Been really tired this week. Went over to the school wearing xero’s because I was sick of the pain that skate shoes cause me. I went over to the school on a weird setup of 8.25 with 8.5 slappy trucks. And I would really like it. Because you know, I like everything the first time. I was lazy, was interrupted by people often. Went home and regrouped and actually tried a few ollies and flippers. Nothing really of note though. It’s crazy the difference in shoes. Like some of the movements I made to avoid pain were no longer necessary in the Xeros. But that doesn’t mean they are great for skating.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, slappy 8.5, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, xero kelso with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Set my alarm early to go skate Boulder park before work. I sat there for a while debating if I should get up, but forced myself to get up. Got to the park shortly after sunrise although it was cloudy. Would go on to skate for about an hour and a half and had the park to myself the whole time and skated pretty hard (but not good) for me. I went the line route for the most part starting very basic and getting a little harder. An early one I was happy with was crooks the bench then kickflip going frontside over the hump. Also fakie ollie the deck hump, slow front 50 the triangle ledge, kickflip the main hip bank, then noseslide the bump to triangle. Noselide the bench, up around to roll in the little qp then ollie onto the triangle. Then one that took way too long, but was pretty rewarding. Kickflip to fakie the deck bank up top, halfcab noseslide the triangle ledge, turn around then a little b/s nollie on the hip and a front 50 on the bench which was so hard. Then I hucked some. Remotely close to cab flip the hump, noseslide 270 shove. Made myself get a few front 50s on the bench at the end. Wanted to do a 180 out but wasn’t close and I was gassed at that point. Fun session, skated hard.

(setup 8.5 null 20 year 14.25 wb, null grip, royal ultralight 149, 52mm bones v1 stf, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Got sick after the weekend so hadn’t skated in a few days. After the last session I had made a couple setup changes to try and dial in a non-woke setup. 8.25 with ace, 8.5 with slappy. I had a much better warm up ollie on the 8.25 so I started with it and went to the oval curb area and went through some basic stalls. Then went over to the curb cut area and tried a line of switch 180 into one then kickflip out of the next. But I couldn’t get the kickflip to work to save my life. So I went home and got the 8.5 with Slappys and would get the line in a few tries. I didn’t go on to really like that setup, but I liked it more. Tried some stalls on the bigger rock in the back, got a couple halfcab flips and noseslides on the table. Then went home. I guess I was still feeling kind of run down.

(setup 8.25/ace and 8.5/14.25/slappy with nb 600 and currex insoles)
(pain level 4/10 but had no energy or drive)

Nice day. Went to dog park and met Garrett and Joe after some slacking. Paul would show after a while too. I was there first and the crowd was kind of a weird mix of beginners and 303 dudes. I had changed setup to 8.5/14.25/aces and it felt big, but okay. I had some success popping up things, crooks. I was skating pretty mid though. Especially after it felt like I hyperextended my toes. Garrett and Joe showed. I switched from vulcs to cups in hope of less pain which worked. Joe wasn’t really feeling it, but still managed some quick bangers as he does. Garrett kickflipped off the kicker over the barrier and flowed around the park really well. Paul showed and eventually some flatground ensued. Garrett and Paul rattled off treflip after treflip and I kind of got one. Then Garrett said he’d get me a marg if I landed one. I kept trying and trying going so slow and eventually got two in a row. They felt so great. Paul also landed a few nollie frontside flips which he’s been working on lately. I would go on to get my first heelflip in forever too which also felt cool. Then we went and celebrated.

(setup 7/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55 hollow, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles after the 272s)
(pain level 5/10 toes from the hyper extension)

On a nice Saturday morning I went to dog park. I haven’t been too motivated by dog park lately but I think now that I can ollie more again it maybe I will again. It ended up being a really fun session, some of the best I’ve felt on my board in months. I took way too long to write this entry though and forget a lot of it. I was happy to get a few kickflips off the kicker and a front 50 front 180 out on the little ledge. I had some more dog park traditional moves like crooks and stuff. I couldn’t get a treflip or kickflip up onto the pad though. Bratcher, Jesse, Dan, Ferg, Scotty, Paul, everyone was ripping. Jesse first try pop shove tailgrab over the grate was nuts. Haven’t seen Paul skate in a while, he’s still got lots of moves. Watching Dan skate is always a treat. Radley was there ripping too. Bratcher had some cool pole rides, slappies and a lot more. It was a really fun session, best I’ve felt on my board in a while. Would have liked to have gotten a treflip though. I was trying them in lines after kickflips off the side of the grate. Oh I also had some halfcab noseslides on the bench which might not seem like anything, but they are hard for me.

(setup 6/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow bones medium bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, es swift b/w size 12 with spenco 3/4 thinsole orthotics)
(pain level 3/10!)

Before dinner I went over to the school hoping the side was clear of snow. It kind of was, but I had to clear some out and it would dry quick. I had a slight setup change, ace lows instead of highs. It flipped rather nicely but I can’t say I was totally sold. I would get several kickflips, some fakie flips, couple halfcab and b/s flips, couple slow f/s halfcab flips, a floppy varial flip. Couldn’t quite get f/s halfcab heel, heelflip or treflip. Argh. At the end I went up and saw this snow pile which I ollied in a few tries. It’s been so long since I ollied over anything, I do love having some random snow piles to ollie in winter.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace 44 lows hard bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12 remind medic insoles)
(pain level 5/10 probably should have taken a day off skating though)

Met up with Cass at Broomfield, did some shoveling/squeegeeing for a while, then went to look at this bank spot but it was covered in snow. Some driving later we ended up back at Broomfield which had dried up quite a bit. We put in a little more effort then were able to skate the lower part without issue really. Darin showed up as we were getting warmed up. Cass was kind of ripping. Back 50s, hardflips, fakie back tail. Darin had his moves and made himself do a treflip pretty quickly. I didn’t land much of anything other than a halfcab noseslide and fakie 50 for quite a while. I was getting quite upset, but then had to reset and just make myself do more basics. Ollied up on the black box then did some accidental 5-0s on the blue. Got a crooks and a 5-0. Switch front nose then switch back nose shove. So it didn’t end up being the worst session, but I definitely wasn’t happy. Especially with how I couldn’t do flip tricks to save my life even on a smaller setup.

(setup 3/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace 44, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12 remind cush impact insole)
(pain level 5/10 pretty sore)

On an incredibly nice afternoon I ran a couple errands and then went in search of dry spots. I ended up at the double micro hip. The f/s hip is steeper than it looks on video, but still a glorified crack hip. I had put together a new setup with ventures and loved it at this spot. I think I did my first 5 kickflips so easily. Also had some solid feeling stalls on the curb. Again, it doesn’t look like a slant but I came somewhat close to a front tail to back 270 shove to fakie out. Then I went in on the wallride nollie which took way longer than it should. Then I took a while to fakie bigspin the hip before a few b/s flips that didn’t take too long or look too good. Then the halfcab flip which took like 30 minutes. I couldn’t believe it. The setup was a little weird having to curve around, but still, ridiculous and yet somewhat rewarding. I guess it just feels good to try hard again even if it’s tricks I used to have on lock.

Then I went to Platte middle school. The good flatground on the side of the school was still snowed in, but the manny pads were dry. I forgot how much I hate those pads, the cracks kill me. Initially I could barely ollie onto the pads and I was so angry and hating my setup. Eventually I would get a nose manual and then much later a regular manual or two which may have had some tilts. Pathetic. I went over to the 3 stair which luckily had some runoff preventing me from trying to ollie up it. I really wanted to ollie down it first try, but instead it took like 8 tries and I once again was annoyed with my lack of confidence and how massive my setup felt. I was happy that I skated as hard as I did though.

(setup 4/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, null grip, venture 5.8 v-cast/titanium with bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, es swift b/s size 12 with spenco 3/4 thinsoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After the snow stopped falling there were some dry patches where it had been plowed so I went searching. Ended up out on Arapahoe and had some good decent flatground a curb and a wet ledge. I hadn’t setup a new 8.5/14.25 board so instead I just brought a couple setups with Aces on them. Meh. I compared the two but mostly skated the 8.25. Did a few stalls on the curbs and managed one fakie back tail. I tried a line of halfcab flip, treflip, b/s flip. Never got the treflip. Wasn’t even really close or fully committed. Did some axle stalls. Would end up getting a few halfcab flips, close to fakie front heel. For the most part though flip tricks seem impossible these days. Kickflipping up the curb was mental battle. Also, ace trucks with 53mm wheels do not flip well. But the wheels did ride through the huge cracks before the bump to ledge pretty well. Kinda weird calling it a setup change because had I known it was going to dry up I would have setup a new board.

(setup 2/10 8.25 pmg ace 44s 53mm pjs es swift 12 with spenco 3/4 thinsoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a cold morning doing PT I met up with Cass and Jake at a crowded Cushing skatepark. Jake’s back was hurting so we mostly just skated the micro halfpipe. Jake did his front and back blunts, switch blunt, almost sugarcane and more I’m forgetting. Cass and I had similar front 50s. He had some front 5-0s, tail. I had some disasters and the little revert tricks. It’s a really fun area. Did a couple of noseslides on the ledge. It’s funny to me how the switch front nose still gets love from others. Got a crooks that didn’t come easy. Cass may have gotten kickflip up the hip or b/s flip the hip.

Then we went to Merrill school which I hadn’t been to in a few years. The asphalt has taken a beating, but it was still run. Initially I was really sore and lacking confidence and didn’t think I would do anything. Cass got a good kickflip over the hip and I eventually got a really slow kickflip that didn’t go over the mound. Cass then did a really good hardflip which we are saving. I setup the cam for my b/s flip and tried to add fakie bigflip but didn’t really get it. Cass came really close to treflip. Then I started lining it out and it was really fun. The line is just a few basic tricks, but after not being able to really try tricks the last couple of months it felt so great to try hard and link a few tricks. Really fun session.

(setup 9/10 generator 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 royal bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, vans wayvee white size 12 spenco 3/4 thinsole orthotic and 272 insoles)
(pain level 4/10 started slow from all the ollies the day before but really it feels amazing to try real tricks again)