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)

After a terrible night of sleep I met up with Scotty, Collin, Dan, Donnie and Gordon. It was sunny and warm and would get quite hot again. Dan and I warmed up with a no comply game of SKATE in which he pink slipped me. Last trick being a nollie no comply which was so cool. I need to learn that one. We played nollie tre, none of us getting it. Collin shredded the whole time. The boardslide shoves every try were crazy. I skated okay, ollied the most I have in a while and it didn’t seem to hurt my groin. I rode the bigger board, it was okay. Tricks I liked were nosegrind 180 on the curb, crooks above the pad, and well maybe that is it. Scott ollied onto the pad. Collin noseslide to fakie nose manual wow. Dan ollie’s the picnic table off the kicker were so good.

(setup 6/10 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)

On a cool morning that would get warm very quickly Jack picked me up and we met Jake and Cass at Parker skatepark. Jack had never been there before. It is such a fun park. Everyone seemed to cruise around with their own warm ups. My groin was hurting after the drive, but seemed okay while skating. I started with 8.25/14 and thunders and liked it for a while. Came close to switch flip initially. But I couldn’t treflip when Jake and I were trying them. Had some good feeling kickflips on the bank, some noseslides to fakie the bank to ledge, slow front 50 the ledge. We all struggled with crooks on the ledge. Jack’s nollie back lip was sick. Cass had some really good front noseslides before breaking his board. He also did kickflip out of the kicker then back 180 off the tall ledge. Jake, Cass and I noseslid the tall ledge. Jack boardslide off the drop was sick. I took forever to get a switch noseslide on the bank to ledge. Cass front noseslide was so sick. There was a lot more. It was a fun session. I avoided a lot of ollies, but it was still fun. Hucking the little board was fun until it wasn’t fun at all. I had switched to 8.5/14.25 thunder hollows and enjoyed riding it more, but didn’t really try so many ticks.

(setups 8.25/14 thunder and 8.5/14.25 thunder hollow. Neither perfect. vans wafflecup half cabs size 12 grey remind cush impact insole)
(pain level 6/10)

Went to dog park after work on an incredibly nice cool grey afternoon. Will was there, but on a work call. Nick was there. I felt okay on my skateboard. I cruised around mostly avoiding pop for a while. Would do some front 50s on the curb, crooks on things, noseslides, sw front noses. Got one questionable sw crook. Nick had some good crooks and fakie nosegrinds. Will and I messed around with sw bs flips. He of course landed one, I was nowhere near landing one. Near the end I did get some groin pain on a little boardslide so I stopped skating, but overall I felt okay.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, venture 5.6 v8 hollow, bones x99 v1, vans half cab wafflecup grey size 12 remind impact cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)