Went to Squarehouse on a cold and snowy night. It was adult night, but there were a couple kids still skating and would throughout the night. They were cool at least. Saul showed up right after me. So did hardflip Joe which was cool. We mostly had the park to us for awhile until later when some college kids showed. I had put together a bigger setup again. Sigh. The trucks were so loose. My first run on the minramp was terrible, I bailed an axle stall. I would have thought the bigger setup would feel better than that. Saul was getting some long grinds in. I messed around with some ledge warmups for a bit. The bigger board felt good for noseslides and crooks, bad for front 50s. I managed crooks, switch noseslide shove, front 50 shove. All going super slow and feeling awkward. Saul was doing sick slappies. I slipped out and slammed into the wall. Argh. We skated the euro for a bit. Saul got ollie up. So rad. I got a kickflip which was fun, somewhat close to a first try bs flip. Joe was doing quick up to ledge tricks right behind were Saul goes. He got back tail and back nosegrind 180. So sick. I almost sacked trying to noseslide the second one. Argh. It was fun trying though. I kind of got a front nosegrind on the little black ledge, but it had the outro bonk. I couldn’t get kickflip to fakie on the mellow bank, but I did get b/s flip first try. That was about it for me. I left quite tired and depressed. I don’t skate how I wish I could and it seems to be getting worse lately. Maybe it’s winter, maybe it’s just me.

(setup 8.38 null atomic cowboy deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, venom 88a bushings, no washers inside the axles, 51mm bones sft pj v1 wheels, lakai sheffield grey size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

On a windy day with snow melting I was super sore and wanting something mellow. Dave F called out Lafayette and it sounded good. But upon arriving the park was mostly wet. Dave was sweeping out some puddles and snow. The manny pad was dry, but you if you landed an rolled down the bank you went into a danger slippery wet zone. Dave L was manualling it fine. Both Dave’s got nose manny. I never got a manual. Or anything beyond front 50. In fact I couldn’t even do a treflip or halfcab flip on flat. That was the turning point on the 8″ setup with lows. If I can’t land a flip trick every try I’m over it. Then Dave found we could skate the tight qp by ollieing up the curb from the parking lot. I struggled. I never landed more than rock ‘n rolls. I was over the little setup. Dave L had a sick line of manual the median then back tail the tight qp. Sean had arrived by then and so casually kickflip/ollied/halfcabbed up then did front pivot and feeble. Dave did front slashes, feeble fakie (seriously insane) and more I’m not remembering. I had moved over to the weird rock bank and started trying kickflips. Dave L left. Sean and Dave joined me and did several tricks all before I landed the stupid kickflip. Sean learned the rocket crail in a few tries. His ollies on it were magical. Dave’s nollies were so good too. Fun mellow session even though I only landed like two tricks in two hours.

(setup 8″ null dream machine deck, venture awake 5.2 lows with forged baseplate, 92a doh doh bushings, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle, 51mm bones stf v1 pj wheels, adidas 3st.003 navy size 12 stock insoles)
(pain level 6/10 knees were very sore)

I picked up Kevin around normal time on a warmish Saturday with lots of snow around still. We went by York St, but it was totally snowy. Then we hit 303 for awhile and drove around for awhile and I remembered this spot and it was dry! And not easy to skate at all. It took a long time for me to get going, my trucks felt super tight. I guess my garage isn’t the best place to adjust stuff. I jibbed the stairs for awhile. Kevin was up and down the 3s pretty quick. It took me a few tries to even ollie down them. Then we mostly skated the 3 up 3 down. It took me forever to get an ollie up, but once I did I had it somewhat consistent and they were getting cleaner with each try. I filmed Kevin try the 180 switch flip for awhile. He got a bad one. In between tries I would either try a stationary switch heel or a front pivot kickflip out. After awhile Kevin gave up then we messed around going the other way. He did the other line really quick. Once I got the ollies up flowing he filmed me try the kickflip down. I landed on every kickflip I tried so that was satisfying. But the smaller board flipped so quick it was hard to control. I wanted to get a cleaner one, but my legs refused to do the ollie up again. We played a game of SKATE on a sidewalk. Kevin won. I got a letter on fakie flip. Argh. I also got letters on nollie flip, switch front shove, fakie front shove (I was trying to pop mine at least some since he popped his so nice) and he ended me with double kickflip. I had landed halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip, but couldn’t get a treflip. Then we ended with the bottom stair dorking again and I finally got the front pivot kickflip out. Pretty fun trick even though it’s stationary. Then we split out. Fun day. We skated hard.

(setup 8″ null dream machine deck, venture awake 5.2 lows with forged baseplate, 92a doh doh bushings, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle, 51mm bones stf v1 pj wheels, adidas 3st.003 navy size 12 stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went out in the garage wanting to land something new. I felt out a few flipper then settled in on switch heel as they felt the closest. Some of them felt so incredibly close. I would commit, but jut not quite get enough flip. There was one in particular that was the closest yet. Argh. I tried quite a few nollie flips too, but never got one. In the end I got a first try heelflip followed by a first try treflip and my day was made. Oh yeah, I had put my 8″ board back on, it felt better.

(setup 8″ null dream machine deck, venture awake 5.2 lows with forged baseplate, 92a doh doh bushings, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle, 51mm bones stf v1 pj wheels, adidas 3st.003 navy size 12 stock insoles)
(pain level 1/10)

I took 3 days off of skating! Unbelievable right? My cold had gotten worse and I wasn’t up for it. But I got the urge and was feeling better. I went in the garage not wanting to ollie much or try flippers. I just kind of started posing front shove nosegrinds on the plastic 2×10. I got into a bunch but they wouldn’t grind. It was still fun. Maybe someday I’ll try it moving on a real ledge. I had put Venture lows back on. It felt great. Like a return to the one truck I actually do really enjoy. Maybe I’ll just stay there for awhile and forget about the big board trend.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture awake 5.2 lows with forged baseplate, 92a doh doh bushings, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle, 51mm bones stf v1 pj wheels, adidas 3st.003 navy size 12 stock insoles)
(pain level 0/10 from not skating for 3 days .. hmm .. maybe i should do that more)

Better late than never, here’s my G-Eddy awards.

Best video part – Brandon Westgate in Element’s Peace
Runner Up – Franky Villani turning pro for Primitive.

Best video – Primitive Never (sorry, I like tech skating)
Runner up – Element Peace. Mostly because it’s put together so well. And Westgate!

Best line – Westgate when the music stops in Peace

Best am – Griffin Gass

Best shoe – NB# 212s although they hurt my feet after a couple pairs in a row. But all shoes hurt my feet so that’s pretty good.

Best trick I did – No comply finger flip into that Denver bank. It was so scary and so fun to roll away from.
Runner up – Front shove down the Dentist 5.

Best skater ever – Jack Spanbauer

Best instagram feed – saggyclips

Have you seen him? PJ. Will we ever see skate footage of him again?

2019 skate goals- ledges, flip tricks. That be it.

Most anticipated video of 2019 (that I know of) – Sour Solution II

Worst trend- handrail only video parts

Glad the trend is going away- those stupid hucked flip tricks to quick no comply trick instead of landing the flip trick.

Best skate trip – Hawaii! Man that was crazy going there.

Best album – Ovlov Tru.
Runner up – J Mascis Elastic Days (Yes this is the first time in history that J did not get album of the year)

Best song – Ovlov – Tru Punk

Best Concert – Treepeople at Larimer Lounge

Most excited for – Trump imprisoned

Food I still miss the most because I don’t eat gluten anymore (and avoid dairy normally) – pizza

Here’s to 2019!

Best shoe – NB# 212s although they hurt my feet after a couple pairs in a row. But all shoes hurt my feet so that’s pretty good.

Best trick I did – No comply finger flip into that Denver bank. It was so scary and so fun to roll away from.
Runner up – Front shove down the Dentist 5.

Best skater ever – Jack Spanbauer

Best instagram feed – saggyclips

Have you seen him? PJ. Will we ever see skate footage of him again?

2019 skate goals- ledges, flip tricks. That be it.

Most anticipated video of 2019 (that I know of) – Sour Solution II

Worst trend- handrail only video parts

Glad the trend is going away- those stupid hucked flip tricks to quick no comply trick instead of landing the flip trick.

Best skate trip – Hawaii! Man that was crazy going there.

Best album – Ovlov Tru.
Runner up – J Mascis Elastic Days (Yes this is the first time in history that J did not get album of the year)

Best song – Ovlov – Tru Punk

Best Concert – Treepeople at Larimer Lounge

Most excited for – Trump leaving the office to avoid prison time

Food I still miss the most because I don’t eat gluten anymore (and avoid dairy normally) – pizza

Here’s to 2019!

Still feeling kinda sick, but thought I was beating it I went out kinda early to skate flatground for an hour or so. I started with the City Cups again and had put a suede patch under hoping it would hold up. I had done a few tricks, gotten the typical close to some rare ones, but then the suede patch gave out. One trick I tried and still feel like I can do is frontside cab heel. Anyway, I grabbed my next pair of shoes from the car. Adidas 3st.003. We’ll see if that rubber patch helps. Switching to new shoes mid session didn’t feel good. Espcially because the 003s are a lot bigger. I managed a few tricks. Nothing fancy. I was feeling pretty lethargic and skated slow.

A few hours later I met Sean at Broomfield park. There was one other crew of dudes there and they were skating hard the whole time. So even though the park was pretty dead, the other 4 dudes skating were all over the place. Sean and I played a game of SKATE. It didn’t go well for me. I even missed a kickflip. New / big shoes aren’t great for SKATE. Then we mostly skated the quartapotty and blue ledge. Once again I couldn’t nose manual it. Or really back 50. I was struggling hard, hating my setup and how I felt. Sean worked on his nollie and switch game. Nollie front 5-0 shove, nollie nosegrind. He slammed hard on a switch back 50, but would come back and get it. My slight big of happiness came on my first fakie 50 switch front 180 out in awhile, also a fakie nosegrind jib that came pretty easy. I hucked some front shove crooks. They line up perfectly, but I didn’t commit. Why don’t I ever commit to anything anymore? Argh. I like how I get mad at myself even when I’m sick.

(setup 8″ null dream machine deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, 51mm bones stf pj v1, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle to make it feel a little wider, bones medium bushings, adidas 3st.003 navy size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a lot of chilling and resting I got out on a nice day while fighting a cold. I went to the curb at first. The worst part of winter skating is all the sand/pebbles. The curb section was really bad from the school busses depositing rocks/sand/boulders/landmines. I had put an 8.25″ deck on because I thought I should. I didn’t like it. I had some fun slappy crooks and okay 50s. I tried kickflip 50s both ways and couldn’t get it. I blamed the “big” board so went in and put a new 8″ board on. Then I skated flat in front of the house for about an hour. I was fighting the sickness so didn’t have a ton of energy/drive. Kickflips felt great. Heelflips do not work in City Cups. Seriously, how do people like McClung and Gustavo heelflip in them? Took me so many tries to get a heelflip and I couldn’t ever get a halfcab heel. I never quite got a 360 flip. I got incredibly close to nollie flip, nollie treflip. Hucked a few more other tricks. I feel like nollie heel is so possible finally. It’s all because of Jack’s advice of putting all your weight on the front big toe. I had a couple great feeling fakie bigflips. When the sun went behind the foothills it got really windy and I went inside. Feeling defeated yet again, but not so angry because at least being sick counts as little excuse.

(setup 8″ null dream machine deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, 51mm bones stf pj v1, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle to make it feel a little wider, bones medium bushings, adidas city cup b/w size 11, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went out to the garage feeling really angry and depressed. I was sick of not landing anything new and made a goal of landing something new before I could go inside. One of the first tricks I laid into was front 360 shove. I committed and I got remotely close, but never got both feet on it. I tried a few like nolie front heel, nollie varial flip revert, nollie heel, etc, but couldn’t get any of them. I gave up and wanted to just do a clean backside flip which I couldn’t and I darn near focused my board. Glad I didn’t, but man, what a depressing night. (but it turns out I was getting a cold so at least there is some reason for why I felt so bad)

(setup old 8″ null, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, 50mm bones stf, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle to make it feel a little wider, bones medium bushings, adidas city cups b/s size 11, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)