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!)

On a breezy, but warm day I met Rob, Eric, Sean and Nick at dog park. It was crowded with some skate lessons or something, but would clear out some quickly. I liked the kicker onto the pad though because I could finally manual it ha ha. I started out on a board with Indy 149s, but immediately traded them out for Ventures. And boy it felt good to be back home. I really liked how the Indy mids skated, but man, they are too heavy. Way too heavy. Maybe if they make a titanium version I’d try them again. At one point I had two halfcab flips in a row which has been awhile. I had too big of wheels on, but it was fun. I got a few nose manuals, didn’t commit to kickflip up the ledge or off, had a lot of fakie flips. Played with the quick up onto the pad then noseslide also crooks. Got a few of those with halfcab nosesldies before. Until the camera came out and then I couldn’t do it. I ended by getting a new trick on taller pad. Fakie front 50 to back board. A Joe H special. It was bad, but still pretty fun. Nick was fun to skate with. Lots of boardslides, front 50 nolie shove. I don’t know which kids Eric was competing with, but he told me a couple times they beat him to tricks. Doh. Rob had the back 50 nollies out again, manuals, halfcab noseslides, back 50 back 180 out, nollie front 50 back 180 out. Was hyped to see him get halfcab back 50. He came really close to fakie nosegrinds on a bench. Sean did what he does best, kill it with style and speed. The ease at which he can 50 the upper deck is amazing to me. He got fakie nosegrind, halfcab nose manual shove, front tail 270, ollied the hydrant like it was nothing, nollie back 5-0s, lots of kickflip and heelflip variations.

(setup 8.38 null mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hanger no big washer, 53mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, splay freestyle grey size 12 nike sb zoom air insoles made into wide toe insoles)
(pain level 4/10 winter/wind sucks)

After work I went to find some flatground to skate, but there were either cars or not enough lights so I ended up at dog park. It was very crowded when I arrived. I hit a stop rock within 1 second of setting my board down. Luckily I did not fall. I had setup a new board – 8.3 and put my Mindys on it. It actually felt pretty good. I did quite a few grinds on the taller pad. It’s crazy how much better new Indys grind than titanium Ventures to the axle. I did not skate well though. I don’t even remember anything beyond some bad front 50 180s. Near the end I forced myself to do 5 flip tricks. Boy did I struggle. I skated incredibly slow and without confidence. But I would get 5 tricks. Kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, varial flip and ended with f/s halfcab flip that took way too long. I had also gotten close to treflip and halfcab heel. Barefoot shoes are not easy to heelflip in for some reason.

(setup null 8.38 mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, indy mids 148 with hollow cast baseplate, bones medium bushings, bones 52mm v1 stf 83b 3 washers inside each, splay freestyle grey size 12 lems insoles)
(pain level 4/10 forgot how much i hate winter and wind)

Went to dog park on a cool night armed with a happy medium deck of 8.3 with venture 5.8 titaniums. I went on to skate like garbage as is the trend for me lately. I couldn’t manual or pop up ledges easily, crooks didn’t work, I even took like 5 tries to get a switch front nose. Didn’t get past fakie flips on flip tricks. Did get a couple slow front 50 180s out followed by halfcab noseslide then nollie back tail. There was a group of kids there kinda of annoying, but whatever. One other kid skating by himself charging hard who was cool. I had a lot of manual attempts and failed. Settled in on a line of ollie up the little pad, nollie front tail off, ollie onto the taller pad, curve around then front shove off. I was really close to getting that when I had a couple failed ollies up the first curb and focused my old board. Ugh.

(setup 8.3 spanbauer night deck, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 titaniums no big washer, bones 52mm v1 stf 83b washers outside, splay freestyle gray size 12 with naboso activation insoles)
(pain level 2/10)