Went out in the garage wanting to land something new. I felt out a few flipper then settled in on switch heel as they felt the closest. Some of them felt so incredibly close. I would commit, but jut not quite get enough flip. There was one in particular that was the closest yet. Argh. I tried quite a few nollie flips too, but never got one. In the end I got a first try heelflip followed by a first try treflip and my day was made. Oh yeah, I had put my 8″ board back on, it felt better.

(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 1/10)

I took 3 days off of skating! Unbelievable right? My cold had gotten worse and I wasn’t up for it. But I got the urge and was feeling better. I went in the garage not wanting to ollie much or try flippers. I just kind of started posing front shove nosegrinds on the plastic 2×10. I got into a bunch but they wouldn’t grind. It was still fun. Maybe someday I’ll try it moving on a real ledge. I had put Venture lows back on. It felt great. Like a return to the one truck I actually do really enjoy. Maybe I’ll just stay there for awhile and forget about the big board trend.

(setup 8.25 null lazer 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 0/10 from not skating for 3 days .. hmm .. maybe i should do that more)

Better late than never, here’s my G-Eddy awards.

Best video part – Brandon Westgate in Element’s Peace
Runner Up – Franky Villani turning pro for Primitive.

Best video – Primitive Never (sorry, I like tech skating)
Runner up – Element Peace. Mostly because it’s put together so well. And Westgate!

Best line – Westgate when the music stops in Peace

Best am – Griffin Gass

Best shoe – NB# 212s although they hurt my feet after a couple pairs in a row. But all shoes hurt my feet so that’s pretty good.

Best trick I did – No comply finger flip into that Denver bank. It was so scary and so fun to roll away from.
Runner up – Front shove down the Dentist 5.

Best skater ever – Jack Spanbauer

Best instagram feed – saggyclips

Have you seen him? PJ. Will we ever see skate footage of him again?

2019 skate goals- ledges, flip tricks. That be it.

Most anticipated video of 2019 (that I know of) – Sour Solution II

Worst trend- handrail only video parts

Glad the trend is going away- those stupid hucked flip tricks to quick no comply trick instead of landing the flip trick.

Best skate trip – Hawaii! Man that was crazy going there.

Best album – Ovlov Tru.
Runner up – J Mascis Elastic Days (Yes this is the first time in history that J did not get album of the year)

Best song – Ovlov – Tru Punk

Best Concert – Treepeople at Larimer Lounge

Most excited for – Trump imprisoned

Food I still miss the most because I don’t eat gluten anymore (and avoid dairy normally) – pizza

Here’s to 2019!

Best shoe – NB# 212s although they hurt my feet after a couple pairs in a row. But all shoes hurt my feet so that’s pretty good.

Best trick I did – No comply finger flip into that Denver bank. It was so scary and so fun to roll away from.
Runner up – Front shove down the Dentist 5.

Best skater ever – Jack Spanbauer

Best instagram feed – saggyclips

Have you seen him? PJ. Will we ever see skate footage of him again?

2019 skate goals- ledges, flip tricks. That be it.

Most anticipated video of 2019 (that I know of) – Sour Solution II

Worst trend- handrail only video parts

Glad the trend is going away- those stupid hucked flip tricks to quick no comply trick instead of landing the flip trick.

Best skate trip – Hawaii! Man that was crazy going there.

Best album – Ovlov Tru.
Runner up – J Mascis Elastic Days (Yes this is the first time in history that J did not get album of the year)

Best song – Ovlov – Tru Punk

Best Concert – Treepeople at Larimer Lounge

Most excited for – Trump leaving the office to avoid prison time

Food I still miss the most because I don’t eat gluten anymore (and avoid dairy normally) – pizza

Here’s to 2019!

Still feeling kinda sick, but thought I was beating it I went out kinda early to skate flatground for an hour or so. I started with the City Cups again and had put a suede patch under hoping it would hold up. I had done a few tricks, gotten the typical close to some rare ones, but then the suede patch gave out. One trick I tried and still feel like I can do is frontside cab heel. Anyway, I grabbed my next pair of shoes from the car. Adidas 3st.003. We’ll see if that rubber patch helps. Switching to new shoes mid session didn’t feel good. Espcially because the 003s are a lot bigger. I managed a few tricks. Nothing fancy. I was feeling pretty lethargic and skated slow.

A few hours later I met Sean at Broomfield park. There was one other crew of dudes there and they were skating hard the whole time. So even though the park was pretty dead, the other 4 dudes skating were all over the place. Sean and I played a game of SKATE. It didn’t go well for me. I even missed a kickflip. New / big shoes aren’t great for SKATE. Then we mostly skated the quartapotty and blue ledge. Once again I couldn’t nose manual it. Or really back 50. I was struggling hard, hating my setup and how I felt. Sean worked on his nollie and switch game. Nollie front 5-0 shove, nollie nosegrind. He slammed hard on a switch back 50, but would come back and get it. My slight big of happiness came on my first fakie 50 switch front 180 out in awhile, also a fakie nosegrind jib that came pretty easy. I hucked some front shove crooks. They line up perfectly, but I didn’t commit. Why don’t I ever commit to anything anymore? Argh. I like how I get mad at myself even when I’m sick.

(setup 8″ null dream machine deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, 51mm bones stf pj v1, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle to make it feel a little wider, bones medium bushings, adidas 3st.003 navy size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a lot of chilling and resting I got out on a nice day while fighting a cold. I went to the curb at first. The worst part of winter skating is all the sand/pebbles. The curb section was really bad from the school busses depositing rocks/sand/boulders/landmines. I had put an 8.25″ deck on because I thought I should. I didn’t like it. I had some fun slappy crooks and okay 50s. I tried kickflip 50s both ways and couldn’t get it. I blamed the “big” board so went in and put a new 8″ board on. Then I skated flat in front of the house for about an hour. I was fighting the sickness so didn’t have a ton of energy/drive. Kickflips felt great. Heelflips do not work in City Cups. Seriously, how do people like McClung and Gustavo heelflip in them? Took me so many tries to get a heelflip and I couldn’t ever get a halfcab heel. I never quite got a 360 flip. I got incredibly close to nollie flip, nollie treflip. Hucked a few more other tricks. I feel like nollie heel is so possible finally. It’s all because of Jack’s advice of putting all your weight on the front big toe. I had a couple great feeling fakie bigflips. When the sun went behind the foothills it got really windy and I went inside. Feeling defeated yet again, but not so angry because at least being sick counts as little excuse.

(setup 8″ null dream machine deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, 51mm bones stf pj v1, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle to make it feel a little wider, bones medium bushings, adidas city cup b/w size 11, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went out to the garage feeling really angry and depressed. I was sick of not landing anything new and made a goal of landing something new before I could go inside. One of the first tricks I laid into was front 360 shove. I committed and I got remotely close, but never got both feet on it. I tried a few like nolie front heel, nollie varial flip revert, nollie heel, etc, but couldn’t get any of them. I gave up and wanted to just do a clean backside flip which I couldn’t and I darn near focused my board. Glad I didn’t, but man, what a depressing night. (but it turns out I was getting a cold so at least there is some reason for why I felt so bad)

(setup old 8″ null, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, 50mm bones stf, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle to make it feel a little wider, bones medium bushings, adidas city cups b/s size 11, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After an annoying long day at work, a nap, dinner I headed out to Broomfield park to meet Kevin on a decently warm night. We were playing on the blue ledge/quartapotty to start with. There were a bunch of bikers skating the sad ledge so we kept almost running into each other so that was annoying. Kevin was shredding. Switch nose manual, switch manual, nose manual (yes he went switch first), switch nosegrind 180, switch front 5-0. All while I didn’t land a nose manual. This would be the start of my frustrations. I did okay on the quartapotty and did my first front tail on transition in awhile, but for the most part I was just tired and useless. I came close to a nollie varial heel. That would have changed my mood. We tried 360 flips for awhile. Both of us coming close, but not riding away cleanly. He got a toe drag landing, I got a pro push landing. He was trying blunt to back 50 and almost died. I came close to kick back 50, I like how quickly the smaller setup flicked. I didn’t like how I couldn’t find the nose manual though. We moved to the black ledge area where we both realized we were tired. Kevin still did very fast back 5-0s, switch nosegrind 180 and took awhile to get front 50 back 180. I took awhile to get front 50 shove going slow. I had some crooks, but I think other then that the only thing I got was a tic tac’d 360 flip.

(setup old 8″ null, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, 50mm bones stf, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle to make it feel a little wider, bones medium bushings, lakai sheffield’s grey size 12, nb# insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went out to the garage right before dinner. Randomly decided to try and manual the plastic 2×10 thing I have from the SWAB ledge. Got kinda close. It’s scary because it’s so narrow. Then I tried back nosegrinds for a bit. Then Liz gave me a ‘3 minute’ warning and I decided to try a treflip in that time and got one 8th try. It’s still surprising to me how much easier smaller boards flip around.

(setup old 8″ null, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, 50mm bones stf, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle to make it feel a little wider, bones medium bushings, Adidas City Cups b/w size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went out into the garage on a cold night and played flatground for a bit. I was sore so I wore some cupsoles to not get more sore. I started with switch flips. Didn’t get close. Then nollie heel and nollie front heel. Didn’t get close. Took a few tries to get a heelflip which bummed me out. These City Cups do not have a good heelflip. Then it took awhile to get a treflip and I was stressing. But I ended up getting 5. None of which were clean. I came close to a varial heel too.

(setup old 8″ null, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, 50mm bones stf, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle to make it feel a little wider, bones medium bushings, Adidas City Cups b/w size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Feeling really sore Kevin and I went to Saul’s as the sun warmed things up. It was Saul, Eric, Kevin and I then Josh showed up a little later. Saul always has the long lines with the crazy fast scratch grinds that are fun to watch. We all messed with a qp trick then a cali grind into the bowl. Eric was the first to add a flipper in between with a heelflip. I added kickflip, Kevin added nollie flip. Eric and Kevin were doing lots of pivots or feebles to fakie, back disasters. Kevin had some sketchy roll ins, back smiths, front smiths, yeah, he was ripping. Saul is getting close to back crailslide (I think that’s what it’s called?), did a bunch of the cali grind ride in, his patented quick lines. I didn’t see any ‘Frontside Saul’ ha ha. Eric had some really good long grinds, lined out his tricks, shredded. I didn’t have much and it was a struggle. Josh eluded the camera for awhile, but when he skates it sure looks good. Style kind on the front rocks. My small setup didn’t feel good there. Fun session though, good dudes.

(setup old 8″ null, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, 50mm bones stf, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle to make it feel a little wider, bones medium bushings, lakai sheffield gray size 12, thinnish lakai rubbery insoles from bristols)
(pain level 4/10)