On a cloudy cool day I went in search of dry flatground. It had snowed 20+ inches a couple days ago. I didn’t have to go far and ended up at a random church parking lot off Baseline. The flatground wasn’t great, but there was more space than my garage and a slight downhill made some “no push” lines fun (even though I was going super slow). The first time skateboarding after snowboarding is always super hard. You have to actually ollie instead of just jump. Ha. I started slowly going through the motions of nollie shoves, fakie shoves, 180s, no comply 180s, etc. I got my first try kickflip, but then didn’t land a few. I had put some bigger wheels on and the ol’ cast baseplates. This is because I can’t seem to skate ledges with the lighter trucks. I should have brought LGJ, but I didn’t want to deal with that struggle. I would go on to get a lot of flippers for me. Kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, heelflip, halfcab heel, f/s halfcab heel, f/s halfcab flip, varial flip, fakie varial flip. Geez, I guess 10 is “a lot” for me these days. I couldn’t get treflip or nollie tre (although I didn’t try either all that much). I came real close to switch flip and rick flip. Hucked a few back 360 flips and cab flips that were not close, but felt doable. I had tried several ironmans, but struggled with the heeflip too much. Argh. I ran out of energy pretty quick and soreness set in. I guess jumping on asphalt is way more painful than powder.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate v-hollow hanger, bones medium little bushing ace big bushing, spitfire f4 52mm tablet 99a, new balance numeric 212 white/navy size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a nice breezy day before the big storm was to hit I went to the BV park. To my surprise it wasn’t full of strider bike kids. Instead there was a couple actual skaters. One was a very talkative dude that needed to tell me over and over he was getting old and his ankle hurt. He looked around 25. Yeah. STFU with your ‘getting old’ bullshit. I was wearing some new shoes I have had on ice for awhile. NB# 212s. Aka the best skate shoe there is and they delivered once once with no toe pinching pain. I had b/s flip and kickflip to fakie on the bank right away. “Old guy” had some nice nollie 180s out of the bank. I came close to a first try treflip to fakie on the bank. I didn’t skate the transition well at all, had a few okay flippers on flat, couldn’t front 50 the angled ledge, front 50’d the wood ledge into the bank. Then I had the park to myself and did a couple things with the phone pointed at me for the sake of the journal. The front rock was scarier than it used to be, I also did some axle stalls on it. The front 90 flip took longer than it should. The wallie manual was really fun. Then I ran out of desire to skate that park and called it a day. That park really is terrible.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 50mm classic shape 99a, new balance numeric 212 white/navy size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went to Golden after a stressful half day of work.  I was meeting Jake and doing some skating then heading to BV.  He was in the manny pad/ledge area and we ended up just skating it the whole time.  We often had it all to ourselves.  Jake had been there first and was already doing 50s and tailslides, but was struggling with crooks.  I did some no pop noseslides.  Got crooks then crooks to fakie, noseslide to fakie then switch front noseslide.  I took forever to get a front 50.  But after that I got a “Glen 50” aka 5-0, front 50 shove.  I couldn’t quite get nose manual.  Jake did first try manual.  He also lined out rock ‘n rolls in the BIg O with front tail fakie.  I posed a few halfcab heel noseslides that felt very doable.  We started trying ollie up the ledge above the benches then trick down.  Jake would ollie up every try.  I got up it twice, but I must say I was happy to at all.  I almost got the kickflip off first try.  Second try I bailed as my feet were starting to hurt and the pointy toed Accels were hurting my feet.  Jake would get nollie and no comply 180 off.  The no comply 180 off was super solid.  Then we played SKATE.  Jake was at SKA on kickflip, heelflip and f/s halfcab flip then he got me with a few like switch back 180, f/s flip and something else.  I put down a treflip in 3 tries!  Jake went double or nothing and didn’t quite get it.  That was it, time to drive up to BV.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 50mm classic shape 99a, es accel slim grey size 12, footprint 3.5 kingfoam insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

I arrived shortly after 7pm on a cool night at the Erie Street League park.  There were a few others there and Dave.  I wore my Accel slims with some new thin Footprint insoles and loved them.  I randomly started noseslides on tall side of wedge to ledges. Took a bit to get bs flip on the bank.  Dave did bigspin on the bank.  Then I did kickflips to fakie and Dave did like 10 backside flips.  Then we tried varial flips for Neil since he requested them.  I was trying them to fakie and Dave was going backside for a bigflip.  It took awhile.  I got varial flip to fakie.  It was incredibly fun and rewarding.  Unfortunately my phone died right before I did it.  Just another lesson to land tricks quicker.  Dave would shortly get the bigflip on the bank.  It was so rad, that’s his first one ever.  52 and learning new tricks is epic.  I tried some lines to crook the ledge, had a couple flippers, but got stuck on treflip.  Took me like 50 tries.  Argh.  I couldn’t front 50 the regular ledge either.  Argh.  Dave lined out fakie flips on the bank.  I did a few kickflips to fakie on the high to low wedge but couldn’t get a halfcab flip on the bank after.  Dave got a front 50 on the bank to ledge.  He bounced and I made myself do a noseslide on the upper level of the tiny ledge then back 180 off.  It didn’t come easy.  

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 50mm classic shape 99a, es accel slim grey size 12, footprint 3.5 kingfoam insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Right after work I went to meet Dave at dog park on a nice, but breezy afternoon. The park was not too crowded. Golden Hill Josh was there. As was nullumni Derek and Boulder rippers Max and Robbie and several other people. It wasn’t too crowded though. Dave was already there trying manual the narrow pad then manual the MJ ledge. He got it and I was happy I didn’t have to try it as my first attempt at an ollie onto the pad was terrible. I was wearing the Es Accel Slim Plus today to see if they resulted in less pain. They did, but I also struggled in them. I was hyped to see Derek there. He was ripping. Front blunt shove, front feeble, front crooks, smooth 180 the orange barrier. We were all doing our own things for awhile. I never got to front 50s on the ledges, but crooks and noseslides worked well. Josh and I tried treflips for a bit, I got the worst one ever done 3rd try then couldn’t get a better one. Dave is still working on the varial heel and it looks doable. He did some really good switch crooks. I got a fakie nosegrind, was defeated on back 50s. Chatted with Matt at the dog park for a bit. I thought Dave was leaving, but hew was still there trying bigspins. Then we went on a slappy crook transfer marathon. Both of us had some good crooks. I have never been so posted up that I came to a halt before. I had one that was so close to a smooth slappy crook transfer, but then faded away and didn’t land any flip tricks between tries. Dave was more consistent and got into rock a few times. Then he landed a transfer! It was sick! We left after that. Oh and Max doing switch front nose manny the picnic table was bonkers. I really don’t like the accel slim plus shoes.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 50mm classic shape 99a, es accel slim plus grey size 11.5, xero thin insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a super nice day I hadn’t been called for work and when to dog park to meet Rob and Eric. It was slightly overcast out and oh so nice in the 60s. Rob and I started slow. In fact, Rob never got past starting and left after 20-30 min. Eric somehow always has the fire going though. Tailslides, heelflips over parking blocks, crooks, wallies, 5-0s. Ripping. Nick and Jake were there. Those two are awesome and really fun to skate with. Kevin showed when we were trying tricks on the little pad. I had done a lot of accidental front 5-0s and some fakie 50s. Kevin rattled off tricks super quick and after doing a first try fakie nosegrind he got me to do one 3rd try. Not too bad. I almost got a super good line for me. Fakie 50, halfcab flip, crooks the cinder block, treflip. I struggled with front 50s on the wood death box and got a terribly slow one. Oh yeah, I was wearing cupsoles – NB# 288S. They felt decent, but definitely different and less board feel than bald vulcs. I tried switch front nose shoves for awhile. Kevin rattled off tricks. I tried crooks then 50 then treflip and slammed super hard on an underrated treflip. I don’t remember the last time I slammed that hard. Kevin said I actually bounced. Ugh. Earlier he had a bad slam on a kickflip and then again on a switch front crook attempt. Ollie’s friends Alex and Gabe showed up. It was rad seeing them skating. I scraped myself up and forced myself to skate more. Was trying noseslide to fakie then switch noseslide 270 shove, but didn’t get it. Kevin did an incredible front crooks. Then we called crooks then treflip. We both did it. Then we played a game of SKATE. This one went alright for me. I got kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, heelflip, first try nollie tre (and Kevin got a letter on it!) and came somewhat close to switch flip. I lost, but I wasn’t bummed.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 50mm classic shape 99a, new balance numeric 288s maroon size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 4/10 especially after the slam)

Was having a good morning getting ready for skating when I got called for work. It wasn’t a bad call, but it took a few hours and it kinda killed my skate motivation. And it showed when I arrived at the dog park. Kevin, Dan, Sean, Mike were all trying varial flips. But my body wasn’t up to try them quite yet. I cruised around trying to get warmed up, but it never really happened. Those dudes were all ripping. I was hyped to see Dan skating. Sean and Kevin were doing some lightwork over the barriers. Sean had nollie back 5-0, ollie, backside flip the wallie, turn around ollie the hydrant then front 50 the picnic table. Dang that’s lots of hopping! Kevin did switch nosegrind 180, ollie, nollie shove. I did slow front 50 and posed backside flip. Near the end I got a slow front 50 shove. That’s about the only trick I was remotely hyped on. Kevin and I had tried a bunch of halfcab crooks. Neither of us got it, he was of course way closer. Man I was in some serious pain.

Then I went to look at a Casey to see the spot Eric had shown me. It looked so good from the road I got out of the car. It’s a little kicker to a pad then a little two stair-ish gap after. The kicker was deceiving though as it drops away at the last bit making the timing weird. I got a switch 180 then front 180 the gap. I wanted to do kickflip then front shove, but I never got the kickflip. The weird kicker got to me and I went home.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 50mm classic shape 99a, new balance numeric foy 306 navy size 12, thin es insoles)
(pain level 6/10 super sore)

A little more tech, a bit fewer rails, a lot of lines and a lot of crust makes this one of my fav Westgate parts yet.

Woke up early with the late shift at work so I went to dog park. It was still pretty cold out before 8am when I got there and there was some iced over puddles. It was mostly dry though and would warm up quickly (unlike me). I was more sore than I had anticipated and doing anything involving an ollie seemed unrealistic at first. I haven’t been there in a few weeks and things were quite different. I had some fun with the ‘nollie’ tails, boardslides, ‘slappy’ noseslides then started to try 50s on the long narrow pad. Frontside were easy, backside took a bit. I battled front 50 on one of the wood ledge for a bit. It took me a bit to commit to ollieing that high, but once I did I had some real nice slow front 50s. I did have a line all picked out though. Front 50, back 50 the old tiny pad, 180 flip, halfcab noseslide the cinder block ledge then front 50 the new narrow bench. I got a first try frontside flip (well, it was one of those kickflip late spins on the ground), but never got another f/s flip and bailed b/s flips too. Then I started doing a different line. Crook the new lower bench, ollie over wallies world, ollie a parking block, kick back 50 on the weird pad, ollie the new metal ledge. Never go the kick back 50, but I was hyped I ollied the wallie so many times. I had done halfcab flip and fakie bigflip. Last thing I tried was a line of noseslide the new bench, front 50 the cinder block ledge, treflip on flat. My front 50s were bad as the approach was hard after the noseslide, but I would get the line. The treflip wasn’t great, but it was time to go to work.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 50mm classic shape 99a, new balance numeric foy 306 navy size 12, thin es insoles)
(pain level 6/10 super sore)

Not feeling much like skating on a cold wet night I went to the garage to get a fakie bigflip since I couldn’t land one the day before. I was feeling bloated from dinner and struggled to jump at first. Got to fakie flip, halfcab flip, 2-2 on fakie varial flips then got the fakie bigflip. I tried switch flips for a bit and was not close at all. Then on to treflip. I got one 4th try! I was desperately trying to get 3 within 10 tries, but that didn’t happen. In fact I went about 30 more tries before I put an end to my old chipped board. Ugh. I can take away some positive in that I landed on several and was super close to most of them.

(setup 8.25 303 deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 50mm classic shape 99a, new balance numeric foy 306 navy size 12, thin es insoles)
(pain level 3/10)