On a cold night I went into the garage with the intention of trying some different tricks. I warmed up on my normal board, but then just kind of lost interest and grabbed the putter. I had some new shoes on. Adidas Busenitz vulc. Last time I had this shoe I disliked it a lot, but I don’t wear orthotic insoles anymore so maybe it will work this time. I tried nollie flips for a bit, but they didn’t work. The pop shove body varial came pretty quick. The varial flip revert took a bit and probably doesn’t even really count. The double flip took a solid 10 minutes. Long enough that I had no desire to clean it up. I tried varial heels for awhile, but then decided to go inside and have a beer.

(setup garage putter – 7.5 303 deck, venture 5.0 hollow light lows, 42mm oj wheels, adidas busenitz vulc b/w size 12, stock insoles)

After a chill drive down from mountains I met up with Dave and Jake at the dog park. It was a cold day, not even 30 degrees. Dave was there before Jake and I. Dave was already doing front boards to fakie on the shorter ledge and front shoves. I was wearing the City Cups again and as comfy as they are the board feel is pretty bad. I didn’t feel comfy with kickflips. Jake and I got in a mode of trying flip trick then ollie the bench. It took Jake 3 tries to ollie it so that tells me it’s kind hard. I was really struggling with a flip trick so it took me longer to get there. I was rotating between heelflip, halfcab flip and maybe a couple others. I did finally get a sketchy ollie over it after a halfcab flip. I either kinda wallied it or manualled it, I’m not sure, but I made it over and it was cold out so I counted it. Oh yeah, I had setup an 8.25 since I had focused my 8.5 the last time I skated. Dave was trying front 50 body varial out. He was going fast when he did it. He had a front 180 out too that looked good. We changed the ledge to face the other way. Dave got the front 50 body varial. Jake was doing front 5-0, front tail, died on a fakie back tail. I got a treflip on flat, couldn’t do halfcab crooks. I’m not feeling these big wheels. Dave did the crazy board transfer then fakie sex change 2nd try. So sick! Jake left. Dave and I played a game of SKATE. It took awhile. I landed on Dave’s pop shove body varial, but didn’t ride out. I forget a lot of the other tricks right now, but it was SKAT-SKAT. I think I won, but I can’t even remember what the last trick was. I blame the cold as it had dropped as it was getting dark. Fun day though, I was super hyped on ollieing the bench and getting a treflip.

(setup null 8.25 lazer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel bottom one, yellow 92a small top one), no washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 99a radial 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels, adidas city cup b/w size 11, stock insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Went to Southern Hills around 9am since we were leaving for BV at 10:30. I was still sore and didn’t do much for awhile. I waxed up the first step and that was fun for some 50s and a switch crook jib. First warm up line was Chinese Nollie to manual down the handicap ramp, front 50 the step then noseslide the ledge. Next was boardslide, kickflip, noseslide to fakie. Then pop shove out of the handicap ramp, Ollie down the 2, crooks the bench. Then for the line I had kind of thought about ahead of time. Kickflip out of the handicap ramp, front 180 the 2 and then halfcab noseslide the bench. It was such a bad jib, but it was first try so I was happy with it. I had also done a switch 180 into the bank then sloppy slow front 50 the other main bench. My hops felt okay. I filmed the crooks then went for the front 50 on this bench but couldn’t do it. I lost it and focused my board. I was sooooo angry. Ugh. I hate not having pop. Then we left to my moms for Christmas and I tried to cheer up.

(setup null 8.5 perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel bottom one, yellow 92a small top one), no washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 99a radial 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels, new balance numeric 345 b/w size 13, new stock insoles)
(pain level 5/10 these shoes hurt my feet)

On a sunny and warmer day (yes we hit the point in winter when 43 feels pretty nice) I went to campus with no plans. I started with a few slappy crooks then quickly moved on to the ledge. I did a slow flip trick then a slow ledge trick to warm up. My favorite was varial flip and then nose jib 270. I was happy with how easily I got into and landed the front 50 since it was such a losing battle last time. The switch nose jib shove was super fun too and even in a line with a fakie flip. My legs felt less sore than they have lately, but didn’t have much juice.

I moved on. Took a bit to ollie up a two stair, ollied a longish two stair. Front 50’d the little one stair ledge. Ended up at the bank to curb, did a back 50 and a couple slappy crooks. I was really sore at this point. Tried to crooks the statue ledge, but it stuck. Then went to the mellow bank and took a few tries to get a no comply shove to fakie. Argh. Then did shoves, kickflips and tried bigflip for awhile. But I couldn’t get it so I tried treflips. And I really couldn’t get a treflip to save my life. It was pretty frustrating. The skate/walk back to the car was sore and slow.

(setup null 8.5 perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel bottom one, yellow 92a small top one), no washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 99a radial 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels, new balance numeric 212s b/w size 11.5, old rubbery sole tech insoles)
(pain level 7/10 was okay at the start but by the end i was hurting bad)

On a cold day I got out around 1 or so and went to the Valmont area. I quickly wanted to try a line. Ollie the little gap, ollie a curb, kickflip to fakie on the bank, switch 180, ollie the tall curb, kickflip on the other mellow bank, ollie the tall curb again. But I slammed super hard on the 2nd ollie and realized I would have no pop for the day. I got more interested in the no comply flip. Bummed I didn’t land it. Then I went and tried switch 180 manual which didn’t take long at all so I then tried switch 180 manual back 180 out . I got close, but no cigar.

Then I went to the new banked ledge spot in Longmont. It felt colder out, the ledge was not inviting. I tried to get some motivation going while waiting for Dave. When he showed he wasn’t too interested either. It’s a lot taller and steeper than it looks. Stop rocks everywhere. Storage pods in the way of most of it. So we went to a nearby construction site and ended up having fun with the euro manny pad. We both got manual to lift over somewhat quick. Dave got a manual ollie out before we busted out the phones. Luckily he did it again. Actually a few times I think. I had a switch 180 then b/s tic tac flip. I tried kickflip manual for awhile, didn’t get it but did have some nice feeling kickflips. Then we went back to the banked ledge where we setup some wood to make the bank a little more skateable. Dave did his line which was sick and the front 5-0 was the first one he committed too. I took a lot of baby steps to get into the wallie boardslide. Dave filmed it from atop a tractor and must have been so cold as the temp had dropped into the uppers 20s. Brrr. The wallie boardslide was super fun though.

(setup null 8.5 perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel bottom one, yellow 92a small top one), no washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 99a radial 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels, new balance numeric 212s b/w size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10 but my legs weren’t working well)

On the official start of winter I met Dave at the dog park on a nice and warm day (t-shirt weather!). We arrived at the same time. Neither of us started off great. In fact I was thinking for a bit that kickflips might not even be possible I was so sore. But they did. Dave did his most tech line I’ve ever seen him do. Halfcab flip, kickflip, varial flip. Dude! He was landing a lot of them, add in some cabs, front shoves, switch front shoves, switch no comply 180s, bigspin, etc. Then he battled sex changes for awhile, he kept landing right on them, but not getting it. But then came a perfect one to make it all worth it. I was super inconsistent, but would end up getting a few tricks I was happy with. I got a nollie treflip pretty quick that felt super awesome. Also got a treflip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip (almost in a line with nollie bigflip), heelflips took a long time, I ended trying f/s halfcab flip which didn’t come easy or good when I landed it. Dave was still skating when I left and he did a fakie sex change! Dang! I had worn some old Adidas City Cups again. The weird thing about cupsoles for me is how great they initially feel when skating, but by the end of the session my feet and knees felt constrained and sore.

(setup null 8.5 perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel bottom one, yellow 92a small top one), no washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 99a radial 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels, adidas city cup b/w size 11, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cool night in the low 30s I hit campus for a bit. I started with slappy crooks on the meetup curb then moved over to this area I’ve skated a couple times. I had put a bigger board on again. I went for a line that took awhile. Ollie up the first step (oval area in the back middle of the photo), then ollie up the next step, come around front 50 the 2nd stair on the leftish stairs, ollie up a curb, then down a 3. It took a long time, but I did get the 3 stair ollie the first time I got there. I took a few tries to ollie the long two. Then I spent way too long trying a front tail on the ledge in the front left. See how dark it is? Yeah, it was hard to see.

(setup null 8.5 perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel bottom one, yellow 92a small top one), no washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 99a radial 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels, new balance numeric 345 black/white size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10 feet are begging for a cupsole)

On a cold night I ran some errands that ended at the Valmont Post Office. I had planned to skate around there, but the lights weren’t really on and I didn’t want to fumble around in the dark. I ended up at the Pearl business park which basically has nothing to skate. But in my new found motivation to skate more random street spots I made something of it. There was a few sidewalk manny pads, the weird bump to wallride and a brick hubba to drop in on. I settled in on a line pretty quick. Ollie onto a sidewalk, front 180 off, switch front 180 manual, kickflip a mini bump, then the wallie nollie. I never quite got the line as I could never hold the switch 180 manual the whole way and the wallie/nollie was terrible. My board was feeling very small and it was annoying me to no end. I tried the dropin for awhile, but for some reason I kept bailing out. I tried a few flippers here and there, but didn’t land much of anything. I blame a mixture of the thin shoes and cold temperature. Then I did the wallie nollie until I landed an okay one. In between attempts I bailed f/s halfcab heels. Then I did the drop in finally, but my phone had turned off because of the cold. I went to leave, but realized I could plug my phone in and film it while lighting it up better with my car. It took an annoying amount of tries again. Each bail hurt. It looks so easy in the clip, but didn’t feel easy.

(setup null 8.25 lazer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel bottom one, yellow 92a small top one), no washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 99a radial 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels, new balance numeric 345 black/white size 12, thin rubbery adidas insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Went to Broomfield after some lounging around and arrived to a mostly empty park.  It felt pretty cold even though it was in the 40s.  We started on the blue bank spot.  My ollies up were sketchy every time.  Kevin had kickflip and nollie flip fakies on it.  I was struggling big time, but managed a shove fakie and no comply bigspin.  We were almost shown up by a young kid hell bent on showing us how good he is.  It was weird.  Then we played a game of SKATE.  I lost, no surprise.  But it was a decent warm up.  I got close to nollie tre and tre.  My bushings were feeling super weird, like loose, but then would totally stick.  Then it was mostly the black ledge.  Kevin rattled off trick after trick as he does going fast.  I had a couple tricks.  Then we tried new tricks.  He started with pop shove 50 on the blue ledge, landed it, then moved on to the black ledge and landed it.  I was trying halfcab crook the whole time.  I didn’t get close on the black ledge at all, but would eventually get a very brief jib on the blue ledge.  It’s progress I guess.  Then I did a few quartapotty tricks as setup for a back 50 on the blue ledge.  

(setup null 8.25 lazer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, bones  bushings (medium big bottom one, hard small top one), no washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf v1 pj wheels, new balance numeric 345 black/white size 12, thin rubbery adidas insoles)
(pain level 3/10 the feet want more protection i think)

After resting from an early morning work call and then basketball with Ollie I met Dave and Eric at the dog park.    Dave seemed to be well into the warm up process and Eric was just getting started.  But Eric did a heelflip right away that looked good.  We all had some lines going.  The flatbar is surprisingly hard to skate as it’s cheap aluminum and sticks often.  We would ollie it to start lines or boardslides.  Dave would get a bunch of feebles too.  I had some luck with flip tricks early on, fakie flip, halfcab flip, b/s flip.  Struggled with heelflip, but kind of got an over 40 rick flip make. We pulled out Eric’s little ledge too and that thing is a good ol’ wobbly time.  Eric had some nice crooks.   I had a few fun front 50s and backed one of them with a slow treflip with a hand down.  I was also having fun trying lines like ollieing the crack gap, boardslide the flat bar then front 50.  Dave was working on a long line to switch ollie the flat bar.  Feeble, back 50, kickflip, nollie front 180, switch ollie.  I thought I filmed the one he did, but it turns out I was reverse filming from when he fell the time before.  Ha ha, the screen shot is above.  The switch ollie was so good though.  Eric did front 50 180 out first try, almost crooks shove.  I had started trying halfcab crooks and was actually getting into them for the first time ever.  I may have landed a couple little jibs before, but I was really locking into them this time and grinding.  It felt awesome.  I got a couple that didn’t grind far and still felt good.  Man I hope I can continue to get close to that trick, because it’s a dream trick for sure!

Then we went to Saul’s.  There was already a crew there.  Saul, Uriel, Josh, Cole, and another dude.  Uriel was doing crazy good grinds.  Feebles, smiths, both fs and bs.  So good.  Saul was shredding around.  Cole had some moves.  Dave is always a treat to watch there and didn’t disappoint.  Eric had some good heelflip slams, long back 50s.  I had fun doing scratch grinds and bailing axle stalls.

(setup null 8.25 lazer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, bones  bushings (medium big bottom one, hard small top one), no washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf v1 pj wheels, new balance numeric 345 black/white size 12, thin adidas insoles)
(pain level 3/10 some foot pain)