After work, after dinner I went out for some BATB inspired flatground. I guess it was mostly just Jamie Griffin inspired. I started out trying some caspers which felt close, then went on to try normal tricks for quite some time. And I mean try, because I sure didn’t land much. I think in over an hour I only landed kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, f/s halfcab flip and b/s flip. I was close on heelflips, f/s halfcab heel and somewhat close to back heel which I’ve never done before. Then I settled in on caspers again in hopes of landing it and giving it to Dave. I did feel really close initially, but they kind of drifted away and then I did that whatever flip. Still felt cool to huck. I tried to end it on a 3 shove which turns out I had already given to Dave. That’s when you know a game of SKATE has gone on too long. I never got a clean one, but landed on several. Felt good to skate hard even if I didn’t land much.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder hollow 148 venom 88a bushings, spitfire 52mm classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 272 burgundy size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

So the last couple days I was pretty run down. I thought I felt better, but as soon as I set my board down I could tell I wasn’t feeling good. The crew was rad. Dave, Rob, Jake, Kevin, Nick. We started at dog park. I had nothing and it’s been too long since we skated for me to remember much. It wasn’t too crowded, but a lot more people skating than normal because of GSD. After a while we went over to Valmont park. I did a few random things before settling in on the treflip which I wouldn’t land until Rob,kevin and Nick had already left. But man it felt good. Kevin had some really good lines. Rob got the rainbow. Nick came close to hardflips on the bank. Jake had to chill to avoid pain. Dave’s tail 270 was amazing. He had some good lines too.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder hollow 148 venom 88a bushings, spitfire 51mm classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 272 burgundy size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a really nice morning I went to dog park somewhat early and met up with Rob. It was cool because there was an old guy crew there and they were most likely older than us. And they were charging. Jack B was there and it was cool seeing him again. I had changed my setup. No surprise there. Well, mostly just trucks from venture highs to thunder hollows. And it felt magical to be honest. My kickflips felt the best they have in a while. Probably since the last time I skated Thunders ha ha. I still struggled with some halfcab flips and couldn’t halfcab noseslide, but other then that things were decent. I had some decent front slappies, a terrible back 50 on the taller pad (but I was just happy to actually do a back 50), some crooks and noseslides on the metal bench, a noseslide tab on the table and ended with a front 50 down to front 50 on the stacked cinder block pads as they are being repaired. Rob was ripping. Saw front board pop out and nollie front lip the taller pad, manuals, nose manuals, noseslides, halfcab noseslides, boardslides, halfcab 50, back 50 no comply out. Kevin and Nick had shown. Kevin went right into shredding. Nose manual the table to quick wallie was a banger. As well as nollie front nosegrind to 50 the double stack. I had to leave for work.

After working I ended up on campus. There was some event I didn’t know about and after seeing a bunch of tie-dye shirts I realized it was the Dead & Company concert. It didn’t really effect me skating the little yellow curb, but I didn’t have nearly as much energy and drive as I hoped. It turns out it was because I was getting sick, but I didn’t know it at the time. I kind of just hucked. Kickflip crooks and nollie front tail bigspin. In my opinion they both felt doable, but I doubt they actually looked close. I attempted to skate some more, but ended up being too tired so I went home.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder hollow 148 venom 88a bushings, spitfire 53mm classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 272 green size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a very early work meeting I busted out to Boulder park on a hot morning. I had a bit of anger to work out and even though I was sore and tired I skated with some urgency. It didn’t translate to good skating though. Flip tricks were hard other than a first try kickflip fakie over the hump. I had success popping up onto the bench, but not into grinds. Well, crooks were okay. Had a lucky first try front d on the qp. Ran out of juice then went back to work.

(setup 8.25 null burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate hollow hanger royal bushings, spitfire 52mm radial slim 101a, new balance numeric 272 green size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 5/10 needed more sleep to be less sore)

After a long day of work I went to the side of the school. I had gone back to 8.25 with venture highs and it felt not great. Did a few random tricks, then a couple kickflips before heading home.

(setup 8.25 null burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate hollow hanger royal bushings, spitfire 52mm radial slim 101a, new balance numeric 272 green size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After another long day of work around 5 I met up with Rob at dog park. The park was a little more crowded than normal for an afternoon, but still pretty dead. The two other crews managed to post up in area that really disrupted flow though. I had changed my setup. 8.3 with Royals. Initial take was I liked it. That quickly died after my first halfcab flip worked then I couldn’t land another one to save my life. I hucked a lot, didn’t land much and couldn’t get a halfcab noseslide on the metal bench which was really annoying. I did get another little noseslide on the Cali table, some fun slappy crooks, accidental 5-0s. Skated pretty hard, just didn’t land much of anything. Rob had a pretty good slam early on with front 50, but powered through. Manuals, back 50 back 180, front board pop outs, steezy wallrides on the barrier and a mega banger – Manual the pad to manual to boardslide on full metal jacket. Trick of the day. So sick.

(setup null 8.3 vhs, jessup ultragrip, royal 149 ultralights, 52mm spitfire f4 101a radial slim, new balance numeric 272 green size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a very long and frustrating day of work I went to dog park in the 95 degree heat. I started out at the almost empty valmont park on my 8.3 setup with ace lows. I didn’t like it. Didn’t do anything special, but it was a decent little warm up. I went over to the dog park and quickly switched back to my 8.25. I did some whatever warmup then basically spent all my time trying two easy lines. I wanted to do halfcab noseslide the metal bench, then ollie the double parking blocks then a flipper. I settled for crooks then ollie and when I did that I basically manualled the curb, almost got backside flip after. Coming the other way I really wanted to do fakie shove, fakie bigflip, noseslide the cali table. I only got one fakie bigflip, couldn’t do heelflip instead so ended up giving up and doing halfcab flip instead. The noseslide on the table was not good, but it was still fun. I’m probably over venture lows again. Not sure what my next setup will be, but I doubt it will be a low truck of any brand

(setup 8.25 null burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows royal bushings, bones 52mm slims 99a stf 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 440high b/w white size 12)
(pain level 3/10)

After a drive down from BV and several hours of frustrating calls for work I went to the school to “relax” and try the most difficult aspect of skateboarding – flip tricks. After some warmup I would get kickflip and fakie flip quickly, b/s flip and halfcab flip first try. Then nothing. Absolutely nothing. Luckily it started raining to put me out of my misery.

(setup 8.25 null burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows royal bushings, bones 52mm slims 99a stf 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 272 green/white size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a hot morning on the way to my moms we stopped at the Leadville park. Liz went for a walk. I swept the part with suck. I had worn my 440 highs in hopes of less pain than vulcs, but more board feel than the 288s. My warm up run took a bit. Ollie to fakie the bank at the entrance of the park, switch front 180 out of the bank, rock ‘n roll the bank to curb, kickflip to fakie the bank. Tried another line starting with a manual on the circle pad, but would never get a clean manual. I was hoping up it easily, but not balancing the manual. I struggled on the little ledge too. I was really upset, but had to remind myself that ledge has always been difficult for me even though it’s so low. At one point I attempted to throw my board into the concrete area near the park. I had told myself if it makes it over the fence I’d just leave it and be done. (Un)fortunately it bounced off the upright and didn’t make it in. After that I mellowed out and just hucked a little on a bank. First try kickflip. Somewhat close to fronstside halfcab heel.

(setup 8.25 null burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows royal bushings, bones 52mm slims 99a stf 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 440 high b/w size 12)
(pain level 4/10 knee pain)

After a busy Friday at work I met Rob on a hot afternoon. My first day skating in shorts this year. I had also wore some cupsole 288s again and completely hated them. Seriously at no point was I happy with anything about skateboarding and I came close to focusing my board multiple times. I saw Rob get a nice nose manual around the C pad, some back 50s, halfcab board the metal bench. Ripping. I would get some fakie flips and halfcab flips, almost a front shove off the c ledge, almost fakie 50 halfcab out the small pad. JJ would show up, rip it. Rob left and I attempted to keep skating, but ended up just chatting with JJ and it was cool.

(setup 8.25 null burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows royal bushings, bones 52mm slims 99a stf 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 288S green/gum size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 4/10 knee pain wasn’t as bad but I hated the lack of board feel)