Dave, Rob, Kevin and I met up with Sean at Spring Canyon on a warm and sunny day. I was hyped to see Skelly there when we arrived, fixing the pool coping. That dude is a workaholic. He did manage to skate with us a little, but he was pretty beat from working so hard. It was good seeing him. I find this park to be hard to warm up at normally, but it seemed easier than normal today. Maybe it was Sean grinding the tallest ledge within minutes. I mean I hope there are some kind of benefits of skating with him. Rob was manualling at speed right away, Kevin was doing tech tricks, Dave was boardsliding the spine. I got a first try (really slow) back 50 on the lurb which put me in a good mood. I would soon after get a line of nose manual, front slash the mound, back 50 shove. I slash the mound as a means of speed control to slow me down for the lurb. Smart huh? Or maybe I’m just a wuss. I tried front nosegrinds for awhile and got really close, but then the potato chip session started. I tried to play with Sean and Kevin with the ollie up then kickflip on the hump, then trick on the tight qp. Rob was in on it too, he got the ollie and kickflip, but avoided the qp. I had a better line than the one showed with a front rock instead of back rock. I mean, in my head it was better, but who knows, I probably scraped my heel on the kickflip. Kevin’s lines were crazy. Doing it switch too is bonkers. Sean’s made the line look effortless, but took awhile to get the sweeper. And oh man, that slam on the nollie nosegrind (which he had never done before) was crazy. Everyone was skating, it’s hard to remember everything. Rob got a few boardslides up that ledge which is gnarly to me, but never combined it with the downhill part. Things I was happy with were finally nose manualling the main manny pad, crooks the bench, ollieing the little rail, maintaining my 100% streak of boardslides down the little rail. My flatground wasn’t that great. Dave’s line with the switch wallie was nuts. We all skated the pole jam for a bit. Kevin switch no comply pole jam was nuts. I got one sketchy no comply pole jam. Sean thinks regular pole jams are easier than no comply ones. Dave was trying them switch too. After that we tried the downhill ride on grind. Kevin, Dave and Sean did it easy. 20 minutes later I did it and it was quite fun. Then we bounced.

(setup null rabethica 8.5 deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings bones v1 stf 51mm wheels, new balance numeric 255 cream/gum size 12, footprint gamechanger insoles)
(knee pain 2/10)

A whole lotta fails today… 😂🤷‍♀️

A post shared by carleigh samson (@gnarlycarleigh) on Aug 11, 2018 at 8:45pm PDT

Even though we’re trying to finish up Stubborns it seems like our Saturdays have been off. Maybe it’s partly because it’s not just old guys hitting me up to skate and it’s a weird balance. With all of that said I went to Broomfield park on a Saturday around 11 and Kevin was there. Arriving soon would be Rob, Riley, Chad. Arriving later would be Jack, Carleigh, Sean, Fuzz. The session would go through waves of chilling in the shade then skate more. I started with the Dave challenge, switch feeble fakie, on the quartapotty. Kevin joined me, but he did it way quicker. Oh wait, Kevin and I played a game of SKATE first thing. I had different old shoes on, NB# 255s. They felt good. I got pink slipped in SKATE, but I did kickflip/fakie flip first tries and it was a good warm up. The switch feeble took me awhile. With the exception of one bad slam where I dove backwards into the trash can it was mostly just lame bails. Rob had shown and was warming up. Chad showed up too, who I haven’t seen in a long time. It was cool seeing him again. He hasn’t been skating much, but he still got into nosegrinds. Things are fuzzy for awhile here and I don’t remember a whole lot of what happened. Jack and Riley were shredding the black ledge. Riley did like 30 tricks. Jack did 29, but the first try back 270 front tail to 270 kickflip out first try was the hotness. It was seriously insane. Then somehow a double set session ensued. I’m not sure exactly how it started, but it got heated when Fuzz ollied the double set. Then front 180’d it. I should have just filmed it, but instead I “skated” with everyone. And by that I mean posed the double set ollie over and over until I finally landed the six stair after like 10 tries. Fuzz also boardslid the rail and ollied over it. He almost died on a fakie ollie. Riley and Jack did a bunch of tricks on the rail. Jack added a testbook hardflip and Riley did switch flip and switch heel so good. Kevin put down some rail tricks and came close to hardflip. Carleigh ollied it easy then went for pop shove and as you can see put in some work, but never got it. Then for awhile Ashlyn, Kevin and I hucked dream tricks. Kevin went for switch flip back 5-0 and got it! I went for treflip noseslide and was nowhere near close, but did finally feel like it might be possible. Ashlyn was going for heelflip front 50. She was close several tries. I know I’m missing a million things here, but I’ll just add it was an incredibly fun session.

(setup null rabethica 8.5 deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings bones v1 stf 51mm wheels, new balance numeric 255 cream/gum size 12, footprint gamechanger insoles)
(knee pain 3/10)

After one of the busiest work weeks I’ve ever had and feeling completely tired on a Friday afternoon I went to dog park. Dave and hopefully Rob (who ended up being too busy with work) would join. I arrived first. It was sunny and hot. I had given up on the NB# 420s. Those things are terrible for skateboarding. I was wearing some old bald Es Swift 1.5s. They are super comfy, but also kind of weird for skating. They just have a weird flick. I went through the warm up stages, doing the 3 trick line thing to motivate. Took a few tries to get the kickflip, no comply 180, fakie flip line. After that I had kickflips most tries, but not a whole lot else. Dave showed. It’s been awhile so it was great seeing him. He went in on the shoves warm up. We skated for about an hour. I struggled with halfcab flips and heelflips. Two of my more basics. I was patient though as I know I just moved up to a bigger sized board so I should expect some growing pains. I had fun hucking some ghetto birds, even committed, but never got the feet on the board. In the end I got a terrible heelflip followed by an even worse treflip. Dave got kickflips, cabs, a halfcab flip, varial flips (one was so good) and ended with a backside bigspin.

Then we went to Saul’s. It was Dave, Saul, Veronica, Tyler and Eric showed a little later. Tyler was completely shredding. Saul did a back lipslide! I have no idea what Dave was doing in this photo, I just kind of pointed the phone at him and snapped a shot. I didn’t do much, but still love carve grinds. I tried a few switch feebles since Dave challenged me to it, but couldn’t really get the speed. At least it was an excuse to finally do a rock fakie in the ‘deep’ end. Eric had a bad slam recently I guess, so was a little timid, but still had feeble fakie in the deeper end first try.

(setup null rabethica 8.5 deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings bones v1 stf 51mm wheels, es swift 1.5 grey size 11.5, low profile footprint gamechanger insoles)
(knee pain 3/10)

Got to campus around sunset. Started at the meetup curb and was feeling alright. Slappy crooks were great. Tried some switch crook. Kevin has me wanting to learn that one. Tried a line with a slappy crooks then back 180 off a curb cut. I would get it, but almost rolled my ankle on one attempt. Strike 1 against the 420 shoes. Moved on to the yellow lurb. They had changed the parking lot a little. It makes the right side approach way easier, but it also exposes the spot to the masses walking by which is kind of annoying. I struggled to get 50s for a bit. But got some front/back 50s and 5-0s (backside was accidental). Then basically tried a line for awhile. Front 180 into the path from the sidewalk to the spot, switch crook the lurb, switch front 180 on flat, ollie the 3 stair. I got there like 2nd try and bailed the switch 180. Argh! It would be a long time since I got back to it. When not trying the line I would bail flip tricks or switch front crook on the ledge. I almost rolled my ankle again in those shoes. Some dude skating with a dog on a leash came in, 5-0’d the ledge while still holding the leash, looked at me weird and then left. He came through again and just looked at me weird. Maybe he couldn’t believe I would skate such a small spot. Anyway, after awhile I started getting into more switch crook jibs. None of them were good and locked in, but they did leave marks on the truck so they probably weren’t completely terrible. I ended up getting the line and it felt quite rewarding. Then I went to the curved tall ledge that is nearby. I had a fun noseslide and noseslide to fakie before almost rolling my ankle on a crooks. Strike 3, you’re out shoes. Although I made myself ollie onto the ledge which was quite the battle. I would eventually get it with some good accidental wallie action. They say these shoes are “highly skateable”, but I think they mean “you have to be high to try and skate these”.

(setup null rabethica 8.5 deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings bones v1 stf 51mm wheels, new balance numeric 420 black/white size 11, low profile footprint gamechanger insoles)

After another busy day at work, a nap, dinner I went to Broomfield park. Riley and Sean were there when I arrived. We chatted for a bit. Rob and Kevin showed shortly after that. Riley and Sean were attacking the black ledge at speed so it was kind of intimidating. Kevin joined them. I mostly skated below as did Rob. The number of tricks those guys did on that ledge is insane. Some highlights include Kevin kick back tail followed by switch crook. Riley back 180 fakie 5-0, nollie front noseslide, front 5-0 back shove, shove nosegrind. Sean front nosegrind 180 followed by back nosegrind 180, also nosegrind the happy ledge to shove out. Rob was shredding too. Unlike me he seems to get better every time he skates there. There are subtle improvements like first try nose manuals after manualling up the escalated blue ledge, first try nosegrinds, front 50s easy, front 5-0, etc. I was happy to get a 2nd try back 50 even though it was slow. I definitely struggled with the new shoes. They are so beefy. Kevin was trying fakie 5-0 bigspin out. That would be nuts. He had some funny falls. Rob was trying front nosegrind 180 and landed on like 10 of them, but never quite rode out. Next time. I took forever to get a front 50 back 180 out on the lurb, but it was fun when I did. Right at the end I got a fakie front 50 switch 180 out. It felt really awesome and I don’t think I’ve done that one before. It was slow, but it gave me some positive to take away from a night of struggles (couldn’t ollie to 50 on the black ledge once again).

(setup null rabethica 8.5 deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings bones v1 stf 51mm wheels, new balance numeric 420 black/white size 11, low profile footprint gamechanger insoles)

Shortly before sun down I went to the research ledge on a nice night. I had some new shoes. NB# 420 runner shoes. They are very stiff so I was kinda doubting I’d have much luck on the skateboard. Oh yeah, speaking of skateboard, I had a different setup. You can thanks Max Garson for getting on my case about changing and not sticking with a bigger setup. I like how 8.5s skate more than 8.3s so I put an old Rabethica deck together. My first noseslide felt sketchy as my foot shot right off the nose. Oh great, do these shoes not have any grip? But after that they felt grippy. I got a fun feeling noseslide to fakie when Saul biked by on his way home from yoga. We chatted for a bit, then it was back to me not landing much. This ledge gets rougher and higher each time I skate it. Ha, okay the higher part isn’t accurate, but I get older and it feels taller. I had an alright session. Got a few crooks, got a terrible back 50, a halfcab noseslide that felt good. The sprinklers had come on making the line potential hard with puddles. I hucked a few flippers, the shoes seem to have good flick. I got into a few front 50s, but never grinded and land one. Maybe by the time I’m 50 I’ll just ollie and throw the board at the ledge and count it.

(setup null rabethica 8.5 deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, oj 52mm ez edge wheels, new balance numeric 420 black/white size 11, low profile footprint gamechanger insoles)

Slept in til 9. Sleeping in that late really throws me off. After a day of not landing much I needed a setup change! Ha ha, I debated Thunder 148s and Venture 5.2 lo/hi for quite some time before settling on 5.2 hi. I went over to the school to play around and see how it felt. I did a few really slow flippers. Nothing special, one hands down treflip. Kickflips and heelflips felt better, treflips felt worse. I got close to a nollie flip or two, the smaller board felt way better for that. Then I went home to eat and was totally gonna take a nap when Jack called and suggested the Mikes Camera manny pad. It didn’t take much to get me there. There was a bunch of cars parked in the lot, but at least one spot was open. When I arrived Jack was doing back 180 fakie manuals. He mostly tried that the whole time. I couldn’t do a basic manual and I took like 10 tries to nose manual it. Argh. Rob joined us. He got in some no comply manuals right away and nose manual right after that. Jack would end up doing some epic manuals. Back 180 fakie manual to forward to fakie to forward. Ha, I can’t really describe it in words, but it was hilarious. He also did fakie bigspin out which was so sick. He got some fakie tres up the curb and a bunch of flippers on the rough ground. Nollie heel, nollie flip, switch heel, switch varial flip, impossible, etc. I had a couple flippers, heelflip felt good, close to nollie flip. I got a nose manual shove that felt really good even if it took a long time. Rob did nose manual 180 to switch manual then topped himself with a 180 out as well. So sick.

Great seeing you on your board again @jackspanbauer !

A post shared by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Aug 5, 2018 at 6:51pm PDT

Then we went to nearby rainbow ledge. Rob did boardslide pop out right away, I took like 10 tries. Rob also played with with boardslides to feeble, but didn’t lock into the grind. I did noseslide to fakie and a tiny front 50 on the curb high part and tried to line out to 180 the gap, but I bailed the gap. It was bigger than I remembered. I filmed Jack try bigspin hurricane for awhile, but he didn’t get it. Big Mike showed up. Jack got back nosegrind shove out a few times just messing around going slow. So we filmed a faster one, slams included. Mike got a front noseslide and an elderly lady passing by said “You’ll get it”. Ha ha.

@cookiegrinder13 🔥

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 5, 2018 at 6:25pm PDT

Today, Glen found the optimal weight distribution for nollie flips.

A post shared by Jack Spanbauer (@jackspanbauer) on Aug 5, 2018 at 11:50pm PDT

Then we went to this wallride spot. I wasn’t into it at first and I don’t think Jack was either, but Mike was super into it and we found some wood and signs and made it more fun. Or at least I thought until I slammed on the sign twice and messed up my wrist pretty good. Jack did the backside wallride first try. Mike got it next. I was close and after the two slams in a row had a setback. But I got it and it was pretty fun. Jack came close to touching a grind on it. Then Mike and I went for frontside. It took me about 20 tries longer. Then I slammed super hard and broke a phone trying to film Mike (ha). Then Mike and Jack skated the longer wallride. Jack tried it without a landing and slammed so hard. It was brutal. Mike put some wood for a landing and did while holding onto the tree and then without holding onto the tree. It was rad.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, bones 51mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 212 sea foam/salmon size 11, custom orthotic insole)
(knee pain 3/10 )

On a hot lazy Saturday I went to Safeway to meet Kevin, Sean and Fuzz. Kevin was there when I got there doing my kind of warm ups – noseslides without ollieing. Except he moved on to flips tricks and grinds way quicker than me. I took a few tries to get into grind, but had a fun feeling back 50 and some front 5-0s that may or may not have been intentional. Sean showed up and I stopped landing tricks. Ha ha. Seriously though, I didn’t land anything for awhile. Sean rattled off steezy basics along with some great looking flippers. Kevin got a nollie front nosegrind pop out which was probably trick of the day. I attempted some front tails, but they were just little tail stall jibs. I couldn’t get kick back 50. Kevin got back tail and then kick back tail. My flip tricks were not working. Fuzz showed up and I chilled with him. Then it started raining so we went and got tacos.

(setup 8.38 null atomic cowboy deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, bones medium bushings, bones 51mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 212 sea foam/salmon size 11, custom orthotic insole)
(knee pain 2/10 )

After a long day at work, a nap and then dinner I went out to skate flat for a bit. It started slow and initially I was discouraged with the bigger board and wanting to go in and grab a smaller setup. But I stuck with it and when I got a heelflip quick things seemed better. I struggled with halfcab flip and fakie bigflip which was annoying. But in the end I managed most of my basics. Kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, bs flip, 360 flip, heelflip, halfcab heelflip, fs halfcab flip. Couldn’t quite get fs halfcab flip. I hucked quite a few tricks I can’t do like nollie flip, nollie inward heel, switch flip. In the end I tried nollie tre and fakie heel. But then it got super windy and I just stuck with fakie heelflip. It ended up taking like 30 minutes. I stayed mostly calm somehow. In the end I get a terrible one. I guess I never really land that trick good anyway so a make is a make.

(setup 8.38 null atomic cowboy deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, bones medium bushings, bones 51mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 212 sea foam/salmon size 11, custom orthotic insole)
(knee pain 0/10 wow!)

On a nice evening I showed up to a mellow Broomfield park. Rob and Kevin were already there and already ollieing and trying real tricks. Kevin doing tricks right away makes sense as he’s young, but I’m always amazed how quickly Rob can snap his tail. They were mostly skating the blue lurb so I joined. Someone had waxed it like crazy which was nice because you could go Glenspeed and still grind/slide. Rob had long front 50s, oh so close to front nosegrind, back 50 step off, nollie lip, nollie lip to fakie and a back 50 shove out which was followed by an epic line of skate improv. He also had a solid crook on the black ledge, nose manuals around the blue bank like it was nothing, manuals too. Kevin showed up Rob with a switch nosegrind 180 out. Ha ha, it didn’t really come off like that. Kevin had fakie 5-0, nollie crooks, nollie nosegrind, but no regular 50s that I saw. I struggled with a slow back 50, had some fun fakie 50s, a tiny fakie nosegrind, some accidental 5-0s. Kevin and I battled kick back 50s. Who do you think won and added kick back 5-0? Correct, the guy with the 7.75. I did get close on a few of them though. I couldn’t get 50s on the black ledge. It’s weird how the bigger setup feels great for noseslides and crooks, but not so good for 50s. I had a fun little line of first try boardslide down the tiny rail then crooks on the black ledge then bailed a treflip. We played a game of SKATE. It was pretty fun. It was going pretty good until Kevin had a run that included nollie and switch flips. Rob got out on backside flip even though he had gotten super close earlier in the game. I was happy to land the bs flip and a first try treflip. Kevin took me out no switch f/s flip. We messed around on the blue bank for awhile marveling at the ease in which Rob could manual and nose manual it. Kevin got nose manual on it too. I didn’t get close to anything.

(setup 8.38 null atomic cowboy deck, venture 5.8 lights black icon trucks, bones medium bushings, bones 51mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 212 sea foam/salmon size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsole and es thin insole)
(knee pain 2/10)