Had some time away from the family in the morning so I took advantage on a nice and warm morning. I had the park mostly to myself except for a few minutes between a couple of beginner skaters and scooter kids. I started really slow feeling coffee jitters and disdain for the park. I had wanted to do a bunch of flippers on the bank, but b/s flip took too long. I would get a line to kickflip fakie of front tail off the tiny qp to weird ledge, rock ‘n roll the qp, kickflip fakie on the bank. Then I wussed out on rock fakies for a while and rather than getting mad I just started skating how I want to skate. I did flip tricks around the park and lined out the wood ledges which are better than most of the concrete mounds in the park. I started with b/s flip then halfcab flip, go around and front 50 the ledge. Also tried crooks the other way then drop in and try treflip to fakie. Which then turned into the most ridiculously long line which I did actually come close to. Two flippers, front 50, kickflip flyout front rock, axle stall the qp, treflip fakie the bank. Never got it, but I was close. A couple of the two flippers I got were halfcab heel then heelflip, halfcab flip then treflip, b/s flip then fakie bigflip, I was having so much fun with it. I was 3/4 on heelflips which hasn’t happened in what feels like forever. I got the treflip 2nd try, but was so close on all of them. I was so close to going 3/3 on flat. I didn’t get much on the ledge, aluminum coping isn’t the best, but it was more fun than the weird transition and huge coping. I kept thinking my brother and his kids would show up so I skated hard thinking my session could be over any moment. They never did and I ended up just leaving on my own. Flip tricks make me happy.

(8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows bones medium bushings, spitfire 51mm 101a classic shape with 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 288S b/w size 11.5 440 insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Out pretty early on a very nice Saturday I met Cass, Kevin, Venture Dave and Jake at Golden park. There was still quite a bit of snow and we shoveled and squeegeed the little ledge section. Which is kind of funny because we never actually skated it, we just hit the main park as it was mostly dry and it was super fun. I had switched back to lows and would love it when I hucked a b/s flip early on and mostly landed it. We were up top doing some ride on grinds, qp and flatground up to start with. Kevin was rattling off trick after trick. Then we settled in on the east side of the park having some fun lines with the ledges and banks. Dave was manualling the west side deck, shoves and impossibles on the bank. Jake and Kevin did rock fakies on one of the steep qps. Jake almost got a back blunt on another steep qp. Cass had some good noseslides, crooks. Kevin was landing everything. 50s up the ledge, crooks down, nollie varial flips, nollie treflips. Cass never quite got the front board shove. Jake said our physical challenge should be boardsliding down the ledge. I baby stepped to it and would get it. His knee started hurting so he forfeited the win to me. I was hyped to get first try kickflip, fakie flip, varial flip and fakie varial flip on the bank. I was working on fakie tre when the wind kicked in fierce. We skated a while longer, but it was tough so we took off.

Jake and Dave were done. Kevin, Cass and I went to triple nipple. The park itself had no snow in it, but snow runoff made the ledge unskateable. Doh. It took me a bit to find a fun way to skate it considering half the park was wet. But it ended up being a pretty good time. The little transfers over the spine are so fun. I had some front 50s, first front feeble in a long time and took a bit to get the disaster to sugarcane. Kevin had lines for days and worked for the switch flip. Cass on the other hand gets off the bench, does the front shove second try then goes back to chilling. My kickflip felt about as bad as it looked, but it was still fun. Pretty awesome day really.

(8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows bones medium bushings, spitfire 51mm 101a classic shape with 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 288S b/w size 11.5 440 insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Having taken several days off for the achilles I reached my limit. I went over to the low curb with the intention of getting Dave’s challenge – switch back pivot shove. After some warm up attempts I set the phone down and much to my surprise would get it a few tries later. As you can tell I was pretty excited. I went on to do both nosepick shoves, but the backside one was too ugly to post (which says a lot for me). Then I wanted to do a Jack inspired back nosepick shove to pivot. It seemed possible, but the board kept flipping. I started just trying axle and would then settle for the feeblish stall. It was still really fun and now Dave has some wiggle room. Had a really fun time, did two new tricks and managed to not push at all or hurt my achilles more.

(setup null esher 8.3, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium axle thunder bushings, 49.99mm boardycakes roundups washers outside, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)
(pain level 5/10 achilles)

On a very nice morning I arrived to a very icy and wet dog park. It was too frozen to spread out, but we did some then hit Valmont park for a while. There were a lot of people there which makes writing this mostly impossible. Rob is back so it was great having him in the mix and getting reacquainted on the board. Eric, Cass, Brian, Dave, Ted, Kyle, Kevin, so many more in the mix. At Valmont I got a first try kickflip to fakie on the bank and a couple new things on the hip ledge. I did noseslide then kickflip fakie which I’ve done before but then I also did b/s flip after which was harder for some reason. Also managed to get a crook! Been wanting to do that for a long time. Jake played noseslide with me. Ed had some popped ollies.

Then we went over to dog park and gave it a good squeegee and had some dry stuff to skate. Jake and I played our traditional game of SKATE. I got lucky this time around as it was SKAT-SKAT and I won the treflip battle. And maybe even in less than 10 tries and I think it was at least 300 degrees. Ha. Cass had joined us for some flippers. Kevin showed an did some ledges basics that make me jealous first try. I would have some fun on the little ledge with front 50 180 and Joe H first tries, crooks the benches, a very bad slam trying to switch front nose off the pad that took me out for a while. Collin had sick slappy feebles on the green curb. Jake nollie back tail the narrow bench then bluntslide the flat bar. Brian bluntslides the parking block and trying to back 50 like Rob. Kevin doing his signature trick (switch nosegrind 180) was a thing of beauty. Eric heelflip a parking block all smooth like in a line. Dave was crushing it as I sat with Kevin and Cass chilling and drinking my breakfast smoothie. Front 5-0 180, back 5-0 180, switch 180 50.

Then we went to Saul’s. I thought I would be too sore to skate, but somehow got a second wind. Maybe it was because I felt inspired by how hard Kevin was shredding. Seriously shredding. Just look at the line above! That was his end game. My end game was a line of carve grind, axle stall, kickturn then kickflip. I was hyped to get the kickflip though even if it was only 1/4 up the transition. Dave had some good grinds while adjusting to how weird Thunders turn. Ted had never been there before and was doing switch carves and back ds within a few runs. Saul treated us to his patented firing lines. Fun day, great homies, beautiful weather. Sorry for beating you at SKATE on your bday Jake ( I mean not really since I landed a treflip in like 10 tries).

(setup 8.25 null vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer no big washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 with thin 440 insole)
(pain level 4/10 some achilles mostly just general soreness)

On a warmish morning I left the house for the first time in a week and felt up to try some mellow flatground. I started with a little warm up line of kickflip, weird nollie disaster revert a parking block then switch 180 a puddle. It was fun. I had reassembled my 8″ setup, but with high trucks this time. It felt great. At one point I was 4/5 on halfcab flips. Made me wonder why the heck I make my fav part of skateboarding so hard with larger boards sometimes. I’m sure I’ll soon be obsessing over a larger setup, but man I enjoyed 8″ today. I would go on to get several flippers. Fakie flip, f/s halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip, varial flip, fakie bigflip and f/s heel. The front heel made me so happy. It was like 3rd try. After a while I tried a line of halfcab flip, heelflip, treflip and did it. I was so hyped. The treflip was a typical Glen 270 flip, but the first two tricks felt good. The heelflips especially. Felt like the first one I actually popped in a long time. I skated more after that, but couldn’t get the other tricks i wanted like halfcab heels, switch flip or nollie tre.

(setup null burnout stumpy 8″, pj jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 high cast plate hollow hanger venom 91a bushings both washers, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5)
(pain level 1/10 I guess not skating a bunch does reduce soreness. who would have thought)

Up early to skate with the good life homies it was all foggy and wet. Argh.  We drove by a new park in hopes it would randomly be dry, but it wasn’t.  Then a parking garage where we got the boot immediately.  After some breakfast a small patch of flatground had dried up.  3 dudes skating a small 10×20’ section with puddles.  We all started slow but would get into our bags. Joe kickflip, fakie flip, cab, halfcab flip, bs flip, fakie varial flip, fakie bigflip.  I got some tricks that I haven’t done in months and had a blast. Kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, halfcab flips both ways, fakie bigflip, bs flip, halfcab heels both ways, treflip, and so close to nollie tre.  Matt did a million tricks.  All the basic flippers, nollie varial flip, nollie big heel, nollie varial heel, switch varial heel, halfcab late flip.  

We skated the park briefly as some of it was dry.  I slammed on a puddle kicking a qp really hard.  Got a front 5-0 the little ledge. Joe killed the front 50 shoves and front smith.  Matt rattled off so many tricks. 5/0s, nosegrinds, bluntslide, crooks, so much.  Heck of a fun day.  

(setup 8.25 null vhs , jessup pj ultragrip, royal 144, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)
(pain level 2/10)

Up early on my last day in Berlin I had made plans to skate this spot across from the hotel if the rain held out. It did. Initially it was way harder than I imagined. We rolled down the stairs a few times to get warmed up. Ben was getting on 50s right away. I would take forever to get some super slow ones and accidental 5-0s. We would get some lines too. I had boardslide then turn around and crooks. Switch front nose then switch 180 a 2 stair. Ben commits to everything. Makes me jealous. Almost learned crooks first try. I took a while to do front 50 then front shove down the 2 stair. After some more skating and selfie filming I asked Ben if he could film the front shove. I did it with nollie tail instead but it was first try filming which is ultra rare to me. Then I messed around with various lines to try and motivate to ollie over the curb drop at then. I had done a few opening tricks like nollie back tail or front 50. Then I settled on the nose jib 270, kickflip, ollie. To my delight I landed the kickflip first try (didn’t care about the toe drag) then got a sketchy ollie where I dragged my tail across the curb. I didn’t care. It was cold, my arthritis was raging and I needed to get back to hang with the family. It was an incredibly fun session. Ben took some good slams getting that line of boardslide then back 180. Skateboarding rules. It’s fun skating new spots and meeting new people.

(setup 8.38 null mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hangers, bones medium bushings, 53mm spitfire f4 classic shape 99a, splay freestyle grey size 12 with custom nb# abzorb and naboso activation insoles)
(Pain level 4/10 arthritis)

After some work that put me in a foul mood I went to Longmont to meet Rob and Dave at Rocky Mountain. It’s the first time I’ve been there since they paved it an it’s oh so good. It was sunny and beautiful and a perfect temperature. Dave and I arrived at the same time. Rob was there already along with another dude. It was Rob’s first time on the board after a trip to Ireland. He looked great. Things seemed to start pretty good. I had some nervous work energy to burn and it felt great to push on some fresh asphalt. Flip tricks started working and would keep working. I had more energy than normal and wearing cupsoles gave me a bit more confidence. Rob had manuals, back 50s, back 180 fakie 50, boardslides to fakie, boardslide 270 I think, them famous back 180s, much more. He looked great for not being on the board for a couple months. I skated the best I have since hurting my achilles. Well, actually even before considering how long it was hurting. I had a lot of flippers, sometimes even doing them several times in a row like heelflip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, some bad b/s flips, f/s halfcab flips, one terrible treflip. I hucked a lot more. Got on front pivot on the ledge, an accidental back 5-0 that was supposed to be 50, crooks, noseslides, halfcab noseslide. Got a sketchy kick back 50 on the curb, switch front 50, slappies. At one point got a sketchy f/s halfcab noseslide on the ledge. Dave is the energizer bunny. He took awhile to get going, but really put some stuff down once he did. Lots of switch front noses on the ledge and curb, nollie 50, nollie 5-0, switch back 50, front 180 nose manual 180 the median on the bank. I was beat so sat and filmed him almost get a nollie front 180 switch 50, but he gave up and settled for the long noseslide through the grate and the back 180 fakie 50 shove. He got a cleaner one too. At that point I got up and skated too, mostly just slappies. We did the run up to switch ride down the median, Dave got the halfcab out. Then we was beat. Such a fun day. I needed it so bad after a tough week of work.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer night skate, jessup ultra grip, venture 5.8 titaniums, venom 91a bushings no big washer, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 288S maroon size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 1/10)

Woke up early after a good night of sleep and went right to getting ready to skate. I got there just as the sun was starting to peak out. I had the parks all to myself basically except for a mountain biker, tweaker and a fully padded skater just riding on the sidewalk. I did a few pumps, grinded the rainbow, carved the barrier. Then hit the bank for a bit. First try kickflip to fakie, kickflip took a few tries, couldn’t get a bigflip or treflip in 5 tries. Then I tried the noseslide followed by kickflip fakie. At first it seemed so impossible and I couldn’t get my feet setup for kickflip. After about 10 tries it started to feel possible though and I got it. Made me happy. I went over to the dog park after that. Everything felt harder there. I skated around for a bit then didn’t really feel like pushing and risking my achilles so I just did single tricks I could throw down instead of pushing. The manual took at least 10 tries, the nose manual about 5. Did halfcab flip and b/s flip. Then mostly skated the little ledge. Front 50 came easy, front 5-0 was hard, front 50 shove was hard, back 50 was hard. The fakie 50 felt cool. I tried kickflip 50 took like 10 minutes straight and as you can see I didn’t really lock in. It still felt cool. I was skating hard, trying hard, that’s all I can ask.

(setup null 8.25 glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows with 3 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings both washers, 1/16 riser, spitfire f4 99a 53mm classic shape, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 with custom split insoles)
(pain level 1/10! didn’t push much though to risk the achilles pain)

I arrived at 20th St at 8am and Joe arrived shortly after.  Warming up didn’t really go well so we played a game of SKATE.  Other than Joe winning it was a fun warm up. Ha.  I was unhappy to get a letter on a halfcab flip, but other than that it went alright for me. Then we mostly skated the main ledge.  Joe was popping into grinds before me but when I got his back on a front 50 shove I knew it was a good day.  Joe went on to get a bunch of his tricks. I got some accidental 5-0s, something that resembled a back 50 and other basics.  I kind of ollied a cone. Joe 50d all the rails.  I had a fun line of switch front nose, fakie flip, fakie smith fakie the qp.   I tried treflips for awhile and got a bad one, then followed it up with crooks to fakie on the ledge.  That was a highlight for me.  Joe and I ended the session by doing (almost) back to back front 50 shoves.  Heck of a session!

(setup 8.5 null smoke valley, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, venom 88a big 91a small bushings, 53 mm orange/yellow swirl spitfire 99a f4 classic shape, es swift 1.5 b/w size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10!!!)