On a cloudy warm morning I went to the dog park before work. I work lates again and am still having to wear glasses so the cloudy skies would help. I had changed my setup yet again, 8.5 this time. I feel like I should just accept it’s the ideal size for me. Anyway, warming didn’t feel great, I struggled with a lot of things, but ollies felt decent. I had a warm up line of front 5-0 the min cinder block, front 50 the low pad, boardslide the wallie barrier, then kickflip. Except the kickflip took for freaking ever! I couldn’t believe how bad they felt. Next warm up line was front shove on flat, crooks cinder block ledge, kickflip on flat, back 50 the low pad, front 180 the mini cinder block. This took way too long as well. My crooks were terrible, front shoves were terrible, kickflips were terrible. It took a few tries to get a back 50, but I ended up getting them decent. I changed the line to pop shove, back 50, front 180. The front 180 did not come easy, but at least I did back 5-0 before that to make it feel cool. Then for the super depressing part of the session, front 50s on the cinder block. I thought I’d just do it then front nosegrind 180 the mini cinder block after, but no, the front 50 felt terrible. It wasn’t that I couldn’t do it, it was that my mind didn’t want to. I got a few, posed some flips tricks and was about to leave super depressed. Instead I made myself huck a couple dream tricks for a few minutes. I tried halfcab noseslide 270 shoves on the cinder block ledge (not even remotely close) and switch crooks on the metal butter ledge. I got kinda into a couple of those so at least that felt cool. I left somehow not in a terrible mood.

(setup 8.5 nolan null deck, ultra grip, venture 5.8 custom hollow cast baseplate titanium hangers, 52mm spitfire green/yellow swirl classic 99a F4, new balance numeric 255 b/w size 12, thin rubbery adidas insole)
(pain level 3/10 some knee pain wanting to come through)

Met up with Nullers at dog park on a bright morning and with my glasses on had a lot of trouble seeing. Add on how awkward my 8.75 setup felt and I pretty much did nothing. Literally not a single thing to take away from the session for me other than I hated my 8.75. Eric was there doing some ripping. Riley almost got noseblunt bigspin. He shouldn’t have given up! Sean took awhile to get nollie back nosegrind 180, but man it was good when he did. Hayden learned front shove back nosegrind. Jack showed and we left. We hit Coot Lake ditch. I did a tiny scratch grind and posed kickflips before filming. Donnie, Sean, Jack and Riley all got a trick or two. They had some gnarly falls too. That bank is really rough. Then we had a brief run at the ol’ Schwinn warehouse with the yellow ledge and kicker. It was funny because we rolled up on a dude skating with his girlfriend filming him. There was a little kicker setup to the ledge and he was front 50’ing like a champ and later 5-0s. He was cool. I basically posed a couple flippers, but was too sore and unmotivated to really care. Riley had a nice 5-0, Hayden a cool pole jam, Jack a crazy wallride and front nose 270 shove. Then I had to bounce to sell some boards.

(setup 8.75 null perception deck, venture 6.1 trucks, 54mm classic full 99a F4 lance green wheels, new balance numeric 255 b/w size 12, thin adidas rubbery insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After such a busy week of work I lounged in the morning. Add in a stye in my eye forcing me to wear contacts and I was pretty unmotivated. I had just about left to do a solo campus in the afternoon when Dave hit me up and we agreed on the mellow gunbarrel bank. We arrived at the same time, for some reason I was on my 8.75 setup. The board didn’t feel that huge, but the 54mm classic fulls felt huge. Pretty quickly we piled up the crate and tire for the added fun. Nothing came easy for me and I had a pretty bad slam right away trying to wallie over a little tire wedge. I had done a kickflip to fakie, front tail, front pivot on before trying kick back axle for like 30 minutes. It was so frustrating. In that time Dave did like 20 tricks like pivot shove fakie, both shove nose bashes, back tail on the tire and many more. I ended up giving up on the kickflip axle, did a no comply to tail, front smith and then took way too long to do front tail revert. Part of the issue was really old grip tape. Dave did a switch pivot! The insanity. Then pop shove noseslide, manual in, quick footed tire ride. He was ripping. I did the basic kickflips and added a f/s quarter cab flip on my last try before Dave had to leave. He ended on fakie flip. BOLTS! Can’t believe we skated there for so long, but that’s part of why I really enjoy skating with Dave. We just skate and feed off each other trying new things. It’s fun.

After that I went to a nearby ledge spot that looked pretty fun. I was beat, and frustrated to take like 20 tries to do a front 50. Then I went home.

(setup 8.75 null perception deck, venture 6.1 trucks, 54mm classic full 99a F4 lance green wheels, new balance numeric 255 b/w size 12, thin adidas rubbery insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After one of the busiest days at work I’ve ever had I went across the street and did about 10 minutes worth of slappies. Felt kinda nice, but man I was still so sore from a run the day before.

Well another morning I woke up 3 hours before I needed to be logged in for work. So I went skating. When I first arrived the other quiet guy was there, he was charging. I warmed up pretty well, the bigger setup felt heavy, but good. Other than what’s in the video I tried some front shove 50s on the cinder block ledge and didn’t get close. Had some 50s on other things. I lacked some confidence, but I skated pretty hard. Nothing in the clip came easy. The front slappies are really fun. I thought the crooks would look better than a quick jib. The line of boardslide then back 50 took way too long. The halfcab flip, front 50 line was followed by boardslide the barrier, back 5-0 the little pad, then bail nollie back tail the mini cinder block ledge. The no comply sex change took like 20 minutes. It was challenging, but fun. I wore a hole through my sole so new shoe blues next session.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.8 titanium hanger custom hollow cast baseplate, bones medium bushings, old 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic green/yellow swirl wheels, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After feeling tired and disoriented all day I skipped across the street shortly before sunset on my reassembled 8.3 setup. I did about 5 minutes worth of slappies then back to the original curb to try Dave’s latest challenge to me. Front shove axle stall nollie shove. I haven’t really tried front shove 50s like I should be so I was excited to try this. I got into a few, slammed a couple times and finally got one. I made a weak attempt to get a clean one, but called it a night (Dave’s back truck wasn’t on either so technically it was exactly what he did).

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.8 titanium hanger custom hollow cast baseplate, bones medium bushings, old 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic green/yellow swirl wheels, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Was hoping to avoid dog park a little this week, but I woke up early and the forecast said rain (it barely rained). I did alright. There were only a few things to take away from this session. First, low trucks mess with some tricks, but somehow I do appear to have better pop. I snapped over the mini cinder block ledge super easy which motivated me to try and finally get a clean ollie over the wallier barrier. It’s eluded me for a year. I’ve ollied it plenty of times with a slight bonk, but this was the first clean one. Felt pretty cool. Only other thing I remember was trying halfcab noseslide 270 shoves on the cinder block ledge and they felt doable even if I didn’t get close. Oh, and I struggled with the back 50 on the new pad again.

(setup  8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.2 awake low trucks custom hollow cast baseplate, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels with 3 speed washers on the inside, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5 with super thin adidas insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cool mothers day morning I went to dog park to meet more of an old guy crew. It was Dave L, Ed, Jake and me. We all arrived at basically the same time. Oh there was a brief appearance from Matt later on, but he was just on his cruiser and did a few 50s and that’s about it. Dave was warming up with his easy pop and natural style. 50s, manuals, switch ollies, he’s so good. Jake went in on back tails on the mini cinder block and got one. I had tried for a line way too long, but was happy to get it. Wallie, back 50 the low pad, front nosegrind 180 the mini cinder block ledge. I also got manual and nose manual going back on the pad. Ed looks good on a skateboard. He had some fast 50s and manuals, super sick feebles to fakie on the metal beam. Dave did a back nosegrind on the cinder block ledge. He wanted to try 180 out so we both tried our nosegrind 180s. He got pretty close going fast and traveling the whole ledge. I worked up the courage to commit to nosegrind 180 and once again got served. Ed was boardliding the parking blocks. Jake and I tried lines of noseslide to fakie the street bench then fakie front nose the cinder block ledge. Neither getting too close. I started having troubles with the nut falling off my front truck and luckily had an extra one in the car. I slappy crooked through one of the parking block cracks. Gotta got further though. Jake and I played a game of SKATE. It went well for me. He got me with frontside flip and something else. I got a defensive varial flip and a lot of my flip tricks that used to not be as rare. Halfcab flips both way, fakie bigflip, heelflip and got him out on a questionable treflip. I was happy to land it though. Everyone else left and I stayed for a bit just kinda posing tech tricks like kickflip noseslides and kick back tails. Also switch varial flips and switch front heels. Not close to either. Felt good to huck a bit at the end even if I was too tired to really commit. Fun session. I need to do more flippers.

(setup  8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.2 awake low trucks custom hollow cast baseplate, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels with 3 speed washers on the inside, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5 with super thin adidas insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Not feeling too good I got to the dog park way later than I was supposed to. I was supposed to meet Kevin and Sean. They were luckily still there when I arrived as well as Will, long hair Jake and many others. Carleigh and Sam would come later on. I wasn’t feeling great and it showed. I didn’t have much drive. Will got a nollie tre which was rad. Kevin was close to the back 180 fakie 5-0 180. Sean was slaying the style. He had a cool line of ollie over the barrier into the wedge then nosegrind up to 5-0 down the escalator ledge. He topped it off with a nice back heel. Kevin had a sick back 180 off the wedge over the barrier to switch no comply pole jam. I did the front nosegrind 180 on the low ledge pretty quick. Kevin convinced me to go try it with him on the taller ledge. He had a good slam and I was like “yes!” knowing he was okay and trying hard. I think it was on a different trick. I had committed to a couple nosegrind 180s and after Kevin did it really smooth I went in faster ready to ride away. Instead I got totally served and slammed hard to my left side. Kevin was of course quick with it and yelled “yes!” back at me. We laughed. Shortly later Sean would also slam and we yelled “yes!” at him too. I can’t imagine what non-skaters think of skaters when we do stuff like that. I tried wallie boardlides with Will for awhile and totally failed. Carleigh wallied the barrier easy, had some front 50s on the new pad, noseslide shoves super good. I sat for awhile then had the dumb idea to play SKATE with Sean and Kevin. Oh yeah, Mike had shown too and he played. It was a terrible game for me. I got letters on fakie flip, front shove, halfcab flip and a couple more tricks I can’t do. Mike had been ripping. Back smith on the street bench. Reminds me of Kevin’s line of crooks on the street bench then back 180 nosegrind the cinder block ledge. I left kinda down about my skating, but was feeling really run down so wasn’t too bummed.

(setup  8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.2 awake low trucks custom hollow cast baseplate, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels with 3 speed washers on the inside, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5)
(pain level 3/10)

After work on a nice Friday I rolled down to Wilville to meet Dave F and Carleigh. I arrived first and was warming up in the main area feeling really out of it. I had taken out the big washer to loosen up my trucks, but it made them way too loose. Another dude was in the area working on ollies and 180s. I don’t remember doing much of anything and even kickflips were a struggle. Carleigh and Dave showed at basically the same time. As did like 20 other dudes. We left them to the manny pad and hit the ledge and skinny bank area. We started by trying a flip trick then ride into the bank. Dave had kickflip easy. I tried to be cool with varial flip, but gave up and did kickflip. Carleigh worked her way up and dropped in. She had some nice kickflips. Then we lined the ledges. Carleigh had a rad front noseslide. Dave was looking like Chico starting lines with solid front shoves, boardslides, then was riding down the first skinny banks and trying to slide to fakie then ride down the second one fakie. So crazy. I did a tiny front board jib then ollied onto a ledge I’ve wanted to ollie onto for awhile. It did not come easy, but still felt cool. I came somewhat close to a line of fakie flip, halfcab flip, crooks, 360 flip. Dave almost front 50’d the narrow side. Then we went down to the rock area. I figured these guys would like it and they did. Both killed it. We started with drop in, worked up to the stairs and eventually all did some cool feeling lines. Carleigh ollied up the 2, ollied the 3s easy and even committed to a couple kickflips down the first 3. Dave did the a quick footed rollin, wallie, then ollied the 3s. I had ollie up the 2, heelflip, ollie the first 3, front 180 the second. It felt really neat, I was sketched by the first 3 so the 180 was a total huck and I was hyped to get lucky and roll away. Carleigh also did lines with the drop in then firecracker both sets of 3. Dave got a clean ollie up the first 3 and motivated me to get up it with the help of a little safety axle touch. I was still hyped though. Then we went to the round lurb. I was beat. Tried a couple 50s, but sat down. Carleigh got a 50 or two as well. Dave was charging and ollied on and rode around it. That was it for skating. Fun times keeping a distance with good friends.

(setup  8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.2 awake low trucks custom hollow cast baseplate, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels with 3 speed washers on the inside, new balance numeric 288s white/gum size 11.5, thin adidas insoles)
(pain level 4/10)