On a hot morning I went to the dog park before work since I have the late shift.  I had the place to myself for an hour with the exception of a quick 5 minute session from another older skater.  I started better than normal even though I had put the 8.75″ deck back on.  Tried a line of switch noseslide a concrete bench, wallie the smaller barrier, noseslide to fakie the back of the step ledge, fakie flip, halfcab noseslide, crook.  I only got to the halfcab noseslide once and bailed it.  Tried a line of front 50 a concrete bench, front 5-0 the end of the little narrow ledge, back 50 the low step, didn’t get the back 50. At one point I did a little hippy jump over the tiny kinked rail. It was nothing. That’s what I liked about it so much. That trick was scary to me, but because of how awesome the dog park is for my skating I just did it without thinking. Then I went in on the ollie over a concrete bench.  It took 12 minutes.  Ha, I know this because I filmed it.  In between tries I was doing some of the best feeling kickflips I’ve done in awhile.  After ‘getting’ the ollie I putzed around some more.  Got a couple good feeling halfcab noseslides.  I ended the session with the best treflip I’ve done on flat in awhile.

(setup 8.75 null event horizon deck, venture trucks 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger , bones medium bushings, sml 53mm og wide wheels, 2 speed washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 533v2 gray stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Even hotter day.  Sean and I rolled to La Raza where Kevin met us.  We warmed up.  I was wearing shoes without orthotics for the first time in awhile.  It felt good.  I had a few kickflips, a heelflip, front 50, weird front 5-0/50/smith surfy accident and a great feeling front 50 shove.  Then I filmed Sean and Kevin get great lines.  Sean’s took awhile, but was well worth it.  Kevin’s line came easy.  It’s good, he deserved getting it so quickly.  Halfcab flip, bonk the crack, back 180 nosegrind.  It’s the Ventures.  He’s woke.  Oh wait, so is Sean.  Everyone knows what’s up.  After filming Sean, Kevin called out a trick for me.  Switch front noseslide shove.  I went right into it.  About an hour later I gave up.  I wasn’t bummed though, it felt good to try a hard trick.  I was motivated.  I need to try that one more.

(setup 8.5 Null Lazer deck, venture trucks 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger , bones medium bushings, sml 53mm og wide wheels, 2 speed washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 533v2 gray stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a hot Saturday I met up with Fuzz, Dave L, Dave F, Rob and Kevin to do some actual street skating at one of our favorite spots.  Rocky Mtn.  As soon as I got out of the car I felt terrible on my skateboard.  The orthotics are killing me and my boardfeel.  Sure the knee pain is going away, but man the foot pain is back.  It’s always one or the other.  Rob had started a warmup challenge of manual ollie over a grate back to manual.  I didn’t participate.  Kevin, Fuzz, Rob got it.  Kevin and Fuzz may have added another grate to the mix.  Dave L might have done it too.  Dave F hadn’t shown yet.  I just dorked around slowly.  Actually the only thing I did worth even noting was a nollie shove manual on the speed bump.  I did a few of these.  Dave F showed up and got in the mix quick.  Most people skated the bank/curb for awhile.  I didn’t feel like ollieing up the curb so I didn’t.  I saw Kevin do a kickflip up, ollie onto the bank, then switch manual the sidewalk.  Doh, I knew I should have filmed that.  I saw Rob do some hot curb manuevers.  Crooks pop up, back shove front 50.  I started filming Fuzz.  He got a sick line twice.  Ledge, manny on the bank.  Then I started filming Kevin for awhile.  He was bummed having to try a trick that came easy the first time.  Dave got a sick feeble stall on the bank to curb.  After awhile I asked Rob/Fuzz to film as they weren’t skating and Fuzz was kind enough to film.  I started dorking around with an idea.  Ollie up to rock stall to “nollie” shove onto the ledge then kickflip off.  Kevin got his trick.  Fuzz started filming me, gave up after awhile then Rob started filming me.  I finally got it.  I was very hyped.  Thanks for filming it so well Rob.  Dave L got a rad back tail / crail / manual combo.  Then we left for a 2 stair manny pad.  Pretty sick spot, but the wind was fierce from a nearby storm.  It didn’t stop Kevin and Fuzz from manualling it.  Maybe Kevin would have gotten a manual kickflip had the wind not been so bad.  Rob no complied up and almost to manual.  I couldn’t get the ollie up.  It’s amazing how poorly I skated all day, but getting a clip felt absolutely great.  

(setup 8.5 Null Lazer deck, venture trucks 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger , bones medium bushings, sml 53mm og wide wheels, 2 speed washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 212 gray size 12, spenco 3/4 orthotic under footprint 5mm insoles)
(pain level 4/10 pain in left ball of foot)

We used to call this Flatground Friday. We all showed up around the same time. We mentioned we should skate flatground, but we messed basically just started out on the obstacles. It was cool after the rearrangement it was like a new park. We had the whole park to ourselves for quite awhile too. Warming up is never easy, especially after a full week of work. I had finally remembered to swap out my bushings. I put some Bones mediums in. They felt really good. Dave did a quick up to boardslide the 1/2 step. Then he did it frontside. Rob got in on it and did the boardslide too. Rob had some lines with manual or nose manual, front board on the tall metal bench, kickflips. I started settling on a line with a trick on a concrete bench in the corner, trick on the tiny pad, attempt to ollie the barrier off the kicker. I never got a clean line, but had some fun crooks and halfcab noseslides, manuals and nose manuals. I committed to several ollies, but only rode sketchily away from one . Dave was trying with me. His line was a kickflip then a front board transfer the bench, but he ended up doing back 5-0 on the tiny pad then ollie. He got a couple clean ones. I really noticed how I wanted a bigger board for the ollie. I also tried a few boardslides on the weird bar on top of the tiny pad. I wanted a bigger board for that too. Argh. One other thing I had done which I hadn’t done before was halfcab boardslide the small flat bar. Dave and I messed around with halfcab noseslide 270. Then we played a game of SKATE. It started terribly for me as I got SK on pop shove then SKA on front shove. I almost focused my board and left. I did redeem myself with heelflip and halfcab flip, but then fizzled out again on treflip, b/s flip and lost on a cab. I watched Rob and Dave finish the battle. I think Rob won it on a back 360.

(setup 8.5 Null Lazer deck, venture trucks 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger , bones medium bushings, sml 53mm og wide wheels, 2 speed washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 212 gray size 12, spenco 3/4 orthotic under footprint 5mm insoles)
(pain level 4/10 pain in left ball of foot)

On a warm night I walked across the street after Rob, Saul and Dave were already skating (because I have the longest commute ha ha).  I still forgot to swap out the bushings and the stiff stock bushings were tough to slappy with.  I struggled with front and back slappies.  Saul wasn’t struggling with slappies though.  Well actually I guess I saw him hang up on the raw section once.  How unlike him.  Dave was already doing long slappy crooks, noseslides, noseslide 270.  Rob got robbed over and over on back 50 shove. Neither of us got first try front shoves from curb cut to parking lot, but we did get them..  Around the time the sprinkler came on I knew the sidewalk would get wet which motivated a first try kickflip from curb cut to parking lot.  So fun.  I think Rob got it first try too, he goes backside though, seems so hard.  I failed at kickflips up/into the curb cut, had a couple nollie back tails, the normal slappies, Saul did a front slappy around the corner below.  So sick.  This dude Mitch showed up determined to ollie the little gap after a 10 year hiatus from skating.  He had a nice ollie, but man he was scary to watch.  He would eventually get the ollie though.  Dave had cool grinds up the curb cuts to tail, pretty much most directions, lots of kickflips, sex changes.  Rob got a one foot back 50 or two, front 5-0s and ended trying kick back 50s.  I ended trying fakie flip/halfcab flip on the tiny bank.  I technically got one, but it wasn’t really on the ‘bank’.  It’s fun, I like messing around on that bank.  

(setup 8.5 Null Lazer deck, venture trucks 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger , stock purple bushings, sml 53mm og wide wheels, 2 speed washers inside each axle, new balance numeric pj 533v2 grey, currex run pro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Feeling tired after work again I went to dog park to meet Hayden and then go filming. I felt like mixing up my shoes and setup so I was on my old 8.5″ setup and 212 shoes. Board felt good, shoes felt good, insoles felt super thick. I started off terribly, but after a few switch front noses on the step things started to feel better. Then all the high school kids showed up and it was a huck fest over the barrier clogging the main area. Hayden showed up and we skated for a bit. Man he’s good. Ollie onto the step to quick 5-0, pop shove and 360 flip over the barrier, crooks and front tail the top step first try, front 180 fakie manual 180 out the black manny pad, fakie 5-0 halfcab out the ledge, back smith the top step. Wow. I had ended up getting a few of the normal things. Couldn’t quite get the fakie nosegrind this time. Almost got a flatground 360 flip after Hayden did his over the barrier. Had a lot of halfcab noseslides and switch front noses. Took a bit to get front 50 on the benches, but almost got shove and accidental 5-0 shove. Glad I got to skate some. I like 8.5 more than 8.3. Filming went well. Jack and Hayden got sick clips.

(setup 8.5 Null Lazer deck, venture trucks 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger , stock purple bushings, sml 53mm og wide wheels, 2 speed washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 212 gray size 12, spenco 3/4 orthotic under nike zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

This is me. It was fun. Mega thanks to everyone willing to point a camera at me for the minimum 100 tries it takes me to land anything.

Still feeling run down from camping and right after work I went to dog park to meet Rob. There was cloud cover so it wasn’t too hot and there was hardly anyone there. I got there first and proceeded to feel like I had never skateboarded before. I almost died trying to ollie onto the black manny pad. I couldn’t back 50 the tiny square pad. I couldn’t do anything it felt like. Rob showed up and quickly complained about the square manny pad then slammed on it. It was quite amusing. I really did enjoy having it there to get some sort of confidence on over the top backside grinds. I was able to get a back 5-0, but couldn’t muster the courage to try back nosegrind like I did the first day I went there. Argh. I did start getting into a line that I liked though. Hippy jump the janky flatbar, wallie the barrier, front nosegrind the tiny narrow ledge. Never got the nosegrind. Rob was ripping. He is definitely progressing there. Front tail on a bench, almost front nosegrind the step, ollie the barrier easily, front board the tall metal bench, back 50 shove the step first try I think, really solid backside flips. After awhile we put the wedge after the bench to get all east coast and do tricks like it was into a cellar door. Rob got back 50 into it pretty quick. He was smart and used the Neils Of Fire school of stoke and lined it out. Manual, fakie big, back 50 into the bank. So sick. I tried flip tricks to motivate me. Had to give up on halfcab flip. Got a couple heelflips, but still couldn’t find the courage to commit to front 50. Argh. Then I tried treflip for awhile and couldn’t do it either. I gave up and just tried front 50 on it’s own and eventually started committing to slow 50s and finally tic tac’d my way into the bank. Oh yeah, Rob had tried to front 50 the top step. So gnarly. But he slammed hard and it took him out. Doh. I left feeling incredibly depressed. I partly blame the lingering effects of camping, but I also know that I’m not liking the smaller setup/trucks. Argh.

(setup 8.38 null event horizon deck, venture 5.6 trucks, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf v1 wheels, 3 bearings inside each axle, mob grip, new balance numeric 533v2 pj grey size 13, currex run pro insoles)

After a weekend of camping and whiskey I attempted to skate a little in the late afternoon. I went to Southern Hills in hopes of some quiet. I got it. I have been wanting to skate flatground more so I did a lot of that. I would start on the smooth section with a flipper then go to the step or ledge. The first couple warm up lines were fun. But then f/s halfcab flip took a long time, although when I landed it it felt pretty incredible. I couldn’t get the front 50 after, only tried and it wasn’t even close. I spent way too long trying backside flip and got a terrible one. Had a lot of wheelbite. I hate big wheels. Got heelflip quick. Was trying switch flips on the handicap ramp in between tries. Got remotely close. I tried a couple treflips, but gave up tired.

Later on Saul and Dave were at the curbs so I went. I had put some old smaller wheels on. They felt good. Skateboarding was more fun again. Although regular slappies were much harder. Dave was being tech guy again starting most lines with kickflip or varial flip. Nice back 180 fakie 50, slappy crooks shove, slappy back 50 back 180 out, up the curb cut 50 to front tail, noseslides and a banger ender fakie shove fakie 50. I had some fun front slappys, almost a kickflip from curb cut to lot, a terrible treflip, tried crooks shove the hard way, had some fun little nollie shoves on the micro bank. Saul grinded more in one slappy then I did all night, had a bunch of front slappies too, may have gotten slappy crook. I was so tired at the end of this.

(setup 8.38 null event horizon deck, venture 5.6 trucks, venom 88a bushings, 53mm sml og wide wheels, 3 bearings inside each axle, mob grip, new balance numeric 533v2 pj grey size 13, currex run pro insoles)

Had the day off work. Was a little late meeting Dave L and Rob and when I arrived the park was totally soaked. Ugh. On top of that there was a new graffiti tag and trash everywhere. The hype level was very low as we knew the city would be bummed on that. We swept the puddles out for a good 30 minutes. Dave had to leave by then basically. Rob and I got somewhat warmed up around the time Raul showed up to check the graffiti as he had gotten emails from someone in the city. Doh. Fuzz showed up around then. He was able to figure out through his vast network who did the graffiti and had them scheduled to fix it. Power moves. Fuzz pretty quickly front 50’d the top step and then front 180’d out. Whoa. We did our things for a bit, I don’t remember much. Then Fuzz started a session on the black manny pad. Well, not mannys, but quick trick. He started it with ollie up then kickflip off. Then heelflip off. Then bigspin off. Rob and I started trying kickflips off. Fuzz did several more tricks. Front 180 up switch back 180 off. I think 180 up switch front shove off. Rob and I would eventually get kickflip off. Rob went on to get front shove off. Sick. Fun ending to a session that started pretty bleak.

(setup 8.38 null event horizon deck, venture 5.6 trucks, venom 88a bushings, 53mm sml og wide wheels, 3 bearings inside each axle, mob grip, new balance numeric 533v2 pj grey size 13, currex run pro insoles)