Trying to escape the heat Jake and I went to Frisco. We parked right next to Dan and Ted. Epic. So we all skated awhile. I had put my 8.3 setup back together and was riding it. It was crazy how much more pop the higher trucks had. Other than a quick nose manual I really sucked it up. Dan was ripping as he always does. Ted and Dan put on a treflip clinic. I wasn’t really feeling like trying flippers. Partly because of pain. I wasn’t feeling great. Jake was working on blunts on the bank ledge. I was trying back 50s over the top on the little curb and failing. Ted went for a crazy back 50 no comply back bigspin out. So nuts. I tried my line a few times, but the crowd near the bench became too much and it was just too annoying. Dan killed it, nollie front 180 nose manual, feebles and blunts on the flat bar, back smith the ledge, nosegrind up the ledge, so much goodness. Jake basically tried to line out the front 5-0 in the weird corner the whole session. He did have some good crooks on the curved ledge. Me too, it locks in good. I took a bit to get the kickflip to fakie. Then was trying a fun line of crooks, back 50 the tiny ledge, front nosegrind the tiny ledge. I couldn’t quite get the nosegrind. Near the end I tried and almost got into a kick back tail. Jake and I got some food and were going to hit evergreen on the way home, but we were beat and just drove all the way home.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 custom v-hollow, bones hard bushings, 51mm spitfire 101a F4 classic shape, 3 washers inside each axle, lakai atlantic b/w size 11.5, xero thin insoles)
(pain level 4/10)  

Another day wearing glasses and trying to avoid sunlight I went to campus before work for some flatground.  I went to the flagstone ledge area and mostly hid in the covered area.  I downloaded some random skate dice app to use as a warm up.  It did some basic tricks to start with like nollie back 180, switch shove, helipop, etc.  It was fun.  Then I tried halfcab flips for way too long before getting a couple really slow ones.  I ollied onto the ledge after and came remotely close to dropping into cali grind on the sidewalk.  Took a while for heelflips too.  I hucked a lot of nollie/switch flips and were close to both.  Committed, but didn’t get my feet on.  Couldn’t get a treflip which is always depressing.  I think the tighter bushings I’ve been rocking hurt treflips.  Man did I even land anything else?  I did a crooks or two, noseslides.  Ended trying kickflip then front 50.  I got into a couple front 50s, but never grinded and landed one.  Argh.  I wasn’t too depressed when I left skating, but upon writing this I am. I really hated how my kickflips felt. I wasn’t popping the tail.

So after work I tried low trucks again. And I loved it. I warmed up with some slappies in between some longboarders then skated some flat on the side of the school. I had some new wheels and bearings too. Spits 51mm. They felt great. My kickflips felt sooo much better. I was 3-3 on heelflips at one point too. I had a few initial tricks that felt good, then kinda went downhill. I mostly hucked all kinds of tricks without really sticking to or landing much. It was fun though.

(setup 1 8.25 null archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 custom hollow cast baseplate v-hollow hanger then venture 5.2 lows, bones hard bushings, bones stf v1 51mm 103a, new balance numeric 212 b/w/yellow size 12, nb abzord insoles)
(pain level 3/10)    

I went out to the garage on a rainy evening before dinner. I was motivated and felt decent. The warm up process went alright. I took a few tries to get a pop shove I was happy with which was the start of the struggles. Then kickflip took a few tries, but I did manage my 5 in a row. Then heelflips. I had gotten one and was going for a total of 5 when a missed heelflip resulted in my foot going right through the middle of my board. No worries I grabbed a very old 8″ deck sitting on the garage and swapped them out. It felt a little small and I started with fakie flips to get going. Then I went back to heelflip and was able to get 4 more of those. Did a couple backside flips, a great feeling fakie varial flip. Then couldn’t treflip to save my life followed by many varial heelflip attempts that I couldn’t land either. I hucked a few nollie flips that felt pretty close, but overall I was just so bummed. I tried so hard and I couldn’t come up with a rare or new trick. It really felt like I’m just too old to learn new stuff anymore and it hit me hard.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck/null logo 8″ deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, venture yellow bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric 288s grey/blue size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

After work on a hot afternoon I drove by Southern Hills to skate some flat and benches.  However there were several people there playing basketball so I turned around and moved on.  I ended up at a random nearby school that has a weird flagstone bench with gaps on each side, a sketchy butter bench against a bush with flowers, an alright curb, some decent flatground and a million stop rocks.  I had brought out my old 8.25 with low trucks because I felt desperate to have better flippers.  It worked.  Although I did struggle to ollie up a curb with any confidence.  Anyway I tried a line to get things going.  Back tail a curb, kickflip on flat, ollie up a curb, ollie onto the bench.  I never committed to the bench.  I couldn’t last time I was there either.  I hucked a lot of flippers.  Got kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, b/s flip, halfcab flip, f/s halfcab flip, close to varial heel.  Hucked kick back tails on the curb for a bit and got really close.  Did a bunch of crooks on the bench which was really fun.  I did a few other tricks on it too, but they were even less good than crooks.  I couldn’t get a front 50 on it to save my life.  I was upset about this initially, but really that ledge is something I would normally never touch.  Cracks, stop rocks, a family biking in the parking lot watching me.  Yeah a lot of forces working against me.  I left on peaceful terms even without getting the front 50.  Then I watched Back To The Future with the kids.  That movie rules and was the first skateboarding I ever saw.  I got a skateboard shortly after that.  35 years later here I am still not able to front 50 a bench.  Ha.
(setup 8.25 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric foy b/w/y size 12, nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 3/10)

On a very hot day Kevin, Eric and I rolled to 3rd St park in Greeley. Dave L would join after awhile. I had changed my setup to 8.3 with 5.8s. It felt a little weird, but not too weird. This was because I could barely ollie up to nose manual at Golden the day before. I didn’t have much juice and was having troubles committing to stuff. That seemed to be going around. Eric however went right for the hammer and did rock to fakie, back rock and front rock on the big bank there. He also rode up the bank then down into front 50 which was nuts. I fell into a zone of trying treflips up the bank. I was close so many times, but it took forever to land one and by then the sprinklers had turned on and we were gonna move on. Kevin had gotten a nollie tre up it, nosegrinds, 50 the long hubba. Dave L with super lofty ollies, casual manuals and switch manuals, pop shove and varial flip up the euro.

Next we went to Peak View park which was super fun even though the sun was so hot on us. I managed a backside flip over the hip in a few tries and did another one. Back 50s on the diamond cut coping were really fun too. I hucked treflip for a bit and got kinda close before overheating. Kevin got nollie b/s flip over the hip, pole jams, some nice grinds on the qp. Eric was trying boardslides on the spine, but was beat and it didn’t really work out. Dave had manuals, switch manuals, nice ollies, manual the china bank.

Then we went to the school. We warmed up with a game of SKATE. Dave was the first one out, Kevin got me out on heelflip. It was fun though, it definitely got us warmed up and I did a few flippers. Kevin went in right away on front 50s and was trying to come up with other stuff like back 180 out. But he slammed and overheated. Dave couldn’t quite get into boardslides on it. He had some cool drop down / up shoves and manuals on the long 3 stair though. I tried to drop down and kickflip up and struggled. Dave and I hit the 4 stair area for awhile. He had a sick ollie then front board pop out. I had ollies then back board or noseslide. Then spent a long time trying front 180 then switch front nose. I would get several, but none were very good. Got a couple flippers in between tries like heelflip and varial flip. Man it was hot. Looking forward to a break.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 101a 51mm radial slims, new balance numeric 288s navy, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10 some soreness and mental fatigue from skating in the sun so much0

On the first day of summer, Go Skate Day and Father’s Day my family drove to Denver. We were running late for the #pushforprogress and pulled up right as everyone was skating off. So we went right from the car to pushing a couple miles. I should have rode my cruiser, but instead I had my regular board that I had switched up again and put Venture Lows on. Anyway, I didn’t ollie or anything although did do a fun wallride on a jersey barrier. Ollie and Kevin were in our crew. Man it was cool. I was stoked all the Nullers were there too.

Then after a nice nap Ollie and I went to campus to do our annual Father’s Day skate session. The rain was threatening and we got in a few minutes on the narrow bank before the rain dumped on us. The lightning was so crazy. I had front shove to fakie and kickflip to fakie before doing fakie flips. We were trying to line things out going up a handicap ramp and off a loading dock. I couldn’t commit to the back 180. Ollie had some ollies. Ha. He got pop shove to fakie first try. He was close to front shove to fakie, but at least rode out a couple times turning around. He was popping his tricks way more than he used to.

Then we went to the engineering building to avoid the rain. It poured so much that it quickly limited the options at the spot. We had done a couple lines down the banks. I got close to kickflip into the first one, nollie the second then ollie up the 3. But the rain runoff stopped that. Ollie had back 180 into the first, halfcab into the second. Then we just played on the lower bank. Ollie tried kickflip to fakie for over an hour. He never got it, but he did at least land a kickflip and turn around. It was cool seeing him work so hard. I had the bad 3 flip out, but it felt good to land. The ‘tre a day’ thing is stressful. After that I got a heelflip, close to nollie varial flip and close to front heel. After Ollie landed the kickflip we headed home for dinner. Oh yeah, I had new shoes, my favorite as of late, 288S. They felt good.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck, venture awake 5.2 lows, 1/16″ riser, bones medium bushings, 3 speed washers inside each axle, 51mm spitfire f4 101a radial slim, new balance numeric 288S size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a rainy night I went out into the garage after making yet another setup change. I had given Ollie the Enjoi board since I disliked it so much and assembled an old 8.3 deck with razor tail. I liked it though. I took a bit to get going. Did kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip before setting into a rotation of 3 tricks. Varial heel, treflip and a random one to keep me interested. For awhile it was nollie flips and I got very close. I never landed a varial heel, but I was incredibly close. I got a couple bad treflips. Not really too close on other flippers, but it was a fun night.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 3 washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 51mm radial slim 101a, new balance numeric foy 306 size 12 blue, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10 getting sick of vulcs hoping these die soon)

On a warm night I met up with Sean, Kevin, Carleigh, Mike, Dave L. Darin and crew were there too. I had of course put some high trucks on after Sunday’s performance. I tried the 5.8s. They felt super stiff and terrible from the start. I tried to warm up for a bit, then was trying a noseslide on the brown ledge and slammed incredibly hard. Hard enough that people got my board and asked if I was okay rather than laugh. It took me awhile to recover from that. Mike was ripping, flying everywhere. Kevin too, he was adding in Janoski flips. Sean was mostly on the flip trick tip. His back heels rule. Dave was keeping it low key with little manuals and transfers onto the brown ledge. I got things somewhat into gear by doing some flip tricks even though they were not working well. Skated the black ledge briefly, had crooks and front 50. Mike did kick back tail. Sean did nollie back nosegrind shove. Carleigh showed and went in on disasters right away. She would get both. Also some good board slides and ollies into the bank. I had basically given up on my session and just tried halfcab crooks on the little blue ledge for awhile. I got one! Justin was there ripping. Dave had some really cool manual lines. I don’t remember a whole lot of what others were doing because it was weird being at a crowded skatepark again. I don’t think I’ll ever buy a non-Geneartor board again. I hate that Enjoi so much. Gonna give it to Ollie.

(setup 8.25 Enjoi Wallin deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 custom hollow cast baseplate titanium hanger, spitfire 51mm 101a f4 radial slims, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 4/10 – since I slammed right away it kinda ruined me)

A little after 9am on a Sunday I went over to the school as Dave F said he was gonna be there with a friend. Tony. He was cool. Total surfy style going fast on slappies. I had a new board and wheels – Enjoi Wallin deck with Franky Villani graphics and Spitfire F4 51mm radial slims. It’s crazy how good the F4s felt compared to what I’ve had recently (blanks and classic formula). Those guys were already warmed up and trying feebles on the double sided curb. Dave had a nice front board. Tony did a rad noseslide over the drainage hole. I had some okay slappies. I had put the lows on again with a riser. They flipped nice. After awhile we were mostly at the hook area. Dave and Tony were doing amazing noseslides through it. I slowly worked up to some front slappies through it and they were so incredibly fun. Tony ollied the gap to the sidewalk a few times. Dave would end up doing a no comply over it. I was trying to line out, flip trick, slappy, gap. I got halfcab flip then front slappy, but missed the ollie. Then I did one of the best fakie bigflips I’ve done in awhile, got a questionable front slappy and missed the ollie again. Then I took awhile to do a switch front 180 up the curb cut then kickflip off, missed the front slappy but still rode away then tried a no comply flip over the gap, but didn’t get it. Fun morning.

Then I met up with Garrett and Jack and we met up with JJ, Sean, Jeff, Ryan, Cass, Ted, Joe, Brian and probably more I’m forgetting. We went to that new ledge school on Tejon. Well, the old school with the knobbed rail that now has tons of ledges. People were hitting the ledge over the gravel gap. I felt very out of place, and failed at noseslides forever. Jack casually did front tail front heel and back lip shove. Sean did a bunch of front tail variations, but not the one he wanted. Garrett did crooks and crooks fakie quick, but no halfcab noseslide nollie flip. JJ tried to run into the wall. Jeff did nose manual nollie flip and a textbook switch tre. Man it ruled seeing Jeff skate again. Joe did the slowest and most chill back 50 ever. It made me jealous.

Then we went down the block to skate a bank to rail. But Ted and I got distracted by this and stayed there for awhile. Okay a long while. I never got the boardslide, I was skating so timidly. Ted front 50’d it. Cass joined after awhile and got close to the boardslide, but like me struggled with how inconsistent that side was. Jeff would show up and front 50 it casually. Then Brian showed up who I haven’t seen in forever. He looked as good as ever on the board even though he apparently hasn’t been skating at all. He front 50’d it then went on to front 50 to front board like Ted did.

Last we went to the steep stadium bank. I dropped in once or twice near the top then Garrett was ready to go so I started filming. It took awhile but he got a Janoski flip! It was sick. Joe and Brian tried some tricks too, but never got their feet on them. That was the day. I felt terrible after, I guess the heat got to me. Argh.

(setup 8.25 enjoy wallin, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, 1/8″ riser, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm spitfire f4 radial slims 101a wheels, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cloudy warm morning I went to the dog park before work. I work lates again and am still having to wear glasses so the cloudy skies would help. I had changed my setup yet again, 8.5 this time. I feel like I should just accept it’s the ideal size for me. Anyway, warming didn’t feel great, I struggled with a lot of things, but ollies felt decent. I had a warm up line of front 5-0 the min cinder block, front 50 the low pad, boardslide the wallie barrier, then kickflip. Except the kickflip took for freaking ever! I couldn’t believe how bad they felt. Next warm up line was front shove on flat, crooks cinder block ledge, kickflip on flat, back 50 the low pad, front 180 the mini cinder block. This took way too long as well. My crooks were terrible, front shoves were terrible, kickflips were terrible. It took a few tries to get a back 50, but I ended up getting them decent. I changed the line to pop shove, back 50, front 180. The front 180 did not come easy, but at least I did back 5-0 before that to make it feel cool. Then for the super depressing part of the session, front 50s on the cinder block. I thought I’d just do it then front nosegrind 180 the mini cinder block after, but no, the front 50 felt terrible. It wasn’t that I couldn’t do it, it was that my mind didn’t want to. I got a few, posed some flips tricks and was about to leave super depressed. Instead I made myself huck a couple dream tricks for a few minutes. I tried halfcab noseslide 270 shoves on the cinder block ledge (not even remotely close) and switch crooks on the metal butter ledge. I got kinda into a couple of those so at least that felt cool. I left somehow not in a terrible mood.

(setup 8.5 nolan null deck, ultra grip, venture 5.8 custom hollow cast baseplate titanium hangers, 52mm spitfire green/yellow swirl classic 99a F4, new balance numeric 255 b/w size 12, thin rubbery adidas insole)
(pain level 3/10 some knee pain wanting to come through)