After a late night of celebrating birthdays we went into the city. First spot was Wallenberg. And it ended up being a fun session. There was a big game of skate that either Joe or Dan won. Looked pretty sick. I’m kind of bummed that I’ve reached this point that I don’t even ask to get included in games of SKATE anymore. I need to get back on it. Collin had amazing kick back 50s on the curb. I had some fun slappy crooks and slow 50s as well as a dumb back tail shove on a micro sponge hip. Scott front tail on the curb. Ladd almost did a crazy drop down ollie. Wade with some 50s and boardslides. Dan did some stuff on the curb too.

Then we went to Waller. I was feeling pretty beat at the time and it was hard to figure that place out. Wade had his moves all over the place. Donnie seemed to do some good stuff on the curbs too. Joe put down a banger line back tail, heelflip, ollie a barrier from flat. I had some noseslides and a couple of slow crooks that were less fun than I was hoping. Saw CO native Kiernan do a hardflip back tail. Jack did some tricks like I think pop shove crooks to fakie.

Lastly we went to Kezar. Crazy spot. Switch flip the triple set is insanity. Bob tried to ollie the triple set and had one of the funniest clips ever landing on his butt on his board. Joe threw a couple ollie attempts too. Wade did like 50 tricks around ride on grind. Front board to front nose, roll down two sets of stairs to front board, I don’t even know he was learning tricks every couple of minutes. Donnie had some fast ride on backside grinds and I think got one to manual. Collin and I got ride on front 50s to manual. When I landed mine it was one of the funner tricks I’ve done in a while. Felt so cool. Collin and I would go on to battle. He was doing ride on 5-0 180 to switch flip off. Never got the switch flip. I did ride on 50 to front shove off the ledge. It took me forever. I had so many slams. But I would get it and it felt cool. Fun way to end the trip.

(setup 2/10 8.3 null abstract 43, pepper g5, thunder team hollow 149 t2 bushings, bones x99 52mm v1, vans half cab wafflecup gray size 12 remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

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In Oakland for the day. After hitting 510 we went to “rock wall” aptly named because it was insane. The photos by Dave show most of the spots we hit. At the rock wall Jack proceeded to do several tricks right away. Axle stall, pivot, back d and quit while he was ahead. He did a bunch of grinds on the weird spine thing as well and the crazy wallride too. Ladd had a wallride over the gap at rock wall as well as some feebles on the spine and wallride to fakie. We got Mike KP for the day! There was a curb with a little drop that he and Dan skated. Dan had switch back 180 and maybe sw bs flip. not sure on that one. Mike got nollie f/s flip. Collin tried front rock on the wall but didn’t get it. I did an ultra dumb mini gap to tail a tiny part of it and flailed flatground. Donnie was a beast. Took him a while to get a back smith. He had to do a Bennett first but it opened the floodgates. He Almost had sw f/s pivot after that.

We went to the nearby ledge spot. Joe put down some front crooks to fakie then went on to put down one of the best lines of the trip. Tall ass front 50 then a hardflip in the street that was one of his best. Which says a lot because he’s in my phone as “Hardflip Joe”. Al wanted front board, but didn’t get it. Jack may have done front noseslide. Others were skating the double ledge part. I did some ultra slow switch nose jibs and one with a shove out. Mike KP put down a killer front tail f/s flip and took the hill switch. Ladd had some solid front 50s, front 50 180, front 5-0 and almost 5-0 180. Donnie had some good noseslides, close to some other tricks.

After some driving we ended up at a pretty amazing spot with a battleship in the background. There was a bank to curb and a jersey barrier and ledge and a couch that people made made a kicker over. I was really sore at this point. Slappy crooks was all I had. Wade had done like 5 boardslide combos before the second car of people showed up. Al had really good slappy crooks. Ted had amazing slappies. Mike learned slappies. Across the way at the ledge I had a funny fall on a crooks attempt. Only did noseslides and a jersey ride. Joe did a sick line with fakie front crook and a boosted heelflip. Dan got tailslide 270 shove. Then Dave had setup a kicker over a couch and people were jumping. Joe ollied it. Ladd ollie and one foot and close to more. Mike did kickflip and was so close to f/s flip.

Fun day, then we went and celebrated the birthdays!

(setup 2/10 8.3 null abstract 43, pepper g5, thunder team hollow 149 t2 bushings, bones x99 52mm v1, vans half cab wafflecup gray size 12 remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Al, Wade, Donnie and I hit Berkeley skatepark in the morning for about an hour while others got ready to go see the redwoods. Ended up being a really fun session and got me out of the fun from the bank session the night before. Wade was on the rock ‘n roll right away. Al wasn’t really feeling the park so he filmed mostly. Donnie never got the front rock on the big wall, but he did still do all kinds of other amazing lines. Wade rattled off several tricks on the bigger qp. I took a while to get a backside flip over the hip, but I got 2 in a row and then a 3rd later that Al filmed. I had some fun noseslides. Wade was front boarding the ledge. I had two lines real quick that made me happy. Kickflip on the bank then crooks on the taller ledge. Then kickflip to fakie on the bank followed by switch front nose the taller ledge. I tried to front 50 the bump to ledge which I was kind of close before it was time to go. Donnie had ollied the whole pyramd, was getting into grinds on the steep euro to ledge. It was a fun session. I really liked the park. Not sure I would if I had to skate it all of the time, but for a quick session it was really fun.

(setup 2/10 8.3 null abstract 43, pepper g5, thunder team hollow 149 t2 bushings, bones x99 52mm v1, vans half cab wafflecup gray size 12 remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Big crew to the city for some fun filled skating. First spot was 3rd & Army. It’s way longer than I remembered. There was a little DIY bowl that Donnie skated, I never went and looked at it. They had recently painted all of the ledges and they were kind of sticky and weird. So that was kind of a bummer. Dan had a cool line of nose manual 180 then switch b/s flip. Ladd did manual then up to deck check nose manual on the table. Jack front blunts all fast and almost front nose through the corner. Ladd also had some really good flippers. Collin and I had some fun warming up on the low stuff. Ride on grind, go around and 50 the curb. He added kickflip 50. I really tried to skate well, but I didn’t. Had one garbage halfcab flip, some noseslides. Only thing that felt fun was switch front nose.

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Then some of us went to this crazy spot that is infinitely gnarlier than it looks. I had fun just dropping into the hill bomb. Collin got a noseslide on the curb to hill bomb. Joe hucked some hard flips. Jack went in on treflip and was victorious.

Then it was off to this weird fun bank spot overlooking the golden gate bridge. As we walked up the Blue Angels flew by as they had been practicing their routes. This spot was so hard to skate. A lot didn’t skate it. Kasci had joined us and went in on back 180 sw crooks shove and didn’t quite get it. Jack did some casual bangers like front tail up to 5-0 before filming Kasci. Wade ripped it with so many cool variations like f/s rock on the side, powerside to grind down the edge. Ladd mega pop fs ollie, front tails. As you can imagine Donnie did a million tricks, all of which were sick. I had some basic 50s and 5-0, couldn’t get back smith, managed not to roll my ankle on the weird mini banks everywhere. I went in on kickflip onto the bank and could not get it. I don’t get it, I tried and could not do it. It was ultra depressing. Maybe the most bummed I’ve been on my skating in a long time.

(setup 3/10 8.3 null abstract 43, pepper g5, thunder team hollow 149 t2 bushings, bones x99 52mm v1, vans half cab wafflecup gray size 12 remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Fresh off the plane (and a bus and two trains and a car ride) we assembled an amazing crew. I was meeting up with the 98% crew, most of which had been there a couple days already. Donnie and me arrived today. These curbs are the easiest slappy curbs ever. Like I literally did my first slappy with my water bottle in my hand having not done any of my warm up exercises. We would skate here a long time. It’s been over a week so my memory isn’t going to be so good, but here we go.

Joe: Learned slappies then proceeded them to do them in a line with mega pop heelflip and hardflip.

Collin: slappy front 50 shove out, long slappies, kf manual, ripping.

Jack: Those long sugarcanes are so amazing. All kinds of cool seeing Jack skate again. The wallie off the curb to back 50 was so easy for him. Almost did pressure flip body varial to manual.

Dan: Also learned some slappies and had casual manual combos.

Wade: Regular slappy to f/s over the drain was so sick. Also had manuals.

Scott: front t first try. Ollies up the curb, had a pretty great slam apparently.

Me: Slappies were so fun. Took forever to slappy crook the drain that Donnie crooked first try. Hucked some flippers but didn’t land much. Had some fun switch f/s slappies. Tried kickflip manual and was somewhat close, but only got one kickflip up.

Donnie: Always a treat to watch him skate. Lots of variety, atv, fast slappies, wallrides, manuals.

Really fun kickoff to the trip for me. Didn’t get too sore.

(setup 3/10 8.3 null abstract 43, pepper g5, thunder team hollow 149 t2 bushings, bones x99 52mm v1, vans half cab wafflecup gray size 12 remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After some early side/back spasms and resting I went out to Valmont area and Dave was there shredding the park with Satellite Jack. They were doing 540s and more on the little bank. Dave did a 900. I felt very off and had a new board setup so even more off and just did some manuals, but it was too dark. Dave did his back tail 360 out over the hip. Jack did big indy airs. Some young kid did front 360 flyouts.

Dave and I went to dog park. The lights weren’t on. We did some boardslides and stuff on the full metal jacket rail since it was kind of lit. Then the lights came on and boom it felt so amazing and bright. My back had loosened up and I had fun skating while Dave was there. He put together a good line. 180 nose drive over a parking block, fakie nosegrind 180 on the curb, back 50 the c lurb, kickflip, something else. It was pretty amazing. I was kind of all over just being random. It was fun though. Lots of little front 50s, nollie tails, crooks, etc. The Thunder noseslide is the worst. Dave had to leave. I skated more, but kind of fizzled out and my back had started to hurt a little. Max Z showed. That was cool. I really struggled with ollies onto the pad and that made me mad. I hucked some ollies over things, none of which felt good. Fun session though. Especially considering the spasms I was having earlier.

(setup 5/10 8.3 null abstract 43, pepper g5, thunder team hollow 149 t2 bushings, bones x99 52mm v1, vans half cab wafflecup gray size 12 remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Met up with Jake, Ian, Alexi, Cass, Bratcher and more at dog park around 11 on a hot sunny day. Those dudes were on a treflip mission when I arrived which I wasn’t ready for. Cass kind of got one. Skated the barrier a little to get warmed up. I did two basics on the tiny part while Ian and Jake killed the main parts. I didn’t do a lot of jumping. Couldn’t get a nosegrind 180 on the curb. Jake had back 50s, front tails, fakie front nose. Ryan showed up and did some amazing nollie heels and switch heels. Bratcher had some switch back 50s. Cass did his basics well again. Some dudes showed up and were killing it, several tricks over the bump to bar. Not sure why I remember so little of this session.

(setup I don’t remember what I skated but I think it was the 8.5 with thunders)
(pain level 5/10)

Went to dog park after work feeling motivated to do a lot of flippers. I would go on to land almost nothing all night. Starting with a warm up game of no comply skate with Dan and the only one I got was no comply 180. We tried heelflips and I could not get one of those either. Will had them easy. Dan got a good one. I crooked the tall wood ledge which was the only thing I liked even though I do it almost every time. We had some good conversation. Those dudes are cool.

(setup 0/10 8.25/14 thunder team hollow 52mm bones vans half cab wafflecup size 12 impact cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Looking for something different I met up with Skelly at Golden park. Upon arriving the park was super crowded with some young rippers like Andrew and Preston. I felt like garbage initially. We skated the top area. Sean had some good lines. Then the lower part for a while I posed b/s flips over the wedge and some noseslides on the launch to noseslide. I couldn’t land any flip tricks. Managed a crook or two on the taller ledge. Almost died trying to wallie onto the ledge. Sean had a good line with back 50 the spine tube, ollie into the bank, wallie off the corner of the triangle kicker.

(setups 0/10 8.25 with v8s then 8.25/14 with thunders. vans half cab wafflecup grey size 12 remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Made myself go to dog park after work even though I wasn’t too inspired. Ended up being pretty fun. It was not crowded, just a few other skaters and some older scooter kids. I was riding the bigger 8.5 again. I don’t know why. Do I ever? Anyway I did get a line I liked of halfcab flip, wallie the cone, boardslide the box, front board the metal ledge. Would also do the wallies then noseslide and crooks. Had another line of fakie flip on flat, halfcab noseslide the bench, back 50 the curb. Got on some 50s on the main bench, but couldn’t go fast enough to do shove out. Satellite Jack showed up and ripped and he’s such a nice dude. Fun session, glad I skated.

(setup 4/10 8.5/14.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, thunder hollow lite 149, 53mm snot franky, vans half cab wafflecup grey size 12 remind cush insoles )
(pain level 5/10)