After my 3rd day in the office in 3 years I picked up Dave and we rolled to Will’s. We started slow and just when things were getting going I got called for work. I watched as those guys skated while on the phone for awhile. Dave would go on to get fakie shove rock (I think) and pop shove rock fakie. Will had steezy front smiths and can enter the ramp by putting his board in pivot and go to fakie. It’s nuts. I sucked it up on all fronts except I did a little fakie plant thing about 1/100th as well as Dave did it. Speaking of Dave man he got going. Back tailslide, back tail to fakie, fakie pivot fakie, sweepers, fakie sweepers, so much goodness.

(setup null 8″ stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows with royal bushings flat top washer, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic shape, new balance numeric 288S white size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10 some achilles)

Met Dave on a cool night a little after 7. As we were getting started this random tweaker dude rolled in and boy was I not expecting that in Erie. He was British or something, singing, talking, asking for a new board. So I gave him a used one from my trunk and he was stoked, said he’d go pro now. He stuck around for a bit and entertained, but then Dave and I had the park all to ourselves. We warmed up differently. Dave was going for some rock jibs and bank rides to line out a nollie into the bank as well as some “poor mans front bluntsldies”. I had kind of thrown a few things out there before before settling on trying a line of flip trick up top, into the bank to quick powerslide to noseslide the tallish ledge, then kickflip to fakie from the upper wedge to lower one. Never got it, but did end up getting quite a few flippers in the process. Fakie bigflip being my fav. Dave would string together one heck of a line. Something like nollie into the bank, bigspin on a bank, back 360 the crazy qp to bank, switch back 180 up the bump, switch nose stall the bank to ledge. Amazing! I had a fun ride on grind, front 180 off a drop, switch front nose. Had one crooks, but mostly the ledge seemed so crazy tall. Then I tried to ollie up a ledge, ride on grind, kickflip off the drop but never committed to the kickflip. Would like to do that some time though. Dave got a kickflip on the bank and I got one to fakie “up” to the smaller bank. Then we jibbed the little divider between the low and high. Dave got front pivot which seems impossible. I got a no comply to tail. Lastly we messed around on the double wedge thing. It was fun. I had also done front 50 nollie shove, front 50 to grind down, the beanplant was silly but fun. Dave was flying when doing the switch grinds. Fun night. Wish ledges didn’t feel impossibly high anymore.

(setup 8.25 null vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer no big washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 with thin 440 insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Wanted to kind of do a side by side comparison between 5.6 hollows and 5.2 lows so I went to Boulder park again before work. I had a fun morning. After a bit of warming up I kind of felt like filming a little to make the blog more enjoyable so I set it up for the bank to ledge. Noseslides are always fun. Was hyped to actually 50 more than a few inches. The 5-0 was an accident. Hyped on the crooks. Then I just skated whatever and did a lot of hucking. I skated the ledges better and would get a fakie nosegrind on the bench as well as first try front 50. Couldn’t get b/s flip over the hip, but did get remotely close to cab flip over the little hump hip. Tried a bunch of varial heels to fakie and didn’t get my feet on any. Ended with a front 50 front 180 out on the bump to ledge. It took awhile. Fun morning, I liked the lows better.

(setup 8.25 null vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows royal bushings flat top washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5)
(pain level 3/10)

Had some time before dinner to skate. Went to the garage feeling kind of run down and started slow. Grabbed the 8.25 and it felt better and stuck with it. Didn’t really try any treflips, but hucked a few switch tres that were not close at all. Got halfcab heel and close to front heel. Hucked a bunch of flippers 1 try near the end which is always kind of fun.

(8.25 null vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow thunder bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5)
(pain level 3/10)

On a warmish morning I left the house for the first time in a week and felt up to try some mellow flatground. I started with a little warm up line of kickflip, weird nollie disaster revert a parking block then switch 180 a puddle. It was fun. I had reassembled my 8″ setup, but with high trucks this time. It felt great. At one point I was 4/5 on halfcab flips. Made me wonder why the heck I make my fav part of skateboarding so hard with larger boards sometimes. I’m sure I’ll soon be obsessing over a larger setup, but man I enjoyed 8″ today. I would go on to get several flippers. Fakie flip, f/s halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip, varial flip, fakie bigflip and f/s heel. The front heel made me so happy. It was like 3rd try. After a while I tried a line of halfcab flip, heelflip, treflip and did it. I was so hyped. The treflip was a typical Glen 270 flip, but the first two tricks felt good. The heelflips especially. Felt like the first one I actually popped in a long time. I skated more after that, but couldn’t get the other tricks i wanted like halfcab heels, switch flip or nollie tre.

(setup null burnout stumpy 8″, pj jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 high cast plate hollow hanger venom 91a bushings both washers, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5)
(pain level 1/10 I guess not skating a bunch does reduce soreness. who would have thought)

Feeling the funk from covid still I went out for a ultra quick flatground session. I had debated what setup to go into 2022 with the goal of not switching and decided on 8.3. We’ll see how long it lasts. It felt big at first since I’ve been on 8 and 8.25 recently. I also felt super out of it and weird. Did a few 180s, shoves. Would rest between. Then tried a kickflip which took awhile. Took 3 of them before I had a remotely clean one. Then I called it because I could feel myself wanting to ignore the sickness and keep skating.

(setup 8.3 null mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 red cast plate titanium hanger, royal bushings no big washer flat little washer, 49.99mm boardycakes roundups washers outside, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 thin STI insoles)
(pain level 0/10 because I haven’t done anything in days)

Another cold feeling night.  I went to the school armed with a different setup and something quite different.  Royal trucks!   I had a good first day on them.  Slappies worked.  Had a great slam from a tree twig to the curb. Then I went to the ledge area.   Had a couple basics, but the shadows and crack make it really hard.  Couldn’t lock into crooks.   The few flip tricks I did went alright.  

(setup 8.25 null vhs , jessup pj ultragrip, royal 144, boardycakes roundups, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)(Pain level 4/10)

Trying desperately to get some flatground tricks back I went to the school.  It had been warm during the day but it was quite cold.  I had a different setup. At no point did I like it. Slappies did not work.  Kickflips and fakie flips were not consistent.   Would get halfcab flip and varial flip.  No fakie big, treflip or even heelflip (I tried so many).  Also couldn’t Ollie into the rock.   Went home sore.  

(setup 8.3 null Escher, jessup ultragrip, thunder 149 hollows, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)
(Pain level 3/10)

Kinda nice night I had setup a new complete. Ugh. Yes. 8″ venture lows and 50mm wheels. Went to the curb to warm up, it didn’t feel great. Left after a few basics that weren’t good. Behind the school I got some warm up lines quickly like 180 then fakie shoves. Pop shove took a few tries, but kickflip felt good. Fakie flips felt great too, but halfcab flips took a bit. I skated for a little over 30 minutes and would get kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, fakie big flip and b/s flip. Still couldn’t get heelflip. Hucked some other tricks like switch flips which were close. Near the end I was tired and hucked a couple kickflips and landed them way easier than I thought. Made me happy to try flippers on a smaller board again.

(setup null 8″ burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows bones medium bushings, boardycakes 49.99mm round ups 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 half fp elite insole)
(pain level 3/10)

After work I went behind the school since it was already dark and there is a section that’s lit okay. I had put together an 8.25 with venture 5.2 lows again because, well, I hate how heavy even the hollow Indy mids are. I attempted a couple slappies, but they didn’t really work so I just went back to the school. I did some warm ups then went into sucking. I definitely hit a wall with skating in the Splay shoes. The flick is just so inconsistent. I did some kickflips and stuff, took forever to get a fakie flip. Could not for the life of me do a heelflip. It was miserable. At one point I had a fakie flip followed by a halfcab flip as my only bright spot. Which is such a bummer considering how those tricks didn’t used to feel like highlights, just warm ups. I landed on a few heelflips, but never rolled away. I hucked some fakie and switch varial flips. Got a b/s flip and fakie bigflip. Close to a few others, but yeah, that’s it. 1 hour and only 4 flip tricks. Somehow I left not wanting so shoot myself, but rather was motivated to try skate flatground more.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, 5.2 venture lows venom 91a bushings, 1/16 riser, 52mm f4 99a spitfire classic shape 2 washers inside, splay freestyle grey size 12 nb# custom insoles)
(pain level 4/10 these barefoot shoes are not meant for skating)