After a busy day at work I went to Valmont/dog park. Tried to avoid getting hit by pumpers for awhile. Took several tries to get a kickflip fakie on the mellow bank which was the start of my frustrations. Had troubles popping ollies over the little pumps. Went over to dog park and with the exception of one switch front noseslide and a halfcab flip I sucked so incredibly bad. Couldn’t hardly ollie or anything.

(setup null 8.25 glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows with 3 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings both washers, 1/16 riser, spitfire f4 99a 53mm classic shape, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 with custom split insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Woke up early after a good night of sleep and went right to getting ready to skate. I got there just as the sun was starting to peak out. I had the parks all to myself basically except for a mountain biker, tweaker and a fully padded skater just riding on the sidewalk. I did a few pumps, grinded the rainbow, carved the barrier. Then hit the bank for a bit. First try kickflip to fakie, kickflip took a few tries, couldn’t get a bigflip or treflip in 5 tries. Then I tried the noseslide followed by kickflip fakie. At first it seemed so impossible and I couldn’t get my feet setup for kickflip. After about 10 tries it started to feel possible though and I got it. Made me happy. I went over to the dog park after that. Everything felt harder there. I skated around for a bit then didn’t really feel like pushing and risking my achilles so I just did single tricks I could throw down instead of pushing. The manual took at least 10 tries, the nose manual about 5. Did halfcab flip and b/s flip. Then mostly skated the little ledge. Front 50 came easy, front 5-0 was hard, front 50 shove was hard, back 50 was hard. The fakie 50 felt cool. I tried kickflip 50 took like 10 minutes straight and as you can see I didn’t really lock in. It still felt cool. I was skating hard, trying hard, that’s all I can ask.

(setup null 8.25 glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows with 3 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings both washers, 1/16 riser, spitfire f4 99a 53mm classic shape, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 with custom split insoles)
(pain level 1/10! didn’t push much though to risk the achilles pain)

After working 12+ hours on a Saturday I slept in, did some chores, nursed a bit of a hangover. Mid afternoon I met Joe and Garrett at dog park. It was a nice afternoon. I didn’t feel too good on my board initially or ever, but I mostly skated hard. Joe started out with hardflips and front 50s the tallest bar in the park. So gnarly. Garrett flowed around like he do. He went in on front tail kickflip out over the manny pad and would never quite get it. He did get crooks to fakie over it though, followed by switch manual. I skated alright, definitely the most regular pushing I’ve done and it kinda hurt after a while. Had some crooks, halfcab noseslides, front 50s on the taller manny pad, 3/50 on nose manuals, close to kick back 50s, almost landed a nollie bigflip in front of Garrett, did some weird f/s halfcab noseslide things (I say things because they were more like kickturns with my nose scraping the ledge), came remotely close to crooks shove, some slow back 50s, didn’t get far in the flip trick bag, had lots of fun fs slappies. Garrett filmed me at the end as shown above. I had gotten really tired.

(setup null 8.25 glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows with 3 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings both washers, 1/16 riser, spitfire f4 99a 53mm classic shape, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12 with 272 insoles)
(pain level 3/10 achilles/heel pain right foot)

Stuck helping a coworker all day. Had a 15 minute break at one point so hit the curbs. The low trucks and big wheels were weird for slappies, but whatevs. There were some old dudes skating the upper part over the death box. I stuck to myself since I was on super limited time. I could tell work was wearing on me and my motivation. I had some slappies, slappy crooks, couldn’t get slappy front crooks. Did one fakie flip that barely made it around. Last run was a front 180 off the curb cut which felt really good.

(setup null 8.25 glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows with 3 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings both washers, 1/16 riser, spitfire f4 99a 53mm classic shape, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12 with 272 insoles)
(pain level 1/10)

Woke up super early because I was stressed out about work. Rather than login and work another 10+ hour day I went skating. I started at Valmont park. Oh, and I had changed my setup. Considering my unhappiness with my skating I wanted something that makes me happy. 8.25 with Venture lows. That’s my jam. However this time I put some larger wheels on – 53mm Spits. It made for a good ride, didn’t feel as low as normal without tiny wheels. And somehow with both washers the wheelbite wasn’t bad. I pumped around, laughed at some of the stupidity of the Evergreen park, struggled with b/s flips on the bank, did a lot of ollies to fakie on the triangle wedge. Last run was pretty fun something like a little front slash the tiny qp up top, somewhat wallie the barrier corner, kickflip to fakie the bank.

As I rolled over to the park there was a tweaker dude smoking weed and he said “Are you a bitch ass cop?” Cracked me up. I was like ‘Do I look like a cop?’ and he said ‘You’d be surprised at how many times I’ve had the cops called on me.” No, actually I wouldn’t. But he played some good Dr Dre and kept his distance so it was cool. There was a big puddle near taller manny pad which prevented skating it like a ledge which was a big bummer. I didn’t skate great, but probably the best since hurting the achilles. I would get a few slow flippers like kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, b/s flip, fakie bigfip, heelflip, almost nollie tre, but couldn’t get close to treflip. I had a nose manual on the small pad, manuals on the taller pad and tried front shove out of a few. No real ledge stand out tricks. I ended it with a fun line of switch front 180 a parking block, back 180 the parking block mound, fakie flip on flat, fakie 50 halfcab out the tiny curb.

(setup null 8.25 glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows with 3 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings both washers, 1/16 riser, spitfire f4 99a 53mm classic shape, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12 with 272 insoles)
(pain level 1/10)

After a super shitty day of work I ended up in the new area behind steelyards shortly after dark. I pushed around for awhile. My regular pushing felt the best it has felt in months, but I still mostly pushed around switch. I ended up at one well lit area between some building with some random stuff nearby and tried some flatground to get used to the 8″ board. At no point did it feel very good with the exception of landing a few heelflips. I did some gap to axle stalls. Then put together a couple lines that sound okay on paper. Heelflip, noseslide a tall bench, ollie a 3 stair. Halfcab flip, boardslide, front 180 3 stair. I rolled around some more then left once again feeling quite bummed out. Work is killing me.

(setup 8″ null archway, jessup grip, venture 5.2 cast baseplate v-hollow axle, venom 91a bushings, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12 numeric 272 insole)
(pain level 0/10!)

On a nice night I went to the newer research area with the perfect knobbed wood benches.  To my delight it was lit very well and the lab was closed so no one watching me through the windows.  I felt odd on my skateboard, very odd.  It took awhile before I could even land a kickflip.  I felt like a total beginner.  I would manage a few slow tricks like fakie flip, halfcab flip and a fun f/s halfcab flip.  But never got to treflip, heelflips were not close.  I managed a couple ollies up onto the bench.  I got tired after an hourish and went home quite depressed on how little confidence and skill I have anymore.  

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 team hollows, bones 52mm 103a v1, new balance numeric 212 white size 12 with nb# 272 insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Another day, another setup change. This one seemed to work. NB 212s, 8.25, Thunder 148 Team Hollows and Bones 52mm. I started at the Valmont park to pump the legs and get them working. I tried to skate the little pond area with the fun noping all. I just did a couple basics and managed to avoid not getting hit by bmxers. I heard a young scooter kid ask his rollerblading dad “Is this another pump track?” Yeah, that’s how much it resembles a pump track. I tried to skate the bank for a bit, but the flyouts were too much. So I went over to the ledges. It wasn’t crowded, but the two sets of people were filming everything. I would skate my best since hurting my achilles. Which isn’t saying much, but I did a few thing that made me happy. Finally nose mannied the little pad, my first front 50 shove on the little ledge, halfcab noseslides and crooks the benches. Kinda close to a no push line of boardslide a bench, crooks the next one, kick back 50 the little pad. Had several frontside slappies and slappy crooks, a slow back 50 the little ledge, a few fakie flips and halfcab flips. I had pushed kind of normally for awhile, but then my achilles started to hurt and I got tired so I called it a day even though I hadn’t done a treflip.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 team hollows, bones 52mm 103a v1, new balance numeric 212 white size 12 with nb# 272 insoles)

On a warm day Kevin and I got a late start and got to Fossil around 2. We skated for a couple hours starting at the top area. I really struggled to pop, do flippers, everything. My board felt like a tank. I had a fun run done very slowly: noseslide to fakie then switch front nose shove. Kevin did back tail then close to kick back 50. I managed a new trick on the curb inspired by Joe. Front smith to front 50. Kinda fun. Then we went down to the main ledge. There were a few others skating and they were fun to skate with. There was a Puig guy, really slow tech trick guy and sit down guy who could get up and do a trick then sit more. Kevin shredded. Lines of back 50 then back smith, front smith then nollie nosegrind attempt. He would get kick back tail too! I stunk it up. Barely got a couple crooks, switch front noses, noseslides to fakie, took forever to get a front 50 and a Glen 50. Then at the end I could barely ollie up the ledge and when I finally did I couldn’t get kickflip off. Argh.

We went to Northside and met up with Hayden, Noe along with several others there shredding. I tried several bigflips on the bank and never came close, did a few little hump ollies up top and an axle stall. Kevin did some switch flips on the bank, crooks the flat bar. Seeing Noe and Hayden skate there was awesome. Noe landed a million flippers. Hayden put together some fun creative lines. The fakie hard! Dang. Then we had a fun time at the Launch event. Whew.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer night skate deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger bones medium bushings, 51mm green radial slag f4 99a wheels, new balance numeric 272 black size 12, custom high/low insole)
(pain level 4/10)

After another stressful day I went to dog park to meet Dave and Eric. We started at a crowded Greenblock. Warming up was kind of whatever for me, I definitely did not have pop and the achilles hurt a little more than the day before. I don’t remember doing much of anything before realizing Dave had gone over to the skatepark so I joined him. It wasn’t too mobbed with people. Dave was doing some little grinds in the pump track area managing to time it so he didn’t get hit. I finally grinded over the rainbow. Dave did too. Eric would come and do it first try. Dave had some good nollies over the hip, nollie 180s and even nollie cabs! So sick. Also no comply pole jams regular and switch. Eric got the pole jam, ollied the hip to the upper deck, back disasters on the volcano. I continued my streak of being almost undefeated with bigflips on the bank, kickflip to fakie, posed some kickflips elsewhere and basically spent two hours trying backside flip onto the upper deck. It was cool seeing Brendan there. There was also another dude trying tricks on the hip too. He started with b/s 180, nollie back 180, kickflip, back heel. So sick. He was cool and had one of the best quotes in a while. When I told him “you should just do the backside flip first try and put me out of my misery” he responded with “I’m 37 and I’ve got manners”. Ha. Dave and I had a good laugh. Dave and Eric left and Mr Manners decided to film me as I was close to the b/s flip. I would eventually get it, albeit very badly, but I was still hyped. I left on a good note.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer night skate deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger bones medium bushings, 53mm spitfire classic shape f4 99a wheels, new balance numeric 272 black size 12, custom high/low insole)
(pain level 3/10 achilles and knees from being in skate shoes again)