On a cool night Matt H picked me up. Yes, he still skates. When he arrived he was in a hoodie and I didn’t think it was that cold initially, but decided to wear one anyway. It ended up being the right call as it was pretty chilly. We arrived to a very crowded park with a lot going on. Flyouts, scooters, bikes, ledge lines. It was crazy and hard to get warmed up. The crew was Kevin, Rob, Matt, Sean, Carleigh, Eric and me. Kevin always has nollie flips right out of the gate and looked extra stylee on his Null Curby board. Carleigh had a good fall ollieing up onto the blue ledge right away. Rob got into demo mode pretty quick. I saw Matt back nosegrind the black ledge first try. At least there was a tiny bit of sketch to it. Eric had nice crooks early on. I took awhile to ollie. Had fun with a deck check to manual on the side of the brown angled ledge. There was so much going on it was really hard to notice what others were doing. Rob had managed to line things out through the masses although I don’t remember the tricks right now. I know they ended with fakie bigspin then almost 360 shove. I was struggling with halfcab flips on flat and posing kick back tails on the blue ledge. Sean was mirroring out his black ledge lines and making flatground look really good and easy. His backside flips and heels are so good. Kevin did a switch manual 180 and I got his back with a little back 50 on the blue curb. At one point I ollied to deck check on the back of the blue bank. That was probably the highlight for me. I had thought about how I used to ollie into that and it felt really scary. Gonna try and keep that in the rotation. Eric had a bad slam and hurt his back and had to take off. Doh. Carleigh got back and front d on the brick qp. She also pops her ollies extra high when she ollies into the bank to start her run. Matt was trying fakie 5-0’s and had to give up so he focused his 2 year old board. Kevin worked on back nosegrinds which I haven’t really seen him do before. Decent night, I didn’t feel comfortable though and didn’t get into my bag enough to feel happy.

(setup 8.25 null abstract 6 deck, Venture 5.6 trucks, venom 91a bushings , sml 53mm og wide wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 379 b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a rainy night I went into the garage feeling pretty good. I did some ollies to warm up then some shoves then took like 8 tries to get a kickflip. UGH! The struggle would go on for every other trick. Fakie flip, b/s flip, terrible excuse for a frontside flip, heelflip and then treflip took FOREVER. Ugh. Ended trying some switch heels that felt doable, but I never got both feet on one. I had a lot of issues balancing on my board. It drove me nuts.

(setup 8.25 null abstract 6 deck, Venture 5.6 trucks, venom 91a bushings , sml 53mm og wide wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 379 b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

After a completely exhausting week of work I handed the phone and worked most of the cool Monday. I wanted to go home and sleep, but I needed to get boards to MRKT so I went making no arrangements. I showed up to a mostly empty park and attempted to warm up. It was apparent quickly that I would not skate well, but I didn’t expect it to go as bad as it did. It didn’t help when a huge crew arrived, although they mostly stuck up top. I started with the ol’ warm up line to try and kick the body in to gear. Some switch noseslides, 50s on the curb, noseslides on the ledge. Tried to hop onto the curb to noseslide the ledge then kickflip off, but couldn’t get the kickflip off. I was happy to get a couple back 50s on the curb, but struggled to get a decent crook on the ledge. It didn’t help that the one other person there was trying to learn crooks so I felt bad trying them too. But crooks on the long ledge are why I go to fossil. I would get a few okay ones. Bigger wheels and narrower trucks are probably to blame. I couldn’t front 50 the taller part of the ledge. I got one line I had thought of on the drive there. Ollie up, noseslide fakie, switch 180 off. I couldn’t get the front 180 up then switch front nose though. Flip tricks did not work. My shoes were feeling very thin. The only thing I was somewhat happy with was an ollie onto the ledge then front shove off without having to push for speed. I left after getting a crooks to end it. I skated terribly, but I did force myself to jump when my body didn’t want to. Maybe it’s beneficial, maybe not. I guess that was my first time skating in coldish weather and I don’t think my body was ready for it.

(setup 8.25 null abstract 6 deck, Venture 5.6 trucks, venom 91a bushings , sml 53mm og wide wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 212 grey size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After a brutal callout most of the night my Sunday was pretty much totally ruined. Sometime after 6pm I finally went outside and skated the curbs for a bit. I had put my 8.25 setup back together. Seeing as how I really didn’t do much of anything the size really didn’t matter. Just a few slappies both ways, some slappy crooks, an ollie or 2 up the curb, maybe one kickflip.

(setup 8.25 null abstract 6 deck, Venture 5.6 trucks, venom 91a bushings , sml 53mm og wide wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 212 grey size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a beautiful Saturday morning I went to meet Rob, Dave L and Kevin at Dog Park. I wasn’t hyped to go there since it had rained. I pulled and the Square State kids were there. Like 30 of them. And there were puddles so I just turned around and went to the new dork bank spot. Dave had challenged me to a varial flip over a hip. Since I don’t seem to go anywhere with a real hip this micro street hip would have to do. I did some dorking aorund to warm up, but was really struggling to flip the board. Rob showed up around the time I got the varial flip. He wasn’t feeling the spot and left for dog park. I stuck around for a backside flip that took longer than it should. Then went to a wet dog park and complained. It was just one of those days where no one seemed to be on the same page initially. But we skated and things got better. Dave L was trying slappy kickflips which would have been so crazy. He also casually manualled and back 5-0’d a bench. Kevin was putting together bunches of ledge tricks that I’ve never even tried. Nollie nosegrinds, switch nosegrind 180, back 180 nosegrinds, etc. Rob had some causal front noseslides, crooks, halfcab noseslides. I struggled to do a very slow front 50 and a fakie nosegrind that took way too long.

We bounced to a spot I had thought of for Stubborns. Just some slanted manual pad with a couple other random things around it. Dave F joined us. No one seemed very hyped at first, but it typical street skating fashion people started adapting and doing some stuff. Well, everyone but me that is, I was sucking beyond believe. Dave L was playing with a spindle and doing ollies while it moved and bonking it and stuff. It was fun to watch. Kevin started the filming with a manual to ollie the gap then a bluntslide on the curb. Rob pieced together two sick lines. No comply, wallie/nollie up, kickflip up a curb. Back 50 shove then shove wall plant. Seriously. So good. The back 50 shoves were textbook. Dave F was doing quick manuals, slappy crooks to fakie, cabs, halfcab flips, cabbing onto the curb. Dave L had some really good quick feet fornt slappies and manuals. I did manage a line (no filming because it wasn’t worth it) of front 50 the curb, manual, ollie up, wallie/nollie off the curb. I couldn’t kickflip up the curb, I couldn’t ollie the median, I took like 20 tries to 180 the tiny gap, it was a very bad session for me.

Then we went to a tiny steep bank on a busy bike path. I’ve skated it before, it’s really weird. Dave F killed it. Feeble 180 transfer. Back tail to fakie so smooth. I was trying to motivate by a line with a manual then boardslide then wallie/nollie. Never got the boardslide. Rob and Kevin were chilling. Dave L was filming Fuller rip it. Then Fuller had the worst slam trying a crooks transfer to fakie. It was so bad. But he got up and with Rob’s advice yanked it around for the hammer of the day. I tried the worlds smallest and dumbest kickflip on the min bank for awhile. Kevin got up and tried to wallie the end of the bank where it meets the wall. It was crazy. Dave L messed around near the end. Then we went to a nearby bump with a wall that was super fun for the ole wallie/nollie if your stance is correct. I did a bunch of them. Just having fun doing it into the mellow bank on a photogenic brick wall. Dave was doing them from the underside. Rob was boosting bean plants. Kevin slammed trying to make an ollie look extra good. Then went in on kickflip a bump to wallie/nollie but never got the wallie/nollie. You would think that was the end of the session, but it wasn’t. We hit the worlds smallest bank to curb and Kevin learned pivot shove fakie. Some other basic stalls were done, but that was basically it. Long day. I sucked like I haven’t in a long time. It was depressing. You know that means a setup change is coming.

(setup 8.5 null nolan machine deck, Venture 5.8 titanium trucks with cast baseplate, sml 53mm og wide wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 212 grey size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)