Went to the side of the school on a cool night and didn’t land much of anything. I had a new deck, it felt pretty good. Also forged plates, eh. Some slappy crooks felt good, kickflips were still harder than they should be. I only also got halfcab flip, fakie flip and backside flip. Hucked quite a few other random tricks, but nothing stuck.

(setup 8.25 null burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer, bones 52mm slims 99a stf, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 half 272/425 insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a limited time frame I went to dog park to meet Rob, Cass, Sean and Paul. We started in the park. I was adjusting to a couple changes. Vulc 212s and a smaller deck. The shoes were too big and with the smaller board felt super odd. I tried to do 5 flippers on the bank. But I only got kickflip fakie, b/s flip and kind of a big flip. I couldn’t make the board to a varial flip. Oh and Sean and I both got no comply pole jams 2nd try.

At the dog park it was a decent session. Rob was in demo mode when I got there. Back 50 no comply back shove out, halfcab back 50 back 180 out (trusting him on this one hee hee), manuals, nose manuals, halfcab board the tall bench, front board it. I filmed Cass do a front board on old piece of junk flat bar so I remember him doing that, but can’t think of other tricks right now. He was doing some filming with his super 8 which was cool. Sean was doing Sean things. Basically everything looking perfect at high speeds. The back 5-0 front 180 was my favorite. Paul had a bunch of cool slappies in all directions. Oh Cass and Paul were learning fakie back 50s then Paul learned fakie crooks like it was nothing. I skated pretty average. Did a new trick on the little ledge. Nollie front tail front shove out. Totally perfect ha. Near the end I the little Natas stall on the cone and got two shoves on it.

After lunch with my mom and some lounging I went up to Lyons to meet Dave and Billy on the Rampitheater. I had a new christmas complete. 8.3/5.8/51. It felt alright, but my shoes still felt too large. The ramp was crazy. There was a super small section then a taller section with different heights. I took forever to do a f/s halfcab rock. Then lined it out with front tail which I haven’t done in forever. Couldn’t get a kickflip on the transition. Dave beat Billy’s son Brook in a game of SKATE. It was pretty funny. Brook is young and super motivated and was trying hard and isn’t afraid to ask a lot of questions. It’s cool. It’s funny actually both his kids were into old school skating like Billy. And all decked out in full safety gear. Billy ripped it. He would throw in some tricks out of nowhere like a little invert, blunt fakie yank in, front d, 5-0s. Dave had lots of fakie/nollie/switch pops and almost got a nollie bigspin. Good times and a fun adventure seeing some elk and deer on the way home.

(setups UGH 8.25/8.3 5.8 cast/titanium 51mm, new balance numeric 212 size 12 272 insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Kinda nice night I had setup a new complete. Ugh. Yes. 8″ venture lows and 50mm wheels. Went to the curb to warm up, it didn’t feel great. Left after a few basics that weren’t good. Behind the school I got some warm up lines quickly like 180 then fakie shoves. Pop shove took a few tries, but kickflip felt good. Fakie flips felt great too, but halfcab flips took a bit. I skated for a little over 30 minutes and would get kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, fakie big flip and b/s flip. Still couldn’t get heelflip. Hucked some other tricks like switch flips which were close. Near the end I was tired and hucked a couple kickflips and landed them way easier than I thought. Made me happy to try flippers on a smaller board again.

(setup null 8″ burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows bones medium bushings, boardycakes 49.99mm round ups 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 half fp elite insole)
(pain level 3/10)

After work I went to find some flatground to skate, but there were either cars or not enough lights so I ended up at dog park. It was very crowded when I arrived. I hit a stop rock within 1 second of setting my board down. Luckily I did not fall. I had setup a new board – 8.3 and put my Mindys on it. It actually felt pretty good. I did quite a few grinds on the taller pad. It’s crazy how much better new Indys grind than titanium Ventures to the axle. I did not skate well though. I don’t even remember anything beyond some bad front 50 180s. Near the end I forced myself to do 5 flip tricks. Boy did I struggle. I skated incredibly slow and without confidence. But I would get 5 tricks. Kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, varial flip and ended with f/s halfcab flip that took way too long. I had also gotten close to treflip and halfcab heel. Barefoot shoes are not easy to heelflip in for some reason.

(setup null 8.38 mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, indy mids 148 with hollow cast baseplate, bones medium bushings, bones 52mm v1 stf 83b 3 washers inside each, splay freestyle grey size 12 lems insoles)
(pain level 4/10 forgot how much i hate winter and wind)

On a hot night I went to campus around 7.  I started at the slappy meetup curb.  Did a few slappy crooks and slappy front crooks.  I had put a new 8.25 together with 5.6 v-hollow and old 51mm bones v2s.  It felt great for slappies.  Then I went to the flagstone ledge.  I was in a funk and didn’t want to be around people so I was really annoyed when a couple people sat on a nearby ledge and watched me.  I was skating so incredibly terrible. I couldn’t even kickflip, literally took like 10 tries to get one.  I did however do okay with backside crooks and noseslides.  Hadn’t gotten to the point of trying front 50s when it started to rain.  So I skated the covered flatground area where a different couple came and sat and watched me not land anything.  I think it took 30 tries to get a halfcab flip.  Eventually the rain died down and I left considering leaving my skateboard behind for good.

(setup null 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, venom 88a bushings, 51mm bones stf 103a v2, es swift 1.5 size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10 not much pain but had zero energy or pop)

On a nice cool day with rain threatening I met Kevin at dog park.  There were several puddles around, but mostly things were skateable.  I had setup a new 8.3 deck since I didn’t like the old 8.25 I had temporarily setup the day before.  I liked it.  We armed up on a bank to curb we built out of the two wedges and it was fun.  I should have gotten a clip for understanding but it was the steeper grey wedge to parking block that was about 2″ taller than the bank.  We both did some pivots/axle stalls/front tails.  Kevin added in back tail, switch pivot and switch front tail.  We had a few boardslides on Wally World and flippers too.  We skated around for a bit before settling in on the little guy.  The smaller wedge was right behind it and it was fun to do a trick, turn around on the wedge then do another trick.  Kevin totally destroyed it.  Switch flip 50?  Yeah.  He almost did fakie front 50 f/s halfcab out too.  I had some fun mirror line attempts like nollie 50 then fakie 50, front 50 back 180 out then back 180 front 180 out.  Then I spent way too long working on the little kid trick  – front 50 kickflip out.  Never got a clean landing, but it was fun trying.   Garrett showed right at the end and we did some halfcab heel noseslide hucking before the rain came in.  We ended up at a spot later and I filmed Garrett get a solid little line.  

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer night deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 148, bones stf v1 52mm 103a, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10 probably sore because of too many ciders lately)

• 

My ankle was still hurting, but it was Go Skate Day and I thought I could handle some slappies.  I had my new setup and was blown away by how sharp the Aces could turn.  There was a big puddle from the sprinklers right in front of the main spot which would get much worse after the sprinklers turned on once again.  UGH!  I did a few front slappies, few slappy crooks and that’s about it.  I didn’t want to pop with my ankle feeling the way it did and the sprinklers kinda ruined it anyway.

(setup 8.5 null smoke valley, jessup pj ultragrip, ace af1 55, spitfire f4 53mm classic shape 99a, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

• 

• 

Went to campus after a nice walk with Liz then dinner.  Missed the old guy session at the curbs, but I wasn’t really feeling like skating curbs again anyway.  It was a nice cool temp.  I had setup an 8.25 with Thunder 148s and put some old Bones wheels on.  Cruising into campus it felt great, lower to the ground and the hard wheels felt great.  I ended up at a spot I haven’t really skated before.  It’s a ledge that looks perfect, but got knobbed right away.  Anyway one of the knobs is missing making for a 4 foot section.  I did some lines to warm up.  Ollie a manhole cover (my first ollie was surprisingly painful), noseslide the ledge, no comply 180.  Then the other way switch noseslide, nollie tail a short downhill section, front 180 the manhole.  Switch 180 the manhole, kickflip on flat, noseslide to fakie, fakie flip.  The kickflip took awhile.  Argh, I could feel the board was lighter, but I still struggled.  I couldn’t crook the ledge, the truck difference was messing with me.  I did have some fun slappy crooks on the uphill section. Too bad it’s knobbed because it would be fun to go all the way up.  I managed a couple incredibly slow front 50s.  For how bad I was feeling that made me a little happy.  Until I tried to line them out with halfcab flip.  That’s when things got depressing.  It took forever to get an incredibly slow one.  Not much went on after that, I tried some treflips, but didn’t land one or even commit.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder hollow 148s, bones stf v1 52mm 103a, adidas puig b/w size 12 stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10 not really that much pain, but I just had no energy or ability to jump)

• 

I got to Broomfield park around 11. The crew was already there in the heat of the battle. Kevin was trying nollie noseslides. Rob lining out to no comply boardslides. Dave L casual nose mannies. Eric was charging back 50s. I had a new setup that I pretty much disliked out of the gate. Of course. I think it was the new wheels/bearings combo which is tough at a skatepark. It was so smooth it felt like I was gliding on ice. Anyway, I started slow and never really got going. I had a goal of noseslide back 270 out which I tried, but did not get close to. I also did a PJ inspired crooks to fakie then fakie bigflip on flat (jessup had just posed him do a crooks to fakie then quick fakie crooks bigflip out and I figured I’d do at least 2/3 of the line (which has since been taken down so I couldn’t link to it)). Kevin also got nollie crooks. Rob put in a journeyman effort on pop shove llipslides. Man he was close. He also pounded out tricks like front tail, back 50 back 180 and many more. Eric heelflipped the parking block, crushed lipslides, back 50s. Dave L almost got nose manny nollie back 180 on the brown pad. I’m missing a ton. I tend to do that when I skate bad.

After lunch and some basketball with Ollie I went and skated flatground at the school.  I was feeling sore so started with nollie shoves, fakie shoves.  Then kickflip, no comply 180, fakie flip took way too long.  Started trying the thing where the end of one 2 trick line is the start of the next 2 trick line.  So next was fakie flip then halfcab flip.  Halfcab flip then b/s flip.  B/s flip then fakie bigflip.  Fakie bigflip then varial flip.  Varial flip then heelflip.  At this point I was so dead from skating earlier and then basketball with Ollie.  But I went for heelflip then treflip.  I got so tired on heelflips that I would only even try like 1/5 of them and I missed the few treflips I tried.  I gave up, but was happy I skated.  I’ve come to realize that a lot of my sucking lately is because I’m too embarrassed to skate around people.  I wont try basics that I’m not good at and therefore I can’t expand upon them.  Argh.  I guess I need to just deal with it. 

(setup 8.38 null smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, 5.6 ventures hollow axle 3 washers on the inside of each axle, spitfire 51mm green slag radial 99a f4, new balance numeric 212 size 12 nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain 5/10)

On a very nice morning I arrived to an empty NorthGLENn park. Then Dave and a bus full of Square State kids arrived. It was fun though. Simon and Jake would show too. Then Brian with another bus of kids! I had a new setup:

• 

8.75 Null Jack Night Skate deck, big Ventures and big colorful 53mm conical fulls (yikes!). Why a change after so long on 8.25? Because I haven’t been landing anything on 8.25 anyway so might as well ride a board that actually fits me and enjoy the ride more. It was funny how mad Dave got at the crowds. But it really wasn’t bad and getting to skate with Brian was awesome. My warm ups went decent considering my huge setup change. I did the kickflip on the bank and then noseslide pretty quickly, had some fun 50s both ways on the noping bank, enjoyed some hip ollies. Everyone seemed to be up in the handrail area so I joined. Jake did some solid no comply 180s into the first bank, front rock and pivot on the barrier. Simon boardslid the rail, to manual, to fakie, noseslide too. I think he did stuff on the barrier as well. Dave boardslid it then front boarded it, boardslide and feeble transferred into the bank and probably did tricks on the barrier too. Jake got going with bluntslide and noseblunt. I got stuck filming for awhile. Brian almost got some ride on bluntslides then the crazy dropin. Simon and Dave did all kinds of tricks on the noping bank. Daves crook fakie and Simon’s bluntslide rock fakie were so good. Dave also got switch front crook fakie (I think). Earlier on Dave had done one of the best lines I’ve ever seen him do. Feeble transfer into the bank, ollie the kicker gap, lipslide the top qp, back 180 up the euro, switch crook the bank. I tried a bunch of front feebles and only got one which didn’t really grind. Near the end I wanted to relive the blunt to back d on the little noping qp. Much to my delight I followed it up with a fakie hurricane. Dave did the 180 switch crooks and we bounced to Ambulance ditch where Dave did a quick hammer for Stubborns 2. I hucked nollie tres. Some of which felt totally doable. But Dave had to leave so we left after about 15 min.

I stopped by Broomfield park on the way home, but it was super windy and crowded. I went to the nearby Safeway ledge and it was somewhat protected from the wind so I skated. I thought I would be too tired, but I kept going and skated for a good hour. I made myself do 10 back 50s which took awhile considering how bad I’ve gotten at that trick. I also did front 50, front 5-0 (accidental of course), front 50 180, front smith stall, front tail stall, got into a few switch crooks, took too long to do nollie back tail and couldn’t get very close to kick back 50 with the big board. Long, fun day of skating.

(setup 8.75 null spanbauer night deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 6.1 with stock bushings no big washer, spitfire 53mm conical full f4 99a red/blue, new balance numeric 212 cake size 12, footprint elite mid insoles)
(pain level 3/10)