It had rained while I was at work and dog park was clearly out, but I drove north and it was dry at Blue Skies. Dave would come meet up. My warm up was pretty brutal, I was really sore. But it turned into a pretty good session, we tried some new stuff. I struggled with flippers though, like really bad. Tried to line out halfcab flips and could not get one to save my life either way. I would get a heelflip, but couldn’t get treflip or really any other trick. We did some switch front noses on the flat bar. Dave boardslid the dragon rail. We both got two switch front boards on the flat bar. Daves were better. Dave had quite a few long lines starting with solid front 50 180s on the ledge, halfcab boardslide the flatbar, but took a long time to get the varial flip to fakie. Which is odd after he did kickflip and fakie flip both first try. I had a few slow front 50s on the the ledge, struggled with kickflip to fakie after on the bank. But did manage a line of switch noseslide down the little escalator on the ledge, kickflip to fakie the bank, switch front nose the ledge. Got one switch noseslide 270 shove, but missed the kickflip after. I got quite sore so I gave Dave some kodak courage and he got the varial flip to fakie. And he did it really good.

(setup 5/10 8.5 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 hollow 55, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, 440v2 wide white size 11.5 with half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

On a really nice night I had thought of slacking, but decided to take advantage of students still being gone and went to campus. I had no intention of ending up at the flagstone ledge to warm up, but the way traffic and bikes were I just stuck on the fun downhill bike path and it spit me out at the ledge. I had a new board/ setup change that I hope to stick to. 8.5 with the bigger 14.5 wheelbase and aces. Anyone reading this knows the chances of me sticking with a setup are zero. But I did have a fun first session at least. I mostly skated the ledge and didn’t try a lot of flippers. I couldn’t get crooks. Front axle took a while to get. I was happy to get a front 50 and an accidental 5-0. Seemed like I gained a little confidence and could maybe do them moving next time. Then I went nearby and did a line of ollie up a 2 stair, kickflip, front 180 down the two stair. Then over to the business building as it was getting dark. Got a couple lines I liked. Boardslide the tall ledge, kickflip, noseslide to fakie the wood bench, fakie flip. Then noseslide the tall ledge followed by a crooks on the wood ledge, then a bailed backside flip. Lastly I tried to ollie up the 3 stair. I got myself to commit mentally, but my back leg wasn’t having it and I hung up. Then I walked back to the car. Fun session, tried hard.

(setup 5/10 8.5 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 hollow 55, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, 440v2 wide white size 11.5 with half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Not feeling too well I met up with Cass, Jeff, Joe, Garrett and Kyle at York St skatepark. I kind of chilled and talked to Jeff for most of the session. Cass and Kyle were skating the curb and Cass did his first every front blunt shove that was so amazing. Kyle did some bluntslide to back lips. Joe did some good back tails. I did some bad rock ‘n rolls. Then we went to the nearby bank to ledge. I tried to ollie it and couldn’t commit or even really pose it, also posed some front smiths. Then I filmed Cass do a front board transfer, Jeff do kickflip, cab, boardslide 270 shove, Kyle do b/s flip and no comply after bashing his shin and Joe try switch front crooks or fakie hardflip. I should have skated more, but I really wasn’t feeling good.

(setup 3/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, thunder hollow light 149 royal bushings, 52mm spifire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Earlyish Saturday a large contingent of the old dude crew showed up. And one younger dude that didn’t get the memo and was totally charging haha. The crew was Bratcher, Rob, Paul, Tim, Eric. I had Thunders this time around, like them more the Ventures, but not a whole lot. I was still feeling somewhat run down and didn’t have a lot of energy. There was a lot going on so it was hard to pay attention to others. Like Rob’s front 50 back 180 I missed which I wish I would have seen. Also saw him nose manual around the blue bank, some front noseslides, manuals after some frustrations. Paul’s back 5-0s front 180s are great. He also did some front nosegrinds on the black ledge and back 50s on the bank to ledge. Eric and I eventually mustered the courage to front 50 the ledge into the bank. I only got it once, but it was rewarding. I took way too long to get a line of crooks the black ledge then noseslide to fakie the bank to ledge. Jack was stacking clips. Switch boardslide to 50 is one of my fav moves of his. Eric added some front tails and quartapotty moves. Paul and I finished with a game of SKATE that took a while because he was being nice. He got me on nollie flip to end it.

(setup 4/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, thunder hollow light 149 royal bushings, 52mm spifire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a cool afternoon I met Dave at the meet up curb. The session started off alright with some good dorking and hucking. Dave had done a pop shove front 50 on the curb, gotten into switch crook stalls and was trying back tailslides off the uphill curb cut. Then we kind of settled in on trying kickflip tails. Mine was f/s, Dave’s b/s. I had set the phone down, but it ran out of space before capturing anything. Not that it really had much to capture. Dave did a few like the video above. I didn’t get any f/s ones but was close. We moved one building to the north and ollied up a curb to 3 stair ollie which was fun. Then to the ride on ledge / ledge area where the real struggled started to mount. The ride on grind is not as smooth as it used to be, we both hung up the first few times. I had put Ventures on and disliked almost every second of it. I would get a couple front axle stalls that I tried kickflips out of since I was just standing there. Might have gotten one little grind. Managed an alright fakie 50, some noseslides, couldn’t flip my board. Dave had some good ride on front 50s some with front 180 out, switch front nose the ledge. Then went in on the front 50 up to switch crook down which he kind of did, but mostly would stick or fall off. My eyes had been weird because of some sickness (my eyes get messed up when my body fights something and I also get arthritis it’s really fun) and I had a setup change making everything so hard. Oh well, we skated, we ollied a 3 stair, we did some grinds. It was frustrating, but we did it.

(setup 1/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, venture v-cast 5.8 royal bushings, 52mm spifire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

After work, a viewing of Off the Couch with Brian and Gabe and then dinner with them I went out to skate. I went to Douglass. I set my board down and felt off. Tried to do my normal warm up routine, but my body wasn’t having it. I started on the side of the school. My initial attempts at tricks were perhaps some of the most awkward and terrible feelings I’ve had on my board in quite some time. I would eventually get to where I could do super slow front 50s on the downhill part of the ledge and took way too long to get a bad b/s flip out of the kicker after. After that I did a couple of noseslides out front then left. It was party due to too much sitting throughout the day, but it turns out I was getting sick too. So I hope that played into how badly I skated, because of that became my new norm I’m not sure I can handle that.

(setup 4/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, royal 149 ultralights, 52mm spifire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10 just felt terrible)

On a hot morning I had limited time so I went to dog park again. Bratcher, Paul, Dave, Eric, Ferg, Raul and a lot more showed. It was a pretty heated session both temperature and skating. Ferg rules, so fun to be around and a really good skater. He front smithed over the pad, did back 180 nosegrind, halfcab crook. Bratcher is always charging, lots of slappy tricks. I was really struggling to get going so played a game of SKATE with Paul. We got to SKAT-SKAT so it was an alright game for me other than getting a letter on treflip and I think front shove. I lost on a nollie heel which I’ve never landed so to be expected. Shortly after that I put together two lines I really liked. Heelflip, boardslide the tall round bar, no comply flip a parking block. Then one that sounds good on paper. F/s halfcab heel, kickflip over a parking block, no comply flip a parking block, 270 flip. I was hyped! Dave would get a no comply flip too and front boarded the tall round rail. I struggled to front 50 the bench again, didn’t lock into crooks over the pad, couldn’t kickflip up the lurb. Saw Dave get a nosegrind on the lurb again. At the end Eric, Dave, Paul and I hucked some flippers. Dave was super close to heelflips. I was not close to switch tre, nollie tre or switch f/s flip. Paul was really close to switch back heel. Surprisingly Eric was struggling with heelflips. Then I had to go pick up my mom. Fun session even if it started really slow.

Then I did a solo mission to MRKT to sell boards. I had intended to skate with the FOCO Nullers, but they were doing other stuff. I was really sore, but wanted to skate and thought a solo campus session with no expectations could be fun. It was cloudy with a few rain drops at first, but it cleared up and was real hot, like almost 100. The first spot I skated the little ledge along the bikepath and wasn’t feeling it. Then walking into campus found that super random bank to ledge and two stair that was super rough and way harder than it looks. I loved it. I also did a few nose stalls to start, but I did get a better no comply to tail before selfie filming. Would love to go back and do it better with a kickflip or something after. I went to the two stair area and wasn’t really feeling it much. Wanted to crook the granite bench after the two stair but couldn’t and just did a noseslide instead. Then ended up in the hallway between the math/music and engineering buildings that I had so many classes at in college. Kind of a trip to skate there actually. Anyway the spot was great, good curb, an alright ledge and this weird ride on ledge that was way weirder than it looks. I had some really fun intentional 5-0s on the curb and some not so intentional ones. The uphill grind killed me though, I could not do it well. Some little kids came and one of them did it really easy and ollied out like it was nothing. At least they liked my slappies on the curb. I never really did the uphill grind well enough to ollie out, but it was still fun. Last thing was the little quick up to gap. The ollie up was way too hard for me and may result in some setup madness. The little axle stall thing was 100% not planned and I just kind of did it instead of trying to ollie the gap. The front 180 felt really cool even if it was just a tiny gap. It was really fun to skate CSU, it’s been too long. I must admit I felt pretty old considering my level of skating and I went to school there 30 years ago. Yikes.

(setup 5/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, royal 149 ultralights, 52mm spifire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Jake’s last weekend before knee surgery so he called for a dog park session. Rob, Paul, Cass and Ed, yes Ed showed. We skated for a few hours and then the next day I skated a few hours too so I might confuse some things between the sessions. Aki was there at first and shredding. Cass was killing it. He had kick back 50, kickflip off the grate kicker and almost kickflip front 50s on the curb. Paul had his Sean tricks, back 5-0 front 180 out, slappy crook 180, a lot. I had some flippers working early and some rare pop. Had a fun line of noseslide, ollie the tiny rail, b/s flip on flat. Had a nose manual and good feeling crooks. Front 50s were not easy. Saw Rob boardslide the tall bench, nollie front lip, manual the c pad, maybe nose manny too, back 50 back 180. Was really hyped when Ed showed, he was charging some ollies and manuals. Jake had some good front tails, crooks shove I think, skated the barrier so who knows what he was doing ha ha. At the end Cass, Paul and I went to play SKATE. It was funny Paul missed double or nothing on front shove, then triple, four and five and he was out. Cass and I went on, but Cass had to quit because it was getting so hot. We had gotten to the point of trying treflips which I then continued for like 30 more tries before giving up and leaving. Paul had done one and a couple other tricks. Fun session.

(setup 6/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, royal 149 ultralights, 52mm spifire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Later in the evening I went to campus wanting to skate the bank to curb. It was still 93 degrees. Yikes. I putzed around on flatground a little before then went to it. I had a setup change. 3 days in a row. This one is supposed to stop that. I sure hope it does. 8.5 with 14.25 and royal 149s. I liked it a lot. First thing that made me happy was some noseslide 270s. Then a front shove to fakie. Then I randomly started hucking nollie shove noseslides. I never got one to slide, but I did get a couple little tap ones like in the video. I did quite a bit of flatground in between tries. Kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip, halfcab flip and two (bad) treflips in a row! I tried some front shove back 50s too, but wasn’t as close. Eventually moved on. Ended up under the Engineering building. Did a few basics on a poorly lit bench then spent way too long trying to do a line. Slappy crooks, kickflip into the second bank, b/s flip up the angled curb. Took me forever to commit to the kickflip and I would only do so if I took a massive speed check. I did come close to getting all 3, but would never actually get the b/s flip. Decent night, skated hard.

(setup 7/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, royal 149 ultralights, 52mm spifire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Arrived to a busy and weird scene. There were these older teens skating that were so incredibly clueless. Like no spacial awareness whatsoever. Before I had set my water bottle down one had run into me and gotten run into when cutting someone off mid tailslide. It didn’t really get better for me. I had one flyout kickflip and some fun noseslides. Dennis, Garrett, Joe and Darin was there. Garrett had some amazing back tails into the bank, Joe some amazing front crooks to fakie. Joe had a really long line and some solid f/s flips. A treflip session kicked off. Everyone but Dennis and I landed them. I went like 0-50. Some were close, most were not. Jameson did a line of all 4 treflips, double treflip, lazer flip, geez.

(setup 2/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace 55 af1 hollows, 52mm spitfire f4 classic 99a yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)