Went to the dog park before work on a breezy warm day. Warming up was good. I did a few boardslides, noseslides before settling in on Dave’s challenge. As you can see I was hyped to get it. I did a few flatground tricks in between attempts. Got halfcab flip and backside flip, heelflip a little later on. I did a super slow front lip on the tiny pad that felt pretty cool. Then I skated the low step ledge. I got really close to front nosegrind and fakie 50 switch front shove. The back 50 shove was just kind of funny, but I was hyped when it happened. Another dude showed after awhile. I stopped filming and did more lines or random stuff. Got some slow front 50s on the narrow benches again. Lots of slappy crooks. Couldn’t ollie a bench. When I posed it I was way over it, but when I commit I just ran into it. Ugh. I couldn’t get a treflip, but I finally did a kick back 50 (sketchy) on the low step. I struggled with regular crooks again. Not sure what’s up with that having the bigger setup. Then it was time for work.

(setup null 8.75 even horizon deck, venture 6.1 trucks, bones medium bushings, sml 53mm og wide wheels, new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Up early on a Sunday thinking I’d be Filmer Glen most of the day I went to Southern Hills to work on the pop game. But I was really tired and sore. I shouldn’t have skated, but there’s a reason I won Stubborn Of The Year last year. As usual I mostly tried lines. Started with nollie bonk manual down the handicap ramp, front 50 the bottom step, boardslide a bench. Then switch front 180 a crack gap, back 50 the step, front board pop out a bench, kickflip on flat. Then noseslide a bench, ollie up the two, no comply 180 into the bank. The ollie up was so hard. Ugh. I had gotten a couple flippers in between tries like heelflip and halfcab flip. I was also getting super close to nollie flips. Then I went for the feared front 50. It went even worse than expected. I got one slow one with no grind. Ugh. Then tried a line of halfcab noseslide, heelflip on flat, crook a bench. Only got to the heelflip twice and ended up giving up on the line. I did at least get a few crooks. Granted they didn’t come so easy, but I got a few, and I lined out the last one with a no comply 180 then a switch crook jib on the step. The whole time I hated how hard the Bones wheels felt. They don’t work with the bigger setup. Especially on rough ground.

(setup null 8.75 even horizon deck, venture 6.1 trucks with stock bushings, 54mm bones stf v5, new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10 skated too much lately)

Kevin and I rolled to the dog park to meet Dave L and Seattle Will. I took out the vert board again. I didn’t do much, but I got another halfcab crook. Well, Kevin said it counted anyway. It wasn’t locked in like the other one I had done. I also got a first try f/s halfcab flip. Kevin was ripping even though he’ll say he wasn’t. 5-0s, nosegrind, smiths, etc. He was trying nollie 180 switch crooks. He was locking in, but never got it. Dave was shredding. Slappies, 5-0s on the ledges, shoves over the parking block. Andrew and the No Love dudes showed. It was cool seeing them.

We ended up here. I was skating terribly for awhile and felt incredibly sore. Dave was going up the long stairs like it wasn’t even hard. Ha. Seriously popping up so easily. Kevin and Will went in on the manual. Well, Kevin probably did it first try. I think he got nose manual too. Then 50. Then 5-0. The nosegrind proved he is human after all. Fuzz showed up and sat in his car for awhile before joining us. He had never been to this spot before and was frustrated like the rest of us with how hard it is to skate. But he did get the manual pretty quickly. After doing nothing but the little pivot above (nowhere near as cool as this old line there) I filmed Dave get a pretty incredibly line. 3 tricks up and a boardslide. Will had filmed awhile too. He got a couple manuals and almost a kickflip then manual. Fuzz got a fun boneless 180 bonk. Kevin was in on the 3 tricks up thing too and tried to finish with nollie flip. He ended up switching to nollie b/s flip and gave up on that. I’ll make an excuse for him – the wind. I started dorking around with 360 spinner like Sean does here. Ended up doing a little line of kickflip then it down the curb. I like it. Decent day. I wish I could ollie better.

(setup null 8.75 even horizon deck, venture 6.1 trucks with stock bushings, 54mm bones stf v5, new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

The forecast called for a perfect day in the mid 60s so I took the day off. And it delivered. It was a little cool when we first arrived at the park, but it was nice and in the 60s quickly. We all like this park. We all skated it very differently. Dave L was warming up by cracking ollies everywhere. Over the hips, humps, everything. Fuller was doing cool pivots, tail stalls on hard to reach areas. My first trick was the front tail over the mellow to steep hip. Fuller was gaping up the weird euro and manualling the less weird euro, 50s, tails over the top qp thing. We eventually settled into some things. Dave L was doing quick feet lines on the nipples and getting more tech with each try adding body varials, shoves and then varial flip. I was mostly trying lines starting at the ledge and coming back to it. I was trying kickflips on the corner qp. Got a few. Noseslide, crooks, halfcab crooks all felt decent, but the front 50 almost killed me again. Argh. I got a couple slow and timid ones. Fuller started trying the Hale trick on a boob and got a few. They were so sick. I started hucking noseslide 270 shove and got one in a few tries. It felt so awesome. I ended up getting a few more. I guess I finally went fast enough and put my weight in the right place. Hopefully it works out again in the future. Fun session.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, jessup grip, venture 5.6 trucks, old 53mm bones stf PJ v1 wheels, venom 88a bushings (no boardside washer), new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a nap and some chilling I met Ed, Saul and Dave F across the street at the curbs. Dave and I were super beat, but we were the ones that skated the most. Ha. Typical of us. I rode the “vert board” as I didn’t land any flip tricks earlier in the day so why not have a bigger board? It felt good right away for slappies. Ed still has mean slappies both way as well as good looking ollies and back 180s. Saul was chilling on backside slappies grinding forever. He’s got front slappies down too. Dave did a switch slappy up the curb cut to switch back 180 out. Gnarly! I was messing around on a slappy crook and tried to put it into 50 and it was close. I got less close, but kinda bonked a 5-0. Dave started playing with it and got a really good one. The neighbor kids showed up. It’s cool to see how excited beginners get about everything. I had better luck with flippers on the big board. Makes no sense, but it was fun to ride.

(setup null 8.75 even horizon deck, venture 6.1 trucks with stock bushings, 54mm bones stf v5, new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10 skated too much already)