After some physical basketball with Ollie I went out to skate well after dark. I intended to find something new, then remembered the new rock hump thing on Valmont. I parked near there and decided to warm up with some flatground or something elsewhere first. I had setup a slightly warped new 8.38 deck as it’s as close to 8.5 as I can get. It felt fine, I wore some old 212s to make things even more weird. I found a new super mellow bank. Did a couple kickturns and stuff, some side rocks. It has some potential for more stuff. I tried a ‘warm up line’ that ended up taking forever. Noseslide the low bar of a down ramp rail, kickflip on the bank, back 180 off a curb cut. The kickflip took forever. Ugh. Then I moved on and found even more new stuff. A brick ledge off a step, and a weird long 3 stair and some good flatground. I tried a line for awhile there too. Noseslide the ledge (it was brick and I didn’t wax it so they were just little jibs), ollie onto the top of the 3 and ride down, then a flatground trick. But I kept bailing the ollie onto the step. Then I did varial flip first and still bailed. Finally did it after a halfcab flip, then followed it all with a bad b/s flip. I was so beat by then, mainly the basketball earlier. I saw a fun looking tiny gap then manny pad on the way back to the car. Pretty rad as I didn’t even make it to the desired spot so I still have more exploring to do.

(setup 8.38 null dream machine deck, Venture 5.8 titanium trucks with regular stock baseplate, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 212 grey size 12, nike zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a hot morning I met up with Rob, Kevin, then Dave L and Sean. I had put my 8.75 board on because I wanted an 8.5, but have none and thought it would feel close than 8.25. It felt great for the first couple hours. I warmed up on the quartapotty/blue pad. Rob and Kevin were on the banked blue pad. It was nice cruising around the park without a bunch of beetles everywhere. Dave L was the next to show. I don’t remember much before settling in on a couple lines starting from the top. Had a fun rock ‘n roll on the steep bank, then nollie to fakie in the hump, halfcab noseslide the black ledge. Rob and Kevin joined in on line time. I took awhile to get close to a full pull. Kickflip on the hump, crook the black ledge, front 50 the black ledge, treflip out of the bank. Never got the treflip, the 50s were a pain too. Rob did some kickflips and one foots on the hump. Kevin was doing switch flips and ending with nollie tre out. Kevin had also skated the doubleset rail and did a few tricks. There was a crew of bowl dudes playing some typical skate rock that sounded pretty good. Next thing I remember was the blue pad. Kevin trying kickflip nose manual, Rob doing bigspin front noses, me trying fakie 50 switch front shove out. Sean had joined us and kickflip nose manual pretty quick. Kevin tried to say “oh yeah, you can’t do this” and tried switch flip manny and slammed. That’s quality entertainment. Dave L was hanging in the shadows for the most part, but would come out with some serious bangers. Nollie front 180 the parking block then switch manual the blue pad. Nose manual 270 on the banked brown pad. I had pretty much started hating the huge board. Then it was time to go film. Sean made a gnarly 5-0 shove look oh so casual. Jack did a couple incredibly nollie tres and destroyed himself skating so hard. Then we ended up at Jack’s spot. I didn’t really skate. Sean did a 180 nose manual at rocket speed. Pushing that fast on my filming board was scary.

(setup 8.75 null event horizon deck, Venture 5.8 titanium trucks with regular stock baseplate, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers insie each axle, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 868 black/gum size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Moving slow on a Saturday morning I went to Douglass to meet the Dave’s, Rob, Kevin and maybe more. I think I got there around the same time as Rob on a warm, but not too hot day. The Dave’s were already putting in work. Dave L was trying a line of kickflip then manual the long narrow ledge. He got it, then tried again, but with a treflip. He got that too, but I think he must be a perfectionist because he kept going at it. Didn’t really get to skate with Dave F since he was filming it all. The rest of us started our warm up process. I haven’t been there in awhile, it’s such a fun spot. I was having fun on the tiny hip in the back that I love doing nollie back bigspins over it. Some “nollie” front tails, super slow 50. Rob was getting the wallie nollies really good. Kevin was setting up a new board, then went right into a line with young kid pop legs. Nosebonk, ollie, wallie. He wanted it filmed, added a back tail and a nollie tre and did it first try. He tried to clean it up a little, but we settled for the first as it was so good. Rob and I had been trying our normal pattern of lines. Something up the curb, something on flat, some ledge action. Rob as crooking the short side of the benches, which was really sick. Also noseslide to fakie. I had started in on a 5 trick line just having fun cruising. Cali grind up the curb, heelflip, curve around to noseslide to fakie the bench, switch front 180 off the curb, nollie shove manual on the speed bump. I think I actually did this before we started filming. Once we started filming I tried it all the same, but with a 180 out of the manual. I would never get it. I tried a lot. Rob got a couple lines to work with too. Back 180, halfcab, crook, noseslide to fakie, shove/no comply shove and a backside flip. I came incredibly close to getting the line. Kevin and Dave L had taken turns filming me. I just missed the 180 out. I was struggling with heelflips too much, so rarely getting far in the line. After all this we called it a day. I thought. Kevin did a cool hippy jump. Dave L tried and did a 360 flip off the narrow ledge after curving around the corner. Pretty crazy. Fun day working hard, I wish I would have gotten the full line. Maybe some other time.

(setup 8.25 null abstract #6 deck, Venture 5.8 titanium trucks with regular stock baseplate, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 913 westgates b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)