Had thought that maybe with how much shorter Aces are that I’d want a wider board.  Nope.  As soon as I set the 8.5 down I disliked it.  My wheel fell off twice in the early stages which bummed me out.  Turns out Ace axle nots pop off on front slappies.  I was a little late and Rob had already fizzled out.  We played a game of SKATE.  I think Rob one it on a cab.  We did some fun one foot and no comply variations.  I came close to 360 shoves, but couldn’t get one.  

(setup 8.5 smoke valley null, jessup pj ultragrip, ace af1 low 55, 52mm bones stf 99a v3 slims, new balance numeric 288S green/gum no insoles)
(pain level 4/10 achy)

After another day of lounging around and trying to recover I went to Douglass on a really nice afternoon. As soon as I set my board down I knew it wouldn’t go well, but I did try. Was still amazed at how easily I could kickflip on this setup. I’m not sure if it’s the low/light aces or the narrow bones, but it’s great. I did have some problems popping into noseslides and couldn’t get crooks though. I’m not sure I can blame trucks for that through, I was dead tired, sore and lacking energy. I also felt like I should try 8.5 with the aces since the wheelbase is so small on them. So we’ll see. I went home after about 30 minutes of putzing around.

(setup 8.38 smoke valley null, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55, 52mm bones stf 99a v3 slims, new balance numeric 288S green/gum no insoles)
(pain level 4/10 achy)

Feeling run down I rested most of the day then mustered the strength to skate some flatground. I was armed with a new pair of 288s, my current fav shoe. I mean I say that because they work the best, but I wouldn’t say they are a favorite. Anyway, I did a few little front slappies on the hook then went to the side of the school. To my surprise I got my first 5 kickflips in a row. I was skating extra slow, resting between each try. I had obsessed about halfcab flips and they did not come easy. I got a few, most of which didn’t feel great. Tried a bunch of f/s halfcab heels that were close, a couple Rick flips were close, switch/nollie flips were not close. Eventually got a very slow 270 flip then went home.

(setup 8.38 smoke valley null, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55, 52mm bones stf 99a v3 slims, new balance numeric 288S green/gum no insoles)
(pain level 4/10 achy)

On a warm morning I went to boulder park.  I wore some old 288s which I initially liked, then would feel the pain of vulcs I dislike.  I skated pretty poorly.  Gonna blame some learning curve on the new trucks, some on the vulcs.  I’m trying to remember if I did anything out of the ordinary and I don’t think so.  I was still surprised at how quickly the board flipped, but with vulcs I lost the confidence and didn’t want to try them.  So yeah, nothing stands out, but I did feel pretty natural on the new setup cruising around.

(setup 8.38 smoke valley null, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55, 52mm bones stf 99a v3 slims, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After some OCD obsessing over the new Ace AF1 lows I went to 303, got them, set them up, then went to the empty tennis court spot and gave them a whirl.  And my first impression was excellent.  Even though they are lows they seemed to turn similar to AF1s, but a much lighter pop.  I went on to have a decent session even though I started hating the new 425s and all the heel lift I was getting.  Flip tricks worked well and heelflips felt surprisingly good.  I skated the ledge alright for me.  Crooks and slow front 50s, noseslides, switch noseslides.  Slappies felt good.  Decent first session on new trucks, shoes , wheels.

(setup 8.38 smoke valley null, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55, 52mm bones stf 99a v3 slims, new balance numeric 425 black/gum size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After dinner I went over to the side of the school on a really warm and nice night.  I had new NB# 425s.  They had a great flick and felt good on day one.  I had the goal of doing a rick flip and a treflip and that was it.  I would get neither, but was close to both.  Did a few basics and came close to switch and nollie flips as well. 

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer night skate deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows no big washer, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape 3 rings inside, new balance numeric 425 black/gum size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

After work met up wit Rob at a surprisingly mellow dog park. Warming up went decent for me and it seemed like for Rob too. Saw him lining out halfcab board on the tall bench and almost halfcab nose on it. Close to nollie front lips the c ledge, pops over the green curb, nollie front lips on it, back 50s on the curb with back 180s out, wallrides the barrier, manuals and nose manuals around the C. I skated alright for me, but couldn’t get the kickflip up the c ledge again, or off it. But it was fun finally going through the cracks to ollie up it. Had a couple slow back 50s on the c ledge, some crooks on the back of the upper deck, some fun slappies. Had a few flippers, but nothing special until the end when I got a little line of switch front nose then fakie bigflip. So I left on a good note.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer night skate deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows no big washer, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape 3 rings inside, new balance numeric 288s grey size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Up early on Easter with family brunch a few hours away I went to Southern Hills kind of early. I felt kinda under the weather and things were slow to start. I took a bit to get a warm up line of little pop to manual the “smooth” section, kickflip on flat, front tail stall the curb, noseslide the bench. Next one came like 2nd try. Boardslide a bench then b/s flip out of the handicap ramp. Then went in on a line for quite some time as the wind started to pick up. Front nose to fakie a bench, halfcab flip on flat, front 50 a bench. I would never get it, but I did get up onto the bench. I really wanted to keep at it, but the wind was insane.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer night skate deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows no big washer, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape 3 rings inside, new balance numeric 288s grey size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

For once a later session was planned. Noon at dog park. And it was quite cold out in the morning so that worked out well. I arrived early and was surprised to see Sean, Jack and Riley already skating dog park. It was Rob’s birthday, he’s pretty low key about it but I think everyone still at least said happy bday. Kevin, Jake, Dave were also there. Hayden, Bo would come too. It was a long session. Dave, Riley and I started with a few laps around the concrete pump track then went to the official pump track. It’s quite rough and we did a couple laps. I didn’t last long at Valmont park before heading over to dog park. I had two goals for the day. Kickflip up the C ledge finally and a couple halfcab heels. Warming up was going alright for me doing normal tricks and I was getting close to the kickflip up when Jake suggested a game of SKATE. Got it next try. Was quite happy. Game of SKATE was Dave, Jake, Bo, Riley and me. No surprise Riley won. And I think he only had S. It was fun though a good warm up and I didn’t get letters on too many tricks I can normally land. It was pretty crowded in there. Riley, Jack, Sean all killing it. Jack fakie tre wallie world. Riley fakie shove manual anything. Sean was trying to front nose the upper deck. Man there really was so much going on I can’t even begin to remember all of it. I never got any halfcab heels, but was close. Near the end I tried a bunch of halfcab crooks again. Was close. Saw Jake do some nollie back tails. Dave killing full metal jacket. Rob lining out his moves. I somehow didn’t see Kevin skate much and he had hurt his wrist.

We went to a nearby spot where I rolled down a weird wood bank a few times then filmed the Nullers do a million tricks into/out of it. Fun day!

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer night skate deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows no big washer, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape 3 rings inside, new balance numeric 288s grey size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

The wind finally died down so I went to dog park about an hour before dark. It was cool Robbie, Raul and Cody were there. Warming up wasn’t so bad. I was determined to get a new trick, the main one I had in mind was halfcab crook to fakie. I started with switch noseslide front shove which I had never tried before and I would get two in a row! It put me in a good mood. I then went in pretty hard on halfcab crooks on the flat side of the c ledge. I was getting into them good for a change, but sticking. I would get one or maybe even two. But they weren’t grinds, just quick pivots that probably fell into nose as I went to fakie. I don’t care, it stoked me out. I added a nollie front 50 to lip on the curb to my list of GleNBDs for the night. I was hyped. Then I tried a line for a while of nollie front tail to fakie on the curb, fakie flip on flat, halfcab crook fakie. Never got the halfcab crook in the line. My flip tricks mostly sucked, but I still left in a good mood.

(setup null smoke valley 8.3, venture 5.8 titatnium cast plate, bones medium bushings, 51mm spitfire classic shape f4 101a, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)