Another Great Week

I got to skate with two of my favorite skaters at Tobey this week

Aaron "Shafe Run" Shafer

Wrex Cook

Mix that with some great weather (Is this winter?  Really?) some fun times with a few from the DSL crew (who were riding some surprisingly short skateboards!), and some good times doing some longboard dancing on the greenline...what an amazing time to be a skater.

Skateboarding and Spirituality

I was lucky enough to be included in Concrete Wave Magazine's 2 part article on longboarding and spirituality.  I've been able to write quite a few food related pieces for magazines, and this isn't my first piece on skateboarding to be published, but I am so completely stoked on this.

Here is a link to a dropbox pdf the article.

For more info on concrete wave click here.

Now, I'm just crossing my fingers that he uses a pic of me in part 2!!!

They're finished!

After spending a good bit of time hand sanding, painting, and setting up my two new customs, I got my chance to ride them this morning, and both are exactly what I wanted.

After the first coat of paint

Set up and ready to ride.

I Got Wood! (shaping boards @ the Rufus Ranch)

I spent Friday night at home drawing the new deck shapes in my head onto paper then transferring those shapes onto the wood.

Saturday morning the fun began.  I went over to see Chris (rufusskates.com blogger) and get the shapes cut.  We spent the next two hours whittling down these massive pieces of wood until they looked like skateboards:

Chris sanding the shorter board.

Chris sanding.

Sanding the beast!

That night, after work, I began hand sanding them down until they were smooth, even and ready for paint.

Part Two:  Painting coming soon!

Two new decks on the way

I've just finished drawing two new longboard shapes.  The first is 40 inches long by 12 inches wide with a 20 inch wheelbase.  It has 6.5 inches of nose and 7.5 inches of tail.  The other is almost 50 inches long with a design inspired by long distance pump boards and a Gravity Hypercarve mixed together.  I can't wait to cut them!!!  Graphics wise I'm thinking about a corpsepaint theme.

My current ride at Tobey is 43" long and 10.25 inches wide with a 22" wheelbase.

Indulging in my Jersey Barrier addiction.

Old Man Sesh @ Tobey

Jetway.  Closing day.

Same two dudes.  Tobey this morning.

Mark McDaniels grinding.

Greg Simmons dropping in.

Jerry "Country" Anderson, Mark McDaniels, and Greg Simmons.

I got to be the young kid today...my jersey barrier obsession.

For more old school pics visit this link.

Back in the saddle again

I haven't posted much over the last month because of my ankle injury and sickness, but I am proud to say that I am one week back in the saddle again and it feels great.  I've acquired a new piece of safety equipment:  a stirrup ankle brace that keeps my ankle from folding under again, and I can tell it has worked for me several times over the last week.

After a full week back in, I'm missing Al Town and really need to hit the D.I.Y. sometime this week.  Tobey is awesome, but I don't want to forget the other places to skate.  I've even been thinking about Houston, and hitting the bank to wall and banks there.  I haven't skated Terry's in two months, but my Wednesday nights aren't free right now so I'll have to wait to hit the bowl.

I've launched a second blog.  It isn't skate related, but is about food.  I was a chef by trade for a long time, and I was a vegetarian for several years. The new blog is called The Fleet Vegan.  While I'm not a vegan, most of my cooking is, and I'm going to update it with new recipes and stories about cooking.

Look for a lot more content on this blog now that I'm healed with new pics, videos and news from Memphis.  I'm so glad to be back in the saddle again!

Cheers,

David

Me with Embassy pro Wrex Cook.