With my Venture 5.8s back on I met Rob, Dave L and Kevin at Broomfield park.  I was the last one there.  For some reason I wasn’t feeling a skatepark session on a Saturday, but after a few warm up runs they suggested we bounce.  I don’t remember much of anything because I literally was only there for 10 minutes.  

We went to this school to look at some mini benches, but they had snow.  We went around the school and played on some curved ledges that could be pretty fun.  Dave almost got boardslide pop out.  Kevin almost got hurt multiple times.  Then we ended up in the nearby smooth parking lot.  Manuals, flippers were had.  Kevin did a quick up ollie several times.  I ollied it to axle stall.  A good old fashioned curb stall session ensued ignited by Rob with a pivot back tail.  Kevin did a switch front disaster and I tried, but didn’t get it.  Rob had more pivots to tail to almost 180 out.  Dave had fakie pivots.  

Then we ended up at this fun old bank spot.  The north facing bank had snow so it was a different vibe than normal.  In some ways I thought it was more fun because you were forced to roll in a certain way, but it wasn’t as fun to cruise that’s for sure.  Kevin and I had some fun b/s flips even if his was way better and landed much quicker.  Dave and Rob had some poppy ollies.  Rob struggled with crail blocks which was rare for him so he put an end to his very old board.  Dave had left.  Kevin did a Janoski flip out of the bank then fakie ollie into it which was way nuts.  I had almost done a biflip first try.  So instead of doing it quick I took like 20 tries to get a very bad one.  Oh well.  As we rapped by the car I did a kickflip on Kevin’s board that felt so good so I drove right to 303 after that and got some Thunders.  ha ha.  Gonna be 3-3 on setup changes to start the year.  Anyway, fun day with the crew and I’m hyped we got out of the park.  

(setup 8.25 303 deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, venom 88a big bushing 91a small bushing, spitfire 52mm 99a f4 classic shape, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint elite mid insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

While waiting for Sean and Kevin to join I went over to the curbs and did some slappies. The board felt good. I did a couple kickflips. Kevin showed, we skated a bit then Sean showed so we left for campus. First spot we hit was the amazing little yellow ledge. Ha ha. There was ice on the run out and preventing it from being hit frontside with any angle. Kevin back 50’d it so easy and I tried to just do it too like it was nothing. But my mind had different ideas. I would never get a clean back 50. I don’t know how much the different Indys were to blame, but I was borderline focusing my board. Kevin and Sean had some fun lines. Kevin had also done fakie 50 halfcab transfer up, but then took a bit to get the line above. Sean had front 50, fakie 50, halfcab, front 180, kickflip, heelflip, ollie onto the tall ledge. I would kind of get some back 5-0s, switch nose jib, switch 180 the crack then ollie the stairs. But man I was bumming. After this we looked at some new areas, but didn’t really skate any more. Just kind walked/pushed and looked around. That new area has some serious potential for fun.

(setup 303 8.25 deck, jessup ultragrip, 144 indy mids, bones medium bushings,  spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Getting out of work early for NYE I met Jake at Broomfield park. It was almost warm and the park was popping. Lots of lurkers though so it wasn’t too bad. Warming up was alright. I was pretty sore from Frederick the night before, but it worked itself out quickly. Jake had a new board too. He got first try kickflip, I got it second try. He got fakie flip second try, I got it first try. We both got varial flip first try. Halfcab flips came quick. Jake got f/s flip quick, I got b/s flip. Then Jake got a really good treflip in a few tries. I didn’t and it was the started a rage in me that wasn’t healthy. I tried for quite a while and could not land it. Treflips were the only reason I was trying Indys again. Argh. We moved on to the black ledge and had some similar lines. Boardslide the rail then crooks. Front 180 into the bank then halfcab noseslide. Jake didn’t struggle with the frontside stuff like I was though. Ugh it was bad. I could barely front 50. Jake had 5-0 and tail. Then I said 3 more ledge tricks each before a game of SKATE. Jake got fakie front nose right away. I got a fakie front 50 coming out switch and switch nose 270 shove. I think Jake got fakie back tail. Then we both did front 50 shove. The game of SKATE was pretty fun. I landed kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, f/s halfcab flip, varial flip, heelflip, fakie bigflip and somehow Jake was only to SKAT. He got me with f/s flip, pop shove body varial, a really good fakie 3 shove, switch shove then broke his brand new non-null deck on a switch front shove. We had been trying treflips. Both of us close, neither of us getting it. Jake had to stop because his deck was too cracked to skate. I would get a treflip, but it wasn’t pretty. Goodbye 2020. I hope to relearn treflips in 2021.

(setup 303 8.25 deck, jessup ultragrip, 144 indy mids, bones medium bushings,  spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cold night I drove out and met Dave at Frederick.  The park had more snow and ice than we had thought.  The manny pads weren’t an option.  The bump to ledge/hump and curb areas were about it.  And the two weird benches by the dumb sculpture.  We basically had the park to ourselves except when shoveler Patrick showed up for awhile.  We skated the hump and curb area the most.  We skated for over a couple hours so it’s hard to remember all that went down.  Warming up wasn’t as bad as you would think.  Dave did a lot of curb stalls/transfers/grinds.  All of which were made harder by limited run up.  Front hurricane, boardslides, noseslides, nose stall reverts and the amazing back axle to rock to revert transfer.  Wow.  He also had some incredible lines that had switch shoves on the hump to quick wallrides.  I mostly posed flip tricks and got used to my new trucks.  Yes, new trucks again.  This time Indy Mids.  Had to try them, they felt great before the bushings totally froze up.  I had a line of caveman grind then b/s flip the hip.  I couldn’t get a regular kickflip over the hip.  I posed hardflips for awhile on the little bank and got kind of close. I took too long to get a varial flip over the hip.  I lost interest when Pat stole my trick.  Then after he left I tried again and got a couple weird feeling ones.   I tried a line of fakie flip on the little bank then f/s halfcab flip over the hip, but was really struggling.  Dave’s lines were pretty amazing.  It’s hard to describe the crazy curb transfers then switch shoves on the hump to quick wallrides and the smoothness.  We ended on the weird sculpture benches.  I was unable to switch noseslide either way.  I guess the Indys might not be so good for ledges.  But I had some alright crooks and a fun noseslide shove.  Dave had a good line of front noseslide to fakie, fakie flip on the tiny bank, noseslide to fakie.  Oh yeah then we hit the bank for a bit.  Dave did some great fakie ollies.  I did some weak ollies to fakie.  

(setup 303 8.25 deck, jessup ultragrip, 144 indy mids, bones medium bushings,  spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went to the garage without much motivation hoping to randomly try nollie varial heel. After some warming up I tried a bunch and was not close whatsoever. So. I went into the normal rotation stuff. Kickflip variation, heelflip variation, nollie, switch, treflip then nollie varial heel. I got a couple of the kickflip tricks. Somewhat close to switch flip. Couldn’t get a treflip to save my life. And it killed me. I managed to just stop and go inside after about 30 minutes. No landing treflips is driving me nuts. Never before have I committed so many times and not gotten feet on it. I’m gonna change something.

(setup 8″ null archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 high red cast baseplate v-hollow hanger, venom 91a bushings flat roadside washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint elite mid insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Kevin had called out an 11am dog park session which worked good for me as I didn’t have as much time as normal. I got there first. The park was arranged pretty weird. Upon Kevin and Rob arriving we did some arranging and it worked out pretty good. The crew ended up bing Kevin, Rob, Mike, Bernie and cameos from Dan and Aki. I had nothing for a long time. I was able to pop ollies alright, but my flip tricks weren’t going well and I didn’t have much drive. Kevin was ripping the ledges a new one. Back tails, back smiths, crooks, back 180 nosegrinds, nollie nosegrinds, nollie front crooks, etc. Bernie started mellow, but got into the kick back tail battle with Kevin. Bernie would get a couple that looked oh so good. Mike hadn’t skated in a couple months and it showed. He is human after all! He still ripped though. Nollie back tails, back nosegrinds, all done with power. Rob had the sickest fakie nosegrind 180. I need to try that trick, looks so fun. He also had some long lines, front noseslides, halfcab noseslides, back 50 mongo out, back 180s over the parking block every time and much more. Rob had left. Aki had shown. Good to see him. He hadn’t skated much lately either. Still had some good 50s though. Dan showed on his lunch break right as we were about to play a game of SKATE so he joined and then won it. I wasn’t happy with getting a letter on treflip, but I managed a few tricks and was the 3rd one out. It was funny getting like 3 letters on kickflip and fakie flip. I also got halfcab flip, heelflip and fakie bigflip. I of course got letters on Kevin’s nollie and switch flips. Dan put down Janoski and won it with nollie front heel. After that we were mostly chilling, dorking around. I hucked a few kick back tails on the little guy, but never got both feet on. I told Bernie we had to do a new trick before leaving so he went and did fakie back tail kickflip out like 3rd try. That was a new one for him. And he got it so quickly! I started trying the switch nose kickflip out. I wasn’t close at all for awhile, but then just put my board on the ledge and tried it. I figured out that thinking of it as a backside flip really helped. Then as you can see above I kind of did it. i was actually pretty happy about it. Hopefully it’s a step towards doing them moving.

(setup 8″ null archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 high red cast baseplate v-hollow hanger, venom 91a bushings flat roadside washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint elite mid insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Had more time before we left for my mom’s than I thought I would so hit up Jake and Rob for an early dog park session.  It was cold at first, but warmed up quite a bit by the end.  Especially when the strong breeze wasn’t blowing.  I was there first and quickly realized I was feeling alright for me.  Warm up line was switch front nose cinder block ledge, halfcab nose black ledge, crooks new bigger ledge.  Got back 50 on the a-frame, first try heelflip, front 50s weren’t as hard as normal.  The small board was kind of awesome at everything, perhaps because I kept the high trucks on it.  Rob and Jake got to ripping pretty quickly.  Rob halfcab noseslide the street bench, halfcab boardslides, crooks, back 50s, noseslides, kickflip, front nose 270 the new big ledge, almost backside flip, super steezy no comply back 360.  Jake had some solid front tailslides, 5-0s, did 2 or 3 varial flips in a row, joined me on crooks shove/bigspin attempts on the new ledge.  Neither of us got close, but we had some fun crooks.  Jake broke his board on a frontside flilp.  Doh.  Those guys were wrapping things up, but I had 3 tricks left on my list.  Somehow I would get them all.  Nosegrind 180 the little ledge.  Ollie the barrier off the kicker (after a switch nose 270 shove).  Then a sloppy treflip that took too long, but they all felt good.  Fun send off for the holiday weekend.

(setup 8″ null archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 high red cast baseplate v-hollow hanger, venom 91a bushings flat roadside washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint elite mid insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Feeling kind of out of it I went out to the garage remotely thinking about varial heels and nollie varial flips.  I did a few warm up kickflips, slammed on a fakie flip, did a few other tricks then went in on varial heels.  I tried for 25 minutes.  I landed the one other one, but put the hand down and didn’t want to count it.  I was so close so often, but to actually land it was hard.  And when it finally did it felt kind of lucky.  I was hyped though.  I listened to Dinosaur Jr Give A Glimpse yet again.  That album seriously rules. 

(setup 8″ null archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 high red cast baseplate v-hollow hanger, venom 91a bushings flat roadside washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint elite mid insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Went over to curbs on a breezy, but nice day on my lunch break. I had put some old Thunders on because I was obsessed with how they are lower again. I was quickly reminded how badly Thunders turn. I had some fun, but slappies didn’t work all that well and I didn’t have the energy for flip tricks. About the only thing I really did were back 180 nose picks. I would say nose grind, but I didn’t grind them. I did go to fakie though. They were fun.

(setup 8.25 303 deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder 147s, venom 88a bushings, spitfire 52mm f4 classic shape 99a 3 washers on the inside of each axle, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint elite mid insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Up pretty early I did some yoga then went to campus since the forecast said intense winds and it was already breezy. It ended up being really nice until about the time I left. I started right by the tunnel to the hill. I don’t normally do yoga right before skating and I felt a little weird, but not very sore. I messed around with some stalls on a step then ended up doing a fun little warm up line. Front tail, nollie front shove, nollie back shove, grind up the curb cut, noseslide the ledge, wallie nollie the bank to brick wall. I messed around with some kickflips and b/s flips, got noseslide to fakie. Then mostly just skated the ledge for awhile going slow because the downhill scares me. I got crooks, boardslide, switch front nose, took way to long to get halfcab noseslide then ended with a crooks to fakie. I went around the corner and made myself ollie up the rounded two stair a couple times, 180 off, then switch front nose, also a crook. Then I ended up at the stadium bank. Did pop shove to fakie, first trick kickflip to fakie and b/s kickflip. Then I went in on treflip. Aka the trick I kind of hate more than anything right now. It’s not that I don’t think they rule, it’s that I cannot do them. I tried probably 50 treflips to fakie and never got me feet on one. Not even close. It’s like it’s physically impossible for me to land them anymore. I left campus after this with mixed emotions.

After dinner I had nothing going on and was still mad I hadn’t landed a treflip. I changed to the forged baseplate in hopes it would make my board feel more flippy. It did. Warming up went pretty good I got kickflip and fakie flip right away then went in to the 5 way rotation (variations of kickflip, heelflip, nollie, switch, then a treflip). I got first try halfcab flip and b/s flip and had some of the best heelflips I’ve done in awhile. I was very close to nollie varial flip and setup the phone to maybe capture it. My rotation was fakie varial flip, halfcab heel, nollie varial flip, switch flip, treflip. For 30 minutes straight I did not land a single trick and I didn’t even get both feet on a treflip. It was so incredibly depressing. Maybe it’s time to go back down to 8″.

(setup 8.25 colfax deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast/forged baseplate v-hollow hanger, venom 88a bushings, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 3/10)