Drove through rush hour traffic and pulled in to Rocky Mountain as soon as it started raining. Argh! But it was cool to catch up with Rob. He was on his board for the first time in a while. The rain finally let up shortly before dark and we tried to squeeze in a session. I had all new everything. Well, the trucks aren’t actually new, but I have barely used them. Somehow I’ve never done Thunder hollows on 8.5 before. It felt pretty great. I’m just determined to finally make 8.5 work as it feels so natural to ride.

Rob rolled around on his cruiser at first before getting out his regular board and getting a bunch of axle stall combos. I was all over the place never really sticking with anything. Couldn’t quite get nollie back tail on the ledge, had a fun first try crooks, some back 50s on the curb, slappy front crooks, kickflips felt okay, couldn’t get Dave’s trick, was definitely struggling getting used to the setup change. Dave did his fakie front crooks a few times, boardslides to fakie, nollie to fakie on the bank, halfcab boardslide the curb, ride on front tail shove. It was a fun session even if it was cut short by rain.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 151 venom 88a bushings, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Left my house and it was dry after work. Halfway to Dog Park and everything was wet. Argh. Got there and dog park was totally wet while Valmont was mostly drained well with some puddles in low areas. I had followed Kevin’s recommendation with a slight setup change. 8.5 deck, Ace lows. I liked it, but it was still pretty hefty. I did skate the transition better than normal, but flippers were hard. Anyway, I warmed up slowly and there were a bunch of annoying kids on bikes doing the famous dumb evergreen loop. I was getting pretty frustrated with the kids when all of a sudden they all left and this dude Fergs showed up and we went on to have a great session. I had a really fun and tic tacy long grind on the pond side going almost the length of it. Also got the euro, volcano manual, and finally back 50’d the high to low. Fergs did backside flip over the hip, then varial flip, then heelflip. He was shredding. I got close to 360 flip fakie on the bank and even closer to b/s flip over the hip when the darkness became too much. I left with a good feeling.

(setup null 8.5 plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55 hard bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

After a cold Martin Acres pancake breakfast I went to the hill and watched the 303 King of the Hill contest for a while. The rain kept messing with it so Sean, Collin and I went to the library spot. We were not alone in this decision as it was very crowded. I had put Ace highs on. Felt okay. I didn’t skate well at all, but did manage some slow flippers in between people that made me happy including a treflip that was barely a make. Sean and Collin were shredding.

We went filming and met up with others. Got the boot from a church. Ended up at Casey where Sean and Collin easily ollied up the ledge and Garrett put down a rad tailslide bigspin. Collin and I messed with a cool wallie nollie in the back. He actually did it, but didn’t take the drop.

Next we went to the ride on grind that was nearby where I made a fool of myself. Garrett, Sean, Collin so easily did the ride on grind. I was trying to line out a kickflip up the curb then grind it, but was really struggling with the kickflip. I was kind of in the zone for a while, but then a couple cars of teenagers showed up. They were fine and all, but watching them progress right in front of me bummed me out. I got close again as it was getting dark, but ultimately didn’t really care so gave up. Garrett had gotten his banger anyway. Thanks for filming Jack!

(setup null 8.3 vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10)

The endless quest to like a bigger setup is ongoing. I tried the old 8.3 with venture 5.8 and wow the first ollie was so hard and I immediately disliked the venture high heft. But I stuck with it thinking I’d be able to deal with it. Jake and I started right in on a game of SKATE. It was not my finest game and flip tricks did not come easy. I took several tries to get a halfcab flip, never got a backside flip or heelflip, never got a treflip although did get my feet on a couple. Jake was close too. He ultimately won on a frontside flip that I couldn’t quite defensively pull off. Then we skated for a while. I continued to dislike the hefty setup and could not get good posted up crooks. Jake got a bluntslide on the curb, nollie back tail the metal bench. I had a funny nose jib on the picnic table. After a while I asked this guy if he could move his selfie tripod and it started a conversation that was rad, but went long enough my legs got sore. Then 3 older scooter dudes showed up and I was like hell no and left.

(setup null 8.3 vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium hanger cast baseplate royal bushings flat top washer no big washer , 52mm bones stf v1 103a, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10 so stoked)

On a surprisingly hot morning I went to Boulder park around sunrise. I had reached the point again where I had known that the Venture lows weren’t treating me well so I put some 5.6 highs on. I never liked the change except for on coping tricks. I could not get in a groove although I did do a backside bigspin over the hump which I’m not sure I’ve ever done. After a while I gave up and just tried switch flips on the tiny mellow bank under the triangle pad. A couple were close. I did also have my 8.3 with Aces and gave it a whirl, thought I really disliked it as well, but there was one little ollie that felt much lighter and planted a seed.

(setup null 8.1 all you need deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 hollow hanger cast baseplate royal bushings flat top washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10 !!!!)

Up early again feeling pretty good after a chill night where I did some real yoga for the first time in a while. I was running a little late and was going to hit SC instead, but it was cloudy which is so rare and made me want to go to dog park. My warm up was real quick and I did two warm up lines super quick that I was quite happy with. Pop shove, boardslide little flat bar, kickflip, noseslide, slappy crook. Then front shove, front 50 the curb, front nose to fakie the bench, switch front nose 270 out, fakie filp. Oh, yeah, I had another setup change. It was a minor one, but out with the 5.6s and in with the 5.2 lows. It’s just what works overall the best and I love how they look and feel. I tried to start a line with halfcab flip for a while, but I couldn’t halfcab flip. Argh. I hucked a lot of flip tricks actually. I didn’t land much, but it was nice feeling good enough to try. I was somewhat close to nollie flips and nollie varial flips. Had a line of backside flip then halfcab noseslide, both done badly. Some crooks, switch front noses. Made myself finally ollie the green cone to leave and it took a fun line to get the motivation. Halfcab flip, kickflip, ollie. Fun session indeed for once. After a big arthritis flare up like I just had it takes a while to get confidence so hopefully it’ll keep coming.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Woke up early and didn’t have any meetings for work so I went to dog park and was skating by 6:45. I had my 8.25 with 5.6 hollows and it felt better, but still difficult to maneuver. I didn’t skate great, but I did try harder and was able to get a few things. I had a couple of fun lines for warm up. They involved boardslides, 50s on the curb, noseslides and maybe a kickflip or two. I got a little line of backside flip then halfcab noseslide and probably a slappy crook after. I couldn’t get a halfcab flip, was close to nollie varial flip. Had a couple crooks, 50s on the lower ledge. Tried to make myself ollie onto stuff more often. Jack B showed up when I was battling the ollie over the flatbar. I used a little kodak courage as motivation, but didn’t have the desire to clean it up. After that it was time for me to head off to work.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 5/10 there were times when my knees had crazy pain)

After dinner I went to Douglass elem on a really nice night. I had thought of trying noseslide to crooks, but it turns out you have to be able to ollie pretty high there to get into noseslide and I only got up there once or twice. I had a pretty bad session really. Couldn’t crook, kickflip up a curb, in fact I could barely kickflip. I took like 10 tries to kickflip off the little speed bump. My knees hurt bad at times. I think in the past I would have never even attempting to skate in this much pain, but now it’s my normal and I only mark it 6/10 ha ha. Somehow I left not super depressed. Maybe it was still fun to street skate, maybe it’s because I knew I would be skating Ventures again.

(setup 8.3 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 440 size 12 white/red half insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

After work on a very nice afternoon I forced myself to go skate even though I was doubting myself and pretty sore. I arrived to an almost empty and cloudy dog park and slowly worked into actually ollieing. It felt amazing, I was able to actually try tricks. I would get a few crooks that felt soooo good. Some of the best ones I’ve done in a while and I would normally line them out with slappy crooks for good measure. i didn’t have a lot of confidence yet, but I did do some tricks I haven’t tried in a while. Like even just a slow front 5-0 on the lower ledge and some back 50s on the lower manny pad. I had some struggles with flip tricks and I think the heft of the Ace highs were a bit much. But I got halfcab flip and fakie bigflip. After a while it got really crowded so I went over to the skatepark. It was crowded too, but not as crowded. Although the kid on an electric motorbike sure was annoying. I did a kickflip on the flat bank, ollied the euro a couple times and manualed the volcano before my knee started to hurt and I called it a session. Stoked to feel alive again even if most of my confidence appears to be gone.

(setup 8.3 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 440 size 12 white/red half insoles)
(pain level 5/10 it’s funny that pain level 5 feels good now)

After a fun morning doing a boxing photoshoot with Cass and Shad I went to Triple Nipple where I met Nick, Sean and Kevin. My body was hurting and I had two setups that I rotated between but mostly stuck with the 8.3. I really didn’t skate well and it hurt too bad to ollie. I would get a few switch front noses, crooks and close to nollie tres. Kevin was ripping and killed the ledge. Switch crooks, fakie 5-0 halfcab out, back smith, kick back tail. Nick had front nosegrind and nose manual no problem along with some seriously popped fakie flips. Sean was looking really good. Manual to 180 nose manual. Nose manual to tailslide, back nosegrind 180. Shad had shown up and it was so rad to see him shredding. He had some good front 5-0s on the steep bank, tailslides, fast grinds. Chelsy and Jenny ripped it too. Carves over the love seat, front tail the steep bank, some good stuff. I ended really trying to ollie up the ledge, but couldn’t make my knees work. I was so bummed.

(setup 8.3 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 440 size 12 white/red half insoles)
(pain level 7/10 and today marks the day I give up alcohol)