Wanting to enjoy some of the warmth from the day I went to the dog park for lunch. I got there shortly before Luzius. The warm up process feeling pretty overwhelming. I tried to huck some, start with a line of noseslide the black ledge, b/s flip on flat then halfcab noseslide. But I couldn’t get on the b/s flip with that big board. I think I just confirmed it’s too big for me. Dave warmed up with his smooth destruction over the parking block. Crooks on the cinder block benches were working okay, halfcab noseslides. I really didn’t do a lot, but I did skate with some motivation. Hucked a few flippers, none of which I put my feet on. Dave can 50 5/0 the benches so easily now. He also learned nollie front lip. I got the tiniest fakie nosegrind imaginable, a line with crooks then front 50 the benches. I ended hucking some 2020 dream tricks. Kickflip noseslide on the upper black ledge, kick back tail on the lower. I could really feel the hardness of flipping the board on the kick back tail. Then it was back to work, right about when I was warmed up.

(setup 8.75 null event horizon deck, venture 6.1 trucks, bones medium bushings, bones easy street v5 52mm wheels, new balance numeric 306 foys white/gum with nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Feeling alright after dinner and noticing it was still 45 degrees I grabbed my 8.5″ setup and went to the school. I started with some slappies which were pretty fun. I haven’t been there in awhile. I got a few basic slappies then went to the back area. The smaller board still felt big, but good. I had a few kickflips, fakie flip, still didn’t land other flip tricks. But since it was the second time skating today I was pretty sore. I struggled to ollie onto the easy rock, struggled to get stalls on the other rock, posed ollies over the big rock, came kinda close to a switch flip.

(setup 8.5 null curby deck, venture 5.8 trucks cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, bones easy street v5 52mm wheels, new balance numeric 306 foys white/gum with nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 6/10)

After working most of the morning I met Jack ,Carleigh and Ella at the meetup lot. We pretty much went right to the Baker ledge/manny pad area. It was quite cold out and the breeze did not make it fun. None of us were particularly motivated and it showed. I struggled with kickflips, but got a first try f/s halfcab flip. The bigger board rules for that. Jack had some nice back 180s, fakie ollies, halfcabs, bonks off the ledge. Tailslide up to nose manual, back 180 fakie manuals where he kept spinning on accident. They were funny. He also did a bunch of perfect front 5-0s on the ledge, front 5-0 back 180, front tails, front tail 270 shove. Carleigh had some kickflips, no comply off the ledge, noseslides. I couldn’t front 50 again. It’s frustrating. I think it’s partially a timing thing with big boards, I gotta get used to it. I couldn’t even front 50 up to manual. Came close to a manual to grind, had a fun switch front noseslide. Then the wind/shade dropped the temps and we left.

(setup 8.75 null event horizon deck, venture 6.1 trucks, doh doh 88a bushings, sml 53mm og wide wheels, new balance numeric 306 foys white/gum with nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Went to dog park on a cool, but sunny day. Dave L was there. The parking lot was being redone so I had to park the next street over. I wasn’t as cool as the dog owner who parked his car on the median. I wore my PJ shoes in hopes of reducing some soreness. It seemed to help. I had also put the 5.6 axles on too. Initially my board felt excellent. I had some new Spitfire 52mm tablets. Dave was doing his warmups over the parking block. I was feeling out a few things. Got a bad line of ollie the little narrow ledge then slow back 50 the step. Also boardslide a bench then noseslide 270 the next one. Dave got the kickflip over the parking block then quickly stacked tricks on the benches. 50s, 5-0s, manuals, nose manual, almost nose manual 180. Then he was mostly working on switch front boards. I tried a line for awhile of crooks a bench then 360 flip , but never got a 360 flip. I did have a good feeling halfcab flip earlier at least. I slammed pretty hard trying to get a back 50 over the top of the black step. Got front 50 180 first try, sketchy fakie nosegrind first try, halfcab noseslide to fakie. Slammed on a treflip. Also slammed trying halfcab noseslide 270 shove. Argh. I had mostly fun though.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, 1/16″ riser, spitfire 52mm tablets 99a f4, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, jessup grip, new balance numeric 533 grey size 13 with stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10 just sore still)

On a lazy cold day I ran boards to Emage and had a little sunlight left to find something. The dudes at Emage told me about this spot and I remember seeing it in a Crisis edit and wanting to hit it. It was in a fun area of town I had only hit once before. I cruised around. Rode on a steep bank a few times. Then basically showed up at the ledge not feeling warmed up or even warm. Ha. It was cold. It was my first day with sweats under my pants and it made ollies harder. I started with some slow front 50s. Then a couple lines. Wallie nollie, front 50 180, fakie flip. Wallie nollie, front 5-0, kickflip. My board of the day was 8.3 with 5.8 trucks, 52mm wheels. It felt good and stable, but I did want smaller trucks for flippers. It was too cold for flippers anyway though. I got a crooks going up, back 50 going up, a couple sloppy kick back 50s, front 50, front 5-0, front 50 180, front 50 shove, accidental front 5-0 to tail to fakie. I left after giving up on front 50 back 180. I was super sore, tired and cold.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, 8.5 venture titanium, 1/16″ riser, 3 speed washers on outside of axle, bones medium bushings, 52mm sptifire classic green 99a f4, new balance numeric 255 b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 7/10)

On a cold winter morning I went to Broomfield park to meet Kevin and Sean and eventually Jack and Carleigh. I was still in setup madness and brought two setups. 8.25 and 8.3 with 5.6 and 5.8 trucks respectively. I ended up pretty much hating both and everything about skateboarding. Ha. I really did suck it up though. Kevin and Sean were doing flatground when I showed. I kinda cruised around doing basics. Kevin had some full pulls with switch nosegrind 180, nollie nosegrind, nollie flip and another line. But his should was really hurting and at one point I remember yelling at him to stop skating. Ha ha. Sean stuck with his solid ledge destruction. Almost got nollie back nosegrind nollie back bigspin. Whoa. Jack and Carleigh showed. Carleigh did the no comply pole jam right away. Jack did a lot of cab nosegrind, back 360 nosegrinds. So incredible. The only two tricks I did I was remotely proud of was manual the blue pad and got kinda close to halfcab noseslide 270 shove on the black ledge. Jack ended things with a back 270 lipslide. It was so incredible. Then we went and drank and watched skate videos until I clumsily broke Jack’s Xbox. Doh.

(setup I literally switched every few minutes between 8.25 and 8.3 and hated both)
(pain level 5/10)

Went to Dog Park around 10:30 on a cooler and a bit breezy Friday. I had two newly compiled completes. An 8.3 with 8.5″ trucks. And an 8.25 with 8.25 trucks. I went with the later. Luzius was already there ripping. Kickflips over the parking block easily, back to back. I really like his approach to progression. He starts with basics and gets harder and harder. Sebastian was there too. He’s rad. He slams a lot, in a good way. I liked how the 8.25 felt. I had put a small riser on it. Popping over a parking block felt easier. I had a pretty mixed session. I lacked some confidence on 50s, but crooks and flip tricks went mostly better. I landed my first 2 treflip attempts. Dave got a sick front nosegrind. Also a line with front hurricane then back hurricane. Wow! Lots of back 5-0s almost nosegrind, lots of slappies, pop shoves over parking blocks, etc. I came remotely close to a line of crooks a bench, crooks to fakie the next one then fakie treflip. My crooks were better than normal. I guess my body is still used to that ol’ 14.25″ wheelbase I learned so many tricks on. I ollied onto the black ledges 2nd try, came really close to halfcab noseslide 270 shove, failed at back 50 on the low black ledge, ollied the little narrow ledge better than I have before. It was an alright lunch session. I gotta get better at the basics because I’m stoked on how Luzius is progressing.

(setup 8.25″ null nolan deck, jessup grip, venture 5.6 v-lights, doh doh 88a bushings, 3 speed washers inside each axle, old stf 53mm v1 pj wheels, new balance numeric 255 b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Went out to the garage on a warmer night, but snow is still everywhere. At first I had no motivation. I played around with shoes/insoles for a bit and ended up with the PJs without orthotic insoles. Oh yeah, I had put the 8.5″ Curby back on too. So many changes, so little time to decide on a size to stick with for 2020. 8.5 felt great. My warmup was basically to huck switch heels for awhile. Some felt really close, others not even remotely close. I did commit on some. I was like 8/10 on kickflips which was nice. Got fakie flip too. Then settled in on a 3 way rotation of halfcab flip, nollie varial flip, treflip. Got the halfcab flip pretty quick. Came incredibly close to nollie varial flip, got a few under rotated treflips. I was also doing ollies really trying to level it out and use the front foot to get the back of the board up in the air. It seems to be kind of working which is exciting. For how little motivation I had when I went out to the garage I was happy with how hard I skated. Listening to Dinosaur Jr Glimpse helped.

(setup 8.5″ null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium trucks with regular cast baseplate, bones medium bushings, 3 speed washers inside each axle, 52mm spitfire classic green swirl f4 99a, new balance numeric 533v2 pj grey size 13 stock insoles)

Feeling better than I thought I would I had some time to kill before leaving for the mountains so I went out to the garage and skated. The 8.3 setup felt better, I had put smaller wheels on it too which I liked. Flip tricks were still hard, but came easier. Got kickflip, fakie flip, bad heelflip, backside flip. Hucked switch backside flip and it felt close. Nollie flips felt really close too. Ended with a few treflips with heel drag. It’s hard to get those all the way around in the garage.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.8 titaniums, bones medium bushings, spitfire 52mm green swirl classics f4 99a, new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10 right knee isn’t so good)

While finishing up my day of work from home I went out to the garage on a cold evening. I had switched to my 8.5″ setup since the latest 8.75s that arrived now have the same wheelbase. Argh. I also wore some old PJ shoes. I figure I should switch things up with shoes sometimes and the garage doesn’t really matter much. I did a few shoves, nollies, 180s etc to get warmed up. Then did kickflip and fakie flip. Tried switch flip and nollie flip. I didn’t get too close, but I did commit to most tries. They just don’t flip enough. I got heelflip, then tried for fakie heel and got stuck on it for awhile. After that treflip on the 10th try, then a couple more tricks before dinner.

(setup 8.5″ null nolan deck, venture 5.8 titanium hanger with cast baseplate, 3 washers inside each axle, 53mm sml og wide wheels, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric pj 533 grey/red size 13)

The forecast called for a perfect day in the mid 60s so I took the day off. And it delivered. It was a little cool when we first arrived at the park, but it was nice and in the 60s quickly. We all like this park. We all skated it very differently. Dave L was warming up by cracking ollies everywhere. Over the hips, humps, everything. Fuller was doing cool pivots, tail stalls on hard to reach areas. My first trick was the front tail over the mellow to steep hip. Fuller was gaping up the weird euro and manualling the less weird euro, 50s, tails over the top qp thing. We eventually settled into some things. Dave L was doing quick feet lines on the nipples and getting more tech with each try adding body varials, shoves and then varial flip. I was mostly trying lines starting at the ledge and coming back to it. I was trying kickflips on the corner qp. Got a few. Noseslide, crooks, halfcab crooks all felt decent, but the front 50 almost killed me again. Argh. I got a couple slow and timid ones. Fuller started trying the Hale trick on a boob and got a few. They were so sick. I started hucking noseslide 270 shove and got one in a few tries. It felt so awesome. I ended up getting a few more. I guess I finally went fast enough and put my weight in the right place. Hopefully it works out again in the future. Fun session.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, jessup grip, venture 5.6 trucks, old 53mm bones stf PJ v1 wheels, venom 88a bushings (no boardside washer), new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a nap and some chilling I met Ed, Saul and Dave F across the street at the curbs. Dave and I were super beat, but we were the ones that skated the most. Ha. Typical of us. I rode the “vert board” as I didn’t land any flip tricks earlier in the day so why not have a bigger board? It felt good right away for slappies. Ed still has mean slappies both way as well as good looking ollies and back 180s. Saul was chilling on backside slappies grinding forever. He’s got front slappies down too. Dave did a switch slappy up the curb cut to switch back 180 out. Gnarly! I was messing around on a slappy crook and tried to put it into 50 and it was close. I got less close, but kinda bonked a 5-0. Dave started playing with it and got a really good one. The neighbor kids showed up. It’s cool to see how excited beginners get about everything. I had better luck with flippers on the big board. Makes no sense, but it was fun to ride.

(setup null 8.75 even horizon deck, venture 6.1 trucks with stock bushings, 54mm bones stf v5, new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10 skated too much already)