Went to Broomfield after dinner. It was nice enough out. Especially for mid January. Started on my 8.25/14″ with Thunders. It never felt good. Switched to my 8.25/14.25″ with Indys. It felt better. I did not do anything great, struggled with pop. Although I did have a line at one point that I liked. Axle stall to rock the bank to curb, crooks the black ledge, nollie tail 270 shove the blurb, fakie back smith fakie the quartapotty. I tried a bunch of treflip noseslides on the bump to ledge that were closer than normal, but I’ve never been remotely close so it doesn’t mean much. Will had a banger line of back tail shove then nosegrind 180 the black ledge. Nice switch flip at the end too. Jameson did a backside flip fakie 50 on the blurb really good. Justin ripped like he always does.

(setup 5/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, indy titanium 144, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, splay rev s-series black size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Pretty sore after skating Frederick so long the day before after being sick for a week. Went up and met Noe, Bo and Hayden at Northside. Bo and Hayden went into a game of SKATE. I cruised around and quickly realized I was probably too sore to really skate. When Noè showed I said “first try treflip” and he went on to land 10 in a row. At least the first couple were sketchy. He did a million flippers including a first try cab flip that was so amazing. I don’t remember myself doing anything worth noting. I tried some basics, they were whatever. There is so many curbs and other little things spread around that it’s hard to flow in that park. Hayden had some good tricks on the little barrier up top. Bo had some fast long grinds on the main wall.

Then we went to the bank to curb area. Noè and I started on the bump area. I did the one trick I was happy with today – a wallie nollie out of the bump and it felt really cool. Noè would go on to do a line of nose manual then nollie tre. I was sucking it up on the bank to curb, not landing a single trick. Grabbed my 8.25/14 venture setup and did front tail first try then almost kickflip axle stall. Filmed Hayden get an amazing line with a slappy, no comply to tail and a Fuller pviot. It was a fun day even if my skating was garbage.

setups mostly 8.3 with thunder which I hated, 8.25/14 with venture
(pain level 6/10)

Met Dave around 1 at Frederick on a sunny Saturday. There was no snow there so the park was totally dry. Warming up felt alright, just cruising around popping little ollies and stuff. I avoided the bank to curb area for a while because a couple guys were trying the bump to bar and slamming so hard. Seriously not sure how one dude avoided broken ribs and the other came so close to hitting his head. Dave was doing some amazing slappy crooks totally posted up through the corner. Some were going to back lip and he’d land those too. He had some really good lines with tricks like front pivot on the bank to curb, fakie shove the steeper bank, switch front 3 the hump. He also did an amazing bluntslide shove and at the end switch front 3 the actual hip. I had been trying a line that morphed around a bit. Initially started with fakie flips on the mellow bank, but I started not landing them and it was just frustrating. Then I went slappy on the bank to curb, noseslide the bump to ledge, crappy kickflip on the steeper bank. In between tries hucked some fakie bigflips over the pyramid and got a sloppy one. Still hyped me up though. Was able to ollie onto the pad pretty easily, but kickflip off didn’t feel good at all and I didn’t even commit. Near the end I tried crooks on the curved ledge over the lower pad. They were way harder than I thought they would be. I managed a few short ones, but never got a good posted up one. Hopefully I can work up to it eventually. Fun session, a lot more happened and we tried and did some new stuff so that is all we can ask for.

(setup 4/10 null hayden 8.3, jessup ultra, thunder hollow lite 149 with t-ii bushings, 51mm spitfire radial 99a green, splay rev s-series black size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a week of being sick I went out in the garage on a snowy Friday after work to dust off the cobwebs. Some warm ups were meh, kickflips weren’t easy and didn’t feel good. Then just went in on a 4 trick rotation and tried each trick 20 times.

Nollie flip – was not close
Treflip – landed on, was close on most of them
Halfcab heel – close, but no cigar
Switch varial flip – not even remotely close

(setup 4/10 null hayden 8.3, jessup ultra, thunder hollow lite 149 with t-ii bushings, 51mm spitfire radial 99a green, splay rev s-series black size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a lovely Saturday morning I went to dog park to meet Jake. You read that correctly, Jake! He was there already as were Alexi and Ian. Paul, Will and eventually Gordon would join too. Warming up went okay for me, everyone seemed to be having fun. Jake beat me to back 50 on the lurb. He also had some tailslides and front 50s. I had some decent tricks for me. Kickflip up the lurb first try, slow front 50s on the bench, back 50 front 180 out on the curb,, a decent crooks above the manny pad getting further than I have before (but still only about half way), first try halfcab noseslide, some crooks. It’s funny watching Paul struggle with halfcab noseslide considering how hard he rips tricks like back 5-0 front 180 out. He had some good slappy front crook and sw slappy front crook. Will arrived and did his easy 5-0s and nosegrinds. Jake needed some kodak courage on the pivot fakie. Gordon showed, but we pretty much left for Willville around then.

Willville was fun. I was happy to get manual into the bank first try. Will was hyped on the spot being named after him and did a gnarly kickflip into the bank. Gordon had some fast ollies up and shoves to fakie. Jake nollie back tail, fakie front noseslides and hustled Gordon on front tail. I had settled into hucking kick back tails. For the most part I was not as close. With the exception of the suski/pivot. Man I wish that would have gone into tail. Oh well, really fun day, great to see Jake out skating again and uppers 60s in January!

(setup 8/10 null hayden 8.3, jessup ultra, thunder hollow lite 149 with t-ii bushings, 51mm spitfire radial 99a green, splay rev s-series black size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Had to run boards to Broomfield area so went to the skatepark after. Was there first. Gordon, Will, Taylor would show later. Along with a ripper named Alex. I started okay with the warm ups. Managed a line of front 50 then back 50 on the lurb before Gordon started skating. But then it seemed I kind of just fizzled out. I did have a line of switch noseslide the black ledge, fakie flip on the bank, crooks the black ledge. Also front board, kickflip to fakie, halfcab noseslide. But man I got to the front 50 on black ledge and could not do it to save my life and it was soooooo depressing. I never recovered from it. Gordon hadn’t skated in a while, he was ripping manuals, nose manuals, switch manuals, shove manuals, 50s, 5-0s, shoves to fakie. Will threw down his tricks quick. The front nosegrind 180 is a new one in his bag that he apparently just as piece of cake now.

We went to try and find a new spot, but couldn’t find it. Got the boot from another. Ended up at the 5 stair spot, but I was toast. Gordon and Will did some manuals. We messes around.

Not the best start to a new year, not the worst.

(setup 2/10 8.25/14 sample, jessup ultra null, venture 5.6 v-hollow with ace bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, splay rev s-series black size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Went to Willville in the afternoon on NYE. Did some warm ups. Somehow did a couple sketchy manuals into the bank right away. Then a warm up line of kickflip, nose manual (deck check), curve around then front 50. Then I went in on kickflip manuals. I was close, but not that close. Was also kind of close to nollie flips on flat, didn’t get treflips either. I started trying lines of front 50 then backside flip, but the ledge stopped grinding. So I hucked kick back tails for 30 minutes. Man it felt like I could have gotten it. Would like to get that one in 2026.

So there’s 2025. I managed my main goal of not having a significant injury. But I didn’t really skate so well overall and I still have insane setup madness that makes progressing hard.

(setup 5/10 8.25/14 sample, jessup ultra null, venture 5.6 v-hollow with ace bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, splay rev s-series black size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)