The snow finally stopped, but it surely hasn’t melted yet. Went into the garage before dinner. Started with the straight 8 then mostly random mirrors in intervals of roughly 10. This time I finally got a fakie heel, but it was terrible. The first heelflip came pretty quick, but I never got a clean one. The 4 hard ones were no closer, but I committed to all of them. Got a treflip pretty quick, switch tre was not close at all. Couldn’t get halfcab heel, nollie inward heel. Got a few b/s flips, switch b/s flip was not close. Really close to varial heel, tried it switch for the first time ever and was nowhere near it. But I feel like forcing myself to try so many GleNBD tricks can only help my board control and awareness.

(setup 8.25 null nolan deck, mob grip, venture 5.2 awake lows, 51mm bones stf v2 wheels, 3 speed washers inside each axle, 88a doh dohs bushings, new balance numeric 306 b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

You guessed it, another snowy night so I went into the garage. This time before dinner. This time maybe more motivated than the last couple of days. I started with a few 180s and shoves before going for the straight 8. I stuck with roughly 10 tries again. None of the 8 went very well and I barely got a heelfllip. Nollie flip felt close. I did a bunch of floppy varial flips in a row then got remotely close to switch varial flip. Landed on a front heel, kinda close to switch front heel. Took a bit to get a treflip, but got a couple in a row and it felt good. Instead of trying them switch I went for nollie and got somewhat close. The tightness of the garage makes that trick extra hard. Ended with a fakie bigflip then tried a few nollie bigflips before calling it a night.

(setup 8.25 null nolan deck, mob grip, venture 5.2 awake lows, 51mm bones stf v2 wheels, 3 speed washers inside each axle, 88a doh dohs bushings, new balance numeric 306 b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Out to the garage again on a snowy night. I had put some decent size wheels on my 8.25/low setup. I did a few warm up shoves then went in on flippers. I stuck to roughly 10 tries again. I started with a kickflip bail, then got 5 great feeling ones in a row. Switch flip felt very close and I had a couple commits. Fakie flip was good, nollie flip didn’t feel close, but there was one that was almost a make somehow. I took a bit to get a heelflip and was nowhere close on switch heel. Didn’t get fakie heel although I at least landed on it, nollie heel was not close at all. Then I tried some mostly different ones than the previous night. Backside flip felt alright and somehow I actually committed to multiple switch b/s flips. Switch b/s flip is now on the list of tricks to for sure keep working on. Didn’t get a halfcab heel or even close to nollie h/c heel. Got a treflip that took a minute, nowhere close on switch tre. Almost landed on a fakie lazer, it was so close. Not close to nollie big heel. And that was that. Flatground in the garage while listening to DJR rules. I liked my setup a lot too. Maybe I’ll finally just realize that it works best for me and stop feeling pressure to have a big setup like everyone else.

(setup 8.25 null nolan deck, mob grip, venture 5.2 awake lows, 51mm bones stf v2 wheels, 3 speed washers inside each axle, 88a doh dohs bushings, new balance numeric 306 b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10 knees was sore from two nights of flatground)

Went out into the garage shortly after dinner on a snowy Sunday. I had setup an 8.25 again, but this time with lows and 42mm wheels. I don’t really plan on skating 42s for real, but they had bearings in them and it was just easier. I had planned on trying tricks 10 tries. Everything regular then switch. I started with the straight 8. Kickflip, fakie flip and heelflip took longer than they should. I didn’t quite get a fakie heel. Switch flips, switch heel, nollie heel were not close. I committed to several nollie flips, but they didn’t flip enough. Then I missed treflips and didn’t get close to switch tre. I wasn’t all that stoked on the smaller board until I tried f/s flip which seemed worth it to me. I got a couple pivoted ones. Not close to switch f/s flip. Then I did a couple halfcab flips so easy that it made me happy about the smaller board. Didn’t get close to Janoski flip. Kinda close to varial heel, but not close to nollie varial heel. Tried fakie lazer which still somehow feel close. Ended with nollie tre which has still eluded me in my tiny garage space.

(setup 8.25 null nolan deck, mob grip, venture 5.2 awake lows, 42mm oj wheels, 88a venom bushings, new balance numeric 306 b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

The New Balance Numeric 379 is a slim vulcanized shoe with very little padding. It’s good for what it is, but my feet definitely wanted a little support. The shoe has a great flick. I feel like this herringbone tread pattern is not as grippy as the older vulcanized soles NB makes (255, 345). Anyway, a good simple shoe.

On the last forecasted nice day in awhile Kevin, Dave L and I went to Southern Hills. The wind had kicked in fierce. It was my bad for bringing everyone there. I was feeling pretty grouchy for some reason. I think I was still in need of a solo session or something after so much filming/socializing in ABQ the weekend before. Nothing came easy. Unless you are Kevin. Ha. As always he was ripping out of the gate. 50s, 5-0s, crooks on the benches like it was nothing. I had an alright warm up line of nollie bonk to manual down the handicap ramp, front 50 the step, crooks the bench. Dave L was doing lots of sweeping, then 180s, nollie 180s and casually ollieing up the 2. Jack and Fuzz would show after awhile. Jack pretty quickly got in and landed a couple kick back lips while Kevin was trying kick back tails. I started filming which made me extra grouchy. This is mainly because I had been skating so bad. Kevin got the kick back tail in a couple lines. Jack got the kick back lip and hucked a new trick for him after. Nollie back 180 fakie 5-0 halfcab out. He was so close. He was like “I’ve never tried that before”. Must be nice. Ha ha. Jack cheered me up by taking over filming duties for awhile. Kevin would get a rad line ending with front 50 up the low bar. Sean and I played a game of SKATE. I continued my terrible skating. Sean made it fun by keeping the tricks dumbed down for me. I couldn’t get treflip or halfcab flip, but I was happy to get f/s halfcab flip and beat Sean to varial flip. Sean ended me on f/s halfcab heel which I was quite close on. Fuzz and I skated the step for awhile. Some fun accidental front 5-0s for me. Ha ha. We both did nollie front tails too. Fuzz took a bit to get a kickflip.

Then we went to the bank and ledge spot off Arapahoe/55th with the pipes in it. First thing was Kevin wallieing off the parking block gap. So sick. Then we all went to work on trying lines. I was kind of bummed on how it went to filming. I was really craving a day of just skating and not filming I guess. But I ended up trying a line forever. Boardslide then no comply shove over the pipe. Never got the no comply, but the boardslides were really fun. Dave L was killing front tails and front 5-0s on the ledge, then ollie to fakie over the hole, or an amazing over disaster. Fuzz was going 100mph doing noseslide then bigspin fakie. Jack had done some great back tails and was trying ghetto bird over the pipe. But he rolled his ankle because my dumbass couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. He had a nice board butt focus after that. Carleigh went in on front noseslide then kickflip over the pipe. I’ve never seen her do so many front noseslides, it was awesome. After I had given up on my line I filmed Kevin for awhile get back 5-0 then ollie to fakie over the pipe. Carleigh got her line as the sun was disappearing. The minute after she landed her line the wind kicked in with the cold front coming. Whew. Love to everyone, sorry I was so grouchy.

(setup 8.5 null nolan deck, Venture 5.8 trucks (cast baseplate, titanium hanger), doh dohs 88a bushings no boardside washer, spitfire F4 52mm 99a green swirl wheels, new balance numeric 306 Foy b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

For a few years now this has been one of my favorite shoes. I’ve probably skated a dozen pairs of the 212. My favorite thing about this shoe is the wide toebox. I also love how this is one of the few shoes that can hold up to my annoying razor toe. I rarely have to shoe goo my ollie/kickflip toe area. It’s so great. It’s a very steezy shoe, I like that they are making them now without the rubber toecap. The one negative about this shoe is it’s so incredibly thin that it normally starts to hurt my heel after awhile. So I don’t normally skate multiple pairs in a row. But overall I think this is one of the better shoes on the market. Especially if you rock the stock insole which adds some heel protection (currently I’m using Footprint Gamechangers).

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

It’s been awhile since I’ve skated these, but I’m trying to catch up on my shoe reviews. As an older skater Tony Hawk has been a long time favorite. I was on a cupsole kick and these seemed right up my alley as they were quite flexible. I liked them for awhile, however the pointy toes got me and they started to become very uncomfortable. The heel is a little thicker than I desire in a shoe as well. Overall I’d say that this is probably a decent cupsole for most people (I just need a wider toebox that most). It’s a nice looking shoe that clearly reminds you of the old Airwalks Tony wore a lot. The packaging is really cool too. I used the box for my sticker collection.

Went and met Saul right after work on a nice Friday evening. He was down at the hook because the main curbs were wet. Doh. Saul had nice front slappies as you can see above. He had some good backside ones too. I didn’t commit to frontside around the corner. Tried backside and crook, but didn’t get them. We had some ollies off the curb cuts. I struggled to ollie up the curb and kickflips felt scary. Tried to treflip, but never committed. Fun little session.

(setup 8.5 null nolan deck, Venture 5.8 trucks (cast baseplate, titanium hanger), doh dohs 88a bushings no boardside washer, spitfire F4 52mm 99a green swirl wheels, new balance numeric 306 Foy b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

This is one of the best parts of the year! Up there with Suciu and Worrest. I love how Chico skates. This part is seriously amazing.