On a nice bright Saturday I drove the shaking Honda wagon to the dog park. I knew Rob, Sean, Nick would be there. But was hyped on Jack B, Eric, Paul and others. I brought my smaller 8.1 setup and stuck with it after first try kickflip and fakie flip felt so good. I wouldn’t skate very well, but did get a noseslide 270 out that felt cool and almost front shove off the c pad. Nick had some nice manuals and poppy flippers. Sean battled back nosegrind to quick kickflip nose manual. So good. Eric always charges. He was over on the barrier for a while so I couldn’t see much, but still saw some heelflip, almost heelflip back 50, so close to crooks on the upper deck. Rob was killing it. Fakie nosegrind 180 on the curb, halfcab back 50s, back smiths and manual around the backside part of the C pad and then went on to get back 180 out. I was unhappy with how incredibly sore I got. But Nick and I closed out with a game of SKATE that involved a lot of misses, but was pretty fun. I was happy to get a first try backside flip and eventually get a fakie bigflip. Nick won on a fakie treflip.

(setup null all you need 8.1, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings no big washer flat top washer, 51mm bones pj ladd v1 103a, new balance numeric 440 blue size 12 half insole)
(pain level 5/10 ugh)

Went to dog park after a super busy Friday. I met Sean, he was kind of lazy too. We both tried halfcab boardslide shoves (my latest challenge from Dave) on a parking block in lines. I was doing front 180 off a kicker first, he was doing front 5-0 180 the metal bench. Neither of us got it. I was completely hating my large setup and the effort it took to flip it. Oh yeah, we played a game of SKATE to begin things. I was at SKAT and he did halfcab flip so I tried on on my board and failed, then one on his board where I had no real intention of landing it. But I landed it. Madness in effect. Sean left. I basically just tried halfcab boardslide shove/body varial on the small pad for 30 minutes until I got one. The slam hurt way more than it should have, I blame the neck pain from the rain slam a few weeks back. Ugh. Landing the trick was super fun though.

(setup null 8.5 vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushing no big washer flat little washer, spitfire 51mm 101a classic f4, new balance numeric 440 blue size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10 )

Got out of work at a decent time and met Rob at dog park and to our delight Dan was there. One of our favorites. He wasn’t there too long, but his last run had his enders in it, nose manual Janoski flip out, front blunt and maybe back nosegrind pop out. I don’t remember much about this session in particular because it’s been several days and I’ve been there twice since. I know Rob did something new, maybe it was manual around the C ledge backside. I skated decent, but don’t remember any highlights. I think maybe a front 50 180 out on the curb followed by switch noseslide 270 shove the bench and then fall down on the next ledge.

(setup null 8.5 vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushing no big washer flat little washer, spitfire 51mm 101a classic f4, new balance numeric 440 blue size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10 )

Feeling really sore I went on a hike in the morning and then rolled out to bring Something to LOCO and MRKT. I was still sore when I got to Fossil and finally remembered to use my Theragun and it seemed to help. I started on a 8.3/5.6 setup, but ended up not liking it at all really and went back to the 8.5/5.8 and liked it. I still struggled to ollie up the ledge and lock into crooks, but it felt better. The wind kicked in fierce after a while and we called it. I don’t think I had done anything really. Hayden had some good moves obviously. Back smith the little ledge so casually as a setup, back tail, almost front nose to 180 nosegrind. Bo was later than us but first try fast 5-0 and front lip, ninja line of front 180 fakie bigspin, kickflip off.

(setup null 8.5 vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushing no big washer flat little washer, spitfire 51mm 101a classic f4, new balance numeric 440 blue size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10 )

On a really nice day I went to Uni Hill Elem to meet up with Jake, Rob and Dave. I’ve been here a couple of times, but haven’t really fully skated it. This spot has so much potential. I arrived first and was cruising around and getting some ideas. Rob and Jake showed shortly after. Rob wasn’t feeling it. I started trying to line out the curved ledge, ollie and make it to a boardslide. Jake joined me with some back 50s. I think once I got back 50, no pop ollie the mini ledge, kickflip and slid the boardslide, but didn’t pop over. Not sure that I would know how to pop over. I came close to back 50 shove. Jake couldn’t quite get nollie back tail. Dave started a session up top doing tricks into the turf bank. He got fakie shove. Rob did some tail spins (?) into it. I’m not sure Jake got shove or kickflip in. Jake and Rob moved on to campus and I tried to ollie up the ledge into the sidewalk, but never got it. When I committed my back foot didn’t get the height. Doh.

On campus we went to start with a game of SKATE. I failed 3 kickflips in a row so I quit the game and somehow managed to not focus my board. This is probably due to yet another setup change and wearing different shoes, but I was still upset. So I just skated flatground while those guys played SKATE. I was still struggling, but did get a line of 4 or 5 tricks at one point.

Then we went to Baker ledge which a few students were already skating. At times I got incredibly annoyed as the youth clearly weren’t paying attention and just going when they felt like it. I came close to noseslide up to crooks and got a couple kickflips up the curb. But I couldn’t front 50 the ledge or nose manual the pad. Jake got nollie back tail, noseslide and crooks. Rob may have gotten no comply manual to 50, halfcab noseslide, front board. Dave front 50’d like second try then went on to do some ride on front crooks to fakie that were so sick. Fun day.

(setup null 8.5 vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushing no big washer flat little washer, spitfire 51mm 101a classic f4, new balance numeric 425 black/gum size 11.5 half insole)
(pain level 4/10 started off pretty good and the different shoe avoided the sharp knee pain but the smaller shoe definitely hurt after a while)

After work I met up with Rob at dog park. It was crowded, but not with a lot of total shredders. I found myself getting so annoyed at times as kids would not look ahead at all and just go and get in the way. I tried some kinda hard tricks for me at times, I just didn’t land them. Nosegrind 180 on the curb, ollie the broken cement wedges and slappy crook back 180 which I never pulled the trigger on although it did feel possible. Rob had a couple shove nosegrinds, halfcab back 50 back 180, manuals, nose manuals, was looking really good out there.

(setup null 8.5 vhs, jessup ultragrip, indy barbee 149s, spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 272 b/w size 11 custom halfish insole)
(pain level 3/10 – but oh man after skating in vulcs I was so sore the next day)

After a fun hike with the Nebraska crew I swapped vans at square house and met up with people at Broomfield park. I was not very focused and obviously distracted by the upcoming event. The only thing I remember doing was trying crooks and then treflips for a long time. Never got the treflip. Was trying 8.5 with Indy 149s and basically hated it. Played a game of SKATE with Cass where I didn’t land anything it seemed like, but still won with f/s halfcab heel. Rob was shredding, I saw a shove lipslide. Richard was there and did a super fast kick back nosegrind so perfectly. Sean was making everything look easy. Garrett, Joe, Hayden, Bo, everyone was skating good. Then it was time to bounce and pick up Jack and get the party started.

(setup null 8.5 vhs, jessup ultragrip, indy barbee 149s, spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 440 size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Feeling pretty exhausted still but wanting to skate with Carleigh before she left Paul picked me up and we met up with Dave, Darin and others. I had a Christmas complete. My reward for finishing Something. It was an 8.5 with 51mm PJ wheels and hollow Ace 55s. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. Popping was hard. I got close to noseslide 270 shoves and did a sloppy fakie bigflip out of the bank, but other than that was pretty lackluster for me. Carleigh was lofting ollies into the bank and doing front and back disasters on the brick qp, boardslides, kickflips. Ripping. Paul is really good, was back 50’ing the black ledge before I had even pushed. He went on to do a lot more tricks like back 50 front 180, fakie tails both ways. Dave had some poppy nollies into the bank, nollie front 180s out of it, almost nose manual the black box, there’s a lot more, but I’m forgetting. Darin, Justin, Kyler, other Tuesday night locals were there charging it. Pretty fun session.

(setup 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55 hollows, 51mm pj bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 440 size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10 some good ol’ cupsole knee sharp pain)

If I remember correctly the crew at Frederick was Joe, Eric, Davi, Rob then Brian and Hayden. Rob, Joe and I tried front shoves to fakie on the mellow bank to begin. Joe got a bunch, but they weren’t clean. I slammed super hard on one and hurt my neck again. Rob did one perfectly then went on to kill the bank to curb. I couldn’t get a halfcab flip, Joe got fakie varial flip. More highlights in random order. Brian ollieing up and down the euro kickers and Rob getting his back up. Eric boardslid the long copy/paste flatbar. I ollied up the ledge with Joe’s board and then mine. Tried to do a train off the kicker with Joe doing front shove, me doing kickflip, Rob back 180 and Brian a cool powerslide disaster thingy. I would get a couple good feeling kickflips though and followed one with a crooks on the ledge. Davi learned how to do hippy jumps almost on accident after rolling down the double ledges. Rob had some sick boardslide transfers. Hayden so casually killed it. Back smith the bump to ledge, manual back 180 the pad, halfcab manual revert to fakie manual. Also good seeing Peyton shredding again doing his crazy tricks.

After some lunch we ended up at Lafayette. I was very sore so I hucked kickflip bank rides for a while. I was close to a couple, but ended up giving up. My head just wasn’t in the game. Also did a very slow noseslide down the hubba. We had lost Hayden and Rob, but gained Cass. Davi had gotten hurt dropping into the bowl at the end of the Fred session so he was out. Eric did his dream of rock to fakie on the tooth. So sick. Joe took the whole session to get front shove bank ride, but it was sick. He had also 50’d the hubba. Cass had some good front noses and bertlemanns. Brian went off with the line at the end which was so sick. I guess it’s a front hurricane? Fun times, fun crews.

(setup 8.3 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 440 blue size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Another entry well after the fact and a big premiere later. Cass and I went over to Valmont to get warmed up. Had a couple of kickflips when we went in on the top little bowl area that is super hard to skate. Some back 50s and ollies went down. I do wish there was more flat coping instead of the obnoxious slope. Still, it was fun to skate it differently. Back at the ledges we got a status report from Rob who said he had gotten shove lipslide. Sick! I had one decent feeling crooks and couldn’t fakie 50 the bench.  Had a couple fun slappy front crooks.  Cass was trying some fakie back 50s, doing good regular back 50s.

(setup 8.3 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 440 black size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level no idea)