Went out to the garage with the goal of doing 10 treflips.  I did some warming up and was really hyped on how some warm up kickflips felt.  The goal was to rotate treflip then a different trick until I got to 10.  I went about 0-40 on treflips and wasn’t doing much better with other tricks.  My 8.3 setup was sitting in the garage.  I grabbed it and got closer, then landed one a few tries later.  So I stuck with it.  I would get other tricks that felt good too.  Fakie heel in particular.  I got another treflip pretty quick.  One more after awhile.  B/s flip felt good.  Switch flip and nollie flips didn’t feel too far off.  The bigger board did seem to feel heavy.  I was getting tired, but wanted to get to at least 5 which I did.  It took a long time.  I somehow stayed positive and kept going.  Although I’m not too hyped on the fact that the 8.3 felt better because that probably means I’ll change again.  

(setups: 8 & 8.38 nulls with 8 and 8.5 venture highs with 306 foys)
(pain level: 2/10 hooray!)

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Feeling a little better, but still sore and arthritic I wanted some alone time.  It’s kind of incredible after flare ups like this I lose all confidence and I don’t really like skating around anyone.  So I went to this ledge spot in Niwot before Nullers were meeting up.  I skated for a good hour before anyone else showed up.  I didn’t really intend it to be the spot of the day, but it seemed to work out for the best.  But before anyone else showed I skated slow and worked my way up.  Starting with noseslides and 180s.  Working in some crooks and kickflips.  Ended up getting 50s both ways, kind of close to manual the pad, front 5-0, took awhile for halfcab noseslide.  Got kinda close to getting front crook.  Had a few of the basic flippers like halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip.  My board felt good for flippers, but small for ledge tricks.  I was close to kickflip 50s so setup the phone to do a quick huck and see if I could get one.  A few tries in I got a kick 5-0.  It wasn’t perfect, but man it felt pretty awesome.  And it kind of took my momentum away as I was already getting sore again and kind of wanted to stop.  But shortly after that Rob and Jack would show.  And then Sean, Garrett, Hayden, Joe, Bo, Kyle, Donnie, Dan.  It was packed.  I didn’t really do much more after that except a slappy crook, sketchy nollie front tail and a f/s halfcab nose jib.  Rob got into the groove.  Back 50s, crooks, halfcab noseslides.  Hucked some bigspin front nose, back 180 fakie 50s.  Jack was trying back 180 nosegrind variations.  It was crazy how quickly Sean linked together nose manuals and grinds/slides.  It ruled seeing Dan skate.  He does tricks with such a strong style.  The front tail then nose manual combo was hot.  Hayden boardslide the pole jam, pole jammed it, got a good line.  Garrett with the nose manny shove then shove 50 radness.  Donnie had an epic roll in to grass on his monster truck setup.  Joe ollied the pole. Kyle did a sick bluntslide.  Bo was quick on the filming tip.  

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Then everyone started hopping over this bike rack.  I’m lame and didn’t even try to get over it once.  Rob had left.  Everyone else was jumping over it or in Jack’s case through it.  Joe wins the award for best trick in my opinion with switch ollie.  So crazy.  Dan had a stalefish over it.  Sean kickflipped it.  Lots of 180s went down.  Donnie tried to hurt himself on a trash bin.  

We went to Niwon high for the rail.  I briefly tried some nose stalls on a bench and took way too long before filming.  My board felt tiny and I can’t deny the obsession with a bigger board coming on.  Anyway, Bo didn’t commit to the rail.  Jack did and manualled out of a boardslide first try and basically out of 50 too.  So crazy.  I didn’t like how cold I felt at that point.  Stupid winter.  We ended it with some quality entertainment as Donnie skated a grass hill with his monster truck.  He’s crazy.

(setup null 8″ archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollow highs on red cast baseplate, venom 88a bushings no boardside washer, old bones stf v2 51mm, new balance numeric 306 foy navy/white size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

I met Rob around 10 at Frederick on another warm and gorgeous day. Cass would show shortly after us. I had setup a new board and shoes. They felt fine, but I had some back pain I haven’t had in a long time. I couldn’t really squat well and everything hurt. I didn’t skate as bad as I felt at least, but nowhere as well as the day before. After some rolling around and warming up we mostly hit the manny pad/ledge for a bit. I took a few tries to get a nose manual, but finally got it. I also got switch front 180 up, nollie front tail off. Front 180 up, switch front nose off. Cass did some really good front noseslides, front noseslide bigspin and maybe manual to front board. Rob had a rad boardslide transfer then 270 off. Also manual to boardslide, manuals, I think nose manual. Cass had some good treflips over the kicker. I had some fun long back 50s down the dumb corner quarterpipe. We hit the bank to curb section. Rob had a nice front tail. Cass had good slappies and treflip flyouts. I didn’t get anything on the curb and couldn’t get b/s flip on the hip again. Rob left. Cass and I played a game of SKATE. It wasn’t great for either of us, but I got letters on tricks I can do like treflip (I was close at least), front shove, b/s flip and I lost on halfcab flip. Argh. I did get a good heelflip and a defensive f/s flip that made me happy. I thought that would get my body going, but it didn’t. I went to the bowls for a bit. But I was in too much pain to run down the transition so I was ultra conservative and went to sit down. Saul had joined and was in lots of pain too. Dang. He was able to get his patented quick scratch grinds until he got warn out. I did a couple attempts at the pull-up loop again and some nollie inward heels. But I was toast and ended up leaving.

(setup null 8″ archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollow highs on red cast baseplate, venom 88a bushings no boardside washer, old bones stf v2 51mm, new balance numeric 306 foy navy/white size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 6/10 i was able to skate at times, but by the end it was unbearable)

Had the day off work. I met Cass at the park around 10. There were quite a few older people which was rad. Saw some people I haven’t seen in a long time. Amanda, LBR, Sessions, Roth, and more I’m forgetting. Bo, Garrett and Donnie would show. But it was just Cass and I for awhile. Initially I was kind of bumming on the park. Just how fast you had to go for everything. But I ended up really liking it even though Cass beat me to our double treflip attempts off the kicker. I didn’t have much luck with the yellow curb, or nose manuals on the little pad, or much of anything for awhile. Cass had some moves. Treflip, front noseslides. We did some lines. I was trying noseslide the weird wallie ledge, kickflip on the bank, b/s flip the upper hip. I didn’t get that whole line. Donnie was going buck on the steep wall. Front 5-0s, close to Barley grind, switch 180 wallride. Garrett did a b/s bigspin wallride, casual wallie back 50 and back 180 out, front tails. I messed around on the little hump hip which is one of my favorite obstacles ever. I got a line of halfcab flip on it then b/s flip the upper hip. It was a super fun feeling line. Cass may have left around then. He had done some good f/s noseslides across the wallie ledge. I tried kickflip wallride for awhile and I was close, but never put it down. I feel like I’m forgetting a lot, but I don’t know what else happened. We hit the bowl area briefly. Garrett looked good, front smiths, feebles, flowing. Donnie does what Donnie does, charged it and took some good slams. I hucked some nollie tres on the hump hip, rick flips over the little hip. Neither were close. It was a fun day. I like this park. There are some things I would definitely change about it, but I’m sure everyone says that.

(setup old 8″ null logo deck, jessup grip, venture 5.2 v-hollow highs, venom 88a bushings, old bones stf v2 51mm, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

One of my all time favs. He can do it all.

Feeling a little warn out from staying up too late and too many drinks on election night I met Sean around sunset at Broomfield park. I warmed up with some quartapotty, blue ledge no pop tricks. Sean was struggling with kickflips then did every heelflip perfect. We hit the black ledge. Sean stacked a bunch quickly. I really sucked it up. Couldn’t front 50 at all. Got a few basics, switch front nose felt good. Then Sean started trying treflips. His goal was 3. He would get 3 of them, but it took awhile. I couldn’t get one, but when I tried to do it in the ironman line they were closer. I finally got a treflip and then we played a game of SKATE. It started really bad for me. I got letters on front shove, double or nothing on heelflip, had to double or nothing fakie flip and even halfcab flip. So I was at SKAT in no time. But I randomly got a first try front heel which made my night not feel so terrible. I landed on a few other tricks, but couldn’t get fakie bigflip. Sean got a treflip and I managed to get a defensive one. He won on fakie tre.

(setup old 8″ null logo deck, jessup grip, venture 5.2 v-hollow highs, venom 88a bushings, old bones stf v2 51mm, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, es energy foam insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After work on a warm election day I went over to the school to meet Saul. Ben was there working on manuals. I started with slappies. Saul showed off his new danger setup and we quickly ended up at the hook. Saul was struggling with regular frontside slappies but had the legitimate excuse of having Indys. Ha ha. He would get one to front board and one to front disaster though. I was scared to commit for awhile, but then got a few ones. So the next step was to work my way back and line it out. I would eventually get halfcab flip, kickflip off the curb cut (was 3/3 and they felt super good) then front slappy around the hook. So fun. Ben was doing these crazy back 180 slides to fakie 50 up the curb cuts. We messed around some more and I tried to go for a dream line. Slappy front crook, front shove off the curb cut, halfcab flip on flat, kickflip off the curb cut, front slappy the hook. But I couldn’t get another halfcab flip. At one point Saul said “that little board suits you”. Stoked me out. Saul got a really good slappy crook. Fun little session.

(setup old 8″ null logo deck, jessup grip, venture 5.2 v-hollow highs, venom 88a bushings, old bones stf v2 51mm, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, es energy foam insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Was stuck working for almost 20 hours.  Luckily I had a couple brief breaks and took advantage by going over to the curbs on a super gorgeous day.  I did some slappies and flippers.  Lots of frontside slappies an slappy front crooks.  A few regular slappies most of which were not posted up, slappy crooks.  I was in a daze from working most of the night.  I got lucky on a few flippers.  Kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab heel, 2nd try treflip which made me quite happy, b/s flip, f/s halfcab flip.  Hucked a couple nollie front heels that were actually very close. Then it was back to work.  Ugh.

(setup old 8″ null logo deck, jessup grip, venture 5.2 v-hollow highs, venom 88a bushings, old bones stf v2 51mm, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, es energy foam insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

On what seemed like a warm day I went to Red Hawk to meet Rob and Dave.  We all seemed to arrive the same time and a breeze had kicked in making it feel pretty cool.  We warmed up with some ride on grinds, slappies, manuals, a cruise around the school.  Eventually we started getting into the ledge and things.  I was happy to get slappy crooks on it and continue that stoke from last week.  Dave would of course get it too.  Such a fun trick.  Rob had a bunch of wallie nollies then boardslides through the little kink.  I had a few basic flippers at the top going slow, struggled a bit with front 50s, but would go on to have one of my favorite sessions there.  Dave started trying a line that he would eventually get.  Ollie onto the rock, nollie back 180 off, halfcab noseslide shove, then a boardslide up to fakie 50.  Whoa!  Rob added in some halfcab noseslides, noseslides, crooks I think.  I had switched to my 8.25 briefly, but decided once again it just felt like overkill and went back to the 8″.  I would go on to land a ton of tricks.  Sketchy back 50, front 50, front 50 180, accidental front 5-0, nollie front tail, nollie front tail to fakie, halfcab noseslide to fakie, kickflip back 50 (with some feeble but whatever), crooks, my best crooks shove ever, crooks to fakie, switch noseslide 270 shove out.  Also maybe a couple that kind of count like fakie back nosegrind jib, front tail, frontside halfcab noseslide.  I was definitely hyped.  Dave would get a ton too.  Front 50 nollie front 180 out, back 50 nollie shove out, switch front board to forward, boardslides to fakie, close to switch front crook and ended with a really good switch crook to forward.  

Rob had left.  After Dave and I skated Red Hawk a little longer we ended up checking out this little hip Dave had seen.  We did some shovelling and got a few hits in before the home owner in the background came and gave us the boot.  I had gotten kickflip, Dave had done back 180.  We took one last huck before leaving I got remotely close to front heel and Dave had cab, but we left.  Bummer about getting the boot that spot could be fun.

(setup old 8″ null logo deck, jessup grip, venture 5.2 v-hollow high, bones medium bushings, old bones stf v2 51mm, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, es energy foam insoles)
(pain level 4/10 wind leads to arthritis)

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)