Around 11 on a hot morning I met up with Sean, Jake, Dave L at dog park. I had put 8″ trucks on. They felt good, but my grip was still super slippery from the candy bar I stepped in the day before. After a brief warm up we played a game of SKATE. I did alright, but got letters on heelflip and f/s halfcab heel, switch front shove and I forget what else. I saw Jake get a good fakie back tail on the cinder block ledge. Dave had b/s flip and pop shove over a parking block. Sean was trying a long line with f/s nosegrind the street bench, back nosegrind the top tier, nollie nosegrind 180. I think he got it. I was close to the best line I’ve done there. Front 50 the weird metal/butter ledge, kickflip over the mini wallie spine, ollie the little metal ledge, crooks the top of the two tier, nollie tre. I never got the nollie tre. Argh. I tried a few treflips outside of that, but didn’t get much. Robbie was there ripping. I kinda forget what everyone else did, but it was a decent session for sure.

• 

Later on after a siesta I went across the street to try some treflips. I had some old vulc 212s since I was wanting more grip. I did a couple slappies then went to it. It didn’t go well. I got close in the first few tries, then it was all downhill after that. I also struggled with halfcab flips again. I was very close on nollie tres, but kept not getting it. I blame the tall wheels. Eventually a bailed treflip sent me over the edge and I broke my board and water bottle. Ugh. I felt so incredibly depressed after this.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones stf 54mm v3 99a, new balance numeric 288s navy, no insoles then 212s with nikesb insole)
(pain level 2/10)

Rolled down to Wilville on a hot afternoon after a day of lounging around. I started at the bottom of the two 3 stairs and told myself I had to ollie up the first one before I could move on. I dorked around on the bottom step for a bit doing little stalls. Then I started going for the ollie. I got a couple where the back wheel clipped a little, but counted it. Then I tried a line. Front 180 up the 2, halfcab flip on flat, ollie the 3s. But I never landed a halfacb flip. A halfcab flip! Ugh. And to make things worse I would try 3 flips on the way back and failed at those too until eventually landing another terrible one. This ‘tre a day’ goal seems to be making me worse at treflips. I went over to the middle section and was stoked to see a knob off the low part of the ledge. I hucked for a bit. Switch noseslide kickflip out. Got pretty close actually. I came to a halt, but whatever, I’m starting to lay into the ‘almost 50’ excuse. I also got close to a few varial heels. I also struggled to manual across it. Then I sat for like 30 minutes until I could go to Saul’s. It was Eric, Saul and me. Eric was charging out of the gates. Almost lipslide around the shallow corner. Long grinds, front slashes, ride on grind transfers. I skated okay, had some fun 50s, front slashes, rock ‘n rolls. Saul blessed us with a couple of his quick carve grind runs, close to 5-0 to tail. I got tired real quick and headed home for dinner. Oh yeah, I had a new pair of 288S. Same color and everything.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones stf 54mm v3 99a, new balance numeric 288s navy, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Deja Vu. Same spot as yesterday. Except this time the average age was much higher. Except when all the scooter kids came I suppose. The crew was both Daves, Kevin, Eric, Sean, me. Warming up felt alright to me. Kevin and Sean were quick to do 50s, 5-0s, nosegrinds, tailslides. Dave L had never been there before. It’s such a good spot for him. He had some cool quick foot manuals, nose manuals and grinds right away. Eric was almost manualling the bottom bench, doing long 50s. Fuller arrived way after the rest of us and got to warm up while we were already going hard. I was mostly just doing crooks or front 50/5-0 and trying to working up the courage to nosegrind 180 the end. Dave L filmed Kevin for awhile try a really tech line and he didn’t get it. I had done a bunch of front 5-0s and they were finally feeling good when they stopped working and I did the ol’ Joe Hamilton instead. Which felt rad. I almost got the nosegrind 180 after one of them. Sean came somewhat close to back 5-0 the entire ledge. It was beyond incredible. Eric got some heelflips onto the rock. Him and Sean left. I had fun with crooks and front 50 through the little kink, a lame fakie nosegrind. Dave L got back 50 through the kink. He had some good lines to back tail too. Kevin and him wanted to leave, but Fuller and I were stuck in out battles. I had to do a treflip. He wanted the front 50 body varial. I got a really bad treflip. Dave slammed hard and then got a really good 50 body varial.

Then we went to the nearby wallride spot. Dave L had a cool nose manual 180 around the pole. I had some kickflips up the curb and bad wallie nollies. Fuller had some amazing wallride nollies and wallrides. Kevin got the wallride. Then they both got lines on film. Kevin’s was halfcab up, wallride to fakie, switch front shove off the curb. Dave got front 180 up, fakie thruster, nollie back 180 off. Good work boys.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones stf 54mm v3 99a, new balance numeric 288s navy, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)