On a cold day Kevin came over and setup a new board. We watched the first 3 part of the Sour Solution 2 and it brought the hype. We started out at the meetup curb. We did kickflips to fakie on the tiny median kicker. Kevin added switch flip. I added slappy crooks.

We rolled down the hill to the weird dorky double hump manhole cover. Kevin was going for front blunt. I was trying some weird beanplant/boneless thing. Kevin was doing halfcab or kickflip off the oversized curb to line it out, I was trying switch 180s. Garrett showed up after this and we had kind of moved up to the ledge. He did a pretty sick line with a noseslide, treflip, 180 off the curb, switch pivot. He also did a first try nollie front noseslide. Kevin started with switch noseslides, did some good 5-0s, took awhile to get nollie front nose. I did a couple lame switch noseslide jibs in between bailing front 50s over and over. It was quite depressing. Then we moved east some more and ended up at these barriers for awhile. Kevin’s line of all of them in a row was so impressive. I only got a few into it. My wallrides were terrible. I did manage the backside then frontside rides which was fun. The grass ride was fun too. Garrett’s slam was so bad. It was snowing pretty hard at times. Then it took forever for Garrett to get the front shove wallride after he had done it 2nd try earlier. Fun times even though it was so cold.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, venom 91a bushings, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels, new balance numeric 379 tan size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a cold-but-not-super-cold Saturday I went to meet Dave and Sean at Wilville. Dave and I arrived around the same time and started dorking around the blocks and manny pad. It was colder out than either of us though. Oh yeah, I forgot I had skated the curb across the street for a few minutes. I had done a few 50s, kickflips, slappy crooks. Then I went to Wilville. It felt good to push around a whole spot rather than being confined to the garage like most of the week. I had put an old 8.25 back on. Sean showed and it started to really snow. That’s when we did the lines. Dave had gotten close to the first roll in, powerslide to fakie, switch roll in, but the cold and cracks got him. The lines were fun. It felt fun to skate in while it was snowing. It was funny because Jack had texted asking how the weather was and I was like “cold and snowing”. And he still came! That’s a Stubborn for you. Eric also met up with us for a bit. He did a first try heelflip like nothing. At that point we were mostly lining out the knobbed ledge to the manny pad. Dave and I were digging the metal grate as a manny pad that you didn’t have to ollie onto. I got a nose manual pretty quick which I only really mention because I struggled with one later on. The knobbed ledge dorking was really fun. Dave tried to film me do the weird shove up the ledge thing for awhile and said “Do your shove trick now” which then became a joke for awhile for everyone. Sean was sitting out this part of the session. Eric and Jack were jibbing the trash can. Dave’s 180s were funny. Jack’s balance is crazy. He also manualed the whole knobbed ledge all the way to the manny pad. Eric took off. We weren’t sure why with so much fresh snow. Ha ha. After that it did stop snowing though and would eventually kind of dry up. I filmed on the manny pad for awhile. jack’s no comply 180 fakie manual halfcab was crazy. He did it several times. Sean made kickflip nose manuals look so easy. Dave took 4-5 tries to tic tac up the bank and it was hilarious how hard it looked. The one where he slipped out right when he got to the top was so funny. Sean took off. I was freezing from standing around in the cold, but once I got moving again I felt alright for a bit. I was actually trying flip tricks, but not really landing them. Jack did the pop shove nose manual. Dave did a couple NBDs for him. Switch nose manual 180 and halfcab manual. Incredible. He had also relived his Stubborns part and did a nose manual then powerslide buttslide. I tried a few kickflips manuals, but had started to get sore/cold again and like everyone else was over it. Fun day with a fun crew.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, venom 91a bushings, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels, new balance numeric 379 tan size 12, thin rubbery adidas insoles)
(pain level 4/10 from the cold)

On a not-as-warm-as-it-looked Friday I met up with Dave for a lunch session. Both of us struggled. I was going to say we struggled early on, but really we struggled throughout the session. I was immediately not happy with my decision to go with an old 8.38 deck. It felt huge. Dave had some slams on pop shoves that were pretty uncharacteristic, but some good long lines with cabs, no comply 180s, switch no comply 180s, front shoves, switch front shoves, kickflips, etc. I struggled to get a halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip, almost got a real fronside flip. Dave was trying a line of nollie front 180, halfcab flip. Took awhile to get the halfcab flip. Dave had the most epic f/s halfcab flip. I had showed him how I setup for them with a front 180 first and so he tried doing that. But it put him in this awkward squat where he almost came to a halt then did it. It was hilarious, epic and amazing. I had kind of given up on landing normal tricks and started hucking cab flips. They got closer and closer and I started committing. Even just committing to them felt great. And then one happened. And it felt incredibly smooth and shot a jolt of stoke through me I haven’t felt in awhile. It wasn’t a perfect one by any means as I mostly did a halfcab flip where I landed on my nose and rotated, but it was definitely a cab flip. After that I went back to work. Dave stayed for a bit. He had been trying cab flips too and it seems within reach for him as well. Glad we skated.

(setup 8.38 null atomic cowboy deck, venture ftc 5.8s, venom 91a bushings, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels, new balance numeric 379 tan size 12, thin rubbery adidas insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went out to the garage on a warm, but extremely windy night. I was pretty tired from being called for work at 3:30am. Ugh. I played around for a bit, got a lot of wheelbite. Hucked a few of dream tricks I need to land soon. Nollie flip felt the closest. I think kickflip and bs flip were the only tricks I landed. I got so much wheelbite that I decided to go inside and put the higher base plates on. And while I was at it I went for an old 8.38 deck rather than 8.25.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, venom 91a bushings, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels, new balance numeric 379 tan size 12, thin rubbery adidas insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Went out to the garage on a somewhat warmer night, but it was kinda windy and there is still snow everywhere. I had the desire to try a casper flip. I don’t know why, but I did. After a few warm ups, kickflip, b/s flip, fakie flip, heelflip I went into a routine. Varial heel attempts one way, casper flip the other. I got incredibly close to both, but didn’t ride away from either. Doh. Then I tried switch heel and nollie flip for a bit. I got pretty tired, but still made myself do a treflip before I could go in. Took about 10 tries to get one. I had put an old 8.25″ deck on again. It felt good. I am not man enough for 8.5″.

setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, venom 91a bushings, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels, new balance numeric 379 tan size 12, old rubber STI insole)
(pain level 4/10 sore heel)

On a sunny, but cold day I went out searching for something in the sun to skate. I drove for quite awhile, but didn’t really find anything to skate so I ended up at a spot I knew would be dry. It’s out on Valmont and it gets direct sun against a building. I took like 5 tries to land a kickflip. It didn’t get better. I had a bunch of layers on and was still cold. It made me mad at winter so I flipped it off by taking my shirts off and got some sun. It was cold, but actually felt good. I still didn’t land hardly anything. Halfcab flips, 180 flips. A big cloud came and it got really cold. I told myself I had to land a heelflip before I could put my shirts back on. It took a long time. I was pretty over the 8.5″ at that point. Of course. Anyway, I should sum up this part of the session with the following description. A big uncoordinated dork without a shirt on skating slow in 28 degree weather not landing anything. I had seen the wallride earlier and did a few of them on the way home before giving up on finding anything else. I’m sick of winter.

(setup 8.5 null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, venom 91a bushings, 53mm bones sft v1 PJ wheels, new balance numeric 379 tan size 12, old rubber STI insole)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cold afternoon I went searching for dry with a new board and wheels. 53mm! But they are PJ wheels so you know they are still good. Ha. I also had a new deck as I didn’t want to use the soggy cracked tail as an excuse anymore. I went by the research ledge, but it was warm enough for snow to be melting and making it unskateable. So I ended up at the super mellow bank spot that is always dry immediately after a snowstorm. As I was sweeping the salt off of it someone walked into the nearby door and didn’t say anything to me. Cool. I started with the silly soft rock 270 which was pretty fun. I did a few flippers for a bit, like kickflip to fakie, fakie flip, b/s flip. Then the soft rock kickflip out. It took about 20 minutes and I kept switching between trying to go to fakie or regs. So I guess the result was neither. I debating cleaning it up, but decided I didn’t care. Then I skated it in ways I haven’t before. Did a line of back shove then back 180 onto it. Also a line of halfcab flip on flat, manual across it and then a b/s flip on flat. The flatground there is not good, it’s rough. Brand new STFs are always super hard so that didn’t help even though they were larger than I’m used to. Actually, finding the manual point was hard with the wheels that tall. I also tried a line of 360 flip on flat then nose manual, but I never committed to the nose manual. The 3 flips were terrible too, came to a total halt due to wheel bite. Then I did the halfcab flip. Then I tried the ollie over the little gutter. It felt much closer to the wall than it looks on film. I went to get a better one that was more over it, but my phone died. So did I clean it up even though my phone had died? Heck no. I moved on. Ha. Plus the slam hurt way more than I was expecting. I hucked casper stalls for awhile along with trying to grind the edge then manual around. I kind of got a casper stall. I’m glad my phone had died and didn’t record it, because I know it wasn’t proper, but man it felt fun. I think both feet had landed on the top and then I kinda scooped the front one under, but it flipped out really fast and felt great. Last challenges of the day were some backside ledge stall transfers into the bank. Like back nosepick in, back 5-0 into the bank, etc. Couldn’t get crooks transfer. Then I spent awhile trying kickflip back tail stalls. It took awhile, but the one I got felt incredible and I went home in a good mood. It was nice having a solo session. I need them.

(setup 8.5 null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, venom 91a bushings, 53mm bones sft v1 PJ wheels, new balance numeric 379 tan size 12, old rubber STI insole)
(pain level 3/10)

After a chill day at work I split out in hopes of finding a little dry. I did at the research center as they plow the sidewalks well there. I had about 20 minutes of sun. Long enough to bail a bunch of tricks and land one totally slow and ugly treflip. My tail was super cracked at this point and I feel like it was making it harder than it needed to be. The sun went behind the flatirons so I went down to the ledge. It’s funny how that ledge will be dry right after it snows as long as it’s cold enough for snow to not melt. I set the phone down and landed my first two crooks. I was pretty hyped. Then I tried back 50s for awhile. I never got a clean one, but I do feel like I made some progress in relearning that one. There were also a couple that I got into fine, but stuck. I also got a couple switch front noses, noseslides and maybe a halfcab nose jib. It was fun, glad I got to get a little grinding in.

(setup cracked 8.5 null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, venom 91a bushings, no washers inside the axles, 52mm bones sft v5 wheels, new balance numeric 379 tan size 12, old rubber STI insole)
(pain level 2/10)

I absolutely love this part. The board control is insane, the fun is out of this world and it’s all filmed well with good editing and decent music.