After a stressful day of work I drove past my friends at Close and went to campus. I wasn’t sure if I would skate 5 minutes then go buy some Holidaily, or skate a long time to get the frustrations out. Turns out I would skate for awhile, but not all that long. I started in the meet up lot with a slappy crooks or two. Then kinda extended a line using the new parking blocks. Boardslide, manual, slappy crook, nollie shove. Then nollie lip, nose manual, slappy crook. But the nose manual was taking forever and I started trying some terrible regular lipslides to start the line. I am so bad at that trick, but I guess I shouldn’t expect much since I never try it. I got the line though, front lip, nose manual, slappy crook. It was quite fun. I cruised right on down to the flagstone ledge. I thought I might just cruise around not focusing on anything, but I ended just skating the ledge. It was fun and hard as always. The low trucks made the ledge feel taller. No denying that. My flatground game was the only thing kind of saving me. I got a few halfcab flips in a row, a few slow heelflips, couldn’t get treflip though. Those were all as setup for front 50s. I only got a couple front 50s, one felt extra good though. Backside I had the basics and almost added fakie nosegrind. I hucked quite a few flippers. I got really close to f/s halfcab heelflip, but never rode away. I ended just trying to ollie onto the ledge and off, but never got it. I was able to get up it, but the quick out was too hard. One day I really want to ollie on it and drop into cali grind. Some day! Glad I skated hard even if I didn’t land too much.

(setup  8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.2 awake low trucks custom hollow cast baseplate, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing no washer minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels with 3 speed washers on the inside, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a super busy day of work I chilled briefly then went over to Saul’s and skated with Saul, Jake and Dave L. It was a really fun session. Jake gets the award for most tricks landed. He had lots of runs with different tricks in them. I liked the backside beanplants over the hip, that was his new trick of the day. He had front feebs on the brick, lots of casual back 50s, frontside ollies over the hip, front 5-0s in the deep, pivot fakie, fakie front smith fakie, a lot more. Dave carved fast, lined out some slashes and wasn’t afraid of the big boy coping. Saul had a few of his patented quick carve grind runs, came close to some grab to back tail and slammed hard on a back lip attempt. I bailed a lot of axle stalls, but would eventually piece some carve grinds with front disaster, kickflip poses and eventually a front smith stall on the brick. jake owes me a cider for that one. Maybe some year we’ll be able to go out to a bar again.

(setup  8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.2 awake low trucks custom hollow cast baseplate, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing no washer minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels with 3 speed washers on the inside, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Running late I met Kevin and Dave L at dog park on a sunny morning after it rained. So there were a lot of puddles. There were a few other people helping spread the puddles and the sun dried it pretty quick. The new ledge and manual pad were the first try to so we hit that. A few other people were there too. I was in need of an easy warm up, but people were already going hard. Like Kevin, gap to back 50, front 50 gap out, manual to boardslide, etc. Dave was also manualling and nose manualling the box easily. He had a rad line of front board the tall part of the tri-box then back 5-0 the ledge. Kevin beat me to kick back 50. I took a long time to get a nose manual, but managed to get back 50 first try which excited me. After awhile we were doing whatever. Kevin and I were mostly on the far side trying lines with new tricks. I had some good crooks on the tall side of the black box, a very rare noseslide 270 shove (although it only went 180 and I tic tac’d it around) and took a long time to get a line of halfcab noseslide the butter/metal ledge then front nosegrind 180 out on the mini cinder block ledge. I’ve been wanting to do that trick for awhile and finally a ledge was low enough. Ha, felt awesome though. Kevin was doing noseblunts on the butter/metal ledge and trying back 180 fakie 5-0 180. He got close, but didn’t quite land it. Then Kevin, Will and I played a game of SKATE. I was out first and got letters on tricks like fakie flip and halfcab flip. Argh. Kevin won it. Then we played flip tricks for awhile. I got caught up on a few basics then struggled with nollie tres for a bit until I landed one! It took a long time to get heelflip though. Argh. Kevin got switch b/s flip and switch tre! I almost got his back with a rick flip. Will was super close to nollie tre. Then Kevin and I played kickflip noseslide posing on the little ledge and I didn’t get close at all. He got into it at least. Fun day. Hyped on back 50, nollie tre, noseslide 270 shove and a new trick – nosegrind 180.

(setup  8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.2 awake low trucks custom hollow cast baseplate, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels with 3 speed washers on the inside, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5, thin adidas insoles)
(pain level 4/10 left knee wanted to give me the sharp pain, but didn’t)

Slept in til 7:30am for the first time in awhile. I guess the dark morning even stopped Lucy from waking up and mewing for food. Dave F had already texted saying he’d be at the dog park around 8am. Yikes. I got ready quickly and drove through mist. Both Daves were there. Dave F had been there for awhile and was looking good on his board already. There were a couple other dudes there too. I’ve seen them before, both nice dudes, both rocking long hair. Dave F did a good early grab method off the new kicker. I tried too, but I didn’t tweak. Dave L cracked us up with a missed hand placement and said he hadn’t tried an early grab since high school. We kinda played on the new manual pad contraption for awhile. I was happy to get some intentional front 5-0s on the low part, 50 the tall part to manual then hang up on the angle iron, ollie up boardslide off and my favorite, finally some back 50s. Several back 50s. Dave F had ollie up front nose and front 50. Dave L was manualling it and popping over everything casually. Dave F did an amazing grind up to back tail on a weird wallie ledge deathtrap. Pretty incredible. I got close to a line of front 50 a cinder block ledge, heelflip on flat, kickflip off the kicker. I gave up on the line after awhile and just did kickflip. It took longer than I wanted and jumping that “high” definitely made me sore, but it felt good to get a clean one. Dave L did a really good back tail on the new ledge. Then we played a game of SKATE. Dave L missed a few tricks like shoves and fakie bigspin and would soon be the first one out. Dave had gotten me with cab, varial flip, switch shove and something else. I won it on a heelflip. Then we sat and chilled for awhile. Eric showed up, Dave F left. I thought I would be done skating, but Dave L and I started dorking around on the wedge and it brought some life back into my legs. I got a halfcab rock to side rock. Dave L did a crazy backside kickturn 360 off the nose that looked so hard. He made it look easy of course. Eric was ripping. Front 50s and front tails, crooks the tall street bench, ollies/wallies/180s. The front tail on the taller part of the new obstacle was a fav. Then we hucked for a bit. I tried fakie 50 switch 180 out, but didn’t get it. I did get a weak sauce front 50 to front disaster the new obstacle. Gotta get a name for this thing. A little help someone? Eric went back and did a heelflip back 50 in a few tries. It was really good. Then we hucked kickflip noseslide/heelflip nosesides/halfcab flip noseslides. Eric was closer, but neither of us got it. That was a lot of skating and quite fun.

After chilling awhile I went and skated some flat on the side of the school. I was very sore and not expecting much and I didn’t do much. I got kickflip, fakie flip, haflcab flip, bs flip, f/s halfcab flip. I had done a few of each trick, just trying to get somewhat consistent. I went down for a heelflip and the knees weren’t having it so I called it a day. I had put thin insoles in my shoes and put a bottom washer on my trucks to hopefully reduce wheelbite. Both seemed good.

(setup  8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.2 awake low trucks custom hollow cast baseplate, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing no washer minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels with 3 speed washers on the inside, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

I thought this shoe would be a dream shoe. Very minimal heel lift, decently wide toe box and very flexible. I have been wearing this shoe without an insole. Normally I wear size 12 in NB, but in this shoe I wear 11.5. I had size 12s of this shoe too, and they were huge so I would say it runs slightly large. Although I’m not wearing the insole so it’s probably true to size. The sole isn’t as durable as other NB# shoes like the 533, but it does flex. The board feel is kind of whatever in this shoe. The flexibility helps the board feel a lot, but the sole construction is some weird compound that kind of kills some board feel. I don’t really care for the sock liner, but it does fit well so whatever.

Got to the dog park around 9:30 and just Fuller was there. I love how he warms up, he takes it easy and warms up slowly. I can appreciate that. Luzius would shortly. Eric about an hour in I think. Warming up for me was pretty fine actually. I had one of those session where I didn’t really do anything new, but I skated alright and landed some things. Got kinda close to halfcab crooks. 50’d and ollied stuff that sometimes seems hard, had a couple flippers. The new black ledge is pretty fun although I struggled on it. Others manualled it like it was nothing, both Dave’s nose manualled it. I got a few basics and a first try switch front nose 270 on it. Came close to nollie tre, ollieing onto the tall box, nosegrind the mini cinder block. Not very close to kick back 50 or kickflip noseslide on the new box. Luzius was on the quick manual to front smith tip, easy front 50s, manuals, ollies over stuff. I think he was close to the kickflip over the wallie barrier. Eric had some sick front lips and tails on the new box, close to crooks on the street bench, heelflips, almost a back heel, lost of wallie front 180s and front 180s over the wallie barrier. There was another dude there ripping. Fakie tre lip a parking block, nollie tre over the wallie barrier. Yeah, he was only 29. Fuller was shredding. Back 180 fakie 50, 50 back 180 transfer the beam, long slappy feebles, lots of cool spracks, back 50s. Hard to document Dave’s stuff, he does cool and unique lines. All in all a really fun day, we were going to skate later, but we didn’t.

(setup  8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.2 awake low trucks custom hollow cast baseplate, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing no washer minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels with 3 speed washers on the inside, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After work I chilled for a bit. Apparently too long and Saul and Dave L had left Close. Maybe it was the family biking around the curbs. I just went to the side and got to work warming up for a flatground friday list. I originally had 11 tricks, but changed it to 10. I took awhile to get warm up kickflips and fakie flips and it was a little maddening.
Halfcab flip – took like 20 tries I was going crazy
Fakie bigflip – around 8th try, tried to get a better one but did not
Backside flip – landed on several, but still can’t land one clean to save my life.
Frontside flip – at least I’m starting to flip the board more than 90 degrees. now if I just had any speed at all.
Treflip – 6th try, couldn’t get a better one.
Heelflip – 5th try
Varial heel – felt pretty close
Rick flip – ended up trying about 20 and they felt really close.
Switch flip – not even close
Nollie tre – tried like 20 of these as well and a few felt close.

Then I went behind the school and tried kickflip nose stalls for about 15 minutes. A couple were close, but I never locked in. JP and I are hoping to land these. I’ve done a couple where they fell off right away, but would love to get one posted up and slide it for awhile.

(setup  8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.2 awake low trucks custom hollow cast baseplate, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing no washer minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels with 3 speed washers on the inside, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10 would be less if I took the day off, but it’s just too nice out)

Woke up pretty early on a cool morning and had the day off work.  Went to dog park around 8:30.  Dave L would show up around 9.  I had changed to the wider axles and cast baseplate.  They were fine for grinds, but not fine for flip tricks.  I skated alright though.  Nothing really stands out, but I was pretty much where I left off the last time.  Dave was quickly displaying how casually he can pop over things.  Nollie the small metal ledge, 180 the wallie wedge, etc.  I had some good slams as did Dave.  For awhile we tried to kickflip the wallie wedge.  Well, I say ‘try’, but Dave actually did it.  I got a couple ollies over where I barely scraped.  I posed kickflips for awhile and felt close for a bit, but got tired.  Dave had done some long lines.  Nollie lip some parking blocks, nollie the little metal ledge, front smith the cinder block ledge.  I had tried a line of manual then crooks shove, but couldn’t get the crooks to grind.  Got a first try fakie nosegrind on the mini cinder block ledge.  I tried to boardslide all of the 4 parking blocks in a row, but came up short. After Dave did the kickflip over the wallie barrier we chilled for a bit.

Then a couple hours later we were at Douglass.  It was very bright, but oh so nice out.  Jake would join us.  I had changed my setup.  This time venture lows with 1/8 riser to make them a mid truck.  They felt dreamy.  Once again I was amazed at how causally Dave was popping over and onto the ledges.  He manualled one!  And some front 50s and would eventually nose manual one.  He also was doing cool drop down the curb then up the curb lines.  Nollie front 180 to switch manual was hot.  Jake quickly front 50d the ledge and worked up to a f/s haflcab nosestall.  I did a few of the best crooks I’ve done there.  Also some noseslides, really bad halfcab noseslide and switch front nose.  Flip tricks were much easier.  At one point I did a halfcab flip followed by a heelflip.  That hasn’t happened in awhile and it felt great.  I was thrown off on other flippers because of the setup feeling so different.  I couldn’t get the front 50, but I did finally get an ollie onto the ledge.  

Then I stopped by the curbs since Dave F was there.  I tried to get it going, had a few fun slappies, but gave up when I was way to sore to try a 360 flip.  Dave was ripping. Back tail shove.  Well, ride up the curb cut then go into back tail on the curb and shove.  Still sick.  He also had halfcab 50, switch crooks, lots of front shoves into the curb cut, halfcab flip, varial flip, slappy crooks to fakie to quick switch nose to quick nose 270.  Then he hippy jumped a scooter on the way out!  Unreal.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hangar, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing no washer minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5, no insoles)
(setup x2  8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.2 awake low trucks custom hollow cast baseplate, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing no washer minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels with 3 speed washers on the inside, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After running some errands I went to the research ledge. I waxed the ledge up then did a few warm up tricks first try. I thought it would be a good session. Noseslide, noseslide to fakie, boardslide flop out. Then I started trying a line of kickflip then back 50. Not even close. I was so mad. And to make it worse the kickflips were hard. It was really making me mad. Frontside is already hard at that ledge, but the gravel from winter didn’t make it easier. I just did a front board pop out, terrible front noseslide, kinda close to fakie front noseslide and not close to front 50. I gave up on back 50s and things got way worse when I couldn’t crook. If I can’t kickflip and crook comfortable that only means on thing. Setup change time.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.6 v-hollows, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing no washer minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 53mm purple swirl blank wheels, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Knowing I wouldn’t have a chance to skate later today I woke up early and felt like a dog park run.  I was there and had done a slappy or two by 7am.  I warmed up much quicker than the last time and went on to have a pretty good session.  Even if by the end of it I was totally exhausted and useless.  I had a new deck.  I started with boardslides, noseslides, slappies and tiny ollies.  I was pretty into trying lines as always there.  I liked how the tiny pad was before the cinder block ledge.  The first warm up line was manual, crooks, kickflip on flat.  Going the other way was something like halfcab noseslide, slappy crook, ollie the little metal ledge.  One that took me awhile was back 5-0 the tiny pad then front 5-0 the cinder block ledge.  The 5-0 was scary to me because I did it near the end having to come off the end rather then the middle like I normally do.  Going the other way I was trying front 50 (or 50 shove), crooks the metal/plastic ledge then ollie the mini cinder block ledge.  Not sure if I actually got that.  I tried a few front nosegrinds on the mini cinder block ledge, got a front tail on the lower step, not close to halfcab crook.  Kinda got a line of fakie flip, fakie 50 the lower step, fakie nosegrind the mini cinder block.  The fakie nosegrind may have been more of a manual.  I tried treflips for a bit and couldn’t get my feet on one.  Ended trying fakie 50 halfcab out on the mini cinder block ledge and got really close, but called it a day and went home to work.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.6 v-hollows, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing no washer minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 53mm purple swirl blank wheels, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)