Had a couple glasses of wine the night before and stayed up late. Woke up extra early and was feeling good somehow so I went to the park for about an hour. I had it all to myself until the last few minutes. I had a new deck, a Spanbauer Dead Spots and man it’s pretty! I did not skate well, but also, not terrible. I tried kind of hard and for 7-8am skated decently I suppose. It’s amazing how difficult front 50’s on even the lowest ledges have become for me. I would get a couple. Also a first try ollie onto the little bench. A few noseslides. Not much for flippers. Oh well, it was nice out and I got to skate before the wind kicked in.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null spanbauer dead spots, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer, bones 51mm pj, es swift maroon size 12)
(pain 4/10)

Met Sean after work at dog park on a nice afternoon. They said it would be windy, but it had held off so far. I had put a nice little 8.25 back together with some 5.6 v-hollows. It didn’t feel amazing, but nothing really does anymore. I didn’t skate too hard, but did get through a lot of my basic bag. There was a cool crew as Nick, Ferg, Robbie, tall blond guy were there. Sean did a really cool wallie then 5-0 shove around the corner.

(setup 5/10 null 8.25 mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings no big washer flat top washer, 51mm bones pj, es swift maroon size 12)
(pain level 6/10 right knee and feet)

Dave hit me up after I had a relaxing dinner to skate campus. I met up with him about when it was getting dark and it was way colder out than I had thought. It was around freezing with 87% humidity. I could tell immediately that I wouldn’t skate well. After cruising around looking for Dave we ended up at the wood bank area, although would never get past the long curb and mini bank to curb. It’s pretty easy to describe our 2 hours of skating with a couple of lines. Dave got back 50 the curb (really good), front shove to fakie the “bank”, switch boardslide 270 out. I did a fakie bigspin into the “bank”, boardslide the curb, front pivot the bank to step, front board flop out the ledge. We ended up doing quite a few tricks on the bank to step which was probably the most fun part of the session. Dave did back pivot shove to fakie, switch front nose the ledge, fakie shove. I’m not sure if I got a line or not but I enjoyed a few tricks on the bank to step like front tail stall shove, back nosepick shove, front axle to fakie. Tough night.

(setup 0/10 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, royal ultralights 149, bones pj 53mm, es swift maroon size 12)
(pain level 5/10 right knee does not like me much)

On a cold, but thankfully not windy weekend I went to dog park around noon to meet Rob, Skelly and more at Greenblock aka Dog Park. Skelly was on time! Paul was there which was rad. Actually so many people that I knew it was kind of hard at times as there were so many people to catch up with. Including Ben from Evergreen/Escapist, Damian, Steeze and Alton from Silver Sessions, Big Mike who is one of my favs, many more. I’ve had a bit too much wine writing this. My skating was alright. I had a setup change. Basically the same, but with Royal trucks instead of Ace lows. They were better, but my setup was not perfect. Is it ever? I saw Rob get back 50 no comply our, back 50 back 180, nollie lip. Paul did back 5-0 front 180. I got a first try fakie 50 halfcab out on the curb, front 50 180 on the curb to switch noseslide 270 shove on the bench. Came super close to front heel on flat, nollie front tail 270 shove. Mike did fakie back nosegrind for the first time in a while and it was sick. I was pretty tired and sore, but then Fuller showed. And he apparently brought an entire crew of young kids with him as they arrived right after he did ha ha. Dave shredded though. I saw a line with manual around the C ledge then front 50 the bench all casual. After a while we ended up over at the barrier and we ended up skating it differently. Trick off the curb, trick in the barrier, trick up the curb. It was really fun even though I was already exhausted having already skated a few hours. It really exposed how rarely I do anything off a curb, even shoves were scary and hard. Fuller did another line of fakie shove, axle stall to rock ‘n roll, kickflip up that was even better. But the switch no comply was hot too. I took a long time to get my line, but I did get Dave’s back as we did our lines back to back. This was a really fun day even though I didn’t land a whole lot beyond my basics.

(setup 8.3 null abstract33, jessup ultragrip, royal ultralight 149, 53mm bones v1 pj washers outside, es swift 1.5 maroon size 12)
(pain level 3/10)

On a really cold and windy day I went to campus to find some motivation and some spots avoiding the wind. I went by Baker ledge and it was full of cars. I thought of the quick up bank to curb and thought it would be protected from the wind. It was. I was kind of motivated to line things out, like a trick on the bank to curb then go around and do something on the skate stopped ledge. But when I would go around the building the wind was insane. So I kept to the bank to curb. I’ll just start by saying I hated the ace lows in the wild. Like completely hated. I could barely ollie up the curb. I started with some nollie tails where I just rode along the bank and didn’t even ollie up. Then I took a bit to get a noseslide to fakie. After that I tried back 50s for a while and failed. Then I just wanted to do ollie up, nollie front 180 (or nollie to fakie I guess?) and that took me forever. I left after that. Tried to find some more motivation, but the wind was insane so I just left.

(setup 8.3 null abstract33, jessup ultragrip, ace low af1 hollows hard bushing, 53mm bones v1 pj washers outside, es swift 1.5 maroon size 12)
(pain level 4/10)

Bummed on only having ~1 hour between work calls into the evening on a nice Friday I went over to the school. I had made my first real setup change in a while – same deck, ace lows, 53s instead of 51s. It felt really good actually. I still struggled and had no confidence, but I’m also still breaking in newish shoes still. After about the first 30 minutes I think I had only landed kickflip and b/s flip as far as flip tricks go. But I would go on to get a couple treflips, halfcab flips, fakie flips and close to a few more. Then it was back to work.

(setup 8.3 null abstract33, jessup ultragrip, ace low af1 hollows hard bushing, 53mm bones v1 pj washers outside, es swift 1.5 maroon size 12)
(pain level 4/10)

Brought boards to Monico’s parents house so they could bring them to him and went to Arvada park since I was close. It was cold, flurries at times. The scene was ~20 rollerbladers, ~10 scooter dudes and ~8 skaters. I could not get going to save my life. Literally couldn’t even do a no comply bigspin on the round bank. Went to the back to try a line of axle stall the bank to curb to quick kickflip to fakie on the bank. Never got it. Bob was there. Talked to him for a while and was way too sore and cold to start up again after that.

(setup 1/10 8/3 null abstract33, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 148, 51mm bones pj 2 washers inside, es swift 1.5 maroon thin nb insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

On a nice Tuesday evening I went to Square State knowing that Garrett would show, but that was it. The crew would end up being Dennis, Jesse, Garrett and Nick. Solid crew. Dennis and I were there first and warming up was tough. I had new shoes. Es Swifts. They felt mostly great though and I landed my first 3 kickflips. I went on to skate alright, but didn’t have a whole lot to show for it. Had some fun wallie nollies on the pyramid wall, fun roll in to axle stall the bank to curb, a few kickflips in a row up the euro, but couldn’t get b/s flip the hip. Nick had a sick rock ‘n roll powerslide, nollie disaster revers the bank to curb, shove it’s everywhere. Jesse has such good ollies and did first try varial flip and I think treflip up the euro. Garrett was ripping so hard. He was the only one skating the big qp doing smiths, disasters. Ollie up the 3 stair, switch heel, kickflip, treflip, fakie treflip down the 3. Back 3 the hip. It was sick. Dennis shut the session down though with nollie down the 3, nollie front 180 up the euro and then nollie up the euro.

(setup 7/10 8/3 null abstract33, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 148, 51mm bones pj 2 washers inside, es swift 1.5 maroon thin nb insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knee was slightly better)

After a nice chill day I went to Douglass during a brief calm period of a windy day. My right knee was still hurting. I thought maybe wearing more supportive shoes would help – 440s. Not really. I basically attempted noseslide to crooks for a while going slow and didn’t get remotely close. I did get up onto the noseslides pretty good though. Did one to fakie too. Posed some varial heels that felt doable. Oh yeah, I made a light change to my setup that I don’t think counts as a setup change. 148 axles instead of 149. Seemed like it flipped better but was also less stable. Now I have basically the same setup as Suciu, but without monster truck wheels like him (I think he skates 53 conicals ha ha).

(setup 6/10 8/3 null abstract33, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 148, 51mm bones pj 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 440 white size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 7/10)

Up pretty early on a crisp Saturday morning Rob and I rolled to Denver and picked up Nick before meeting Jake and Cass at the newly redone Cushing skatepark. We mostly had the park to ourselves for the couple hours we skated. Until the end when it got popping and we had mostly moved to the parking lot. I really struggled to get going for reasons I don’t understand. Kevin and Cass on the other hand were charging out of the gates. Kevin nollie flip out of the bank, pivot fakie the qp, back 180 the two set, back tail the ledge, switch nosegrind 180. For about the first hour we kind of skated whatever then there was largely a hip session. Jake would get fakie bigspin. Cass b/s flip and back bigspin. Kevin nollie bs flip and switch fs flip. I would flail at halfcab flips or fakie bigflips depending on my foot setup. I struggled for a while to line it out with kickflip out of the bank, but would eventually start landing most of them. Rob had manualled the miniramp, the deck of the top qp and I think a casual halfcab noseslide the ledge. Jake had a good crooks the ledge, front halfcab noseslide, nollie back tail and a bunch of front blunts the qp. He may have skated the mini too, but who was watching that? Ha. I got a couple lines I liked. Ollie the a-frame, noseslide the bump to ledge then quick kickflip the bank and followed by a noseslide to fakie. Then the same but with a kickflip to fakie that took way longer than it should have. Each ollie was really hurting my right knee. I didn’t really see much of what happened in the parking lot as I was the last one there. I think Jake was trying treflips and Kevin trying them switch. I struggled to do some basic slappies which confused me. Anyway, super rad crew, fun session, I like that park when it isn’t crowded.

(setup 6/10 8/3 null abstract33, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 149, 51mm bones pj washers outside, new balance numeric 288S w/b size 12)
(pain level 6/10 right knee sucking)