After work I had a quick drive to meet up with Dave. He was working in Louisville and we were going to skate a ditch after a meet up at the park. But I bet deep inside both of us knew we wouldn’t stop skating wherever we started. I went through 3 setups as it rained during the warm up stage. Pretty much right away Dave did the boardslide out of the qp after we laughed about how weird the parking block placement was. Did you actually put it there Dave? He also had some nice pivots on the weird qp then front 50 the bank to ledge. I was trying a line of crooks the ledge then noseslide to fakie the bank to ledge. The crooks felt great, but I kept messing up the noseslide to fakie. After a pretty bad slam I needed extra motivation and was trying to add a trick before the crooks but, couldn’t get a treflip or heelflip. Eventually settled on kickflip over the parking block and surprised myself with a great feeling kickflip, good feeling crooks, then great feeling noseslide to fakie. Dave was going to punch me if I didn’t do the noseslide to fakie. That line made me happy though. Struggled with front 50s again and may have only gotten a couple really slow ones. Dave had some good ones and did one with a nollie shove at the end into the little bank that was pretty amazing. Dave went in on a line of ollie to drop in on the mini hubba down the stairs, then ollie onto the ledge and roll into the bank, then back tail on the parking block out of the qp. He would get a couple to fakie, but not quite to forward like he wanted. I really struggled to ollie onto the little ledge and roll in like Dave was. I would never commit to it. But I would get a low b/s flip over the main hip that was pretty rewarding. Dave then did a few and a perfect b/s flip over the mellower hip. I was posing front heels over it and they started to feel kind of realistic and then out of nowhere I landed a really floppy one. And it felt incredible. I rarely land new tricks these days and even rarer do I land them in less than 20 tries. Kind of a mixed session struggling with some basics, but landing a new trick at the end felt incredible.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, new balance numeric 574 vulc blue/white size 11.5 with half insole and currex run pro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

After lounging on a cold morning the sun had come out and I snuck out for a couple hours of skating. After yesterdays performance not being able to ollie well or even push comfortably I had written off Thunders yet again. I tried my 8.5 Slace setup. It felt good. My goal was to go around the school and selfie film a trick at every one of the close to 10 spots around the school. Well, it got off to a bad start when I couldn’t even ollie onto the narrow pad by the chalk board to start. I did have some warm up flippers that came really easily though. Bs flip, halfcab flips, fakie flip, heelflip. I settled for the dorky manual. Then I had posed an ollie over the two block and almost died bailing it. So I was going to selfie film trying to ollie it, but then a group of kids came to the play equipment which is like 5 feet away. Whew, I probably wouldn’t have done it anyway. Then I ended up at the weird curved area and skated the regular ledge at first. It was crazy, I tried a noseslide and went over the top and fell into the dirt. Not as bad as it sounds, but it was still crazy. May have gotten one little crook jib. Couldn’t get halfcab noseslide. Then I messed with the curved ledge for a while. I couldn’t get the nerve (or enough angle) to 50 it. Settled for the ‘nollie’ tail then quick ollie. It was way harder than I wanted it to be. Then I was on the side of the school. I really struggled to front 50 the low ledge comfortably. It was annoying it faces directly at the road so anytime a car would come I would let it get to my head and stop skating. I would eventually go on to get a run that sounds good on paper, but was really slow. Halfcab flip, front 50, curve around and b/s flip out of the little bank. Finally to the front area aka the main attraction and I was pretty sore. I would get some noseslides, noseslide to fakie, perhaps a crook jib and I think a boardslide. Front 50 didn’t even seem remotely possible ugh. Also tried several treflips and came up empty handed. Another tough session. Made me doubt the larger setup. I flipped it well until treflip time and certainly was no better at ollies with it. Argh.

(setup 4/10 null 8.5/14.25 20 year deck, jessup ultragrip, slace 8.5 (ace baseplate and bushings slappy hanger), 51mm bones pj stf v1, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 half insole plus currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10 was pretty sore)

On a nice morning I met Cass at Frederick. We had the park to ourselves for a long time before Bo and then Brian would arrive. I had eaten before skating which is rare and was messing with me getting going. But I had some kickflips on various things and got a couple up onto the smaller pad. We played a game of SKATE that I won kind of quickly somehow. I had first try fakie flip, halfcab flip and heelflip. Cass hit me with a hardflip because he didn’t want to get pink slipped. Forgot to mention I had a different setup. 8.25 with Thunder and I loved it. After the game of SKATE I had a few manuals in a row then ollie up onto the pad and nearly kickflip off. I asked Cass to film it but missed the manual (or nose manual). I was happy to get the ollie up and kickflip off pretty quickly through, maybe around 10 tries. The crooks after was a nice bonus. Cass did the fornt noses then we skated the hump for a bit. Cass got kickflip and kind of a hardflip 180. I got some pivoted varial flips both ways. Then I needed to do a treflip before I got too tried. We skated the fly out area. Cass did a couple of perfect ones. Brian and Bo showed. Cass went on to do several tricks. I would get a couple bad treflips and was really close to several decent treflips. Brian was trying kickflips but the knee and hip wouldn’t let him get it. Bo hadn’t skated in a couple week then just skated the ledge the tall way like it was nothing. Brian did the blunt real quick. Pretty great session. Then Brian, Cass and I went out to lunch which was also pretty great.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow light 148 royal bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 half insole and currex run pro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Been really tired this week. Went over to the school wearing xero’s because I was sick of the pain that skate shoes cause me. I went over to the school on a weird setup of 8.25 with 8.5 slappy trucks. And I would really like it. Because you know, I like everything the first time. I was lazy, was interrupted by people often. Went home and regrouped and actually tried a few ollies and flippers. Nothing really of note though. It’s crazy the difference in shoes. Like some of the movements I made to avoid pain were no longer necessary in the Xeros. But that doesn’t mean they are great for skating.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, slappy 8.5, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, xero kelso with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Set my alarm early to go skate Boulder park before work. I sat there for a while debating if I should get up, but forced myself to get up. Got to the park shortly after sunrise although it was cloudy. Would go on to skate for about an hour and a half and had the park to myself the whole time and skated pretty hard (but not good) for me. I went the line route for the most part starting very basic and getting a little harder. An early one I was happy with was crooks the bench then kickflip going frontside over the hump. Also fakie ollie the deck hump, slow front 50 the triangle ledge, kickflip the main hip bank, then noseslide the bump to triangle. Noselide the bench, up around to roll in the little qp then ollie onto the triangle. Then one that took way too long, but was pretty rewarding. Kickflip to fakie the deck bank up top, halfcab noseslide the triangle ledge, turn around then a little b/s nollie on the hip and a front 50 on the bench which was so hard. Then I hucked some. Remotely close to cab flip the hump, noseslide 270 shove. Made myself get a few front 50s on the bench at the end. Wanted to do a 180 out but wasn’t close and I was gassed at that point. Fun session, skated hard.

(setup 8.5 null 20 year 14.25 wb, null grip, royal ultralight 149, 52mm bones v1 stf, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Got sick after the weekend so hadn’t skated in a few days. After the last session I had made a couple setup changes to try and dial in a non-woke setup. 8.25 with ace, 8.5 with slappy. I had a much better warm up ollie on the 8.25 so I started with it and went to the oval curb area and went through some basic stalls. Then went over to the curb cut area and tried a line of switch 180 into one then kickflip out of the next. But I couldn’t get the kickflip to work to save my life. So I went home and got the 8.5 with Slappys and would get the line in a few tries. I didn’t go on to really like that setup, but I liked it more. Tried some stalls on the bigger rock in the back, got a couple halfcab flips and noseslides on the table. Then went home. I guess I was still feeling kind of run down.

(setup 8.25/ace and 8.5/14.25/slappy with nb 600 and currex insoles)
(pain level 4/10 but had no energy or drive)

Nice day. Went to dog park and met Garrett and Joe after some slacking. Paul would show after a while too. I was there first and the crowd was kind of a weird mix of beginners and 303 dudes. I had changed setup to 8.5/14.25/aces and it felt big, but okay. I had some success popping up things, crooks. I was skating pretty mid though. Especially after it felt like I hyperextended my toes. Garrett and Joe showed. I switched from vulcs to cups in hope of less pain which worked. Joe wasn’t really feeling it, but still managed some quick bangers as he does. Garrett kickflipped off the kicker over the barrier and flowed around the park really well. Paul showed and eventually some flatground ensued. Garrett and Paul rattled off treflip after treflip and I kind of got one. Then Garrett said he’d get me a marg if I landed one. I kept trying and trying going so slow and eventually got two in a row. They felt so great. Paul also landed a few nollie frontside flips which he’s been working on lately. I would go on to get my first heelflip in forever too which also felt cool. Then we went and celebrated.

(setup 7/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55 hollow, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles after the 272s)
(pain level 5/10 toes from the hyper extension)

On a nice Saturday morning I went to dog park. I haven’t been too motivated by dog park lately but I think now that I can ollie more again it maybe I will again. It ended up being a really fun session, some of the best I’ve felt on my board in months. I took way too long to write this entry though and forget a lot of it. I was happy to get a few kickflips off the kicker and a front 50 front 180 out on the little ledge. I had some more dog park traditional moves like crooks and stuff. I couldn’t get a treflip or kickflip up onto the pad though. Bratcher, Jesse, Dan, Ferg, Scotty, Paul, everyone was ripping. Jesse first try pop shove tailgrab over the grate was nuts. Haven’t seen Paul skate in a while, he’s still got lots of moves. Watching Dan skate is always a treat. Radley was there ripping too. Bratcher had some cool pole rides, slappies and a lot more. It was a really fun session, best I’ve felt on my board in a while. Would have liked to have gotten a treflip though. I was trying them in lines after kickflips off the side of the grate. Oh I also had some halfcab noseslides on the bench which might not seem like anything, but they are hard for me.

(setup 6/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow bones medium bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, es swift b/w size 12 with spenco 3/4 thinsole orthotics)
(pain level 3/10!)

Before dinner I went over to the school hoping the side was clear of snow. It kind of was, but I had to clear some out and it would dry quick. I had a slight setup change, ace lows instead of highs. It flipped rather nicely but I can’t say I was totally sold. I would get several kickflips, some fakie flips, couple halfcab and b/s flips, couple slow f/s halfcab flips, a floppy varial flip. Couldn’t quite get f/s halfcab heel, heelflip or treflip. Argh. At the end I went up and saw this snow pile which I ollied in a few tries. It’s been so long since I ollied over anything, I do love having some random snow piles to ollie in winter.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace 44 lows hard bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12 remind medic insoles)
(pain level 5/10 probably should have taken a day off skating though)

Met up with Cass at Broomfield, did some shoveling/squeegeeing for a while, then went to look at this bank spot but it was covered in snow. Some driving later we ended up back at Broomfield which had dried up quite a bit. We put in a little more effort then were able to skate the lower part without issue really. Darin showed up as we were getting warmed up. Cass was kind of ripping. Back 50s, hardflips, fakie back tail. Darin had his moves and made himself do a treflip pretty quickly. I didn’t land much of anything other than a halfcab noseslide and fakie 50 for quite a while. I was getting quite upset, but then had to reset and just make myself do more basics. Ollied up on the black box then did some accidental 5-0s on the blue. Got a crooks and a 5-0. Switch front nose then switch back nose shove. So it didn’t end up being the worst session, but I definitely wasn’t happy. Especially with how I couldn’t do flip tricks to save my life even on a smaller setup.

(setup 3/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace 44, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12 remind cush impact insole)
(pain level 5/10 pretty sore)