Went into the garage on a nice night with no energy. I did the basic twirly bird manuals and it cheered me up some after a bad day of work.
On a nice night I met up with Rob at Broomfield park. There were only a few people there. My feet have been hurting lately so I wore some PJ shoes looking for some support. It seemed to help with pain, but obviously I missed the flick of vulc shoes. Anyways, I started off pretty good. Lines there are really fun when the park is empty. Around when Rob showed up I started feeling warmed up and had a fun line of front 50, backside flip on the mellow bank, crooks the ledge. The crooks felt really good, but I wouldn’t get another one like that. Doh. Rob was cruising around too lining things out. Manuals, front board, front noseslides, crooks. Saw him nose manny the blue pad, nollie front lipslide on it too. I was trying a line of flip trick (got heelflip and 360 flip) then noseslide the brown ledge, axle stall to fakie the qpotty, switch front 180 the parking block then kickflip way down on the brick qp. I got close, but never put both feet on it. I tried a few more things, nothing special. Tried to nose manny the brown bank, but couldn’t. Rob did it. Then we played a game of SKATE. I got a letter on front shove, two letters on halfcab flip, b/s flip, and lost with fakie 3 shove. I think the only trick I landed was a heelflip. Ugh. At least I left on a good note by boardsliding down the tiny rail for the first time in months.
(setup 8.25″ null atomic cowboy, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 533v2 black/gold size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)
Met up with Dave at 10am on a nice Sunday at the Wells Fargo downtown. Dave was on a mission to try a scary boardslide. But first, we attempted to warm up. I was feeling pretty good, did a few backside axle stall on the rough ledge that felt cool, some basic qp tricks on the tiny transition. Dave was doing come cool transfers over the hip. Dave started warming up to his boardslide while I continued to warm up with a fun line. Ollie up the curb from the parking lot, axle stall the rough ledge, 270 rock ‘n roll transfer thing over the hip, slappy crook. It was fun. Randomly Saul hit us up and appeared a few minutes later with Eric. Rad. Dave was deep in trying the boardslide and kinda going crazy. Then a security truck came and sat there so we left. Dave and I ollied the 4 stair on the way to the tea house ledge. We posted up here for awhile. I was freaked out by the bar above the ledge and for good reason because I had a couple front 50 slip outs that almost clocked my chest on it. I would struggle. Got a few front 50s, some accidental slow front 5-0s, a few crook jibs and a very sloppy front 50 shove. I couldn’t get a halfcab noseslide. Doh. Dave was killing it. Front 50s, back 50s, front 50 nollie back 180 out, front 50 nollie shove out, crooks. It was rad seeing Saul skate it. He tried some stuff and got into front 180 50. Eric did front 50, maybe front smith and maybe front 50 180 out. Ha, you would think I would remember.
He was also trying the curb boardslide across the street which I started trying after awhile too. I was embarrassed by my baby steps. I went so slow at the first couple, but I did eventually get enough speed to slide the whole thing and it was fun. Eric almost had it too. Half the time I was too under the boardslide, he was too over it. If we could combine that would make for a lot of makes. Ha. I tried to line it out to the ledge. Boardslide, kickflip off the curb, front 50. Got into it, but we eventually moved on.
We hit the little round thing across from liquor mart. Dave wallied it backside and Eric and I did it frontside. Well, mine was more of an ollie bonk. Saul was hurting the parking blocks with slappys.
Next up was some random terrible mellow brick bank to wood ledge. I couldn’t get into a back axle stall to save my life. Dave was though. He did it frontside too and did a cool boardslide transfer in. I ended up at least making myself smile with a switch nose jib shove out. Saul had some rad powerslides on the bank.
We moved on, ended up near the dentist 5 where Dave did a ride on front 50 that was pretty nuts.
Then we tried to ollie the 5. Eric broke the ice. Dave did it first try. I got really mad at myself for being scared of it. But I would stick with a little line that made me happy enough to commit to it. Switch 180 up the curb, kickflip on flat, ollie the 5. It felt fun to jump down some stairs, but man my feet were hurting. The thin 212s don’t offer much protection.
We headed back to our cars and stuff. Those guys had some slappys on a curb for a bit, I sat and chilled.
Then I filmed Dave attempt the boardslide again. So gnar.
(setup 8.25″ null atomic cowboy, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 212 green size 11, custom orthotic insole)
Running a little slow due to a fun night at the Reed Wheels video premiere I met Rob and Fuzz at Crisis. It was one of those days with a million texts and somehow ended up being a small crew. On the way to the spot Fuzz remembered this random skatepark so we hit it. It’s weird. Two quarterpipes separated by 80 feet of pump bumps. There is also a pyramid/flatbar thing. It was super fun to pump, but if you took too much speed into the quarterpipe it was hard to avoid shooting past the coping. We were pretty hyped and giddy on it for a bit, but it did lose it’s appeal a little. All 3 of us got kickflips out of the bump. Fuzz and I got boardslides down the little rail. Rob was doing steezy frontside grinds on the qp. I had a fun line avoiding the pumps. Kickflip off the bump, front disaster the qp, boardslide the little down rail. I tried to treflip the kicker too, but failed. Did get a terrible b/s flip off it first try though. Riley joined us after awhile. With a smoke in his hand he did a perfect 5-0 to fakie that was so neat to see. He had some other moves, posed an ollie from bump to bump, and did the pump run fakie. Fuzz and I hadn’t thought of that so we had to try it too. It was really scary. I only did it once and the last hump almost took me out. Fuzz had this ridiculously awesome halfcab kickturn over one where his front foot drifted off his board and he survived it. Whew.
Then we went to the intended spot. This bank that goes from incredibly mellow to not so mellow. We told Riley no flip tricks for 10 minutes as we warmed up. Fuzz took a few tries to get the Gonz cab ollie, but when he did it was really good. Then he went off. Kickflip to fakie, fakie flip, fakie heelflip, halfcab heelflip, frontside halfcab heelfip, b/s flip, bigflip, dang! Once Riley was allowed to do flip tricks he did them all. Literally it would be easier to list the ones he didn’t do then all the ones he landed. He pops his trick high and it looks good (except the treflip ha ha). He took the most time with switch varial flip, but he put that down too. Then he did the pole dancing. The ollies over the pole were so sick, somehow he said back 180 was easier, but it appears he didn’t quite go over it. Hee hee. My legs were sore, maybe from so much pumping at the skatepark before. So everything was hard for me. Starting with front shove to fakie which took a really long time. I got a few tricks. Kickflip to fakie, b/s flip, frontside tic-tac flip, fakie flip, fakie varial flip, varial flip to fakie, no comply shove to fakie. Rob had some rad beanplants into the bank, tried b/s heelflips for awhile, did some of his patented b/s one foots, b/s flip and was the last one skating. He did cab bigspin. Whoa! Aka the Joe Hamilton. After that we me the FTC crew at the hip spot Fuzz recently brought back to life. Hayden put down an impossible and we all hung out as the temperature dropped. It was a cool day.
(setup 8.25″ null atomic cowboy, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 345 black size 11, custom orthotic insole)
On a very nice Friday afternoon I met Rob and Dave at the dog park. We got there at 4pm and the sun was already setting. Argh. It made for a hectic warmup. I was hyped to see Rob going in on varial heels right away. Dave was trying treflips right away too. I was trying my normal warmup routine and it was kind of a battle. I got really mad when I missed my few halfcab flips, but once I got a couple I went on to have a really good flatground day for me. Kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, b/s flip, varial flip, fakie varial flip, fakie bigflip, halfcab flips both ways, 360 flip. Near the end I added a couple rare ones. Frontside halfcab heelflip and fakie treflip. Both felt incredibly awesome. I couldn’t get nollie varial flip or nollie treflip, but oh well. Rob was on fire for awhile doing lines with halfcab flip, b/s flip, heelflip, back 360. He came super close to 360 flip and had a pretty good slam on a back bigspin attempt. Dave looked good on his putter (7.75). He did varial flip and fakie varial flip pretty quick, popped his kickflips, came incredibly close to treflip and did his first ever frontside halfcab flip. It was cool to see, he was super hyped. This was one of my favorite flatground sessions in a long time. The fakie 360 flip felt so good. I’m so happy my legs have been mostly working lately and I can get past my basics.
(setup 8.25″ null atomic cowboy, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 345 black size 11, custom orthotic insole)
But I’ll go with Brad Cromer.
After unloading 30 boxes of boards I chilled for a bit then went across the street. Got the first couple slappy crooks. Did a few 50s each way. Hucked a few random tricks once or twice. Couldn’t get a fakie front 50, but did get a fakie front tail stall. The lights shut off so I went home.
(setup 8.25″ null atomic cowboy, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 345 black size 11, custom orthotic insole)
I thought I would opt out of skating for the first time in awhile, but next thing I know I’m meeting Dave in the frigid cold to skate flat. When I first to got gray/windy/cold skies I wanted to turn around. Dave was already there though. The wind made the low 30 degree temp feel like it was in the teens. We both started incredibly slow. Fakie/nollie shoves, switch ollies, manuals, no complies, etc. It was kind of a surreal session. I skated slower and more conservative than normal because I didn’t have gloves and I really didn’t want to smack my hand on the cold ground. It was fun though because I was trying lots of random tricks like Creepy Spins and frontside cabs. Then went in on switch varial flips for awhile, couldn’t halfcab flip so did fakie bigflips instead, almost got a nollie bigflip, didn’t try treflips really. Dave was on his putter. He had some good kickflips, shoves and laid in heavy on treflips. Didn’t get as close as he has in the past, but some had a lot of potential. He also hucked some switch flips and had a nice back bigspin to end it.
(setup 8.25″ null atomic cowboy, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 345 black size 11, custom orthotic insole)
On a pretty cool night I was feeling lazy then remembered the little yellow ledge on campus and it got me out of the house. I parked at the meet up lot, did a few slappy crooks then pushed to the yellow ledge (okay, basically curb height but it’s square with angle iron). I had switched to low trucks. Normally when I first switch to lows there is a bit of a hesitancy wondering if I should really be doing it. This time it was solid gold and they felt great. I got front and back 50s second try. The back 50 was cool because it normally takes me awhile to work up the courage to go over the top like that. I didn’t really land much after that though. Got a couple switch crook pivots, one where I almost grinded some. I mostly hucked front nosegrinds which I kind of landed once with a little wheel bonk on the way out. Hucked halfcab crooks, switch front crooks too. But things took a change for the better when I thought of back nosegrind, remembered the angle I used to take at the Vans park and out of nowhere committed to a few. It felt so cool. I think the lows give me a bit more confidence being closer to the board. Anyways, I never landed the back nosegrind, but I did grind a few of them. I wasn’t really expecting to land them yet since you have to pop out there and I’m no Wenning. I did a couple flippers, but not many. Got a first try b/s flip, all kickflips felt good and landed on a treflip or two.
Then I went to the tall ledge. I was pretty tired at this point, but managed a couple noseslides quickly to get me hyped. Got a hands down 360 flip, halfcab flip that felt good. I was really surprised to get a first try ollie onto the ledge (it was super sketchy though). Especially surprised because I couldn’t do it on an 8.5 setup recently, but now with smaller stuff it seemed easier. Hmm. I had a fun run of switch ollie a little crack gap then an absolutely terrible and fun halfcab noseslide. I’m pretty sure the board was basically upright instead of posted up, but it made me happy regardless. I finished with a little crook jib and called it a night. Well, after one more slappy crook on the way to the car of course. I had gotten new custom orthotic insoles earlier in the day. They felt good.
(setup 8.25″ null atomic cowboy, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 345 black size 11, custom orthotic insole)
On a cold night I was thinking of taking a day off of skating, but instead I went in the garage for awhile. I turned up Dinosaur Jr Glimpse and it sounded so good. I was on the putter for the most part. Got heelflip easy and a treflip. I hucked a bunch of tricks, but never got too close to anything else. Went back to my normal setup for awhile and did a few kickflips. I ended by trying to do fakie flip, fakie varial flip, fakie 360 flip during the last song on the album. I got the first two quick, landed on the fakie tre too, but didn’t land it.
(setup 8.25″ null atomic cowboy deck, venture 5.8 lights black, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the outside, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 345 black size 11, powerfeet pinnacle orthotic insole)