After dinner I was sitting around about to watch the Nuggets lose and decided I should probably try some flippers in the garage. I had reassembled my 8.25 setup with 5.6 v-hollow and 50mm wheels. It felt like a dream. Warming up was okay, kickflips weren’t consistent, but fakie flip, halfcab flip and b/s flip were all real quick. I tried cabs for awhile and kind of got them. If I had more space I think I would have done a proper one. Then I tried to combine all of the previous tricks into one glorious cab flip. I never got my feet on one, but a few did feel close. Then I went in on treflips. I was really hoping to get at least one in 10 tries, but I didn’t. I was about to get bummed, but then landed the 12th and 13th. Then another a few tries later. 3/17 is my best in a long time. Still want to get my 3 tres in under 10 tries though and obviously going to keep working on them. I tried nollie flips for awhile, not too close. Switch front heels, but I ran out of steam. I was happy I skated.

(setup 8.25 303 deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 50mm classic shape 99a, new balance numeric 212. b/w size 11.5/12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10 not so much sore just didn’t have much juice)

Knowing more snow is coming and the wind had died down a little I headed to campus after dinner and some wine. I was on a different setup altogether. 8” with 8.25” trucks and small wheels again. Why not right? I started with a couple curb stalls at the new meetup spot then rolled down to the yellow lurb. There was some snow near the fence, but it was mostly fine. I didn’t do much of anything. Actually, now that I think about it I probably only landed crooks to fakie and front tail without any slide. I was kind of close to front nosegrind 180 and back 50s. But was bummed how much I struggled with back 50. I had a kickflip that felt so incredibly easy though. I also hucked some halfcab heels as it’s a trick I’d like to do in a line there. Then I rolled down to the new area hoping to try and ollie onto some taller ledge. But almost everything was unskateable because of snow or ice. I did some rock ’n rolls on the bank, but that was about it. I hit a wood bench in the covered area and did noseslide and noseslide to fakie, a fakie flip and good feeling halfcab flip. I looked at some other spots, but they were all snowy or covered in gravel so I just went home.

(setup 8’ null archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate v-hollow hanger, bones medium bushings, spitfire 50mm classic shape f4 99a, new balance. numeric 212 b/w size 11.5/12, nike sb zoom air insoles)(pain level 2/10 felt surprisingly loose just didn’t have much mental drive)

On an incredibly nice morning I rolled to Denver, picked up Kevin then went to the Rhino plaza. Kevin and I warmed up with some flat ground and nose slide variations on some benches. Nothing too special. Noseslides, nose slides to fakie, crooks, etc. Kickflips for me, nollie flips for Kevin. It was so warm out. 55 degrees felt like 80 after how cold it’s been. Cass showed up and slammed super hard on a puddle at the start. It was brutal. He recovered and shortly after we went to the “flatbar” which was now about 6” off the ground. Kevin was able to front and back 50 it. Cass may have gotten front 50. I posed some front smiths that turned into little jjbs. Then we skated the orange double ledges. Kevin had some good front 50s hop the gap back to 50. Cass had front nose. I had some crooks and felt out noseslide through the gap.

Then we went to the nearby escalator ledge, gave it some rub brick love and started skating it. It had started getting cloudy and cooling off a little bit, but still quite nice out. The ledge was harder to skate than it looks. After not skating outside for so long it felt cool to just flow around and do slappies, flip tricks, ollie over manholes, etc. Cass had done a better noseslide shove. Kevin and I did some crooks. Mine felt good and then I saw the footage. Doh. Cass had a nice treflip. Kevin and Cass did 3 shove late flips. Wow. I couldn’t even treflip.

Then we went real close to a bar that had a crappy quarterpipe outside of it. Cass got food while Kevin and I skated it. It was about 4 feet tall, soggy, slippery and falling a part. it was kind of funny because the asphalt was pretty good, but it took awhile to adjust to slowing down that quickly. Kevin of course ripped it. Nollie flips, switch flips, back d, switch front d, pivot fakie. Then he went to eat. I mostly just skated flatground very badly. Oh yeah I was skating my 8.25 at the first spot, but had switched to the 8.5 for the second for reason’s I do not really know. I tried to get a line of halfcab flip on flat, b/s flip low on the qp, treflip on flat. Never got the kickflip, but got a couple treflips in a row and several halfcab flips.

(setups 8.25/8.5 ventures/ 52mm wheels, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11.5/12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Woke up early when I’m on the late shift at work so I did some exercises then went to the dog park. It was cold in the upper 20s and took a bit to get warmed up. But after a bit I got a great long warm up line that put me in a good mood. Back 50 little one, crooks the two step, kickflip on flat, wallie wallies world, noseslide to fakie cinder block shuffle, fakie flip on flat, halfcab noseslide, heelflip, little front nose jib the two step, front 50 the little guy, bailed a treflip. I did get real close to a few treflips. Been trying to adjust my foot placement after seeing that guy in Rhino the other day. Oh yeah, I was back on my 8.5 setup. This time with big 54mm Bones wheels. I think I really need the extra pop of the hard Bones wheels. I would have a decent session. Did a few lines. Front 50 the black box, crooks fakie cinder block, halfcab flip. Tried back 50 shove on the little guy for awhile, but didn’t get it. Ollied Wallie World for the first time in forever. Tried to front 50 the two-step, but never got it. I was close though. Then I ended by doing front 50 shove on the cinder block ledge. I was happy I didn’t completely fail at that again. All in all a decent session. For the first time in several days I wasn’t super bummed on myself after skating.

(setup 8.5 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 red cast baseplate titanium hanger, venom 88a big bushing 91a small bushing flat washer top, 54mm bones stf v5 with all washers outside the wheels, new balance numeric 212 mustard size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Picked up Kevin then we hit this new spot.  Basically the area is a skatepark.  We looked at all the park had to offer then went in on the cali/ride on grinds which were way harder than they looked.  Kevin got one first.  I kind of got one a million tries later and he had already gone over to the double orange ledges.  I had gotten a couple kickflips that felt really good and I thought to myself “never again skating 8.5” (yeah right). Then we tried our lines.  That was fun.  Kevin literally landed like 20/21 nollie flips even on my board.  There were a bunch of others skating, everyone was nice.  One dude had an amazing treflip.  The lines took awhile.  I had one kickflip where I squated extra low and almost couldn’t get up from it.  I thought my knees would be done after that, but they kept going.  After getting our lines Kevin did the snake run to ride on grind.  It took him a long time, but he got it.  Then we called it a day.  It was nice to not completely hate myself for the first time in a few days.

(setup 303 8.25 deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 (cast baseplate v-hollow hanger), bones medium bushings, spitfire 52mm 99a tablets, new balance numeric 212 mustard size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 4/10)  

After hitting 303 Kevin and I met up with Rob and hit Redder curbs. Kevin and I hit 303 because we had recent struggles and it’s never our fault, but instead our setup’s fault. Ha. I went back to 8.5 with 8.5 Ventures, but traded in some large 51mm wheels for some narrow 50mm wheels. I’ve never really done the big setup with tiny wheels before. Well, not that I know of. Kevin was also switching back from Thunder to Venture. We woke. We had intended to meet Rob on campus, but the snow was starting to pick up so Redder curbs it was. Warming up didn’t seem too bad for anyone. Rob was on the back 50s and no complies right away. Kevin was figuring out his setup with switch flips. My trucks were way too loose, but I was having fun. Slappies worked well and kickflips felt great. Almost had some fun b/s flips out of the little kicker. Kevin and Rob had nice back 180s. Rob and I had some wallie nollies, Rob had front tails too. Jack showed and quickly did impossibles, treflips, popped kickflips. He is so freaking good. Then he went on to learn f/s halfcab back 50 in a few tries, did like 10 of them in a row and casually added the no comply flip over the mega gap in a few tries. He also learned slappy crooks (of course doing shove out second try), did the most popped no comply 180s and fakie tre’d over the little median. Rob learned slappy front crooks! I ended up doing my first slappy crooks shove (i’ve only shoved out of regular crooks before). I also did a b/s flip over the little hip. I got kind of close to kick back tail on the curb. Near the end I started trying nollie back tail shoves. Most of them weren’t close and were embarrassingly slow and awkward. But out of nowhere I did one and it felt quite amazing. I may have even slid it a little. Kevin joined the learn slappy crooks party. He also took top honors in the slam department. He tried a no comply 180 and went down soooo hard. It was brutal. He also ollied the parking block gap, back lipped the parking block, halfcab bonk the median like it was nothing. Dave showed near the end still riding his putter. He went into noseslides, tails, quickly. I had kind of tuned out at that point and was ready to go. Dave apparently skated for like 2 more hours ha. So awesome.

(setup null 8.5 plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 trucks (red cast baseplate titanium hanger), venom bushings (88a big one no washer, 91a small one flat washer), spitfire f4 classic shape 99a 50mm wheels, new balance numeric 212 mustard size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 4/10 mostly the cold causing the problems)

On a really nice morning I met up with Rob, Kevin, Mike, Eric, Dave F and eventually Sean at dog park.  I was on my 3rd setup change of 2021 already.  Well, just a truck swap out, but that’s pretty huge.  I want flips to be easier so I’m going with some Thunder 148s.   And boy did they flip good at first for me.   After some rolling around to warm up I would have several first try flippers.  Kickflip, heelflip, halfcab flip, b/s flip and some others that came in a few tries.  Front 50s felt good on low stuff, but I struggled with the taller ledge for a reason I don’t know.  Crooks felt extra good.  I had a fun line of front 180 the parking block, halfcab flip on flat, front 50 back 180 the little guy.  Everyone seemed to be skating well.  I saw Rob get some halfcab noseslides on the taller ledges.  He also had two really bad slams in a row.  One on a back 50 body varial out that was looking so good until the last second when he hung and slammed so hard.  I haven’t seen him bounce off the ground like that in a long time.  Then on the next attempt he hit a stop rock and went down hard again.  Argh!  He kept skating though, front 50s, first try kickflip, much more.  Dave was in demo mode.  Everytime I’d see him he was landing something crazy.  Front crooks to fakie, switch crooks to forward, front 50 back 180 transfer the beam, halfcab back 50 back 180 out, halfcab boardslide several parking blocks to fakie and much more I’m forgetting right now.  Kevin and Mike were ripping the ledges.  Nosegrinds, nollie nosegrinds, back tails, back smiths.  Kevin did back smith the tall bench then back 180 nosegrind the cinder block I think.  Wowsers.  Kevin and Mike did back to back back smiths on the tall bench at one point and I got their back with a tiny crook jib.  I couldn’t get a fakie nosegrind to save my life.  I’m not sure why.  I tried some switch front crooks and failed, was close to rick flips and nollie varial flips.  My last trick was a front 50 kickflip out on the little guy.  It was fun as I haven’t done that trick in forever.  Dave got my back, but I forget what the trick was.  I think switch crook.  Eric had been ripping.  Got a few back 180 heels, 5-0s, tails, lipslides, ollies over stuff easily, back 50s on taller ledges now.  Sean ollied over one of the angled crossbeams all crazy and of course had nosegrinds, 5-0s like they were nothing.  

Some people stopped skating, Dave, Sean and I went to Basemar.  Sean wanted to ollie the bump to parking lot, but there was a truck parked half into the landing.  So we ended up dorking around.  We hit the little flat gap to manny.  Well, those guys did.  I was tired and sore.  I was stoked Dave ollied it.  Sean did manual, 180s to halfcab and fakie bigspin out, 180 nose manual.  Then we skated the bump as a bank doing lots of side rock variations.  Dave was going hammer though and going for sex change.  He ended up focusing his very old board, going to his car and getting out his 7.75 putter then doing it first try.  Ha.  He would also go on to get a really cool trick that I filmed for Stubborns 2.  I don’t know what to call it so I’ll just say it’s a nollie shove into a fingerflip.  Sounds awesome right?  Then Matt showed up to sell a calendar and we chatted for a while as the sun finally came out again.  

(setup 8.25 303 deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 HL, venom 88a big bushing, 91a small bushing, spitfire 52mm 99a f4 classic shape, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 4/10 probably from feeling a slight cold or something)

With my Venture 5.8s back on I met Rob, Dave L and Kevin at Broomfield park.  I was the last one there.  For some reason I wasn’t feeling a skatepark session on a Saturday, but after a few warm up runs they suggested we bounce.  I don’t remember much of anything because I literally was only there for 10 minutes.  

We went to this school to look at some mini benches, but they had snow.  We went around the school and played on some curved ledges that could be pretty fun.  Dave almost got boardslide pop out.  Kevin almost got hurt multiple times.  Then we ended up in the nearby smooth parking lot.  Manuals, flippers were had.  Kevin did a quick up ollie several times.  I ollied it to axle stall.  A good old fashioned curb stall session ensued ignited by Rob with a pivot back tail.  Kevin did a switch front disaster and I tried, but didn’t get it.  Rob had more pivots to tail to almost 180 out.  Dave had fakie pivots.  

Then we ended up at this fun old bank spot.  The north facing bank had snow so it was a different vibe than normal.  In some ways I thought it was more fun because you were forced to roll in a certain way, but it wasn’t as fun to cruise that’s for sure.  Kevin and I had some fun b/s flips even if his was way better and landed much quicker.  Dave and Rob had some poppy ollies.  Rob struggled with crail blocks which was rare for him so he put an end to his very old board.  Dave had left.  Kevin did a Janoski flip out of the bank then fakie ollie into it which was way nuts.  I had almost done a biflip first try.  So instead of doing it quick I took like 20 tries to get a very bad one.  Oh well.  As we rapped by the car I did a kickflip on Kevin’s board that felt so good so I drove right to 303 after that and got some Thunders.  ha ha.  Gonna be 3-3 on setup changes to start the year.  Anyway, fun day with the crew and I’m hyped we got out of the park.  

(setup 8.25 303 deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, venom 88a big bushing 91a small bushing, spitfire 52mm 99a f4 classic shape, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint elite mid insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a cold night I drove out and met Dave at Frederick.  The park had more snow and ice than we had thought.  The manny pads weren’t an option.  The bump to ledge/hump and curb areas were about it.  And the two weird benches by the dumb sculpture.  We basically had the park to ourselves except when shoveler Patrick showed up for awhile.  We skated the hump and curb area the most.  We skated for over a couple hours so it’s hard to remember all that went down.  Warming up wasn’t as bad as you would think.  Dave did a lot of curb stalls/transfers/grinds.  All of which were made harder by limited run up.  Front hurricane, boardslides, noseslides, nose stall reverts and the amazing back axle to rock to revert transfer.  Wow.  He also had some incredible lines that had switch shoves on the hump to quick wallrides.  I mostly posed flip tricks and got used to my new trucks.  Yes, new trucks again.  This time Indy Mids.  Had to try them, they felt great before the bushings totally froze up.  I had a line of caveman grind then b/s flip the hip.  I couldn’t get a regular kickflip over the hip.  I posed hardflips for awhile on the little bank and got kind of close. I took too long to get a varial flip over the hip.  I lost interest when Pat stole my trick.  Then after he left I tried again and got a couple weird feeling ones.   I tried a line of fakie flip on the little bank then f/s halfcab flip over the hip, but was really struggling.  Dave’s lines were pretty amazing.  It’s hard to describe the crazy curb transfers then switch shoves on the hump to quick wallrides and the smoothness.  We ended on the weird sculpture benches.  I was unable to switch noseslide either way.  I guess the Indys might not be so good for ledges.  But I had some alright crooks and a fun noseslide shove.  Dave had a good line of front noseslide to fakie, fakie flip on the tiny bank, noseslide to fakie.  Oh yeah then we hit the bank for a bit.  Dave did some great fakie ollies.  I did some weak ollies to fakie.  

(setup 303 8.25 deck, jessup ultragrip, 144 indy mids, bones medium bushings,  spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 3/10)