Wanting to enjoy some of the warmth from the day I went to the dog park for lunch. I got there shortly before Luzius. The warm up process feeling pretty overwhelming. I tried to huck some, start with a line of noseslide the black ledge, b/s flip on flat then halfcab noseslide. But I couldn’t get on the b/s flip with that big board. I think I just confirmed it’s too big for me. Dave warmed up with his smooth destruction over the parking block. Crooks on the cinder block benches were working okay, halfcab noseslides. I really didn’t do a lot, but I did skate with some motivation. Hucked a few flippers, none of which I put my feet on. Dave can 50 5/0 the benches so easily now. He also learned nollie front lip. I got the tiniest fakie nosegrind imaginable, a line with crooks then front 50 the benches. I ended hucking some 2020 dream tricks. Kickflip noseslide on the upper black ledge, kick back tail on the lower. I could really feel the hardness of flipping the board on the kick back tail. Then it was back to work, right about when I was warmed up.

(setup 8.75 null event horizon deck, venture 6.1 trucks, bones medium bushings, bones easy street v5 52mm wheels, new balance numeric 306 foys white/gum with nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Feeling alright after dinner and noticing it was still 45 degrees I grabbed my 8.5″ setup and went to the school. I started with some slappies which were pretty fun. I haven’t been there in awhile. I got a few basic slappies then went to the back area. The smaller board still felt big, but good. I had a few kickflips, fakie flip, still didn’t land other flip tricks. But since it was the second time skating today I was pretty sore. I struggled to ollie onto the easy rock, struggled to get stalls on the other rock, posed ollies over the big rock, came kinda close to a switch flip.

(setup 8.5 null curby deck, venture 5.8 trucks cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, bones easy street v5 52mm wheels, new balance numeric 306 foys white/gum with nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 6/10)

On a winter Sunday I went to dog park to meet the Nullers. It was windy and cold when I arrived and I couldn’t find the motivation to try whatsoever. I had an 8.5″ board and it just felt weird so I went to the car and traded for the 8.75 waiting for Riley to show up. Yes, that’s right, Riley! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him skate and I’m so happy his knee is doing better. There was a brief period where I was actually trying, it was only when the wind had died down. I was trying halfcab crook while Kevin was trying nollie 180 switch crook. Sean, Hayden, Peyton, Bo, Riley, Garrett, Jack were all there ripping. Peyton did the fastplant fingerflip pretty quick. Garrett had some pretty funny slams. I had a lot of trouble committing to a front 50, finally got a slow one at the end. It was great seeing Riley skate. He looked great on his board. Front blunts, back tails, switch flips, switch heels, halfcab crooks, 5-0 180s, just ruling it so hard.

Then we went to the new campus spot again. And it was just as cold as the week before. Luckily I skated for awhile and it was fun skating with everyone. They all skated the top ledge, I skated the ground level one. I locked into a couple fun crooks then started hucking crooks shove. In a reasonable amount of tries I landed one and even smiled! I tried crooks bigspin for awhile, but my knees started to lock up. Then I froze. I mean filmed. The dudes killed it. Jack’s blunt pop out was popped so high. Sean is so incredibly smooth and solid looking on his board. Garrett came up short, but had some entertaining slams at least. Ha. Peyton took a beating too, he almost put down shove late front shove. It was crazy how close he got and the slams he took. Riley was ripping and rattled off a few basics in true ripping Riley fashion. Bo had a sick front 50 kickflip. Kevin was ripping as well, he stacked a couple clips. The kick back tail was so good. He can get up ledges so easily. Hayden’s fakie 5-0 was bonkers. These dudes rule, but I am so over winter and freezing when not skating.

(setup 8.75 null event horizon deck, venture 6.1 trucks, bones medium bushings, bones easy street v5 52mm wheels, new balance numeric 306 foys white/gum with nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 5/10)

After working most of the morning I met Jack ,Carleigh and Ella at the meetup lot. We pretty much went right to the Baker ledge/manny pad area. It was quite cold out and the breeze did not make it fun. None of us were particularly motivated and it showed. I struggled with kickflips, but got a first try f/s halfcab flip. The bigger board rules for that. Jack had some nice back 180s, fakie ollies, halfcabs, bonks off the ledge. Tailslide up to nose manual, back 180 fakie manuals where he kept spinning on accident. They were funny. He also did a bunch of perfect front 5-0s on the ledge, front 5-0 back 180, front tails, front tail 270 shove. Carleigh had some kickflips, no comply off the ledge, noseslides. I couldn’t front 50 again. It’s frustrating. I think it’s partially a timing thing with big boards, I gotta get used to it. I couldn’t even front 50 up to manual. Came close to a manual to grind, had a fun switch front noseslide. Then the wind/shade dropped the temps and we left.

(setup 8.75 null event horizon deck, venture 6.1 trucks, doh doh 88a bushings, sml 53mm og wide wheels, new balance numeric 306 foys white/gum with nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cool morning I brought my quiver to the dog park. 8.25, 8.5 and 8.75. I was a little later than the last couple days because I had been called for work. I warmed up on all 3 trying a line to see which board worked the best. Boardslide the butter bench, front 50 the little metal ledge, kickflip, back 50 the lower step. For awhile I thought I’d just be happy and stick with 8.25 because I couldn’t kickflip the 8.75. The 8.5 setup had some bushing that had totally froze up and made the comparisons a little hard. Anyway, the 8.75 started to win even though I struggled with kickflips. I ended up mostly skating it the rest of the session. I’m not calling it a setup change, but it probably will go down and I’ll owe Launch some money. I went on to actually have fun on my skateboard again even when a couple high school kids came and hogged the benches. I did a few things I hadn’t done in awhile. Kinda ollied the wallie barrier. Actually, it was epic as I ollied it but rode down the other side. It takes special skills to be that bad. Had some good crooks, halfcab noseslide, noseslide to fakie on the taller metal bench, ollie the little kinked rail, front 180 a parking block super easy. Struggled with flip tricks, but was having enough fun to actually try them. I got a line that made me happy enough to leave. Fakie nosegrind, switch 180 then front smith the lower step (I didn’t grind, but popped out quick – whatever it’s me). So this whole goal of the same setup all year might technically be shot, but at least I had fun. I wanted to stick with 8.75 initially before the wheelbase was different in the latest null shipment. So maybe I can just blame Generator. Ha ha. It was nice to enjoy skateboarding.

(setup a mixture of old stuff, boards, 2020 8.25 setup and 8.75)
(pain level 3/10 feeling better too!)

Feeling a little better physically I went to the dog park before work and had about an hour to skate. I skated TERRIBLY. The only thing I was happy with was a couple halfcab noseslides on the cinder block benches. I was almost unable to front 50 a bench. I tried to ollie the wallie barrier after and couldn’t do it. I couldn’t land halfcab flip. It was so depressing I went back to obsessing over my setup.

(setup 2020 setup 8..25 null abstract 6 deck, venture 5.6 cast baseplate/v-hollow axles, bones medium bushings, old 53mm pj bones stf v1, 2 washers inside each axle, jessup ultragrip, new balance numeric 306 foy white/gum size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(Pain level 4/10)

On a nice morning I went to dog park. I was still fighting a cold, lacked some energy and any pop whatsoever. Starting was more of a struggle than I imagined possible. Everything hurt and nothing came easy. I tried a line of halfcab noseslide, crooks, ollie the wallie wedge. I had some good feeling halfcab noseslides, but never got the ollie. Tried a line of wallie the wedge, front 50 a bench, treflip and more, but it doesn’t matter because I never got the tre. In fact I only got two front 50s and a terribly slow speed. It was a mental struggle to get up on it. I failed at several other things and then just started trying f/s halfcab noseslides. I needed to hand Dave a trick so I went for it. I got one that was way better, but my phone was pointed up too high. I’ve done this one a couple times, but definitely want to keep it in the rotation.

(setup 2020 setup 8..25 null abstract 6 deck, venture 5.6 cast baseplate/v-hollow axles, bones medium bushings, old 53mm pj bones stf v1, 2 washers inside each axle, jessup ultragrip, new balance numeric 306 foy white/gum size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(Pain level 6/10)

Went into the garage on a decent night, but I felt too run down to skate in coldish weather. I had a new pair of 306’s in some fruity white with Miami Vice colors. Oh well, I like that shoe, it works best for me these days. I warmed up to some kickflips and fakie flip. Tried nollie flip for a bit before moving on to heelflip where I got stuck for like 30 minutes. I never landed one. It was ridiculous. After finally giving up I also couldn’t do a halfcab flip, but I blame the small garage space for that. Got a b/s flip and then a treflip pretty quick. So I left on a good note. Is it possible I can only land heelflips on low trucks? Argh.

(setup 2020 setup 8..25 null abstract 6 deck, venture 5.6 cast baseplate/v-hollow axles, bones medium bushings, old 53mm pj bones stf v1, 2 washers inside each axle, jessup ultragrip, new balance numeric 306 foy white/gum size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(Pain level 4/10)

Went out into the garage on a windy night. I would say it was too cold to skate outside, but Ollie was skating campus with his friend so clearly I’m a wuss. I wore some 212s since my Foys are dead. Well, I wore them until I realized they weren’t as good as worn down Foys. I was very slow to get started. I had put cast baseplate on and Bones wheels. So yeah, the baseplate could be construed as a setup change by some very anal people. But I said the goal was “venture 8.25 trucks” and these are still Venture 8.25 trucks. I got a few kickflip, fakie flips. Couldn’t comprehend heelflip. Got varial flip, backside flip and hucked a couple treflips. Oh yeah, I hucked a bunch of Janoski flips and got kinda close to that.

(2020 setup 8..25 null abstract 6 deck, venture 5.6 cast baseplate/v-hollow axles, bones medium bushings, old 53mm pj bones stf v1, jessup ultragrip, new balance numeric 306 foy b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(Pain level 4/10)

Went to dog park around 10:30 am on a day that felt much colder than the temperature indicated (38). I got there first and quickly knew I would be having another off day. Argh. Sean was next. After we had done some warming up we played a game of SKATE. It didn’t go well for me. I got pink slipped, getting letters on tricks I can do like heelflip and front shove. After that I played Kevin and only got one letter on him with pop shove or something. My flatground game blows lately. I gotta work on that. After that I went on to not really do much or try anything hard as most of the Nullers and other crew had shown up and were ripping so hard. Then I went and stood in the freezing cold shade/breeze and filmed. That was some of the coldest I’ve ever felt.

(2020 setup 8..25 null abstract 6 deck, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 1/16” riser, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire green swirl classics f4 99a, jessup ultragrip, new balance numeric 306 foy black/gum size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(Pain level 5/10)

On a gorgeous day I went to Fuzz’s, watched a few vids then rolled out with Jack to Denver. We picked up Kevin and ended up at this school I’ve never been to before. There was some ice on the in the shade of the lower ledges which was a bummer. I felt so rusty on my skateboard. Even just ollieing up the curb felt weird. Fuzz and Kevin got up the big ledge pretty quick. Kevin has a lot of pop, it wasn’t as easy for Fuzz. Jack went right into manuals then trying back tail the 2nd tier. So gnarly. Fuzz and Kevin did the ollie up the ledge, ollie up again, ollie the gap. Kevin had some line attempts. Got in some noseslides and nollie 180s off the ledge. My dork line was ollie up the little 2 stair, deck check the ledge up it, ollie up the smaller ledge, ollie the little gap. I also had a couple little kickflips, fakie flip. I filmed Jack rip for awhile then we bounced.

Ended up at this old spot I haven’t been to in years. I remember filming Jeff do a front crooks to fakie and switch crooks. It was as hard, if not harder than I remember. Jack had some funny 360 slams off the curb before, also some good 3s and a couple front pivot to fakie. Fuzz got a nose stall pretty quick on it. Kevin nose stall to fakie and then did it switch too. His shoulder was bugging him and he had a good slam on a fakie ollie or two and went to the bar. All I did was try front rocks for a couple hours and never cleanly land one. Frustrating skate day, rad people, amazing weather though.

(2020 setup 8..25 null abstract 6 deck, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 1/16” riser, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire green swirl classics f4 99a, jessup ultragrip, new balance numeric 306 foy black/gum size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(Pain level 4/10)