On a nice morning I rolled to Denver and picked up Garrett and Kevin. We had some good laughs at Garrett’s college night experience and hungover state then met Venture Dave at Parker. There was a stiff breeze and the reflection from the snow was blinding. But the ledge and manny pad were dry so that’s really all we needed. I had brought my 8 and 8.3 setups. Garrett told me to skate the 8.3 so I did. It felt huge after so much garage time on the putter, but I cannot deny how much easier it was to pop up onto the ledge. For how bad my achilles was hurting I skated alright. Had some good halfcab flips and a great feeling fakie bigflip. Crooks, fakie 50, accidental front 5-0, switch front nose, halfcab nose, front board pop out. It was fun skating with Dave finally again. He had some steezy shoves, was getting into fakie front noseslides, impossibles and good nose manuals. Kevin was having some arthritic issues he said, but still did tricks like nollie nosegrind pop out, switch nosegrind 180, lots of goodness. Garrett got manual kickflip out, close to nose manual nollie tre, 50’d the 2nd level gap out, actually missed some treflips.

Then we went to CO Springs. After the shop and some driving we ended up at Harrison High. The bench was dry, the far side of the bank was too, but lots of pebbles and not waxed. Also the two stair is no longer there. Bummer! Kevin ollied a snow pile from the corner of the bank, back tail shove, almost kick back tail. Joe and Jack had joined us, but Jack still can’t skate. Joe would get back tail gap to back tail! He didn’t get as locked in on the second ledge as he hoped, but it was still sick. My achilles was making things difficult. I went on to do a couple things though. I wasn’t sure if I got a switch crook , but Jack said I did so hooray I’m counting it! I took forever to get a halfcab noseslide and then was messing around with noseslide up to crook. I did a stationary one and then would go on to get a slow/short one that made me feel quite happy. Garrett darn near did front tail shove front tail over the gap. Pretty sure I jinxed him. After that we had a nice dinner and fun time at the Ritual premiere.

(setup null esher 8.3, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium axle thunder bushings, 49.99mm boardycakes roundups washers outside, new balance numeric 288S white size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 7/10 achilles)

After my 3rd day in the office in 3 years I picked up Dave and we rolled to Will’s. We started slow and just when things were getting going I got called for work. I watched as those guys skated while on the phone for awhile. Dave would go on to get fakie shove rock (I think) and pop shove rock fakie. Will had steezy front smiths and can enter the ramp by putting his board in pivot and go to fakie. It’s nuts. I sucked it up on all fronts except I did a little fakie plant thing about 1/100th as well as Dave did it. Speaking of Dave man he got going. Back tailslide, back tail to fakie, fakie pivot fakie, sweepers, fakie sweepers, so much goodness.

(setup null 8″ stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows with royal bushings flat top washer, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic shape, new balance numeric 288S white size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10 some achilles)

More snowy cold weather so I was in the garage and chose the putter. It didn’t feel quite as magical the second day in a row, but still awesome. I hucked quite a bit, coming very close to switch flip, but not landing anything rare. Well, I guess my 30 degree kickflips turned 180 are kind of rare if you are kind enough to consider them a frontside flip. I got a couple treflips relatively quickly. That’s about all I remember.

(setup 7.5″ 303, venture 5.0 v-hollow low, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 288s white size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10 achilles/some shoulder)

After a few days off from skateboarding due to hurting my shoulder and achilles snowboarding I went out to the garage. I had the intention of skating my 8.3, but after a couple kickflips were too much effort I busted out the putter. It felt ridiculously small, silly and amazing. Like seriously amazing and it took me back to the early 2000s when I rode 7.5″ for a couple years. I rattled off a few of the stock tricks then got stuck in fakie varial heel land for quite some time. I never got one, but was very close. Went on to try treflips and would get a few ‘garage makes’. Shoulder felt fine, I was hyped.

(setup 7.5″ 303, venture 5.0 v-hollow low, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 288s white size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10 achilles/some shoulder)

Feeling pretty good after work I went out to the garage. Things seemed to start alright until flip tricks started. I thought it was the new shoes still not having a good flick, but it was ridiculous. I could not land anything. Anger was boiling over, I was screaming, throwing my board. After several failed kickflips in a row I focused my board (it was pretty beat so don’t hate me too much). I was left with skating my 8″ and 8.3″ completes or stopping skating. I messed around on both before choosing the 8.3 and enjoying it. Would actually get a few stationary 270 flips and at one point a string of tricks in a row kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip, halfcab flip almost treflip. Came close to halfcab heel and nollie varial flip.

(setup 8.25 then 8.3 with venture 5.8s and 50mm boardycakes NB# 288s)
(pain level 2/10)

Went out to the garage not feeling overly motivated, but tried to stay focused on trying the tricks I want to learn in 2022. I was met with complete frustration not landing anything. It was so frustrating. I was seriously not landing anything. I did have a new pair of white leather 288S to blame for weird flick. At one point I got a few ultra basics in a row, but nothing cool. Did get remotely close on switch flip and tre.

(setup 8.25 null vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer no big washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288S white size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 4/10 some achilles mostly just general soreness)

On a very nice morning I arrived to a very icy and wet dog park. It was too frozen to spread out, but we did some then hit Valmont park for a while. There were a lot of people there which makes writing this mostly impossible. Rob is back so it was great having him in the mix and getting reacquainted on the board. Eric, Cass, Brian, Dave, Ted, Kyle, Kevin, so many more in the mix. At Valmont I got a first try kickflip to fakie on the bank and a couple new things on the hip ledge. I did noseslide then kickflip fakie which I’ve done before but then I also did b/s flip after which was harder for some reason. Also managed to get a crook! Been wanting to do that for a long time. Jake played noseslide with me. Ed had some popped ollies.

Then we went over to dog park and gave it a good squeegee and had some dry stuff to skate. Jake and I played our traditional game of SKATE. I got lucky this time around as it was SKAT-SKAT and I won the treflip battle. And maybe even in less than 10 tries and I think it was at least 300 degrees. Ha. Cass had joined us for some flippers. Kevin showed an did some ledges basics that make me jealous first try. I would have some fun on the little ledge with front 50 180 and Joe H first tries, crooks the benches, a very bad slam trying to switch front nose off the pad that took me out for a while. Collin had sick slappy feebles on the green curb. Jake nollie back tail the narrow bench then bluntslide the flat bar. Brian bluntslides the parking block and trying to back 50 like Rob. Kevin doing his signature trick (switch nosegrind 180) was a thing of beauty. Eric heelflip a parking block all smooth like in a line. Dave was crushing it as I sat with Kevin and Cass chilling and drinking my breakfast smoothie. Front 5-0 180, back 5-0 180, switch 180 50.

Then we went to Saul’s. I thought I would be too sore to skate, but somehow got a second wind. Maybe it was because I felt inspired by how hard Kevin was shredding. Seriously shredding. Just look at the line above! That was his end game. My end game was a line of carve grind, axle stall, kickturn then kickflip. I was hyped to get the kickflip though even if it was only 1/4 up the transition. Dave had some good grinds while adjusting to how weird Thunders turn. Ted had never been there before and was doing switch carves and back ds within a few runs. Saul treated us to his patented firing lines. Fun day, great homies, beautiful weather. Sorry for beating you at SKATE on your bday Jake ( I mean not really since I landed a treflip in like 10 tries).

(setup 8.25 null vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer no big washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 with thin 440 insole)
(pain level 4/10 some achilles mostly just general soreness)

After a cold night with a hard frost I picked up Kevin and we went to the Rhino art park. Cass would show after a bit. Kevin was already shredding. We hit the bench/long rail area. Kevin would get back 180 then switch front nose. I got nose stall fakie then switch front nose. Kevin boardslid the end of the rail and almost manualled the downhill ledge. Cass got fakie ollie into the pad but didn’t ride out the whole way. Then we ended up at the stage ledge. I was not feeling good on my board at all. Cass and Kevin front 50’d easy. Cass had a nice front noseslide shove, front nose 270. Kevin rattled off a bunch like back tail, crooks, nollie front tail and more. I would eventually get a couple accidental 5-0s, front 50, crooks, crooks fakie, switch front nose, switch noseslide 270 shove and almost crooks shove. Then we found the escalator grated ledge. It was really fun to skate. It would slow down quite a bit when you were grinding. Kevin had back 5-0s, front 50 back 180 followed by switch flip. Cass did some 50s and was kind of over it. I was trying to do front 50 shove, but a lady came out and asked us to leave since she was about to do a zoom call. So all I got was the sketchy one. Fun day with the bros.

(setup 8.25 null vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer no big washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 with thin 440 insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Went out to the garage after work and a nap. Skating felt super odd for a bit. I experimented with some other completes in my garage but would basically stick to the 8.25. After some warm up I started flippers. Was unable to get a halfcab flip so started trying switch flips and stationary treflips. Got close to both, but never landed either. Then first try bs flip followed by halfcab flip then fakie flip in a row. Couldn’t get a heelflip but did get halfcab heel.

(setup 8.25 null vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer no big washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 with thin 440 insole)
(pain level 2/10)

Met Dave on a cool night a little after 7. As we were getting started this random tweaker dude rolled in and boy was I not expecting that in Erie. He was British or something, singing, talking, asking for a new board. So I gave him a used one from my trunk and he was stoked, said he’d go pro now. He stuck around for a bit and entertained, but then Dave and I had the park all to ourselves. We warmed up differently. Dave was going for some rock jibs and bank rides to line out a nollie into the bank as well as some “poor mans front bluntsldies”. I had kind of thrown a few things out there before before settling on trying a line of flip trick up top, into the bank to quick powerslide to noseslide the tallish ledge, then kickflip to fakie from the upper wedge to lower one. Never got it, but did end up getting quite a few flippers in the process. Fakie bigflip being my fav. Dave would string together one heck of a line. Something like nollie into the bank, bigspin on a bank, back 360 the crazy qp to bank, switch back 180 up the bump, switch nose stall the bank to ledge. Amazing! I had a fun ride on grind, front 180 off a drop, switch front nose. Had one crooks, but mostly the ledge seemed so crazy tall. Then I tried to ollie up a ledge, ride on grind, kickflip off the drop but never committed to the kickflip. Would like to do that some time though. Dave got a kickflip on the bank and I got one to fakie “up” to the smaller bank. Then we jibbed the little divider between the low and high. Dave got front pivot which seems impossible. I got a no comply to tail. Lastly we messed around on the double wedge thing. It was fun. I had also done front 50 nollie shove, front 50 to grind down, the beanplant was silly but fun. Dave was flying when doing the switch grinds. Fun night. Wish ledges didn’t feel impossibly high anymore.

(setup 8.25 null vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer no big washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 with thin 440 insole)
(pain level 3/10)