On a super nice morning I went out in front of the house to skate some flat. I wore my barefoot shoes again. They didn’t feel so magical this time. So after a bit I switched back to my 379s. They felt even less magical so I went back to the Xeros. I stuck with them for the rest of the flatground. I had done a few flippers when Kevin showed. Shortly after that I got a 360 flip that felt alright, first try fakie bigflip, but could not do a heelflip to save my life. Kevin slammed hard on a heelflip, had a bunch of nollie flips, switch flips, heelflips (took him a bit too) and introduced me to Sean’s technique which I think I will be implementing in the future. Do the trick 3 times. If the 3rd one is garbage or a bail you have to do it one more time while skating fast.

Then we went to Southern Hills. Rob would show up shortly after us. I had skated the Xeros, but they felt really weird on the ledge so I went back to the 379s. Then back to the Xeros for the rest of the session. It’s weird, the barefoot shoes allow the toes to spread so it felt like I had more pop. But the shoe is so thin I didn’t have much confidence. Kevin front 50’d the ledge so easy. At least back 50s took him a few tries. Rob showed up while we were shooting hoops with a kickball. Ha. We all did our think for awhile. Kevin was doing front 50’s up the low bar. He would later go on to do it on the higher part of the low bar and make it up the stairs. He also hit his shin really hard a few times. Rob was doing front noseslides to fakie, back 50 no comply out the step, boardslides, front boards, no comply up the 2, kickflip or no comply shove into the bank then boardslide. Mike showed. He would do a sick line of front 180 up the 2, halfcab flip into the bank, slappy front noseslide the bench. He also impossibled and nollie back heeled into the bank as well as a steezy nollie back tail. Eric showed, but had bruised ribs limiting the action. He still got up on some boardslides. No patented heelflips though. Get well soon. I tried a line of crooks, no comply up the 2, b/s flilp into the bank, but never got the bs flip. I struggled with the no comply up. That was about it. The wind had picked up something fierce at times making it tough to skate. Still a fun day though. It’s hard to describe what it’s like to skate in barefoot shoes other than to say it really does feel like you’re skating barefoot. I think it’s a little too little for me.

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, xero hana minimalist shoe with thin es insoles)
(pain level 3/10 somehow much less pain then i normally feel after that much skating)

On a gorgeous day I was kinda slacking. I setup a new board (8.25). I was messing around with it on the rug with my barefoot shoes (not the individual toe shoes I’m not that crazy) and they felt super good. So I went across the street wearing them. They felt beyond incredible. I did a few slappy crooks then started doing some tricks like front 50 and kickflip, but I tore the canvas on the shoes immediately. I went in for a bit and put some glue over them. Then I went out to just skate flatground. The shoes felt weird, but amazing. I felt like I had crazy control. I had done a few flippers when my work phone went off and I had to call it a day. Doh.

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, xero hana minimalist shoe with thin es insoles)
(pain level 1/10)