Had to run boards to Broomfield area so went to the skatepark after. Was there first. Gordon, Will, Taylor would show later. Along with a ripper named Alex. I started okay with the warm ups. Managed a line of front 50 then back 50 on the lurb before Gordon started skating. But then it seemed I kind of just fizzled out. I did have a line of switch noseslide the black ledge, fakie flip on the bank, crooks the black ledge. Also front board, kickflip to fakie, halfcab noseslide. But man I got to the front 50 on black ledge and could not do it to save my life and it was soooooo depressing. I never recovered from it. Gordon hadn’t skated in a while, he was ripping manuals, nose manuals, switch manuals, shove manuals, 50s, 5-0s, shoves to fakie. Will threw down his tricks quick. The front nosegrind 180 is a new one in his bag that he apparently just as piece of cake now.

We went to try and find a new spot, but couldn’t find it. Got the boot from another. Ended up at the 5 stair spot, but I was toast. Gordon and Will did some manuals. We messes around.

Not the best start to a new year, not the worst.

(setup 2/10 8.25/14 sample, jessup ultra null, venture 5.6 v-hollow with ace bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, splay rev s-series black size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Went to Willville in the afternoon on NYE. Did some warm ups. Somehow did a couple sketchy manuals into the bank right away. Then a warm up line of kickflip, nose manual (deck check), curve around then front 50. Then I went in on kickflip manuals. I was close, but not that close. Was also kind of close to nollie flips on flat, didn’t get treflips either. I started trying lines of front 50 then backside flip, but the ledge stopped grinding. So I hucked kick back tails for 30 minutes. Man it felt like I could have gotten it. Would like to get that one in 2026.

So there’s 2025. I managed my main goal of not having a significant injury. But I didn’t really skate so well overall and I still have insane setup madness that makes progressing hard.

(setup 5/10 8.25/14 sample, jessup ultra null, venture 5.6 v-hollow with ace bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, splay rev s-series black size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On my lunch break went across the street to the side of the school to skate some flatground. My warm ups were meh, but kickflip and fakie flip were within a couple tries so I thought I’d be good. Nope. About 45 minute went by and I hadn’t landed another single flip trick. I had gotten close to several, but nothing. I was borderline losing my mind. But somehow I managed an actual good heelflip, my best in years. It actually popped and leveled out. So that hyped me up enough to continue and get a few more of the staples like halfcab flip, f/s halfcab flip, terrible fakie bigflip and eventually a backside flip. I had come very close to nollie flip, f/s halfcab heel and treflip.

(setup 5/10 8.25/14 sample, jessup ultra null, venture 5.6 v-hollow with ace bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, splay rev s-series black size 12 with remind cush insoles and impact layer)
(pain level 5/10)

Slightly before the sun went behind the foothills I went to campus on a cool day. As I rolled into campus I realized there was much more snow/ice than I had anticipated. I ended up at the little bank spot as it still had some sun. I thought I’d just do a quick kickflip to fakie and then try something harder. But instead I spent 20 minutes to get a kickflip. Argh. I was pretty frustrated and moved on once I finally got the kickflip. Ended up at the business building. Did some stalls on the first step of the 3 stair, then went around and noseslide the tall ledge. The main frontside ledge had snow on it. I had tried a few crooks on the tall ledge and didn’t get one. Did a great feeling b/s flip and halfcab flip on flat. Ended up waxing the middle step above and going in on a line of front 50 then a trick on a nearby lurb. Did front 50 then noseslide. Then went in on front 50 180 out on the 2nd stair then halfcab noseslide on the lurb. For the most part I was happy with the pop of my setup and got into the 50s pretty easily without many accidental 5-0s. But the 50 180 out was not working until I miraculously did a terrible one and there was no way I would miss a terrible halfcab noseslide too. Tried a back heel after for good measure and failed. At that point my legs were quite tired and I realized the temperature had dropped into the 20s so I called it a day.

(setup 7/10 8.25/14 sample, jessup ultra null, venture 5.6 v-hollow with ace bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, splay rev s-series black size 12 with remind cush insoles and impact layer)
(pain level 4/10)

After driving back from Omaha and chilling for a bit I headed out to campus on a new sample setup. 8.25 with 14″ wheelbase and venture v-hollows. I’ve been wanting to try the 14″ wb for a while now and it felt okay. I randomly started at the main intersection on campus and did a line of ollie up a curb, drop down manual, 180 off a curb. It took a while and I had a lot of ghost pops up the curb. Then I went over to the downhill hallway ledge where noseslides felt way better than normal. Tried to line out noseslide then frontside axle stall. Never quite got it, but I was happy to try as I don’t know if I’ve gotten onto a ledge that tall in forever. Managed a crappy crooks. Tried a few back 50s, but could not commit. All in all a decent session of trying to push myself to ollie higher even though i was exhausted. I enjoyed the smaller wheelbase setup as it seemed to make flippers and ledges easier. Although i didn’t really try many flippers or f/s ledge tricks.

(setup 6/10 8.25/14 sample, jessup ultra null, venture 5.6 v-hollow with bones medium broken bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, splay rev s-series black size 12 with remind cush insoles and impact layer)
(pain level 5/10)

After hitting botanical gardens with the family we were driving right by this park so I had them drop me off. It was very nice out and the park was popping. I have never skated it with more than a few people total. Was hyped to skate the new stuff. As I took an initial roll around to check things out I heard my name called and it turned out the legend Drew was there. So hyped! He was shredding the ledges a new one. Nollie crooks, fakie nosegrind 180s, slappy the tall ledge both regs and switch, total ripper. I skated better than I thought I would considering I didn’t do my normal warm up at all. Had my normal noseslide and crooks on the ledges. Spent some time on kickflip noseslide the bank to ledge and was remotely close. That would have been a dream come true. Took a while to get a slappy on the new bank to curb, but man it felt good once I did it. Missed several kickflips on the bigger hip bank which was the only negative of the session. Was great to get out and enjoy the sun and catch up with Drew.

(setup 5/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, indy titanium 144, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, splay rev s-series black size 12 remind cush insoles + impact insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Had a bit of time to get some skating in. Checked out the new school area which didn’t offer as much as the old school, but it did have a long red curb and a great new manny pad. I did some slappies, a few flippers and took like an hour to get a clean manual. The curbs there are weird, they are half transition. One thing I tried was a lot of Janoski flips after manual attempts. Some were remotely close. Then I went to the park area which I had somehow never skated before. The weird kinked hubba was terrifying as it was so low to get on. I still should have tried it though, instead I took a while to ollie over the curb part. Lastly I skated the double sided fountain. I had done some noseslides, but boardslide was taking me forever. Kind of got one, but not really and had to go. Decent little session.

(setup 5/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, indy titanium 144, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, splay rev s-series black size 12 remind cush insoles + impact insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Feeling quite depressed and anxious about skateboarding I went to Westminster to meet Garrett at a new spot we saw at Denver Spot Locator. I got there first. One of my favorite thing about skateboarding is showing up at a new spot and being humbled by how hard it is, but then eventually getting used to some things. What makes this spot harder than it looks is the uphill approach as it curves and narrows. But we skated and we eventually landed some stuff we were happy with. I took a while to get boardslide. Even longer to get noseslide and noseslide to fakie. I did the kickflip to fakie then sw noseslide a few times, once with a 270 shove out. Actually, I did all the lines a few times. One other line I got was just an ollie on the bank and then nollie front tail on the ledge. I had gotten quite a few accidental front 5-0s and a 50 or two, but couldn’t do it once I selfie filmed. Garrett had lots of front nose and front tail variations. He then went on to film another banger tech trick for an eventual Null video. Joe showed and proceeded to huck himself down the big 2. Took him a bit, but he got it. Then on to back noseblunt on the ledge which was nuts. Fun session. Really needed a decent session after the last few. Oh yeah, I had put Indy Titaniums on my 8.25 setup. I liked it a lot.

(setup 7/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, indy titanium 144, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, splay rev s-series black size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 5/10 pretty sore and arthritic feeling still)

It was kind of snowing here in Boulder when I left to meet Will at Broomfield around noon. Got to the park and it was just Taylor and he was ripping. I started on my bigger 8.3, but this time with ventures. Felt great initially at least. Got through the normal warmups pretty quickly, even a few slow front 50s on the blurb. But then I just fell apart and had no motivation, drive, or peace with my setup. I changed back to the 8.25 with thunders and completely hated it other than 8.25 felt better than 8.3. Taylor had crooks shove and crooks to fakie. Will had his casual grace on the ledges and came close to nollie front 180 switch manual on the blurb.

(setups 8.3 with ventures with redrilled madness and 8.25 with thunder team hollows both of which sucked and then my splay revs which i still like)
(pain level 5/10 good ol’ arthritis)

Went to the garage during another 100+ mph wind day after work to skate some flatground. I had my smaller 8.25 with thunder setup. Started okay with some warm ups. Didn’t do so well on kickflips, but had fakie flip first try and got bs flip and halfcab flip. Tried halfcab heel for a while and could not get one. Then went into a four trick rotation. Nollie varial heel, treflip, switch flip and varial heel. Initially I was close to some nollie varial heels, but then they went away. Treflips were all close, but I kept not landing them. I was close to a few switch flips, but there was one in particular that was extremely close had it flipped a little faster. Varial heels I was quite close to as well. Then I just wanted to get a treflip so I just did them. I got some of my feet on a few, but never got one. I was getting so angry, lost my voice screaming. It was not cool.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null thunder 148 team hollow 52mm spits splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insole)
(pain level 3/10)