After a nice morning with the wife I went out with very little motivation to find something different. And I did, I found this “little” gap that I thought would be fun to ollie. I skated an 8.3 with Indys. It had great pop, that is it. I had a warm up line of kickflip, ollie up a curb, ollie a very tiny gap. Then I tried this gap and didn’t have the guts to commit.

Went to this nearby ‘sorry excuse for a bank to curb’. Not shown are the ruts and worse asphalt you get to ride through. Anyway, I took a little bit to get a front tail. Talked to a snow bro that works at the cannibas place about snowboarding a nearby rail. Then went hucked a couple kickflip axle stalls I thought would work. A million tries later I focused my board like a baby. I was in disbelief I couldn’t land it. Guess it shows why I won Stubborn Of The Year a few years back.

(setup 2/10 8.3 null smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, indy 149 forged hollows with bones medium bushings, 53mm bones stf v1 103a pj, new balance numeric 574 vulc 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a really nice day I rolled to Denver and met up with Cass, Kyle and Ryan at a newish DIY spot. It’s got some qps and a curb that are pretty fantastic. Well, the qps are a little gnar for me, but I’m a wuss. Kyle had just done his trick and hurt his back so he was out. Cass was on the slappies right away. Says he just learned them because of this spot. Took me a bit to get the confidence to skate it like a qp like Cass was, but they were really fun. Had an early line of slappy front crook then rock ‘n roll the qp. The glorified f/s kickturn then regular slappy was really fun. I had a b/s flip after too. Ryan had really good slappy feebles and almost got bluntslide to fakie 50. Then we went to York St. It was a pretty fun session although I took too long to do a front slash on the tiny bank to pool coping section followed by front 50 the little slappy curb. I ended up mostly trying to skate the ledge on the outside. Never quite got a front 50, my pop was lacking. A first try crooks made up for it. Ryan had a nice nollie noseblunt on the parking block. I think Cass did halfcab blunt. Fun session.

(setup 3/10 null 8.5/14.25 20 year deck, null jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 574 vulc blue size 11.5 with half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After work I met Dave at Frederick after the sun had set and temps had dropped. We somehow ended up on the weird lump of a qp that neither of us liked and skated it for a while. I think Dave had started with the alley up 50 and then did it 5-0 as I tried to learn 50. It was fun though we did a bunch of different variations. The alley oop fakie back 50 was my fav feeling of them. But Dave had done it switch too which I got as well, but he added 5-0 to every variation, also had crooks. I liked the frontside versions too. Then we moved 20 feet away to the bank to curb area. Dave did some 5-0 transfers down into the bank that were gnar. Also some Tiago lines with nollies and switch ollies on the banks and hips and back tails on the bank to curb. I spent a really long time doing a line of fakie flip on the bank, noseslide a hubba, alley oop fakie back 50. Slammed hard on a crooks after that, but the line hyped me up. I spent an hour trying axle stall then treflip flyout and finally got one about 50 tries in. After that I was basically too sore to do anything other than putz around and do some basics. Dave was doing nose stall on the bank to curb then switch 180 slide around to nose manual over the pyramid and getting really close. I tried to skate the ledge to end the session. It didn’t go very well, I could barely ollie as my soreness had taken over.

(setup 5/10 8.25 null flaherty, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 hollow lites with bones medium bushings, 53mm bones v1 stf 103a pj, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 7/10)

On a cold and snowy Thanksgiving morning I met up with Jack B and Seattle Will. It was a bit disorienting skating indoors so early in the day, but we ended up having a good session. We all kind of did our own thing to get going. I had some fun slappies on the bank to curb. Jack had a sick no comply 180 up the euro. Will and I played on the bump to ledge a bit. He would do back 50, back 5-0 then worked for back tail. I did noseslide and crooks, but started doing the crooks in a line with axle stall on the taller qp and a 180 off the kicker onto the pad. It was a really fun line. I joined Jack on the tiny bank to curb section for a while. He was doing 5-0 and switch 5-0 ride on grinds off the little curb. I was trying to line out smith stalls with ride on nosegrind, but never got the nosegrind. Will managed front 50 across and down the main ledge. I did a tiny little front 50 on it, but I was actually hyped as I’ve never popped onto it before. I tried the kickflip then bump to 50 line a while. The front 50 against the wall was so weird. It took quite a few tries so it helped me dial in some kickflips up the euro. Lastly Jack was trying slappy noseslide the top part of the ledge and I was trying crooks on it. But it became time to go so I never got it all the way, would like to do that. Oh yeah, I had gotten little front 50s on it too. Will had done front 50 over it super easy, I think back 50 too.

(setup 8/10 null 8.5/14.25 20 year deck, null jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, xero kelso b/w size 12 with remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Managed to get out of work in time to enjoy daylight. It was cloudy though with rain or snow threatening. I kind of love that kind of weather. I skated in Xero shoes because I’m sick of all the pain from skate shoes. It went well actually. I started in the front at the curb cuts. Did a line of fakie flip, sw 180 into a curb cut, kickflip out of the next one. Then I went to the side. Did a few slappies, not really heavy on the flippers. Tried a line of b/s flip into the little hill, fakie bigflip. But never got the fakie bigflip. Nollie flips whipped around but I never got both feet on. Extended the line to start with a front axle stall on a rock, noseslide jib a bench that whiggles, nollie 180, switch 180, b/s flop into the hill. Ended trying switch slappy crooks and got a couple that felt good.

(setup 5/10 null 8.3 smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, xero kelso b/w size 12 with remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went to campus after work as it got dark. I had been a terrible mood all day. Skating didn’t really change that. I had started at the mini bank to two stair. I hadn’t done any exercises and it showed by how off I felt to start. But I would get going. I fun crooks and front crooks to fakie. The front crooks to fakie was so extra fun it was almost worth the session. Then I started lining out from the downhill ledge across the street. I did a line of noseslide, ollie off the curb, ollie up the curb, front crook to fakie. Was hyped on that. Then took a while to get noseslide to fakie, switch 180 off the curb, ollie up the curb, front tail stall shove. The tail stall shove took way too many tries similar to Loveland a couple of days before. Argh. Then I went slightly down the hill to the weird 3 stair bank area and posed some treflips to fakie and front heels before realizing I had no juice left and walked back to the car. Oh, well I guess I tried to ollie onto a ledge near the business building, but not really.

(setup 5/10 null smoke valley 8.3, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149 bones med bushings, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy/brown size 12 with half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a really nice morning I got out to Lafayette to finally meet up with the Sunday morning brunch crew. It was rad, so many great people. Also, so many scooter kids, but they would leave luckily. I was feeling pretty sore and had motivational issues because of it. All I basically did was the kickflip on the bank then front axle on the tight qp. I mean it took a while awhile to give up on regular axle stall and go frontside. But once I started getting kickflips I got quite a few of them. Other than that I kind of putzed around and didn’t really do anything noteworthy. I hucked some hardflips on the mellow bank near the end that felt doable but never got both feet on them. I liked seeing Dan do such good kickflips. Brian high speed feeble grinds on the tight qp to parking blocks, front rocks of course, no comply blunt on the bank was cool. Cass had a better kickflip than me on the bank, but the key is that it was singular. Ha. He had some nice ollies to fakie but couldn’t get halfcab flip. Kyle is fun to watch skate even if he can do casper stall every try except when I film. The whole time we were skating everyone talked about going to Broomfield. Some actually did. Garrett wanted to, but stuck around out of loyalty for a free board. Ha ha, but man he rips. Kickflip pivot was so sick as was the long hurricane grind. Fuller had shown and casually did some pivots on the tight qp like it was nothing. Other Kyle, Mike showed later. Will, Squeeks, Scotty, Grey. So many peeps, so little journal. I wish I hadn’t been so sore, it was fun skating and hanging people.

(setup 3/10 null smoke valley 8.3, jessup ultragrip, slappy low profile 8.5, bones stf v1 103a 52mm, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy/brown size 12, half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 6/10 I hate newish 440s they hurt so bad)

Went out to the garage after dinner because I was too tired to motivate and skate outside in the colder weather. I skated an 8.5. And I liked it. After some warm up 180s and stuff it took me a few tries to get a kickflilp, but then I did like 6 in a row. Which didn’t happen on the smaller 8.25 last time. Did a fakie flip. Hucked some nollie flips that only had one close one. Went in on treflips. They felt weird at first, but eventually started to feel like every one of them would be a make. But only two of them were makes. At one point I slipped out on my slipper concrete floor and it kind of spooked me. Did a heeflip. Hucked a few switch front heels that felt like a 2% chance of success. So you’re saying there’s a chance. Turns out I was so tired because I was once again getting sick. Ugh, I get sick way too often these days.

(setup 7/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, venture v8 baseplate titanium 5.8 hanger bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 99a classic 52mm yellow, new balance numeric 440v2 wide black size 11.5 with half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a cool day I stopped by the parks after work. Dave was there when I got there, we started at the park. I had made a setup change, basically forged v8 5.6s on an 8.25. I loved it. Early on I had some fun in the top bowl area, then a first try kickflip on the shark fin. Paul and Will showed. Dave had a first t f/s kickflip on the bank and a gorgeous 5-0 over the rainbow. I did a line of f/s kickflip on the bank then kickflip to fakie on the shark fin. Will and Paul had some good ollies over the euro. Will good wallies. I started trying treflips to fakie in the little bank. They were all so close. Then I landed a few! I know they weren’t perfect, but actually landing them and doing more than one felt so great. Paul joined the treflip game and did 8 in a row at one point, then a couple more after. Dave added fakie flip and varial flip to fakie. Then a really nice ollie into the bank.

We went over to the plaza. Will proved us wrong by doing first try front nosegrind on the bench that we said wasn’t lit well enough. He had some nice manuals and nose manuals too. I struggled with front 50s on the lurb, but I think I got a line I was trying of front 50, noseslide to fakie the bench, fakie 50 halfcab out the curb. Dave did a similar line starting with back 50 on the lurb, front nose to fakie, then fakie back 50 halfcab out. He would try more to fakie, but didn’t get one I don’t think. I tried some switch front tails and may have technically met the minimum requirements of one.

(setup 8/10 null abstract 8.25, jessup ultragrip, venture redrilled v8 5.6 v-hollows with royal bushings, 53mm bones v1 stf 103a, new balance numeric 440v2 wide black size 11.5 half 574 vulc insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Feeling a little better I went over to the school on such an incredibly gorgeous day. I would skate for about 30 minutes and actually did some tricks. I mean I didn’t go in that hard, but I would get a few flippers like kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip, heelflip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip. Did the basic slappies, couldn’t get a switch front slappy. Ended on a line of slappy crook, b/s flip, fakie flip.

(setup 5/10 null smoke valley 8.3, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-cast royal bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 440v2 high black size 12 half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 2/10)