On a very nice day I went to blue skies for an hour during lunch as I thought it would rain later. I hadn’t exercised much and felt incredibly off. I also had a new board, different trucks and wore different shoes. So I guess all things considered it wasn’t terrible. I had some okay noeslides to fakie on a taller ledge followed by switch front nose on the flat bar. But I couldn’t get a flipper after. Did some ollies to fakie low on the bank followed by halfcab noseslide. Got a crooks on the low ledge. One ollie over the lowest part of the dragon rail that did not come easy.

After more meetings, a run to LOCO Dave and I met Will at Frederick. It was a nice night at first, but some showers and wind did come through (although never stopped skating). I had gotten new shoes which felt better, but I did still get very sore. Which is probably more due to having already skated and then sat down for several hours at work. Anyway, warming up actually felt alright though. We were all doing our own things as it looked like rain would come in quickly. Will was popping up the euro to manual and got really close to popping into the far euro. I was enjoying some back 50s on the double bank to curb followed by nollie front 180 out of the bank. Nollies were really working. Jumping was not though. I struggled to do anything beyond that really. Maybe a kickflip to fakie, hucked some bs double flips over the hip that weren’t too close. Dave was doing lung blunt slides on the bank and of course got better at them the wetter the park got. He also had a line of back tail the bank to curb then varial flip out of the bank. The whole process was full of other surprises like back tail back 360 out. Then we were treated to Heroki and Noah showing up and absolutely destroying the place in seconds. They are incredible.

(setup 4/10 null time warp 8.3, jessup ultra, venture 5.8 v8 titanium hanger bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic 99a orange/black, first park last resort cm002 frederick new balance 430s both size 12 both with gamechanger painful insoles)
(pain level 7/10)

On a hot day I went to York St to meet Cass, Jeff and Kyle. We were all quite sore, especially Kyle as he got broke off the day before. We did a lot of talking, but some skating too. Cass had some nice grinds both ways on the qp ledge gap. Jeff good grinds on the bank to pool coping then slappy grinds/slides on the long slappy curb. Kyle did some long back 50s the diy qps and some good slappy crooks. I had almost nothing, maybe a hurricane on a qp.

Then we went to the science museum. Well, I went first while the others got food. I met Gordon who had been skating there a while. He was shredding 50s, 5-0s, noseslides. I was really struggling, but managed a few things like very slow front 50, crooks, noseslides, got switch noseslide 270 shove and close to nollie front tail 270 shove. Jeff had some solid 50s, crooks, tailslides almost some others, he was just feeling it out. JJ showed, did some great tricks immediately like halfcab crooks, nosegrinds and back nosegrinds 180. Ryan came and tried fakie hospital tail. Messed up.

All in all one of those days where it was fun to be out with a great crew, but the skating itself wasn’t top notch.

(setup 3/10 null 8.3, jessup ultra, indy forged hollow 149, 51mm spitfire f4 99s radial slim green, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind insoles)
(pain level 8/10)

On a warm morning I met Jack at Baker ledge. It was clear again. Eric would show after a bit. Jack didn’t have the magic manuals going right away this time, but would get some. I had a setup change of 8.3 and Indys and initially really liked it. I somehow started off pretty good, then kind of fell off as I got more sore and tired. But I had manuals, first try crooks, first try halfcab flip (neither of which I could get again), got a nose manual when Eric rolled up. Got some ride on crooks off the manny pad again and somehow backed one with a back 50 on the ledge. Was hyped to get a kickflip up the pad then ride on crooks. Eric got manuals pretty quick, almost onto the ride on grind. Jack had kickflips off the pad. Eric almost had heelflips up. I made myself get a crappy b/s flip up the pad before we moved on.

Went to the little manny pad, but got the boot pretty quick. I had wallied up the red ledge which was pretty fun. Jack got a manual.

So we went and hid under engineering building. Eric got a really good heelflip into the first bank. I got slappy crook then kickflip into the second one eventually. Jack had front board to fakie on the ledge, kickflip into it, some noseslide stuff. I also did a bad nollie back tail, noseslide 270, sw front nose and sw front nose 270. It was a fun session. I was so incredibly sore after though.

(setup 4/10 null 8.3, jessup ultra, indy forged hollow 149, 51mm spitfire f4 99s radial slim green, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

After work wasn’t feeling too motivated to skate so I played basketball with Ollie for a while. Which is probably the worst thing to do as it makes me more sore than anything. But it was really nice out and I felt like at least rolling around the school. I started on the side. The Splays really started to feel thin, frail. I had a smaller setup. It felt much better, but felt really dumb when I would land slappy crooks and my back foot was hanging off the board so much. Oh well. My lack of motivation and soreness from basketball really showed. Got an axle stall on the bigger rock in the back. Did a few slappies, a kickflip or two. Tried a line for a while of nollie or ollie on the weird shed bank, slappy crook, treflip. Got pretty close, but everytime I really committed to the tre it didn’t spin around enough. Argh.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null flaherty, pj ultragrip, indy 144 titanium 92a bushings, spitfire f4 99a classic orange/black 52mm, splay rev lt b/w size 12 footprint 5mm flat kingfoam insole)
(pain level 5/10)

After work went to campus. Had assembled a larger setup. Hated it. And it didn’t help on the ledges whatsoever. I guess I started at the tiny flat gap spot. Did a warm up line of something like kickflip, ollie the gap into the slight hill and then 180 the gap. Also a stall on the step, front 180 into the bank and sw 180 the flat gap. Then to the flagstone area. Crooks didn’t feel amazing even with the 151s. Noseslides were whatevs. Flip tricks felt impossible. Rain was imminent so I went in on ollies onto the flagstone then front 50. Failed at both. Miserably. Did get onto both, but not close to landing either.

(setup 0/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, null grip, thunder team hollow 151, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic orange/black, splay rev lt b/w size 12 with fp 5mm flat kingfoam insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Met Will at Douglass after watching the Bolder Boulder and some food. Rain was threatening quickly as we went to warm up on the side of the school. We didn’t get too long before the rain came in, maybe 40 minutes. I was still sore, struggled quite a bit. Will had some good front 50s, front tails to fakie and kickflips. My front 50s sucked, but I would get a couple slow ones and one with a 180 out. I did do a line of halfcab flip then nollie tail before trying heelflips. The rain was so close though we didn’t film much. That little area is fun, hyped on the slappy crook even though the one on film was the worst one. Also hyped to do wallie nollie again because it’s been a while. Also had some nollie back tails and flails out of the little bump. Will had some cool bonk to switch manuals after front tails to fakie.

(setup 5/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder 149 hollow lite no bottom washer, spitfire f4 99a radial slim 51mm green, splay rev b/w size 12 with footprint 5mm kingfoam insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Went to campus with Bratcher on a super nice cloudy morning with rain in the forecast. We started at the bank to two stair to get warmed up. I got a lot of my normal stall tricks there. Crooks to fakie was fun, front smith, front crook to fakie took too long and was more of a front nosepick to fakie. Bratcher did some nollie back tails and worked up to front axles.

Next we went to Baker ledge which we posted up at for a long time. We both skated pretty well it seemed. Jack got some good manuals, noseslides, front 50s, some other stuff. I got manuals and a lucky nose manual quickly. Got pretty close to kickflip manual. Flip tricks went alright. Got halfcab flips, f/s halfcab heelflip, heelflips, b/s flip, fakie flips, no treflip though but I didn’t try too much. Ledge tricks were fun the crooks felt good on the taller part before Jack was filming. Managed a couple horrid front 50s, Jacks were so good.

Then to the white ledges. Mostly did the same stuff there although I added halfcab noseslide and a kind of smith stall. Jack’s noseslides were better “because I don’t have to ollie here” ha ha. I tried to ollie off the tall ledge and splatted. That was about it. Really fun session. I got so incredibly sore after though. I had worn some Nike SB insoles and I don’t think they offered enough protection.

(setup 7/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder 149 hollow lite no bottom washer, spitfire f4 99a radial slim 51mm green, splay rev b/w size 12 with nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain level 4/10 not bad while skating, but so bad after)

Went to campus after work to meet Will. He was running late so I flailed around at the elementary school waiting. I had put Thunders on and they felt terrible for a while. But Will arrived and we went to campus and things got better. We started at Baker ledge. Will super casually manualed the pad a few times out of the gate showing me and a college skater how to do it. Ha. I would eventually get a couple manuals, almost one into the ride on grind. I had some good feeling crooks and switch front noses. One very slow front 50. Kind of close to switch 180 manual. Will with a great line of front tail to fakie then switch manual. We were at Baker quite a while. Then we went to the mini bump to hill. Will first try kickflip and switch pop shove into it before getting called for work. I had pop shove, sloppy fakie bigflip and b/s flip. Then we bounced. Fun session, but man I was soooo sore after.

(setup 6/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder 149 hollow lite no bottom washer, spitfire f4 99a radial slim 51mm green, splay rev b/w size 12 with 574 insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10 pretty sore)

Was feeling pretty lazy, but it was oh so nice outside. Ended up going to campus in the evening. For the most part I am truly enjoying the Splay shoes. But it has been a struggle figuring out what size board/trucks to go with it as the wide shoe feels different. I had 8.3 with aces and can’t say there was a single redeeming quality of that setup. But I skated. I randomly first started at kind of bank to ledge. The big crack before it makes it hard to skate. I don’t think I’ve skated it since 2017. Which is before my kids went to school there. Crazy. I struggled initially with some nose stall variations, then front axle, then did the weird front axle shove to fakie. Next I ended up behind the fitness center looking at stuff before heading down the hill and remembering this 4 stair I tried to ollie once before. Took a few tries, but I got it and as bad as the ollie is it felt pretty cool. Then I ended up at the smaller bank to curb that you have to ollie onto. Was struggling with aces to ollie up the curb. A cop came by and posted up in their truck watching me so I skated off. Ended up at this fun little bump, but struggled mightily to b/s flip it. Ugh. Goodbye aces. Hopefully I wont be dumb enough to try them again.

(setup 2/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 hollow 55, spitfire f4 99a radial slim 51mm green, splay rev b/w size 12 with 574 insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10 pretty sore)

Had some time before a very long day in the office so I hit dog park on a sunny windy morning. I had put together an 8.25 with venture 5.6s and hated it. Other than it seemed to pop onto front 50s alright there was nothing I liked about it. I tried to do some stuff though, nothing really worked. Probably did more than I’m saying, but definitely not anything I noted as above average.