With rain threatening again we went to the school with the fun ledge and two stair.  There was a puddle in front of the two stair and someone sitting on the bench so we found some new ledges to skate in the hallway.  They were kinda tall but slid and grinded well.  I had done noseslide and crooks and was feeling better about the day.  I tried a couple wallride nollies down a 3 stair as Paul tried wallrides.  My knee went twang.  Did a line of crooks then front 180 the 3 stair. Then a few minutes later when landing a noseslide the pain in my right knee went through the roof.  I knew I was done for the day.  Ugh, such a bummer.  Josh had some nice front boards.  Neil was doing front shoves easy, noseslides.  Paul had nice noseslides too.  Nate got a line of boardslide pop out, nollie 180, halfcab, front board off the 2 stair.  Neil got a line too that involved a noseslide and front 180 down the 3.  I filmed at the bench for awhile.  Josh got a cool line of noseslide to fakie then switch noseslide to fakie off the two.  Paul got a front halfcab noseslide.  Nate switch crook, nollie front tail.  

We found an insole store nearby and I got some orthotics to hopefully help, but the pain didn’t subside so it didn’t really matter this day.  We went to the downhill school.  I basically only bombed the hill.  Neil got a rad line with halfcab noseslide, tailslide, nosebonk, kickflip and nosegrind.  Dang!!!  Nate did front board pop outs everytime the camera was not pointed at him.  Paul was casually killing it and had a funny fall trying to manual a ledge with low branches.  In the end Josh and Nate tried flip ins for awhile.  Josh got super close to kickflip noseslide, Nate to nollie flip front nose.  

Then we stopped by Wallows not expecting much of anything.  To our surprise the upper part of the ditch was dry and we battled kickturns on the steep rough walls.  That place is crazy and it was amazing to finally see after some 30+ years of wanting to go there.  Josh and Neil killed it by carving over a pipe.  I had some fun kickturns and even tried to kickflip going uphill off the waterfall onto the bank.  But the roughness and the wind made that impossible.  Nate had some rad turns too.  I was happy my body let me skate for a few minutes even though it was incredibly painful.  

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 foy blue/white size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 9/10 knee pain argh)

With rain threatening we went to a school since it was a Saturday.  It was a rad spot, a bunch of tallish benches in a row, a round ledge, a mini kicker and some other random stuff.  It was a hard warm up spot.  Paul and Jeff had joined and shortly so would Dave.  Neil was ripping it, flowing lines, getting front 50s, noseslides, wallies.  Josh had some really good front tails on the round ledge.  Nate had front 50 on it, but was scared of the back 50.  I had really only done switch front noseslides, a couple noseslides and a crook when knee pain became too much.  I went off to stretch and the rain struck. 

Off to a weird bank spot where we barely started to get warmed up when the rain started again.  This time it was like a wall of rain and we got a little soaked.  

Off to another school with a mini bench, some normal benches and a kicker.  I had taken a couple Alleve and felt less pain, but kinda numb.  The four of us skated the mini bench for awhile.  Josh took a bit to get back 50.  Neil had some front tails and 50s.  Nate front 50, front tail fakie, nollie tail, probably more.  I got to the point where I could kind of flip my board and managed a couple front 50s.  Got two lines.  Halfcab flip then 50 and fakie flip then switch nose.  We went over to the kicker area where Paul, Dave and Jeff were skating.  Dave was almost getting monster tres off the kicker.  Paul did a super sick front shove, 180s, ollies.  Neil did a sick line of shove then 50.  Josh got some good back 180s.  Also a rad line of front 180 then halfcab noseslide.  I had posed a few kickflips, but had to give up because of knee pain.  Nate went all in on a line.  Ollie over the kicker then front board 270 shove.  He got so close.  He cracked his board and still battled.  But ultimately he had to give up and put that cracked board out of it’s misery.  
It was a tough day.  Skate trips are hard when you’re older.  But man warmer weather, the crew and swimming in the ocean sure are awesome.

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 foy blue/white size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 9/10 ugh)

After some cool sight seeing we ended up at the gnarliest transition spot I’ve probably ever skated. Sheepside. We did a little sweeping, and started with the smallest kickturns every. What seemed impossible initially became obtainable. We had the place to ourselves which really helped. Paul joined us. Josh was the first to get the rock in roll in the window. He was doing some good lines and would get front rock too (video coming at some point). Neil was cruising fast. He had some really high carves on the big mellow wall and came close to front slash on one of the gnar walls. Nate was cruising too, it was rad. He was getting pretty high up the walls too. Paul had a nice ollie to fakie on his first run on the big mellow wall, he would later do a switch ollie to fakie too. I was in quite a bit of pain, but managed to have fun and get a rock ‘n roll that I had to push into. Nate and I started playing with the weird roll in and both did it. Then I took like 20 tries to drop into the roll in and lined it out with the rock ‘n roll. That was a highlight for me for sure. Nate and Paul would get the drop in too, in way less tries than me.

Then we went to Chuck’s (owner of 808). He had a backyard setup that rules. A bigger 5 foot quarterpipe without much deck then a 3-4 foot quarterpipe with a hip. The setup is on a hill so it makes for some crazy lines. Unfortunately Paul had to leave. Chuck wanted no photos/video taken and it kinda made it more fun anyway. It took awhile for us to get some lines. Well, not neil as he had been there before. He was somehow generating speed out of nothing. He had front lips over the hip, front tail, slashes on the 5′, nollie back Neil’s. It’s hard to remember as I’m writing this over a week later. Josh was quick on the proper 50s on the 5′. All the qps were noping and they felt rad to grind. Josh did back lip over the hip, back tail, back 50. A lot more I’m forgetting. He shredded that place. Chuck rules. He’s a super fun dude to skate with and the vibe was super rad the whole time. He had some sick moves like front truck grinds to fakie, crooks, amazing front 5-0s over the hip, halfcab boardslides the 5′, learned layback 5-0s. Awhile into the session he called out ‘someone has to do a non flatground flip trick before you leave’. Nate was the first to take him up on it after getting to close to front 5-0 over the hip. Nate would get a kickflip over the frontside hip. He actually got two of them. I had a ton of fun. I would get a little front feeble then front disaster over the hip in a line. The carve into the hip was so fun. I also got a front 50 over the hip. Josh and I battled the flip tricks for a long time and Chuck was in with us for awhile. Chuck was trying f/s over the hip like Nate, Josh was trying b/s over the hip, I was trying kickflip fakie over the hip. Josh was doing them like a vert skater. Popped up over the lip and sucked up all stylee. I was doing them way under the lip, but as Chuck said “they are in the grey so they count” (the flat was tan, the qps were grey). Josh and I battled for quite awhile, both getting incredibly close, but ultimately we gave up. My knees had both started acting up fierce. What a super fun session though. Actually the whole day was amazing. Thanks for setting it up Neil. Dream crews.

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, adidas city cup burgundy/gum size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 6/10 knee pain then 8/10 by the end)

Day 2 of the trip we started at AMR just like last time I was in Hawaii. My body felt like garbage. I was hardly able to skate and mostly just filmed those dudes. Neil was kind of chilling too and setup new wheels. He had ollied the bench like it was nothing of course. I wish I had gotten clips of him. He had nice ollies over the hips, front 50, noseslides on the bench, much more. Nate was mostly skating the butter ledge trying back lips, blunt slides, etc. He did a nice nose manual to back lip too. Josh went right into total shredding and started the rumor that he isn’t actually over 40 years old. He was doing so many tricks in long lines. It was awesome to see and inspiring. He had front tail, front lip, maybe front nosegrind on the butter ledge, 180s, fakie bigspin over the hips, kickflips, kickflip fakie. I did have a couple bright moments. Noseslide the bump to ledge and a weird deck check up to manual on the lower to higher banks. I had tried a bunch of nollie bigspins over the hip and gotten pretty close, but the rain moved in and put an end to it.

So we went about 1/4 of a mile away to the Turkey Shoots ditch and somehow it was totally dry! Carving down it was really fun. There was a part you could grind down near the bottom and Josh and I skated it for awhile. It was funny, Josh couldn’t get his truck to quite grind for awhile. He kept just missing. Neil had some cool ollies the whole way down. Paul met up with us. He rules. And he started things off with a long manual down the sidewalk after a nice kickturn around the grate which was way rougher than it looks. Josh was the only one who managed to crack an ollie over the hip after carving around.

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After awhile we went to Courts. I think we all felt terrible on our boards. Nate and I played quite possibly our worst game of SKATE ever. It took like an hour and I won with front shove. Front shove!?!? I think it had taken me about 20 tries to get a halfcab flip. Josh had been lining out noseslide, noseslide and noseslide. Ha ha. Neil was of course cruising the way he does. Lots of style and consistency. The game of SKATE did manage to loosen me up a little and Nate and I went in on the boardslides around the C ledge. Thanks for filming Josh. I ended up never getting a clean one, but it was really fun to try. Nate’s were so good. Neil’s line was pretty sick, it’s way closer than it looks.

After some chilling and dinner we ended up at Ewa Beach skatepark for Thursday Night Lights. I felt absolutely terrible and didn’t skate. Josh and Neil ripped it. Nose manuals like nothing. Josh got the transfer to tail and a million tricks on the quarterpipes. Nate got in on some of the action and did nose manual too super casually. Paul was there ripping. Neil filmed the dudes. It was a really cool scene there. Everyone says hi to everyone and goodbye when they leave. For real everyone shakes everyones hand in the park when they come or go. It’s pretty epic.

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 foy blue/white size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 7/10 knee pain argh)

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A post shared by Neil Thurman (@neilsoffire)

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A post shared by Neil Thurman (@neilsoffire)

After a very long flight I was picked up by Neil, Nate and Josh and we drove through some rain and dropped our stuff off at Neil’s. Luckily the sun had come out so we were out to do what we do best – skate! Neil picked a great first spot, this smooth lot with a couple double sided curbs and some other options. We all warmed up in our various ways. What a dream crew. Eventually we all kinda stuck to certain lines and Neil was kind enough to document them. I had come close to adding 360 flip to the end of my slappy crooks line. Nate’s hurricane transfer to grass bail was awesome. Josh had some good slappies too and some really long nollie front lips.

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Then we hit this ledge spot. The Palace dudes warmed it up but we shut it down. Josh kicked it off with some good noseslides then went on to do some really good front noseslides. Nate had the switch noseslides. I was struggling to even get a noseslide, but had a fun run of wallride nollie, noseslide to fakie then a halfcab flip attempt where I just kind of collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. I sat after that. Nate, Neil and Josh ollied up from the lower ledge to the higher one. Josh took a couple epic slams to get up it, but got a solid one. Then we hit the beach!

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 foy blue/white size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 6/10 not a good start to a trip)

On a cold night I went into the garage just wanting to do a few kickflips. I wanted to see where the flick hole would form and do a preemptive shoegoo. At first I felt totally worthless and had no desire, but then I did a few kickflips and it was fun. Ollie joined me and tried exactly 10 kickflips and didn’t get too close this time. I added fakie flip, backside flip, nollie front 180 to my list and hucked a few switch flips/heels that felt close.

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 foy blue/white size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 2/10 least in awhile!)

On a cold and snowy day I met Dave at the dungeon known as the Steelyards garage. He was already warming up with noseslides and waxing up the other part for board slides. I had changed my setup. Again, yup. This time up to 8.3 with 5.8 trucks. It felt great and would feel great the whole time. The whole setup change thing gets out of control I know. But I think the smaller board with biggish wheels was the nail in the coffin that I dislike any setup with large wheels. Anyway, I got into 50s pretty quick and was reminded how fun that little curb is. Lines were fun, we both got going pretty good I think. I was hyped on trying Kevin’s trick (fakie back nosegrind), but man when I saw what it looked like I was bummed. Ha. I should have tried more f/s halfcabs off because the one was first try. Dave had a cool back 50 nollie shove, kickflips, front 50, front 5-0, back 5-0, His switch ollies over the trash can lid were so good. I started having fun with fastish ollies over the trash can lid to back 50 shove on the curb. Got one and it was really fun. I had tried a back nosegrind at one point and it really seemed to help me do back 50s better. Or maybe it’s the wall helping since I can’t seem to back 50 without one. We both tried switch crooks for awhile. We both got backside ones. Then switch frontside was fun. Dave had never tried them, but was getting up on them really well. I wasn’t as posted up, but did get a few to grind.

Then things had dried up and we went to this really hard bank to bar spot. Dave did the fakie tail every try. The nose stall to fakie didn’t come as easy, but he got a few. I tried some crook jibs. I never really got it. I posed some front smiths, but never got in.

Then I went to Saul’s for what turned into a quickie. I was so sore when I started, but watching Saul do the quick carve grinds so good brought the hype. I had a couple fun runs with carve grinds, a rock ‘n roll, axle stalls and a little front slash in the shallow. Then Saul had to go. Super fun day.

(setup 8.38 null collage deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 foy white/gum size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10 least in awhile!)

On a really nice day I met Kevin at Broomfield park by 11. It was just us there initially, but it would fill in quickly. I felt pretty blah and rusty and it stayed that way. Kevin chipped his brand new deck right away. He did switch manual before I ollied. I got a fakie nosegrind pretty quick, but other then that I stunk it up and felt bummed. I had a few crooks, switch front noseslides, couldn’t halfcab noseslide, didn’t land much for flippers. Kevin ripped although took longer than normal to get tricks like nollie nosegrind, back tail. After awhile Sean showed and we went over to Emerald. Kevin quickly went to work on crooks bonk. I lined out a dorky noseslide to fakie then creepy spin over the ‘hip’. Also got a nollie front bigspin (dave’s latest challenge), but I gotta do it on something better. Sean worked on back 3s. Kevin did nollie cabs, Janoski flip. Fuzz showed. Sean did a crazy ollie. Then we chilled. Great seeing Fuzz again.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.6 cast baseplate with v-hollow hanger, venture white bushings no bottom washer and bones flat top washer, 51mm bones stf v1, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 foy white/gum size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles

Went out to the garage on a cold night after working from home due to another snowstorm. I was feeling a bit tired, but figured I’d go out anyway. This time on 8.25 with 42mm wheels. Ha. Nate had made me a list. I didn’t do the tricks in order, but after a few kickflips I went in on it.
double flip – never committed, but got some to flip
switch front shove (popped) – got a couple okay ones for me
nollie varial heel – do not understand this trick at all
varial flip – got a couple
backside bigspin – never committed. I blame the fear of diving into bikes if I bailed.
Heelflip – got one, but was struggling
Backside Flip – got a couple
Tre Flip – got a really bad one in about 15 tries, but it felt great to finally land one again. I had saved this trick for last.
Shove it rewind – got a couple that felt really fun.
Primo stall then flip out – well I stood on the board in primo and jumped, but nothing happened other than me looking like an idiot.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.6 cast baseplate with v-hollow hanger, venture white bushings no bottom washer and bones flat top washer, 42mm oj wheels (ha!), jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)

Feeling a little run down I didn’t want to try to find something dry in the cold. I had made a list for 10×10, but to my surprise Ollie came out and skated with me. So that changed things a little. I had done some warmups, kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip when he came in. He just worked on kickflips. Oh man he got so close too. He said he was only going to try 10, but he probably tried 50. I’m sure he could get it. I didn’t get heelflip or halfcab heelflip. I got b/s flip and one weak f/s flip then went into treflips. I never even got both feet on it. I was like 0-50. I think I need to give up on 8″ because I can’t treflip on it. I didn’t get depressed though because I was happy Ollie was skating. And my knees weren’t hurting.

(setup 8 null collage machine deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow hanger and cast baseplate, 52mm bones easy street 99a v5 wheels, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 white/gum size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)