristo Square at Edinburgh University.

 I had the place to myself when I arrived, no other skaters were there, which produced mixed emotions. But with the amazing Edinburgh skatepark at Saughton having been open for some time now, I can see why.

I've found skateboarding, like economics, to be cyclical. Small diameter wheels gave way to big wheels in the days when everyone wanted to be like vert heroes Christian Hosoi or Gator; or closer to home, Sean Goff and Pete Dossett (what I wouldn't do for a Deathbox teapot t-shirt).



In the early to mid '90s  big wheels went back to being small with some skaters even using lathes to cut down their already microscopic urethane.

Sanding down already small 45mm wheels until they only just covered the bearings and no more seemed crazy to me. I'd be lucky if I got a new set once a year, so I needed plenty of urethane considering how much i was skating at the time. They needed to last.

Street skating got more and more popular thanks in no small part to this video part which is still one of my all time favourites:



Consumerism is something I'm struggling with just now, noone needs reminding of the current state of the global economy. With utility bills and even food prices spiralling upwards, more and more in the UK we've become a nation of scrimpers and savers. Seperating what you need from what you want is difficult when we're bombarded with marketing at every opportunity.

Capitalism exists in skateboarding as much as it does in the wider marketplace. Everyone is told they need a brushed aluminimum gadget; only to find that they then need the new version a year later, even though their current gadget is far from being obsolete! Parallels could be drawn to skate products: gimicky shoes and decks (remember boneite?!) come to mind.

Capitalism isn't wholly bad though, unsurprisingly if you know my history in the business, I admire the skater-owned shop ethos. Supporting skateboarding at a grass-roots level first and foremost. They make a buck or two out of it, sure, but it's never going to make them rich.
 
I find it difficult to skate, or indeed do almost anything outside when I'm on my own, without background music. Perhaps it's paranoia, slight agarophobia maybe. Maybe I just like listening to music. From portable tape players to CD to minidisc and now mp3 players/PMPs, I've owned a lot of pocket-sized audio hardware over the years.

Sansa Clip Zip, a wonderful piece of technology. Must stop smoking!

Having recently lost an iPod classic to the washing machine (all attempts at repair failed) I denounced Apple and purchased the Sansa Clip Zip, it's incredible for the price and the size.

As technology gets smaller so too does the world, I'm travelling slightly further tomorrow and I'll be rocking some good tunes on the journey and during thanks to this marvellous device.

When it came to concluding yesterday's skating, after attempting a fair few rolling FS 180 no complies and failing miserably,  I briefly returned to a favourite trick of mine, a FS no-comply to tail on the smallest ledge. It's so simple, but yet so satisfying. The no-comply has it all, the sounds of the initial pop of the tail, the scrape of the wheels and the resulting slap of the tail on the ledge are almost instantaneous but distinctly separate. I love the no-comply and I'm anxious to try it on transitions in the future.

I got talking to a fellow skater named Joe who rolled up with his mate just before I left the square because I was just too tired to continue any longer. A few friendly words were exchanged along with a handshake and the deal was sealed...

I am a skateboarder.