Went into the garage feeling sluggish after a WFH snow day (yes, more snow). I wanted to try some basics on the 8.25 and see how it felt in comparison to 8″.
kickflip – felt good
fakie flip – felt alright
backside flip – didn’t flip as easy, but got a few
frontside flip – scared to commit, didn’t get one
halfcab flip – got one first try, but it didn’t get around as easily as the 8
f/s halfcab flip – got one that felt fine
heelflip – could not get one in 20+ tries. I was pretty much over the 8.25 at that point
fakie heel – committed, but could not get it
halfcab heel – couldn’t commit, but I’ve been struggling with that one anyway
f/s halfcab heel – committed, but it never came around
treflip – was pretty over it by that point, never committed. Didn’t feel better than 8″. I guess I just can’t treflip lately.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.6 cast baseplate/v-hollow hanger, 52mm bones v5 99a stf, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 288 sport b/w size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 5/10 – right knee still killing me)

Feeling a little more motivated I went to the garage on another snowy night. I came with the following list and here’s my comments.
Fakie flip – 2nd try felt good
Nollie flip – not close
Switch flip – committed a lot, but not close
Heelflip – got a bad one in a few tries
Switch heel – not really close
Fakie biggerflip – the garage is pretty small to be trying this one, didn’t commit.
Nollie bigflip – not very close
Treflip – I committed in a couple tries, but when I got to 10 tries and hadn’t got me feet on it I lost it. Focused my very old and cracked board. Threw it against the ground for about 10 minutes. Then grabbed my 8.25 setup, composed myself, tried a few more. Threw the board at the mattress for about 10 minutes. Tried some more. Still never got on it. Sat on the cold garage ground wondering if it was time to quit skateboarding. never tried the next tricks.
Fakie tre
Cab flip
Varial heel

(setup 8 null dream machine deck deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow hanger and cast baseplate, old 53mm bones pj v1 wheels, bones medium bushings, mob grip, new balance numeric 288 sport b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 5/10 right knee has been hurting)

Went out into the garage on a cold night with very little motivation and a lot of anger towards winter. Was in the warm up process and had started on a 10 trick list I made when I got a 10 trick list from Fuller. I had tried 10 nollie tres. I committed, but didn’t land on any. That trick still eludes me in the garage. Here’s the list Dave made and the results (note I only tried 10 on most because I didn’t have the drive to try more):
kickflip shifty – 10th try fun one pivoted on the back wheels
bs nollie bigspin – got a couple terrible ones
switch pop shove revert – had a really fun feeling one
switch front bigspin – never committed, but felt close and wish i had more speed for it.
nollie back heel – not close
cab flip – not close. so hard to try in such little space
halfcab heel – not close which was upsetting
handstand – ha. I did something resembling a handstand
pogo – I think I did this one.
treflip – 0/12. I’m on a serious treflip drought and it’s depressing.

(setup 8 null dream machine deck deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow hanger and cast baseplate, old 53mm bones pj v1 wheels, bones medium bushings, mob grip, new balance numeric 288 sport b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 5/10 right knee has been hurting)

Feeling sore and not very motivated I went out on a snowy Sunday to the Valmont garage with the good parking block. I ended up skating somewhat hard and for a couple hours. Had some fun warm up lines with basics. That curb slappies well. I would line out stalls on a curb, flipper, slappy, trick on the tiny curb, etc. I was happy to get a rare slappy feeble, front 50 on the parking block (I’m normally too scared to 50 anything that narrow), fakie varial flip, halfcab flips were easy. I failed at ollieing a cone, kickflipped one on it’s side, almost got kick back tail. I ended by doing a GleNBD on the tiny curb – front 180 fakie 5-0 stall shove out. I followed that with a crack-the-board front lip on the parking block that I struggled with way more than necessary.

(setup 8 null dream machine deck deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow hanger and cast baseplate, old 53mm bones pj v1 wheels, bones medium bushings, mob grip, new balance numeric 288 sport b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a nice and sunny day Dave L picked me up and we drove through the melting snow to yellow curbs. At least yellow curbs is somewhat open so you can see the sun and it’s not as dungeony as other parking garages. There were a lot of puddles unfortunately from cars that had parked during the Friday snow. It was a tough warm up for me, but after a few slappy crooks it got fun quickly. Dave was quick on the manual tip since he’s so good at them. He was also locking in front tails and back 5-0s. I tried some lines with flip tricks and they went alright. I’m really liking the 8″ setup. It felt weird for tailslides, but that’s it. I got a line of slappy crook, heelflip, back 50 the rounded curb, no comply 180, fakie 50. Also something like manual, back 50, terrible backside flip, fakie 50. Tried slappy crooks to fakie, halfcab flip, back 50, kick back tail. Got kinda close to the kick back tail. Skating the 8″ reminds me of my mid 30’s and how much better I was at skating then. It’s cool. Jack and Carleigh showed. Jack warmed up with some awkward slams and Carleigh got dragged into a bush by Ella chasing a rabbit. Jack almost did nose manual 180 switch crook. Dave was close to nollie 180 switch manual, but would get a switch manual. I was trying front 5-0s or nose manuals then nollie tre, never got the nollie tre. Got a front 50 back 180 out. Carleigh started trying to take advantage of the nearby sun, but then we ended up getting the boot by some construction manager thinking he was important.

After that we drove a bit and ended up at Southern Hills as the smooth section was dry, the benches weren’t. We skated flat for two hours. It was frustrating, but super fun. I was unhappy with how many tries tricks like fakie flip took, but would get through a few. Halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, bad f/s halfcab flip, way too long for a sketchy treflip, same with heelflip, landed on f/s halfcab heel and nollie tre, but never got them. I was quite tired and sore by the end. Carleigh did some kickflips then went on a battle with heelflips. She got robbed over and over until surfing out a sick one. Jack started with heelflip and got harder and harder. Treflip, f/s flip, varial heel, switch tre! and then learned Rick flips. He did a few before breaking his board. Doh. Then it was dinner time. Yum.

(setup 8 null dream machine deck deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow hanger and cast baseplate, old 53mm bones pj v1 wheels, bones medium bushings, mob grip, new balance numeric 288 sport b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

You know the drill. I made a list of tricks as motivation to go into the garage on a snowy afternoon.

Heelflip took 19 tries
Nollie flip committed, but never got both feet on it
Back heel not close
Nollie front heel not close
Fs flip 5th try but couldn’t get a decent one
Treflip 14 tries. I was bummed it was more than 10 tries, but 14 is the least amount of tries it’s taken in awhile
Fakie bigflip 5th try felt awesome
Nollie tre got really close and tried for a long time
Fakie heel 2nd try! And a better one 6th try

(setup 8 null dream machine deck deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow hanger and cast baseplate, old 53mm bones pj v1 wheels, bones medium bushings, mob grip, new balance numeric 288 sport b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On another snowy night I went into the garage not feeling overly motivated. I made another list, but wasn’t going to really stick to the 10 tries thing. I had new shoes – NB# 288S. The same shoes I had in Nebraska and hurt my ankle right away, but a half size smaller. I ended up skating quite hard and having fun listening to Afghan Whigs and really enjoying it. I had done a few shoves/kickflips to get warmed up then went into the list.
Nollie back heel – sometimes I like to start with a huck to get warmed up. I wasn’t close, but it did feel like it gave me some sense I could do it.
Fs halfcab heel – As you can see in the video I kind of landed it. It’s so hard to get tricks clean with that little speed and space.
Fakie flip – Landed in a couple tries
Nollie flip – Surprisingly not even close
Backside flip – got a couple under rotated ones
Sw varial flip – Didn’t get both feet on, but was close
Treflip – took way over 10 tries to get one. Tried for awhile and only got the two heel drags
Nollie tre – tried quiet awhile, but never got one. Was close a few times.
Varial heel – Finally technically landed one. Was happy with how much I was committing.
Back heel – I have never landed this. I wasn’t close but I think I finally figured out the motion I need to do. I was super tired by this point since the varial heel was such a battle.

(setup 8 null dream machine deck deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow hanger and cast baseplate, old 53mm bones pj v1 wheels, bones medium bushings, mob grip, new balance numeric 288 sport b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Yeah, I suppose this is getting pretty boring to my huge audience. Ha. It’s winter and it’s snowy and I want to learn some flatground so I went out after working from home armed with a 10 trick list.
Kickflip
Nollie flip – not very close
Halfcab flip – yes
Janoski flip – not even close
Backside flip – yes
Switch bs flip – not close, but I did commit
Treflip – Took well over the 10 tries and I got pretty frustrated
fake tre – kinda hurt my ankle so I moved on
varial heel- as you can see above I was pretty close
nollie varial heel – not close at all

(setup 8 null dream machine deck deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow hanger and cast baseplate, old 53mm bones pj v1 wheels, bones medium bushings, mob grip, new balance numeric 913 westgate black/yellow, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went into the garage armed with another list to try and motivate. It didn’t go so well. Sometimes I feel like I’m making progress, this one felt like I was just kinda passing the motions to bail every trick. I mean it’s not the case, I committed to some surprises, but didn’t land much. I wore the Westgates again because the 868s are a little small. Here’s the list and comments on each.
Heelflip – got a bad one early on, but couldn’t get a good one with the remaining tries
Nollie heel – not even close, although there were a few where I tried to be as casual as possible (see Chico Brenes) and that seemed like the way to do it.
Bs flip – got a few under rotated and tic tac’d
Halfcab flip – the only trick I was happy with
Treflip – was really bummed to not get it, but I did at least commit to most
Fakie treflip – never committed. hard to do in the tiny garage
Front heel – kinda close, but never committed with both feet
Switch front heel – never really close to this one either
Switch varial flip – kinda close to a commit
Double flip – when I committed it didn’t rotate enough
Nollie bigflip – remotely close once
Varial heel – kinda close.

(setup 8 null dream machine deck deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow hanger and cast baseplate, old 53mm bones pj v1 wheels, bones medium bushings, mob grip, new balance numeric 913 westgate black/yellow, no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On an absolutely insanely gorgeous day I went across the street armed with another 10×10 list. I also had new shoes. Well, they are a couple years old, but it’s the first time I’ve skated in them. NB# 868s. I couldn’t stand how slippery those Adidas were, they were dangerous. My list and results:
Kickflip
Switch Flip (not even close)
Backside Flip (I will never land this trick clean on flatground)
Frontside Flip (One of these days I will rotate more than 30 degrees)
Fakie bigflip (This was like 2nd try and I was really surprised)
Nollie bigflip (So incredibly close)
Frontside halfcab heel (bummed I didn’t get this one)
Halfcab Heel (Got it in 5 tries and tried to clean it up without success)
Nollie tre (Close, but no cigar)
Cab flip (Didn’t feel as close as it has in the past)
After doing the 10×10 I went back and did f/s halfcab heel and nollie tre. Both took awhile, especially the nollie tre. And neither was landed well at all, but I was still happy to get them.

After some food I met Saul a the curbs. I was pretty stiff from the flatground session, but it was fun. After awhile Luzius joined. It was a pretty mellow session. Saul had a rad line with ollies up curbs, down curbs and front slappy through the hook. Also some really long slappies on the painted sections and some on the raw curb. Luzius has such a smooth slappy, it’s crazy how casually he does them. He had some 180s into the curb cuts, halfcabs, etc. I had way better frontside slappies than I have in awhile. It was fun. I tried to line them out with front shove off the curb cub, but for whatever reason I kept bailing or slamming. Getting used to the stiff 868s isn’t easy, but my legs thanked me later. I also had a couple okay regular slappies, lots of slappy crooks, slappy front crooks. Had a fun line of slappy the first curb, slappy crook the second, then the little nollie 270 shove on the micro bank.

After a lot of basketball with Ollie, a nap and more food I went back to the curbs because Fuller was there. So great to see him on the board again. Saul was there too ripping and enjoying the 73 degree weather. I didn’t do much other than slappies as I was extra sore from skating twice and playing basketball. I did huck a few flippers, but didn’t really commit to much. Saul was kinda in the mellow boat too, lots of solid slappies though. Dave had some funny setups where he would squat then not try the trick a few times in a row. Saul and I were giggling. But Dave did get some stuff and look good on his board. Back 180 fakie 50 shove, switch slappy crook shove, fakie 50, amazing slappy crooks, noseslides, kickflips, shoves. Dude was ripping. Fun times, I’m glad we took advantage of the amazing weather.

(setup 8 null dream machine deck deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow hanger and cast baseplate, old 53mm bones pj v1 wheels, bones medium bushings, mob grip, new balance numeric 868 grey size 12, westgate insoles)
(pain level 5/10)