Wanted to kind of do a side by side comparison between 5.6 hollows and 5.2 lows so I went to Boulder park again before work. I had a fun morning. After a bit of warming up I kind of felt like filming a little to make the blog more enjoyable so I set it up for the bank to ledge. Noseslides are always fun. Was hyped to actually 50 more than a few inches. The 5-0 was an accident. Hyped on the crooks. Then I just skated whatever and did a lot of hucking. I skated the ledges better and would get a fakie nosegrind on the bench as well as first try front 50. Couldn’t get b/s flip over the hip, but did get remotely close to cab flip over the little hump hip. Tried a bunch of varial heels to fakie and didn’t get my feet on any. Ended with a front 50 front 180 out on the bump to ledge. It took awhile. Fun morning, I liked the lows better.

(setup 8.25 null vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows royal bushings flat top washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5)
(pain level 3/10)

Had some time before dinner to skate. Went to the garage feeling kind of run down and started slow. Grabbed the 8.25 and it felt better and stuck with it. Didn’t really try any treflips, but hucked a few switch tres that were not close at all. Got halfcab heel and close to front heel. Hucked a bunch of flippers 1 try near the end which is always kind of fun.

(8.25 null vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow thunder bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5)
(pain level 3/10)

On a warmish morning I left the house for the first time in a week and felt up to try some mellow flatground. I started with a little warm up line of kickflip, weird nollie disaster revert a parking block then switch 180 a puddle. It was fun. I had reassembled my 8″ setup, but with high trucks this time. It felt great. At one point I was 4/5 on halfcab flips. Made me wonder why the heck I make my fav part of skateboarding so hard with larger boards sometimes. I’m sure I’ll soon be obsessing over a larger setup, but man I enjoyed 8″ today. I would go on to get several flippers. Fakie flip, f/s halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip, varial flip, fakie bigflip and f/s heel. The front heel made me so happy. It was like 3rd try. After a while I tried a line of halfcab flip, heelflip, treflip and did it. I was so hyped. The treflip was a typical Glen 270 flip, but the first two tricks felt good. The heelflips especially. Felt like the first one I actually popped in a long time. I skated more after that, but couldn’t get the other tricks i wanted like halfcab heels, switch flip or nollie tre.

(setup null burnout stumpy 8″, pj jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 high cast plate hollow hanger venom 91a bushings both washers, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5)
(pain level 1/10 I guess not skating a bunch does reduce soreness. who would have thought)

Feeling the funk from covid still I went out for a ultra quick flatground session. I had debated what setup to go into 2022 with the goal of not switching and decided on 8.3. We’ll see how long it lasts. It felt big at first since I’ve been on 8 and 8.25 recently. I also felt super out of it and weird. Did a few 180s, shoves. Would rest between. Then tried a kickflip which took awhile. Took 3 of them before I had a remotely clean one. Then I called it because I could feel myself wanting to ignore the sickness and keep skating.

(setup 8.3 null mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 red cast plate titanium hanger, royal bushings no big washer flat little washer, 49.99mm boardycakes roundups washers outside, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 thin STI insoles)
(pain level 0/10 because I haven’t done anything in days)

Another cold feeling night.  I went to the school armed with a different setup and something quite different.  Royal trucks!   I had a good first day on them.  Slappies worked.  Had a great slam from a tree twig to the curb. Then I went to the ledge area.   Had a couple basics, but the shadows and crack make it really hard.  Couldn’t lock into crooks.   The few flip tricks I did went alright.  

(setup 8.25 null vhs , jessup pj ultragrip, royal 144, boardycakes roundups, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)(Pain level 4/10)

Trying desperately to get some flatground tricks back I went to the school.  It had been warm during the day but it was quite cold.  I had a different setup. At no point did I like it. Slappies did not work.  Kickflips and fakie flips were not consistent.   Would get halfcab flip and varial flip.  No fakie big, treflip or even heelflip (I tried so many).  Also couldn’t Ollie into the rock.   Went home sore.  

(setup 8.3 null Escher, jessup ultragrip, thunder 149 hollows, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)
(Pain level 3/10)

Kinda nice night I had setup a new complete. Ugh. Yes. 8″ venture lows and 50mm wheels. Went to the curb to warm up, it didn’t feel great. Left after a few basics that weren’t good. Behind the school I got some warm up lines quickly like 180 then fakie shoves. Pop shove took a few tries, but kickflip felt good. Fakie flips felt great too, but halfcab flips took a bit. I skated for a little over 30 minutes and would get kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, fakie big flip and b/s flip. Still couldn’t get heelflip. Hucked some other tricks like switch flips which were close. Near the end I was tired and hucked a couple kickflips and landed them way easier than I thought. Made me happy to try flippers on a smaller board again.

(setup null 8″ burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows bones medium bushings, boardycakes 49.99mm round ups 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 half fp elite insole)
(pain level 3/10)

After work I went behind the school since it was already dark and there is a section that’s lit okay. I had put together an 8.25 with venture 5.2 lows again because, well, I hate how heavy even the hollow Indy mids are. I attempted a couple slappies, but they didn’t really work so I just went back to the school. I did some warm ups then went into sucking. I definitely hit a wall with skating in the Splay shoes. The flick is just so inconsistent. I did some kickflips and stuff, took forever to get a fakie flip. Could not for the life of me do a heelflip. It was miserable. At one point I had a fakie flip followed by a halfcab flip as my only bright spot. Which is such a bummer considering how those tricks didn’t used to feel like highlights, just warm ups. I landed on a few heelflips, but never rolled away. I hucked some fakie and switch varial flips. Got a b/s flip and fakie bigflip. Close to a few others, but yeah, that’s it. 1 hour and only 4 flip tricks. Somehow I left not wanting so shoot myself, but rather was motivated to try skate flatground more.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, 5.2 venture lows venom 91a bushings, 1/16 riser, 52mm f4 99a spitfire classic shape 2 washers inside, splay freestyle grey size 12 nb# custom insoles)
(pain level 4/10 these barefoot shoes are not meant for skating)

On a nice night I went out to Frederick for the first time in months to meet Dave and Garrett. I had a new Christmas Complete. And I hated it the entire time. I had mostly enjoyed my last stint on Indy mids, but they were too heavy. I thought maybe the hollow version would help. Nope, they felt no lighter. Add in a new 8.3 deck and 52mm Spitfire classic shapes. Patrick was there too happy to skate after his knee injury. We were in the back mellow bank/curb area for awhile. Dave did amazing front nose to fakie then fakie tail. He also started with some crazy step off trick on the bank that I couldn’t grasp, but Garrett got second try. I took too many tries to get a kickflip fakie then couldn’t quite get a front heel. Garrett did cool fakie tre out of the bank then fakie flip into the next one. Then it was all over for awhile. I was able to push pretty well so that was nice. I couldn’t quite get up the taller ledge, struggled to noseslide anything, flip tricks were impossible. Ugh. Dave and I did the 180 then switch front noses. Garrett did the manual tricks like it was nothing. Dave did switch front shove on the bank after a cool wallride to fakie. I dragged a lot of heel on a b/s flip on the attempt in between posing hardflip variations. Eventually we all got tired and called it a night.

(setup null smoke valley 8.3, jessup ultragrip, indy hollow mids, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic shape, splay freestyle shoes size 12 custom thin nb# abzorb insole and naboso activation insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

On a nice night I went to dog park and met Rob and Nick. There was only a few other people there. After my lack of pop and flip in Berlin I put Thunders on. Hated them. Rob was either there early or warmed up incredibly fast. He lined out a boardslide on the picnic table. Took him a few tries, but he did it. Nick had a lot of boardslides on the curb and flat bars. I had gotten really tired right before skating, I guess jet lag had caught up with me. I skated with less pop than normal. I had a couple halfcab flips. The best I had was a fakie bigflip followed by a quick little nose slide the end of the picnic table. Then I cleaned it up by doing the same line again next try. Fakie bigflip felt cool, noseslide felt weird. That pretty much the end of my energy and I went home.

(setup 8.3 null mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 hollows, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic shape, splay freestyle shoes grey size 12 custom nb# abzorb insole)
(pain level 2/10 achilles didn’t hurt at all!)