Changed out the Slaces for Thunder 148 team hollows. Liked it more. Skated better. Got a 3rd try treflip. Battled some heelflips and got a few. Hucked some other stuff, but didn’t put much down. B/s flip and halfcab flip were fun.

(setup 7/10 8.3 null flaherty, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 148s with ace bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic 3 washers inside axle, new balance numeric 440v2 wide brown size 12 half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Went out to the garage on a new setup and hated it, skated like garbage. I had never done 8.3 with Slace and I probably never will again. It felt off as soon as I set it down. Took a while to get a kickflip. I think I was able to get a heelflip and then a treflip too.

(setup 1/10 8.3 null flaherty, jessup ultragrip, ace baseplate slappy 8.5 hanger, spitfire 51mm 99a classic shape f4, emerica og-1 b/w size 12 footprints gamechangers)
(pain level 3/10)

After my first three day break from skateboarding in a long time I went to Square State on a snowy night. It was a silver session, but I didn’t really know what to expect and it turns out it was super mellow with only a few people there. It was awesome. It was Will, Darin, Tom, Tom, Clayton, Chris, Jason. Will and I started a little on the tiny section, then skated with Jason Born (for real his name) on the main section. Jason was going for 5-0 kickflip out, front tail shove back to tail, treflip 50. I just did some noseslides and crooks, then went in on front shove up the euro which I don’t think I had done there before. They felt great and it was cool to impromptu get another one off the kicker after. Will had back 5-0. I tried some kickflips into grinds, but was not close. I took too long to get a little line of slappy crooks the bank to curb then come back and kickflip on the bank. Near the end Will was getting into kick back tail so I filmed him. And between tries I would do slow flip tricks on the spongy masonite. But I managed kickflip, heelflip, b/s flip and treflip. Will did the kick back tail so good. Serious hammer. What a great session. Oh yeah, I had changed back to my 8.5 with thunders and liked it.

(setup 8/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, thunder 149 hollow lite royal bushings, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, new balance numeric 440v2 wide brown size 12 half 574 insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

On a nice Friday afternoon I got out to dog park later than I had hoped, but in time to see Will before he left. I don’t really remember what he was doing but I think it was nose manual then back tail. He had to leave. I skated for a while, there was a good crew of people. I skated pretty well, but it’s been a couple of days so it’s a blur. I had put ace 44s on my 8.3, mostly liked it. Did front 50 on the bench, crooks, back 50s on the curb, managed to do a manual, I think a few of the ultra basic flippers. Dave showed much later, I was pretty beat but skated for an hour before my calf acted up. I did a fun little line of slappy crook the front shove off the side off the bump to rail. Dave was doing ride on grinds to boardslide on the green curb, lines all the way into the corner which I wasn’t seeing. Ollie nosebonks on the bank to curb. I did a line switch slappy crooks to regs, slappy crooks, ollie the kinked rail and when I landed pain shot through my calf. That pretty much ended my session. Dave was ripping way more than I have documented.

(5/10 setup 8.3 null keyhole, jessup ultragrip, ace 44 ksl af1 hollow, spitfire f4 99a classic shape 52mm orange/black, nike sb sad dunk size 12 half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10 until the calf)

Went to blue skies on a lunch break from work. It was windy. I had just done a 30 minute presentation in front of like 30 people and felt very relieved. I had put Thunders on. Hated it. Had no juice anyway. Did a few boardslides, switch nose jibs, ollies to fakie, kickflips and was going to leave but tried to make myself do at least one thing that was somewhat harder. And it’s kind of funny because I forget what it was, I just know it was a line with a slow halfcab noseslide in it.

(setup 1/10 null 8.3 keyhole, jessup ultra grip, thunder 148 hl ace bushings, spitfire f4 99a classic orange/black, nike sb sad dunks size 12 with half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 6/10)

Went into the garage late in the evening feeling bummed on being so tired from work, but angry enough I wanted to skate a little. I warmed up with some silly fakie front 3 shove attempts after watching Lamont in CFS 2. Then a few kickflips that felt bad, a bs flip in a couple tries, a bad treflip in 12 tries, couldn’t get a halfcab heel in 20 tries. Called it a night. Oh I guess this counts as a setup change as it’s the slightest bit larger setup.

(setup 4/10 null 8.3 keyhole, jessup ultra grip, slappy lights 8.5 indy 92 bushings, spitfire f4 99a classic orange/black, new balance numeric 440v2 wide brown size 12 half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 3/10)

On a cold snowy day I went out to the garage in the early afternoon with yet another setup change. Wore cupsoles for a change up. Had a blast. Did typical warm up tricks for a bit. Got to kickflip and bailed one then got 5 in a row. Switch flips were not very close. Fakie flip yes. Quite a few nollie flip attempts, a couple were close. Got a couple good feeling b/s flip and halfcab flips. Took a bit to get a couple treflips. Had a great feeling heelflip. Went in hard on nollie tres, a few were really close. It’s just so hard in the little garage and going that slow. Next up battled front heel which technically I may have landed, but not really. Some were close to feeling good. Took too long to get fakie front heel because of the low speed and terrible setup. At that point I wanted to land a copule more tricks so I did varial flip and fakie bigflip. Then I hucked some switch f/s flip and nollie varial heels. Neither were close, but both felt possible if the stars somehow aligned just right.

(setup 8/10 null 8.25 keyhole, null grip, slappy lights 8.25, spitfire f4 99a classic orange/black, new balance numeric 440v2 wide brown size 12 half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10 felt good for a while, but pretty sore near the end)

It was so incredibly nice out so I took an early lunch on a Friday and went to Boulder park. I have completely ruined my new years goal of no setup changes. I had an 8.25 with hollow Thunder 147s and hated it. Mostly, the squeek in the pivot cups was insane, to the point that I think the only other person at the park left. I skated about an hour still. Did a few normal basics there. Kickflips didn’t seem any easier really and so there was no doubt this setup would not last. Did have b/s flip on flat, but halfcab flip still took a few tries. Got one front 50 on the bench. Then tried to do a line of front disaster on the little qp then front 50 shove. Never got another 50. Went in a bit on front 50 back 180 out on the hump to ledge and would eventually get it. Felt pretty cool. Then it was back to work. Oh yeah, I had new 574s. I had no chance to break them in ahead of time, but they still skated alright.

(setup 1/10 null 8.25 keyhole, null grip, thunder hollow 147 bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape orange/black, new balance numeric 574 vulc grey/orange size 11.5 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

A warm evening with a big storm and cool down coming so I really wanted to skate outside. Will and I had been talking and decided on Arvada. Cass, Garrett and Donnie were down too. As always, I was amazed at how crowded it was upon arrival. It’s so hard to get in the groove when 50 other people are skating. I mean it wasn’t that crowded for Arvada standards, but there are so many ways to skate it, so many different lines. Felt like I just kept getting in everyones way. I had a setup change which felt okay initially, but once I failed at front 50s on the tiny granite pad I about lost my mind. But before that, things were okay. Early on I saw Cass front nose the flat bar really well. We boardslid down the little parking block over the gap which was quite fun. Will had never been there before. Garrett popped ollies over the pyrmaid with mad style. He had manuals, nose manual, but not kickflip manuals. Ha, he actually focused his board on a failed nose manual. But still did some skating and then skated his Sk8 mafia mini. We skated like 3 hours. A lot happened. Donnie destroyed the little qp above the snake run. Sugarcanes both ways. Inspired me to commit to a measly front feeble. Will got close to manualling the big pad into the hill. I had a fun run of back 50 the qp, noseslide the pad into the hill, ollie up the tiny euro. Oh yeah, Donnie, Will and I played part of a game of SKATE. I think I was somehow in the lead when a young kid slammed very hard and required some attention. I had fun trying treflips on the sk8 mafia mini, landed on it. Donnie and Garrett did really good ones. My shoe is bigger than that board. Cass had a nice kickflip on one. Near the end I made made myself do 5 tricks on the mellow circle pad since people were finally not standing on it. I got kf to fakie, b/s flip, bad f/s flip, halfcab flip and a few bigflips. Donnie did an amazing back 360 kickflip and no comply to tail the little nearby qp. Will added some kickflips to fakie. Garrett was doing some crazy tricks on the mini, like tailslides on the little qp. What the heck. Anyway, that was the end, I was starving. Fun session, I might even go there again soon.

(setup 3/10 8.3 null keyhole, null grip, venture 5.6 v8 with bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a stf, new balance numeric 574 vulc blue size 11.5 half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Another winter night out in the garage. I made it over 10 days on my 8.3 slappy low setup before a switch. I stuck with my 8.5 thunder setup tonight and loved it. Got a few kickflips in a row, a lot of not close nollie flips, took too long to halfcab flip, quick b/s flip, a couple heelflips in a row that felt so great, a couple meh treflips, remotely close to a GleNBD back heel.

(setup null 20 years 8.5/14.25, null grip, thunder hollow light 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl, new balance numeric 574 vulc half 272 insole)
(pain level 3/10)