Took an intentional day off from skating on the 2nd so that I would have no chance to try and skate every day of 2020. I was feeling a little better physically and went to the dog park while working from home to meet the Daves. They were both there already as were a few others, but it wasn’t crowded. I felt incredibly rusty and timid. It would be the first time trying to really olllie since hurting my ankle a week earlier in Omaha. It felt fine, I was just timid. Dave L was popping over the parking block easily, pop shoves over it too, front and back 50s, back 5-0s on the cinder block benches no problem. Dave F had some nice boardslides and a boardslide 270. I also saw him get his first kickflip since his infection over Thanksgiving. It was rad. I didn’t get anything worth writing about, but I was happy to start ollieing again.

(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)

On an insanely windy day I went downtown hoping the trees would block some wind. They did, and on top of that the wind almost stopped for a couple hours. I was pretty sore so I wore some Westgates I had gotten from Tytus. They felt pretty good initially, but I eventually got that cupsole knee pain that reminds me not to wear cupsoles. I want to explore more and since I was in pain that’s mainly what I did. Just kinda wandering in allies and behind buildings I haven’t looked at before. I had a really embarrassing slam on an ollie off a curb into a parking garage driveway. I almost stopped at that point. Did a fun wallie nollie behind the Boulder Theater. Took a long time to do a really lame manual down a sidewalk then forced myself to kickflip. Right next to it was a new mini bank to curb that I took too long to slappy. Ended up at Casey and took awhile to do a bad line of front 180 the little stage gap, switch front 180 on flat, get into noseslide on the kinked hubba. I had thought of falling off the first part to grass ride, but it was too wet to ride. Went down near Ideal. Did a tiny crook on the plastic bench in the back. Man I was sore and lacking pop. So I walked some more. I went to go home, but right as I got to my car Dave called and said he was on his way. So we skated Wells Fargo for a bit. To our surprise they had taken out a tree and made a new miniramp. Ha, it is so hard to skate. I took forever to get a front slash. Then we started trying lines. Dave had some good slams, but would get the 3 trick line for the win. Then he ended it with the 3 continuous slashes for the MVP award. So sick. Not the best start to a new year, but I was ultra timid on my ankle still.

(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 913 black/yellow size 12, stock insoles)
(Pain level 7/10)

Went in front of the house on a nice afternoon to try a few ollies and see if my ankle was ready to skate. At first I couldn’t even commit to no pop shoves off the nose. My ankle didn’t really hurt until I tried a switch front 180. Something about the way you land that trick gave it a good jolt. It’s my back foot that got hurt. I would eventually do a couple slow shoves and one kickflip. Then I went in before doing any major damage.

(Setup 8..25 null abstract 6 deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, 1/16” riser, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire tablet f4 99a, jessup ultragrip, new balance numeric 212 size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(Pain level 6/10)

Here is my list for 2019.

Best part of the year: Mark Suciu – Verso. You know a part is amazing when it’s 12 minutes long and there isn’t a single tic tac. The tech skills, the relatable spots, the middle two songs, the spots, the flow. This dude is one of the best of all time.

Runner up best parts of the year:
Flo Mirtain – Helas Fellas
Bobby Worrest – Venture
Mark Suciu – Habitat Control Room
Gustav Tonneson – Adidas Reverb
Chico Brenes – 7×7

Video of the Year: Helas Fellas

Runner up best vid of the year:
Sour Solution 2 (my two favorite videos of the year are euro vids!)

Now for a bunch of random ones:
Here’s a link to my ‘best of 2019′ playlist that I added to everytime a part I really liked came out on YouTube.
Skater Of The Year: Mark Suciu by a mile
Trick Of The Year: Milton Martinez kickflip into the carwash
Worst Trend: Handrail only parts. I thought these died years ago? Ugh
Most Underrated Skater: Was gonna say Chris Colbourn, but he just turned pro so that’s good. Maybe the majority of the Santa Cruz team.
Best PJ Tricolor remix – To Pavement! So good
Best Instagram Post – NB PJ 533 commercial. This will probably be the last PJ clip we ever see so cherish it.
Best Line Of The Year: Can’t decide. Either Tom Knox in Atlantic Drift Moscow, Bobby Worrest “up the three” in Venture part, Or Suciu’s line at Flushing in Control Room (7:46).

I skated 277 days in 2019 and changed my setup 30 times. Yikes! That’s why my main skate New Years Resolution for 2020 is to stick with 8.25 the whole year.

( I will probably keep adding onto this for awhile)

Here we are again, in Jack’s awesome video. What an awesome song choice.

On a cold day Joe and Matt picked me up and we headed to a newish DIY spot in Omaha. I wore new shoes in hopes that cupsoles would help my pain. They felt weird and made warming up in the cold oh so much harder. Matt had a new complete so he was having troubles too. But we would all get it going. I had some halfcab noseslides, crooks on the tall granite ledge, ollied up onto it once, noseslide to fakie, had a funny explosion slam on a front 50 attempt. I was going for a no comply flip over a parking block and landed with a weird primo that sent my back foot into immediate pain. Ugh. It wasn’t an ankle “roll”, but it was a weird sprain/hyperextension or something. I kind of tried to keep skating, but basically didn’t. Joe was ripping lining out front 5-0s, smiths. He did a back 50 front 180 out that was really sick. Matt manualled the bump to ledge, nose manual too, back 5-0s, back nosegrinds, blunt the micro flat bar, and lots of funny slams due to the huge filmer wheels. Since I couldn’t ollie we left and hit the Council Bluffs park after a stop at Silo. It was so cold at this point. I pumped around in pain while those dudes skated pretty good. Joe had a great front 50 shove on the top rope. Matt almost got it switch, had some good 50 on the weird qp. Then we went to the rail yard and had a couple drinks to warm up. These dudes rule.

(Setup 8..25 null abstract 6 deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, 1/16” riser, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire tablet f4 99a, jessup ultragrip, new balance numeric 288S black curtain size 12 (never again), stock insoles)
(Pain level 5/10 before the roll, 10/10 after)

On a warm day Joe picked me up and we decided to go explore rather than go to the skatepark. We started at Creighton which we haven’t really skated before. First thing we found was the super crusty fountain. It had a lot of potential, but it was super hard. We both did the side rocks, both posed bonelesses over the hip. But we got the boot before we could really get comfy with it. As we were walking off we found an amazing wallride spot. Doh. Then we had a fun mellow hill bomb to a nice 3 stair that we 180’d. My back 180 took too many tries. Then we did a weird little line of ollie a manhole and kickflip into a mini bank with some fun ollies after. I got it first try. We got the boot again and Joe got it on the way out. We hit this huge bank next that Joe does the ollie on. It was way steeper than it looks. I didn’t even try. Next we ended up at Central HS where we spotted a prefect virgin granite ledge! We decided to hit the stairs first. Joe did his real quick. I did mine not so quick and I was definitely still feeling the arthritis pain. It was still fun though. Then we went over to the perfect granite ledge and got fresh tracks. Joe got front 50 pretty quick and I got crooks. We kept playing around, that ledge was not short and the runway was a little downhill and awkward. We each did a few things. Joe looked good getting on them front 50s easily. He also got 180 out. Near the end I forced myself to try front 50. I got closer and closer until I finally landed a super slow one. I was super excited about it and hugged Joe after. Considering how bad my arthritis was it felt pretty epic to get up on one of the taller ledges I’ve done in awhile. And it was granite! We moved on, basically just skating/ walking and eventually ended up back at the car. What a fun day.

(Setup 8..25 null abstract 6 deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, 1/16” riser, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire tablet f4 99a, jessup ultragrip, new balance numeric 306 foy black/gum size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(Pain level 6/10 arthritis sucks)

Went to campus on another gorgeous day.  I was really sore.  When I went to do my first push I felt so much pain I almost stopped skating.  But I’m stubborn.  I went to the barriers by the basketball stadium and was in too much pain to even try a wallride.  Ugh.  So I went to go home but ended up having some fun 180s and thought maybe I could get it going.  I ended up at the dorm flagstone ledge.  I actually had an incredibly fun line.  Ollie to axle stall this narrow path to sidewalk gap, no comply 180, switch noseslide, ollie off a curb, front tail the weird blob.   It was downhill after that.  Tried a few things but ended up focusing my old deck after being unable to even try an ollie to get up into grind on the ledge.  I definitely got some gluten at my work potluck because I haven’t been in this much pain in a long time.  Ugh.  I had put an 8.25 deck on and liked it, but not the best session to say if I really like it more than 8.3.  

(Setup 8..25 null Nolan deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, 1/16” riser, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire tablet f4 99a, jessup grip, new balance numeric 533v2 PJ grey size 13, stock insoles)

(Pain level 8/10 arthritis sucks)

Not having a whole lot of time I went to campus excited for a solo explore session.  I was hyped on some Tom Knox parts and felt like skating some crusty spots. I did a few slappy crooks them moved to the weird 5 stair drop in.  First warm up run was drop in then back 180 a manhole then fakie flip on flat.  The back 180 was a weird struggle again.  Next I wanted to 180 off the ledge, but the full drop in speed was too scary.  So I just did a weird switch push and pump that was scary.   Got a few of those to get a halfcab flip after.  Then I wanted to manual this weird quick ledge.  It took forever and I didn’t get it clean, but it was rewarding.  Ollieing the little 2 stair before was fun.  I made a couple weak attempts at ollies over it, but gave up and moved on.  Saw someone had waxed the end of a curb and had a few fun simple runs.  Powerslides are fun.  Then I went to the Folsom field bank.  I had some fun no comply variations before a 10 minute struggle to get a kickflip that almost killed me.  Bs flip was first try.  Took forever to get a fs flip. Then left for home.  

(Setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire tablet f4 99a, 3 washers inside each axle, jessup grip, new balance numeric 533v2 PJ grey size 13, stock insoles)

(Pain level 5/10)

Met Dave on a nice afternoon at Blue Skies after a busy day at work. Yes, Dave is skating again! It ruled seeing him. We started in the basketball court as there was a father/daughter combo skating around the hockey rink. I was struggling super hard to start. Actually, the whole time, but it seemed more embarrassing initially. I was struggling to hit my tail on 180s, couldn’t back 180 at all. We moved into the hockey rink. Dave still has the fakie shoves like it’s nothing, did some regular shoves, cabs, nollie 180s. He was looking good on his board for having such a big bandage on his knee. He was doing lines with 180, switch ollie or fakie shove, cab, switch no comply shove then trying to end with kickflip. He never quite got the kickflip, but definitely got the confidence back to commit. I had put different insoles in and as embarrassing as it is to use that as an excuse, I think it really did mess with me. I got kickflip, fakie flip, barely a halfcab flip, both heels down on a fakie bigflip, not close to treflip. The redeeming trick was getting super close to Rick flip.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, spitfire 52mm tablets 99a f4, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, jessup grip, new balance numeric 255 b/w size 12, nm# Foy insoles)
(pain level 4/10)