One of my favorite dudes out right now.

Another lunch break session at Blue Skies with Dave and Aki. They were both there when I arrived in some bright new blue shoes (NB# 255). They immediately felt better than the crappy slippery Busentiz Vulc. But they were still new, so it took some getting used to. Dave had a heck of a firing line right when I got there. Back 180 into the “qp”, switch hippy jump 180, front shove fakie on the bank. I think I’m even missing part of what he did in that line. Aki was rattling off tricks on the flat bar as starts to lines again. He had nollie front 50 on the low ledge and almost backed it up with switch front 50. Whoa. He did a back 50 to back tail. Dave was doing stylee front boards to fakie on the flat bar and getting close to fakie varial flip on the bank. I started with a basic line I stuck to for a bit. Boardslide on the flatbar, no comply 180, switch nose jib, kickflip to fakie on the bank, halfcab noseslide. Never got the halfcab noseslide. Tried for boardslide to fakie on the flatbar for awhile which is so hard for me, kinda got one. I was 2-2 on slow front 50s on the low ledge. Dave was trying front board 270 out and getting kinda close. Aki kept on the lines. His front tails on the low ledge are good. Dave had to leave and Aki and I skated the up ledge. Neither of us had noseslid up it. It was harder than I would have imagined. We both got a couple that weren’t to the top, but still fun. Aki also did crooks, front and back 50. I got a crooks jib and a slow front 50. then we ended by playing a game of SKATE. It started off bad with bailed kickflips and pop shoves, and then I got a double or nothing letter on fakie flip. Argh. He won. He also got me with treflip, switch flip and nollie flip. I had gotten him with halfcab flips and heelflip. New shoes feel okay, still need some breaking in though.

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm bones stf v5, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 255 blue size 12, custom orthotic insoles)

Went to the research ledge around 8pm after a long day of work and some food. I was feeling pretty sore. Warm up didn’t go so hot, but I did get through a couple ledge tricks to get me going. Noseslide to fakie was fun. Crooks took a bit, but the one I got was really fun. I was attempting lots of flip tricks, but not landing much of anything. I mostly wanted to skate flat so I had told myself I needed to get a back 50 first. Well we know how this goes. I got a grind pretty quick, but it wasn’t back 50 as I tic tac’d in and out of feeble. I tried to clean it up, but I never got one. I had gotten frustrated and said if I land a first try halfcab noseslide I could move away from the ledge. I got it first try. It was really bad, but I was going faster than normal so I’ll take that as a positive. I went to the new back area that has perfect flatground. This is when the frustration really set in. I was really trying flippers, but they weren’t flipping. These Busenitz have no grip. You need grip to cause friction to flip your board. I have no idea how this shoe is a top selling shoe. I tried to at least try some flippers, but I ended up just giving up. The back area is cool There is a 2 stair. You can line out tricks up/off a curb too. Unless of course you can’t land anything like me. Bye bye Busenitz Vulc, aka the worst shoe I’ve had in a long time.

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, bones medium bushings, adidas busenitz vulc burgundy size 11.5, custom orthotic insoles)