After a slow morning with some naps and not feeling great I ended up meeting Dave up on the hill. The brand new #calwoodfire was raging and it felt like we were skating in the apocalypse. I was very disoriented and sore for the start of the session and well, most of the day. Arthritis aint fun. It’s funny we basically did stalls on the curb for an hour or so. Dave did a bunch of 50 shove variations. I did a front tail shove. Dave did a first try switch nosepick. Doesn’t seem so crazy, but it is. I did the rock shove, fakie bigspin, ollie the 4 stair then went for the flagstone bench, but my legs weren’t up for it. Dave did the switch nosepick 270 (he can just learn tricks like this in a matter of a few tries), front shove, ollie the 4, front board the bench. The 4 stair is a weird one to ollie and took both of us a few tries. It felt cool though.

After that we went down to the school below. We messed around with some cali grinds, tricks into the grass. Dave did a much better shove into the grass that I missed. He also kickflipped in. I messed around on the double benches for a while. Boardslides and crooks weren’t working and I felt so sore and awkward on my skateboard. Then I started hucking backside flips off one of the ledges. It was fun, I had to swerve around a crack to get on it. It took a long time, but I did get one and it put a smile on my face.

Next up we went to the ol’ hip into grass hill spot. I was so ridiculously sore at this point I just watched Dave rule it with a line riding down the stairs, avoid the rail and bluntslide the hip into the grass hill bomb. After that we skated flatground in the basketball court. I didn’t think I would be able to after my first nollie shove attempt, but I stuck with it and would actually land some decent flippers for me. Kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, halfcab flip, f/s halfcab flip, 360 flip, fakie bigflip. Dave had a sick line of kickflip, nollie back bigspin, fakie sex change. Unreal. He also had fakie varial flip, halfcab flip, regular sex change, a super popped nollie front 180 and much more. He also came incredibly close to switch heels. Seriously so close!

Last we checked out the plastic pool cover on the hill for a quick one. Dave front 50’d it and I crooked it. I’m glad I ended up skating.

(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 7/10 almost unbearable at times. good thing i’m stubborn)

On a very nice day Jake and I rolled to Westy park. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there. We rolled around briefly then I saw Jake do a line of f/s halfcab on flat, boardslide the flat bar then ollie the euro. Seemed like a fun warm up line to me and I got it a few tries later. Then Jake asked what was next. I went for kickflip on flat, axle stall the quarterpipe on top of the bank, then ollie the 4 stair. Initially I wanted to boardslide the ledge off the 4 stair, but that seemed hard so early on and we just ollied down it. Jake beat me by a few tries. Then it was hit turn and he came up with a really fun one. Front 180 up the euro, fakie flip on flat, halfcab boardslide the flat bar. This one took us a while. Jake had gotten it, but had a real quick pro push on the fakie flip. I got it within a few tries of him getting a clean version of the line. My halfcab boardslide was super bad, but counted. I barely had the front truck over the rail. Next up I set with b/s kickflip below the euro, boneless over the rail, crooks on the ledge. Jake would get it first. He had struggled with the backside flip and when he finally ‘got it’, he held onto the rest of the line for dear life. Ha ha. I would get it right after him I think, back to back. Next line Jake picked. Noseslide to fakie the concrete ledge in the middle of the park, halfcab on flat, front tail the ledge which is an extension in the bowl. We both got that one a couple times in various levels of cleanliness. Next up I set with pop shove on flat, front 50 the bump to ledge, then drop down and 180 off the next level. It took us some figuring out how to get the 50 out of the weird bump and then how to land it and be able to quickly ride off the ledge down to the next level. Jake improvised with boneless a couple times until a sketchy foot placement almost left him for dead. We would both get it and wow was it a fun and rewarding feeling. After that we played with some front 50s the long hubba. Jake got a little closer, but had a pretty bad bail. I was going oh so slow and only got up on it a couple of times.

We went to Lafayette after that and didn’t even get out of the car as it was totally packed with scooter kids. Then we went to Saul’s. The smoke had moved in and it was snowing ash. It was crazy. Saul had several of his patented amazing quick carve grind lines. Jake had a line with lien to tail over the hip and some additional radness. I was super sore and could barely carve around, but had a few fun scratch grinds and 50s. I ended with a non-decked front rock that somehow hurt my knee even more. Argh. We sat and chilled and had some good laughs.

(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 288S maroon size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10 initially then 6/10 at Saul’s)

On the way home from my mom’s I stopped at the Leadville park. There was only one other dude there, but he had his wife and 3 kids and they managed to hog the park well. Like the wife would sit on a ledge to film him, the youngest kids would climb on something and then an older one would scooter or skate around. I thought they were nice at least, until the dude literally started trying whatever I was trying. That’s when I got annoyed. Well I guess I was already annoyed. I had felt good playing disk golf with my brother earlier in the morning, but as soon as I stepped out of the car to skate my right knee felt terrible. It’s that lovely arthritic pain that comes with wind and cold. Ugh. I had changed my setup on the road too. I swapped out the Thunder 151s for Venture 6.1s. Not necessarily by choice, but I wasn’t feeling the Thunders and I used some old 5.8 Ventures as completes for my brothers kids. The first few ollies felt so solid it was crazy the difference in pop. That didn’t equate to good skating though. I had a couple kickflips on the hump, noseslide and noseslide to fakie the bump to ledge, almost nose manual the curb. Was trying a line of ollie to fakie on a bank, halfcab noseslide the little ledge then crooks the bump to ledge. But I never got the crook. I may have settled for noseslide. The 6.1s felt very heavy. I tried to do switch 180 down the drop up top then ollie up, but couldn’t get the ollie up. This is when daddy hero came over and did halfcabs down it. I suggested he had to get the ollie up to make it count so of course he did that first try and looked at me confused that I couldn’t do it. Sorry dude I’m 20 years older and my arthritis has my knee all locked up. This session was one of those ‘maybe I don’t really like this park that much after all’ sessions. I rolled around aimlessly for awhile then got back on the road.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 6.1 stock bushings, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, all washers on the outside of the wheels, new balance numeric 288S maroon size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 5/10 arthritis sucks and takes away any confidence)

Steve was doing a little shopping after we played a round of disk golf so I ran over to the park and skated for a bit. They have added some concrete to make the flow a little better and some room for flatground. There is also a wood manny pad and miniramp now. I basically just posed noseslides down the hubba (only committed twice) and tried halfcab flips on the bank. I got neither. I did have some fun back 50s on the qps. Steve joined after a bit and had fun carving around. Then we left.

Later in the day I had to run an errand and decided I’d skated the miniramp for 10 minutes. It was a really weird ramp. Plywood surface and coping that sticks out with cracks between sections. I took a while to get a few of the basics like fakie back smith fakie and front disaster then I split.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder 151 hollow light, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, all washers on the outside of the wheels, new balance numeric 288S maroon size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On the way to my mom’s in BV Steve and I hit the Frisco park. He doesn’t skate anymore really. He wanted to check out the bike park, but it was closed and a bit snowy. The moonscape of the skatepark is appealing to people that don’t skate much so he was down to check it out. We did hit the moonscape area some, but there was snow in the shady sides limiting things quite a bit. And most of it was too gnarly for my brother (and me). The skatepark was mostly empty. It was awesome. Steve would take breaks often and I skated quite a bit. I skated my 8.3 setup with the Thunder 151s. I ended up not liking it so much. Argh. It had weird crooks and I still struggled to pop onto ledges. I didn’t get kickflip to fakie on the bank, but did have some fun backside kickflips. I got the down rail first and every try. It’s tiny, but still fun. I did the front shove in a few tries, it was fun. Oh yeah I had new shoes. NB# 288s. They felt decent. Steve was having fun with the little early grabs. He had a couple sketchy bails, almost got a boardslide on the end of the flat bar. He had fun. I was hyped to get to skate. Right after the park Steve had to run some errands so I tried some flippers in the parking lot at Copper. I had locked up with soreness so just hucked back heels and switch bs flips. I wasn’t close to either, but it was fun trying.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder 151 hollow light, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, all washers on the outside of the wheels, new balance numeric 288S maroon size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

And when I say brief, I mean real brief. I skated for about 20 minutes. It was mostly a session to see which shoes and setup I would want to skate next. I did one kickflip and several switch flip attempts. They felt best on the 8.3. I wore some old adidas 3st.003s.

On a warm day we gathered at dog park. For some reason lately on Saturdays I wake up without much desire to skate. This would be the same. I need to figure out why it keeps happening to me. I had a new pair of 212s, they felt large and weird. Rob and Eric were already there. I saw Rob get a nice back 50 back 180 and Eric heelflip a parking block before I had even stepped on the board. Sean, Bernie, Kevin would join shortly. Kevin and I played a game of SKATE. He had a new board, different trucks and new wheels. I had new shoes. I got him to SKA on kickflip, fakie flip and something else. Then he got his switch flip, nollie flip, janoski flip, switch front shove and something else to get me out. I was so bummed to get a letter on halfcab flip yet again. Shortly after that I would bail a front 50 or something and scream and throw my board. After that I just chilled for the most part did tricks that didn’t involve much ollieing. Jack had shown and tried a bunch of no comply flip 5-0s. Rob front boarded the tall bench and the tall part of the weird obstacle. Kevin did a no push line of back 5-0 the black ledge, front nosegrind the 2 step, back tail the tall part of the weird one. Sean ripped as he does. Eric had lipslides, wallie 180s, maybe a nosegrind, crooks, lots of charging. Bernie was adjusting to some new Venture lows (jealous) and still ripping. Near the end we all started hucking dream tech tricks on the black box. Rob was going kick front board, I was trying halfcab heel noseslide, Jack was trying Rick flip back tail, Kevin switch flip switch front nose, Bernie hardflip front nose, Sean and Eric were in it too, but I forget what they were trying. Jack and Kevin got into their tricks. Bernie and I got close. My mood would have changed drastically had I landed that. It felt good to huck and even commit to a few.

After some spot lurking we ended up at St Julien. Jack couldn’t get his mind into trying his trick. Joe had joined us. Most were trying fakie varial heels on flat. After Jack gave up I went and played Rick flips with Bernie. He got a couple, I kind of got one.

Next we went to Howard Huston. The struggle was real. Jack put an end to his beat deck after an awkward slam. Kevin was motivated to line out to a front blunt, but getting there was a battle. The front 5-0 shoves were sick. Sean had easy 50s, but mostly chilled. Bernie had a couple tails, noseslides, maybe a 50 or two. I couldn’t 50 the ledge to save my life. My legs were so sore from skating so much, but I was too dumb to stop. I did at least have some really fun crooks. Ventures pinch the crooks so well. Joe went off. Front 5-0, heelflip, hardflip front nose. He actually did like 7 hardflip front noses as he was trying to get into front crooks. He would prevail with a really good one. Bernie and I had made the silly decision to play a game of SKATE. It almost ruined me. I couldn’t land much of anything. I was hoping Bernie would land anything to get me out. I got a very defensive fakie heel. But ended up losing on something like cab flip? I don’t even remember. Ha. Long day. Tough day. Skateboarding is not easy. At least we had good company.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, venom 91a bushings with roadside washer, 51mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

TGIF session at Broomfield. I arrived to a crowded park at the same time as Jake, Sean had been there. There were a lot of younger kids skating which was good to see. The quartapotty was crowded so Jake and I had to warm up elsewhere. We did the bump to bar boardslides and some basics on the black ledge. Sean was already past the tailslides and onto nosegrinds. Jake and I did the down rail which was our first time in long time. It felt cool. I had some decent feeling crooks on the black ledge, struggled with some front 50s. Oh yeah, I wore some other shoes since my 212s had died. They were some 379s which I had worn a couple times before and stopped because they hurt. This would be no different. After a while we played on the quartapotty then blue ledge. I had a goal of fakie 50 b/s halfcab out. I would get one in a line with a fakie pivot to fakie. It felt good. Jake got the same line too I think. Sean worked on nollie front 50 180. I also got a line of fakie front smith to fakie (been a long time) and fakie nosegrind. I had also done a disaster revert which I haven’t done in forever and some little nollie back tails and a bad back 50 or two. Jake had blunts both ways, pivot fakie super easy, blunt to fakie. Sean had some fakie front smiths. We tried to add flippers to the lines, but it didn’t work. Then we played a game of SKATE. My heel was hurting bad. Jake missed a few of the basics like fakie flip, heelflip, halfcab flip and was out quick. He went up top and conquered his goal of the pole jam which he did so good. I had also gotten a first try treflip which hasn’t happened in eons and made my day a little better. I forget the other tricks we did. I couldn’t land a fakie bigflip or nollie tre. Sean got me with fakie inward heel, halfcab heel and maybe switch back heel? My foot hurt really bad after that. Fun session.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, venom 91a bushings with roadside washer, 51mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 379 grey size 11.5, thin rubbery adidas insoles)
(pain level 5/10 heel pain)

Feeling alright after work on a nice smokey day I went to dog park. Sean, Kevin and Eric would skate too. I had pulled out the 8.25 setup. It felt better. Sean, Kevin and I played a game of SKATE to get warmed up. I once again could not get a halfcab flip which darn near caused me to focus my board and leave. I was the first one out. I did not skate well which seems to be the theme as of late. Sean, Kevin, Eric were ripping. I’m writing this too many days after the fact to remember much about the session. Clearly from the clip above Sean was on fire. I had a bright moment getting an over 40 Rick flip in like 3 tries after seeing this PJ clip. I also got really close to crooks shove which I haven’t done on the cinder block shuffle before. Kevin got a switch front 5-0.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, venom 91a bushings with roadside washer, 51mm bones stf 103a v1, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 212 b/w/yellow size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

In my head for quite some time I’ve thought I wanted an 8.5 with a smaller wheelbase. I can’t change the board dimensions, but I do have control over which trucks I skate. I put some old Ace 44s on a 8.5 Lazer deck. The board was shot, cracked and very old so I don’t know how accurate this test was. I started with slappies. They didn’t go so well except for front slappies felt great. After taking several tries to kickflip I went to the side of the school for flatground. It was a different experience to say the least. I could tell the wheelbase was smaller, but it didn’t equate to easier flip tricks. In fact I didn’t really land much of anything. I went up to the rock in the back and could barely frontside axle stall on it. I really thought I was going to like this setup. I was able to kickflip and fakie flip well, had a first try heelflip but then could not do another one. I think I was 0-20 on halfcab flips although I didn’t have the normal problem I do with them. Not close to treflips either which was the main reason I tried this setup. At the time I was optimistic about the setup, but as I write this and digest the session it makes me want to go back to a smaller board and low trucks. Argh.

(setup 8.5″ old null lazer deck, ace 44s with doh doh/venom bushings, old 51mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w/yellow size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10 although i got tired quickly)