After being sick for the better part of a week I went across the street to the school on a hot afternoon to reacquaint myself with my skateboard. Well, my new skateboard that is. Ha ha, had a new deck and hollow axles, but it skated basically the same. I had very little energy but it felt good to ride my skateboard. I would get a few kickflips and lined out a slappy crooks with a b/s flip. Then I sat in the heat and enjoyed being outside for a while before cruising home.

(setup null 8.1 all you need deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows hollow hanger royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

On a hot morning I went to dog park and missed Jack B and crew. I had been sick/run down most of the week. I setup a new board and wheels and things felt dreamy as I skated for close to an hour by mostly myself. It’s crazy taking a few days off without an injury being a cause. I felt so excited and energetic skating. I would get a few basic flippers. Committed to most things way quicker than normal and did a couple lines I hadn’t done there before. Ollie onto the taller pad front 180 off then halfcab noseslide the new long bench, b/s flip, halfcab flip. I also finally started committing to front 50s on the long bench and was lining it out with manuals on the lower pad and it felt so great.

Then I went to the library spot and met up with Jack B, Kevin and Nick. We basically had the park to ourselves. Jack had front board up to fakie 50, deck check nose manny. Nick had an incredible frontside flip, nosegrind, several 50s, but couldn’t quite get a front 5-0. I skated okay, not as good as dog park though. I managed some tricks that were harder for me like front 50, halfcab noseslide, crooks are hard there but I got a few, came close to kick back 50 on the low one. Kevin was shredding some of the best I’ve seen him skate. He did everything except the Gish trick switch nosegrind 180 due to cracks making him grind it longer. The fakie 5-0 halfcab out was my favorite as was the kick back tail. Fun times.

(setup 8.25 null vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows royal bushings flat top washer, bones 52mm stf 103a, adidas puig b/w size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10 none initially but it got worse quickly)

Went to the side of the school on a cool night and didn’t land much of anything. I had a new deck, it felt pretty good. Also forged plates, eh. Some slappy crooks felt good, kickflips were still harder than they should be. I only also got halfcab flip, fakie flip and backside flip. Hucked quite a few other random tricks, but nothing stuck.

(setup 8.25 null burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer, bones 52mm slims 99a stf, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 half 272/425 insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a limited time frame I went to dog park to meet Rob, Cass, Sean and Paul. We started in the park. I was adjusting to a couple changes. Vulc 212s and a smaller deck. The shoes were too big and with the smaller board felt super odd. I tried to do 5 flippers on the bank. But I only got kickflip fakie, b/s flip and kind of a big flip. I couldn’t make the board to a varial flip. Oh and Sean and I both got no comply pole jams 2nd try.

At the dog park it was a decent session. Rob was in demo mode when I got there. Back 50 no comply back shove out, halfcab back 50 back 180 out (trusting him on this one hee hee), manuals, nose manuals, halfcab board the tall bench, front board it. I filmed Cass do a front board on old piece of junk flat bar so I remember him doing that, but can’t think of other tricks right now. He was doing some filming with his super 8 which was cool. Sean was doing Sean things. Basically everything looking perfect at high speeds. The back 5-0 front 180 was my favorite. Paul had a bunch of cool slappies in all directions. Oh Cass and Paul were learning fakie back 50s then Paul learned fakie crooks like it was nothing. I skated pretty average. Did a new trick on the little ledge. Nollie front tail front shove out. Totally perfect ha. Near the end I the little Natas stall on the cone and got two shoves on it.

After lunch with my mom and some lounging I went up to Lyons to meet Dave and Billy on the Rampitheater. I had a new christmas complete. 8.3/5.8/51. It felt alright, but my shoes still felt too large. The ramp was crazy. There was a super small section then a taller section with different heights. I took forever to do a f/s halfcab rock. Then lined it out with front tail which I haven’t done in forever. Couldn’t get a kickflip on the transition. Dave beat Billy’s son Brook in a game of SKATE. It was pretty funny. Brook is young and super motivated and was trying hard and isn’t afraid to ask a lot of questions. It’s cool. It’s funny actually both his kids were into old school skating like Billy. And all decked out in full safety gear. Billy ripped it. He would throw in some tricks out of nowhere like a little invert, blunt fakie yank in, front d, 5-0s. Dave had lots of fakie/nollie/switch pops and almost got a nollie bigspin. Good times and a fun adventure seeing some elk and deer on the way home.

(setups UGH 8.25/8.3 5.8 cast/titanium 51mm, new balance numeric 212 size 12 272 insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Kinda nice night I had setup a new complete. Ugh. Yes. 8″ venture lows and 50mm wheels. Went to the curb to warm up, it didn’t feel great. Left after a few basics that weren’t good. Behind the school I got some warm up lines quickly like 180 then fakie shoves. Pop shove took a few tries, but kickflip felt good. Fakie flips felt great too, but halfcab flips took a bit. I skated for a little over 30 minutes and would get kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, fakie big flip and b/s flip. Still couldn’t get heelflip. Hucked some other tricks like switch flips which were close. Near the end I was tired and hucked a couple kickflips and landed them way easier than I thought. Made me happy to try flippers on a smaller board again.

(setup null 8″ burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows bones medium bushings, boardycakes 49.99mm round ups 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 half fp elite insole)
(pain level 3/10)

After work I went to find some flatground to skate, but there were either cars or not enough lights so I ended up at dog park. It was very crowded when I arrived. I hit a stop rock within 1 second of setting my board down. Luckily I did not fall. I had setup a new board – 8.3 and put my Mindys on it. It actually felt pretty good. I did quite a few grinds on the taller pad. It’s crazy how much better new Indys grind than titanium Ventures to the axle. I did not skate well though. I don’t even remember anything beyond some bad front 50 180s. Near the end I forced myself to do 5 flip tricks. Boy did I struggle. I skated incredibly slow and without confidence. But I would get 5 tricks. Kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, varial flip and ended with f/s halfcab flip that took way too long. I had also gotten close to treflip and halfcab heel. Barefoot shoes are not easy to heelflip in for some reason.

(setup null 8.38 mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, indy mids 148 with hollow cast baseplate, bones medium bushings, bones 52mm v1 stf 83b 3 washers inside each, splay freestyle grey size 12 lems insoles)
(pain level 4/10 forgot how much i hate winter and wind)

On a hot night I went to campus around 7.  I started at the slappy meetup curb.  Did a few slappy crooks and slappy front crooks.  I had put a new 8.25 together with 5.6 v-hollow and old 51mm bones v2s.  It felt great for slappies.  Then I went to the flagstone ledge.  I was in a funk and didn’t want to be around people so I was really annoyed when a couple people sat on a nearby ledge and watched me.  I was skating so incredibly terrible. I couldn’t even kickflip, literally took like 10 tries to get one.  I did however do okay with backside crooks and noseslides.  Hadn’t gotten to the point of trying front 50s when it started to rain.  So I skated the covered flatground area where a different couple came and sat and watched me not land anything.  I think it took 30 tries to get a halfcab flip.  Eventually the rain died down and I left considering leaving my skateboard behind for good.

(setup null 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, venom 88a bushings, 51mm bones stf 103a v2, es swift 1.5 size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10 not much pain but had zero energy or pop)

On a nice cool day with rain threatening I met Kevin at dog park.  There were several puddles around, but mostly things were skateable.  I had setup a new 8.3 deck since I didn’t like the old 8.25 I had temporarily setup the day before.  I liked it.  We armed up on a bank to curb we built out of the two wedges and it was fun.  I should have gotten a clip for understanding but it was the steeper grey wedge to parking block that was about 2″ taller than the bank.  We both did some pivots/axle stalls/front tails.  Kevin added in back tail, switch pivot and switch front tail.  We had a few boardslides on Wally World and flippers too.  We skated around for a bit before settling in on the little guy.  The smaller wedge was right behind it and it was fun to do a trick, turn around on the wedge then do another trick.  Kevin totally destroyed it.  Switch flip 50?  Yeah.  He almost did fakie front 50 f/s halfcab out too.  I had some fun mirror line attempts like nollie 50 then fakie 50, front 50 back 180 out then back 180 front 180 out.  Then I spent way too long working on the little kid trick  – front 50 kickflip out.  Never got a clean landing, but it was fun trying.   Garrett showed right at the end and we did some halfcab heel noseslide hucking before the rain came in.  We ended up at a spot later and I filmed Garrett get a solid little line.  

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer night deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 148, bones stf v1 52mm 103a, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10 probably sore because of too many ciders lately)

My ankle was still hurting, but it was Go Skate Day and I thought I could handle some slappies.  I had my new setup and was blown away by how sharp the Aces could turn.  There was a big puddle from the sprinklers right in front of the main spot which would get much worse after the sprinklers turned on once again.  UGH!  I did a few front slappies, few slappy crooks and that’s about it.  I didn’t want to pop with my ankle feeling the way it did and the sprinklers kinda ruined it anyway.

(setup 8.5 null smoke valley, jessup pj ultragrip, ace af1 55, spitfire f4 53mm classic shape 99a, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Went to campus after a nice walk with Liz then dinner.  Missed the old guy session at the curbs, but I wasn’t really feeling like skating curbs again anyway.  It was a nice cool temp.  I had setup an 8.25 with Thunder 148s and put some old Bones wheels on.  Cruising into campus it felt great, lower to the ground and the hard wheels felt great.  I ended up at a spot I haven’t really skated before.  It’s a ledge that looks perfect, but got knobbed right away.  Anyway one of the knobs is missing making for a 4 foot section.  I did some lines to warm up.  Ollie a manhole cover (my first ollie was surprisingly painful), noseslide the ledge, no comply 180.  Then the other way switch noseslide, nollie tail a short downhill section, front 180 the manhole.  Switch 180 the manhole, kickflip on flat, noseslide to fakie, fakie flip.  The kickflip took awhile.  Argh, I could feel the board was lighter, but I still struggled.  I couldn’t crook the ledge, the truck difference was messing with me.  I did have some fun slappy crooks on the uphill section. Too bad it’s knobbed because it would be fun to go all the way up.  I managed a couple incredibly slow front 50s.  For how bad I was feeling that made me a little happy.  Until I tried to line them out with halfcab flip.  That’s when things got depressing.  It took forever to get an incredibly slow one.  Not much went on after that, I tried some treflips, but didn’t land one or even commit.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder hollow 148s, bones stf v1 52mm 103a, adidas puig b/w size 12 stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10 not really that much pain, but I just had no energy or ability to jump)