On a frigid night I went to Squarehouse for “adult night”. I put “adult night” in quotes because a couple of the kids were still there. Good kids sure, but can’t claim ‘adult night’. Ha ha. Kevin was there when I got there. He had forgotten to put his contact in and was stuck in his glasses. He couldn’t skate in them. I felt bad as he was really slamming hard and not skating at normal Kevin level. He was really out of it. Took several tries to get a crook, but he did get nollie flip first try. I couldn’t do anything for the longest time. There was a few people there. It was not crowded, but it only takes a few people. We arranged a bank to curb for a tiny bit. Saul got a feeble on it. Brian and I missed no comply to tails. Then in silent protest Saul knocked it down while skating the ramp. Ha. We had also made a hip out of the kickers and put the smaller ledge under the regular ledge. One dude was trying to wallride the hips, he got close. Kevin did switch front 50 over the little ledge and came back with a Wenningesque front 5-0. I took several tries to do a very slow back 50 across the little one. Kevin 50’d the extra tall one too. Crooks over the little one. Ripping. Another dude skated the ledge with us, Kevin, he went coast to coast on everything. I was struggling so bad, but at least not slamming as hard as Kevin. He had a switch 180 over the hip and slid out fierce. I took awhile to get a kickflip to fakie on the mellow bank. Finally got on front 50s on the regular ledge once they removed the low ledge, got front 50 shove, cracked my tail on a switch nose 270 shove. Got a few crooks, one bad halfcab noseslide. Ended with the line above basically. Brian was skating the ramp with the kids. He was ripping. Back d, lots of various front truck bashes.

(setup 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)

On a cold snowy night I went into the garage. I was inspired by the new Haslam part to do something different. I started with the contraption above. A mellow little bank. I did a couple ollies to fakie, then got kickflip to fakie in a few tries. After that the shoves which took longer than they should. Then I got the dumb idea to try the soft rock kickflip. I really wanted to get it and move on, but unfortunately I went at it for like 45 minutes and never got it. I was more motivated than I have been in awhile. I was frustrated at times, but I was really trying. I had a hard stop at 8 to watch Vikings with Liz so with a couple minutes to spare I moved the wood and did a bad treflip in a few tries to remotely cheer myself up.

(setup 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 3/10 some arthritis in the knees I hope it goes away soon)

On a cool night I made myself go outside my bubble and head downtown. I was having a bit of an arthritis flare up so I wasn’t expecting much. I started at the yellow curb spot, did a couple 50s, but all of the gravel got to me and I moved on. I ended up at St Julien and skated the weird ledge against the electric box. It was better than I remember. It should be waxed even more, maybe rub bricked. I tried some lines there. I didn’t skate the ledge well at all, but was happy to try it. Got a crooks on it pretty quick, tried to do a no comply 180 after and my board shot out at some ladies. Ha. They apologized for not stopping my board which made me laugh. Had a line of fakie bigspin, front 50, terrible b/s flip. Also crooks, no comply 180, fakie flip. It took me forever to get a tic tac’y back 50 and to complete the terrible stee I followed it with a treflip with my hands down. I posed a couple front smiths after that then my legs got tired from so many ollies and I went over to Wells Fargo. Took me a bit to get a front 5-0 to fakie. Then I tried front feeble to fakie, but the rounded edge wouldn’t touch the truck and I wussed out. Went over to the red metal alley ledge, but there was too much gravel to enjoy it. Ended up at the tea house. Kinda did a line of a nose stall then front 50 a curb. After that I walked back to the car. My knees were pretty sore. Freaking arthritis. But I was happy I was able to skate as well as I did.

(setup 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 5/10)

Had to send some Stubborns DVDs off so I went to the self service kiosk at the Valmont USPS and skated around there. I started on the mellow bank. Did a few basic tricks, basic flippers then moved behind the building for the good flatground. I did the backside/frontside thing for a bit. B/s flip, terrible f/s flip. Halfcab flip / fs hc flip. Got a heelflip. Wanted to to both halfcab heels. I’m not sure why anymore, but I remembered I had an old 8.5″ deck in the car and felt like comparing. After a quick swap out I was able to get a f/s halfcab heel first try. Ha. I think at this point in time I have realized I don’t land flip tricks on a regular basis with any setup so might as well make other stuff more fun.

Then I went to Longmont to meet Dave, Dave L and Jack. Right before I pulled in the wind picked up fierce. I almost went home. I was there first. I just did slappies for awhile. Then since the wind helped going east, but you couldn’t go west I just did a line of dropin, manual the brick median, noseslide and eventually got a bad back 50. The Dave’s and Jack showed at the same time. The wind made for a pretty subdued session. We skated though. Jack did his nosepick pivot pretty quick. Dave did a couple nose manual 360 things. Dave L was on the manual tip. I was posing front crooks on the ledge as well as kickflips over the brick median. The first couple felt so close. I should have done it then, because it went away. I didn’t really do anything else. Dave had some pivots on the bank to curb part, the cool back 180 nosepick. Jack started trying something that was film worthy and I gladly put myself out of misery and just filmed. He got a banger. Oh yeah, I had new shoes. NB# 379s. They seem to potentially be one of those perfect shoes. The first day was good, I hope they rest are.

(setup 8.25/8.5 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, footprints 5mm insoles/thin rubbery adidas insole)
(pain level 5/10)

On another nice day I got out at a decent time to Broomfield park where I was to meet Sean, Riley and Bernie. Yes, Bernie! Jack and Carleigh would be later . Bernie, Sean and I played a game of SKATE. I was happy to get a treflip in it, but got letters on a couple others I can land. Oh well. Bernie was out first, I got Sean to SKAT! But I couldn’t quite get a last trick and he got me with halfcab heel. Riley showed. Those dudes mostly skated the black ledge. There was a patch of ice on the side I like to skate so I mostly avoided it. It was great seeing Bernie get some of his staple tricks. Front tail 270. He also had a rad manual turned to fakie to fakie flip out on the brown ledge/bank. The manual got me hyped for the easy boardslide transfer to manual. He tried to get me to do a nose manual out, but I didn’t commit. Riley was going so fast and doing back 50s, 5-0s, back 180 fakie 5-0, front blunt, halfcab crook, etc, etc. Sean got way into his bag and I saw the nollie back nosegrind shove as well as the back lip 270 shove. Dudes are so good. I skated the blue bank for awhile trying no comply shove to fakie then switch 180 off. Never quite got it. I was more excited to get a little kickflip to fakie on it since I normally struggle with any amount of quick footedness. Jack and Carleigh showed. Oh yeah, there was a flat bar there, Jack nose bonked it as his very first trick. Wow. Also funny, the very first thing Riley did on the flat bar was a fakie 5-0 halfcab out. He made it look like it’s as easy as rolling off a curb. I was mostly skating the blue ledge. In fact a lot of people were. It was crowded. I had done a couple tricks like the Joe Hamilton, fakie 50, posed fakie shove fakie 50, but went into a long battle with front nosegrind. It took me for freakin’ ever, but I did get one. It shouldn’t have taken that long, but whatever, I got it and it felt good (minus the slight tail touch but Bernie assured me it counted). At that point I was pretty over and down to film, but we couldn’t agree on a spot. It seemed like a risk to drive anywhere with so much snow around. I filmed Jack and Riley hit the rail. Wow, they were straight killing it. I was so blown away by both of them. I don’t think I’ve seen Riley do the front salad 180 before. He also learned the tailblock slide in 2 tries. Jack’s back tail shove was new for him as well. He did the one foot back 5-0 next and Riley was inspired and tried switch front heel. Unfortunately he bailed and tweaked his knee really bad. Fingers crossed it’s just a sprain. That put a clear damper on the session. Jack, Carleigh and I went to Darin’s as everyone else went home.

Fuzz, Brillo, Angelo and a few other’s were there. Darin had already stopped skating. At times it was just me on the ramp bailing axle stalls by myself. Ha ha. Jack had some sick runs before hitting his hip a couple times so he called it a day. The no comply tail was good, the multiple back bigs to pivot so good. Fuzz had some moves as you can see above. He battled the shove nose stall for awhile, but once he got it his mood was better and he had some fun lines. Carleigh was going in on back blunt, but I guess that’s all I was filming so I have no clips of her. I did have a couple okay moments. I was happy to get a couple bean plants to tail even though they “aren’t a real trick”. I took way too long for a front disaster, had a couple fakie revert things. It was fun.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, venom 91a bushings, no washers inside the axles, 52mm bones sft v5 wheels, lakai sheffield grey size 12, footprints 5mm insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On an absolutely gorgeous afternoon I managed to get out of work. I thought we’d be doing flatground friday, but the rink had way too much snow/water in it. At least the skatepark was mostly clear with the exception of the big bank being totally covered in snow. I was still feeling that winter depression pretty hard and started off very slowly. I had put on some bigger wheels from the garage. They aren’t “big” by most peoples standards, but they are wide 52s. Anyway, they felt fine, maybe a little big at times. Around the time Dave showed I was busy trying a no push line of boardslide the flat bar, kickflip on flat, front 50 the tiny ledge. That ledge scares me so much. It took quite a few tries before I got the slowest 50 ever. The whole point of the no push line was so that I could be going that slow by the 3rd trick. Ha. Dave was on front 50s pretty quick. He got front 180 out too and had some long ones that went up the escalator. He had a long line at one point with a boardslide on the dragon rail, front board to fakie the flat bar, cab on flat, halfcab noseslide the ledge. So good. I had a couple whatever noseslides, crook jibs on the ledge. Near the end both Dave and I tried the lines with the bank trick then flatground trick. Dave pulled out the fakie 3 shove like first try. My fakie tre took quite awhile, but when I rolled away it put me in such a great mood. It totally lifted me out of the funk. I was so late for work. Dave did the halfcab flip in a couple tries and we were out. That fakie tre made me happy.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, venom 91a bushings, no washers inside the axles, 52mm bones sft v5 wheels, lakai sheffield grey size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went to Squarehouse on a cold and snowy night. It was adult night, but there were a couple kids still skating and would throughout the night. They were cool at least. Saul showed up right after me. So did hardflip Joe which was cool. We mostly had the park to us for awhile until later when some college kids showed. I had put together a bigger setup again. Sigh. The trucks were so loose. My first run on the minramp was terrible, I bailed an axle stall. I would have thought the bigger setup would feel better than that. Saul was getting some long grinds in. I messed around with some ledge warmups for a bit. The bigger board felt good for noseslides and crooks, bad for front 50s. I managed crooks, switch noseslide shove, front 50 shove. All going super slow and feeling awkward. Saul was doing sick slappies. I slipped out and slammed into the wall. Argh. We skated the euro for a bit. Saul got ollie up. So rad. I got a kickflip which was fun, somewhat close to a first try bs flip. Joe was doing quick up to ledge tricks right behind were Saul goes. He got back tail and back nosegrind 180. So sick. I almost sacked trying to noseslide the second one. Argh. It was fun trying though. I kind of got a front nosegrind on the little black ledge, but it had the outro bonk. I couldn’t get kickflip to fakie on the mellow bank, but I did get b/s flip first try. That was about it for me. I left quite tired and depressed. I don’t skate how I wish I could and it seems to be getting worse lately. Maybe it’s winter, maybe it’s just me.

(setup 8.38 null atomic cowboy deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, venom 88a bushings, no washers inside the axles, 51mm bones sft pj v1 wheels, lakai sheffield grey size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

On a windy day with snow melting I was super sore and wanting something mellow. Dave F called out Lafayette and it sounded good. But upon arriving the park was mostly wet. Dave was sweeping out some puddles and snow. The manny pad was dry, but you if you landed an rolled down the bank you went into a danger slippery wet zone. Dave L was manualling it fine. Both Dave’s got nose manny. I never got a manual. Or anything beyond front 50. In fact I couldn’t even do a treflip or halfcab flip on flat. That was the turning point on the 8″ setup with lows. If I can’t land a flip trick every try I’m over it. Then Dave found we could skate the tight qp by ollieing up the curb from the parking lot. I struggled. I never landed more than rock ‘n rolls. I was over the little setup. Dave L had a sick line of manual the median then back tail the tight qp. Sean had arrived by then and so casually kickflip/ollied/halfcabbed up then did front pivot and feeble. Dave did front slashes, feeble fakie (seriously insane) and more I’m not remembering. I had moved over to the weird rock bank and started trying kickflips. Dave L left. Sean and Dave joined me and did several tricks all before I landed the stupid kickflip. Sean learned the rocket crail in a few tries. His ollies on it were magical. Dave’s nollies were so good too. Fun mellow session even though I only landed like two tricks in two hours.

(setup 8″ null dream machine deck, venture awake 5.2 lows with forged baseplate, 92a doh doh bushings, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle, 51mm bones stf v1 pj wheels, adidas 3st.003 navy size 12 stock insoles)
(pain level 6/10 knees were very sore)

I picked up Kevin around normal time on a warmish Saturday with lots of snow around still. We went by York St, but it was totally snowy. Then we hit 303 for awhile and drove around for awhile and I remembered this spot and it was dry! And not easy to skate at all. It took a long time for me to get going, my trucks felt super tight. I guess my garage isn’t the best place to adjust stuff. I jibbed the stairs for awhile. Kevin was up and down the 3s pretty quick. It took me a few tries to even ollie down them. Then we mostly skated the 3 up 3 down. It took me forever to get an ollie up, but once I did I had it somewhat consistent and they were getting cleaner with each try. I filmed Kevin try the 180 switch flip for awhile. He got a bad one. In between tries I would either try a stationary switch heel or a front pivot kickflip out. After awhile Kevin gave up then we messed around going the other way. He did the other line really quick. Once I got the ollies up flowing he filmed me try the kickflip down. I landed on every kickflip I tried so that was satisfying. But the smaller board flipped so quick it was hard to control. I wanted to get a cleaner one, but my legs refused to do the ollie up again. We played a game of SKATE on a sidewalk. Kevin won. I got a letter on fakie flip. Argh. I also got letters on nollie flip, switch front shove, fakie front shove (I was trying to pop mine at least some since he popped his so nice) and he ended me with double kickflip. I had landed halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip, but couldn’t get a treflip. Then we ended with the bottom stair dorking again and I finally got the front pivot kickflip out. Pretty fun trick even though it’s stationary. Then we split out. Fun day. We skated hard.

(setup 8″ null dream machine deck, venture awake 5.2 lows with forged baseplate, 92a doh doh bushings, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle, 51mm bones stf v1 pj wheels, adidas 3st.003 navy size 12 stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)