Feeling a little better I went over to Basemar around the time it got dark. I was on a tiny setup and would mostly dislike it. But I hadn’t put mini logos on my truck tier list so kind of needed another session on them. I started out in the kicker area just kind of dorking and really struggling still feeling arthritic from being sick. The cracks at that spot are so bad now. I literally did nothing. Went over to the alley door spot and did a warm up line of ollie to fakie then fakie nosepick the curb. The fakie nosepick felt really cool. Then tried no comply followed by back pivot 270 shove on the curb. But gave up on the pivot shove and spent too long trying kickflip. I would get a few, but kept touching the rail and wanted a clean one. Weird night, I hope to have energy soon.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null beatles, jessup ultragrip, mini logo 8.3 trucks with royal bushings (and they still wouldn’t turn), 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape yellow, new balance numeric 440v2 wide size 11.5 white with half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

On another very hot day I met up with Cass and Kyle at the warehouse where things were once again arranged completely different. Cass was doing flatground then a qp trick and did one of the best b/s flips. Kyle was nosesliding the huge table from flat and got 270 shove and 270 out. I had a smaller woke setup, 8.25 with ventures and it felt good. I had done a little flatground and was happy to get a first try halfcab flip which have been a struggle lately. Then I mostly just skated the long metal ledge while the Cass filmed Kyle. I rattled off quite a few warm up tricks. Crooks to fakie and switch noseslide 270 shove being my fav. I struggled with frontside grind unfortunately. I was also starting to ahte the Tiago shoes and was getting some knee pain.

We left for the nearby jersey barrier spot where I didn’t land anything, Kyle showed his front blunt expertise and Cass tried an acrobatic maneuver for an hour.

Then we went to a nearby little gap spot. It’s funny I had skated the big Tiago’s earlier, but had some vulcs on for the gap which felt way more comfortable. I did a few flatground kickflips, the ollie took about 10 tries and I could not do it more than once. Doh. I had wanted to ollie the gap then do a flipper off the curb. Cass would ollie it, back 180 it and get a banger bigspin for stubborns 2. Kyle did a couple mirror lines interchanging switch heels and switch front shoves. Also a fakie flip. Felt fun hucking down that gap and made me miss street skating and filming.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null beatles, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 with royal bushing flat top washer, spitfire f4 99a classic shape yellow wheels, new balance numeric 1010 / 574 vulc with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10 earlier on with the 1010s and would get less with the 574s)

Had a long day of work filled with some bad news and didn’t have the motivation to do a real session. But I did get out shortly before sunset to the school for about 30 minutes. I had some new Tiago 1010s to try and reduce knee pain. Last time I tried them I hated them, but this time around I had arch support in them and they seemed better for now. I started on the side doing some slappys and trying kickflips. Oh, speaking of Slappy’s, I had put Slappy trucks back on. Ha. They felt surprisingly good this time around. Well, for ollies at least, not for flippers, but that might be the new shoes. I had some fun ollies over the manhole and posed a couple treflips over it. Then I went to the side and did several axle stalls. It was surprising how easy they were compared to normal. The shove out took a bit, but it was pretty rewarding. I went home after that.

(setup 6/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, slappy lights 8.5, 51mm bones stf v1 pj 103a, new balance numeric tiago 1010 phantom size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10 really enjoyed that midsole)

Not feeling very motivated I hoped being around some friends would get me skating a little. I kind of hid in the “impact section” (joke by one of Squeek’s friend) where I saw Dan do a manual to front rock back to manual and then a first try switch front board. The switch front board inspired me to try one there. It took me so long, but I got it and followed it with a first switch front nose. There was a dude (Dave?) that was rattling off really cool pivot variations on the little qp which was inspiring. I did a couple tricks then joined Garrett, Donnie and Dan on the miniramp. I would go on to skate it okay considering it’s been a long time since I’ve really skated transition. Only got one front 50, a few non-decked front rocks, fakie smiths to fakie, but it was fun. Dan almost had amazing front bigspins. Donnie destroyed. Garrett was trying not to fall on his wrist and still looked really good and the kickflip pivot was rad. After that I chilled. Squeeks’ 40 bday part is rad.

(setup 5/10 null 8.5/14.25 20 year deck, null grip, thunder team hollow 149 with bones medium bushings, bones 51mm stf v1 pj 103a wheels, strike mvmnt transit street trainer shoes size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10)

After work and a nap I went over to the side of the school with sore knees, thick shoes and a smaller setup. 8.25, slace lows, strike mvmnt shoes. I didn’t have a 10×10 list and after some slappys I just kinda winged it and would end up getting 11 flippers in an hour. Kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip. It was a long time before I landed anything else, but then they started to flow as I calibrated to the smaller setup/ bigger shoes. F/s halfcab flip, f/s halfcab heelflip, a frontside flip that felt really cool, heelflip, halfcab heel, varial flip. Was very close to treflip, fakie heel and nollie varial flip. Not as close to nollie bigflip and front heel.

(setup 5/10 8.25 null is all you need, jessup ultragrip, 825 slace lows with ace hard bushings, 52mm 99a f4 tablet, strike mvmnt transit street trainers black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After some axe throwing with coworkers I was driving down Dillion Rd near the old TF stomping ground so I pulled in and drove around. Saw some new spots that look fun but had cars, old bank spots that are not really skateable anymore, and a new empty parking lot in the shade. The shady spot was kind of perfect since it was in the mid 90s. I started really slow just kind of doing some no pop shoves, 180s, etc. Oh yeah, I had a little setup change. Indys instead of Aces. Board still felt big, but easier to manuever with the slightly lighter trucks. After the first 30 minutes I think I had only landed kickflip. But I kept hucking and eventually added fakie flip, halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip, fakie bigflip, f/s halfcab flip, f/s halfcab heelflip and really struggled to get the tenth trick which was fakie varial flip. I had hucked quite a few other tricks that were close. Gotta keep trying back heels because they were really close. Glad I skated. Bummed it takes me an hour and a half to barely get 10 flip tricks going slow these days.

(setup 5/10 8.5 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, indy 149 forged hollow knox royal bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, 440v2 wide white size 11.5 with half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a really nice night I had thought of slacking, but decided to take advantage of students still being gone and went to campus. I had no intention of ending up at the flagstone ledge to warm up, but the way traffic and bikes were I just stuck on the fun downhill bike path and it spit me out at the ledge. I had a new board/ setup change that I hope to stick to. 8.5 with the bigger 14.5 wheelbase and aces. Anyone reading this knows the chances of me sticking with a setup are zero. But I did have a fun first session at least. I mostly skated the ledge and didn’t try a lot of flippers. I couldn’t get crooks. Front axle took a while to get. I was happy to get a front 50 and an accidental 5-0. Seemed like I gained a little confidence and could maybe do them moving next time. Then I went nearby and did a line of ollie up a 2 stair, kickflip, front 180 down the two stair. Then over to the business building as it was getting dark. Got a couple lines I liked. Boardslide the tall ledge, kickflip, noseslide to fakie the wood bench, fakie flip. Then noseslide the tall ledge followed by a crooks on the wood ledge, then a bailed backside flip. Lastly I tried to ollie up the 3 stair. I got myself to commit mentally, but my back leg wasn’t having it and I hung up. Then I walked back to the car. Fun session, tried hard.

(setup 5/10 8.5 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 hollow 55, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, 440v2 wide white size 11.5 with half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Earlyish Saturday a large contingent of the old dude crew showed up. And one younger dude that didn’t get the memo and was totally charging haha. The crew was Bratcher, Rob, Paul, Tim, Eric. I had Thunders this time around, like them more the Ventures, but not a whole lot. I was still feeling somewhat run down and didn’t have a lot of energy. There was a lot going on so it was hard to pay attention to others. Like Rob’s front 50 back 180 I missed which I wish I would have seen. Also saw him nose manual around the blue bank, some front noseslides, manuals after some frustrations. Paul’s back 5-0s front 180s are great. He also did some front nosegrinds on the black ledge and back 50s on the bank to ledge. Eric and I eventually mustered the courage to front 50 the ledge into the bank. I only got it once, but it was rewarding. I took way too long to get a line of crooks the black ledge then noseslide to fakie the bank to ledge. Jack was stacking clips. Switch boardslide to 50 is one of my fav moves of his. Eric added some front tails and quartapotty moves. Paul and I finished with a game of SKATE that took a while because he was being nice. He got me on nollie flip to end it.

(setup 4/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, thunder hollow light 149 royal bushings, 52mm spifire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a cool afternoon I met Dave at the meet up curb. The session started off alright with some good dorking and hucking. Dave had done a pop shove front 50 on the curb, gotten into switch crook stalls and was trying back tailslides off the uphill curb cut. Then we kind of settled in on trying kickflip tails. Mine was f/s, Dave’s b/s. I had set the phone down, but it ran out of space before capturing anything. Not that it really had much to capture. Dave did a few like the video above. I didn’t get any f/s ones but was close. We moved one building to the north and ollied up a curb to 3 stair ollie which was fun. Then to the ride on ledge / ledge area where the real struggled started to mount. The ride on grind is not as smooth as it used to be, we both hung up the first few times. I had put Ventures on and disliked almost every second of it. I would get a couple front axle stalls that I tried kickflips out of since I was just standing there. Might have gotten one little grind. Managed an alright fakie 50, some noseslides, couldn’t flip my board. Dave had some good ride on front 50s some with front 180 out, switch front nose the ledge. Then went in on the front 50 up to switch crook down which he kind of did, but mostly would stick or fall off. My eyes had been weird because of some sickness (my eyes get messed up when my body fights something and I also get arthritis it’s really fun) and I had a setup change making everything so hard. Oh well, we skated, we ollied a 3 stair, we did some grinds. It was frustrating, but we did it.

(setup 1/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, venture v-cast 5.8 royal bushings, 52mm spifire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Later in the evening I went to campus wanting to skate the bank to curb. It was still 93 degrees. Yikes. I putzed around on flatground a little before then went to it. I had a setup change. 3 days in a row. This one is supposed to stop that. I sure hope it does. 8.5 with 14.25 and royal 149s. I liked it a lot. First thing that made me happy was some noseslide 270s. Then a front shove to fakie. Then I randomly started hucking nollie shove noseslides. I never got one to slide, but I did get a couple little tap ones like in the video. I did quite a bit of flatground in between tries. Kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip, halfcab flip and two (bad) treflips in a row! I tried some front shove back 50s too, but wasn’t as close. Eventually moved on. Ended up under the Engineering building. Did a few basics on a poorly lit bench then spent way too long trying to do a line. Slappy crooks, kickflip into the second bank, b/s flip up the angled curb. Took me forever to commit to the kickflip and I would only do so if I took a massive speed check. I did come close to getting all 3, but would never actually get the b/s flip. Decent night, skated hard.

(setup 7/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, royal 149 ultralights, 52mm spifire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)