Directly after a stressful day of work I bolted to meet up with Rob, Neil, Dave and we drove to Lakewood.  It was hot.  The ramp had been done since last time we were there. It was crazy how fast the coping was and how smooth the ramp was.  It took some getting used to.  Jake was there as was John the owner who only skated switch on his daughters 7.5″ board.  Ha ha.  He had some good switch carves, axle stall, switch back smith.  Dave had been there recently and it showed.  Grinds over the hips, around the bowl corner like it was nothing.  He would get up to back tail over the hip, switch crook the mellow corner, back d, backside ollies over the hip.  It’s really hard to describe how hard he ripped.  Jake was quick on the grind over the hip too, he would get a few.  He had some nice grinds around the bowl corner too, lots of front 5-0s and the only one to successfully get the ollie transfer.  I battled the transfer with him and landed something, but I never got enough transition.  It was fun hucking though.  I also had some fun back 50s, a few other rampy tricks and a couple back disasters on the tiny qp (couldn’t get the treflip after though doh).  Rob’s carves through the corner are incredible, fast slash grinds, back 50s.  Neil got some rampnesia again, even on the little 3′ wall.  But man he flowed around that bowl slashing grinds and ollies when he got in there.  

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate with riptides v-hollow hanger, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a big bushing 91a small bushing, spitfire f4 99a 50mm classic shape, es switch b/w size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

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)

With rain drops still sputtering I went to campus hoping it would stay dry.  It did. Barely. I started at the little yellow lurb to warm up.  What a fun little spot.  Pretty quickly I settled in on trying nollie bsts shove and front nosegrind 180.  I would get neither, but was at least close to the nosegrind 180.  I started to get really frustrated trying them so decided I’d roll out instead.  Ended up at the stadium bank.  Did a few shoves to warm up.  Then 5 kickflips to fakie to help break in the new 212s.  A few b/s flips.  Then tried big flip for too long.  Fakie flip took a bit.  Halfcab flips came easy.  Then I tried a GleNBD for awhile.  Fakie bigflip.  Never done it on a bank before.  Didn’t get it although was kinda close.  It would be easier on a steeper bank with a better runway.  Next I went to the fitness center area determined to do a 360 flip then ollie one of the little rocks.  And by 360 flip I mean 270 flip.  Ha.  I got a few cruddy ones, but then a CU truck pulled up and prevented the ollie.  Oh well.  I did one slappy on a highly waxed curb by the hill after this then went home tired and sore.  I had kinda rolled my ankle on one of the 360 flips.  At the time I knew it hurt, but didn’t think it would be much. As I write this it’s worse than I thought, but should only be a couple days.

(setup 8.38 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium hanger no big washer, bones 52mm stf v1, new balance numeric b/w/blue 212 size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Had a few hours of free time on Mother’s Day and needed to bring boards to Emage. Was gonna meet Will, but it didn’t work. And it was probably for the best as it started to rain the second I pulled into a parking spot near my favorite granite ledge. DOH! I debated skating at all, but I would get a few crooks in before the ground was totally saturated. The weren’t great crooks.

After Emage I stopped by Safeway ledge as it was dry. I had purchased some Adidas Puig shoes. I didn’t want to deal with the uncomfortable 440s so I went right to skate the Puig’s. And they felt pretty amazing to be honest. I didn’t land much for flatground and didn’t want to do too many kickflips because I hadn’t had a chance to pre-goo the toe. Well I didn’t really land all that much on the ledge either, but it felt good to skate a ledge where I can actually do back 50s. I should have cleaned up the back 50 shove, but I chose to try other stuff instead. I kind of did a couple front tail jibs, kind of a front smith, close to back 5-0, didn’t even try flip in anything argh. Still it was fun.

(setup 8.3 null smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, spitfire 51mm 99a radial slag green, adidas puig b/w size 12 no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After another snowstorm dropped 9″ of snow the sun came out. It wasn’t very warm though so not as much had melted as I hoped. Liz had the car so I just walked over to the school after work. The area by the curbs was mostly dry, but the curbs had snow on them. I had some new shoes. Some Lakai Carrol XLKs. They seem potentially good, but were very weird on day one. Even though the sole isn’t physically thick, they felt really thick skating. I struggled to jump and flick in them. I started off really basic, struggled with the beginning of flip tricks. I did have a couple decent lines though. Halfcab flip (which took way too long), b/s flip, fakie flip in one line. Actually, that’s probably the only decent line ha ha. I would eventually get a rocketed heelflip followed by a terrible treflip, but everything was a struggle. Fakie flip then f/s halfcab flip. I would get a few more tricks, but couldn’t get nollie varial flip or tre, no front heel. I ended forcing myself to do fakie bigflip and f/s halfcab heel. I shouldn’t get too upset as I was on super rough uneven asphalt in the cold, but I was. Not a good first session in the Lakais.

(setup 8.5 null jack pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger no big washer, 53mm spitfire f4 99a conical full red/blue swirl, lakai carrol xlk grey size 12 no insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Feeling a little less sore I went and met Sean and JJ at the dog park after a mellow morning with the family. It was almost 80 degrees! Suns out guns out! Ha ha. I was skating my 8.5 setup. Again I didn’t like how it felt, but it didn’t feel too small or too big at any point. Sean was working on fakie 5-0s the tall bench as well as nollie back 5-0 front 180 out which he would get a couple of. And he grinded them far. JJ is a shredder. He did front board around the kinked flatbar, nollie front lips, back lips, front boards, lots of tricks. I didn’t get too far into my list or skate very hard, but it was a nice chill session. I still managed to get a switch crook jib, switch noseslide 270 shove, front 50s, a couple flippers. Hucked quite a few kickflip crooks which still feel realistic, but I never committed. Oh yeah and I had some new pink 212s.

(setup 8.5 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger with stock bushings no big washer, spitfire 52mm f4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric 212 salmon size 12, footprint elite mid insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a nice breezy day before the big storm was to hit I went to the BV park. To my surprise it wasn’t full of strider bike kids. Instead there was a couple actual skaters. One was a very talkative dude that needed to tell me over and over he was getting old and his ankle hurt. He looked around 25. Yeah. STFU with your ‘getting old’ bullshit. I was wearing some new shoes I have had on ice for awhile. NB# 212s. Aka the best skate shoe there is and they delivered once once with no toe pinching pain. I had b/s flip and kickflip to fakie on the bank right away. “Old guy” had some nice nollie 180s out of the bank. I came close to a first try treflip to fakie on the bank. I didn’t skate the transition well at all, had a few okay flippers on flat, couldn’t front 50 the angled ledge, front 50’d the wood ledge into the bank. Then I had the park to myself and did a couple things with the phone pointed at me for the sake of the journal. The front rock was scarier than it used to be, I also did some axle stalls on it. The front 90 flip took longer than it should. The wallie manual was really fun. Then I ran out of desire to skate that park and called it a day. That park really is terrible.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 50mm classic shape 99a, new balance numeric 212 white/navy size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Pretty much right after work I met up with Dave at the new meetup spot on campus. There was gravel everywhere from the recent snow so we moved on right away after Dave shoed me up with a nollie back tail on the curb. Ha. Actually he had been doing it for awhile waiting for me and it was the first thing I tried. We moved on to the little yellow “ledge”. It must be a “ledge” if it has angle iron right? I had new shoes, some Es Accel Slim Plus shoes. I was trying anything to reduce knee pain. They were a big odd, but felt good and my knee pain was less severe so maybe they did the trick. Anyway, we did some tricks. We mostly started with nose jib 270s and stuff. I managed a nollie back tail first try, take that Dave! Ha. We would go on to get a lot. I had crooks, crooks fakie, front 50, nollie front tail 270 shove (maybe a gleNBD?), kind of a nosegrind 180 with the back wheels dragging around, front 5-0 to front board (not much grind if any), remotely close to kick back 50 and front 5-0 kickflip. I couldn’t do a back 50 to save my life though. Dave had nollie back tail, front 50 back 180, switch crooks fakie, switch front crooks fakie, crooks, crooks fakie, back 50, back 50 back 180 (one with a super bad slam to elbow that I can’t believe he kept skating), and super close to halfcab crook to fakie. Way too close. Dave was getting frustrated. We moved on. To the new business building area. The lights were alright, not great, but it was fun. We started with some kickturns on the bank and checked out the spot. We put the table after the bench. It was so much harder and scarier than we thought it would be. I did a million rocks before I finally ollied onto it. Dave had beat me with his amazing cab kickturns then ollie on. I played around with some side rocks and axle stalls with lines too. Almost ollied onto a lower ledge then off a tall drop over a rail, but chickened out. Dave’s front tail was unreal. We played around at the bottom of the new area too. Dave did a cool ride on to ollie on to drop down. I tried to ollie the six stair gap thing (height of 6, distance of 3), but chickened out and just caused pain for myself. That spot is like a skatepark. Fun times with Dave, we skated for a really long time.

(setup 8.5 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 red cast baseplate titanium hanger, venom 88a big bushing 91a small bushing flat washer top, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape with all washers outside the wheels, es accel slim plus gray size 12, xero thin insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Was not gonna skate, but still floating around the idea of going for 365 in 2021 so I went to the curb on a nice afternoon. And it was super fun. Just did a few slappies, kickflips. I’m liking the Thunders. I had a new pair of the 212s. This time in an ugly bright mustard color.

(setup 8.25 303 deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 HL, venom 88a big bushing, 91a small bushing, spitfire 52mm 99a f4 classic shape, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 212 mustard size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a cold and snowy night I went into the garage.  The goal was to rotate between 6 different types of tricks.  Kickflips, heelflips, nollie, switch, 360 flip, random trick.  It made for a lot of failing, but at the same time made for some good motivation.  I had a new pair of 212s and they felt a little slippery and stiff.  Good shoes take a minute to break in.  Also my trucks were making so much noise they were driving me nuts.  Maybe it’s time to order better pivot cups.  Basically I was not close to anything other than kickflip tricks and a couple terrible heelflips.  I was not close to treflip at all which was oh so frustrating.  I had gotten halfcab flip kinda quick which was maybe the only joy I had on the 8.5.  At some point I grabbed my 8.25 sitting there and said “8.5 never again”.  I didn’t land a treflip on it, but I actually committed finally.  I got a f/s flip that felt alright.  Some nollie and switch flips were close.  Was not close to casper flips.  I went in after about an hour and a half of flailing around feeling quite depressed.  I guess the one positive is I think I finally found some insoles I really like.

(setup 8.5 then 8.25 both with ventures and 52mm wheels, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 2/10!)