After a couple days off I went across the street to skate some flatground. But on the walk there my achilles started hurting pretty bad and got worse as I tried to skate. I had done a few 180s, shoves, but not gotten to the kickflip stage. Argh.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows with 1/16″ riser and bones medium bushings washers on top and bottom, 52mm spitfire f4 99a tablet with 3 washers inside axles, es swift 1.5 white size 12 naboso activation insoles)
(pain level 6/10 it wasn’t terrible pain, but this is how the achilles injury started last time – never wearing Es again)

On a cool rainy night I went out to the little space in my garage and skated flatground. Rather than use the putter I went the opposite direction – 8.5. It felt alright. I started with several basics which these days means 180s and shoves. Then got a few kickflips, fakie flips, heelflips, b/s flips then went in on treflip. It’s so hard to do treflips in that little of space. I think it’s partly why I do 270 flips a lot because I can’t lean forward enough for fear of hitting my head on the garage door if I hang up. Anyway, I got one in about 15 tries, then the funny fall shortly after that, then eventually two in a row that made me happy. I tried some nollie varial flips after that, but never got one.

(setup null 8.5 smoke valley, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast base titanium axle, bones medium bushings, 54mm bones stf v3 99a washers outside, new balance numeric 288s grey size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10 some achilles pain)

Not feeling so good on a cloudy Saturday morning I ended up at dog park and met up with Rob, Brian (and more from Square State), Eric and Jack. It was tough to find lines with the crowds, but it worked. Saw Brian rip the barrier with boardslides, front rock, also some feeble attempts on the beam and called me out for not smiling. Ha. I really didn’t feel well though so it was tough. I was on a different setup, imagine that. 8.25 with wide trucks. It felt good even though I didn’t land a whole lot. My flip tricks felt good even though I didn’t land much. The theme for me was to get close to a lot of stuff, but not actually roll away. I guess that’s okay. I did get the nollie front tail shove in a few tries, finally noseslid some of the upper deck, lots of fun front slappies, close to kick back 50. Rob had some good nose mannies, back 50 nollies out, back 50 180 out, back 180 fakie 50. Eric heelflipped a parking block all casual, mannies, 50s, looked good. Jack did a messed up line. Manual, bluntslide, pop shove crooks fakie. Also some solid flippers.

Then after a run to Sk8 Ratz I met Nullers at a barrier spot. It was fun. I just did some rock ‘n rolls on it. Jack did a messed up kickflip, blunt to disaster. I missed Hayden’s 5-0 shove fakie, but he also did back disaster revert. Joe was trying 50s from flat. Donnie had massive ollies and front 5-0. Garrett did front hurricane then one with a funny 180 out. Next we went to TVHS where I watched and filmed. Bo 50’d the rail! So sick. Joe got up on front crooks it was so gnarly. Jack warmed up with back 50, front nosegrind then got a couple bangers that will grace his Null part. Fun day with fun dudes.

(setup 8.25 glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-lights, bones medium bushings, old 52mm v1 bones stf 103a washers outside, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12 with 272 insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

On a nice night I went to the dog park for the first time at night in a long time.  The lights were way better than I remembered.  There was only a few people there, the dudes Denis and Paul who are fun to skate with and a beginner.  My new Satoris were already pretty flatspotted.  Argh.  Everything felt off initially and I had a pretty bad slam on a flatground pop shove.  I couldn’t land a kickflip either.  Not sure what’s up with that. At no point did I do anything great, but I did skate okay and do some basics I liked.  My board felt extremely slow and I pretty much hated the non F4/STF wheels.  I did one line that took way too long of switch front nose the metal bench then halfcab board the small flatbar.  Couldn’t get the heelflip after.  Had some okay crooks, front slappies, weak front tail attempts, slow front 50s, same old stuff.  Stoked on it being a good night spot.  Although the two loud dudes that showed up later were pretty annoying.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer night skate, jessup ultra grip, venture 5.8 titaniums, venom 91a bushings no big washer, 51mm satori achtley wheeels washers on the outside, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

After another terrible day of work I went to Broomfield park shortly after dinner on a cool night. There was just a few other people there besides Kevin. I had changed my setup once again. 8.3, venture titaniums, 50mm wheels. It felt mostly dreamy. After a brief stint in the blue pad / quarterpotty area I followed Kevin over to the black ledge where he was trying to do his age in tricks (36). I hadn’t skated a tall ledge like that in months. Kevin was rattling off tricks and verbally counting. I had some fun noseslides, crooks. Took a long time to get halfcab noseslide, couldn’t get crooks shove, struggled to ollie up onto the pad but front 180’d up first try. Didn’t get many flippers even though they felt alright. Took a long time to get a super slow front 50. Kevin had finished his 36 tricks with a banger two in a row – kick back tail then front blunt. Wow. All in all I’m happy I skated even if it was terrible. Pushing felt fine at least and I was starting to pop again.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer night skate, jessup ultra grip, venture 5.8 titaniums, venom 91a bushings no big washer, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 custom split insole)
(pain level 2/10)

After a long drive down from the mountains with my brother I got away for about an hour of skating at valmont/dog park. I started in the park at first. I was on my 8.5 setup. It felt big and also better. I had a couple kickflips to fakie that took more effort, but felt really good. Also a few grinds, but the pump trackers showed up and made it not worth it. Went over to dog park where I still did not skate very well, but somehow had more success with flippers. Kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flips both ways. Halfcab noseslides felt better, pop was okay, hucking was kinda fun. Achilles didn’t feel very good.

(setup 8.5 null smoke valley, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, 50mm spitfire f4 classic shape 99a, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 custom split insoles)
(pain level 4/10 achilles and soreness everywhere probably from drinking and eating like crap)

Woke up super early because I was stressed out about work. Rather than login and work another 10+ hour day I went skating. I started at Valmont park. Oh, and I had changed my setup. Considering my unhappiness with my skating I wanted something that makes me happy. 8.25 with Venture lows. That’s my jam. However this time I put some larger wheels on – 53mm Spits. It made for a good ride, didn’t feel as low as normal without tiny wheels. And somehow with both washers the wheelbite wasn’t bad. I pumped around, laughed at some of the stupidity of the Evergreen park, struggled with b/s flips on the bank, did a lot of ollies to fakie on the triangle wedge. Last run was pretty fun something like a little front slash the tiny qp up top, somewhat wallie the barrier corner, kickflip to fakie the bank.

As I rolled over to the park there was a tweaker dude smoking weed and he said “Are you a bitch ass cop?” Cracked me up. I was like ‘Do I look like a cop?’ and he said ‘You’d be surprised at how many times I’ve had the cops called on me.” No, actually I wouldn’t. But he played some good Dr Dre and kept his distance so it was cool. There was a big puddle near taller manny pad which prevented skating it like a ledge which was a big bummer. I didn’t skate great, but probably the best since hurting the achilles. I would get a few slow flippers like kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, b/s flip, fakie bigfip, heelflip, almost nollie tre, but couldn’t get close to treflip. I had a nose manual on the small pad, manuals on the taller pad and tried front shove out of a few. No real ledge stand out tricks. I ended it with a fun line of switch front 180 a parking block, back 180 the parking block mound, fakie flip on flat, fakie 50 halfcab out the tiny curb.

(setup null 8.25 glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows with 3 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings both washers, 1/16 riser, spitfire f4 99a 53mm classic shape, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12 with 272 insoles)
(pain level 1/10)

After a super shitty day of work I ended up in the new area behind steelyards shortly after dark. I pushed around for awhile. My regular pushing felt the best it has felt in months, but I still mostly pushed around switch. I ended up at one well lit area between some building with some random stuff nearby and tried some flatground to get used to the 8″ board. At no point did it feel very good with the exception of landing a few heelflips. I did some gap to axle stalls. Then put together a couple lines that sound okay on paper. Heelflip, noseslide a tall bench, ollie a 3 stair. Halfcab flip, boardslide, front 180 3 stair. I rolled around some more then left once again feeling quite bummed out. Work is killing me.

(setup 8″ null archway, jessup grip, venture 5.2 cast baseplate v-hollow axle, venom 91a bushings, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12 numeric 272 insole)
(pain level 0/10!)

Another day, another setup change. This one seemed to work. NB 212s, 8.25, Thunder 148 Team Hollows and Bones 52mm. I started at the Valmont park to pump the legs and get them working. I tried to skate the little pond area with the fun noping all. I just did a couple basics and managed to avoid not getting hit by bmxers. I heard a young scooter kid ask his rollerblading dad “Is this another pump track?” Yeah, that’s how much it resembles a pump track. I tried to skate the bank for a bit, but the flyouts were too much. So I went over to the ledges. It wasn’t crowded, but the two sets of people were filming everything. I would skate my best since hurting my achilles. Which isn’t saying much, but I did a few thing that made me happy. Finally nose mannied the little pad, my first front 50 shove on the little ledge, halfcab noseslides and crooks the benches. Kinda close to a no push line of boardslide a bench, crooks the next one, kick back 50 the little pad. Had several frontside slappies and slappy crooks, a slow back 50 the little ledge, a few fakie flips and halfcab flips. I had pushed kind of normally for awhile, but then my achilles started to hurt and I got tired so I called it a day even though I hadn’t done a treflip.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 team hollows, bones 52mm 103a v1, new balance numeric 212 white size 12 with nb# 272 insoles)

Got to dog park shortly after sunrise. Jake was already there skating the barrier so I joined him. We worked up to tricks. I did a bad rock ‘n roll on the tall section, he did a frontside grind. Then we played in the dreamy new ledge section. I was wearing skate shoes this time, 272s. They felt decent. We mostly skated the small curbs/lurbs. Jake got a manual, 50s, back 50s, crooks, fakie 50, almost back tail. I did some front 50s, some with front 90 or 180 out, crooks, switch front noseslides, a first try front smith that didn’t really grind, the tiniest jib of a halfcab noseslide, slammed on back 50s, posed kick back 50s. We played a game of SKATE. I forget most of it, but I had Jake to SKAT and we were trying treflips. But neither of us could get one and I had to go to work. We were both close, both landed on a few, it was a frustrating ending to a fun session.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer night skate deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger bones medium bushings, 50mm spitfire classic shape f4 99a wheels, new balance numeric 272 black size 12, custom high/low insole)
(pain level 0/10 for real!!!!!!!!)