The darn rain. Seriously though it had been holding out at our hotel, but on the day we went there it mostly rained. I would get in about an hour of skating total, but didn’t really have time to hit the other nearby spots that seemed almost equally as amazing. I had done a couple of initial noseslides and crooks before the rain picked up. I had a really fun double ride on grinds that were scary slippery. Then I went nearby and skated some curbs for a bit that were fun, but I wasn’t really feeling it. Especially after slamming hard on a nollie back tail attempt. Then the granite dried up and I was able to skate for real for a while. I had a really fun line of noseslide way up top, curve around and ollie a 2.5 stair, ride on grind, noseslide and added backside flip, halfcab flip and almost front 50 on the ledge by the double set. Then I tried kickflip back 50s for a while and was close, but no cigar. I was cut short as it started pouring. Doh! I was pretty unhappy with how bad my setup felt.

(setup 8.25 flower, mob grip, venture 5.6 shake junt v-hollows, spitfire 51mm f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288 b/w no insoles size 11.5)
(pain level 5/10)

Up kind of early with a slight hang over I went to the nearby diy park Dog Shit. And man did I ever suck it up. I could not get into a rhythm and everything was harder or scarier than it should have been. I struggled with basics like front 50s on the lowest ledge, noseslides, crooks, had ghost pop over the hip. Argh. I had some fun little axle stalls on the bank to curb followed by an ollie on a mound, then wallie a corner. Had some fun little scratch grinds on the granite coping. At the end I made myself get a slow little front 50 on the ledge in the upper left of the photo. Oh yeah a German skater had come too and was doing some shredding marathon lines. Like the same stuff every time.

Then I went up to the bench spot that is basically on the opposite corner of an intersection to be humbled even more. I couldn’t do anything. I could barely noseslide. I may have gotten a crook jib. It’s funny because we had watched people skating it the night before and they made it look pretty easy. nope, they are tall and the ground is also pretty rough.

(setup 8.25 flower, mob grip, venture 5.6 shake junt v-hollows, spitfire 51mm f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288 b/w no insoles size 11.5)
(pain level 6/10 knees)

Somehow slept really well and after a banging breakfast at our hotel we went out to see some sights. Swiss Air had lost my luggage so one of the first things on the agenda was to get me a new board and shoes because I didn’t want to delay and then not have a board. So we went to the big mall store Titus and I walked out with a an 8.25 of some Flower brand, some hollow ventures and the smallest wheels they had. The family and I were walking nearby at a city park that has a fountain dedicated to the Grimm fairy tales. I did a quick search in maps and it turned out there was a skatepark like 500 feet away so I of course had to go check it out. I had it all to myself so after a couple of laps around and trying to figure out my new setup I kind of just filmed everything. It was quite a fun session surprisingly except how I couldn’t lock into crooks. I thought I’d only have like 5 minutes, but the family ended up being gone for like 40 minutes so I got a decent little session in. Especially considering my complete and shoes were like 1 hour old. The kickflip flyouts were pretty fun as were the back 50s down the steep little escalator qp.

(setup 8.25 flower, mob grip, venture 5.6 shake junt v-hollows, spitfire 51mm f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288 b/w no insoles size 11.5 (they didn’t have 12s))
(pain level 3/10)

Wasn’t feeling too great and had very little motivation, but had time to kill and wanted to break in some new shoes. Went to Valmont first and totally sucked it up. The shoes felt so bad. My board felt so bad and had ghost pop over the hip. Over at dog park I continued to suck it up until it was time for me to leave. Things got a little better once I took the insoles out.

(setup 3/10 8.25 pmg, venture v-cast/titanium 5.8 with royal bushings no bottom washer, 51mm bones stf pj v1 washers outside, new balance numeric 288S black/grey size 12 with nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a warm sunny day Rob and I rolled to Fossil and met up with Noè and Hayden. There was another kid there skating really close to us, but he meant well. Just made warming up kind of weird. No surprise, but I had changed things again to a setup I had once happily rocked for a long time. 8.25 with venture 5.8 and 51mm. It felt pretty poppy. We started on the top. Noè doing flippers down the 3, down the 6. It was awesome seeing him jump so much. It’s crazy how casually he can treflip the 3 stair. Hayden makes manuals look so easy. Even fakie ones. Rob was locking into nose manuals and took a pretty good slam on one. I had some front 50s on the curb, some intentional 5-0s, kickflip up the curb and made myself front 50 a tallish (for me) ledge before I could go down to the lower area. Saw Rob get a pretty speedy manual and Hayden get a back tail. Noè was trying switch back nose manuals with a backside curve that seemed impossible. I had a couple crooks, accidental 5-0s and front 50s on the low part of the main ledge, halfcab flip and b/s flip and ended with a sketchy ollie up the ledge.

(setup 7/10 8.25 pmg, venture v-cast/titanium 5.8 with royal bushings no bottom washer, 51mm bones stf pj v1 washers outside, new balance numeric 288 sport size 12 with nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Paul and I rolled to Golden park pretty early on a sunny Saturday. Near the park we honked at Bratcher and it was hilarious. He had no idea it was us. The park was mostly the various old guy crews. Bratcher, Jesse, Paul, Jake, Venture Dave, young Mike, Salty. It was sick. Some of us started in the little plaza area. Jake and I did boardslide the first bench then crooks the second. I was on round 2 of Mindys, this time forged, and hated every minute of it. I couldn’t get a treflip after. Paul rattled off lots of ledge tricks on the curb high ledge. Dave did his casual shoves and maybe a nose manual. Then Dave, Mike and I skated the mellow bank for a while which was really fun. Dave did some impossibles, got a couple switch front 3s, switch shove, fakie impossible. Mike did several heelflip variations while I did kickflips. I was hyped to get a frontside flip and b/s flip first try. I couldn’t get a varial or bigflip to save my life though. Was happy on the kickflip body varial even though it actually took me several tries. Nose slides the qp to ledge was way fun. Jesse did pop shove tail grab and varial flip on the kicker. Jake lived up to his end of the bargain of doing his line quickly by doing it first try. Didn’t see others skating much. Was hyped to get a quick Salty clip.

After a trip to Bluecar I met Sean at Brady. I was incredibly sore and decided I need to give up on the Dunks. I could barely skate. Managed a very slow uphill line of noseslide then boardslide. Also got noseslide to fakie and then on Sean’s woke board I managed a crooks in two tries. Sean rattled off some fun casual lines and 50’d the whole ledge. We filmed something else too, it was cool. Not sure I will ever be back there as the ledge is really tall but who knows.

(setup 2/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, forged mindy 144s, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic, nike sb sad dunks then 272s)
(pain level 5/10 at the park then 8/10 at brady)

After logging off work for two weeks I met up with Dave and he was at Valmont park. It was pretty chaotic over there, but fun for a while. Dave was having some good ollies over the hip, lined out a frontside wallie on the barrier hip that was amazing. I got run into by a kid on a strider bike that had no idea what was going on. There was this dude there who did an absolutely perfect switch treflip over the hip that was super inspiring. So I spent a while posing switch b/s flips over the hip that I swear feel doable. Dave tried some switch tres too and made them look possible.

Over to dog park Sean would show up. Dave was skating at a high level. Jumping, front 50s on the bench, manuals around the corner, front boards to fakie, no comply pole jam. I know I’m missing a lot. We jumped the grate gap pretty easily. Sean did Sean things super casual. It’s cray . It was a pretty crowded and heated session, lots of people skating hard. I was skating absolutely terrible then randomly turned everything around with one silly little noseslide to fakie up onto the manual pad that set me up perfectly for switch front nose off and I did it. Been wanting to do that line for months and it just randomly came first try out of nowhere. Stoked me out. Shortly after I was trying the crooks then kickflip line and needed some kodak courage and Sean was kind enough to film it. Right after that is when Dave did the no comply pole jam. Fun Friday.

(setup 3/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 148, 52mm spitfire 99a class f4, nike sb sad dunk nb 440 insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After a day in the office I was late to meet up with Rob and Sean at dog park. I felt so sore and tired since I couldn’t take a nap. Those guys were already going. Sean fakie nosegrind then halfcab nose manual. Nollie back nosegrind then front nosegrind. Rob had a really nice halfcab 50 that hyped up Sean and we both noted neither of us can do it. He also had back 50 no comply shove out, nollie front lips, was thinking about nose manual shove. I had some fun ollies straight off the gate when I wasn’t bailing for no reason. Also a fun boardslide on the taller mobile flatbar. Then I made myself try halfcab noseslides again until I did several on the bench. I lined it out halfcab noseslide, front slappy a parking block, 180 off the grate which wasn’t quite over the gap. Oh well. Lastly made myself front 50 the bench which took a few tries. It was crazy we had the park mostly to ourselves.

(setup 5/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 148, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic, new balance numeric 288 white size 12)
(pain level 7/10 just so sore)

Went to dog park after work feeling a little more tired than I had hoped. This really exposed the heaviness of the Mindys and may have been the start of their death. I skated alright, didn’t really do anything noteworthy for a while. Rob added no comply onto the pad and front board off into his dog park resume. Then added to it with a no comply shove up it first. Some fine quick foot action. Paul was doing lots of flatground and we started trying nollie tres. An hour later he had landed one. I had landed on one, but couldn’t quite stand up from it. Doh. Paul and Rob flinged some varial heels for a while, Paul getting one. This wore me out and I had nothing left. It was fun trying nollie tres though. Oh yeah Eric had shown and had some mean nollie flip and heels over the parking block.

(setup 6/10 pmg 8.25, jessup ultragrip, indy 144 reynolds hollow mids with hollow kingpin, 51mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 288 sport white size 12)
(pain level 4/10)

After work on a Monday following a weekend of feeling like garbage I finally felt up to a little skating. I went to the school with no real plans shortly before sunset. I ended up having a good time even though my legs initially felt like garbage. My warm up line in the back area was noseslide the blue bench, kickflip on flat, 180 onto one of the rocks. Then I did a couple axle stalls each way on the rock. Then down to the flatground area for a slappy crook then heelflip. Took a bit. Was happy to skate though.

(setup 6/10 pmg 8.25, jessup ultragrip, indy 144 reynolds hollow mids with hollow kingpin, 51mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 288 sport white size 12)
(pain level 4/10)