On a nice day I rolled over to the nearby school. I started in the front with some slappies and a fun line. Noseslide to fakie, sw front 180 off a curb then slappy on the weird rounded curb.  Then I went behind the school because there is a new basketball court that is smooth. I started to work through my normal flip tricks. I had gotten halfcab flip and backside flip before a family came and started playing basketball. I was pretty bummed because I thought I would probably get quite a few tricks. Instead I went back to the front and noticed that the entrance had a kind of hill I could use as a mini bank. It was pretty fun I did some basics like shove it and kick flips then Variel flip‘s and fakie varial flips. Then I took a little bit to get a front heel.  Well I suppose it’s questionable if I actually got it but I had watched part of the tired video so I’m pretty sure that counts.  Then I hit the weird bank to bricks for a little bit.   No comply to tail came easy as did axle stall, but I could not get a front smith stall. Last thing I did was a couple of  bench tricks.  I couldn’t get a treflip. I like these Royals trucks for pretty much everything except for ledges so far. 

(setup 8.25 null vhs , jessup pj ultragrip, royal 144, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)
(pain level 4/10 upper back pain)

Up early to skate with the good life homies it was all foggy and wet. Argh.  We drove by a new park in hopes it would randomly be dry, but it wasn’t.  Then a parking garage where we got the boot immediately.  After some breakfast a small patch of flatground had dried up.  3 dudes skating a small 10×20’ section with puddles.  We all started slow but would get into our bags. Joe kickflip, fakie flip, cab, halfcab flip, bs flip, fakie varial flip, fakie bigflip.  I got some tricks that I haven’t done in months and had a blast. Kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, halfcab flips both ways, fakie bigflip, bs flip, halfcab heels both ways, treflip, and so close to nollie tre.  Matt did a million tricks.  All the basic flippers, nollie varial flip, nollie big heel, nollie varial heel, switch varial heel, halfcab late flip.  

We skated the park briefly as some of it was dry.  I slammed on a puddle kicking a qp really hard.  Got a front 5-0 the little ledge. Joe killed the front 50 shoves and front smith.  Matt rattled off so many tricks. 5/0s, nosegrinds, bluntslide, crooks, so much.  Heck of a fun day.  

(setup 8.25 null vhs , jessup pj ultragrip, royal 144, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)
(pain level 2/10)

Caught a bit of sunlight right after work.  Saul and I did a couple slappies then laps in the park. Then Will joined and we hit the actual pump track.  We all did a few laps. It’s quite fun, but oh so exhausting.   Then back to the park   I bailed noseslides, will popped Ollie’s and Saul conquered the rainbow.  Will and I hit the dog park but mostly chatted.   I really struggled.  Couldn’t quite get nose manual.  Failed to Ollie a lot actually.  Got one back 50.  Other than that it was bad.  I’ll blame the vulcs, not the new trucks (yet).  I will say my Achilles hurt the least it has in months. So that’s good at least

(setup 8.25 null vhs , jessup pj ultragrip, royal 144, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)
(Pain level 2/10)

Another cold feeling night.  I went to the school armed with a different setup and something quite different.  Royal trucks!   I had a good first day on them.  Slappies worked.  Had a great slam from a tree twig to the curb. Then I went to the ledge area.   Had a couple basics, but the shadows and crack make it really hard.  Couldn’t lock into crooks.   The few flip tricks I did went alright.  

(setup 8.25 null vhs , jessup pj ultragrip, royal 144, boardycakes roundups, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)(Pain level 4/10)

Trying desperately to get some flatground tricks back I went to the school.  It had been warm during the day but it was quite cold.  I had a different setup. At no point did I like it. Slappies did not work.  Kickflips and fakie flips were not consistent.   Would get halfcab flip and varial flip.  No fakie big, treflip or even heelflip (I tried so many).  Also couldn’t Ollie into the rock.   Went home sore.  

(setup 8.3 null Escher, jessup ultragrip, thunder 149 hollows, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)
(Pain level 3/10)

After a late night partying at Brian’s I attempted to ready myself for skating to meet Will and Jake at dog park. I wasn’t expecting much, but I got less than that. I was quickly reminded how much I dislike 8.25 with venture highs. i don’t know man, it just doesn’t work. Even with little 51mm wheels. I never once even tried to ollie onto a ledge and couldn’t even commit to a front slappy. Jake and I did nollie back tails on the taller pad. Somehow I won the game of SKATE even after getting letters on kickflip and front shove. I had already gone like 1-10 on kickflips before that. Yikes. I would get a halfcab flip and a fakie bigflip in a row for the win. Then Jake and I went on to treflip battle. Neither getting one. I had one incredibly bad one that I didn’t even attempt to pass off as a set. That was it for me. Jake and Will were ripping otherwise. I saw Will trying to back nosegrind the top tier. Whoa! Joe, Hayden, Bo, Noe had shown and were shredding. The ease at which they did manuals was so impressive to me. Also Noe’s million flip tricks, Hayden smoothly doing hard tricks, Joe popping over the hydrant so casually and Bo with the pop and energy. Then we went filming. I didn’t even really get my board out I was so tired and not wanting to skate. Those dudes shredded. Great seeing everyone.

(setup null 8.25 glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate hollow hanger, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)
(pain level 3/10 achilles wasn’t great)

On a nice day I got going after some morning chilling.  I went to Southern Hills.  I was on an 8.25.  I really struggled to get going and tried to do a quick line before I would go meet the others in Longmont.  I tried to do noseslide, kickflip, front 50 the lower step, crook.  Never got all 3 in one line.  Did manage to get all tricks, but never together. 

Then to Rocky Mountain and I was beat.  I had done one of those 7 minute HIIT workouts with India and it wore me out.  I could hardly jump.  I didn’t do much I was happy with.  Got a couple basic flippers and some ledge basics that mostly involved not ollieing.  Will mostly shredded the ledge.  He did back tail before he did back 50.  He also had casual front 50s, front tails to fakie and would get back tail shove.  Dave had setup a little ramp to get up the curb.  It was awesome.  I had used it for a warmup line of slappy crooks to fakie then switch front nose the ledge.  Dave used it to get tricks like pop shove and varial flip to fakie on a bank.  He also graced us with some boardslides to fakie both ways.  All in all a pretty fun session.

(setup null 8.25 glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate hollow hanger, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)
(pain level 4/10 achilles wasn’t great)

On an incredibly windy night I drove through broken traffic lights to end up in Frederick at Will’s. He immediately pointed out I was late. Ha. Will was already shredding. I guess Dave was “late” too. Warming up took a bit. The ‘mandatory flatground’ was initially front bigspin. None of us got it. My first couple felt close then I was not close at all. Will was close to a couple. Switch Dave almost did it switch. I spent a lot of time trying to do back 50s to fakie. I hadn’t done a grinding one in a long time. I would get one, but it wasn’t good. Was happy to get front 50 and disaster easily and kind of a weird cab rock which I haven’t done in a long time. Will got a bunch of front smiths, front tails, 5-0s, fakie stalls. Dave had good boardslides to fakie, rolled in again. Near the end his special mode was activated. He did switch front shove, back tail. Then would go on to do his first ever switch back shove as captured above. Will did a bunch of stationary treflips and motivated me to try some. I would get 1, maybe 2. It felt good, I’ve never done them stationary before. Seems to really help with form. My legs were not excited to jump though. Anyway, fun night. Oh yeah, I hucked a few bigflips on the transition at the end and was remotely close.

(setup null 8″ burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollow highs bones medium bushings, boardycakes 49.99mm round ups 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 440 high b/w size 12)
(pain level 3/10)

On a pretty nice night I went to campus for the first time in months. I was armed with high top shoes in hopes that maybe that is what it would take to help the achilles. It may have helped, but we’ll see in the long run. I struggled through a couple slappy crooks then went down the little sidewalk towards the underpass. It was crazy skating even a little hill, it’s been too long. Add in lots of gravel from winter and it was a little scary. I ended up at the new business area and randomly chose to warm up on a little median doing various nose/tail stall variations that didn’t involve popping. It was pretty fun, I tried to front 270 out of a few ‘nollie’ front tails and they felt pretty doable. I did a couple that didn’t count at all, but still felt fun. I started getting kickflips and fakie flips. Oh yeah, I had put high trucks on to make things weird. Then I went in on trying to front 180 the little median. The other side was a slight drop into a slight bank. I would never get it. I committed a few times, but had no pop. It was a bummer, but luckily I had gotten a couple basic flippers to ease the pain. I went around the corner to the brightly lit tall wood benches and man they felt tall. I only got noseslide barely. Then I tried a line of switch 180, boardslide the long curb, ollie a manhole, front nose a bench. The front nose was the worst one ever done. The manhole ollies were terrible too. I was leaving when I noticed some tables had been cleared from a concrete ledge which looked inviting. Did a line of front 180 up a little step, switch back 180 on flat, noseslide to fakie. So I skated pretty terrible, but being out in the streets felt good so it was mostly fun.

(setup null 8″ burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollow highs bones medium bushings, boardycakes 49.99mm round ups 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 440 high b/w size 12)
(pain level 3/10)

My achilles was hurting and the motivation was low so Kevin and I went to the tennis court DIY on a warm and breezy day. I say breezy, but really it was either calm or very windy. Dave would meet up shortly, Sean after awhile. I wore cupsoles, they felt good, I had less pain. I started alright, had some of my basic dork tricks and some harder ones like first try fakie bigflip. Kevin rattled off 50s and nosegrinds like it was nothing. I would go on to not skate very well or consistent. It’s hard to skate when even pushing hurts. I would get up on a slow front 50, some good feeling crooks, halfcab noseslides, remotely close to kick back 50, halfcab flips, still couldn’t get a heelflip and didn’t get a treflip. Kevin had some good nollie nosegrinds, switch nosegrind 180s, close to nollie nosegrind shove, switch flips over the parking block. Dave had slappy crooks transfer, 6 trick line starting on the parking block, some shoves, front nose, nollie 180, halfcab boardslide 270 transfer the parking block. Ended strong with kickflips and switch crooks and nose manual. Sean came and we started a timer waiting to see how long before he would ollie the tennis net. Unfortunately he needed some coaxing to do it so we kinda lost all bets. But man Sean is so fun to watch skate. Nosegrinds right away, the back nosegrind 180 out was so sick. His pop is something else. Front 5-0 shove, steezy flilppers, etc. After Kevin and I went to 303 and I got some high tops for skating. Hoping that helps reduce some achilles pain. Certainly at least when my board hits it sometimes.

(setup null 8″ burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows bones medium bushings, boardycakes 49.99mm round ups 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 288s grey size 11.5)
(pain level 4/10 achilles)