On a totally gorgeous day I went to Dog Park in the middle of the day after a nice birthday breakfast for Ollie. Jake and Dave were saying flip tricks weren’t working as I rolled up. So I did a first try kickflip to create some hype. Then I went on to barely be able to ollie. Ha ha. Dave and Jake were hopping over the cone pretty easily. Dave said it was hard for him, but it looked casual. Dave did a bunch of varial flips, easier than kickflips. I struggled with heelflips, but got a second try nollie tre. Jake was struggling, but got a solid 3 flip then a line with ollie over the cone, kickflip and maybe halfcab over? I kind of lined out halfcab flip then ollie over the cone (I’m not sure I made it over though). Then we played a game of SKATE. It was a pretty awesome game with quite a bit of variety and everyone with a similar amount of letters. I was happy to get a 360 filp before Jake for the first time in like a year and it even gave Jake a letter. Dave went on to win it with a sex change. Jake took off and Dave and I hucked for awhile. I tried fakie hardflips. Never came too close, but did commit a couple times. Dave tried those and f/s halfcab flips. Then heelflips and switch heelflips which he got closer to. I took awhile to get a b/s hc heelflip. It felt good at least. I got a f/s halfcab flip, but couldn’t get fs hc heelflip. We both tried switch tres for awhile. I wasn’t remotely close. Dave was putting one foot on them, but also one foot on the ground. He really should try that trick more often. Then we just kind of ended feeling tired and humbled by how hard skateboarding is.

(setup 8.38 null monico deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, bones medium bushings, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, new balance numeric 212 size 11 with footprints gamechanger orthotic insoles)

Went to campus on another beautiful night. I did a few slappy crooks at the spot then pushed a different way looking for something different. Didn’t really find anything and I ended up at the super fun tiny metal ledge. I love that there are no cars parked in that lot anymore. The frontside run up is still short though. I went through a few basics, got 50s first try. Took a bit to get front 5-0 since it’s so quick, couldn’t get a back 5-0. Got a slow fakie nosegrind which I hadn’t done there before. Remembered to try halfcab crook and got one second try. And it was a good one that grinded even. I kind of fell out of it, but that’s the first one I’ve ever actually grinded and it felt awesome and put me in a good mood. However after that I really couldn’t land much of anything. Front nosegrind nope, switch crook nope. Came close to kickflip noseslide. Eventually got a line of front 50, heelflip on flat, ollie the 3 stair and pushed on to another spot. Ended up at the tall engineering ledge and did a couple noseslide jibs before moving on. I had wanted to at least try front 50, but there were so many students walking by it weirded me out.

I went to the ol’ bank to curb that I hadn’t been to in forever and oh man was it frustrating. At first I couldn’t ollie up the first curb. It was so frustrating. I don’t know why bigger setups make ollies harder for me. I just had to lean forward a bit more. So then I couldn’t back 50 the upper curb to save my life. I had a couple failed board focuses. Guess I wasn’t fully committed to breaking the board. I tried some switch flips with my wheels in a crack as Nate suggested. Got a sketchy back axle stall and felt relieved. Then did a front 180 fakie 50 in a couple tries and called it a night.

(setup 8.38 null monico deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, bones medium bushings, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, new balance numeric 212 size 11 with footprints gamechanger orthotic insoles)

Feeling pretty sore after work I stopped by Saul’s a little early for the session. It was just Saul and I for awhile. My first couple runs were terrible and kind of scary. I felt so off for some reason. Not the case for Saul though. He would end up laying into some back smiths (can’t wait until he starts riding away from those), back 5-0s, back 50s on the gnar coping. For whatever reason I started going frontside on the wall after the carve grind and it was fun. I would end up getting maybe my best feeling run there yet. Carve grind, front slash the shallow, axle stall the deep then almost front disaster the shallow. Wow, sounds like nothing, but it was fun. I had to go celebrate 20 years of marriage with Liz, but quite a fun crew of dudes showed up. Will, Ed, Jake, Josh and someone I’ve never met before doing the grind in the photo. Fun little session.

(setup 8.38 null monico deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, bones medium bushings, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, new balance numeric 212 size 11 with footprints gamechanger orthotic insoles)

This New Balance, oops, I mean Skate Mental clip is so good! Jack Curtin continues to blow minds with that switch pop. So much style too. Throw in some Tom K and you have an awesome clip.

After a nap and some dinner I went across the street on a beautiful night. I felt better than I have in awhile. I stuck around the curb section for awhile. Did some kickflips up, down, shoves up/down, 180’s up/down. Got a few of the basic grinds I do there. Was trying really long lines of basic tricks sometimes and it was fun. I did some hucking too, like kick back tail (got real close), b/s flip up (got real close), fakie flip down (not close at all). I did a trick I haven’t done in awhile, front 5-0 then turn it to salad (aka the Eric Dressen).
It was fun and put me in a good mood. The curb ended up being really slow and I didn’t take the time to skate 50 feet to get some wax. Ha ha. I went to the curb cut section. I started with a kickflip out of one. Fun. Then tried a line of switch front 180 into one and 360 flip out. It turned into kickflip in, treflip out which I got a couple times, but with the hands down. They were fun though. I also tried stationary switch flips with my wheels in a crack as Nate suggested. It seemed to get me closer. There was another dude skating trying the gap out to the street. He never got it, but it was cool seeing someone else skating hard. That’s two days in a row of liking my setup.

(setup 8.38 null monico deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, bones medium bushings, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, new balance numeric 212 size 11 with footprints gamechanger orthotic insoles)

Got out around 10 and went to the bikepath ledge/hip/bank to curb spot. When I got there a couple homeless people were drying clothes on the part of the bank that isn’t skated. It felt a little weird skating next to them, but they were kind enough to not say anything and eventually packed up and took off. I was still in a funk, but not as dark as it’s been. I started slow and attempted to not get upset. Slappy crooks worked, very slow back 50s on the lowest part of the ledge kinda worked, bonelesses and stuff over the hip were fun. Around the time Dave showed I got a line of slappy crooks then no comply bigspin on the hip. Also back 50 then b/s flip over the hip. Oh yeah, the setup change for this day was to Bones medium bushings instead of the Venom 88a. It seemed to help me like my setup more. Dave started slow and was struggling too. He did get a cool line to warm up though. switch ollie, fakie shove, fakie tailside shove, pivot on the parking block. He did so many front 50s that were so solid. Front 50 nollie back 180 out, front 50 front 180 out. It’s a crusty ledge. His front 50s hyped me up to keep trying back 50s. Most of my back 50s were slow and tic tac’d. Some were just slow. I hucked my dream trick there of back 360 kickflip for a bit. Then hucked a bigflip to fakie over the hip and got close and thought I’d get that. But it seemed I would get further away. It’s basically just a varial flip to fakie, but with a backside 90 which I couldn’t seem to put together. Dave hucked 360 flips over the hip, got really close. We were both dragging, but Dave would never stop skating. We had a bank to curb session to end it. I did a few basics like no comply to tail, front smith stall. Dave learned nollie back tail. It looked so easy, then I tried it. What a weird trick to do on a kinked bank like that! I was happy with my setup finally, but I could go for more energy for once.

#toughdayattheoffice

A post shared by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Apr 22, 2018 at 6:54pm PDT

Later on I went filming at Wilville with Hayden and Jack. I pushed a little, but this is more of a filming entry because it was such a unique day. Both Jack and Hayden tried soooo hard, but things just didn’t work. But I was hyped on how they stayed positive and kept trying. It was motivating. It was also funny because Jack was trying a trick up the gap and going so fast flying between people and slamming by them. Some grandparents with their daughter surprised me the most, they were really interested. It was cool. Good effort dudes, next time!

(setup 8.38 null monico deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, bones medium bushings, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, new balance numeric 212 size 11 with footprints gamechanger orthotic insoles)

After a productive day at home while it was raining/snowing I went to research ledge around 5pm. But I didn’t even get out of the car since I wanted something different. I looked at a nearby newish building and didn’t see anything. Then I remembered Douglass. Off to there I went. My setup had once again changed. Slightly. Hoping for a compromise between 8.25 and 8.5 I grabbed and old 8.38 deck that was pretty worn in. I put smaller wheels on too. I started on the curb section and quickly realized I had no fire. I don’t know why. It took me awhile to get 50s on it and my backside version was slow. I think it’s because it’s a double sided curb so it freaks me out a little. I did huck though. Got a couple front tail jibs, cab pivots over the micro hip, fakie nosegrind jib, and couldn’t get a front nosegrind because it kept sticking. So the photo above is a pose. I mean I committed to it, but it stuck and I jumped off. Sure makes for a pretty photo right? I had bailed some flatground tricks here and there too.

Then I went to the big kids section. This is where it got really depressing. The first couple noseslides felt great. Even got a little crooks jib right away. But I couldn’t front 50 any of them to save my life. It was so depressing. I’m not sure why I had so little juice. Toward the end I did some other tricks to try and at least have something positive to say. I had a fun noseslide to fakie, some sketchy front noseslide jibs. I tried a halfcab noseslide and basically did a halfcab where my nose bonked the middle of the ledge (didn’t make it above the ledge) and it made me laugh. I tried some more front 50s and then just sat down feeling so incredibly bummed. I left.

(setup 8.38 null monico deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, venom 88a bushings, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, new balance numeric 212 size 11 with footprints gamechanger orthotic insoles)

Went to Boulder park on a dreary morning that is supposed to change to rain/snow. I started on my big setup. I quickly realized I was really sore, tried and unwilling to try hard. There was another dude there that was on the opposite end of motivation. He was trying axle stalls in the mini ramp section. He never got one that I saw, but he would hustle so fast to get back up and try it again. It was kind of motivating. I wanted to hit the ledge, but it wasn’t working. I almost died on a roll in to the mini, had troubles popping the board on hips, couldn’t heelflip, had a good back 50 on the tighter qp. After awhile I decided I should try my smaller setup with Thunders. Immediately I felt better popping it. But that excitement quickly disappeared. Still couldn’t 50 the ledge, was scared carving. On the big board I was doing shoves out of the kicker to setup for the ledge. I tried front shove on the little board and didn’t get close. There was a different dude there. He was cool. He was mostly carving, but had some good grinds, flippers on flat and good style. I needed to get going to work so I decided I’d at least do a b/s flip over the hip and call it good. The first few were close and then it was all downhill from there. I literally took 45 minutes to land it. I had several close ones that felt totally right. It was driving me nuts. I threw my board a couple times. I was so angry it was insane. Peewee showed and a couple tries later I landed it. It didn’t even feel good. Like on the ride out the board made a weird turn and somehow I stayed on. Needless to say I’m totally over Thunders. I guess I need to either deal with the bigger setup and enjoy Venture 5.8s or put the 5.2 lows back on. Setup madness is so frustrating. I’m jealous of anyone who just rides the same thing without questioning it and changing things.

(big setup 8.5″ null rabethica deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, venom 88a bushings, old 52mm bones stf v5 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, new balance numeric 212 size 11 with footprints gamechanger orthotic insoles)

(small setup 8.25″ null monico deck, thunder 148s with old forged baseplate, bones medium bushings, 51mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11, footprints gamechanger orthotic insole)

Went to the slappy meetup curb trying to motivate. I was sore from playing basketball with Ollie and being old. I did a couple slappy crook and realized that was all I was gonna do. I did about 20 of them, tried a few switch ones, technically did a fs halfcab noseslide and called it a night. The big board started to bum me out, although the trucks felt great while crooksing.

(setup 8.5″ null rabethica deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, venom 88a bushings, old 52mm bones stf v5 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, new balance numeric 212 size 11 with footprints 5mm insoles)

Went to Longmont park on a nice day. Everyone beat me there. I chose the big board from my quiver again. Warming up wasn’t great. Everyone was doing their own thing to get warmed up. Rob manualling the tops of bank, Dave tailslides on the bank, Aki ollies on the big qp (under coping). Rob called our first try kickflip challenge. I don’t think anyone got it. We tried fly out kickflips then. Aki was first after doing in a line with an axle stall on the big qp, Rob was next, I tried to line it out with a wallie up the snowboard jump but ended up just doing it stand alone. It was a fun feeling. That bank is pretty steep for doing tricks out of. Then everyone was doing their own thing again. I saw Dave do the nollie shove to back tail over the hip which is nuts. He was doing long lines, 360 ollies, kickflips to fakie or on flat, bigspins over the hip, all kinds of ‘old school’ tricks on the noping qp. Also a hilarious varial flip to fakie that was spun half way and rode out of the wrong way. Rob did a few kickflip flyouts, did some flatground to line out crailblocks, backside ollies, one foots, powerslides, tailslides. I never really stuck to anything until the end when I tried 360 flip flyouts and never quite one. Had some slow front 50s on ledges, kickflip to fakie on the bank, halfcab flip the mellow bank. Guess I didn’t really do all that much. Aki had some back 180 melon flyouts, kickflip to fakie on the bank, front 50 across and down. Then we all went back to work. Argh, it was so nice out too. Riding the big board was weird. At times it feels perfect, like trying the 360 flip flyout. On ledges it feels weird though, flatground weird, and especially trying to pop it over the hip felt weird. I was missing the quick snaps of low trucks.

(setup 8.5″ null rabethica deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, venom 88a bushings, old 52mm bones stf v5 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, new balance numeric 212 size 11 with footprints 5mm insoles)