On a lovely Saturday morning I went to dog park to meet Jake. You read that correctly, Jake! He was there already as were Alexi and Ian. Paul, Will and eventually Gordon would join too. Warming up went okay for me, everyone seemed to be having fun. Jake beat me to back 50 on the lurb. He also had some tailslides and front 50s. I had some decent tricks for me. Kickflip up the lurb first try, slow front 50s on the bench, back 50 front 180 out on the curb,, a decent crooks above the manny pad getting further than I have before (but still only about half way), first try halfcab noseslide, some crooks. It’s funny watching Paul struggle with halfcab noseslide considering how hard he rips tricks like back 5-0 front 180 out. He had some good slappy front crook and sw slappy front crook. Will arrived and did his easy 5-0s and nosegrinds. Jake needed some kodak courage on the pivot fakie. Gordon showed, but we pretty much left for Willville around then.

Willville was fun. I was happy to get manual into the bank first try. Will was hyped on the spot being named after him and did a gnarly kickflip into the bank. Gordon had some fast ollies up and shoves to fakie. Jake nollie back tail, fakie front noseslides and hustled Gordon on front tail. I had settled into hucking kick back tails. For the most part I was not as close. With the exception of the suski/pivot. Man I wish that would have gone into tail. Oh well, really fun day, great to see Jake out skating again and uppers 60s in January!

(setup 8/10 null hayden 8.3, jessup ultra, thunder hollow lite 149 with t-ii bushings, 51mm spitfire radial 99a green, splay rev s-series black size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After driving back from Omaha and chilling for a bit I headed out to campus on a new sample setup. 8.25 with 14″ wheelbase and venture v-hollows. I’ve been wanting to try the 14″ wb for a while now and it felt okay. I randomly started at the main intersection on campus and did a line of ollie up a curb, drop down manual, 180 off a curb. It took a while and I had a lot of ghost pops up the curb. Then I went over to the downhill hallway ledge where noseslides felt way better than normal. Tried to line out noseslide then frontside axle stall. Never quite got it, but I was happy to try as I don’t know if I’ve gotten onto a ledge that tall in forever. Managed a crappy crooks. Tried a few back 50s, but could not commit. All in all a decent session of trying to push myself to ollie higher even though i was exhausted. I enjoyed the smaller wheelbase setup as it seemed to make flippers and ledges easier. Although i didn’t really try many flippers or f/s ledge tricks.

(setup 6/10 8.25/14 sample, jessup ultra null, venture 5.6 v-hollow with bones medium broken bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, splay rev s-series black size 12 with remind cush insoles and impact layer)
(pain level 5/10)

Feeling quite depressed and anxious about skateboarding I went to Westminster to meet Garrett at a new spot we saw at Denver Spot Locator. I got there first. One of my favorite thing about skateboarding is showing up at a new spot and being humbled by how hard it is, but then eventually getting used to some things. What makes this spot harder than it looks is the uphill approach as it curves and narrows. But we skated and we eventually landed some stuff we were happy with. I took a while to get boardslide. Even longer to get noseslide and noseslide to fakie. I did the kickflip to fakie then sw noseslide a few times, once with a 270 shove out. Actually, I did all the lines a few times. One other line I got was just an ollie on the bank and then nollie front tail on the ledge. I had gotten quite a few accidental front 5-0s and a 50 or two, but couldn’t do it once I selfie filmed. Garrett had lots of front nose and front tail variations. He then went on to film another banger tech trick for an eventual Null video. Joe showed and proceeded to huck himself down the big 2. Took him a bit, but he got it. Then on to back noseblunt on the ledge which was nuts. Fun session. Really needed a decent session after the last few. Oh yeah, I had put Indy Titaniums on my 8.25 setup. I liked it a lot.

(setup 7/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, indy titanium 144, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, splay rev s-series black size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 5/10 pretty sore and arthritic feeling still)

It was kind of snowing here in Boulder when I left to meet Will at Broomfield around noon. Got to the park and it was just Taylor and he was ripping. I started on my bigger 8.3, but this time with ventures. Felt great initially at least. Got through the normal warmups pretty quickly, even a few slow front 50s on the blurb. But then I just fell apart and had no motivation, drive, or peace with my setup. I changed back to the 8.25 with thunders and completely hated it other than 8.25 felt better than 8.3. Taylor had crooks shove and crooks to fakie. Will had his casual grace on the ledges and came close to nollie front 180 switch manual on the blurb.

(setups 8.3 with ventures with redrilled madness and 8.25 with thunder team hollows both of which sucked and then my splay revs which i still like)
(pain level 5/10 good ol’ arthritis)

Went to the garage during another 100+ mph wind day after work to skate some flatground. I had my smaller 8.25 with thunder setup. Started okay with some warm ups. Didn’t do so well on kickflips, but had fakie flip first try and got bs flip and halfcab flip. Tried halfcab heel for a while and could not get one. Then went into a four trick rotation. Nollie varial heel, treflip, switch flip and varial heel. Initially I was close to some nollie varial heels, but then they went away. Treflips were all close, but I kept not landing them. I was close to a few switch flips, but there was one in particular that was extremely close had it flipped a little faster. Varial heels I was quite close to as well. Then I just wanted to get a treflip so I just did them. I got some of my feet on a few, but never got one. I was getting so angry, lost my voice screaming. It was not cool.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null thunder 148 team hollow 52mm spits splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Feeling kind of sick I met up with some dudes at Broomfield park on an incredibly nice and warm Sunday. The crew was Cass, Brian, Sean, Will and me. Taylor was there shredding too. Out of the gates Cass was killing the flip trick game even if he couldn’t do a first try treflip in honor of the SOTY announcement. He would do treflip, hardflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, backside flip. Made a note to not play him in SKATE. I had another setup change which I mostly liked – 8.3 and Thunder T2s. I didn’t really test it on the ledge though. Brian, Cass, Sean and I played treflip for a while up on the top with the incline. No idea why we didn’t move down below as no one else was there. Cass did a couple, got close to fakie tre. I got a very over-50 defensive make. Brian did a couple questionable ones before putting down a solid one. And it was funny because he was filming it, but went outside of the recording area when he did it so you couldn’t see it. Sean got one after, down below. Brian also got some front 50s on the blue lurb. I got a fakie 50, but no back 50s. Had some fun noseslides to fakie on the bank to ledge. Was close to some other flipers. Sean did Rick flip in like 3 tries as well as laid down some of his patented greatness on the ledges. In retrospect I didn’t really do much, but it was a fun crew, nice out and a good session.

(setup 7/10 old 8.3 null flaherty, pj jessup, thunder t2 149, spitfire f4 51mm radial green, splay rev lt b/w size 12 with remind cush insole)
(pain level 2/10) LOWEST IN A LONG TIME!

Kind of a windy morning making it feel chilly when it was actually pretty warm. Most of the 98% dudes were there. Lots of SOTY talk to start. Can’t really remember a whole lot because so many people were there. Jason’s front board kickflip out and kick back tails were great. Dan switch back 180 over the green box was amazing. Bratcher with a bunch of trick on the double kicker bank. Scott with some fakie ollies on it. Donnie was trying an insane boardslide transfer. Preston was ripping a regular board and doing losi grinds on rails. Cass is becoming a flatground wizard. Joe tall back tails and front crooks on the big wood ledge. Wade attacked the metal beam. I’m sure this is much more. I skated alright. Had a fun line I’ve done before of crooks the tall wood ledge then front shove the little kicker. Ted, Cass, Dan and I played halfcab heel for a while. I think Cass and Ted got them, Dan and I were close. I took a while at the end to do halfcab noseslide on the green box and wanted to line it out with front 50 shove on the main bench. But I couldn’t get the 50 at all. Kind of a bummer at the end, but whatevs, it was a fun session.

(setup 4/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, thunder hollow lite 148, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On the way to work I stopped for a brief mostly-flatground session.  I had 8.25 with slappy lows and mostly hated it. Especially the incredibly noisy pivot cups.  I struggled to kickflip or halfcab flip.  Did some basics around the park briefly after flailing at flatground.  Then remembered Monico was in a Rick flip challenge so I went in on them.  And I got one!  And it made me very happy.  

After work then a long traffic jam I ended up at a mostly empty Frederick park with Dave.  Warming up wasn’t as bad as I thought and for some random reason I thought of Donnie inspiration and we hucked some fs ollies up the bank.  And it was super fun.  We stuck to the bank area most of the night.  We tried lines for quite a while.  Dave did his line of fakie flip then bigspin, but of course I got a spam call which messed up the recording.  I tried kf to fakie then rick flip for a while but was not close to the rick flip, was also not close to f/s halfcab flip or even f/s flip.  I tried some sw front bluntslides and gave up after a slam.  Dave had sw blunt slide and front shove over the hip.  I had some alley oop fakie frontside grinds down the qp that were fun.  This seems like very little, but it was actually a long session and quite fun.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, slappy low profile 8.25, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, splay rev lt b/w size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Stopped at Boulder park for a little over 30 minutes in the morning.  It was incredibly nice out.  I had a setup change that I despised.  8.25 and T2s.  There was some snow piles around, but mostly skateable.  Warm up line was supposed to be noseslide the hump to ledge, axle stall, nollie back 270 but I never got the nollie 270.  Had some fun front 50s until I almost broke my thumb on a slam that my thumb caught on the way down.  Ouch.  Hurt so bad.  Thought I’d be going to the ER for a minute.  Did some other basics, they were fun.  Glad I skated with the exception of that slam.

(setup 1/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, thunder t2 149, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, splay rev lt b/w size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10 until the slam but my legs still felt decent)

Feeling overwhelmed with setup madness I ended up just grabbing an old 8.3 with some thunders on it and completely hated it. I had gone to Southern Hills. Haven’t been there in a long time and I remember why. I mean it’s okay, but them ledges are TALL. I did some noseslides and noseslides to fakie and that was really about it.

After some lunch and setting up a new board I went looking for dry spots. I didn’t come up with much, but I ended up at dog park as I was very surprised to see it was dry and almost empty. I had put Royals on and they are pretty good. Not great as they lack pop, but I did prove a couple of things to myself. Mainly, wearing these Splay shoes I need lighter setups. I had regular manuals better than normal. Other tricks were okay. Back 50s on the curb were better than normal. Slappy crooks worked well. Had a line that was really poorly done, but sounds okay on paper. Front 50 180 the lurb, sw front nose the bench, fakie nosegrind the curb. Did halfcab flip then b/s flip first try, but regular kickflips were terrible. Did another line of fakie flip, halfcab noseslide the bench, back 50 the curb. Did more whatever stuff. Ended on a line of sw front nose the narrower metal bench then fakie front nose jib the green ledge. Oh yeah, I couldn’t front 50 it to save my life which I imagine will be a quick death to the Royals. Since I had that problem before too. I should also mention it was quite windy and cold.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, royal ultralight 149, spitfire f4 99a 52mm pink/green classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 5/10)