Feeling somewhat unmotivated on my last day of working lates I ended up biking to Boulder park on a nice cool smokey morning.  There were a couple kids already there learning how to skate.  They were nice.  I carved around the old section a couple times then went into the warmup line of back 50, rock fakie, fakie front 50.  It didn’t take too long.  Then I mostly stuck to the new stuff sucking.  My achilles was acting up fierce again.  Ugh, I tried to push without lowering my heel at all and it kind of seemed to help.  I took 4 tries, 4 TRIES! to land a switch front nose on the little bench.  I tried Dave’s latest challenge to me over the micro hip – nollie bigspin revert.  I got one in a few tries that was mostly a miracle.  So then I set the phone up to document and of course couldn’t get the same results.  I did have some fun crooks on the bench to start the run out.  After that I attempted a few things, but was feeling so bad I ended up just leaving.

(setup null 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 red cast baseplate v-hollow hangers, stock bushings no big washer, 50mm spitfire f4 classic shape 99a, es swift 1.5 cream size 12 stock insoles)
(pain level 7/10 achilles)

My achilles was not hurting too bad and I had a new pair of Swifts.  There were some puddles around that I spread out and started the warm up process.  It went alright.  I had done a few none pop things before making myself do a few flippers.  Kickflip then fakie flip.  B/s flip then halfcab flip.  This put me in a good mood and the new shoes were feeling good.  Then I had to try and skate the ledges and ruined the mood.  I would get a line of front 180 into the bank, halfcab noseslide, front 50 the black ledge.  But the front 50 did not come easy.  I also tried a line of crooks the end of the up ledge, heelflip, ollie to fakie the wedge.  The heelflip took forever.  I don’t remember how the session ended, I think I just got tired and called it a session.  

(setup null 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 red cast baseplate v-hollow hangers, bones hard bushings, 50mm spitfire f4 classic shape 99a, es swift 1.5 cream size 12 stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Still on call for work so I like to skate before work since I can actually leave town safely. I felt sore, especially in the achilles but I still went to Broomfield. I kind of got going pretty good for awhile though. Had some fun runs around to warm up. One I liked was noseslide to fakie the black ledge, switch noseslide 270 the blue ledge, fakie flip on flat. Also a new dork combo. Ollie deck check to front disaster to manual down the brown ledge. Flip tricks felt impossible. I had some alright front 50s. My achilles started to really act up. I tried to do a treflip, but it wasn’t happening so I left.

(setup null 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 red cast baseplate v-hollow hangers, bones hard bushings, 51mm bones stf 103a v2, es swift 1.5 b/w size 11.5 footprint 3mm flat insoles)
(pain level 6/10 achilles)

After getting stuck working all of Friday night and Saturday I went to campus around noon after lounging/sleeping in. I started at the meetup slappy curb where slappy crooks didn’t feel as good as a couple days ago. But when I went down to the flagstone ledge my flip tricks felt better. I would get my first several tricks in a row. Noseslide, kickflip, fakie flip, switch noseslide, boardslides, etc. It got tough quick though when I got to halfcab flips. I couldn’t believe it was happening again. That used to be my trick. I did get one in a few tries and would eventually get a few in a row at one point. Heelflips killed me though as did front 50s. My first goal of the day was front 50 it. I would finally get one of each. I was hucking lots of switch flips and got so close. I tried for another front 50 and would eventually get one that didn’t grind, but I didn’t care I was over it. That ledge is so tall for me. I had also gotten crooks, crooks fakie, front nose fakie, close to f/s halfcab heel.

Then I went to the nearby 3 stair/weird metal ledge. I had the goal of ollieing the 3 stair then doing front 50. At first I took an embarrassing amount of time to back 50 front 180 out the little ledge. The gap in is about one foot. Then I tried to ollie the 3 and do something on the ledge. It was way harder than I thought. First there is no setup on the 3 stair and a big crack right in the middle so you have to choose a side. I would get the ollie then a nollie tail. The ollie then front 50 was so much harder thought. I had to basically land in a speed check to be able to do it. But I did and it felt cool.

Then I went to the little manny pad across from the stadium. I had randomly thought of halfcab nose manual which I’ve never done before. I never got it, but I did get into a couple and would like to try again. I also did manual, nose manual and close to switch 180 manual. Couldn’t get a treflip.

Then I went to the covered downhill ledge area. I was happy to hide out and be by myself. While I was stretching though and entire crew showed up and started working out doing lunges and yoga and stuff. I was confused what they were doing until they started doing parkour. Turns out they were filming and everything. It was cool. I didn’t get to treflip into the bank then crooks like I wanted mostly because of them. But I did get fakie bigspin then noseslide to fakie and then a crooks or two.

I tried to end it with some flatground, but I was totally dead.

(setup null 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 red cast baseplate v-hollow hangers, bones hard bushings, 51mm bones stf 103a v2, es swift 1.5 b/w size 11.5 footprint 3mm flat insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Was able to take a skate lunch break since I had logged in early with the late shift.  It was sunny and hot with some humidity.  I had put a cast baseplate back on and tighter bushings.  It felt weird at first and I once again felt very off on my board.  I got there first and thought that warming up might be impossible.  Dave showed and we checked out the barrier.  Still confused why the transition is on the side with the cracks, but oh well.  Dave did a few stalls on the low part, I did a couple.  Then we went into lines centered around curved beam.  Flip trick then boardslide then something.  Except I would slide about 1 foot of the end and Dave would be sliding the whole thing.  He had some really good boardslides and some to fakie.  He had kickflips, fakie sex change, a totally (not) clean halfcab flip (ha).  We would go on to the two cinder block ledges.  Dave had front boards, front 50s, front noses, switch front noses.  My flip trick game went better than yesterday.  I had heelflip, halfcab flips, fakie bigflip, kickflip over the parking block and was close to switch flips.  Then we mostly skated the two quick cinder ledges.  I had some good lines on paper.  Switch noses then front 50, front 50 then nollie front tail, noseslide to fakie then switch front nose, switch front nose then halfcab nose.  Then one that really made my day.  Boardslide then crooks then sketchy treflip.  Ended with another one that made my day.  Switch front nose then fakie 50.  Man I needed a good session so bad.  Whew.  Always fun skating with Dave.  At the end the Square State crew showed up and it was great seeing Brian, Rick and Christian.

(setup null 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 red cast baseplate v-hollow hangers, bones hard bushings, 51mm bones stf 103a v2, es swift 1.5 size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a hot night I went to campus around 7.  I started at the slappy meetup curb.  Did a few slappy crooks and slappy front crooks.  I had put a new 8.25 together with 5.6 v-hollow and old 51mm bones v2s.  It felt great for slappies.  Then I went to the flagstone ledge.  I was in a funk and didn’t want to be around people so I was really annoyed when a couple people sat on a nearby ledge and watched me.  I was skating so incredibly terrible. I couldn’t even kickflip, literally took like 10 tries to get one.  I did however do okay with backside crooks and noseslides.  Hadn’t gotten to the point of trying front 50s when it started to rain.  So I skated the covered flatground area where a different couple came and sat and watched me not land anything.  I think it took 30 tries to get a halfcab flip.  Eventually the rain died down and I left considering leaving my skateboard behind for good.

(setup null 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, venom 88a bushings, 51mm bones stf 103a v2, es swift 1.5 size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10 not much pain but had zero energy or pop)

After a tough day of work I chilled for awhile and let it cool down a little. Then I went across the street on my old 8.25 setup to skate flat. Parts of it were okay, but a lot was a struggle. I had kickflips and fakie flips better than I have in a while, got a first try heelflip, a couple halfcab flip, first try b/s flip. I was definitely loving the smaller setup. Although I landed the first heelflip I struggled with them after and only got a couple more. I had settled into a routine of trying heelflip then treflip one direction. I never got a treflip. Going the other direction nollie flip, switch front heel, switch flip. I would not get my feet on the nollie/switch flips but I was committing to several and it felt close. Left bummed once again that I couldn’t easily land a treflip.

(setup null 8.25 jack deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate v-hollow hanger, venom 91a bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a radial slims, es swift 1.5 b/w size 11.5 stock insoles)
(pain 3/10)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards)

.. so I put my 8.5 deck back on. (from the last entry)

Running late I arrived to Loveland park where Bryan, Bo and Riley were already skating. There was hardly anyone there and it would stay that way until we were too tired. Riley mostly skated the outside of the park doing fast 5-0s and other tricks. Man it rules seeing him skate. Bo popped over a bunch of rails, gaps, everything, solid treflip over the hip. Bryan had some nice fakie cab bigspins on the bank. I had a noseslide to fakie, a couple crooks on the ledge and a lot of nothing. Bryan and I eventually played a game of SKATE. This would end up taking us forever. Not because we landed a lot of tricks, but because we could not land tricks. We did get to SKAT-SKAT. He got me with nollie heel, creepy spin, nollie bigspin, something else. I had gotten him with fakie flip, heelflip, and a couple more. I went on to win with halfcab flip. Neither of us were hyped on how bad we skated.

After that I went to FOCO and eventually we ended up at a weird hexagon ledge/manny pad spot. I was soooo sore at this point. I tried one slappy crook and realized I could not skate. I still managed to muster a really bad noseslide to fakie followed by a switch front nose. Hayden casually did some greatness. Even his gram line of bluntslide then 180 nose manual was great. The noseblunt then 180 fakie man 180 was ultra hot. Noe and his friend joined us. Noe did like an 8 trick flatground line that was mind blowing to me. He would go on to struggle with a line, but was victorious with nose manuals 360 shoves both ways and a couple casual flippers after. His friend Jarrad did some rad back tails, 180 nosegrind and switch heel. Yee showed up randomly walking his dog. It was super rad seeing him. He would go on to get his board and skate about the time everyone had gotten their clips. But him and Bo skated and it was cool. Bo went right in to trying back lip then manual shove. Adam was doing a bunch of tricks and still had some causal good pop. I left incredibly sore, tired and depressed about my skating.

(setup 8.5 null smoke valley, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, venom 88a big 91a small bushings, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, es swift 1.5 b/w size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

After a bad night of sleep and some slacking I ended up going to Scott Carpenter. I really only skated with Nick. I bailed my first 3 axle stalls on various tiny qps and was so ready to be over it, but Nick and I ended up having some fun on the parking block qp. We did lines. Grind the tiny little qp, rock fakie the parking block qp, fakie front smith or 50 the tiny qp. It was really fun. He tried to bring the front 50 to fakie. I was able to get some grinds around the corner. Nick had to leave, I skated around aimlessly, felt so bad on my board, did nothing.

After some lunch and running boards to Square House I went to Douglass. It was really nice out. I was sore, but skated kind of okay. Maybe it just felt good to skate street because as I write this I feel I have nothing to report. Some noseslides, bad crooks, did the splits trying a heelflip. Got a couple bad halfcab flips. I hated my board the entire time wanting a bigger board. Or so I thought ..

(setup 8.3 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, venom 88a big 91a small bushings, 53 mm orange/yellow swirl spitfire 99a f4 classic shape, es swift 1.5 b/w size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Feeling tired after my first day of work in awhile I went across the street after dinner and after the rain dried up. I had my 8.3 setup, but with the same wheels. It took me like 7 tries to get a kickflip. I just couldn’t land anything. I had a little fun incorporating the mini bank into some lines. Like doing cab kickturn or ollie to fakie. I got one halfcab flip and couldn’t get a heelflip. So I posed a lot. Trying a bunch of nollie or switch flips. I would commit to both, but never got feet on them. Overall an absolutely terrible session and I officially hit the wall on large wheels again.

(setup 8.3 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, venom 88a big 91a small bushings, 53 mm orange/yellow swirl spitfire 99a f4 classic shape, es swift 1.5 b/w size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)