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)

After a long day of work I got out to the curbs with about 10 minutes of sunlight left. I had put that 8.75″ deck back on. The reasoning is that I really did like it before, but I blamed it for my sucking rather than the arthritis flare up. I still felt sore. I did a few slappies, slappy crooks, enjoyed how much easier switch 180 was off the curb cut, one front 5-0, that was about it. Oh yeah, I had a new pair of 212s. This time in size 12. They felt pretty large, but comfy.

(setup 8.75″ null event horizon deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels with 3 speed washers on the inside axle, new balance numeric 212 maroon size 12, nike zoom air insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knees)

The sun finally came out! And of course so did the wind. Argh. I met up with Rob, Aki and Dave at Blue Skies for an hour lunch break flatground session. I haven’t seen Aki in awhile so it was great to see him. Aki was doing kickflips quickly and got a treflip pretty quick. He had gotten there first and he’s only 30 something. Ha. Rob has his quick feet routine down. Fakie big, nollie shove, shove, front shove, kickflip and b/s flip this time I think? Rob and I had both gotten first try kickflips. I got a first try treflip too a little later on. Halfcab flips were okay. My board feeling huge. Dave arrived and did a lot of nollie 180s, halfcabs, fakie shoves to get going. The wind and the sun made it all feel like it went so quick. Aki had a bunch of heelflips and learned f/s halfcab flips and sex changes in a few tries. I got one at the end too. Dave had done a couple, varial flips, fakie sex change I think. Rob had gotten a couple halfcab flips and close to fakie bigflip. I couldn’t put down a heelflip. I had hucked a bit and it was fun. Then I had to head back for a meeting only to find out it had been moved. Then I was sent home early anyway.

After a long walk, dinner and a few drinks Liz and I were walking home only to see Saul and Dave skating the curb. Dave grabbed his phone and pointed it at me and said “30 second kickflip challenge!” Oh man. I quickly grabbed Sauls board, missed the first one, but got the second. Whew! Then I went home and grabbed my board to skate with them. I kept it pretty mellow with mostly slappies and almost no flippers. I saw Saul do the longest slappy yet. I think it was two full sections. Dave was getting tech doing lots of flippers and trying switch crook kickflip out. That would be so nuts. He had some really long slappy crooks too, back 5-0, back 180s out of the median the hard way, nollie front tail. Saul has frontside slappys now too. Also hands behind the back and layback slappys (or street plant or whatever you want to call it). He also did a couple front 50s where he ollied in. Even saw him get kinda close to kickflips. He had some nice slappies around the corner. That was really fun to see them and skate some more. Oh yeah, I had started some new b/w 379s.

(setup 8.75″ null event horizon deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), spitfire f4 classics 52mm green/yellow swirl wheels with 3 washers on the inside, new balance numeric 379 brown and then b/w size 12, nike zoom air insoles)
(pain level 5/10 in the knees)

Feeling very arthritic with lots of knee pain I couldn’t avoid the perfect weather. I wore some new shoes in hopes they would help. NB# Westgates (thanks Tytus!). They felt incredibly stiff before skating, but they ended up feeling great the first session. I started at the curbs, did a bunch of slappies, a couple flip tricks. Tried some fakie 50s and nosegrinds. Got one front slappy. Then I went to the street in front of my house determined to do 10 flippers before going in. I had already done kickflip, varial flip and backside flip while skating the curb so I only need 7 more. I got fakie flip, f/s halfcab flip (first try!), halfcab flip, 360 flip, a weird heelflip that came quick and I credit the shoes for landing it for me, fakie varial flip and a terrible fakie bigflip. Then I went in and updated this journal. It’s almost like a real time update. Maybe some day in the future ..

(setup 8.75″ null valley deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), spitfire f4 classics 52mm green/yellow swirl wheels with 3 washers on the inside, new balance numeric 913 westgates b/w size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 7/10 knee it got less painful as I went on. Guess I’ll be on cupsoles for a bit)

Man I’m a glutton for punishment. On a nice night I went to Douglass with some new shoes (NB 379s). As soon as I set my board down I knew my body was not working well. My legs felt numb and lethargic. I had no spring whatsoever. Great place to be for no pop. I started on the side with the curb high ledge. Even that felt hard to 50 initially. Ugh. I think I’ll just say the whole session sucked. I moved over to the taller bench area. I didn’t get any front 50s, although I do think I learned a little about what is wrong with my technique. The positives from the session were a few ollies onto the bench, one with a 180 off, one of the best fakie flips I’ve ever done on flat, one crooks that felt better than most, kickflip up the weird curb. It was very tough session, but considering how terrible my body felt I think I should be happy that I was able to skate at all.

(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 brown/gum size 12, thin adidas insoles)
(pain level 5/10 mostly just numb/exhausted legs)

After another day of working from home while being sick/pinkeye I woke up from a long nap then went across the street on a warm day. I was really out of it and skating in glasses is weird. I went through a long stretch of total suck. I finally got a line of front 5-0, manual around the light pole then backside flip up the curb. That felt really cool. Going the other way I was trying f/s halfcab flip, nollie back tail, back 50. But I had new shoes (379s again – black) and something about the new shoe/old grip and I kept sliding off on the nollie back tail. Argh. When I bailed I would try kick back tail. This is around when a crew of high school kid showed up and brought a ledge. They put it in the worst possible place, but it was still cool. I had nearly hit my hour limit (trying not to make myself more sick) so I didn’t get anything more than a terrible crooks and some accidental noseslides. I had also struggled with treflip on flat. Landed on a bunch, but never rode away. I also bailed front 5-0s a lot getting wheelbite on the way out. So annoying. I don’t know how people skate big wheels. I guess I like loose trucks too much.

(setup 8.38 null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s with forged baseplate, venom 88a bushings, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 379 all black size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Had to send some Stubborns DVDs off so I went to the self service kiosk at the Valmont USPS and skated around there. I started on the mellow bank. Did a few basic tricks, basic flippers then moved behind the building for the good flatground. I did the backside/frontside thing for a bit. B/s flip, terrible f/s flip. Halfcab flip / fs hc flip. Got a heelflip. Wanted to to both halfcab heels. I’m not sure why anymore, but I remembered I had an old 8.5″ deck in the car and felt like comparing. After a quick swap out I was able to get a f/s halfcab heel first try. Ha. I think at this point in time I have realized I don’t land flip tricks on a regular basis with any setup so might as well make other stuff more fun.

Then I went to Longmont to meet Dave, Dave L and Jack. Right before I pulled in the wind picked up fierce. I almost went home. I was there first. I just did slappies for awhile. Then since the wind helped going east, but you couldn’t go west I just did a line of dropin, manual the brick median, noseslide and eventually got a bad back 50. The Dave’s and Jack showed at the same time. The wind made for a pretty subdued session. We skated though. Jack did his nosepick pivot pretty quick. Dave did a couple nose manual 360 things. Dave L was on the manual tip. I was posing front crooks on the ledge as well as kickflips over the brick median. The first couple felt so close. I should have done it then, because it went away. I didn’t really do anything else. Dave had some pivots on the bank to curb part, the cool back 180 nosepick. Jack started trying something that was film worthy and I gladly put myself out of misery and just filmed. He got a banger. Oh yeah, I had new shoes. NB# 379s. They seem to potentially be one of those perfect shoes. The first day was good, I hope they rest are.

(setup 8.25/8.5 null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, venom 91a bushings, no washers inside the axles, 52mm bones sft v5 wheels, new balance numeric 379 tan size 12, footprints 5mm insoles/thin rubbery adidas insole)
(pain level 5/10)

Still feeling kinda sick, but thought I was beating it I went out kinda early to skate flatground for an hour or so. I started with the City Cups again and had put a suede patch under hoping it would hold up. I had done a few tricks, gotten the typical close to some rare ones, but then the suede patch gave out. One trick I tried and still feel like I can do is frontside cab heel. Anyway, I grabbed my next pair of shoes from the car. Adidas 3st.003. We’ll see if that rubber patch helps. Switching to new shoes mid session didn’t feel good. Espcially because the 003s are a lot bigger. I managed a few tricks. Nothing fancy. I was feeling pretty lethargic and skated slow.

A few hours later I met Sean at Broomfield park. There was one other crew of dudes there and they were skating hard the whole time. So even though the park was pretty dead, the other 4 dudes skating were all over the place. Sean and I played a game of SKATE. It didn’t go well for me. I even missed a kickflip. New / big shoes aren’t great for SKATE. Then we mostly skated the quartapotty and blue ledge. Once again I couldn’t nose manual it. Or really back 50. I was struggling hard, hating my setup and how I felt. Sean worked on his nollie and switch game. Nollie front 5-0 shove, nollie nosegrind. He slammed hard on a switch back 50, but would come back and get it. My slight big of happiness came on my first fakie 50 switch front 180 out in awhile, also a fakie nosegrind jib that came pretty easy. I hucked some front shove crooks. They line up perfectly, but I didn’t commit. Why don’t I ever commit to anything anymore? Argh. I like how I get mad at myself even when I’m sick.

(setup 8″ null dream machine deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, 51mm bones stf pj v1, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle to make it feel a little wider, bones medium bushings, adidas 3st.003 navy size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cold night I went into the garage with the intention of trying some different tricks. I warmed up on my normal board, but then just kind of lost interest and grabbed the putter. I had some new shoes on. Adidas Busenitz vulc. Last time I had this shoe I disliked it a lot, but I don’t wear orthotic insoles anymore so maybe it will work this time. I tried nollie flips for a bit, but they didn’t work. The pop shove body varial came pretty quick. The varial flip revert took a bit and probably doesn’t even really count. The double flip took a solid 10 minutes. Long enough that I had no desire to clean it up. I tried varial heels for awhile, but then decided to go inside and have a beer.

(setup garage putter – 7.5 303 deck, venture 5.0 hollow light lows, 42mm oj wheels, adidas busenitz vulc b/w size 12, stock insoles)

In a crisp morning I went to the dog park before work. I had some new shoes on. Lakai Protos. Aka Tony Hawk’s shoe. I feel like I should try them because he is tall, old and kind of awkward too. I was skeptical of how bulky they felt, but on my warm up process they felt really good. Even got my first few kickflips. But then I started to fail at kickflips and I thought I’d be switching shoes back. But I stuck with it and they actually felt really good. Got the kickflip, no comply 180, fakie flip warm up line. First try b/s flip. Struggled with halfcab flip. Tried to line out pop shove then treflip, but kept not landing on the treflip. Tried to land on heelflip then nollie tre, but never got the nollie tre. The heelflips felt sketch, but they kinda worked. I hucked a few other flippers like switch f/s flip, nollie flip and nollie front heel. I committed to nollie flip, but none of them were close. At the end I was losing motivation and took a few tries to get a fakie bigflip then a treflip. The new shoes pass the first test .. flatground.

(setup 8.5 null lazer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 90a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, lakai proto white/black 11.5, thin rubbery adidas insoles)
(pain level 1/10 felt great didn’t get sore)