I headed over to the Autumn Bowl alone today. I was really tired but I am trying to stoke the fires of skating again and I feel like if I can just get to the bowl, I will have a good time. The bad news is that the back room where the Mini Ramp resides is now blocked off. There is a steel door installed and the opening between the bowl and the back room has been boarded over with 3/4" plywood.

This really depresses me because the Mini Ramp is where I learn tricks and then move them to the bowl when I get confident. I can use sections of the bowl as a mini ramp but the transition is very different and unforgiving. I guess there is some falling in my near future!

I miss the Mini Ramp already...this is from August 19th...

I skated with Nelson and his Friend Howard again this week at the Autumn Bowl. It was a nice mellow session. Howard has a few old decks and runs Seismic trucks which actually have springs in them instead of bushings! They turn like crazy but scare the hell out of me! They are the turniest trucks I have ever tried but Howard skates the heck out of them. A great mellow session...

Seismic trucks too turny for me...

I think my main problem with being able to do Airs is that my back is very stiff and my beer gut is too big! In order to do an air you have to be able to reach down and grab the board. I can barely touch my toes even after stretching out so I think this is a big barrier for me doing the trick.

I am trying to progress slowly and safely but my need to become limber haunts me...

Howard doing a Cheater Fakie Ollie with a found inner tube...too funny!

Today I headed out to Owl's Head Skatepark in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn for the First Annual Old Man Jan organized by a few of the local skaters.

I jumped on the R train for the long hour-and-a-half journey. I didn't skate to well because my main board was in my locker at the Autumn Bowl. I brought my Alva Leopard, which looks really cool but doesn't skate anything like my Factory13. I still had a great time and saw a lot of familiar faces. One skater named Bill that I have seen all over the place was there and had some serious facial contusions. I asked him what happened and said he had a bad slam on wednesday but he felt compelled to come to the Old Man Jam to skate. His lip was smashed, his eye was black, and his nose was broken! Even more hard core is the fact that he skated the new bowl at the Hudson River Heliport before coming to the Old Man Jam! That is the kind of fire I need to recapture.

The weather was perfect and I donated a few Popp Skates items for the Auctions. I really love Owl's Head but next time I will bring the right board

JJ, one of the organizers of the Old Man Jam hitting the pool.

This is how he got the nickname "Billy Bonebreak"

Boy what a day I decided to go and skate early and then take my daughter Gabby out to Coney Island for the day but before this I wanted to squeeze in a quick session at the Autumn Bowl.

I had a great session. I was relaxed and hit some really nice frontside grinds in the bowl which is getting easier for me to do. I pushed it a little bit and got a few longer grinds than just the typical scritch on the coping.

The session was a needed release from the pressures of work and life but I was so tired and my legs were like rubber bands. We go to Coney Island every year a trip financed with the earnings from the "Curse Jar" which my good friends and I fill easily at 50 cents a curse when we have party or watch a sporting event.

I love Coney Island. It is a classic retreat for the working class folks of the city and the nostalgia is amazing. gabby loves to ride the rides and we even managed to talk a ride attendant into letting her drive her own bumper car. Her legs could barely reach the gas pedal but it was so much fun watching her navigate the well worn car into other vehicles on purpose.

Later we went to the Coney Island Buffet and had our fill of all kinds of great food.

Days like this mean a lot to me because I pack a slew of good times into a short period. Not only did I skate and keep my stoke going, but I also spent time with my daughter whom I love very much. It's enough to make me throw out my television...

The Tilt-A-Whirl with Gabby...