Woke up early when I’m on the late shift at work so I did some exercises then went to the dog park. It was cold in the upper 20s and took a bit to get warmed up. But after a bit I got a great long warm up line that put me in a good mood. Back 50 little one, crooks the two step, kickflip on flat, wallie wallies world, noseslide to fakie cinder block shuffle, fakie flip on flat, halfcab noseslide, heelflip, little front nose jib the two step, front 50 the little guy, bailed a treflip. I did get real close to a few treflips. Been trying to adjust my foot placement after seeing that guy in Rhino the other day. Oh yeah, I was back on my 8.5 setup. This time with big 54mm Bones wheels. I think I really need the extra pop of the hard Bones wheels. I would have a decent session. Did a few lines. Front 50 the black box, crooks fakie cinder block, halfcab flip. Tried back 50 shove on the little guy for awhile, but didn’t get it. Ollied Wallie World for the first time in forever. Tried to front 50 the two-step, but never got it. I was close though. Then I ended by doing front 50 shove on the cinder block ledge. I was happy I didn’t completely fail at that again. All in all a decent session. For the first time in several days I wasn’t super bummed on myself after skating.

(setup 8.5 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 red cast baseplate titanium hanger, venom 88a big bushing 91a small bushing flat washer top, 54mm bones stf v5 with all washers outside the wheels, new balance numeric 212 mustard size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Met up with Kevin and Rob somewhat early on a nice Sunday morning.  At no point did I do a single trick that felt good other than maybe one halfcab flip.  I couldn’t get a treflip or 50 the cinder block shuffle.  Everything I did was garbage.  Rob and Kevin did some back 180 fakie 50s to fakie.  Kevin took awhile to get nollie nosegrind again.  We tried some treflips, I couldn’t get one.  My board felt too small for my feet.  Rob had halfcab noseslide on the taller ledge, front noses, most of his moves.  Kevin ripped it.  Sean, Bo, Hayden and Jack arrived.  Hayden’s nose manual was very Maxish.  I liked it.  That’s why I filmed it.  Ha.  Jack did a lot of no comply flips. I didn’t do a very good job of paying attention to everyone since I was in such a bad place.  We eventually left for a rail spot for Jack, but it didn’t go so well.  Ended up at the nearby manny pad.  Hayden got some good ones.  Donnie rolled in off a van which was so crazy.  Then we ended up at the nearby tall double ledge.  I posed for a while then just filmed.  Joe, Sean, Bo ripped it.  Sean with manual and nose manual.  Joe noseslide.  Bo lipslide.  It had gotten really cold at the end.  So sick of winter and my skating.

(setup 303 8.25 deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 (cast baseplate v-hollow hanger), bones medium bushings, spitfire 52mm 99a tablets, new balance numeric 212 mustard size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 4/10)  

Picked up Kevin then we hit this new spot.  Basically the area is a skatepark.  We looked at all the park had to offer then went in on the cali/ride on grinds which were way harder than they looked.  Kevin got one first.  I kind of got one a million tries later and he had already gone over to the double orange ledges.  I had gotten a couple kickflips that felt really good and I thought to myself “never again skating 8.5” (yeah right). Then we tried our lines.  That was fun.  Kevin literally landed like 20/21 nollie flips even on my board.  There were a bunch of others skating, everyone was nice.  One dude had an amazing treflip.  The lines took awhile.  I had one kickflip where I squated extra low and almost couldn’t get up from it.  I thought my knees would be done after that, but they kept going.  After getting our lines Kevin did the snake run to ride on grind.  It took him a long time, but he got it.  Then we called it a day.  It was nice to not completely hate myself for the first time in a few days.

(setup 303 8.25 deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 (cast baseplate v-hollow hanger), bones medium bushings, spitfire 52mm 99a tablets, new balance numeric 212 mustard size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 4/10)  

Had the day off work.  Since my knees have been hurting so much I tried some old cupsoles – 288S.  I did some shoves and 180s in the street before Jake showed.  We arrived to a mostly empty park and it would remain mostly empty until the end when a bunch of people showed.  Initially I felt alright and was happy about the shoe change, but it would start to also cause a more intense knee pain that was worse.  Jake and I tried to manual the pad.  Neither of us got it, but both were close.  That was one of the few positives of the session for me, getting up the box pretty easily for a brief period.   I had done a few basics, but got hung up on front 50s and kickflips to fakie on the end of the twinky thing.  I would never get them, or too close to noseslide 270 shove.  At one point I bailed a noseslide and screamed then pretty much went and sat down after that.  Chatted with the homie Cass who had randomly shown up.  Then filmed Jake rip the pool wall with front rock, feeble fakie and front pivot.  Wow.  He had done a lot of his moves on the ledge, quarterpipes, everything.

(setup null 8.5 plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 trucks (red cast baseplate titanium hanger), venom bushings (88a big, 91a small one flat washer), spitfire f4 52mm radial slim 101a wheels, new balance numeric 212 mustard size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 6/10 knees)  

After work I met Jake and Kevin at Broomfield park.  Jake had already been there and was already stacking tricks on the black ledge.  Kevin and I had done some warm ups when Jake missed a crook.  So I said to Kevin ‘lets do crooks and beam him’.  Kevin did such a good crooks and stared at Jake who responded with ‘you jerk’ then Kevin pointed to me right as I did one too.  Ha ha.  Jake is obviously a good sport or we wouldn’t be doing that and we all had a good laugh.  Other than an accidental 5-0 turned shove out I would go on to have an absolutely terrible session.  It’s been a few days as I’m writing this so I’ll just leave it at that for me.  Jake ripped.  Front tails, front tail fakies, fakie back tail, f/s halfcab noseslide, front tail the steep bank, 5-0 to fakie on it too.  Kevin struggled with the typical Kevin tricks, but seemed to land everything else.  He took a bit to get switch nosegrind 180, nollie nosegrind. But of course his switch and nollie flips were super on point.

(setup null 8.5 plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 trucks (red cast baseplate titanium hanger), venom bushings (88a big, 91a small one flat washer), spitfire f4 classic shape 99a 50mm wheels, new balance numeric 212 mustard size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knees)