After work I went to find some flatground to skate, but there were either cars or not enough lights so I ended up at dog park. It was very crowded when I arrived. I hit a stop rock within 1 second of setting my board down. Luckily I did not fall. I had setup a new board – 8.3 and put my Mindys on it. It actually felt pretty good. I did quite a few grinds on the taller pad. It’s crazy how much better new Indys grind than titanium Ventures to the axle. I did not skate well though. I don’t even remember anything beyond some bad front 50 180s. Near the end I forced myself to do 5 flip tricks. Boy did I struggle. I skated incredibly slow and without confidence. But I would get 5 tricks. Kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, varial flip and ended with f/s halfcab flip that took way too long. I had also gotten close to treflip and halfcab heel. Barefoot shoes are not easy to heelflip in for some reason.

(setup null 8.38 mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, indy mids 148 with hollow cast baseplate, bones medium bushings, bones 52mm v1 stf 83b 3 washers inside each, splay freestyle grey size 12 lems insoles)
(pain level 4/10 forgot how much i hate winter and wind)

Went into the garage on a cold and windy night to do some experimenting. During some meetings earlier in the day I had changed a couple of my completes. On my 8.25 I put Indy 149s. On my 8.5 I put Thunder 149s. The 8.25 definitely flipped and felt better, but the wide shoes make 8.25s feel dumb. The 8.5 felt terrible because of the Thunders. I seriously can’t stand how they turn, I could barely balance on them. I wore the Splay shoes again.

Went to dog park on a cool night armed with a happy medium deck of 8.3 with venture 5.8 titaniums. I went on to skate like garbage as is the trend for me lately. I couldn’t manual or pop up ledges easily, crooks didn’t work, I even took like 5 tries to get a switch front nose. Didn’t get past fakie flips on flip tricks. Did get a couple slow front 50 180s out followed by halfcab noseslide then nollie back tail. There was a group of kids there kinda of annoying, but whatever. One other kid skating by himself charging hard who was cool. I had a lot of manual attempts and failed. Settled in on a line of ollie up the little pad, nollie front tail off, ollie onto the taller pad, curve around then front shove off. I was really close to getting that when I had a couple failed ollies up the first curb and focused my old board. Ugh.

(setup 8.3 spanbauer night deck, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 titaniums no big washer, bones 52mm v1 stf 83b washers outside, splay freestyle gray size 12 with naboso activation insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Another nice day. I met Rob and Eric at dog park shortly after 11. My achilles was feeling much better and I had some new wide toe shoes to try out. Some Splay Freestyle shoes. They are so wide I even wore my toe spreaders which was pretty odd, but kind of amazing. Although they are so wide they made my board feel tiny. I didn’t do much and struggled to land anything. One little line I liked was nollie front tail to fakie the taller pad then switch front nose 270 out a bench. Also had a bunch of fun front slappies the low pad. Rob did some front nose 270s, manuals both pads, back 50s, boardslide transfers and got hyped for a vert ramp. Heelflipping Eric almost got up onto the pad, helped a dude learning boardslides, got denied by the sticky bench on crooks, fast front 50s.

Then after a run to 303, some lunch and chilling with Liz I ended up on the side of the school to skate flatground. I was armed with a 10×10 list from Nate and my 8.5″ setup since the wide shoes made my board feel so small earlier. I was reminded that 8.5 is just a little too big. But overall I think these shoes have potential. After a brief warmup I went into the list.

Kickflip – got one first try then a better one in a few tries
fakie flip – barely got one
Halfcab flip – got a couple but they weren’t easy
Fakie bigflip – first try and got another bad one
Varial flip – took 11 tries, don’t tell the judges
Heelflip – barely held onto one
360 flip – got close a couple times
Nollie back big – I mean maybe it counts on defense?
Nollie f/s flip – not close
switch varial flip – not close
7/10 Not terrible for me. 8.5 is definitely too big

(setup 8.25 early, 8.5 later, ventures, bones wheels, splay freestyle gray size 12 with naboso activation insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On an absolutely gorgeous day I drove to Longmont to meet an epic crew at Rocky Mountain. Luzius was in town and he had called the session. Rob, Dave L and I were there first and kinda got going, but it was fun talking and catching up with people as everyone filtered in. Kevin, Fuller, Eric and Ivan, Saul. My achilles was still pretty bad and I would manage to only push regular a couple time over 3 hours at a street spot. I managed to mostly push switch, throw down or just drop in for speed. Since I’m already talking about me I’ll keep at it. For the most part I didn’t do anything even though I hucked a lot. Had some fun crooks, noseslides after dropping in. Somehow beat Kevin to a warm up line of drop in, slappy crooks to fakie, fakie ollie up the curb, switch front nose. Also a fun line of switch front 50 the curb, switch ollie up the curb, switch front nose. A rare nollie front lip the curb as well as a few really fun slappy front crooks. It’s crazy after three hours of skating and some flippers that hurt my achilles the next day I felt infinitely better. Just proves how much skate shoes suck when I can use non-skate shoes to get better. Next I’ll go with Dave L since he was visiting. I liked his quote saying the ledge got taller. Some nice manuals on the medians and almost manualling down the bank too. Still the easiest looking pops up curbs that I am super jealous of. He doesn’t even seem to need to think about it. Rob killed it. Nollie lip body varial out! Slappy crooks, manual, halfcab nose the ledge, back 50 back 180, maybe a back lip, back smith, a lot I’m forgetting. Ivan learned a slappy, also front pivot on the bank to curb. Eric put a rad line together. I forget the the start, but it had a nice heelflip on the speed bump, pop up the curb and wallride a rock. Front lip the curb, crooks the ledge I think, and always a rad hype man. Kevin took a long time to get the warm up run, then mostly stuck to the curb doing back 180 fakie 50 variations. Fakie ollie out, halfcab out, fakie bigspin out. Saul was doing the most casual slappies over and over in a loop. I want to see him do 50 in a row come his birthday. Fuller skated some of the best I’ve seen in awhile. Boardlides to fakie the ledge, manuals on the median, switch front nose the ledge and was the last man standing. Fun day with a fun crew.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows with 1/16″ riser and bones medium bushings washers on top and bottom, 52mm bones v1 stf 103a with 3 washers inside axles, xero prio b/w size 12 nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 5/10 achilles)

After work on a nice Friday I met Rob at dog park. My achilles was still hurting and I wore some Xero shoes to try and curb it. They helped, but my confidence was garbage. I think the only things I did were a few kickflips, fakie flip, halfcab flip, crooks, slappies and was kind of close to halfcab crooks on the taller pad. Rob was shredding. Back 50 nollies, nollie front 50 back 180 out, first kickflip in awhile, halfcab boardslides and ended with a nollie front lip the taller pad.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows with 1/16″ riser and bones medium bushings washers on top and bottom, 52mm spitfire f4 99a tablet with 3 washers inside axles, xero prio b/w size 12 nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 5/10 achilles)

After a couple days off I went across the street to skate some flatground. But on the walk there my achilles started hurting pretty bad and got worse as I tried to skate. I had done a few 180s, shoves, but not gotten to the kickflip stage. Argh.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows with 1/16″ riser and bones medium bushings washers on top and bottom, 52mm spitfire f4 99a tablet with 3 washers inside axles, es swift 1.5 white size 12 naboso activation insoles)
(pain level 6/10 it wasn’t terrible pain, but this is how the achilles injury started last time – never wearing Es again)

On a cool cloudy day with snow threatening I went to the Niwot area because I had to pick up some stuff from the office. I went to the little mellow bank for a warm up. I rode an 8″ board and it felt good/terrible/like a toy. Took a few tries to get some kickflips but man they felt good and popped when I did.

Then I went to the nearby ledge and went on to completely suck. Part of it might be that I had put some wide wheels on hated it, but it was still inexcusable. I was pretty stubborn and kept skating. Only got front 50, accidental 5-0, back 50, noseslide, noseslide fakie, switch noseslides, halfcab noseslide. Flip tricks I only got kickflip, fakie flip and halfcab flip, although incredibly close to switch flip. Near the end I tried noseslide back 270 out for awhile. A couple were close, most were not.

(setup 8″ null archway, jessup, venture 5.2 high cast plate v-hollow hanger, 51mm green spitfire radial 99a, bones medium bushings, es swift 1.5 white size 12 with naboso activation insoles)
(pain level 3/10)