Tail Grock?

I was just thinking recently that the Tail Block & Parking Block must be related in some way... Like cousins, or siblings, or better yet... Soul Mates?! I wanted to test this theory but didn't really know where to find the necessary pocket of motivation to push me in the right direction. It was an odd feeling to overcome.. Like as if I was going into some random families tree & trying to reunite two distant relatives who never knew eachother to begin with. Uncomfortable & numb feeling but I went for it anyway.
I was sure this experiment had been done before so please don't get me wrong.. But I just had to see what the possibilities were with my own eyes & feet.
First of all I needed a Parking Block Quarter Pipe.. And secondly having never preformed a Tail Block on any obstacle other than a Flat Bank... I needed to learn how to do Tail Blocks on transitions.
I was in the forest here near Hermann, Missouri & I found a newly poured concrete Quarter Pipe with Parking Block Coping on top.. It had been drying for 6 days & was ready for a treatment of Indy grinders & urethane rollers.. This was my big chance to reunite these two Blocks from different worlds!!

I ran back to the car to get my skateboard & found that my skateboard wasn't there.. I had left it at Kingshighway DIY.... I was totally bummed:(
(!!$$IF ANYBODY FOUND MY SKATEBOARD PLEASE GIVE IT BACK$$!!)

Its a good thing I collect skateboards, because I always have a few spare whips to ride... It took me a little while just to get warmed up.. Its not easy to push yourself to skate by yourself in the middle of a Vortex!! I tried Tail Blocks for about 45 minutes & it started raining. The best I could get was a Tail Grock!
(Tail Grock is when the back truck & the Tail are both on the coping instead of just the tip of the Tail.. Grind+Block=Grock!!)

Back Side Tail Grock

The Parking Block didn't seem to react to the Tail Grock,, Maybe because the Parking Block is Block & not a Parking Grock?? But where would I find a Parking Grock?? Well anyway it was the fault of the precipitation & my own lack of swift skill combined.. The Block testing ended up inconclusive. I got no answers!
Although the Parking Block did seem to light up whenever I Front Side Tail Grocked off into the rollin. (Maybe that was just me having too much fun at work)


After a small rest I decided I needed to practice the Tail Block so that next time I would not fail at bringing these Blocks together.. So I cleaned out the Skate Barn & preformed a few more Tail Grocks!!



I still have not landed a real Tail Block... Maybe next time I should try a Fin Cut or a Fish Tail shaped deck.. Tail Blocks are hard to do!!
photos, skateboarding & text by JP