After another Sunday getting stuck working way longer than needed I eventually made it out to a parking garage off Valmont to skate some flat. I avoided the library spot only because I was in a super foul mood after working and didn’t want to be around people. One of the better garages for flatground is now totally vacant and I made good use of it. Well, I skated in it for an hour and a half or so. I had brought my 8.5 and 8.25 setups and after a quick spin to compare realized how stupid 8.5 feels to me. I got to my warm up line of kickflip, no comply 180, fakie flip pretty quickly. Then I went in on 2 trick lines. Fakie flip followed by halfcab flip. Halfcab flip took too long, but then started a line with it then did b/s flip. Did quite a few cruddy b/s flips and couldn’t get fakie bigflip after. Gave up on that one and then everything kinda turned into random hucks. I would get a first try fakie varial flip, eventually a fakie bigflip, couldn’t get a heelflip to save my life, f/s halfcab flip, super close to nollie varial flip and somewhat close to nollie front heel. I was kind of close to nollie treflips so I setup the phone to have one clip of the session and much to my delight I landed one in a few tries. I didn’t have much time left to skate so I called it on a good note. I was pretty bummed on how I change setups all the time making these tricks harder. And the fact that I spent another week basically on 8.5 when I should know by now that I always end up disliking 8.5. Argh. I can skate 8.25 better. I should stick with it and I really hope I do for quite some time.

(8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate titanium hanger, venom 91a bushings, spitfire 51mm 101a classic shape, new balance numeric 288S b/w size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10!)

Feeling lazy after a long week of work I eventually made it to Square House to meet Jake, Garrett, Joe and Donnie. Jake and I were there first and started on the ramp. No surprise, but I had changed my setup. 8.3 with mini logo 8.3 trucks, 52mm classics. It felt great on the ramp. Jake and I both seemed to be skating pretty well at of the gates. He had front blunt, blunt to fakie, front d revert and a lot more. I had back 50s to fakie (the cheater way), inconsistent with front disasters and my first couple hurricanes in a long time. Garrett, Joe and Donnie warmed up with a game of SKATE that took a while and had some crazy tricks, makes and slams. I think Garrett ended up winning it. He had some nice kickflips to fakie, back blunts, flows really well. Joe probably did front crook to fakie before doing an axle stall. Ha, but he really did skate the ramp like a street skater. Donnie had some high speed antics as one would imagine but I’m not sure if the got the grind off the extension to lower section. I really like this ramp.

Then things started to thin out so we went to the “street” section. This is when I really started to dislike my current setup. Took me like 10 tries to get a kickflip on the little bank. I had some crooks and noseslides, didn’t get b/s flip over the hip and never committed to ollieing up the 3. Not my best skating. Donnie was a mad man. Grinding off the higher qp to the lower and managing not to kill any kids in the process. It was close though. He had some high speed 5-0s on the little qp, transfers, front 50s on the ledge. Garrett shredded. Treflip to stairs to kickflip fakie the qp, switch heel the stairs, front feeble the tall qp, died hitting a crack and dove into the qp at full speed. Joe had some incredible lines like back tail the bump to ledge, fakie hardflip the stairs, switch hard on flat with both feet behind the back bolts. It was pretty amazing. He also ollied up the stairs super easily, heelflip, hardlflip down, nosegrinds down the ledge.

Near the end the dude working was skating and nearly died trying to front 50 the rail. It was the worst slam I think I’ve ever seen in person. Pretty sure he broke his thumb while taco’ing the rail with his back. It was so brutal. After that we had lost some motivation and played a game of SKATE in which I was quickly out. I used Garrett’s board and I liked it at first, but not after a few missed halfcab flips.

(setup null 8.3 smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, mini logo 8.3 trucks with royal bushings, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 288S white size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Another day another setup change. I really thought this was the one. I know people are telling me to stick with one setup, but now that I have freed my mine of my loyalty to Venture I’m trying to find what I actually like. I though 8.5 with royals would be the ticket. It was not. I started off alright at Boulder park around 7am. Most of the time I was there another dude was skating, but we didn’t interact at all. I took a while to get down on the various bump to ledges. The board still felt very hefty which I was not excited about. Also they did not grind very well. I did skate hard, I just didn’t land anything. I did make myself ollie up onto the old ledge and ride down it several times. Also finally did a bunch of roll ins to setup for bump to ledge bails. But I was happy to finally easily do a bunch of roll ins. Had some crooks, a couple kickflips to fakie on the little bank that barely got around and hucked a bunch of back 270 kickflips over the hump that were not very close. I ended by taking way to long to do a line of ollie a little hump (and try not to get ghost pop which kept happening), noseslide to fakie the bench, halfcab flip over the hump. It did feel good though.

(setup 8.5 null smoke valley, jessup pj ultragrip, royal 144, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 440 insoles)
(pain level 4/10 lots of skating this week in old trashed shoes)

Went to Broomfield shortly before dark after a rough day at work. I had put ventures on my 8.5, left everything else the same. This is my last round of comparing venture vs royal. I didn’t really like the ventures much, they are so hefty. Skating was alright though since the lights never turned on we only had about 15 minutes of skating which means I never got to the frustrating tricks. Sean did some basics for him which I would have freaked out over.

(setup 8.5 null smoke valley, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 ti axle royal bushings, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 440 insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Was about to give up on skating since work drained me so much, but instead I went to New Vista on a beautiful evening shortly before sunset. I ended up gettin in an hour of skating and it was an alright session. I had put an 8.5 deck on since the 8.3 felt small the last few sessions. I think I should just commit to it for life. It felt so good and natural for everything except flip tricks. But even then I kind of blame the Royals for being squirly. I did a few basics on the ledge, was able to get a little front 50 somewhat quickly, came close to front 50 180 out. For flip tricks I struggled, but got halfcab flip, b/s flip, varial flip, fakie flip. Close to nollie and fakie bigflips. At the end was tired, but forced myself to ollie onto the box then front 180 off. Gotta keep trying to jump.

(setup 8.5 null smoke valley, jessup pj ultragrip, royal 144, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape two washers inside, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 440 insoles)
(pain level 3/10 achilles was feeling alright, but had some arthritic knee pain)

Up early on a surprisingly nice Monday morning I went to SC armed with 3 completes. I was very sore and lacking any motivation, but the point of this session was to see if I liked any of these setups. I really want to like 8.3, but I dislike Venture highs with it. So I had 8.25 with 5.6 venture highs, 8.3 with royal 144, 8.3 with thunder 149s. All the wheels were 51/52. I had only done Royals on 8.25 before and it was too little WB for them. For some reason I really wanted the Thunder option to work. It didn’t. Seriously hate how those trucks turn. It’s like a quick little turn but then nothing deep. I tried to stick with 8.25 venture for awhile and didn’t like that and know from past that I don’t like it. So I went for the 8.3 with Royal and it was the winning combination. I had much better pop and grinds. I didn’t really try flip tricks on any of the setups, but know from past experiences that Royals flip fine. As far as tricks I really didn’t land anything worth noting. I hope the Royals work out long term because I desperately want to be done with madness.

(setups above)
(pain level 6/10 jut so sore)

On a nice day after breakfast with Liz Saul and I rolled to Berthoud. We had planned on meeting Mike and Skelly, but were surprised to also see Allan, Garret, Julian, Kyle and more. It was a rad crew. I had switched to Aces and while they were fun and carved good I could not find a good pop with them. Mike and Saul were in the bowl to start mostly. I tried some noseslides. Really wanted to do noseslide to fakie then switch front nose, but never got the two. Couldn’t get treflip flyout either. Mike was doing no comply up the euro. Saul and I got grinds on the weird bank wall. I had some fun grinds around a mellow corner in the bowl. Allan still carves fast. Julian is a ball of energy hopping up and down everything. Garrett is such a treat to watch and was in ATV mode. Skelly had some good one foots and little pops. Yeah not a whole lot to mention but it was a fun session for sure.

(setup null 8.3 smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, ace 55 af1, spitfire f4 99a tablet, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)
(pain level 6/10 achilles arghghghgh)

On a nice, but cool Friday I was able to leave work early after a brutal week and somehow the tennis court spot was mostly dry. I brushed the snow off the ledge, moved the parking block to a dry spot and started the warm up process. I had a new deck and put lows back on. It felt incredibly dreamy and my warm ups went well. I had a switch front nose on the ledge that felt particularly fun, some good slappy crooks. Dave showed and went through the warm up battle. We would get going and have a good session, especially Dave. Dave had a lot of lines I should have probably filmed. Things like front 180 onto the box, halfcab off the launch ramp, feeble transfer the parking block, front nose the ledge. Or front 50 the ledge then nollie back 180 off the launch ramp, switch crook the ledge. He was seriously shredding. Kickflips, pop shove the a puddle, crooks fakie the ledge. My achilles was still hurting and making pushing awkward. I didn’t get many lines, but had some crooks, noseslides, took too long for halfcab noseslide, fakie 50, switch nose 270 shove, the slowest worst front 50 ever, some halfcab flips and a kickflip over the puddle (maybe). As the sun had set and temperature dropped quickly we tried some mirror lines on the ledge and it was a blast. Dave did front nose/sw front nose, front board/sw front board. I had noseslide/sw noseslide, switch front nose/worst front nose ever. It was a fun ender for a fun session.

(setup 8.25 null jack, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 low royal bushings flat top bushing, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape 3 washers inside, new balance numeric 288S white size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 5/10 achilles so sick of it)

On a nice day I met Dave at Boulder park after work. It was crowded. I took a few runs around the park and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I had made the dumb mistake of changing to an old 8.5 deck. I enjoyed it this day though. I had a fun little front nose 270 on the bank to ledge then met Dave in the parking lot where we started skating a really good slappy curb. I started with slappy crooks, Dave started with switch slappy crooks. We went on to do a few slappy variations. Dave had some good kickflips, cool alley oop back 180s off a curb, switch slappy crook shove, nollie back 5-0, backside slappy, slappy crooks to fakie and I think ended with a slappy front crook. I had some funny basic flippers that I landed, but with toe or heel drag. Slappy crooks, slappy front crook, fronstisde slappies, nollie 50 and 5-0, couldn’t get switch crooks like Dave. Skelly showed, we chatted some then went into the park as things were dying down since it was getting dark out. I landed nothing of note. Skelly had several good backside grinds over the bench. Dave grinded down the parking block and flowed in the rad Dave style we know and love.

(setup 8.5 null smoke valley, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium thunder bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, new balance numeric 288S white size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a nice morning I rolled to Denver and picked up Garrett and Kevin. We had some good laughs at Garrett’s college night experience and hungover state then met Venture Dave at Parker. There was a stiff breeze and the reflection from the snow was blinding. But the ledge and manny pad were dry so that’s really all we needed. I had brought my 8 and 8.3 setups. Garrett told me to skate the 8.3 so I did. It felt huge after so much garage time on the putter, but I cannot deny how much easier it was to pop up onto the ledge. For how bad my achilles was hurting I skated alright. Had some good halfcab flips and a great feeling fakie bigflip. Crooks, fakie 50, accidental front 5-0, switch front nose, halfcab nose, front board pop out. It was fun skating with Dave finally again. He had some steezy shoves, was getting into fakie front noseslides, impossibles and good nose manuals. Kevin was having some arthritic issues he said, but still did tricks like nollie nosegrind pop out, switch nosegrind 180, lots of goodness. Garrett got manual kickflip out, close to nose manual nollie tre, 50’d the 2nd level gap out, actually missed some treflips.

Then we went to CO Springs. After the shop and some driving we ended up at Harrison High. The bench was dry, the far side of the bank was too, but lots of pebbles and not waxed. Also the two stair is no longer there. Bummer! Kevin ollied a snow pile from the corner of the bank, back tail shove, almost kick back tail. Joe and Jack had joined us, but Jack still can’t skate. Joe would get back tail gap to back tail! He didn’t get as locked in on the second ledge as he hoped, but it was still sick. My achilles was making things difficult. I went on to do a couple things though. I wasn’t sure if I got a switch crook , but Jack said I did so hooray I’m counting it! I took forever to get a halfcab noseslide and then was messing around with noseslide up to crook. I did a stationary one and then would go on to get a slow/short one that made me feel quite happy. Garrett darn near did front tail shove front tail over the gap. Pretty sure I jinxed him. After that we had a nice dinner and fun time at the Ritual premiere.

(setup null esher 8.3, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium axle thunder bushings, 49.99mm boardycakes roundups washers outside, new balance numeric 288S white size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 7/10 achilles)