On a nice Friday afternoon I met up with Will at dog park. I started in my Splay shoes and could tell they really helped reduce the pain in my foot. But they are so floppy I could not do anything in them. Switched to 440s and the foot pain came back quickly. Ugh. I was able to kickflip quickly though. Went for a 3rd shoe which was the Vans wafflecup and it seemed like a decent compromise. I did not skate well, but had some good feeling crooks on the new butter bench. Had one front 50 on the lurb that felt good. Hucked a bunch of noseslide 270 shoves, some of which were close. Will was very quick to 50 and nosegrind everything. Then he went in on manual kickflip out which took him a while. What a cool trick. The bonus nosegrind was a nice touch. Glad to get some skating in, really hoping this foot pain goes away though.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null kaleidoscape, pepper cheap not so good grip, venture 5.6 v.8 hollow hangers ace bushings, 50mm spitfire f4 101a tablets, a few different shoes)
(pain level 8/10 right foot pain from tennis)

After work stopped by the parks to test out my foot and man it was not good. So on Monday I was playing tennis with Liz trying to break in some new Foy cupsoles and my foot started hurting. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but man it did not go away. Even pushing hurt as it’s my back foot. So I went over to the skatepark right as Dave was rolling up. I had no confidence and didn’t do much. Dave revealed the Gat Air which he did several time. I wanted to do it too, but it was too much for my back foot. Did some fun bean plants. Dave had done some lines in the pond avoiding the kids. The lipslide was so good. Hope my foot gets better soon!

(setup 7/10 8.25 null kaleidoscape, pepper cheap not so good grip, venture 5.6 v.8 hollow hangers ace bushings, 50mm spitfire f4 101a tablets, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 9/10 right foot pain from tennis)

On a nice Easter afternoon I drove off with no plans in mind other than to hit some random business spots and avoid skateparks. Ended up at a newish building off 55th that has the crazy roof spot. Had a setup change. 8.25 with v8s. It was decent. Had too big of wheels on it though – 53mm. I started with a warm up line that was really a decent line anyway. Noseslide a tall wood ledge, ride down a handicap ramp, ollie a parking block, kickflip off a curb cut. Took me a while to commit to the kickflip, but when I did it felt great. I sized up moving a bench after the kicker, but there was a sign that messed with it. I skated some flat for a bit until I could do a rare one and I got a first try 1mph frontside flip out of nowhere so that made me happy. Went to a nearby spot that has a weird gap I chickened out on again. Tried to line out a tall 3 stair ollie. Fakie flip, halfcab flip, ollie the 3. Changed it to b/s flip then halfcab flip and only got to the 3 stair once and bailed again. Decided I should just go home and enjoy the chill day.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null kaleidoscape, pepper cheap not so good grip, venture 5.6 v.8 hollow hangers bones medium bushing which were too tight, 53mm snot franky wheels, new balance numeric 440v2 high size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

On a coolish Saturday morning I met up with Jake, Gordon, Scotty P, Ladd at Barnum DIY. We had some time before Nullers started showing which was Garrett, Noè, Lakin, Bo and Hayden. The place is great. I attempted to start on my 8.5, but I didn’t. Skated an 8.25 with T2s which I thought was okay until I couldn’t crook to save my life. It was a fun session though. I skated pretty hard for the first couple hours because I knew my time was limited. Had quite a few front 50s on the lower obstacles, close to manuals. Tried a line for a while of switch front nose, halfcab flip, kick back 50. Never got the kick back 50. Hucked some flippers, didn’t get some. Jake had front 50s and tails, battled noseslide shove and got a really good one even if no one but me saw it. Gordon was ripping full speed 50s, manuals, ride on grinds and noseslides. Ladd makes things look easy. Scott put down some shoves. Garrett showed and quickly kickflip manualled the pad and front nosed the upper deck ledge. Nollie 180 crooks was sick. Then everyone else showed up and did great things. We then went to the ledge up the hill. I did a quick switch nose jib into the hill then filmed Lakin and Garrett battle the ledge.

(setups 8.5/14.25 with thunder then 8.25 with T2 neither were great, 440v2 highs with half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

I really shouldn’t have gone skating. Work had drained my soul and I had no energy. But I tried to skate because it was so nice out. Slappys weren’t even working. Seriously was struggling with slappy crooks of all things. Kickflips were hard. Was totally defeated on treflips, heelflips. It was an absolutely brutal session that really made me consider hanging up the towel. I was luckily smart enough to leave and go play football with Ollie which was so much more fun.

(setup 2/10 null 20 years 8.5/14.25, jessup ultra, thunder hollow lite 149, bones stf 52mm v1 103a, new balance numeric 440 wide highs black size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Had like 15-20 minutes on the way into work. After a little roll around I went in on the ‘warm up’ line I had tried last week and lost my mind. This time I would get it, but it still took more tries than I would think. Felt cool though. Then I did a few front 50s on the hump to ledge before getting one on the regular bench then going into work.

(setup 6/10 null 20 years 8.5/14.25, jessup ultra, thunder hollow lite 149, bones stf 52mm v1 103a, new balance numeric 440 wide highs black size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

After work I stopped by dog park. It was a little cooler out, I guess seasonal instead of the heat wave we’ve had. The park was empty when I arrived, but would very quickly get heated with some rippers. I felt old af. Like I shouldn’t be there at all. I stuck with it though, really didn’t get beyond my basics. Front 50 the bench, halfcab noseslide, struggled with crooks, really struggled with flip tricks. Talked to Matt for a while. Skated more, the majority of the youth left. There was one dude left and he skated in such a cool way doing really good lines with planned flip tricks. Sw back heel was so cool, treflips. I tried a bunch of treflips and landed none of them. This entry is making me more bummed now that I’m writing it as I really didn’t do anything beyond ultra basic for me.

(setup 5/10 null 20 years 8.5/14.25, jessup ultra, thunder hollow lite 149, bones stf 52mm v1 103a, new balance numeric 440 wide highs black size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Met up with Cass, then Gordon and Ladd at the RiNo art park. We started near the ride on grind area. Cass got close to f/s grinds. I mostly dorked out a line of nose stall the middle ledge, switch front nose the lower one, switch 180, noseslide a bench. Ladd had some flippers into the handicap bank and was close to landing the ride on grind. Gordon some poppy nollies into the handicap ramp, close to the ride on grind and some cool manuals on the top bench. Cass had some solid front shoves off the low ledge and we suggested he take it to the nearby bit 3. So he did! What the heck. It was a tough battle, but he did it. After that Gordon’s back was too messed up to skate much. Ladd rattled off some tricks up/down the little stage. I think the highlight was kickflip up then nollie heel down. I did some slow crooks, sw noeslides and kickflips on the bank. I skated for a while trying to piece together something decent, but I never really did. Ladd took a cool photo of a crooks though which I’m hyped on. Thanks Ladd! Fun day. A little frustrated that another day went by without a treflip of any sort. Gotta work on that.

(setup 7/10 null 20 years 8.5/14.25, jessup ultra, thunder hollow lite 149, bones stf 52mm v1 103a, new balance numeric 440 wide highs black size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

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Met up with Bratcher at dog park. Fergs was there too. Was a pretty quick and fun session. I hadn’t done a whole lot before Jack wanted to move on to the streets. A slow front 50 on the bench, halfcab noseslide, some crook attempts on the top shelf. Fergs and I hucked some flippers. I was on the 8.5/14.25 with thunders. It seemed alright.

Then we went to a 4 flat 3 flat 3 that Jack wanted to check out. It was pretty gnar with very little space in between sets. We didn’t even think of trying the 4 to start because the landing was so close to the next 3. I managed to ollie both the 3s at least.

Then a quick stop at the snowboard jump since we were so close. I took a few tries to get a kickflip.

Then to the 3 stair area. I was playing with lines, Jack was rattling off tricks down the 3. I had a line of halfcab flip, terrible ollie a manhole then front 180 the 3. Jack rattled off 180, switch 180, halfcab, pop shove, one foot, switch ollie. It was crazy how willing he was to commit. I was hyped on a front 180 up 2nd try then took forever to kickflip down it. I did commit several times before the roll away so had a few slams.

Jack left. I looked at the little ledge by the trash cans and did a couple of basics. Then noticed another area nearby I had never hit before. The ledge was really tall and a noseslide was hard. Someone good could line it out with a trick down a long 4 stair.

Fun day skating in the streets!

(setup 7/10 null 20 years 8.5/14.25, jessup ultra, thunder hollow lite 149, bones stf 52mm v1 103a, new balance numeric 440 wide highs black size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Stopped at dog park after work. At no point did I have much energy or drive, but man it was nice out. Dave had said he was coming otherwise I would have bailed. Robbie was there ripping and fun to talk to. Only thing I did was 4 basic slide tricks on the blue ledge. Halfcab noseslide, nollie tail, nollie back tail, fakie front nose (which was terrible but I counted it). Dave switch manualled the grate, had some lines. Then we went over to Valmont and I watched Dave b/s flip the hip while a young BMXer busted tricks like back flips and 360 tail whips. It was really fun to watch.

(setup 2/10 8.3 indy and splays)
(pain level 7/10)