On a super nice morning I went out in front of the house to skate some flat. I wore my barefoot shoes again. They didn’t feel so magical this time. So after a bit I switched back to my 379s. They felt even less magical so I went back to the Xeros. I stuck with them for the rest of the flatground. I had done a few flippers when Kevin showed. Shortly after that I got a 360 flip that felt alright, first try fakie bigflip, but could not do a heelflip to save my life. Kevin slammed hard on a heelflip, had a bunch of nollie flips, switch flips, heelflips (took him a bit too) and introduced me to Sean’s technique which I think I will be implementing in the future. Do the trick 3 times. If the 3rd one is garbage or a bail you have to do it one more time while skating fast.

Then we went to Southern Hills. Rob would show up shortly after us. I had skated the Xeros, but they felt really weird on the ledge so I went back to the 379s. Then back to the Xeros for the rest of the session. It’s weird, the barefoot shoes allow the toes to spread so it felt like I had more pop. But the shoe is so thin I didn’t have much confidence. Kevin front 50’d the ledge so easy. At least back 50s took him a few tries. Rob showed up while we were shooting hoops with a kickball. Ha. We all did our think for awhile. Kevin was doing front 50’s up the low bar. He would later go on to do it on the higher part of the low bar and make it up the stairs. He also hit his shin really hard a few times. Rob was doing front noseslides to fakie, back 50 no comply out the step, boardslides, front boards, no comply up the 2, kickflip or no comply shove into the bank then boardslide. Mike showed. He would do a sick line of front 180 up the 2, halfcab flip into the bank, slappy front noseslide the bench. He also impossibled and nollie back heeled into the bank as well as a steezy nollie back tail. Eric showed, but had bruised ribs limiting the action. He still got up on some boardslides. No patented heelflips though. Get well soon. I tried a line of crooks, no comply up the 2, b/s flilp into the bank, but never got the bs flip. I struggled with the no comply up. That was about it. The wind had picked up something fierce at times making it tough to skate. Still a fun day though. It’s hard to describe what it’s like to skate in barefoot shoes other than to say it really does feel like you’re skating barefoot. I think it’s a little too little for me.

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, xero hana minimalist shoe with thin es insoles)
(pain level 3/10 somehow much less pain then i normally feel after that much skating)

On a gorgeous day I was kinda slacking. I setup a new board (8.25). I was messing around with it on the rug with my barefoot shoes (not the individual toe shoes I’m not that crazy) and they felt super good. So I went across the street wearing them. They felt beyond incredible. I did a few slappy crooks then started doing some tricks like front 50 and kickflip, but I tore the canvas on the shoes immediately. I went in for a bit and put some glue over them. Then I went out to just skate flatground. The shoes felt weird, but amazing. I felt like I had crazy control. I had done a few flippers when my work phone went off and I had to call it a day. Doh.

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, xero hana minimalist shoe with thin es insoles)
(pain level 1/10)

Feeling somewhat better after my little surgery I went across the street to do some slappy crooks and that’s about it. I didn’t want to push it. A board to the nuts would kill me. I did like 50 slappy crooks. They felt good. Struggled to get a slappy front crook, did a few front 50s, couple back 50s and called it.

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 379 all black size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

April Fools! Ha ha, but i did actually “skate” at Boulder park. This was because I would not be skating for a few days and wanted to get a little skating in. I was super sore though and not really feeling like trying hard. There was a dude I’ve seen there before with his kid. He rips in between taking runs holding hands with his kid. Then a biker showed that was doing monster airs. Pretty sick to watch actually. There was only a few things I was happy about. Some long back 50s on the steeper qp, a b/s flip over the weird hip and a front 50 across and down the little ledge (it took way too long to land though)

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 7/10 lots of knee pain)

On a beautiful day I rolled to Indian Peaks with Dave L. We arrived at the same time as Dave F (hereby referred to as Dave – Dave L is Dave L). Rob was the first to start doing tricks. No comply bigspin, crails, kickflip. Dave had the fakie shoves. Dave L was cruising around checking out the line possibilities. I was kinda doing nothing, but managed a first try kickflip to fakie to cheer me up some. Rob had some wallride nollies, front shove fakie, front big, kickflip, one foots. Man its great to have his style and energy back in the mix. Dave L working on nollie cabs and did lots of cool little manuals on the brick medians. I tried the little nollie shove then wallride nollie on the lower wall, but couldn’t get the wallie nollie. Dave was doing beautiful wallie nollies, did his first ever Hale spin (nose stall tailgrab 360) which was so sick. He also had a crazy switch shove revert thing. Two Dave NBDs within a few minutes of each other. Crazy. I started hucking backside flips and several tries later I got one, then a really great feeling one, then another one shown in the clip above. I was hyped as that’s a trick I’ve wanted to do there for awhile. I failed at 360 flips to fakie for awhile. Dave had a sick 360 over the hip. Dave L had a nice 360 no comply over it. I finished with a tiny boneless over the hip then the little kickflip. The hip is much harder than it looks since it’s so rounded. Super fun session. Then Dave L and I looked at a ledge spot that I skated with Jason forever ago. It still looks good, gotta wax it up and get it going!

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)