A little after 9am on a Sunday I went over to the school as Dave F said he was gonna be there with a friend. Tony. He was cool. Total surfy style going fast on slappies. I had a new board and wheels – Enjoi Wallin deck with Franky Villani graphics and Spitfire F4 51mm radial slims. It’s crazy how good the F4s felt compared to what I’ve had recently (blanks and classic formula). Those guys were already warmed up and trying feebles on the double sided curb. Dave had a nice front board. Tony did a rad noseslide over the drainage hole. I had some okay slappies. I had put the lows on again with a riser. They flipped nice. After awhile we were mostly at the hook area. Dave and Tony were doing amazing noseslides through it. I slowly worked up to some front slappies through it and they were so incredibly fun. Tony ollied the gap to the sidewalk a few times. Dave would end up doing a no comply over it. I was trying to line out, flip trick, slappy, gap. I got halfcab flip then front slappy, but missed the ollie. Then I did one of the best fakie bigflips I’ve done in awhile, got a questionable front slappy and missed the ollie again. Then I took awhile to do a switch front 180 up the curb cut then kickflip off, missed the front slappy but still rode away then tried a no comply flip over the gap, but didn’t get it. Fun morning.

Then I met up with Garrett and Jack and we met up with JJ, Sean, Jeff, Ryan, Cass, Ted, Joe, Brian and probably more I’m forgetting. We went to that new ledge school on Tejon. Well, the old school with the knobbed rail that now has tons of ledges. People were hitting the ledge over the gravel gap. I felt very out of place, and failed at noseslides forever. Jack casually did front tail front heel and back lip shove. Sean did a bunch of front tail variations, but not the one he wanted. Garrett did crooks and crooks fakie quick, but no halfcab noseslide nollie flip. JJ tried to run into the wall. Jeff did nose manual nollie flip and a textbook switch tre. Man it ruled seeing Jeff skate again. Joe did the slowest and most chill back 50 ever. It made me jealous.

Then we went down the block to skate a bank to rail. But Ted and I got distracted by this and stayed there for awhile. Okay a long while. I never got the boardslide, I was skating so timidly. Ted front 50’d it. Cass joined after awhile and got close to the boardslide, but like me struggled with how inconsistent that side was. Jeff would show up and front 50 it casually. Then Brian showed up who I haven’t seen in forever. He looked as good as ever on the board even though he apparently hasn’t been skating at all. He front 50’d it then went on to front 50 to front board like Ted did.

Last we went to the steep stadium bank. I dropped in once or twice near the top then Garrett was ready to go so I started filming. It took awhile but he got a Janoski flip! It was sick. Joe and Brian tried some tricks too, but never got their feet on them. That was the day. I felt terrible after, I guess the heat got to me. Argh.

(setup 8.25 enjoy wallin, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, 1/8″ riser, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm spitfire f4 radial slims 101a wheels, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a hot day I was late to dog park. Jake, Bernie and Kevin were already there. After some chatting we played a couple game of SKATE. I hadn’t even done an ollie yet so that was a tough start. Kevin did his nollie flips/switch flips and that game was over quick. Next game was no repeats. I don’t remember many of the tricks, but know that I got out on a Jake 3 flip. Carleigh and Dave had shown by then. Dave was hitting the weird U pipe thing. Ollie up then feeble to fakie. Carleigh was tending to Ella for awhile then got in on some boardslides and front 50s. Then her cousin showed and she mostly skated flat after that and helped her ollie. I saw Carleigh get varial flip and halfcab flip. Then we mostly skated the ledges. At times the park was totally awesome with such a great positive vibe. Maybe it was just hearing Bernie’s laugh making everyone happy. Kevin and Bernie were feeding off each other trying lines with kick back tails. Jake and I were less tech. I beat Jake to ollie the little metal ledge then crooks the tall ledge. Jake got front 180 the metal ledge then halfcab noseslide the tall ledge first try. It took me quite a few tries. Kevin was rattling off tricks. I got into a rut of trying a line of switch noseslide 270 the new black box then front 50 kickflip out the low step. I would get close, but never rode away from the flip out. Dave was ripping. Halfcab noseslide 270 out (over 50 makes!), feebles the flat bar, nose manuals when it was raining, switch crook, crooks fakie and a bunch of nosegrinds. He hyped me to try halfcab noseslide 270 shove and there were a few that felt super close and possible. That hyped me up. I also got a sketchy f/s halfcab heel, but couldn’t get a treflip to make the day complete. Kevin almost got switch 5-0 shove. Bernie did a first try front 270 tail 270 out. Fun day, that park is the best even when some weird crew shows up with more filmers than skaters.

(setup 8.25 null curby, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 53mm blank purple swirl wheels, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a hot afternoon after work I went to Wilville in hopes of shade and ended up at the tall flagstone bench /3 stair area. I messed around for a bit. Didn’t commit to the ollie up the 3 stair, didn’t commit to 3 flip over the manhole. Then I found a mini bump and went in on varial heels. Probably tried for about 45 minutes. I got a couple with my hands down and came to a complete halt. Then one where I came to a halt, but no hands down. So I guess technically it’s a make, but I can’t count that for the challenge. Then I went back and met Dave L and Saul at the school and did a couple slappies then tried boardslides on the upper section for awhile. Saul was getting into feebles and had his great slappies on the regular section. Dave had some good front board pop outs and one really bad slam. Then almost nollie front lip to nose manual. Some cool nollie 180s into the little bank too. TGIF.

(setup 8.25 null curby, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 53mm blank purple swirl wheels, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Woke up early and still depressed about skateboarding I figured I’d get it over with while I was still in a good mood.  I had the park to myself for awhile.  I was skating okay.  I had brought out my 8.25 setup since I ended my 8.3 and 8.5 is too big for me.  I had done a few basics, was feeling okay when the low trucks started to get to me.  50’d a few things, back 50 the little thing, kinda ollie the wallie thing. A self hyping bro showed up and was killing it.  Not what I needed in the morning.  I needed to get to work so I tried switch front nose shoves for a bit.  Kinda got one.

(setup 8.25 null curby, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, 3 washers inside each axle, 53mm blank purple swirl wheels, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom insoles)
(pain level 1/10)

After work I should have gone to Saul’s, but instead I took a long nap. After dinner I had some energy and made a goal of doing 15 flip tricks with the reward of a tasty IPA from Holidaily. It took me about an hour and a half, but I did it! Here’s the list.

Kickflip – after a brief warm up this was first try
Fakie flip – first try
Varial flip – took awhile, put my board normal instead of backwards and got it the next try.
Fakie varial flip – took forever! I almost gave up
Halfcab flip – a few tries
Heelflip – a few tries
Fakie bigflip – a few tries
Backside flip – few tries
360 flip – this made me happy to get in only a few tries
Fs halfcab flip – took quite awhile
Sex change – took awhile
Fs halfcab heel – not too long
Halfcab heel – took awhile, but when i landed it i was very happy
Fakie heel – by this point I was really tired. this took about 10 tries and I was very relieved to land it.
Fs flip – I tried nollie tre for awhile, but it took a lot of energy. Heelflip sex change, Rick flips too. But in the end I went for what was easiest because I was so tired. It wasn’t pretty, but it would count against Jake on defense ha ha.

(setup 8.25 null curby, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 53mm blank purple swirl wheels, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

After work I went across the street to the shaded alley for a short one.  But it would be much shorter than I had hoped.  Warming up did not go well. I tried a simple warm up run of pop shove then front pop shove and it took like 10 tries. Next the kickflip, no comply 180, fakie flip took forever.  I couldn’t halfcab flip either.  About the only saving grace was getting a few backside flips.  I almost rolled my ankle on a varial heel.  Got a huge flat spot back 180’ing the manhole.  Then I’m not even sure which trick, but I focused my board before I even knew what I was doing.  I didn’t even get angry.  I just sat down and looked at my phone for awhile before walking home.  I really wanted to like those orange/blue wheels, but they are huge and I think the massive flat spot will be enough to get rid of them.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle, 53mm spitfire classics blue/orange, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went to meet Dave at this ledge around 7. I arrived first and started at the nearby bank. I slammed on a rock on my first roll up, did a few nollie/fakie shoves and Dave showed. We went right to the ledge. Dave slammed on a rock right away. Dang the streets was trying to take us out. Warming up was not easy, but I was on a smaller board and determined to start my flip trick resurgence. It actually went pretty well as I did tricks after warm up tricks like noseslide (kickflip after ), noseslide to fakie (fakie flip after), switch front nose (halfcab flip), crooks (almost heelflip). I didn’t really get any more flippers although I was close to treflip. The ledge is taller than it looks, the manny pad way harder to hit than it looks. Dave had put some wood on the stairs as a way to get speed for the manny pad. He was doing lines from the ledge, turn on the stairs, up the manny pad, then the ledge again. He had a full pull or two. I think switch noseslide 270 shove, frontside kickturn the stairs, ollie up, nollie off, crooks to fakie the ledge. Bangin! He also had one with a front 180 off and halfcab noseslide. He did some solid front 50s and front 50 180 too. My ledge game was okay for me although lots of tricks were done with very little speed as I was so tired for some reason. I was happy to get a few back 50s and was somewhat close to shove out. I came remotely close to manual, close to kickflip off. My legs were done when it started to get dark and I struggled with halfcab noseslides. Dave did a bunch of really fast noseslides to end it. Fun times, would be more fun with more energy.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle, 53mm spitfire classics blue/orange, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Feeling kinda blah I ended up at dog park in the morning to meet Bernie and Eric.  I haven’t seen Bernie in a long time so was super hyped.  I hadn’t done a whole lot before Bernie showed up.  He claimed to be rusty, but was quickly doing front smith 180s on the cinder block ledges.  Eric had some long crooks, but not sure he got out smooth, goot front tails, front 5-0s.  I didn’t get anything of note, although committed to every little back 50 at least.  Eric left, Bernie and I played a game of SKATE.  It took forever.  He was rusty, but I had no excuse.  I ended up getting a couple tricks, I don’t even remember who won.  It was probably Bernie.  

Then I met at Zuni park feeling really tired and bailed some axle stalls.  Garrett was ripping, lofty kickflip.  Kevin had switch lip.  Bo feeble the big rail.  Hayden got the feeble too I think.  Jack was about the only one skating the non 3′ qp section.  We went to a gnar bank with a gap in it.  I just did some axle stalls on the mellow side.  Kevin got an ollie over the gap.  Jack, Hayden and Garrett got some bangers.  Went to another bank spot.  I tried to boardslide the bank to curb, but it was too dry and wax wouldn’t change that.  Jack had some cool tricks like front 50 to back 50, ollie over the curb to bigspin to tail.  Joe did a super sick front crook to fakie and almost got it switch.  Kevin came close to front 50.  Garrett got noseslide to fakie.  Bo tried quick up to 360 flip, but never got his feet on the tre.  Man it was hot.

(setup 8.5 curby deck, ultra grip, venture 5.8 custom hollow cast baseplate titanium hangers, stock purple bushing bones top washer, 53mm spitfire classics blue/orange, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a lazy day after a rain storm I went over to the side of the school to skate flatground. I was pretty unmotivated, but I thought it would kick in once I started moving around. I slammed on a no comply 180 right away and thought about going home then. But unfortunately I am too stubborn. I struggled to land a kickflip. And when I did I was really inconsistent with them. Too the point where I almost focused my very last board. The warm up run of kickflip, no comply 180, fakie flip took awhile. I survived the madness only to hit it again on halfcab flip. Just the day before I was 2/3 and they felt great. Nothing about my setup had changed. I was so angry. I can’t say I went on to land much. One horrible heelflip, halfcab flip followed by backside flip. Yikes, that’s it. I got somewhat close to treflip and nollie treflip. Hucked some front heels and switch front heel. But it was miserable not landing much. I had some fun doing back 180 over the manhole into the downhill section and doing switch front 180 after at least. This session really makes me question 8.5.

(setup 8.5 curby deck, ultra grip, venture 5.8 custom hollow cast baseplate titanium hangers, stock purple bushing bones top washer, 53mm spitfire classics blue/orange, new balance numeric 913 westgates b/w size 12, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a very hot day and a slow start after some trouble sleeping Dave, Simon and I ended up at Harrison High in Co Springs. There were a few cars and people around, but they didn’t mind as we started skating. Simon appeared to be shot out of a canon and was blasting backside ollies over the hips and front tailslides. Dave and I were doing front tails over the hips. I had a fun warm up run of front tail over the hip, noseslide the ledge then back 180 the two stair. I started trying the same thing but with a noseslide 270 shove and 3 tries later I landed one. Dave was hyped and knew I was feeling it and offered to film it. I rotated with Simon who was doing switch bluntslide. I would get the noseslide 270 shove 3 times. They felt pretty good, but I never landed the shove down the two stair after to complete the line. I was still happy about finally getting a noseslide 270 shove on film though. That ledge was perfect for it. After that I filmed. Simon did a line with front 360 on the bank, halfcab noseslide then backside flip. He also did tailslide shove. He was destroying. Dave did a super sick line of back tail, front board to fakie then switch 180 (he also did it with halfcab) the two stair. He ended it with a quick up to manual.

Then we went off to Galileo. We finally got some cloud cover around then, but the start of the session was still hot and it was a rough start. Simon front 50’d both sets quick, but slammed super hard on a noseslide and coupled with the heat he chilled after that. Dave and I started slow on the bank and did some warm up tricks to get going. Then I joined Dave in trying to line out the top steeper step. He was doing steezy front shoves then trying back 50. I was trying kickflip to fakie, halfcab flip then front 50. Neither of us got the 50s. I wasn’t happy about the kickflips to fakie taking so long, but they were fun when I landed them. Then we skated the mellow set. Dave front 50’d and front 50 back 180 out really quick. I filmed the 180 out, he did it so good. He then front 5-0’d it really well. I was struggling to get back 50. I’ve always sucked at bank to ledges. It took me forever, but all of a sudden I kind of figured it out and did a couple back 50s and 180 out. I hucked a few kickflip 50s which Dave started filming. I think mostly because he felt sympathy for me not landing anything. Ha. I got kinda close, but knew it wasn’t going to happen. I got really angry and went for a back nosegrind and it was kinda close. An hour later and it was still just kinda close. Maybe a little closer, but yeah, I never got it. It was fun trying hard and getting close, but a bummer I didn’t get it. After I finally gave up Dave went back in on nose manual and got a few good ones. Then he tried front nosegrind for a bit, but gave up tired. Fun, exhausting day.

(setup 8.5 curby deck, ultra grip, venture 5.8 custom hollow cast baseplate titanium hangers, stock purple bushing bones top washer, 53mm spitfire classics blue/orange, new balance numeric 913 westgates b/w size 12, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a mellow day I went to the school around 4 for an hour of flatground.  I had new bright orange/blue spitfires.  I started slow with no real plans.  I got my original warm up line first try.  Kickflip, no comply 180, fakie flip.  Then a pop shove revert followed by switch shove revert.  Also got halfcab flip then backside flip pretty quick.  After that things took awhile, but I would get a few tricks here and there.  Frontside halfcab flip and heel.  Going uphill I was trying harder stuff, a lot of nollie treflip attempts that weren’t too close.  Going downhill i stuck with the Irongman for quite awhile and was really struggling with heelflips.  i finally got a couple and landed a treflip too.  That made me happy.  I got a fakie varial flip and almost followed it with nollie varial flip.  I got a couple fakie bigflips.  That was an hour, it was fun.

(setup 8.5 curby deck, ultra grip, venture 5.8 custom hollow cast baseplate titanium hangers, stock purple bushing bones top washer, 53mm spitfire classics blue/orange, new balance numeric 913 westgates b/w size 12, no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)