On a cold feeling night Jake and I rolled to Broomfield around 7. To our surprise the park was popping off. Lots of people, everyone skating. Although the crowds would dwindle down quickly. We warmed up in our own ways with. Jake was on front 50s on the black box quickly. I tried to copy his line, but wasn’t ready to ollie that high. He was doing wallrides on the steep bank after then trying nollie front 180 over the parking block. I knew it was going to be a special night when I got a first try fakie flip in a good run for me. Switch front nose the black ledge, fakie flip, halfcab noseslide up the escalator ledge, nollie back tail the blue ledge. Shortly after that I would get a full pull line too. Boardslide the tiny rail, crooks the black ledge, switch noseslide 270 shove black ledge, front shove out of the bank. Jake did a lot of tricks. He had a line of front tail the black ledge then noseslide the bump to bar. Ollie the little rail into the bank, front 5-0 the brick qp, front 180 out of the steep bank to flat. At some point I got a similar line. Switch front 180 into the bank, quick little scratch grind, sketchy 90 turned 180 out of the bank. I went through a dry period for awhile. Jake racked up a lot of tricks on the ledge. Crooks, halfcab noseslide, Joe H, front 5-0. I would eventually get a super slow back 50 on the black ledge which has been a long time. Near the end I tried a million fakie nosegrinds and couldn’t get it. Jake had an amazing line of front tail to fakie, fakie flip, front 180 nosegrind. Wow. I tried to get his back, but didn’t. He messed around with some “basic” tricks for him like blunt to fakie on the qpotty. I ended up giving up and just did a fakie 50 on it. I also spent a long time getting a fakie flip out of the bank. When I finally rode away it felt so easy. Argh. I wanted a treflip ender, but wasn’t even close. Fun day. We skated hard. I do wish I would have had better luck with frontside grinds. They were a total struggle.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, venom 88a bushings, 51mm spitfire radial slim 101a, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Went out to the garage after a very long and busy day of work feeling pretty exhausted. I had thought about switch b/s flips. I did some warming up. Then hucked nollie front heel and halfcab heel for a while. Never got close to either. Then I went in on switch b/s flips for about 5 minutes. None were close.

etup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, venom 88a bushings, 51mm spitfire radial slim 101a, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Went out to the garage motivated to land a new trick. I started with a typical warm up and did a few kickflips before trying new stuff. Nollie flip, switch flip, switch heel, nollie varial flip revert, fakie geto bird. Nothing worked. Tried to just get a nollie varial flip and couldn’t do that either. Argh. I tried a few treflips in between stuff and couldn’t land one. I did get a rare 360 shove at least. Then I got really desperate for a new trick and started trying fakie heelflip body varial. I was pretty close, but could not get it. I eventually became too tired and gave up defeated, although happy I tried hard.

setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, venom 88a bushings, 51mm spitfire radial slim 101a, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, es footwear memory foam insole then back to the nike sb zoom air which is so much better)
(pain level 3/10)

After a day of not being able to flip my board I went into the garage with my 8.25 setup and ended up landing a lot of tricks. Kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, fake heelflip, f/s halfcab heel (first try!), b/s halfcab heel, halfcab flip, b/s flip.  I had tried several others. Didn’t get treflip, switch flip, switch heel or nollie flip. Got an over 60 defensive frontside flip. It was fun. Made me want an even smaller setup.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, venom 91a bushings, 51mm spitfire radial slim 101a, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, es footwear memory foam insole)
(pain level 3/10)

On a cool morning I picked up Kevin and then we headed off to the new little Paco Sanchez park.  After being confused by parking because of the covid testing we walked up to a somewhat crowded park.  I was feeling very out of it.  I had tried some rubbery Lakai insoles in hopes of there being less pain.  It’s possible, but I also sucked so it wasn’t worth it.  There were a few dudes there ripping.  One dude TJ in particular.  Super fast grinds and slides.  Kevin hadn’t been to that park before.  He didn’t take long to rip.  Nosegrinds, lipslides on the flatbar, smiths, back 5-0s, basics, but done so well.  I took a bit to even be able to front 50. I really didn’t do much of anything.  Kevin suggested I do a halfcab noseslide on the flat bar since it was so wide.  Having never done one on a flat bar before I agreed.  And several tries later I did the shortest one imaginable.  Jack had shown.  He was being pretty low key.  But of course did a manual up fakie manual down the MJ ledge like it was nothing then a few minutes later casually did a bigspin front blunt on the flat bar.  He may have also done back 270 lip.  We left and went to West High where we all basically tried the same few tricks over and over for hours.  Kevin probably did the most tricks feeling out what he wanted to get for a line.  Jack was pretty much right in for noseslide nollie heel out the top tier right away.  He would get one quickly.  But then not another one.  Kevin and Jack suggested I try slappy crooks the ledge.  I have never done it on a ledge before, but it worked!  I mean it took a few tries, but eventually I was doing them pretty consistently and they felt magical.  I tried to back it up with a kick back 50 which I would only get into a couple of times, but never land.  I was really hating how slow the wider board was flipping.  Kevin was trying bluntslide, but that didn’t work so started trying fakie nosegrind 180 to begin the line.  He would get a bunch of those, but then rolled his ankle on a back 5-0 front shove out attempt.  Ouch.  And yet, somehow he kept going!  He defied all odds and skated for quite a while, but just couldn’t get the line.  I had moved on to fakie nosegrind which I didn’t like anyway then switch front nose 270 out.  I got the line.  I was happy with it.  Wished it had been the kick back 50 though.  Oh well, I’m not perfect.  Chad had met up with us briefly with a friend Jake.  They were cool.  All in all it was a fun day taking turns filming each other and everyone skating hard.  Bummed Kevin came up short.  But man slappy crooks on a ledge is a magical feeling.  Oh I forgot before leaving I also did the little granite window sill crook which was pretty fun.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium hanger with cast baseplate, venom 88a bushings flat boardside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, rubbery lakai insoles at the park then nike sb zoom air insoles at the school)
(pain level 3/10)

Went out to the garage after work on a cold day. I warmed up slowly, took a bit to get a kickflip, got fakie flip quick. Couldn’t get a b/s flip, but got a halfcab flip first try. Couldn’t get a heelflip on the putter or my regular board. Then I randomly hucked switch varial heels. None were close although they kind of make sense. Got close to nollie varial flip and then couldn’t get close which cemented the bum out. No go on treflips or switch flips either. Made me question skateboarding. I definitely do not like the thicker insoles as much even though I have less pain.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium hanger with cast baseplate, venom 88a bushings flat boardside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, nb# abzorb insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

I haven’t posted a ‘best part of the week’ in a while. This is partly because nothing has really stood out to me and partly because a single PJ instagram story is better. Anyway, Dilo rips. He is refreshingly unique without being contrived. And man he has pop. It’s unfortunate he chose such a terrible song though, because this could be part of the year had it been edited to a decent song.

As I was finishing up work I got a text from Dave saying he was across the street. At first I wasn’t into the idea, but then considered how lazy I was and thought it was a good idea. There was a crazy plume of smoke coming from the nearby wildfire. I started pretty bad though not being able to front shove off the curb. Front slappies made up for it though they were feeling great. Dave started with a perfect slappy front crooks to fakie. I have only seen him do that once or twice before and he was doing a bunch of them. Also front 50 180s off the curb cut, super long slappy crooks, etc. Jake and Saul showed. Saul went right in to some great slappies everywhere. Painted or not. Jake and Dave did slappy crooks shove. I couldn’t quite get slappy front feeble. Jake challenged me to a game of SKATE. He went for double or nothing on fakie flip and was at SK quick. A heelflip and b/s flip later and he was at SKAT. I forget the trick I won with, but Jake was really not stoked. Ha. I guess it was a good reminder to me how that extra 1/8″ wheelbase on the 8.5″ makes things way harder. Alex was there. He did varial heel and treflip. Pretty rad. Jake, Dave and I played another game. It was a really long one. We landed on tricks a lot, but didn’t ride away. Jake got a f/s flip and Dave got a pretty epic make (I didn’t ). I spent a lot of my tries trying treflip and was very close on most, but couldn’t get it. I had gotten letters on fakie shove body varial from Dave, f/s flip from Jake and a couple more. I was hyped to get a helipop. Dave won the game on a fakie sex change. I was close to getting it 2nd try, but didn’t. Jake left after that. Dave and I skated the last remaining light away. He did front 5-0 shove a couple times. I tried a bunch of switch flips and did a new curb trick – slappy nosegrind to disaster. I suppose the term nosegrind is a stretch, but it felt cool anyway.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium hanger with cast baseplate, venom 88a bushings flat boardside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, nb# abzorb insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

I met with Sean at Broomfield park around 4:30. Kevin and Darin and others would show in an hour or so. I had put softer bushings in for my change of the day. Overall I liked it, but it did take some getting used to. After some warming up Sean and I played a game of SKATE. It was another game where I got pink slipped. I don’t remember the tricks, but it wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Sean just landed some good tricks quickly. Then we hit the black ledge. Sean of course flew through his routine. Surprisingly I got on almost all front 50 attempts. I had some good crooks. I even lined some stuff out with a b/s flip out of the bank, boardslide down the little rail first try. I was feeling alright. Kevin showed and Darin too. Around then Kevin, Sean and I got stuck trying treflips because Sean wanted to learn relearn. I would get the first one, but it wasn’t very good. Kevin and Sean got fakie tres. I got a nollie tre that made me feel even better. Kevin and Sean got regular tres. Kevin went on to get nollie and switch too. All 4 tres! I came incredibly close to fakie tre. But then we moved on. We were at the manny pad for a while. Darin did bluntslide as Sean nose manualled it. Sean had a crazy line of front 180 the double set then fakie manual the manny pad. Kevin switch nose mannied it easy. After a while Kevin and Sean left. I tried some qp lines with Darin. He did back tail then back tail fakie. I did a few fakie pivots to fakie followed by some halfcab heel noseslide hucks. Most of which were not close at all. I came incredibly close to a switch flip. 303’s ‘Bama showed. It’s fun seeing shop dudes skate and rip. He is one of those dudes that goes for it on every try. Fun night.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium hanger with cast baseplate, venom 88a bushings flat boardside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cold morning with drizzle I was up early and feeling alright. I wanted to skate some flatground so I went into the garage. I listened to Psychic Flowers then Fluung on the old boombox. I took a bit before I would even consider a flip trick. And once I did it took like 10 tries to land a kickflip. Ugh. Although after that I did get my 5 in a row. Fakie flip first try. B/s flip took a bit. Heelflip even longer. Then I hucked back heel for and had a couple close one. Hucked switch heel and switch flip for awhile without being close. Nollie flips were the lat huck and they were close. I didn’t get my feet on one, but they were right there on a few.

Later on I went to the same school as the day before with and obsession of linking the new ledge to the flagstone bench. It took some effort and was a mental challenge to overcome the pain I was in to try the front 50. But I would eventually get a few of them, but my legs were shot and I would splat the 4 stair landing. Argh. I mixed in a few crooks here and there, but mostly did front 50s to start the line. The ledge is much harder to hit than it looks. The approach is uphill both sides and it’s a narrow sidewalk. I would eventually get the line though. I was gonna leave, but decided to document the pieces of it for my adoring journal fans. I would love to get more comfortable ollieing onto that bench and nose manual it. But for now just ollieing onto it was very scary to me. I have a fear of hanging up on ledges that aren’t long. Oh well, it was a fun day. I look forward to skating in less pain. Hopefully soon.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium with cast baseplate, stock bushings no big washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 6/10)