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)

Flo is one of my favs, this two song part delivers.

Went to Blue Skies right after work on another nice day. I got there first and had fun cruising some lines. My first warm up line was boardslide the flat bar, frontside ollie on the bank, then front tail on the bank with the death trap crack. I had wanted to work on pop again so I tried a line of side rock the other death crack bank, noseslide the tall middle ledge, ollie the flat bar, kickflip to fakie on the bank. Well, I never got past the flatbar ollie and it really upset me. Dave had shown and was doing lots of fakie shoves, nollie shoves on flat or the bank. I had changed the line to ollie to fakie, halfcab flip to start. But never got the halfcab flip. I had put the 5.8 hangers on to see if they were more stable. They were. But I couldn’t flip them. Dave started trying nollie heels. There were a couple super close ones. I tried nollie flips and was close too. There were a couple commits, but just not enough flip. Hopefully soon! Dave easily did some hippy jump 180s, casual first try front 50 the small scary ledge. He a run with boardslide to fakie the dragon rail, front board to fakie the flat bar, fakie shove, then fakie flip on the bank. Totally shredding. I tried some front 50s on the scary ledge that is always a mental battle to me. I committed to it first try going so slow and thought it was a good omen, nope. I pretty much gave up after that and it got dark. Dave had done fakie 3 shove on the bank too, fakie varial flip I think? When it got dark we put our phone lights on the bank as Dave was stubbornly trying varial flip to fakie. I did a couple nollie shoves and sweepers. Dave was getting frustrated then out of nowhere did a totally perfect varial flip to fakie. It was so sick!

(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 4/10)

Went to the dog park after work. There was only a couple of people there, puddles everywhere from the recent snow. So most of the normal lines/obstacles weren’t an option. Somehow this made it kind of fun. I basically just skated the lower step black ledge. Took a bit to get a few slow back 50s. I think I landed front 50 shove. Tried a few kick back 50s. Managed to kind of ollie the wallie barrier. Had some good feeling crooks on the metal bench, halfcab noseslide. Had b/s flip and halfcab flip, maybe heelflip. Didn’t commit to treflip. I left feeling kinda blah about skating as I hadn’t done anything new. I also didn’t like how loose my trucks were. I’m no Max Garson.

(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 2/10)

Out to the garage on a cold winter afternoon after working from home. After a brief warm up I went in on the straight 8 sticking to roughly 10 tries. Kickflip and fakie flip were fine. Got a couple terrible heelflips, fakie heelflips popped well, but I didn’t land them. All switch/nollie tricks weren’t close, but I did commit to at least a few of each of them. Nollie flip felt the closest. Then I got halfcab flips quick, didn’t get janoski flip. No front heel/switch front heel. Got 360 flip, but no fakie tre. No halfcab heel or nollie front heel. Ended with switch varial flip almosts then a sketchy fakie varial flip. I didn’t land much, but I did commit to every trick which is a start.

(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 2/10)

Up early on a Sunday I had limited time to skate so I went to dog park. After skating with so many rippers the day before and being blown away by their pop I wanted to push myself a little. I had hoped for a solo session, but there were a couple of people there when I arrived at 8am. Oh well. I started on the tiny box doing a couple manuals and a few ledge tricks. Even a slow front disaster which I haven’t tried in forever. Then I tried some stuff on the low step ledge. I couldn’t get over the top back 50s, but I did get a couple slow back 50s using my 90 degree angle I always use.  I had done a couple flippers.  Halfcab flip felt good.  I had tried some lines like front 50 the narrow low ledge then ollie the wallie barrier.  I got over it a bunch of times, but never without a slight back wheel bonk.  Argh.  I tried it for awhile and it tired me out.  I also tried a few weak attempts at front 50 the middle top step.  Not even close.  I did have one of the best crooks I’ve done on the regular side.  Well, at least I think it was a crooks.  But seeing clips lately I seem to do more of a weird pinched willy grind.  I stopped skating sooner than I needed to because I was exhausted and lost all drive.  Not hyped on how I skated.

(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 5/10)

On an absolutely gorgeous day I went to dog park since Max was in town. I got there first. Max, Will, Jack, Mike KP would show from the young ripper contingent. Dave L, Will and Kevin would show from the older guy ripper contingent. Oh, and almost forgot Carleigh and Ashlynn would join too. What a fun crew. I had a new pair of the 306s, this time with a gum sole which isn’t as grippy. I should know better. I was pretty sore, I’m not sure why, but at no point did my body feel good throughout the day. Max and Will showed next. Immediately Max was destroying the place. His perfect switch tre was incredible. Will is super tall now, and rips even harder. Will and Dave L showed, Kevin too. Mike KP and Jack were next. It’s hard to remember everything, but those guys all heelflipped over the wallie barrier first try if I’m not mistaken? Then they went on to do a million tricks. Max was also doing amazing slappy crook variations. The switch front crook halfcab out blew me away. Max filmed me do a little line of front 180 the manhole, switch front nose a ledge, halfcab noseslide the next one. He was hyped on the switch front nose. Little does he know those are really easy when you don’t ollie. Kevin was ripping out of the gates. All his ledge tricks and nollie flips. I skated the parking block with Dave L for awhile. He did an amazing ollie over to nose manual to 360 transfer. I kind of got Dave F’s challenge of the crooks back 180 transfer. Now I have to do it while grinding. Then a ledge session ensued on the black box. I was on the small side, everyone else on the big side. Seattle Will filmed me do a line for a bit. I couldn’t no comply flip and It’s embarrasing that my crooks look like willy grinds. But the kickflip over the curb felt good. Then I filmed everyone hit the tall ledge for awhile. Some serious shredding was had. Mike’s kick front 50 and Will G’s back smith 180 were so crazy. Jack can do back 180 nosegrind 180 so good now. Kevin did the switch nosegrind 180 easy as well as the switch crook. Max was goofing around with hardlflip front nose stalls. Max, Will G and Mike left. I sat for awhile. Carleigh and Ashlynn had shown. Jack did the kick back noseblunt. I tried the crooks transfer some more while Jack did the no comply flip. Then we ended on the tiny pad trying tech tricks. Ashlynn got so close to heelflip front 50. Kevin close to switch flip front 50. I didn’t quite commit to kick back tail. Carleigh did pop shove front 50. Well, technically she may have not rode away, but she did it in my opinion. What a nice day with good friends and rippers. I was even happy with my setup. I could have gone for being a little less sore though, it prevented me from trying more ledge/flatground tricks.

(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 5/10)