The forecast called for a perfect day in the mid 60s so I took the day off. And it delivered. It was a little cool when we first arrived at the park, but it was nice and in the 60s quickly. We all like this park. We all skated it very differently. Dave L was warming up by cracking ollies everywhere. Over the hips, humps, everything. Fuller was doing cool pivots, tail stalls on hard to reach areas. My first trick was the front tail over the mellow to steep hip. Fuller was gaping up the weird euro and manualling the less weird euro, 50s, tails over the top qp thing. We eventually settled into some things. Dave L was doing quick feet lines on the nipples and getting more tech with each try adding body varials, shoves and then varial flip. I was mostly trying lines starting at the ledge and coming back to it. I was trying kickflips on the corner qp. Got a few. Noseslide, crooks, halfcab crooks all felt decent, but the front 50 almost killed me again. Argh. I got a couple slow and timid ones. Fuller started trying the Hale trick on a boob and got a few. They were so sick. I started hucking noseslide 270 shove and got one in a few tries. It felt so awesome. I ended up getting a few more. I guess I finally went fast enough and put my weight in the right place. Hopefully it works out again in the future. Fun session.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, jessup grip, venture 5.6 trucks, old 53mm bones stf PJ v1 wheels, venom 88a bushings (no boardside washer), new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a nap and some chilling I met Ed, Saul and Dave F across the street at the curbs. Dave and I were super beat, but we were the ones that skated the most. Ha. Typical of us. I rode the “vert board” as I didn’t land any flip tricks earlier in the day so why not have a bigger board? It felt good right away for slappies. Ed still has mean slappies both way as well as good looking ollies and back 180s. Saul was chilling on backside slappies grinding forever. He’s got front slappies down too. Dave did a switch slappy up the curb cut to switch back 180 out. Gnarly! I was messing around on a slappy crook and tried to put it into 50 and it was close. I got less close, but kinda bonked a 5-0. Dave started playing with it and got a really good one. The neighbor kids showed up. It’s cool to see how excited beginners get about everything. I had better luck with flippers on the big board. Makes no sense, but it was fun to ride.

(setup null 8.75 even horizon deck, venture 6.1 trucks with stock bushings, 54mm bones stf v5, new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10 skated too much already)

Flo is one of my favs, this two song part delivers.

Went to Blue Skies right after work on another nice day. I got there first and had fun cruising some lines. My first warm up line was boardslide the flat bar, frontside ollie on the bank, then front tail on the bank with the death trap crack. I had wanted to work on pop again so I tried a line of side rock the other death crack bank, noseslide the tall middle ledge, ollie the flat bar, kickflip to fakie on the bank. Well, I never got past the flatbar ollie and it really upset me. Dave had shown and was doing lots of fakie shoves, nollie shoves on flat or the bank. I had changed the line to ollie to fakie, halfcab flip to start. But never got the halfcab flip. I had put the 5.8 hangers on to see if they were more stable. They were. But I couldn’t flip them. Dave started trying nollie heels. There were a couple super close ones. I tried nollie flips and was close too. There were a couple commits, but just not enough flip. Hopefully soon! Dave easily did some hippy jump 180s, casual first try front 50 the small scary ledge. He a run with boardslide to fakie the dragon rail, front board to fakie the flat bar, fakie shove, then fakie flip on the bank. Totally shredding. I tried some front 50s on the scary ledge that is always a mental battle to me. I committed to it first try going so slow and thought it was a good omen, nope. I pretty much gave up after that and it got dark. Dave had done fakie 3 shove on the bank too, fakie varial flip I think? When it got dark we put our phone lights on the bank as Dave was stubbornly trying varial flip to fakie. I did a couple nollie shoves and sweepers. Dave was getting frustrated then out of nowhere did a totally perfect varial flip to fakie. It was so sick!

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, jessup grip, venture 5.6 trucks, old 53mm bones stf PJ v1 wheels, venom 88a bushings (no boardside washer), new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went to the dog park after work. There was only a couple of people there, puddles everywhere from the recent snow. So most of the normal lines/obstacles weren’t an option. Somehow this made it kind of fun. I basically just skated the lower step black ledge. Took a bit to get a few slow back 50s. I think I landed front 50 shove. Tried a few kick back 50s. Managed to kind of ollie the wallie barrier. Had some good feeling crooks on the metal bench, halfcab noseslide. Had b/s flip and halfcab flip, maybe heelflip. Didn’t commit to treflip. I left feeling kinda blah about skating as I hadn’t done anything new. I also didn’t like how loose my trucks were. I’m no Max Garson.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, jessup grip, venture 5.6 trucks, old 53mm bones stf PJ v1 wheels, venom 88a bushings (no boardside washer), new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Out to the garage on a cold winter afternoon after working from home. After a brief warm up I went in on the straight 8 sticking to roughly 10 tries. Kickflip and fakie flip were fine. Got a couple terrible heelflips, fakie heelflips popped well, but I didn’t land them. All switch/nollie tricks weren’t close, but I did commit to at least a few of each of them. Nollie flip felt the closest. Then I got halfcab flips quick, didn’t get janoski flip. No front heel/switch front heel. Got 360 flip, but no fakie tre. No halfcab heel or nollie front heel. Ended with switch varial flip almosts then a sketchy fakie varial flip. I didn’t land much, but I did commit to every trick which is a start.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, jessup grip, venture 5.6 trucks, old 53mm bones stf PJ v1 wheels, venom 88a bushings (no boardside washer), new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Up early on a Sunday I had limited time to skate so I went to dog park. After skating with so many rippers the day before and being blown away by their pop I wanted to push myself a little. I had hoped for a solo session, but there were a couple of people there when I arrived at 8am. Oh well. I started on the tiny box doing a couple manuals and a few ledge tricks. Even a slow front disaster which I haven’t tried in forever. Then I tried some stuff on the low step ledge. I couldn’t get over the top back 50s, but I did get a couple slow back 50s using my 90 degree angle I always use.  I had done a couple flippers.  Halfcab flip felt good.  I had tried some lines like front 50 the narrow low ledge then ollie the wallie barrier.  I got over it a bunch of times, but never without a slight back wheel bonk.  Argh.  I tried it for awhile and it tired me out.  I also tried a few weak attempts at front 50 the middle top step.  Not even close.  I did have one of the best crooks I’ve done on the regular side.  Well, at least I think it was a crooks.  But seeing clips lately I seem to do more of a weird pinched willy grind.  I stopped skating sooner than I needed to because I was exhausted and lost all drive.  Not hyped on how I skated.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, jessup grip, venture 5.6 trucks, old 53mm bones stf PJ v1 wheels, venom 88a bushings (no boardside washer), new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On an absolutely gorgeous day I went to dog park since Max was in town. I got there first. Max, Will, Jack, Mike KP would show from the young ripper contingent. Dave L, Will and Kevin would show from the older guy ripper contingent. Oh, and almost forgot Carleigh and Ashlynn would join too. What a fun crew. I had a new pair of the 306s, this time with a gum sole which isn’t as grippy. I should know better. I was pretty sore, I’m not sure why, but at no point did my body feel good throughout the day. Max and Will showed next. Immediately Max was destroying the place. His perfect switch tre was incredible. Will is super tall now, and rips even harder. Will and Dave L showed, Kevin too. Mike KP and Jack were next. It’s hard to remember everything, but those guys all heelflipped over the wallie barrier first try if I’m not mistaken? Then they went on to do a million tricks. Max was also doing amazing slappy crook variations. The switch front crook halfcab out blew me away. Max filmed me do a little line of front 180 the manhole, switch front nose a ledge, halfcab noseslide the next one. He was hyped on the switch front nose. Little does he know those are really easy when you don’t ollie. Kevin was ripping out of the gates. All his ledge tricks and nollie flips. I skated the parking block with Dave L for awhile. He did an amazing ollie over to nose manual to 360 transfer. I kind of got Dave F’s challenge of the crooks back 180 transfer. Now I have to do it while grinding. Then a ledge session ensued on the black box. I was on the small side, everyone else on the big side. Seattle Will filmed me do a line for a bit. I couldn’t no comply flip and It’s embarrasing that my crooks look like willy grinds. But the kickflip over the curb felt good. Then I filmed everyone hit the tall ledge for awhile. Some serious shredding was had. Mike’s kick front 50 and Will G’s back smith 180 were so crazy. Jack can do back 180 nosegrind 180 so good now. Kevin did the switch nosegrind 180 easy as well as the switch crook. Max was goofing around with hardlflip front nose stalls. Max, Will G and Mike left. I sat for awhile. Carleigh and Ashlynn had shown. Jack did the kick back noseblunt. I tried the crooks transfer some more while Jack did the no comply flip. Then we ended on the tiny pad trying tech tricks. Ashlynn got so close to heelflip front 50. Kevin close to switch flip front 50. I didn’t quite commit to kick back tail. Carleigh did pop shove front 50. Well, technically she may have not rode away, but she did it in my opinion. What a nice day with good friends and rippers. I was even happy with my setup. I could have gone for being a little less sore though, it prevented me from trying more ledge/flatground tricks.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, jessup grip, venture 5.6 trucks, old 53mm bones stf PJ v1 wheels, venom 88a bushings (no boardside washer), new balance numeric 306 black/gum size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After work on a lovely Friday I met Dave at the rink off Pike St. Well, when I got there a roller hockey dude was getting some so I went to the basketball court. It was smaller, but still fun. After some brief warm ups we started the Chico Challenge which is a great warm up. Back 180, fakie bigspin, front shove. We had each done it when we saw the rollerblader leaving so we went off to the roller rink and continued. It’s slightly downhill so it made the challenge even more fun. Dave had some good one and added kickflip to it. I added a bad fakie bigspin. Then we did whatever for awhile. i was struggling again, but fakie flips felt good. Dave had some varial and fakie varial flips right away. He was super close to fakie bigflip too. I got a sketchy halfcab flip, a slow treflip, heelflip. We hucked other tricks. I was close-ish to nollie flip, Dave to switch flip and switch heel. Then we played a game of SKATE. Dave had me down quick. He actually got me with halfcab flip. That’s my trick! Ha. I have lost it though. Makes me want to go back to the 8″ days when I could land it every try. He also got me with a fakie sex change, fakie varial flip and cab. I mounted a little comeback to get it SKAT-SKAT at least with tricks like fakie bigflip, heelflip, b/s flip, fakie flip. We kinda gave each other passes on a couple tricks, but ultimately he won with a really good nollie back bigspin. It was 5pm and dark. Argh. Fun session though, I may have not landed much, but I did have energy.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, jessup grip, venture 5.8 trucks regular cast baseplate titanium hanger, old 53mm bones stf PJ v1 wheels, venom 88a bushings (no boardside washer), new balance numeric 306 b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a cool night I went to Erie’s “Street League” park right after work. I arrived to the typical Erie scene. 30 scooter kids and 2-3 skaters. One of which was Kevin and he was already ripping. I had a new deck, 8.3 this time. Also the huge 54mm wheels I had gotten. We started with a game of SKATE which I was quickly skunked in even though Kevin only did tricks I can do. It was expected since I wasn’t warmed up and had a bigger setup. Young blood Quincy showed up, as well as not so young Kyle. Everyone seemed like they were skating well. Kevin was doing tricks like nosegrind the bump to ledge first try, crooks, back 5-0, almost back 5-0 front shove. I was doing tricks like kickflip from the wedge to the lower wedge. Kyle had a nice front 180 over the middle bump bar. Quincy took like 10 tries to learn front 5-0 back shove on the bump to ledge and had some nice lazy crooks on it too. I really don’t remember much, I ended with a kickflip to fakie on the back bank then a bad halfcab noseslide on the ledge. Gotta get rid of those huge wheels.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, jessup grip, venture 5.8 trucks regular cast baseplate titanium hanger, 54mm bones stf v5 wheels, venom 88a bushings (no boardside washer), new balance numeric 306 b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10 sore from skating so much)

Had the day off work. Picked up Dave pretty early and after a MRKT stop we met Andy and Hayden at Spring Canyon. Andy had left his board at Launch so was forced to use his cruiser board. He still ripped it and looked good though. Hayden had already done first try manual and nose manual when Dave called out a physical challenge of nose manual the box in 10 tries. Hayden went for a switch manual. Dave got the nose manual around 5th try. Andy got closer to 10 tries. I got it about two hours later. Ha ha, it’s true though. I did skate some other stuff in between, but was struggling incredibly bad. Hayden was ripping, lots of unique lines, crazy balanced manuals, flippers. The manual around the potato chip was rad, the back 3 over the mini hip too, lots of tricks on the upper ledge first try, rock fakie the flag, crazy casual slappy transfers and a lot more I can’t remember. Dave was ripping too. Manual to body varial out, feeble transfer the spine, back tails over the tiny hip so good, kickflips, manual the round deck, some tricks on the qp I didn’t see. Once I finally got the nose manual going so slow I shortly after got a very sketchy bigflip on the qp which was the trick I had thought of doing there. Cool. Then for whatever reason I hucked kickflip up then treflip off and almost got it in a couple tries. Hayden was apparently hyped enough he decided to film it. About 20 tries later I got the line. I was so hyped. After struggling so bad it was nice to end it on a good note. As a bonus Dave did a crazy back tail 360 out over the little hip. And we weren’t even late getting him home on time!

(setup 8.25 null nolan deck, mob grip, venture 5.2 v-hollow highs, 51mm bones stf v2 wheels, 3 speed washers inside each axle, venom 88a bushings (no boardside washer), new balance numeric 306 b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10 sore from skating so much)