On a cold night I went to Frederick around 7.  There weren’t a whole lot of people when I arrived and it would thin out quickly.  But to my surprise Skelly was there!  I haven’t seen him in forever and it was great seeing him.  Also Fuller, Big Mike and after a while Garrett and a surprise Derek Yale sighting!  That was awesome too.  Warming up wasn’t so easy in the cold.  Dave was going in on the yellow curb.  I was kind of all over initially.  I really like how you can push at this park.  I had some okay stuff somewhat quickly.  Noseslide the bump to box, kickflip over the hump frontside, kickflip on the bank, b/s flip the upper hip.  Mike had a cool boardslide around the yellow curb.  Skelly with steezy ollies and halfcab board transfer.  Dave did a first try slappy front crooks to fakie and then switch slappy crooks too!  Wowsers.  I got a weak slappy front crook.  I was riding the 8.3, the bushings in it quickly froze making for a weird skate.  I hucked tricks over the hump, but didn’t land much.  At one point I was going near the qp and someone yelled Glen!  I recognized the voice immediately, but didn’t see who it was and turned around and it was Derek!  So stoked.  Caught up with him then we fought off the cold by skating.  He still has his quick light footed manual style and it was great to see.  I would get a fun line for me.  Front 180 into the bank by the yellow curb, switch front 180 fly out, noseslide the narrow ledge, finally ollie up the euro (can’t believe it took me so many tries because it was so easy when I finally committed).  After that I didn’t really land much.  Garrett made some hard tricks look really easy, but he didn’t get the front nose.  Ha.  Front smith on the box was sick.  Garrett and I played a frozen game of SKATE to end it.  I would only land front shove, kickflip, fakie flip, heel flip and fakie big flip.  At least I got one letter on him with fakie bigflip.  He get me with nollie flip, janoski flip, switch flip, halfcab flip and ended me with switch heel.  I was close though!  Fun night.  I didn’t get as tech as I wanted, but I did at least do a few new things and it was a really fun crew.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium hanger with cast baseplate, venom 90a bushings no boardside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 306 navy size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went out to the street on a lunch break around 3 on a gorgeous day.   After some recent issues flipping into back 50s or sketchy heelflips I decided to skate my 8″ setup.  It took a little getting used to, but it is crazy how quickly my body remembers 10 years of skating 8s.  It was probably 10 minutes before I started trying flip tricks.  Kickflip and fakie flip were quick.  The next trick I landed was fs halfcab heel.  Then halfcab flip, heelflip.  Took a bit for fakie bigflip, but it was the first one I’ve got in awhile.  I did two halfcab heels in a row at one point.  I’ve been trying to get that trick better in hopes of getting it to noseslide.  I got a third one too and landed a treflip after that!  Almost got nollie tre after that which would have made for my techest line ever.  Got b/s flip.  Was not close to switch or nollie flip.  Close to nollie varial and fakie varial flips.  Then I needed to get back into work and was getting pretty sore anyway.  I liked the 8″.  After how bad I’ve been skating ledges lately anyway I kind of don’t want to pretend anymore the bigger board helps with ledges.  

(setup old 8″ null logo deck, jessup grip, venture 5.2 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, old bones stf v2 51mm, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, es energy foam insoles)
(pain level 3/10 i’ve been realizing that as much as i love those nike insoles they have gotten too thin to use with the 212s)

On the way home from my mom’s I stopped at the Leadville park. There was only one other dude there, but he had his wife and 3 kids and they managed to hog the park well. Like the wife would sit on a ledge to film him, the youngest kids would climb on something and then an older one would scooter or skate around. I thought they were nice at least, until the dude literally started trying whatever I was trying. That’s when I got annoyed. Well I guess I was already annoyed. I had felt good playing disk golf with my brother earlier in the morning, but as soon as I stepped out of the car to skate my right knee felt terrible. It’s that lovely arthritic pain that comes with wind and cold. Ugh. I had changed my setup on the road too. I swapped out the Thunder 151s for Venture 6.1s. Not necessarily by choice, but I wasn’t feeling the Thunders and I used some old 5.8 Ventures as completes for my brothers kids. The first few ollies felt so solid it was crazy the difference in pop. That didn’t equate to good skating though. I had a couple kickflips on the hump, noseslide and noseslide to fakie the bump to ledge, almost nose manual the curb. Was trying a line of ollie to fakie on a bank, halfcab noseslide the little ledge then crooks the bump to ledge. But I never got the crook. I may have settled for noseslide. The 6.1s felt very heavy. I tried to do switch 180 down the drop up top then ollie up, but couldn’t get the ollie up. This is when daddy hero came over and did halfcabs down it. I suggested he had to get the ollie up to make it count so of course he did that first try and looked at me confused that I couldn’t do it. Sorry dude I’m 20 years older and my arthritis has my knee all locked up. This session was one of those ‘maybe I don’t really like this park that much after all’ sessions. I rolled around aimlessly for awhile then got back on the road.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 6.1 stock bushings, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, all washers on the outside of the wheels, new balance numeric 288S maroon size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 5/10 arthritis sucks and takes away any confidence)

On the way to my mom’s in BV Steve and I hit the Frisco park. He doesn’t skate anymore really. He wanted to check out the bike park, but it was closed and a bit snowy. The moonscape of the skatepark is appealing to people that don’t skate much so he was down to check it out. We did hit the moonscape area some, but there was snow in the shady sides limiting things quite a bit. And most of it was too gnarly for my brother (and me). The skatepark was mostly empty. It was awesome. Steve would take breaks often and I skated quite a bit. I skated my 8.3 setup with the Thunder 151s. I ended up not liking it so much. Argh. It had weird crooks and I still struggled to pop onto ledges. I didn’t get kickflip to fakie on the bank, but did have some fun backside kickflips. I got the down rail first and every try. It’s tiny, but still fun. I did the front shove in a few tries, it was fun. Oh yeah I had new shoes. NB# 288s. They felt decent. Steve was having fun with the little early grabs. He had a couple sketchy bails, almost got a boardslide on the end of the flat bar. He had fun. I was hyped to get to skate. Right after the park Steve had to run some errands so I tried some flippers in the parking lot at Copper. I had locked up with soreness so just hucked back heels and switch bs flips. I wasn’t close to either, but it was fun trying.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder 151 hollow light, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, all washers on the outside of the wheels, new balance numeric 288S maroon size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

In my head for quite some time I’ve thought I wanted an 8.5 with a smaller wheelbase. I can’t change the board dimensions, but I do have control over which trucks I skate. I put some old Ace 44s on a 8.5 Lazer deck. The board was shot, cracked and very old so I don’t know how accurate this test was. I started with slappies. They didn’t go so well except for front slappies felt great. After taking several tries to kickflip I went to the side of the school for flatground. It was a different experience to say the least. I could tell the wheelbase was smaller, but it didn’t equate to easier flip tricks. In fact I didn’t really land much of anything. I went up to the rock in the back and could barely frontside axle stall on it. I really thought I was going to like this setup. I was able to kickflip and fakie flip well, had a first try heelflip but then could not do another one. I think I was 0-20 on halfcab flips although I didn’t have the normal problem I do with them. Not close to treflips either which was the main reason I tried this setup. At the time I was optimistic about the setup, but as I write this and digest the session it makes me want to go back to a smaller board and low trucks. Argh.

(setup 8.5″ old null lazer deck, ace 44s with doh doh/venom bushings, old 51mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w/yellow size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10 although i got tired quickly)

So I had gotten some new trucks at 303. Some Thunder 151s. I meant to get some 149s, but they didn’t have them and well I wanted something different. I have to admit to myself that I like bigger boards, but the bigger Ventures require lot of heft to pop them. I wanted a lower and lighter bigger truck for 8.3 or 8.5. So I put them on an almost new 8.3 I had in my garage. I arrived to an almost empty Broomfield park. I started on the quartapotty and it was really fun. Also a few basics on the blue ledge. My setup was feeling great with the exception of flip tricks, but I kind of blame these Es Accel slims for that. Sean showed. We started with a game of SKATE. He pink slipped me again. I had the excuse of new trucks. I mean even though it’s my own fault it’s a decent excuse right? I did get a defensive f/s halfcab heel, but other then that it wasn’t so good. Then we mostly skated the black ledge. Sean methodically went through his routine landing so many tricks first try. 5-0 180s, nosegrind 180s, tailslides, nollie/fakie 5-0s and nosegrinds. I had more pop than normal and was able to 50 the ledge several times. It was fun. Got one shove out, front 180 out, didn’t do any accidental 5-0s. Had halfcab noseslide and noticed the lack of the baseplate Thunder problem. Did some okay crooks, switch front noseslides. After a while I got really tired and chilled. Sean did a line first try of nollie back nosegrind 180 then fakie back 5-0 180. Wow. Then we played a game of SKATE and I finally got a letter on him. Yes, only one letter. Ha ha. And I forget which trick it was on. He was on fire and landed tricks like nollie back heel in one or two tries. After the game I tried treflips until I got a super bad one, got a halfcab flip and could not get fakie bigflip. Sean did the tricks above in a few tries. Man he was ripping.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder 151 hollow light, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, all washers on the outside of the wheels, es accel slims tricolor grey size 12, thin rubbery adidas insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Trying to escape the heat Jake and I went to Frisco. We parked right next to Dan and Ted. Epic. So we all skated awhile. I had put my 8.3 setup back together and was riding it. It was crazy how much more pop the higher trucks had. Other than a quick nose manual I really sucked it up. Dan was ripping as he always does. Ted and Dan put on a treflip clinic. I wasn’t really feeling like trying flippers. Partly because of pain. I wasn’t feeling great. Jake was working on blunts on the bank ledge. I was trying back 50s over the top on the little curb and failing. Ted went for a crazy back 50 no comply back bigspin out. So nuts. I tried my line a few times, but the crowd near the bench became too much and it was just too annoying. Dan killed it, nollie front 180 nose manual, feebles and blunts on the flat bar, back smith the ledge, nosegrind up the ledge, so much goodness. Jake basically tried to line out the front 5-0 in the weird corner the whole session. He did have some good crooks on the curved ledge. Me too, it locks in good. I took a bit to get the kickflip to fakie. Then was trying a fun line of crooks, back 50 the tiny ledge, front nosegrind the tiny ledge. I couldn’t quite get the nosegrind. Near the end I tried and almost got into a kick back tail. Jake and I got some food and were going to hit evergreen on the way home, but we were beat and just drove all the way home.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 custom v-hollow, bones hard bushings, 51mm spitfire 101a F4 classic shape, 3 washers inside each axle, lakai atlantic b/w size 11.5, xero thin insoles)
(pain level 4/10)  

Another day wearing glasses and trying to avoid sunlight I went to campus before work for some flatground.  I went to the flagstone ledge area and mostly hid in the covered area.  I downloaded some random skate dice app to use as a warm up.  It did some basic tricks to start with like nollie back 180, switch shove, helipop, etc.  It was fun.  Then I tried halfcab flips for way too long before getting a couple really slow ones.  I ollied onto the ledge after and came remotely close to dropping into cali grind on the sidewalk.  Took a while for heelflips too.  I hucked a lot of nollie/switch flips and were close to both.  Committed, but didn’t get my feet on.  Couldn’t get a treflip which is always depressing.  I think the tighter bushings I’ve been rocking hurt treflips.  Man did I even land anything else?  I did a crooks or two, noseslides.  Ended trying kickflip then front 50.  I got into a couple front 50s, but never grinded and landed one.  Argh.  I wasn’t too depressed when I left skating, but upon writing this I am. I really hated how my kickflips felt. I wasn’t popping the tail.

So after work I tried low trucks again. And I loved it. I warmed up with some slappies in between some longboarders then skated some flat on the side of the school. I had some new wheels and bearings too. Spits 51mm. They felt great. My kickflips felt sooo much better. I was 3-3 on heelflips at one point too. I had a few initial tricks that felt good, then kinda went downhill. I mostly hucked all kinds of tricks without really sticking to or landing much. It was fun though.

(setup 1 8.25 null archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 custom hollow cast baseplate v-hollow hanger then venture 5.2 lows, bones hard bushings, bones stf v1 51mm 103a, new balance numeric 212 b/w/yellow size 12, nb abzord insoles)
(pain level 3/10)    

I went out to the garage on a rainy evening before dinner. I was motivated and felt decent. The warm up process went alright. I took a few tries to get a pop shove I was happy with which was the start of the struggles. Then kickflip took a few tries, but I did manage my 5 in a row. Then heelflips. I had gotten one and was going for a total of 5 when a missed heelflip resulted in my foot going right through the middle of my board. No worries I grabbed a very old 8″ deck sitting on the garage and swapped them out. It felt a little small and I started with fakie flips to get going. Then I went back to heelflip and was able to get 4 more of those. Did a couple backside flips, a great feeling fakie varial flip. Then couldn’t treflip to save my life followed by many varial heelflip attempts that I couldn’t land either. I hucked a few nollie flips that felt pretty close, but overall I was just so bummed. I tried so hard and I couldn’t come up with a rare or new trick. It really felt like I’m just too old to learn new stuff anymore and it hit me hard.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck/null logo 8″ deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, venture yellow bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric 288s grey/blue size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

After work on a hot afternoon I drove by Southern Hills to skate some flat and benches.  However there were several people there playing basketball so I turned around and moved on.  I ended up at a random nearby school that has a weird flagstone bench with gaps on each side, a sketchy butter bench against a bush with flowers, an alright curb, some decent flatground and a million stop rocks.  I had brought out my old 8.25 with low trucks because I felt desperate to have better flippers.  It worked.  Although I did struggle to ollie up a curb with any confidence.  Anyway I tried a line to get things going.  Back tail a curb, kickflip on flat, ollie up a curb, ollie onto the bench.  I never committed to the bench.  I couldn’t last time I was there either.  I hucked a lot of flippers.  Got kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, b/s flip, halfcab flip, f/s halfcab flip, close to varial heel.  Hucked kick back tails on the curb for a bit and got really close.  Did a bunch of crooks on the bench which was really fun.  I did a few other tricks on it too, but they were even less good than crooks.  I couldn’t get a front 50 on it to save my life.  I was upset about this initially, but really that ledge is something I would normally never touch.  Cracks, stop rocks, a family biking in the parking lot watching me.  Yeah a lot of forces working against me.  I left on peaceful terms even without getting the front 50.  Then I watched Back To The Future with the kids.  That movie rules and was the first skateboarding I ever saw.  I got a skateboard shortly after that.  35 years later here I am still not able to front 50 a bench.  Ha.
(setup 8.25 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric foy b/w/y size 12, nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 3/10)