On a sunny day I went to Douglass running late as always. Kevin and Rob were there. Yes, Rob was there! So stoked to see him again. Carleigh, Dave L and Bernie would join us. Rob started out on the cruiser setup cruising around getting the feel for being on the board again. Kevin was doing lots of flippers and crooks. I was trying more flippers than normal too. At one point did a line with slow backside flip, switch 180 up the curb, heelflip, noseslide. I was struggling to get into crooks. Actually, the ledges felt huge the whole time. I would only get noseslides, a little crook and ollie onto one. Dave L and Kevin popped over the little wall like it was nothing. Dave manualled a bench, had some front 50s, back 50 I think. Kevin had good back 50s, back tail, lots of wallies. I didn’t see Bernie hit the ledges much, but he had some good manuals and flippers. Carleigh had a lot of good kickflips. I guess I was kinda unaware of what else was going on as I was bumming pretty hard on my skating. Rob broke out the regular board and treated us to a patented Rob back 180. Also some ollies, no complies, etc. Kevin, Bernie and I got into a treflip battle. Kevin’s was switch, but we’ll just ignore that. Bernie got his first. Kevin landed on lots several switch tres, but never rode away. I couldn’t even get close to treflip and it was infuriating. I had made a goal of ‘a tre a day’ during my furlough. Kevin did a quick nollie tre and reminded me that I didn’t specify which tre. So I tried nollie tres for awhile and after about 15 tries landed a terrible one. It did make me feel decent though. Bernie and Kevin were the last men standing trying flippers. Back to back hardflips! Back heels, frontside flips. The dudes were ripping.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate hollow axle, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 51mm radial slim 101a, new balance numeric foy 306 size 12 blue, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a busy last day of work for 3 weeks I met the Dave’s in Gunbarrel after some dinner. We got booted from the mellow bank immediately. The ledge area was supposedly covered in water/gravel. We ended up at the weird spot in the clip. It’s hard to describe it so I’m glad I got a clip of them. Warming up was not fun. We did a lot of the mellow bank to step action. You have to throw down just right and be ready for the curb coming up quick. Dave F did both back and front pivots to shove/body varials out. I got a front tail shove that took awhile. Dave L did back tail and back tail to back tail on the side of the step. Dave L was the first to pop over the step both ways, actually the only. I managed to ollie the little part into the bank, but it wasn’t easy. Dave F did some cool Chico like lines, bonk into the pad, front shove, front board transfer into the bank. Also switch bonk, fakie big, front disaster 180 into the bank. I did a few kickflips into the pad which were harder than I had hoped for. There isn’t much setup and going over the crack is weird. They felt good though. I didn’t get a treflip, but luckily it wasn’t the official start of my challenge since I still worked today. I took a long time to do a front tail on the side of the step into the steep bank. I didn’t make it passed the crack. Doh. Dave F did it pretty easily backside. He also slammed incredibly hard trying a pivot on the side of the step. Dave L was doing crazy ollies sideways onto the step and then into the bank. Then they both got into the fastplant groove. It took them like 20 tries to be happy with it. Ha ha. Fun night though considering how tired and cranky I was.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 51mm radial slim 101a, new balance numeric foy 306 size 12 blue, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a rainy night I went out into the garage after making yet another setup change. I had given Ollie the Enjoi board since I disliked it so much and assembled an old 8.3 deck with razor tail. I liked it though. I took a bit to get going. Did kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip before setting into a rotation of 3 tricks. Varial heel, treflip and a random one to keep me interested. For awhile it was nollie flips and I got very close. I never landed a varial heel, but I was incredibly close. I got a couple bad treflips. Not really too close on other flippers, but it was a fun night.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 3 washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 51mm radial slim 101a, new balance numeric foy 306 size 12 blue, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10 getting sick of vulcs hoping these die soon)

On a warm night I met up with Sean, Kevin, Carleigh, Mike, Dave L. Darin and crew were there too. I had of course put some high trucks on after Sunday’s performance. I tried the 5.8s. They felt super stiff and terrible from the start. I tried to warm up for a bit, then was trying a noseslide on the brown ledge and slammed incredibly hard. Hard enough that people got my board and asked if I was okay rather than laugh. It took me awhile to recover from that. Mike was ripping, flying everywhere. Kevin too, he was adding in Janoski flips. Sean was mostly on the flip trick tip. His back heels rule. Dave was keeping it low key with little manuals and transfers onto the brown ledge. I got things somewhat into gear by doing some flip tricks even though they were not working well. Skated the black ledge briefly, had crooks and front 50. Mike did kick back tail. Sean did nollie back nosegrind shove. Carleigh showed and went in on disasters right away. She would get both. Also some good board slides and ollies into the bank. I had basically given up on my session and just tried halfcab crooks on the little blue ledge for awhile. I got one! Justin was there ripping. Dave had some really cool manual lines. I don’t remember a whole lot of what others were doing because it was weird being at a crowded skatepark again. I don’t think I’ll ever buy a non-Geneartor board again. I hate that Enjoi so much. Gonna give it to Ollie.

(setup 8.25 Enjoi Wallin deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 custom hollow cast baseplate titanium hanger, spitfire 51mm 101a f4 radial slims, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 4/10 – since I slammed right away it kinda ruined me)

A little after 9am on a Sunday I went over to the school as Dave F said he was gonna be there with a friend. Tony. He was cool. Total surfy style going fast on slappies. I had a new board and wheels – Enjoi Wallin deck with Franky Villani graphics and Spitfire F4 51mm radial slims. It’s crazy how good the F4s felt compared to what I’ve had recently (blanks and classic formula). Those guys were already warmed up and trying feebles on the double sided curb. Dave had a nice front board. Tony did a rad noseslide over the drainage hole. I had some okay slappies. I had put the lows on again with a riser. They flipped nice. After awhile we were mostly at the hook area. Dave and Tony were doing amazing noseslides through it. I slowly worked up to some front slappies through it and they were so incredibly fun. Tony ollied the gap to the sidewalk a few times. Dave would end up doing a no comply over it. I was trying to line out, flip trick, slappy, gap. I got halfcab flip then front slappy, but missed the ollie. Then I did one of the best fakie bigflips I’ve done in awhile, got a questionable front slappy and missed the ollie again. Then I took awhile to do a switch front 180 up the curb cut then kickflip off, missed the front slappy but still rode away then tried a no comply flip over the gap, but didn’t get it. Fun morning.

Then I met up with Garrett and Jack and we met up with JJ, Sean, Jeff, Ryan, Cass, Ted, Joe, Brian and probably more I’m forgetting. We went to that new ledge school on Tejon. Well, the old school with the knobbed rail that now has tons of ledges. People were hitting the ledge over the gravel gap. I felt very out of place, and failed at noseslides forever. Jack casually did front tail front heel and back lip shove. Sean did a bunch of front tail variations, but not the one he wanted. Garrett did crooks and crooks fakie quick, but no halfcab noseslide nollie flip. JJ tried to run into the wall. Jeff did nose manual nollie flip and a textbook switch tre. Man it ruled seeing Jeff skate again. Joe did the slowest and most chill back 50 ever. It made me jealous.

Then we went down the block to skate a bank to rail. But Ted and I got distracted by this and stayed there for awhile. Okay a long while. I never got the boardslide, I was skating so timidly. Ted front 50’d it. Cass joined after awhile and got close to the boardslide, but like me struggled with how inconsistent that side was. Jeff would show up and front 50 it casually. Then Brian showed up who I haven’t seen in forever. He looked as good as ever on the board even though he apparently hasn’t been skating at all. He front 50’d it then went on to front 50 to front board like Ted did.

Last we went to the steep stadium bank. I dropped in once or twice near the top then Garrett was ready to go so I started filming. It took awhile but he got a Janoski flip! It was sick. Joe and Brian tried some tricks too, but never got their feet on them. That was the day. I felt terrible after, I guess the heat got to me. Argh.

(setup 8.25 enjoy wallin, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, 1/8″ riser, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm spitfire f4 radial slims 101a wheels, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a hot day I was late to dog park. Jake, Bernie and Kevin were already there. After some chatting we played a couple game of SKATE. I hadn’t even done an ollie yet so that was a tough start. Kevin did his nollie flips/switch flips and that game was over quick. Next game was no repeats. I don’t remember many of the tricks, but know that I got out on a Jake 3 flip. Carleigh and Dave had shown by then. Dave was hitting the weird U pipe thing. Ollie up then feeble to fakie. Carleigh was tending to Ella for awhile then got in on some boardslides and front 50s. Then her cousin showed and she mostly skated flat after that and helped her ollie. I saw Carleigh get varial flip and halfcab flip. Then we mostly skated the ledges. At times the park was totally awesome with such a great positive vibe. Maybe it was just hearing Bernie’s laugh making everyone happy. Kevin and Bernie were feeding off each other trying lines with kick back tails. Jake and I were less tech. I beat Jake to ollie the little metal ledge then crooks the tall ledge. Jake got front 180 the metal ledge then halfcab noseslide the tall ledge first try. It took me quite a few tries. Kevin was rattling off tricks. I got into a rut of trying a line of switch noseslide 270 the new black box then front 50 kickflip out the low step. I would get close, but never rode away from the flip out. Dave was ripping. Halfcab noseslide 270 out (over 50 makes!), feebles the flat bar, nose manuals when it was raining, switch crook, crooks fakie and a bunch of nosegrinds. He hyped me to try halfcab noseslide 270 shove and there were a few that felt super close and possible. That hyped me up. I also got a sketchy f/s halfcab heel, but couldn’t get a treflip to make the day complete. Kevin almost got switch 5-0 shove. Bernie did a first try front 270 tail 270 out. Fun day, that park is the best even when some weird crew shows up with more filmers than skaters.

(setup 8.25 null curby, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 53mm blank purple swirl wheels, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a hot afternoon after work I went to Wilville in hopes of shade and ended up at the tall flagstone bench /3 stair area. I messed around for a bit. Didn’t commit to the ollie up the 3 stair, didn’t commit to 3 flip over the manhole. Then I found a mini bump and went in on varial heels. Probably tried for about 45 minutes. I got a couple with my hands down and came to a complete halt. Then one where I came to a halt, but no hands down. So I guess technically it’s a make, but I can’t count that for the challenge. Then I went back and met Dave L and Saul at the school and did a couple slappies then tried boardslides on the upper section for awhile. Saul was getting into feebles and had his great slappies on the regular section. Dave had some good front board pop outs and one really bad slam. Then almost nollie front lip to nose manual. Some cool nollie 180s into the little bank too. TGIF.

(setup 8.25 null curby, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 53mm blank purple swirl wheels, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Woke up early and still depressed about skateboarding I figured I’d get it over with while I was still in a good mood.  I had the park to myself for awhile.  I was skating okay.  I had brought out my 8.25 setup since I ended my 8.3 and 8.5 is too big for me.  I had done a few basics, was feeling okay when the low trucks started to get to me.  50’d a few things, back 50 the little thing, kinda ollie the wallie thing. A self hyping bro showed up and was killing it.  Not what I needed in the morning.  I needed to get to work so I tried switch front nose shoves for a bit.  Kinda got one.

(setup 8.25 null curby, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, 3 washers inside each axle, 53mm blank purple swirl wheels, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom insoles)
(pain level 1/10)

After work I should have gone to Saul’s, but instead I took a long nap. After dinner I had some energy and made a goal of doing 15 flip tricks with the reward of a tasty IPA from Holidaily. It took me about an hour and a half, but I did it! Here’s the list.

Kickflip – after a brief warm up this was first try
Fakie flip – first try
Varial flip – took awhile, put my board normal instead of backwards and got it the next try.
Fakie varial flip – took forever! I almost gave up
Halfcab flip – a few tries
Heelflip – a few tries
Fakie bigflip – a few tries
Backside flip – few tries
360 flip – this made me happy to get in only a few tries
Fs halfcab flip – took quite awhile
Sex change – took awhile
Fs halfcab heel – not too long
Halfcab heel – took awhile, but when i landed it i was very happy
Fakie heel – by this point I was really tired. this took about 10 tries and I was very relieved to land it.
Fs flip – I tried nollie tre for awhile, but it took a lot of energy. Heelflip sex change, Rick flips too. But in the end I went for what was easiest because I was so tired. It wasn’t pretty, but it would count against Jake on defense ha ha.

(setup 8.25 null curby, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 53mm blank purple swirl wheels, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

After work I went across the street to the shaded alley for a short one.  But it would be much shorter than I had hoped.  Warming up did not go well. I tried a simple warm up run of pop shove then front pop shove and it took like 10 tries. Next the kickflip, no comply 180, fakie flip took forever.  I couldn’t halfcab flip either.  About the only saving grace was getting a few backside flips.  I almost rolled my ankle on a varial heel.  Got a huge flat spot back 180’ing the manhole.  Then I’m not even sure which trick, but I focused my board before I even knew what I was doing.  I didn’t even get angry.  I just sat down and looked at my phone for awhile before walking home.  I really wanted to like those orange/blue wheels, but they are huge and I think the massive flat spot will be enough to get rid of them.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle, 53mm spitfire classics blue/orange, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went to meet Dave at this ledge around 7. I arrived first and started at the nearby bank. I slammed on a rock on my first roll up, did a few nollie/fakie shoves and Dave showed. We went right to the ledge. Dave slammed on a rock right away. Dang the streets was trying to take us out. Warming up was not easy, but I was on a smaller board and determined to start my flip trick resurgence. It actually went pretty well as I did tricks after warm up tricks like noseslide (kickflip after ), noseslide to fakie (fakie flip after), switch front nose (halfcab flip), crooks (almost heelflip). I didn’t really get any more flippers although I was close to treflip. The ledge is taller than it looks, the manny pad way harder to hit than it looks. Dave had put some wood on the stairs as a way to get speed for the manny pad. He was doing lines from the ledge, turn on the stairs, up the manny pad, then the ledge again. He had a full pull or two. I think switch noseslide 270 shove, frontside kickturn the stairs, ollie up, nollie off, crooks to fakie the ledge. Bangin! He also had one with a front 180 off and halfcab noseslide. He did some solid front 50s and front 50 180 too. My ledge game was okay for me although lots of tricks were done with very little speed as I was so tired for some reason. I was happy to get a few back 50s and was somewhat close to shove out. I came remotely close to manual, close to kickflip off. My legs were done when it started to get dark and I struggled with halfcab noseslides. Dave did a bunch of really fast noseslides to end it. Fun times, would be more fun with more energy.

(setup 8.3 null collage deck, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle, 53mm spitfire classics blue/orange, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)