summer's end

Gotta get me some wristguards—keep falling and landing hands first. Just a natural instinct, trying to save my face, but I’m gonna end up breaking my darn wrist. Saw a ref doing that in the Northern Illinois v. Ohio State football game—they carted him off the field and I told my son, “shoulda been wearing his wrist guards.”
I spent about an hour-and-a-half skating at the park yesterday, another hour the day before. I didn’t realize how tiring it is to carve, since you’re pumping (or trying to pump in my case) in order to get up on the wall. Z and I went down to Mason, the park’s a little smaller than Lansing, but it’s got lots of curves and isn’t quite as deep.
We were doing drop-ins from about three feet, then gliding across the flat which is about eight feet—after that you pump onto the wall, right into a tight little corner. You have to pump again when you hit the opposite wall, then aim the board back onto the flat. I kick a couple of times on the flat, pump up into the opposite corner, and do the same thing all over again. I got up to three or four feet on the first, but struggle to reach three feet on any of the subsequent corners/walls.
Just not enough speed or momentum to carry me any higher, so I dropped in on the six foot ramp (also sans coping). The flat is only about four feet or so—you hit the wall going pretty fast and I turn the board into the corner and ride it out. I felt like I was pretty high, but it was still only about four feet, just faster.
We all need to learn to drop in, off the coping, but that’s a big undertaking for us at this point. I’ve wiped out every time I’ve ever tried dropping in—even at only three feet and have hurt myself pretty bad in the process. There’s just nothing else that will give us the speed or momentum to hit the opposing wall hard enough to reach the coping. I’d like to start doing some axle grinds and 50/50’s at some point, so Nan and I will make a concentrated effort to get the drop-in down.
I’ll give Z man a little breathing room—push him harder next spring or summer, about the same time we’ll let E start to ride as well. We met a four-year old at the park who had pretty good legs, but the kid is about to turn five in another month. So he’s 10 or 11 months older than E, even though E’s about three inches taller than him.
The leaves are beginning to gather and the cool morning air lasts longer and longer into the day. Darkness welcomes me as I awaken from my restless night’s sleep. Our days of skating are numbered and soon the snow will cover our favorite bowls and ramps. We’ll have to settle for some indoor skating when we can or appease our carving jones by going skiing or snowboarding.