After a bad night of sleep I met up with some mostly older folks at dog park. It was supposed to be super nice, but instead it was pretty windy which sucked the warmth out. Bratcher and Jesse were there shredding, working on crooked grinds when I first showed. Jesse was popping over flat bars like it was nothing. Jack apparently switch 50d the curb and had some nice back 5-0s that I saw. Paul was there shredding like he does. Back 5-0s easy, switch slappy crooks, nollie 180 switch crooks on the curb. Will showed up and casually front 50’d everything. Sean worked up to a line of ollie the hydrant, nose manual up the table, back nosegrind the bench, front 180 nose manual, fakie flip on flat. Wow! I had new skate shoes. I had given up on the Xeros. I had the one shoe closest resembling the fit I want. The New Balance 288 Sport. They felt decent. I wasn’t sure how they would feel after six weeks of Xeros so I paired it with an 8.5 with venture 5.8s that I immediately hated. I have no recollection of anything noteworthy that I did.

(setup 1/10 null vhs 8.5, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast/titanium, 51mm bones stf pj 103a v1, new balance numeric 288S size 12 w/b 425 insoles)
(pain level 4/10 body still adjusting to skating again)

After work I bolted to dog park/Valmont which to my surprise both were dry so I just went to dog park. Paul was there. I started on 8.75, then went back to the 8.5 setup. I hated my shoes and my setup. Paul and I tried nollie tail up to switch crooks. He would get a couple. I would get a lot closer than I imagined possible. I would get a couple 50s on the curb and lurb, but ended up bashing my foot and really being completely over the Xeros. I did string together a couple tricks I liked though. Front 50 back 180 out the curb then switch noseslide shove the bench and almost fakie 50 after. Oh I had a couple alright crooks too as did Paul who is somehow new to that trick. Robbie had some ultrafast front 5-0 back 180s on the bus station bench. Matt showed up with Teddy and we chatted.

(setup 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55 low, 53mm bones v1 pj, xero kelso b/w size 12 nike sb and xero insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Back in the garage on a winter night trying to get primed for Hawaii in a week. Didn’t go so well. I mixed setups but mostly rode an 8.75 with aces and 51mms. Meh. Got several kickfilps in a row, but that was about the only good. Couldn’t get treflip or b/s flip or crooks. Felt good jumping though. Starting to really hate how these shoes feel and having to double up insoles which takes away all the pop and board feel.

(setup 8.75/8.5 nullsssssss)

Out in the garage on a snowy day lunch break. Skated for about 45 minutes. Mostly just stationary since there is so little room in my cluttered garage. Took a bit to get kickflips. Took even longer to get a treflip, but the key is that I did land on one. I put my feet on a few of them. Still amazed at how small 8.5 feels with the Kelsos. Ugh.

(setup 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55 low, 53mm bones v1 pj, xero kelso b/w size 12 nike sb and xero insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Up pretty early on a warmish morning Jack and I rolled to Thornton which was snowy in places, but only a couple of other skaters the whole time which was nice. I had changed my setup a bit, royal 149s and 53s. It was the best setup I’ve had yet as far as pairing with the Kelsos, but still lacked pop and I couldn’t flip it. That might be the soreness of skating a few days in a row after such little skating for weeks. My skating was basically garbage. One fun warm up run was a little nollie back 180 on the taco, crooks the little ledge, nollie back 180 the hip. I did a few crooks. Couldn’t get a kickflip to fakie on the taco but I didn’t try much since one of the other guys was trying too. I tried like 50 front 50s on the little baby ledge and couldn’t get up there. ARGH. I skated the little qp for a while with Salty and Jack. Jack was working on good back 50s and getting close to front 50s. I did a bunch of front 50s that were really fun. Salty was trying back 50s around the corner near the taco and then fakie front 50s on the little qp. Getting frustrated like me on both ha ha. I made myself ollie up the ledge over and over until I finally got one with a front 50 on the qp. So again, mostly frustration session but I hadn’t ollied that many times in a day in forever and I was really sore from skating four days in a row.

(setup: 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, royal ultralight 149, bones pj 53mm v1 103a, xero kelso b/w size 12 nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain level 5/10 general soreness but the calf felt good)

Feeling lots of anxiety about skating too much on my calf I went to dog park to meet up with a crew of older dudes. We would have the park to ourselves. Rob was there! Great seeing him again. I started on an 8.75 with Aces which felt good until I tried to flip it. But I did feel pretty solid on the board during the warm up process. I went back to the 8.5 with Thunders after a bit and mostly hated it. I skated for close to a couple hours, but was very conservative and didn’t really get beyond boardslide/noseslides/slappy crooks. Paul and Sean were hucking varial heels and I tried a couple. Sean did several that were super good. Jesse had some good manuals and boardslides around the kinked rail. Rob worked out some cobwebs and he hasn’t skated in a couple months. Front board pop out looked cool. Jack had some crooks on the curb, boardslides around the kinked rail. Sean popped over the hydrant to back nosegrind 180. Also nollie back nosegrinds and trying to nollie frontside nosegrind. I was quite depressed after this session even though I shouldn’t be as I am just getting over the calf tear.

(setup 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, thunder 151 hollow lite, 51mm bones pj 103a v1, xero kelso b/w size 12 nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After work on a nice Friday I wasn’t up for a dog park session so I just went to the school across the street. I started on the original square curb in the oval section and had a really good time doing different stalls and even hucking a few flip tricks. Had a couple kickflips, halfcab flip, front smith stall that was fun, front tail, back pivots. Then I went up and did a couple slappies but wasn’t really feeling how hard I had to push to have the speed to do a good slappy. So I went to the side of the school and skated flatground for about half an hour. It did not go well. Had a couple kickflips, fakie flips, halfcab flip, couldn’t get a fakie bigflip.

(setup 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, thunder 151 hollow lite, 51mm bones pj 103a v1, xero kelso b/w size 12 nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

My calf was feeling better and I wanted to get out and test it a little without anyone around. I went to Scott Carpenter before work which served two purposes. 1, no one would be there and 2, I was on very limited time. I stuck with my theme of changing my setup every day of the year so far. Really though, it’s just trying to find something that works okay with the wide Xero Kelsos. 8.5 with Thunder team hollows and 53mm wheels. It was too much, I couldn’t pop to save my life. Mostly my session consisted of really bad flailing without any confidence. I had one crooks on the bench that felt good, some fun 50s on the qp, little noseslide down the hubba.

(setup 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, thunder 149 team hollow venom 88a bushings, 53mm bones pj 103a v1, xero kelso b/w size 12 nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Decided to try and skate after all, but only the ramp. There were a lot of 20 somethings there on over-30 night. All are nice. Jack B was there and he eventually gave up skating the street area just not digging the vibe. I was wearing the Xero’s and they felt weird as I skated a “smaller” board this time 8.5. The extra width of the shoes makes all boards feel so small. I didn’t skate the ramp well at all although I did get a couple hurricanes in a row. Brian took such a gnarly slam to start on a front feeble fakie. But he would get up and go on to skate and entertain the way we love. Salty skated the ramp the whole time too. The fakie 270 feeble fakie was sick. Jack B came and skated it for a bit. Christian destroyed as he does. I’m writing this way too many days after the session to remember who did what. I do remember laughing that Christian tries back noseblunts as his exit trick often. It was a fun session, although I was pretty unhappy with how I skated and how bad my setup/shoes felt. I did enjoy being around skateboarding though.

(setup 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, royal ultralight 149, bones pj 51mm stf v1, xero kelso b/w size 12 nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain level 3/10 my calf doesn’t really hurt too bad but the gross swollen knot weirds me out)

Shortly after the Dr told me not to skate I picked up Kevin in Denver and we went to Broomfield park. For those not in the know, Kevin moved to WI. But yeah the doc wasn’t happy with my calf progress and said not to skate for a long time. Well, he said to avoid jumping which I mostly did. But going to Broomfield isn’t very good for that. Especially when only the street section is dry and even the quartapotty had a puddle in front of it. I rode my 8.75 setup because why not, it should prevent me from trying flip tricks and ollies. I did do a kickflip though which felt surprisingly good. Also a few basic non-pop nose stall related tricks on the ledges. Kevin took requests like a first try signature switch nosegrind 180. There were a few people there with multiple phones in the way pointing at tricks they were trying. It ended up getting pretty cold and windy so we left.

In Boulder we went to Valmont which was 10 degrees colder, but the sun had come out and there was no wind so it felt great. I kept with trying not to really jump. Had some fun doing ultra basic front 5-0 to fakie on the top of the bank and a couple fun runs on the little transition area in the top. Cass, Jack B, Paul also showed. Kevin did a switch backside flip, alley oop nollie b/s flip, some good long runs. Paul gets his back leg up on ollies and they look rad. Cass back big over the euro like it’s nothing. Jack B went over to the small section of dog park that was dry and worked on crooks. I did a couple slappies there eventually. Kevin had nollie nosegrind on the bench. Cass was almost doing back 180 nosegrinds on the curb.

(setup null 8.75 spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, ace 55 hollow, bones 51mm pj v1 103a, xero kelso b/w size 12 nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain level 3/10 not much pain because I didn’t really do anything)