After driving back from Omaha and chilling for a bit I headed out to campus on a new sample setup. 8.25 with 14″ wheelbase and venture v-hollows. I’ve been wanting to try the 14″ wb for a while now and it felt okay. I randomly started at the main intersection on campus and did a line of ollie up a curb, drop down manual, 180 off a curb. It took a while and I had a lot of ghost pops up the curb. Then I went over to the downhill hallway ledge where noseslides felt way better than normal. Tried to line out noseslide then frontside axle stall. Never quite got it, but I was happy to try as I don’t know if I’ve gotten onto a ledge that tall in forever. Managed a crappy crooks. Tried a few back 50s, but could not commit. All in all a decent session of trying to push myself to ollie higher even though i was exhausted. I enjoyed the smaller wheelbase setup as it seemed to make flippers and ledges easier. Although i didn’t really try many flippers or f/s ledge tricks.

(setup 6/10 8.25/14 sample, jessup ultra null, venture 5.6 v-hollow with bones medium broken bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, splay rev s-series black size 12 with remind cush insoles and impact layer)
(pain level 5/10)

After hitting botanical gardens with the family we were driving right by this park so I had them drop me off. It was very nice out and the park was popping. I have never skated it with more than a few people total. Was hyped to skate the new stuff. As I took an initial roll around to check things out I heard my name called and it turned out the legend Drew was there. So hyped! He was shredding the ledges a new one. Nollie crooks, fakie nosegrind 180s, slappy the tall ledge both regs and switch, total ripper. I skated better than I thought I would considering I didn’t do my normal warm up at all. Had my normal noseslide and crooks on the ledges. Spent some time on kickflip noseslide the bank to ledge and was remotely close. That would have been a dream come true. Took a while to get a slappy on the new bank to curb, but man it felt good once I did it. Missed several kickflips on the bigger hip bank which was the only negative of the session. Was great to get out and enjoy the sun and catch up with Drew.

(setup 5/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, indy titanium 144, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, splay rev s-series black size 12 remind cush insoles + impact insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Had a bit of time to get some skating in. Checked out the new school area which didn’t offer as much as the old school, but it did have a long red curb and a great new manny pad. I did some slappies, a few flippers and took like an hour to get a clean manual. The curbs there are weird, they are half transition. One thing I tried was a lot of Janoski flips after manual attempts. Some were remotely close. Then I went to the park area which I had somehow never skated before. The weird kinked hubba was terrifying as it was so low to get on. I still should have tried it though, instead I took a while to ollie over the curb part. Lastly I skated the double sided fountain. I had done some noseslides, but boardslide was taking me forever. Kind of got one, but not really and had to go. Decent little session.

(setup 5/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, indy titanium 144, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, splay rev s-series black size 12 remind cush insoles + impact insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Feeling quite depressed and anxious about skateboarding I went to Westminster to meet Garrett at a new spot we saw at Denver Spot Locator. I got there first. One of my favorite thing about skateboarding is showing up at a new spot and being humbled by how hard it is, but then eventually getting used to some things. What makes this spot harder than it looks is the uphill approach as it curves and narrows. But we skated and we eventually landed some stuff we were happy with. I took a while to get boardslide. Even longer to get noseslide and noseslide to fakie. I did the kickflip to fakie then sw noseslide a few times, once with a 270 shove out. Actually, I did all the lines a few times. One other line I got was just an ollie on the bank and then nollie front tail on the ledge. I had gotten quite a few accidental front 5-0s and a 50 or two, but couldn’t do it once I selfie filmed. Garrett had lots of front nose and front tail variations. He then went on to film another banger tech trick for an eventual Null video. Joe showed and proceeded to huck himself down the big 2. Took him a bit, but he got it. Then on to back noseblunt on the ledge which was nuts. Fun session. Really needed a decent session after the last few. Oh yeah, I had put Indy Titaniums on my 8.25 setup. I liked it a lot.

(setup 7/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, indy titanium 144, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, splay rev s-series black size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 5/10 pretty sore and arthritic feeling still)

It was kind of snowing here in Boulder when I left to meet Will at Broomfield around noon. Got to the park and it was just Taylor and he was ripping. I started on my bigger 8.3, but this time with ventures. Felt great initially at least. Got through the normal warmups pretty quickly, even a few slow front 50s on the blurb. But then I just fell apart and had no motivation, drive, or peace with my setup. I changed back to the 8.25 with thunders and completely hated it other than 8.25 felt better than 8.3. Taylor had crooks shove and crooks to fakie. Will had his casual grace on the ledges and came close to nollie front 180 switch manual on the blurb.

(setups 8.3 with ventures with redrilled madness and 8.25 with thunder team hollows both of which sucked and then my splay revs which i still like)
(pain level 5/10 good ol’ arthritis)

Went to the garage during another 100+ mph wind day after work to skate some flatground. I had my smaller 8.25 with thunder setup. Started okay with some warm ups. Didn’t do so well on kickflips, but had fakie flip first try and got bs flip and halfcab flip. Tried halfcab heel for a while and could not get one. Then went into a four trick rotation. Nollie varial heel, treflip, switch flip and varial heel. Initially I was close to some nollie varial heels, but then they went away. Treflips were all close, but I kept not landing them. I was close to a few switch flips, but there was one in particular that was extremely close had it flipped a little faster. Varial heels I was quite close to as well. Then I just wanted to get a treflip so I just did them. I got some of my feet on a few, but never got one. I was getting so angry, lost my voice screaming. It was not cool.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null thunder 148 team hollow 52mm spits splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Went to Boulder park on the way into work for about 30 minutes before the wind hit. I hadn’t changed my setup and continued to completely hate it. Still I skated though. Did a couple things differently like bump to noseslide the triangle ledge which was fun. Also some nollie front tails on the hump to ledge. Did some different rollouts and stuff, but for the most part nothing special. Still felt good to skate a little though.

(setup 0/10 8.3 hayden, jessup ultra, thunder t2 149, 51mm spitfire classics, splay rev b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Setup a new 8.3 board since I thought I liked my setup on Sunday. Nope, hated it beyond belief. It never fails, I should not setup a new board. I went on to completely suck it up and never at any point even landed a front 50 or even a crook. So I hucked. Got very close to kickflip back 50 on the blue lurb and kick back tail on the low side of the brown ledge. Will, Jameson and Justin were however ripping. Will switch nose manual all easy. Jameson trying frontside flip fakie 50s. Justin almost slappy front feeble up the low bank to curb.

(setup 0/10 8.3 hayden, jessup ultra, thunder t2 149, 51mm spitfire classics, splay rev b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Feeling kind of sick I met up with some dudes at Broomfield park on an incredibly nice and warm Sunday. The crew was Cass, Brian, Sean, Will and me. Taylor was there shredding too. Out of the gates Cass was killing the flip trick game even if he couldn’t do a first try treflip in honor of the SOTY announcement. He would do treflip, hardflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, backside flip. Made a note to not play him in SKATE. I had another setup change which I mostly liked – 8.3 and Thunder T2s. I didn’t really test it on the ledge though. Brian, Cass, Sean and I played treflip for a while up on the top with the incline. No idea why we didn’t move down below as no one else was there. Cass did a couple, got close to fakie tre. I got a very over-50 defensive make. Brian did a couple questionable ones before putting down a solid one. And it was funny because he was filming it, but went outside of the recording area when he did it so you couldn’t see it. Sean got one after, down below. Brian also got some front 50s on the blue lurb. I got a fakie 50, but no back 50s. Had some fun noseslides to fakie on the bank to ledge. Was close to some other flipers. Sean did Rick flip in like 3 tries as well as laid down some of his patented greatness on the ledges. In retrospect I didn’t really do much, but it was a fun crew, nice out and a good session.

(setup 7/10 old 8.3 null flaherty, pj jessup, thunder t2 149, spitfire f4 51mm radial green, splay rev lt b/w size 12 with remind cush insole)
(pain level 2/10) LOWEST IN A LONG TIME!

Kind of a windy morning making it feel chilly when it was actually pretty warm. Most of the 98% dudes were there. Lots of SOTY talk to start. Can’t really remember a whole lot because so many people were there. Jason’s front board kickflip out and kick back tails were great. Dan switch back 180 over the green box was amazing. Bratcher with a bunch of trick on the double kicker bank. Scott with some fakie ollies on it. Donnie was trying an insane boardslide transfer. Preston was ripping a regular board and doing losi grinds on rails. Cass is becoming a flatground wizard. Joe tall back tails and front crooks on the big wood ledge. Wade attacked the metal beam. I’m sure this is much more. I skated alright. Had a fun line I’ve done before of crooks the tall wood ledge then front shove the little kicker. Ted, Cass, Dan and I played halfcab heel for a while. I think Cass and Ted got them, Dan and I were close. I took a while at the end to do halfcab noseslide on the green box and wanted to line it out with front 50 shove on the main bench. But I couldn’t get the 50 at all. Kind of a bummer at the end, but whatevs, it was a fun session.

(setup 4/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, thunder hollow lite 148, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10)