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)