Feeling very exhausted after work I went to the Dog Park with an hour to kill before hanging with coworkers. Gold Hill Josh was there so we chatted for awhile. Nothing worked for me skatewise. I couldn’t crook, 50, heelflip, treflip, anything. The only things I did I was happy with were noseslide to fakie, fakie 50 to fakie the low step and wallies over the littler barrier are always fun. I’m over the mini logos.

(setup 8.25 null abstract #6 deck, Mini Logo 8.38 trucks, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 2 washers inside each axle, buttom 88a doh doh and stock top mini logo bushings, new balance numeric 913 Westgates b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a rainy night I went into the garage for the first time in a long time. Cleaned it up some then tried to skate. I had some old 379s with gamechangers in them and started on the putter. Nothing was working. Eventually I was back in the Westgates and on my regular setup and things felt better. Once the flippers started I had some fun. I was listening to Fluung on the boom box. I got another one of those ‘barely a make’ varial heels, first try heel, b/s flips, couldn’t treflip and ended with a fun feeling fakie 3 shove.

(setup 8.25 null abstract #6 deck, Mini Logo 8.38 trucks, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 2 washers inside each axle, buttom 88a doh doh and stock top mini logo bushings, new balance numeric 913 Westgates b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a beautiful night I arrived at Broomfield park by 7pm.  Carleigh and Kevin were there.  Carleigh was in the very early stages of warming up.  Kevin said he was too, but he had already done nollie flip and switch flip.  So he wanted to play a game of SKATE.  It was decided he would do everything switch versus regular for me.  That included nollie vs fakie.  It was fun.  It started with a Kevin switch flip and Carleigh and I both had to double or nothing kickflips.  Carleigh ended up getting like 3 letters on pop shove.  Ha.  We offered quadruple or nothing.  It was pretty funny.  Carleigh got out after heelflip, halfcab flip and something else.  All of which looked like she was very close to.  Kevin and I’s game went on for a long time.  Dave, Sean, Jack had shown.  I managed defensive bs and fs flips which indeed means Kevin did them switch.  He also did jansoski flip, switch tre, nollie tre, dude was shredding.  I missed fakie tre, got a sloppy tre, couldn’t get a fakie bigflip, got a letter on fakie heel and it was over with f/s halfcab flip.  When Jack showed he did a no comply flip followed by a wallie noseslide down the brown ledge that turned some heads. Kevin, Sean, Jack were mostly hitting the black ledge. I saw Jack get a cab nosegrind. Kevin got stuck on kick back tail, but got a great nollie flip into the bank. Sean’s back nosegrind 180 then front nosegrind 180 were so smooth. He may have also gotten back nosegrind nollie back big out. He was trying it at least. I moved into the beginner/old guy section with Darin and Dave. We were trying lines with flat, quartapotty and the blue pad. Jack was there too, but doing crooks transfers into the brown ledge. We got some lines. I tried to start with treflip, but kept not riding away. I was happy to get a line of fakie flip, fakie stall to fakie, fakie nosegrind. That’s a lot of fakie. Darin was skipping the first trick, but had tricks like front blunt and back tail on the qp every try. Dave had pop shoves, kickflips, fakie varial flips to start. Back tails, learned front feebles on the qp. Was trying nollie back tails on the pad and eventually got one. He had done some good nose manuals too. I got a lot of heelflips, it felt great. At least 10 of them. One cruddy nollie back tail. Tried a bunch of fs halfcab noseslides. Even got a couple! It felt really cool! The worst part of the night was all the stupid beetles. Especially by the qp, it was seriously grossing me out. As I left Dave was trying switch deck check to manual on the escalator ledge. I bet he got it. I skated pretty terribly all night. I was frustrated, but had to remind myself that I haven’t been able to skate much recently and was still having hamstring issues. Also, the pivot cup on my front truck had blown out and I had my first bit of annoyance with the mini logos. Oh, and I missed several crooks which added to that frustration.

(setup 8.25 null abstract #6 deck, Mini Logo 8.38 trucks, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 2 washers inside each axle, buttom 88a doh doh and stock top mini logo bushings, new balance numeric 913 Westgates b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Feeling even better on a nice Sunday I headed out to hit the metal curb spot in Louisville. But when I drove by there was a handful of scooter kids so I went right on by. I ended up at this school Neil and I skated a few times. It wasn’t as great looking as a I remember, but still cool. And a good place for me to loosen up the legs and start trying tricks again. Which is what I did for quite awhile before Jack and Carleigh showed. Stall trick on the bottom step, flatground trick, trick on the weird narrow bank. First line was front tail stall, kicklfip, side rock. Next was back pivot, heelflip, ollie to fakie. The term “ollie to fakie” might not actually represent the tiny no pop hop to fakie I did. Next was front axle on the 2nd step, backside flip, fakie tail stall. I was hyped to get on the 2nd step. Jack and Carleigh showed as I got another line or was doing it better. Front tail to fakie, halfcab flip, a weird side front tail flop off. Jack went right to the stairs. After a kickflip he did the nollie tre pretty quick. Carleigh did some bean plants down the 3. I felt the peer pressure and skated the stairs too. Well, I lined out something to the stairs. Pop shove, wallie nollie, ollie. Carleigh did a bunch of no complies down the stairs. Jack had broken his board on a nollie flip then setup a new one and got one pretty quick down the 3. Then we all skated the narrow bank for a bit. I tried front tail to front rock for a bit then gave up sore. I had landed on a couple varial heels, but with the hands down. Carleigh got the axle stall. It’s way harder than it looks. Jack had tried several tricks. Kinda close to back noseblunt, treflip to fakie. He got pivot fakie, a pivot ollie back in thing.

We left for another spot. I forgot to take a photo. But it was basically a 6-7 stair with a wood ramp extending out of it. Carleigh didn’t really skate it. I did some weird frontside ollie where my nose kinda noseslid the rail. Then I filmed Jack 5-0 transfer it which is as gnarly as it sounds. Then I attempted to shake off the sore legs and did a little boneless tail bonk transfer. It felt cool. Jack filmed it great too. Fun day. Glad we got out in the streets.

(setup 8.25 null abstract #6 deck, Mini Logo 8.38 trucks, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 2 washers inside each axle, stock mini logo bushings, new balance numeric 913 Westgates b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a warm and sunny Saturday I went over to the curb feeling slightly better with the plan of meeting almost every older skater I know. It was awesome. I probably wont even remember everyone that skated, but it was Jake, Saul, Rob, Dave, Simon, Dave L, Sean, Kevin, Fuzz and me. So sick! At first I didn’t think I’d be able to skate much, but it did loosen up. Over a few hours I didn’t really do anything much. I had a couple kickflips which made me happy and several slappies. Jake was the first to leave so he gets first dibs in the journal. Slappy bluntslides, slappy crooks, 360 flip. Saul with the long slappies, consistent front slappies, front slappy around the hook. Sean was next to go. He had some ripping kickflips into and out of the banks. Some long front tails, relearned halfcab 50s. In fact he did it in a line. Halfcab 50, kickflip up the curb to quick wallie a rock gap. Rob was a little stiff from tons of hiking. Still saw him rip the back 50 no comply shove out, slappy crooks, kickflips, beanplants, something new I’m forgetting right now. Man it ruled seeing Simon skate again. He rips. Such a natural. Real long slappies, switch slappy, slappy crooks, switch slappy crook, fast kickflips and 180s, bluntslide to 50. Kevin was sore from a couple weeks off the board too. He had still done some solid flippers, back 50s, halfcab 50 back 180, back tail into the bank. He had a rad line with a silly pole grab to grind then manual to wallie the rock gap. He was also the first to notice my silly trucks which I had hoped no one would notice. I was hyped when Fuzz somewhat gave me props on having the courage to try them. FYI two days in still liking them. Speaking of Fuzz, he also rips. Took him a bit to get that line he’s tried a bunch, but man it was good when he did it. Ollie into the curb cut, front 180 out, fakie nosegrind 180 out. Also some killer slappy noseslides, switch ones, nollie tails, powerful style. Fuller was the last one to arrive to the session he organized. Ha. Darn football traffic. He killed it though. Slappy switch crook shove, halfcab back 50 back 180 out, slappy crooks shove, slappies, sex changes, switch ollies and switch back 180s into the curb cut, ride on back 50 to back tail. Dave L has the best slappy of anyone I’ve seen. He does them to 5-0 and almost got a shove out too. Did a nice front tail 270 shove, casual manuals. Super fun session even though I didn’t really skate.

(setup 8.25 null abstract #6 deck, Mini Logo 8.38 trucks, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 2 washers inside each axle, stock mini logo bushings, new balance numeric 913 Westgates b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 7/10)

Last Monday I didn’t skate because I was so sick of the heat. I did however play basketball with Ollie. I felt fine after, but woke up later in the night with an intense pain below my left butt cheek. I think I strained the hamstring. Ugh. Anyway, it still hurts. I skated, but I basically just did a few slappies and several slappy crooks. Saul said he was feeling arthritic, but he looked good. He was hitting the slappies front and back. Alley oop slappy, layback. We didn’t last long. I had bought a set of Mini Logo trucks to try. Yes, Powell Mini Logo trucks. This is because I really love Venture lows, but I wanted a wider truck. These are the same height as Venture lows, but wider (8.38). They felt great. They have a very small wheelbase, even less than Indy. They turn good. They just look pretty bad. Oh well, I had told myself awhile ago I should try them after reading some glowing reviews on the slap truck thread.

(setup 8.25 null abstract #6 deck, Mini Logo 8.38 trucks, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 2 washers inside each axle, stock mini logo bushings, new balance numeric 913 Westgates b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 9/10)

Feeling lazy on a hot day and after a long hike I found a bit of motivation after making a list of tricks. The goal was 12 tricks 12 tries. But I ended up going way over 12 tries on fakie heel and then even longer on halfcab flip. Saul had shown up at the school while I was in the halfcab flip battle. I stuck to my flippers for awhile. He joined and ollied a white claw can. It was rad. I never got a halfcab heel even though I was often quite close. I made up for it by getting treflip second try (although not really a good one). I went for nollie tre, but lost interest and went down to skate the curbs with Saul. There is a lot of shade on that spot in the evening. We both got front slappies. He was trying one handed layback slappies. I finally got some decent backside slappies. I slammed on a front shove off the curb cut. Then we went to our homes for dinner.

(setup 8.25 null abstract #6 deck, venture 5.6 trucks, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 913 Westgates b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Got to dog park by 10am on a hot morning. There was a helmet wearing dad walking his daughter around on rollerblades. They had a crew of kids with rollerblades, scooters and skateboards. Luckily for the most part the kids rode skateboards. I was really struggling in the warm up game. Jake showed up after awhile and things got better, we started skating pretty hard. I still struggled to confidently 50 the little benches. Jake pretty quickly front tail’d the back of the step ledge. Whoa. I got his back with a fun line of wallie the barrier, noseslide to fakie the back of the step ledge, switch noseslide 270 shove the metal ledge. Will joined us. We mostly stuck in the far east lane for awhile. Jake was doing super good crooks on the metal ledge. Will was trying to learn front tails and crooks. I did my first fakie 50 switch front 180 out in a long time. It felt great. Tried to switch front shove out too, but didn’t get it. Couldn’t commit to nosegrinds. Kind of got a fakie heel and a treflip. Then we ollied the black wedge to barrier. I was the last to get it, but it was still only 5 tries and it felt really good. Jake front 180d it after that. I posed kickflips over it. They felt doable, I was landing one footed. Maybe someday. Will was ripping the benches. Fast front 50s, 5-0s , nosegrinds and maybe a smith. Garrett had shown up and was cruising around. Smooth tailslides and speed. I did a couple bean plants on the bank and ended trying a line of kickflip to fakie then halfcab noseslide. My legs couldn’t handle the halfcab noseslide anymore so I sat down. Jack showed. He did a sick bump to front 50 on the copingless chinabank right away. Also some weird nollie front blunt the other side of the butter bench. Sean finally showed and did a lap around the park with some solid 50s then we left.

Then we were up in Fort Collins. Garrett, Sean, Jack, Hayden and me. We skated into campus from the shop. We warmed up on the little ledge on the sidewalk. It was quite awesome having the biggest Nuller crew in awhile. Jack started the entertainment with a good slam on a slappy attempt. Luckily he didn’t hit his bruised rips. I think everyone fell. It was funny. On top of that it was the Tour De Fat and all kinds of drunk weirdos were biking by in funny clothing. Fort Collins rules. I was surprised by body let me skate. I was slow to warm up (compared to them), but did have a fun little line of chinese nollie then boardslide flop out. Jack did a hilarious nollie tre, I think Garrett or Hayden got one too, but I failed. We skated a long ways and eventually ended up at the long hubba. I didn’t skate it. I filmed the Nullers. Sean, Garrett and Hayden got really good stuff. Then we were on to more spots and ended up at the plastic ledge spot. I skated here while they warmed up. Had a fun noseslide and eventually a boardslide where Hayden does the crook in the clip above. Jack got a cool boardslide pop over to manual to front shove down the 3. Sean came up short. That spot is weird. That was it for the day. Pretty long and exhausting, but very fun.

(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 913 Westgates b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

On a nice morning I went to dog park having the day off work. I got there before Dave L and arranged a mini bank to curb. The black wedge to the back of the stop ledge. It was kinda fun and awkward. I was wearing new shoes, Westgates. Well, I’ve worn them a couple times skating before. They felt surprisingly good. Dave L showed up and we both slowly warmed up. I was more lining out boardslides and the bank to curb. He was doing nollie 180s over a parking blocks. We moved moved the cement ledge that had been against the fence without blocks under it to a good spot again. I was hyped on that. We started linking lines. Dave could easily manual them. That is so rad. I should try to ride on them, but I’m terrified of that. He did back 50 then back 5-0. Pretty unreal line to me, but he was kinda like whatever. I took awhile to get halfcab noseslides. Not sure why, maybe the smaller setup. I did the lines above, they were pretty fun. I think I broke the record for shortest grind on the fakie nosegrind jib. I had gotten the line with the ollie over the wallie barrier. I mean, it wasn’t a clean ollie, but I’m working on it. The footage of this shows me how bad my ollies are. I need to drag the front foot further up to level out the board. So maybe after 30 years of skating I will try to correct my pathetic ollies. I had gotten a few flatground tricks. Heelflip, treflips, halfcab flip, fakie flip and maybe a couple more. I filmed Dave do a cool nollie lip up the parking blocks then a nose manual 180. We left as the sun came in and heated things up a lot and a few people started showing up.

Surprisingly I wasn’t too sore and I wanted to skate some flatground before date night with Liz. So I went in the shaded alley behind the school. Things went a little better than last time. I’m still terribly inconsistent though. It took awhile before I landed anything actually. Jumping is hard. I got the halfcab flip then treflip line. Backside flip, heelflip, the worst f/s halfcab heel done in history, first try f/s halfcab flip, maybe a fakie heel. These Westgates are very comfy, but the board feel leaves a lot to be desired. Not the best flick and not a good heelflip. But a lot can be said about being able to skate 5 hours in a day and not be too sore.

(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 913 Westgates b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 2/10)