On a cool night I went to Erie’s “Street League” park right after work. I arrived to the typical Erie scene. 30 scooter kids and 2-3 skaters. One of which was Kevin and he was already ripping. I had a new deck, 8.3 this time. Also the huge 54mm wheels I had gotten. We started with a game of SKATE which I was quickly skunked in even though Kevin only did tricks I can do. It was expected since I wasn’t warmed up and had a bigger setup. Young blood Quincy showed up, as well as not so young Kyle. Everyone seemed like they were skating well. Kevin was doing tricks like nosegrind the bump to ledge first try, crooks, back 5-0, almost back 5-0 front shove. I was doing tricks like kickflip from the wedge to the lower wedge. Kyle had a nice front 180 over the middle bump bar. Quincy took like 10 tries to learn front 5-0 back shove on the bump to ledge and had some nice lazy crooks on it too. I really don’t remember much, I ended with a kickflip to fakie on the back bank then a bad halfcab noseslide on the ledge. Gotta get rid of those huge wheels.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, jessup grip, venture 5.8 trucks regular cast baseplate titanium hanger, 54mm bones stf v5 wheels, venom 88a bushings (no boardside washer), new balance numeric 306 b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10 sore from skating so much)

After an annoying morning that seemed to take forever to get ready I met up with Dave L, Dave F and Will from Seattle at Rocky Mtn. It was basically totally dry except for a puddle running across the runway to the ledge. To add to my morning my first attempt at a slappy would results in a full slam. Ugh. Rob would join us and hang. It was good to see him, hope he can skate soon. Kevin and eventually Fuzz would join too. I had decided to go for the marathon run to get warmed up. Ollie down the 2 and 3 stairs, flatground trick, ledge trick, bank trick, ride down the dirt hill, a couple little ollies, kickflip into the downhill sidewalk. It took a few tries, but I got it. The stair ollies, no comply 180, switch noseslide to forward, boneless on the bank, ollies over some puddles and stuff, kickflip. It was really fun. Kevin had shown up around then and was immediately ripping as always. Will had some clean ollies on the bank, popped over a median, had some good shoves, halfcab flips on flat. Dave L had a nice back 180 up the curb then fakie ollie onto a median and manual down it. Pretty sure I could never do that. He was also doing nice back 50s then trying to backside ollie onto a median and manual down it. It looked so hard. He wasn’t really feeling it and started filming Kevin and Dave F. Kevin had been doing a bunch of stuff, but went in hard on an insane line. Manual a rock to ollie a snow pile out, front tail to fakie, switch 180 off the curb, heelflip on flat, ollie up the curb and nollie flip to fakie on the bank. It was funny because he did it once, but bailed the little halfcab off at the end. Dave was doing these crazy cab manuals on the brick medians. He was also doing nollie 270 manuals. Tech Dave. He had a line with a fakie ollie onto a median and a front 50 on the ledge. I was struggling beyond believe, but managed to keep skating and have a little fun. I was having problems with kickflips up the curb which is normally an every try thing for me, especially at that spot. I had sworn off the 5.2 highs, but eventually started liking them. I did have a fun line of kickflip up the curb, manual a brick median, crooks the ledge. Then I just kind of skated the ledge slow and did flip tricks in between tries. I got a few flippers. Heelflip, halfcab flip, b/s flip, treflip. They felt good. Got halfcab noseslide, halfcab noseslide to fakie, switch front nose, slow front 50, accidental front 5-0 to tail, super slow back 50, close to noseslide 270. Overall a fun day even though I skated terrible. I should know to expect it when I make changes to my setup. Even though all I had done was put a high hanger on instead of a low. Same size even.

(setup 8.25 null nolan deck, mob grip, venture 5.2 highs, 51mm bones stf v2 wheels, 3 speed washers inside each axle, 88a doh dohs bushings (no boardside washer), new balance numeric 306 b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10 sore from skating so much)

Went out into the garage shortly after dinner on a snowy Sunday. I had setup an 8.25 again, but this time with lows and 42mm wheels. I don’t really plan on skating 42s for real, but they had bearings in them and it was just easier. I had planned on trying tricks 10 tries. Everything regular then switch. I started with the straight 8. Kickflip, fakie flip and heelflip took longer than they should. I didn’t quite get a fakie heel. Switch flips, switch heel, nollie heel were not close. I committed to several nollie flips, but they didn’t flip enough. Then I missed treflips and didn’t get close to switch tre. I wasn’t all that stoked on the smaller board until I tried f/s flip which seemed worth it to me. I got a couple pivoted ones. Not close to switch f/s flip. Then I did a couple halfcab flips so easy that it made me happy about the smaller board. Didn’t get close to Janoski flip. Kinda close to varial heel, but not close to nollie varial heel. Tried fakie lazer which still somehow feel close. Ended with nollie tre which has still eluded me in my tiny garage space.

(setup 8.25 null nolan deck, mob grip, venture 5.2 awake lows, 42mm oj wheels, 88a venom bushings, new balance numeric 306 b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After getting some chores done I went to “Lower Valmont”. Ha, that’s what I’m calling the newly rediscovered area just west of Foothills. I had put my 8.25 setup back together. I’m determined to ignore the voices in my head and just stick with the size that I’ve enjoyed the most over recent years. 8.25. I pushed around for a bit, did a couple flatground shove warm ups then went to the mini bank. Did kickflip to fakie and fakie flip. Then went and looked at the marble rock. The traffic was weirding me out so I went over to the manual pad. I struggled on the manual pad and with flip tricks. But things felt good. I would eventually get a halfcab flip that felt like how I used to do them without too much effort. Also a first try backside flip that felt great. I got manual and nose manual then tried the switch 180 manual 180, but never got too close.

(setup 8.25 null abstract 6 deck, Venture 5.6 trucks, venom 88a bushings , spitfire F4 52mm 99a green swirl wheels, 2 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 306 Foy b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10, but not much energy)

Our plumbing backed up so I used bringing India to campus to use the shower at the gym as an excuse to skate campus for awhile. She ended up working out for a solid two hours so I had some time to play around. I had setup the 8.5 again, but with 8.75 trucks, softer venom bushings, and smaller old Spitfires. 3 days in a row of setup changes. Ugh. I started on the super micro hip near the gym. Then went to the fitness center area to jib the tall quick ledge. It’s weird, the smaller wheels made things feel taller. The wider trucks made my board heavier. I honestly wished I had the 8.75 most of the time I was skating. I got boardslide, noseslide to fakie, noseslide and some bad crook jibs. I tried to line out crook, front smith stall on another ledge, then ollie onto a ledge. But I never got the smith stall and eventually moved on behind Macky where I found the 3 stair to pole to ollie. The approach isn’t ideal and I never committed to it, but it was fun to pose. Then I ended up at this crack riddled 1 up 2 up 4 down. I just wanted to ollie up the 1 and 2 after watching Jack and Hayden do it so easily. It was so hard, I have no idea how people can ollie that quickly. I kind of got ollie then front 180. I posed some flatground in between tries. Last place was the building with the knobbed ledges in a row between pillars. But all I tried was a line where I ollied down the narrow 3 stair, did a powerslide and tried to manual this weird manual pad. But I kept not doing the manual and I’m not really sure why. Pretty blah day, I blame eating cheese the night before.

(setup 8.5 null nolan deck, Venture 6.1 trucks, venom 88a bushings , spitfire 52mm green swirl F4 99a wheels, new balance numeric 306 foy b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Super nice sunny day. Garrett, Dave L and I headed north to his Ratz and MRKT. We stopped at the high school in loveland with the weird bank/stairs/hip/loading dock. Dave and I started slow, Garrett manualled the bank to loading dock like first try, nose manual a few tries later. I had maybe only done back 180 into the bank before I started filming. Garrett got kickflip manual and kickflip manual 180. He had the kickflip manual before I started filming and then it took awhile to get it again. Dave L was skating it differently than anyone I’ve seen before. Ollieing into the bank, then curving around the sidewalk and pushing up the corners and ollieing over the curb and into the bank. It was pretty wild. He had some nice pop shoves over the hip too. He also dropped in onto the narrow ledge and thread the needle through some poles. As I filmed I started thinking how I wanted to kickflip the hip then curve around and ollie over the little ledge. I was hating my setup, the trucks were too tight, the wheels felt way to hard. The kickflip took awhile, but felt great when I got it. I know the ollie over the ledge would be easy for Dave and Garrett and maybe anyone else who skates, but for me it was a challenge. I want to ollie over things more. It took about 5 tries to get over it and it felt pretty awesome. I’m not sure it’s part worthy, but I was happy to do it. Then I filmed Garrett get a sick line.

We headed to Fort Collins and stopped at the bank to curb. My legs were toast and I got angry as I bailed basic tricks over and over. Garrett and Dave were working through the pivots and tail stalls right away. I also hit a stop rock and slammed hard. Ugh. But once I got a front pivot I rattled off a few basics including a no comply to tail that felt cool. Garrett had front 5-0 to fakie and fakie shove to fakie pivot, front blunt first try. Dave L did back tail then worked on kick back tail for awhile and got a couple. So sick.

(setup 8.5 null nolan deck, Venture 5.8 trucks (cast baseplate titanium hanger), indy 90a bushings , bones stf v5 54mm wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 306 foy b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a nice, but cool day I met Dave around noon for my first lunch skate in awhile. Dave was already at the blue skies flat in the warm up process. For some dumb reason I had setup the 8.75 deck. Warming up was slow for both of us and I quickly disliked the 8.75 for flatground. I was unable to do heelflips or halfcab flips with it, although skunked out a first try big flip. I couldn’t get a treflip either which is what I spent the most time on. I hucked a few fakie lazers which seem very doable, but maybe on a smaller board ha ha. Dave was getting robbed on fakie varial flips, but got a really good one. Lots of kickflips, varial flips, a first try bolts sex change, front shoves, switch shoves. Ripper.

(setup 8.75 null event horizon deck, Venture 5.8 trucks (cast baseplate titanium hanger), indy 90a bushings , bones stf v5 54mm wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 306 foy b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Starting to feel a little better after catching a cold I went to the curbs across the street at the very second the winter storm kicked in with a fierce wind. I did a couple slappy crooks, a couple ollies, and a front slappy and left. I had new wheels and my 8.5 setup. The STFs felt real good on the street.

(setup 8.5 null nolan deck, Venture 5.8 trucks (cast baseplate titanium hanger), indy 90a bushings , bones stf v5 54mm wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 306 foy b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level – I don’t know since I lasted about 5 minutes)

After a brutal callout most of the night my Sunday was pretty much totally ruined. Sometime after 6pm I finally went outside and skated the curbs for a bit. I had put my 8.25 setup back together. Seeing as how I really didn’t do much of anything the size really didn’t matter. Just a few slappies both ways, some slappy crooks, an ollie or 2 up the curb, maybe one kickflip.

(setup 8.25 null abstract 6 deck, Venture 5.6 trucks, venom 91a bushings , sml 53mm og wide wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 212 grey size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After some physical basketball with Ollie I went out to skate well after dark. I intended to find something new, then remembered the new rock hump thing on Valmont. I parked near there and decided to warm up with some flatground or something elsewhere first. I had setup a slightly warped new 8.38 deck as it’s as close to 8.5 as I can get. It felt fine, I wore some old 212s to make things even more weird. I found a new super mellow bank. Did a couple kickturns and stuff, some side rocks. It has some potential for more stuff. I tried a ‘warm up line’ that ended up taking forever. Noseslide the low bar of a down ramp rail, kickflip on the bank, back 180 off a curb cut. The kickflip took forever. Ugh. Then I moved on and found even more new stuff. A brick ledge off a step, and a weird long 3 stair and some good flatground. I tried a line for awhile there too. Noseslide the ledge (it was brick and I didn’t wax it so they were just little jibs), ollie onto the top of the 3 and ride down, then a flatground trick. But I kept bailing the ollie onto the step. Then I did varial flip first and still bailed. Finally did it after a halfcab flip, then followed it all with a bad b/s flip. I was so beat by then, mainly the basketball earlier. I saw a fun looking tiny gap then manny pad on the way back to the car. Pretty rad as I didn’t even make it to the desired spot so I still have more exploring to do.

(setup 8.38 null dream machine deck, Venture 5.8 titanium trucks with regular stock baseplate, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 212 grey size 12, nike zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)