I hadn’t put a new board together after the bad treflip night before so I grabbed an 8.5 with slappy lights. Ugh. Showed up at Square State after a long day of work not feeling very motivated. There were a few dudes there, not a lot. It was cool. I started in the corner just kind of feeling things out. Then to the main area did some normal axle stalls, wallies and noseslides. Then managed to do the “gap” to noseslide. It was actually pretty fun. Ted had done it frontside with a 270 out. Skated the ramp for a while. Will had some great frontside ollies. This dude Brian was in there with a really cool surfy style and was fun to skate with. I did a few basics, had fun. Then Ted, Will and I went in on pivots to fakie on the little qp. Will did pivot to rock fakie. I did my cheater pivot fakie. But I did also get a great feeling fakie pivot fakie. That was about it. Oh, Jason was there killing it. Nollie tres down the 3 stair, kickflip the hubba, etc. Nick killed the stairs too. Damien tore up everything.

(setup 2/10 8.5/14.25 20 year deck, jessup ultra, slappy lights 8.5, spitfire f4 99a classic 52mm pink/purple, splay rev lts green size 12 remind impact cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went out to the garage on another cool and windy night. Started off decent. Got several kickflips. Went right to treflips. Roughly 80 failed attempts later I focused my board. Worst part is none of them even felt good and I never got both feet on any of them.

(setup 4/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v-cast bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, splay rev lts green size 12 remind impact cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a cool and windy night I went out to the garage to skate flat for an hour. It ended up being pretty fun. I did some warm ups then started the flippers. Kickflips went alright, fakie flip. B/s flip took surprisingly long which was a bit frustrating and I don’t think I even got a clean one. Halfcab flip first try. Got a sloppy fakie bigflip which is pretty hard in that little space. Then went in on heelflips which took quite a while, but felt good to get one. Hucked nollie tres for a while after. Some were close, most were not.

(setup 4/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v-cast bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, splay rev lts green size 12 remind impact cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a cruddy day at work I went across the street to the school. It was very nice out. I had intended to attempt flatground even though I was sore, but then I saw that someone had put in some extra work on the curb. I was skating my 8.3 with thunders and hated every squeeky-bad-turning-hard-to-flip minute of it. Tried a line for a bit of sw 180 the manhole into the little hill, slappy, b/s flip on flat. Had a few fun ones, but the b/s flip kept not working. Then I slammed extra hard on a slappy attempt and dove awkwardly barely avoiding the pole so I called it a day.

(setup 1/10 8.3 null, jessup ultra, thunder team hollow 149 bones bushings, spitfire f4 99a green radial 51mm, splay rev lts green size 12 with remind impact cush insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

On yet another incredibly warm Feb day I met up with quite a few peeps at dog park. I wasn’t overly motivated to skate there. After how sore I got yesterday I tried the strike mvmnts and that contributed to frustrations as they had no board feel at all. Changing to some Last Resorts didn’t help. But I skated, and so did everyone, and we had fun. Dog park I don’t remember much. There were a lot of dudes there. Gordon, Will, Jesse, Radley, Bratcher, Steezy, Eric, a bunch more. I went like 1-10 on kickflips. Yikes. Gordon and Jesse didn’t make it to the streets.

Eric, Jack, Steezy, Will and I went to the Pearl and 30th area. We started near the Spot kind of just dorking around, nothing special. Then went into the main attraction and it was really fun. Everyone was kind of skating differently, checking things out. Me and Eric hit the main two ledges for a bit. He got boardslide. I had some noseslides. Then I went over and tried a noseslide with no setup over a tiny gap. Went back to the main area and Will did a sick nose manual. I managed crook and noseslide and was hyped. Should have tried the fakie flip again though. I was hating those shoes so much. Will filmed Steezy to a line to fakie back tail. Jack did a sick front 50 180. Jack and I did some wallrides.

Then we went to Steelyards. Haven’t been there in years. There were quite a few cars coming in and out. I haven’t really enjoyed that spot as much since they put in the bike racks. Oh well. Eric ripped some fast long manuals. Will some good manuals. Steezy manual shove then nose manual shove was a banger. Jack found a fun line with a couple little gaps. He did ollie then back 180. And I think back 180 then switch front 180. I was trying shove then front shove, but I couldn’t shove to save my life. I would eventually get two of them, but not the front shove after. Doh. Settled for switch front 180 the little gap then front shove. Couldn’t get it again when Steez tried to film it though. Oh well. Fun long day in the warm weather.

I truly hate shoes and wish so much someone would make a thin wide toe cupsole. Argh.

(setup 8.25 with ventures then 8.3 with thunders and last resort cm002s with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10)

Nice morning after a night of rain (in February?!?!?) I met up with Cass, Gordon and Jake at Cushing skatepark. We had a decent session, but it was kind of crowded and hard to get into the flow of things. Jake brought back blunt to fakie on the little qp, almost back blunt on it. Had some good crooks, halfcab noseslide, front tail, nollie back tail. Cass started out by slamming a few times. Still had some nice moves though, ollies the hip, 50s the ledge both ways, crooks. Gordon nollie pop over the a-frame and fakie ollie too. Nollie up the euro. Fast front 50s, ollie the longer part of the stairs. My fav thing was a crooks and then kickflip onto the ramp. I really struggled with front 50s on the ledge. It felt so tall. It’s crazy, I really have lost pop.

Then we went to the alley ledge with the kink in it. It seemed fun, it was fun, but it was harder than we thought it would be. Gordon had some nice fast front 50s through the kink, front 180 out too. Jake noseslides, nollie back tail. Cass really long noseslides and front noseslides. Oh and he showed up Jake with a first try noseslide though the kink to shove. I had some mid noseslides, crooks, sw noseslide 270 shove, was happy to get slappy crooks. Hucked a lot of flatground, landed almost nothing.

After picking up boards from 303 and driving to Bluecar I went to the long ledge. Almost got hurt climbing a fence to get there. When I did my body was completely shot. I could barely ollie. I would get a couple lines I liked as far as landed some tricks, but they were very slow and was too tired to really skate that spot. Switch front nose then halfcab noseslide. Front noseslide then front 50. Still struggled to crooks it, almost had nollie back tail. What an amazing spot. One of these times I want to skate it with energy.

(setup 4/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v-cast bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, splay rev lts green size 12 nike sb insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10 early then 8/10 later)

On a nice night I had randomly thought of the McGuckins loading dock bank to curb thing after seeing it over the holidays. There was a truck parked in it initially so I explored a little. Found some weird polished stone benches in a weird corner. Took a bit to get warmed up, but did a fun line or two. Noseslide, ollie up a curb, ride down some long stairs. Noseslide to fakie, sw front 180 up a curb, nollie back 180 into a little bank.

Then I went back to the bank to curb area and the truck was gone so I skated it. initially I tried some quick ollies off the little drop to the curb, but they didn’t really work. On the bank to curb I only did front tail and back axle, couldn’t quite get a no comply to tail. Then I went in on the line above. The b/s flip was hard. The weird angles and going up a slight curb. Never got it clean, but finally had to call it. It was fun trying the line and I skated hard even if it was just the same line over and over.

(setup 2/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, venture titanium 5.8 ace bushings, 53mm bones stf v1 pj, splay rev s-series green size 12 nike sb insole and curren runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

Stopped by dog park after work. Will, Jason, Ace were there. I didn’t get much past the warm up before we started chatting with Jason. I think I skated okay, but didn’t really do anything. Was fun skating a little and chatting though.

(setup 4/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, venture titanium 5.8 ace bushings, 53mm bones stf v1 pj, splay rev s-series green size 12 nike sb insole and curren runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

Pretty sore from yesterday, met up with Jack and Gordon and an extremely nice day. Seriously though this has to be the warmest winter ever. I was sore and started slow, but had some fun. Gordon hadn’t skated in a bit, but did some good manuals, grinds, nollies, etc. Bratcher was back on the slappy tip doing the reverts right away. We didn’t stick around too long. I ended up skating okay, only thing abnormal was a first try front shove off the c lurb.

Then we went to Mikes Camera ledge. Jack had good sw noeslides, ride on 50s, slappy crooks. Gordon amazing noseslides, good 50s. I filmed him do a line that ended with ollie the bush gap. I got pretty frustrated at front 50s, but got a line that made me feel good. Front 50 the low part, kickflip out of the tiny kicker, front 180 the bush gap. Also some crooks.

Off to Casey where we marveled at Jack’s ender in Nothing before skating the lower part. Gordon had to leave quick did some nollies off the kicker and front 50 gap outs. Jack killed the ollie then 180 combo and switch 180s. The kicker is so hard because it gives away before the end. I wanted to do double kickflips, but instead I only got kickflip then 180. The harder slam hurt. Tried to end it with crooks then kickflip up, but also had to settle for 180 up.

Another fun day of skating in the 60 something degree Feb weather.

(setup 7/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, venture titanium 5.8 ace bushings, 53mm bones stf v1 pj, splay rev s-series green size 12 nike sb insole and curren runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

On a very nice morning I met up with a fun crew at dog park. It would be a fun session. Jake, Jesse, Bratcher, Paul, Eric. I had a setup change that felt good. 8.25/14.25 venture titanium 53s. Jesse was killing some flip tricks out of the gate like heelflip, f/s halfcab heelflip, halfcab heelflip. Paul had his tricks pretty good. Jake had a 2nd try kickflip, some good back 50s, a good crooks on the wood ledge. Saw Eric get heelflip and first try lipslide the green curb. Bratcher had some cool slappy reverts on it. I skated decent for me, but can’t seem to remember much. I know I had a slow fakie 50 on the wood bench which was new and tall for me. At the end Paul, Jake and I played treflip. Paul would get a few after a bit. I would get one after a long bit. A nice way to end the session.

Then I met Bo, Hayden, Noè at Mahaffy. It was super windy so not too fun. Bo killed it though, popping over everything. The wind seriously messed with speed. I got a noseslide to fakie on the bank to curb and a few good feeling crooks on the ledge. Hayden and Bo killed the ledge. We left pretty quickly.

Went to the manny pad/ledge school. It was fun. I was quite sore, not wanting to ollie. But around the time I started to get some crooks I started filming, but it was worth it because Noè got a great line. Hayden a fun one too. After that Whitman and Alex had some cool tricks. Noè went for a manny trick he’s never done. Bo did kickflip manual shove out. I came remotely close to kickflip 50. A line of noseslide then crooks, a no comply 180 after. It was a really fun day.

(setup 7/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, venture titanium 5.8 ace bushings, 53mm bones stf v1 pj, splay rev s-series green size 12 renind impact cush insole)
(pain level 4/10)