After a million texts I met up with Rob, Dave L, Eric and Garrett at the new manny pad spot I found the other night. The pad itself was even better than I thought it would be, the gap however was way harder. Garrett was way later than us. We all did our warming up. I felt surprisingly good out of the gate, but I did feel a tweak to the glute/hamstring tendon I seemed to have injured. I was able to skate fine though. Manuals were had, nose manuals, kickflips, heelflips. I was the only one hitting the little gap, I found it so cool to line out. Front 180s over it were really fun. I may have gotten a switch 180 manual back 180 after, but probably touched or something. Rob went in on kickflip manuals. He was committing every try, but getting toe drag or touching normally. He would get a clean one and it was solid. Eric had some nice heeflips up onto the curb. Dave was manualling up and around all over everything. We did a little filming. I completely lost the ability to switch 180 manual once the camera came out. It was a bummer. Dave L got a cool line. Rob got that kickflip manual, one foot manual and a back 360. Eric got those heelflips, but I don’t think he got one to manual. Garrett had shown. He did some treflips on flat and some nollie nose manuals. We looked at a weird bank/ledge thing on the other side. Garrett almost tried a cool ollie up to something, but never really got the ollie up. I had nothing more than some rides down the slanted ledge.

Then we went across the street to this other spot i had looked at. The dream was a noseslide on the little two stair rail. Somehow it looked totally possible. Garrett tried some front 5-0s, I tried noseslides. We would slowly get closer. Rob suggested I go for crook which I thought I was doing, but I got it in a couple tries. It was one of the coolest feeling tricks I’ve done. Then Dave filmed me try it in a line and magically I got it with a fakie bigflip in just a few tries. I was on cloud 9. After that I filmed Garrett keep battling the 5-0 which he would get. Rob and Dave messed around on the bank. I saw Dave pop an ollie over the hip that looked fun. Rob had some cool 540 spins on his front wheels. That was the end of the day. Pretty much one of my fav days in awhile. Street skating is the best.

(setup 8.38 null dream machine deck, Venture 5.8 titanium trucks with regular stock baseplate, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 379 b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger low profile insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a hot morning I went to the dog park before work since I have the late shift.  I had the place to myself for an hour with the exception of a quick 5 minute session from another older skater.  I started better than normal even though I had put the 8.75″ deck back on.  Tried a line of switch noseslide a concrete bench, wallie the smaller barrier, noseslide to fakie the back of the step ledge, fakie flip, halfcab noseslide, crook.  I only got to the halfcab noseslide once and bailed it.  Tried a line of front 50 a concrete bench, front 5-0 the end of the little narrow ledge, back 50 the low step, didn’t get the back 50. At one point I did a little hippy jump over the tiny kinked rail. It was nothing. That’s what I liked about it so much. That trick was scary to me, but because of how awesome the dog park is for my skating I just did it without thinking. Then I went in on the ollie over a concrete bench.  It took 12 minutes.  Ha, I know this because I filmed it.  In between tries I was doing some of the best feeling kickflips I’ve done in awhile.  After ‘getting’ the ollie I putzed around some more.  Got a couple good feeling halfcab noseslides.  I ended the session with the best treflip I’ve done on flat in awhile.

(setup 8.75 null event horizon deck, venture trucks 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger , bones medium bushings, sml 53mm og wide wheels, 2 speed washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 533v2 gray stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a nice night I rolled across the street and met Rob, Jake, Saul.  My first couple random slappies worked out fine.  Front slappy, front crook, crook.  But then I couldn’t do a regular slappy.  Jake was already trying bluntslides.  Saul was already on the 20 foot slappy tip.  Jake would get the bluntslide, slappy crook shove, front slappy, front slappy 5-0.  Saul has the best lines.  Front slappy, long way around to a slappy, to another slappy on the rough part.  Rob was killing it.  First try slappy to no comply out, slappy crooks up to back 50, front slappy, front tail.  Also lines with the curb cuts like no comply shove, bean plant.  I was on the line tip too. I was happy to get first try kickflips off the curb cut both straight and to the parking lot.  Front slappies were working well, I love that trick now.  Managed to get a treflip straight off the curb cut after a front slappy.  I tried backside flip out of the curb cut to parking lot for awhile.  Kinda got a couple.  Couldn’t get fakie flip straight out.  Rob came close to back 50 no comply back 180 out.  He also went hard with kick back 50.  He got a sloppy one and came close to locking into several other ones.  Rob was charging.  We all seemed to be.  Super fun session.

(setup 8.38 null event horizon deck, venture 5.6 trucks, doh doh bushings (88a boardside, 92a roadside), 53mm sml og wide wheels, 3 bearings inside each axle, mob grip, new balance numeric 533v2 pj grey size 13, currex run pro insoles)

On a nice night I finally collected on my rain check to skate campus with Ollie. When I skate with Ollie I try to just skate fun stuff and not get focused on trying hard tricks. I had some new shoes, NB# 212, they felt thin after the 868s, but still good. We pushed a bit and ended up the flag stone bank spot. Right out of the gate Ollie was ollieing onto it then worked up some speed into rock ‘n roll. I filmed him do the tricks for a bit. The rock ‘n roll to manual has a tilt. Oh well. He could have cleaned it up, but we were having too much fun. I got the halfcab board transfer pretty quick and tried to do a back 180 out, but we moved on. We did the drop in a couple times. I tried to kickflip off the curb, but wasn’t ready for that. Next up was the gap to manny pad. I thought Ollie was going to slam super hard trying to gap to manual, so he just did the ollie. I’ve never seen him ollie a flat gap so that was cool. I took like 15 tries to get the manual which was a bit of a bummer, but still fun. We hit the tiny manny pad around the corner. I got manual and nose manual. Ollie couldn’t get the manual so we moved on. I ollied down a big part of the knobbed Baker ledge which was fun. Ollie did the drop down 180 pretty quick and dropped in on the top part of the ledge too. I bailed a couple noseslides on the dried out ledge around the corner. I posed some front boards on the loading dock to low rail. Ollie came close to doing a good boardslide 270. I took too long to back 50 it. The drop in to stair ride was way too fun of an ender. The shove version took me a bit, but was so fun. I had to give up on riding the correct way off each step. Ollie did it way before me. Then we had a fun push back to the car and I ended on a great feeling slappy crook. Super fun night.

(setup 8.5 Null Lazer deck, venture trucks 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger , venom 91a bushings with no bottom washer, bones 52mm stf sidecuts wheels, new balance numeric 212 grey/orange size 12, currex runpro medium arch insole )
(pain level 3/10)

On a very hot afternoon I met Matt and a very non-crowded Omaha park. I had new insoles and man they felt good. Currex. We’ll see if they pass the test of time. Anyway, we started no the ledge area, but I couldn’t really do much of anything. Matt had rattled off quite a few “basics” like fakie nosegrinds both ways and b/s nosegrind. Also a halfcab backfoot flip. Then we started playing in the snake run. I wanted to do a nollie front shove rock fakie after doing it on a bank the previous week with Dave. It took a bit, but then I got one. Matt wanted to film it so I took several tries to get another one. Both were super fun, as were the setup grinds. Then Matt got in on the action and did what he says is his first “Joe Hamiltons”. He had some funny bails on back 50s. Then we went to the flat bank and did our tricks. No surprise, but I took the longest. Matt said we both had to do kickflip to fakies. It took me less tries than the b/s flip surprisingly. We were doing the “puff puff pass” game with the phone to get all the tricks. It was motivating. Then to the ledge where Matt did the gnarly nosegrind shove and I was too lame to try anything with an ollie in it. Last was flip tricks into the snake run. Matt did the nollie lazer first try, then took a few tries to get the cleaner version above. I took awhile to get fakie bigflip. It’s been too long since I’ve even tried it. Stupid big setups. Matt gave up on the b/s late flip. I tried a couple treflips. Then this young basketball short wearing kid came and did the treflip in the same spot first try. To add insult to injury he looked back and snickered. Matt said “Welcome to Omaha Glen, worst scene ever”. Ha ha. The kid had no idea whatsoever. I got the really slow one a few tries later and felt good about the smaller setup (except how I couldn’t front 50 earlier). Also really liked the new insoles.

(setup 8.25 Null Lazer deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow trucks , venom 91a bushings, bones stf v1 53mm wheels, 2 washers on the inside of each axle, new balance numeric 212 maroon size 12, currex runpro medium arch insole )
(pain level 2/10)

Was borderline skating before work as I had some errands to do first, but ended up getting there around 8:30 on a warm morning. I had the place all to myself again except right at the end when a blue haired lady did some rollerskating in the corner. I started off feeling good and ended up having a pretty good session. Early on got a line of crooks the picnic bench, kickflip on flat, noseslide shove the ledge. It’s been awhile since I’ve done that trick and I got it first try. That put me in a good mood. Then I kind of mixed up two main line attempts. Front 50 the ledge then kick back tail the tiny ledge. Got remotely close. Going the other way crooks the picnic bench, back 180 a parking block, fakie flip on flat, halfcab noseslide shove. I had done the halfcab noseslide, but never got the line as thinking of the shove out messed me up. At one point I got a first try fakie nosegrind the ledge which was also another high point (even though it was garbage). Got a few crooks on the metal bench, didn’t land 360 flip after. Finally got a couple front 50s on the picnic bench. Well, one was an accidental 5-0, the other a slow and fun 50. This spot rules.

Then after work I met Sean there before a filming mission. I was sore and it was hot and kinda crowded. Sean was ripping. I didn’t do much other than try boardslide 270 shoves on the small flatbar and nollie back tail shoves on the tiny ledge. Got close to the nbts. And I wallied the wallie thing before we left. Sean ollied the table like it was nothing and got on the benches easily.

(setup 8.38″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels, new balance numeric 212 maroon size 12, footprint gamechanger orthotic insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Dave convinced me to meet him and Rob at Blue Skies on a gorgeous Friday. Warming up wasn’t easy for any of us. Rob went the manual route. Dave seemed on the shove/180 tip and I was on a similar program. Kickflips eventually started coming for us. I had some hideous fakie flips at the start. Struggled with halfcab flips. That trick gets so much harder with a bigger setup. I made up for it with a first try f/s halfcab flip. Couldn’t get fakie bigflip. Magically got a nollie treflip (with some toe drag) that felt pretty great. Rob was lining out some shoves/180s/fakie bigs to kickflips. Dave had some cabs, fakie bigs, kickflips. He had a pretty magical f/s halfcab flip where his momentum stopped, but he wanted it so bad and stuck with it. Rob was doing some cool old school tricks in the mix too. I got a sketchy treflip which fueled the desire to get a fakie tre as well to get all 3 of the tres (switch doesn’t exist in my world). We played a game of SKATE. Or rather, Rob and Dave played because I was out so quickly. I got 2 letters on front shove, bailed a halfcab one foot, got a letter on sex change (although I was very close) and lost on shove revert (can’t believe it). I tried a line of treflip then fakie treflip while they kept playing. I got a few treflips, landed on a bunch of fakie tres, but never got the line. I saw Rob get Dave with a halfcab flip. Dave get Rob with a creepy spin. Dave do the steeziest hand down fakie varial flip. Rob got a sick fakie bigspin then no comply bigspin line. I had to get going to work so I did just fakie tre until I got one. It also had some toe drag, but it still felt great. Then it was off to work. I’m surprised how much I like this big setup. Although halfcab flips and heelflips seem impossible.

(setup 8.75″ null valley deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), spitfire f4 radials 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels with 3 washers on the inside, new balance numeric 379 tan/gum size 12, lakai rubbery insoles)
(pain level 2/10 felt way better than expected) 

On a gorgeous night I went across the street feeling pretty sore. There was one of the high school kids skating too. He mostly did lines with lots of 180s and cruised. I stuck to the curb. I had put an 8.5″ deck back on after being too timid to ollie up the 2 stair at Southern Hills. I also wore the 379s again. I got a first try slappy crooks and it continued to be a blast after that. I got several 50s, front & back slappy crooks, a kick back tail stall (hyped!), kickflips off the curb, an actual tailslide and ended with a front 50 back 180 that was fun.

(setup 8.5″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 379 all black size 12, super thin adidas insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a beautiful day I rolled to Indian Peaks with Dave L. We arrived at the same time as Dave F (hereby referred to as Dave – Dave L is Dave L). Rob was the first to start doing tricks. No comply bigspin, crails, kickflip. Dave had the fakie shoves. Dave L was cruising around checking out the line possibilities. I was kinda doing nothing, but managed a first try kickflip to fakie to cheer me up some. Rob had some wallride nollies, front shove fakie, front big, kickflip, one foots. Man its great to have his style and energy back in the mix. Dave L working on nollie cabs and did lots of cool little manuals on the brick medians. I tried the little nollie shove then wallride nollie on the lower wall, but couldn’t get the wallie nollie. Dave was doing beautiful wallie nollies, did his first ever Hale spin (nose stall tailgrab 360) which was so sick. He also had a crazy switch shove revert thing. Two Dave NBDs within a few minutes of each other. Crazy. I started hucking backside flips and several tries later I got one, then a really great feeling one, then another one shown in the clip above. I was hyped as that’s a trick I’ve wanted to do there for awhile. I failed at 360 flips to fakie for awhile. Dave had a sick 360 over the hip. Dave L had a nice 360 no comply over it. I finished with a tiny boneless over the hip then the little kickflip. The hip is much harder than it looks since it’s so rounded. Super fun session. Then Dave L and I looked at a ledge spot that I skated with Jason forever ago. It still looks good, gotta wax it up and get it going!

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went to Saul’s on the warmest evening of the year so far. Which really isn’t saying much, but 60 something felt absolutely great. I went to Saul’s after a quick nap/bite at home. Dave and Saul were skating. Saul had a few of his patented quick grind runs that rule. Dave seemed a bit off. I bailed some axle stalls. Tyler and Veronica came and did a few runs when it was decided we would go to the EBCC slappy spot. We arrived to a very crowded parking lot, but we still skated and it would slowly clear out. We ended up in the yellow curb area for awhile as it had the least amount of cars. I had put an old 8.5″ deck on that was in way better shape than my 8.3″ deck so I felt a little off, but I didn’t let it get to me. Everyone was kind of on their own avoiding cars. I saw Saul do some of his amazing long slappies. Dave hit a rock and slammed super hard. Tyler and Dave swept the yellow bank and waxed it. Dave had a nice front tail. Tyler a nice back tail. I may have slid a front tail. Veronica had just done her first slappy a few days ago and was trying, but these curbs were less forgiving. Tyler made the tiny gap look easy. I had a sketchy ollie down it. Then I started trying a line near where Dave was doing front crook slappies. The line was back slappy, treflip, kickflip up a curb, front 180 the little gap. I was mostly alone for this as people had moved on to the better area of the curb that had cleared out. I got to the kickflip a couple times quickly, but hit stop rocks right before the kickflip and fell. Argh. I would eventually link the whole line and landing the 180 felt absolutely great. Glad I stuck with that line. Tyler and Saul had been doing really long slappies and doubling it up around a corner, then they split. I joined Dave as he tried switch slappy crook shoves. He didn’t get it, but he did get some super good switch slappy crooks. I tried another line. Slappy crooks to fakie, halfcab flip, ollie the quick euro gap. I never got the ollie up the euro, but was close. Fun night. Felt good to be warm and push and be with a crew. Oh yeah, at one point I had ran and jumped off a fire hydrant onto my board since I’ve been inspired by the Vallely 9 club.

(setup 8.5″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 379 all black size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 5/10 kinda sharp knee pain)