Another nice night I went to dog park after dinner. I would be meeting Donnie, Dave and Saul. I got there first. It was crowded again. So crazy to think at one time I used to just go there to escape and skate by myself. Tonight I did not feel as good or motivated. I kinda putzed around for awhile not really doing anything. Donnie was trying layback front rocks on the vert wall. Saul showed and quickly carved the vert wall then ollied off the medium kicker. I was impressed. Street Saul came out more with some back 50s on the ground cement ledge. I was trying the Kevin trick, switch nosegrind 180. Dave joined me for a bit when he showed. Well this is after he told me to do a rock fakie first try on the bigger bank. Got it. Then it was kinda everyone on their own for awhile. It’s hard to skate my favorite ledge now. Even when you think your alone as soon as you go to ollie you hear someone hit the kicker behind you and it’s annoying. I did nothing new. I did try a couple front shoves off the kicker, close to kick back 50 the step, almost fakie tre. Saul boardslid a ledge. Dave was lining out the beam with the china bank. He did a switch crook to fakie at one point. Unreal. Donnie had a cool line with boardslide the barrier, kickflip to fakie the bank, switch boardslide the barrier. At the end Dave and I played SKATE under the one light. It started incredibly bad for me and I was down SKA to nothing quick. The lighting was my excuse. I forget the tricks. Dave beat me to halfcab flip, but I finally got it on defense. I mounted a little comeback with heelflip and varial flip I think? Dave got a fakie flip which hyped me up. I got another letter on a back 360 and I couldn’t even do it without having to pop. Dave got me in the end with a sex change. I did land it in a few tries after the game though. Glad we finished with the game of SKATE even though it was pretty tough for me at the start.

(setup 8.25 null abstract #6 deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 868s black/gum, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Nice night. Went to meet Dave L at the dog park. Upon arrival it appeared very chaotic and unfun. But it ended up being a pretty fun session mainly because my warm up went pretty well. I got a kickflip to fakie on the bank pretty quickly. Dave shot the video of it. I didn’t see Dave skate much, but he did do a casual manual or two. I mostly had fun after Dave left. I tried hard. Had some wallies, crooks on the back of the step ledge, halfcab noseslides, halfcab noseslide to fakie, halfcab flips, heelflips. Actually I don’t remember much more. At the end I couldn’t back 50 over the top on the lower step and it bummed me out.

After it got dark and I cleaned up some trash I drove to a random nearby parking lot on Pearl and skated flat for a little bit. It started slow, but I got a couple helipops to get it going. Then backside flips, heelflip, a couple treflips back to back, almost a first try varial heel. I hucked some more, but was pretty content after the double treflips.

(setup 8.25 null abstract deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 868s black/gum, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Trying not to nap after work, but not wanting to hit bank park I went to the side of the school to skate flatground.  I wore the Westgates.  They are weird.  But I got into a groove of trying a line.  Little ollie to fakie on the mini bank by the shed, halfcab flip, b/s flip.  For awhile I hit every backside flip, and then they straight up disappeared. Ugh.  I didn’t land much.  Got a bad treflip, heelflip, b/s flip, hucked some random filippers, cracked my tail on a heelflip then finished it off after bailing another halfcab flip.

Then after dinner I met Saul at the curb right as the sprinkler turned on.  Argh.  I had setup a new board.  This time I wore arch support to try and reduce knee pain.  It kinda helped, but felt dangerously high.  I did not skate well.  I was like 2/20 on regular slappys and never got a good frontside one.  Saul on the other hand was playing with slappy front nosegrind.  He kinda popped outta one, but the wheels bonked the curb.  So sick though.  He had some long backside too, but not his longest.  I was hucking flippers.  Switch flip felt close, almost got a treflip, almost fakie 3 shove.  I did have some good feeling slappy crooks both front and back at least.  Saul was trying some kickflips.  He’s got a good flick, it’ll come.

(setup 8.25 null lazer/abstract deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric westgate 913 b/w 12 shoes, stock insole/currext runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

On a nice evening Jake swooped me up directly after dinner and we went to the new and ‘improved’ dog park.  I had a smaller board and it immediately felt weird.  But mostly I was weirded out by the different skate flow.  People were going faster from the bank to bank and the big qp.  It was hard to get used to.  Jake was lining out the china bank and vert wall.  Two words never used to describe the dog park before.  I was hating life.  Actually threw my board in frustration a couple times.  Gave up on halfcab noseslide on the metal ledge as Matt showed up. I took a bit to get a kickflip to fakie on the bigger bank and that was fun.  I avoided the mass fly out session off the kickers and skated my fav cement ledge for a bit.  Matt came by and did a first try front tail so I tried one too.  Didn’t get it but got into a couple lame stalled ones and it still cheered me up some.  I didn’t really notice what others were doing as I was in one of those funks that had me mostly bummed out.  Matt said he noseblunted the butter ledge.  Jake may have gotten a 5-0 to fakie on the China bank.  I had some fun wallies on the little barrier, crooks on the concrete ledge.  Couldn’t get kickflip to fakie over the bank gap.  Then Jake and I played a game of SKATE.  He got a treflip first try , I missed mine, but got it second try on the double or nothing.  Then I dug myself into a hole by missing two varial flips.  I got him with halfcab flip, heelflip, backside flip and almost fakie heel.  At one point I hurt my knee pretty good.  A friendly reminder how the 379s have no arch support and I should wear orthotic insoles with them.   Jake got a couple bigspin variations on me and it was over.  I finished the session with a fun couple halfcab noseslides to fakie.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 379 black size 12 shoes, nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 2/10 at the start then 7/10 by the end ugh)

Went to Dog Park on a Saturday to meet Sean and Garrett before the big King Of The Hill contest. I was feeling pretty lazy. Almost no one was there when I arrived, but Denver/Fort Collins dudes started showing up. I was hyped on Mike and Austin of Reed Wheels fame. Although they both had smaller boards which I didn’t need to know. Ha ha. I putzed around for awhile mostly watching the new people rip and and enjoyed watching. Mike is so good. Then Sean came and we went to play a game of SKATE. After a couple bails I felt the twinge I haven’t felt in awhile. Plantar Fasciitis. No!!!! Ugh. It ruined me. I couldn’t really skate after that even though I posed some nollie tres. Sean took me out with nollie back heel. I put some 212s in the car on, but didn’t really skate. Bo’s friend Andrew was doing crazy techgnar lines. He did a kick front board on the 2nd tall rail so good. Mike and I were blown away. Oh yeah, Mike B had shown and was quickly ripping. Back smiths, back tails, all that. Forgot to mention Garrett too. He hasn’t been on the board much, but had a nice treflip nose crack. Ha.

Ollie, Gabe and I had a fun cruise down the hill to the contest. It was fun to watch. Easily the gnarliest skate event I’ve ever seen. Near the end Gabe, Ollie and I went to dog park. It was mellow, a nice group of older skaters almost all of which were wearing NB#. Crazy. I was wearing some 379s I had with the ol’ Nike Zoom Air insole. It didn’t really seen to help/hurt the PF pain. Gabe and Ollie had never been there before. Gabe was super hyped and got in the mix quick. We both ollied off the kicker then joined a few others in trying to kickflip off. Gabe got his sooner. Ollie had some nice front 180’s off. One dude stuck a nice treflip. I would eventually get the kickflip and it was one of the better feeling kickflips I’ve done. It was good enough that someone actually commented to me that it was ‘perfection’. Not sure I’ve ever had the complement before and it felt pretty cool. I followed it with a treflip with a lot of heel drag in the landing. That didnt help the PF pain, but it felt cool. After that I didn’t really skate much, just did some dorking. The park was filling up. Ollie had some nice manuals and was going for boardslide on the flatbar and slammed really hard. Gabe had some nice front 50s which impressed me. Bo showed up and asked me to film something. I settled with a boardslide then crooks as the kicker session was in effect and right next to the benches. Then Ollie and I got a cool combo where he ollied a parking block and I did no comply flip. Then I watched everyone rip and help give Gabe pointers on boardsliding the wallie block. Hayden had shown up too which was fun to watch. Fun day, we got some pizza after that.

(setup 8.5 null lazer deck, venture trucks 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger , bones medium bushings, spitfire 51mm classic f4 wheels, new balance numeric 533v2 gray stock insoles – then black 379s size 12 with Nike zoom air insoles)
(pain level 5/10 plantar fasciitis back in effect ugh)

I buy a pair of his shoes for the first time in awhile and then this amazing clip appears. Coincidence? I think not. Ha ha. Anyway, PJ will forever be my favorite skater and this little clip got me so hyped. I’ve been slacking on my flippers. I remember my original goal for this year was to learn the straight 8. Maybe this will motivate me to get on it. But man, his style is incredible. That fakie 5-0 halfcab flip out was so incredible. Yeah PJ!

Up super early on a Friday morning to meet Dave since he worked at 8. He got there by 7, I was there around 7:15. That’s early! There was another dude there briefly, but left before I had touched my tail to the ground. Dave slammed on a nollie back 180 when I got there. The warm up frustrations are hard sometimes. But he would get it together. I was really impressed with the over the corner back 50s he was doing. The shift around to back tail was sick. Right before filming he pretty much did the same line with a halfcab flip instead of just halfcab. I was unable to get on the step backside again. Argh. Dave left as I started my solo filming mission with no comply flip. Then it was slappy crook, wallie then backside tricks on the bench. I am so stoked to have learned halfcab noseslides. They don’t look as good as I had imagined in my head, but still way better than they did before I skated here on a regular basis. Also excited to finally learn halfcab noseslide to fakie. Oh yeah, I had put my old cracked 8.5″ deck on. It made kickflips hard. I was like 1-5 to start. Argh. I was super hyped on my frontside bench section though. I got up on the ledge pretty much every try. The front 50 shove only took two tries. I couldn’t do an intentional 5-0 though. Then I tried to ollie the ledge. Ugh. Maybe it was partly the smaller board lowering my confidence, maybe just the lack of sleep, maybe exhaustion from skating almost every morning, maybe the cracked tail, but I could not get it. I had some clean pops over it, but kept landing forward. Then whatever the heck happened above. I gave up at that point. Last thing I tried was halfcab noseslide 270s out. I knew they weren’t close. I was really trying to land on the front wheels first then pivot around, but I couldn’t do it. I went to work so hungry and tired, but yet pretty hyped on skating as hard as I did. Especially happy that I was able to get on the ledge frontside.

(setup 8.5 null lazer deck, venture trucks 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger , bones medium bushings, sml 53mm og wide wheels, new balance numeric 533v2 gray stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10 knees starting to hurt a little maybe from not wearing orthotics)

Feeling lazy I went over to the curbs and Saul would meet me in a bit. I had some fun slappy crooks front and back. The frontside ones felt better than ever. I also tried a Fuller maneuver. Ride on grind up the curb cut to back tail at the kink. It was fun. The sprinklers came on and kinda ruined the main curbs. Saul had shown so we hit the hook. He got some good front slappies around it. I finally stepped up to trying it, but didn’t really get it. Then the sprinklers came on there and ruined that section. So back up top Saul got a good first try slappy crook. It was sick. I had reached saturation point on the 8.75 and lost even more motivation. We sat and chilled for a bit. Saul’s a good dude.

(setup 8.75 null event horizon deck, venture trucks 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger , bones medium bushings, sml 53mm og wide wheels, 2 speed washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 533v2 gray stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Cloudy day for once, felt cooler, but humid.  Warming up was pretty fast. My first real skating after a bunch of boardslides was a little line of halfcab noseslide then manual the black manny pad I fear so much.  Then crooks the butter bench followed by boardslide to fakie the little flat bar.  Not sure I went through with that one.  Actually for quite a while I was all over the place.  I tried to take advantage of being there alone and did a lot of dumb little ollies.  I also tried halfcab noseslides to fakie again.  Last time I couldn’t conceive it.  This time I got the first 3 I tried.  Skateboarding makes no sense.  I went on to get a couple that actually slid pretty far.  I was hyped.   Then I kind of got into a mode of failing at back 50 over the top of the lower step, ollie the little barrier, flatground trick, front nosegrind the step.  I managed a first try ollie over the little barrier (with a little wheel touch), kind of a treflip, rocketed first try heelflip.  Never got the back 50, it was quite upsetting.  Never got the front nosegrind either, but at least committed to that.  I gave up on over the top back 50s and just tried with my normal 90 angle in.  Accidentally did a 5-0 so naturally I shoved out.  Ha.  Tried halfcab crook for awhile and failed.  Same with noseslide 270 shove.  Tried to ollie the concrete bench again.  Got so close and committed more frequently, but never rode away.  I was so tired.  I had gotten there earlier and skated for close to two hours.  I didn’t really land much, but I was trying hard so I left happy.

(setup 8.75 null event horizon deck, venture trucks 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger , bones medium bushings, sml 53mm og wide wheels, 2 speed washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 533v2 gray stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Another warm morning before work I had the dog park to myself. I felt good physically, but mentally I couldn’t really get into it. I wanted to try back 50s. I got a few on the tiny ledge. I started on a line and kinda changed it as I got further or did a trick. At one point I did back 50 the tiny pad, front 180 off the kicker, halfcab boardslide the small flat bar, then bailed crooks on a bench. I couldn’t get back 50 on the low step. I kept focusing on how the trucks are narrower than the board. Such a lame thing to focus on. Kickflips still felt good. I tried a few more flippers, but didn’t land them. Struggled with front 50 on the benches, but got a bad 180 out. I tried to ollie the cone off the kicker a couple times, it seemed possible, but way taller than the barrier. I left after some fails to get a fakie 5-0 on a concrete bench. I felt bummed on my lack of effort, but at the same time still in love with the dog park and hyped on how much I’m ollieing these days.

(setup 8.75 null event horizon deck, venture trucks 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger , bones medium bushings, sml 53mm og wide wheels, 2 speed washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 533v2 gray stock insoles)
(pain level 2/10)