Here we are again, in Jack’s awesome video. What an awesome song choice.

On a cold day Joe and Matt picked me up and we headed to a newish DIY spot in Omaha. I wore new shoes in hopes that cupsoles would help my pain. They felt weird and made warming up in the cold oh so much harder. Matt had a new complete so he was having troubles too. But we would all get it going. I had some halfcab noseslides, crooks on the tall granite ledge, ollied up onto it once, noseslide to fakie, had a funny explosion slam on a front 50 attempt. I was going for a no comply flip over a parking block and landed with a weird primo that sent my back foot into immediate pain. Ugh. It wasn’t an ankle “roll”, but it was a weird sprain/hyperextension or something. I kind of tried to keep skating, but basically didn’t. Joe was ripping lining out front 5-0s, smiths. He did a back 50 front 180 out that was really sick. Matt manualled the bump to ledge, nose manual too, back 5-0s, back nosegrinds, blunt the micro flat bar, and lots of funny slams due to the huge filmer wheels. Since I couldn’t ollie we left and hit the Council Bluffs park after a stop at Silo. It was so cold at this point. I pumped around in pain while those dudes skated pretty good. Joe had a great front 50 shove on the top rope. Matt almost got it switch, had some good 50 on the weird qp. Then we went to the rail yard and had a couple drinks to warm up. These dudes rule.

(Setup 8..25 null abstract 6 deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, 1/16” riser, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire tablet f4 99a, jessup ultragrip, new balance numeric 288S black curtain size 12 (never again), stock insoles)
(Pain level 5/10 before the roll, 10/10 after)

On a warm day Joe picked me up and we decided to go explore rather than go to the skatepark. We started at Creighton which we haven’t really skated before. First thing we found was the super crusty fountain. It had a lot of potential, but it was super hard. We both did the side rocks, both posed bonelesses over the hip. But we got the boot before we could really get comfy with it. As we were walking off we found an amazing wallride spot. Doh. Then we had a fun mellow hill bomb to a nice 3 stair that we 180’d. My back 180 took too many tries. Then we did a weird little line of ollie a manhole and kickflip into a mini bank with some fun ollies after. I got it first try. We got the boot again and Joe got it on the way out. We hit this huge bank next that Joe does the ollie on. It was way steeper than it looks. I didn’t even try. Next we ended up at Central HS where we spotted a prefect virgin granite ledge! We decided to hit the stairs first. Joe did his real quick. I did mine not so quick and I was definitely still feeling the arthritis pain. It was still fun though. Then we went over to the perfect granite ledge and got fresh tracks. Joe got front 50 pretty quick and I got crooks. We kept playing around, that ledge was not short and the runway was a little downhill and awkward. We each did a few things. Joe looked good getting on them front 50s easily. He also got 180 out. Near the end I forced myself to try front 50. I got closer and closer until I finally landed a super slow one. I was super excited about it and hugged Joe after. Considering how bad my arthritis was it felt pretty epic to get up on one of the taller ledges I’ve done in awhile. And it was granite! We moved on, basically just skating/ walking and eventually ended up back at the car. What a fun day.

(Setup 8..25 null abstract 6 deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, 1/16” riser, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire tablet f4 99a, jessup ultragrip, new balance numeric 306 foy black/gum size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(Pain level 6/10 arthritis sucks)

Went to campus on another gorgeous day.  I was really sore.  When I went to do my first push I felt so much pain I almost stopped skating.  But I’m stubborn.  I went to the barriers by the basketball stadium and was in too much pain to even try a wallride.  Ugh.  So I went to go home but ended up having some fun 180s and thought maybe I could get it going.  I ended up at the dorm flagstone ledge.  I actually had an incredibly fun line.  Ollie to axle stall this narrow path to sidewalk gap, no comply 180, switch noseslide, ollie off a curb, front tail the weird blob.   It was downhill after that.  Tried a few things but ended up focusing my old deck after being unable to even try an ollie to get up into grind on the ledge.  I definitely got some gluten at my work potluck because I haven’t been in this much pain in a long time.  Ugh.  I had put an 8.25 deck on and liked it, but not the best session to say if I really like it more than 8.3.  

(Setup 8..25 null Nolan deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, 1/16” riser, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire tablet f4 99a, jessup grip, new balance numeric 533v2 PJ grey size 13, stock insoles)

(Pain level 8/10 arthritis sucks)

Not having a whole lot of time I went to campus excited for a solo explore session.  I was hyped on some Tom Knox parts and felt like skating some crusty spots. I did a few slappy crooks them moved to the weird 5 stair drop in.  First warm up run was drop in then back 180 a manhole then fakie flip on flat.  The back 180 was a weird struggle again.  Next I wanted to 180 off the ledge, but the full drop in speed was too scary.  So I just did a weird switch push and pump that was scary.   Got a few of those to get a halfcab flip after.  Then I wanted to manual this weird quick ledge.  It took forever and I didn’t get it clean, but it was rewarding.  Ollieing the little 2 stair before was fun.  I made a couple weak attempts at ollies over it, but gave up and moved on.  Saw someone had waxed the end of a curb and had a few fun simple runs.  Powerslides are fun.  Then I went to the Folsom field bank.  I had some fun no comply variations before a 10 minute struggle to get a kickflip that almost killed me.  Bs flip was first try.  Took forever to get a fs flip. Then left for home.  

(Setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire tablet f4 99a, 3 washers inside each axle, jessup grip, new balance numeric 533v2 PJ grey size 13, stock insoles)

(Pain level 5/10)

Met Dave on a nice afternoon at Blue Skies after a busy day at work. Yes, Dave is skating again! It ruled seeing him. We started in the basketball court as there was a father/daughter combo skating around the hockey rink. I was struggling super hard to start. Actually, the whole time, but it seemed more embarrassing initially. I was struggling to hit my tail on 180s, couldn’t back 180 at all. We moved into the hockey rink. Dave still has the fakie shoves like it’s nothing, did some regular shoves, cabs, nollie 180s. He was looking good on his board for having such a big bandage on his knee. He was doing lines with 180, switch ollie or fakie shove, cab, switch no comply shove then trying to end with kickflip. He never quite got the kickflip, but definitely got the confidence back to commit. I had put different insoles in and as embarrassing as it is to use that as an excuse, I think it really did mess with me. I got kickflip, fakie flip, barely a halfcab flip, both heels down on a fakie bigflip, not close to treflip. The redeeming trick was getting super close to Rick flip.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, spitfire 52mm tablets 99a f4, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, jessup grip, new balance numeric 255 b/w size 12, nm# Foy insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cool night I went exploring the new research area. I started in the back area after a brief push around. I was pretty bummed there was still snow in areas making the ledges weird. Warming up was whatever. Did some basic lines like ollie a a little brick section, boardslides, kickflips, etc. I was happy that the wood grinded fine. I didn’t stand up on crooks or halfcab noseslide like I wanted to, but I was excited to get on front 50s pretty easily. I guess it’s not exactly tall, but it was quite cold. I basically worked into two main lines. One started by ollieing the 2, then come around and front 50 180 then switch 180 the little brick section. The other was kickflip the bricks, crooks, treflip. Never got the tre in the line though. I would go on to do one by itself at least. Then I went to the taller section around the building. It took awhile, but I got ollie up then ollie the gap. I tried to go fast enough to not push up top, but I think I was a little too sore/tired to do that. Last I went to the concrete manny pad off the 4 stair. It was more awkard than I thought for a regular footer. No wonder Hayden hit it switch. All I did was ollie on and ride off.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, spitfire 52mm tablets 99a f4, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, jessup grip, new balance numeric 255 b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went to the dog park on a beautiful day with only about one hour to skate. I wore vulcs and had changed the baseplate to the cast baseplate. As far as determining my 2020 setup I’m down to narrowing down between forged and cast baseplate. Something most people wouldn’t even care about. Anyway, it felt loose and squirly and I was surprised how little I liked it. There were a few people there. I really didn’t skate too well. I couldn’t even really stand up on noseslides on the black ledge to try the 270 shove out. One thing I did do better than average for me was the warm up 180s over the parking block. I tried to do some faster front 50s on the benches, but failed. Had a couple crooks, remotely close to switch front nose shove, kinda tried nosegrinds on the tiny narrow ledge, failed at most flip tricks. Last thing I tried was to nose manual the lower part of the black step ledge. It took a long time and it made me late for a meeting, but I got one. So I didn’t skate very well, but I am happy to have finally nose manualled that.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.6, spitfire 52mm tablets 99a f4, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, jessup grip, new balance numeric 255 b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went to dog park on a cool, but sunny day. Dave L was there. The parking lot was being redone so I had to park the next street over. I wasn’t as cool as the dog owner who parked his car on the median. I wore my PJ shoes in hopes of reducing some soreness. It seemed to help. I had also put the 5.6 axles on too. Initially my board felt excellent. I had some new Spitfire 52mm tablets. Dave was doing his warmups over the parking block. I was feeling out a few things. Got a bad line of ollie the little narrow ledge then slow back 50 the step. Also boardslide a bench then noseslide 270 the next one. Dave got the kickflip over the parking block then quickly stacked tricks on the benches. 50s, 5-0s, manuals, nose manual, almost nose manual 180. Then he was mostly working on switch front boards. I tried a line for awhile of crooks a bench then 360 flip , but never got a 360 flip. I did have a good feeling halfcab flip earlier at least. I slammed pretty hard trying to get a back 50 over the top of the black step. Got front 50 180 first try, sketchy fakie nosegrind first try, halfcab noseslide to fakie. Slammed on a treflip. Also slammed trying halfcab noseslide 270 shove. Argh. I had mostly fun though.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.6 v-lights, 1/16″ riser, spitfire 52mm tablets 99a f4, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, jessup grip, new balance numeric 533 grey size 13 with stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10 just sore still)

On a lazy cold day I ran boards to Emage and had a little sunlight left to find something. The dudes at Emage told me about this spot and I remember seeing it in a Crisis edit and wanting to hit it. It was in a fun area of town I had only hit once before. I cruised around. Rode on a steep bank a few times. Then basically showed up at the ledge not feeling warmed up or even warm. Ha. It was cold. It was my first day with sweats under my pants and it made ollies harder. I started with some slow front 50s. Then a couple lines. Wallie nollie, front 50 180, fakie flip. Wallie nollie, front 5-0, kickflip. My board of the day was 8.3 with 5.8 trucks, 52mm wheels. It felt good and stable, but I did want smaller trucks for flippers. It was too cold for flippers anyway though. I got a crooks going up, back 50 going up, a couple sloppy kick back 50s, front 50, front 5-0, front 50 180, front 50 shove, accidental front 5-0 to tail to fakie. I left after giving up on front 50 back 180. I was super sore, tired and cold.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, 8.5 venture titanium, 1/16″ riser, 3 speed washers on outside of axle, bones medium bushings, 52mm sptifire classic green 99a f4, new balance numeric 255 b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 7/10)