Joe, Chad and I picked up Neil and Rob then headed to Denver. We made Emage and 303 runs before starting at the McNichols area near Civic Park and met up with Kevin. The door was open so I didn’t think we’d last very long. We didn’t. I had seen Rob do some manuals dropping down to the next level, Neil with some manuals and ollies ollies ollies.

So we went over to the Civic Park fountain area and went about that. Lazer and Jake would meet us. I was really struggling with ollies and anything, got up the stage and down the 3, that was about it for me. Neil nose manuals around, Rob manualled around. Rob also lined it out with a bean plant down the 3. Lazer showed and boardslid the ledges against the wall which shouldn’t be possible. Joe was lining out as he does. The ledges weren’t as good as normal. Jake was on the front tails too. Chad had setup a new board and put down a few tricks near the end. Kevin was ripping. Front tails, back 180s down the 3 stair.

We randomly picked up Damon then went to this spot. What a sick spot. I didn’t feel up to skating at first, it was super hot too. But people went at it. Rob manualled it quick then went on to nose manual. Jake was ollieing up the tallest ledge. Lazer was gaping the long two stair. Things were going off really. Dave showed at this spot too. I didn’t see him skate it much though. He looked at the handrail and it probably wasn’t big enough for him. Ha. Joe was filming Chad try a line of 360 flip then nose manual 180. He was also filming Jake try to line out the big ollie, nollie front 180, switch 180, with ollie over a chair which he didn’t quite get. He did get a broken board though. Damon was going nuts trying to backside flip the chair. Kevin was in the mix trying some hardflips, but never got it. Damon never cleanly got the b/s flip, but man the one he technically landed was amazing and I can’t believe he rode away from it. Kevin went for switch flip off a ledge too. I kept messing around and eventually starting trying an ollie up a medium height ledge and kickflip off the lower part. I got it a couple times, but wanted to line it out. Kevin grabbed his phone to film me and I got it first try. Ollie up, kickflip off, ollie up, back 180 off. Neat. Neil had been cruising around with lots of little ollies up everything.

People were chilling and then we found this curb which was quite fun. Oh yeah, Mike had joined us too. He was doing some really long grinds. Dave was front 5-0’ing it easy then did back smith too. Rob had some long ones. The best part was Neil not being able to slappy it. I know he was bummed, but it was kinda funny to see such a ripper struggle with a mostly basic trick. Lazer had some long boardslides. I had some fun slappys and then tried to manual from the sidewalk to the slappy. I got onto the curb, but not into grind. Doh. Felt cool to manual that far. Kevin did slappy back smith. Then people started doing tricks off the curb before slappys. Joe did front shove off, Dave did switch no comply 180 with way too much style.

People were chilling and then we found this curb which was quite fun. Oh yeah, Mike had joined us too. He was doing some really long grinds. Dave was front 5-0’ing it easy then did back smith too. Rob had some long ones. The best part was Neil not being able to slappy it. I know he was bummed, but it was kinda funny to see such a ripper struggle with a mostly basic trick. Lazer had some long boardslides. I had some fun slappys and then tried to manual from the sidewalk to the slappy. I got onto the curb, but not into grind. Doh. Felt cool to manual that far. Kevin did slappy back smith. Then people started doing tricks off the curb before slappys. Joe did front shove off, Dave did switch no comply 180 with way too much style.

Last spot was Saul’s. We gained a few more people. Saul, Ed, Chris, Jake was back. I skated for awhile. Had some fun carve grinds, a few front slashes. Rob was getting it. Saul had his long fast runs. Jake dropped front blunt like it was nothing, did a front lip over the hip, much much more. Lazer had to leave after a few runs. Fuller did boardslides around the deep, manualed everything, front smiths on the gnar coping and much more. Kevin skated it really well. He had a gnarly roll in line. Ed and Chris ripped. Can you tell I just want to be finished writing this? It was a fun session. Tricks were landed, sun set, drinks were drank, fun was had.

(setup 8.25 null monico deck, venture v-hollow 5.25 high trucks, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf v1 wheels, es accel slim shoes all black size 11.5, footprint gamechanger low profile orthotic insoles)

Joe, Chad and I started off heading to campus. We went right to the best spot on campus, this rock to narrow pathway. Well, we had to move it as it has been pushed down the hill for some reason. Ollieing was not happening for me. Chad started with front nose jib to fakie, then 270 out. Joe did front pivot to fakie. I did nose jibs to forward and fakie and a front tail to fakie. Kevin joined and was into our “spot” so we kept skating it. He went for front blunt and got close, but I don’t think actually rode away. I added a bean plant to tail. Other tricks were done, we were having fun.

Been slacking on the social media. So here’s a clip from campus a couple days ago. @baffoos @joerhamilton @elcachado @_f_u_z_z @neilsoffire #joeistoonice

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on May 28, 2018 at 8:57am PDT

Then we went to the 4 stair ride off grind which made for more fun too. Me and Joe took awhile to commit, but got our grinds. Kevin made it look easy. Chad played around with the combo.

We were waiting for others to show and we had totally shut down the 4 stair so we skated this ledge to grass. Kevin and I kickflipped while Joe front shoved.

Fuzz, Rob, Neil showed and we moved on to the nearby old manual pad/bank spot. That spot has seen better days. Not an easy warm up for those that showed up either. But we ended up being there awhile and it was pretty fun. I got a no comply bigspin, no comply shove to fakie and a beanplant. Kevin did a kickflip rock transfer, but couldnt’ get the fast feet hard kickflip to fakie. Rob was going for b/s flip for awhile too and couldn’t quite get it. That spot is so hard to do kickflips on. Joe almost got front shove to rock ‘n roll. Rob did bean plant out of it. Neil might have shoved out of it as well as doing the front shove, no comply to tail and a bunch of bailed drop ins. Chad chilled. Fuzz chilled for awhile then got up and threw down the spinner and maybe a Sal flip.

Next we ended up at this tiny ledge which entertained us for quite a while. Basics were done right away and everyone kind of tried something new. For me that would be a nosegrind which seems to always elude me there. I would eventually get one (Kevin said I didn’t bonk, but I think the tail hit) and line it out with a kickflip and a little ollie down the 3 stair. Rob went in on back 50 body varial out. He was charging for awhile and got a sketchy one then a few tries later totally bolts. Fuzz had some creative lines like back 50 transfer up to push off the fence to front tail, back 180 fakie 50s then was trying them with switch front 180 out, but got spooked. Joe did a bunch of Joe tricks including the new one which was nollie front 50 to front board. Neil was struggling after a failed bike rack pole jam. I don’t think it helped that you couldn’t really line out to the ledge without messing with everyone waiting to hit the ledge. I’m not remembering what Chad did. Doh. Kevin was going for the Asta vibe and nearly put down first try switch flip switch front 5-0. So crazy. He never went on to ride away, but he sure got close. After this we went to the stadium bank to fence, but there was a moving truck parked in front of it. Doh.

Skateboarding is fun, skateboarding with friends is also fun…. #superfriends #skateboardingisfun #neilsdailyvid

A post shared by Neil Thurman (@neilsoffire) on May 28, 2018 at 10:12am PDT

Skateboarding is fun, skateboarding with friends is also RAD! . . . . #superfriends #skateboardingisfun #neilsdailyvid

A post shared by Neil Thurman (@neilsoffire) on May 28, 2018 at 10:13am PDT

After food, drinks we ended up at Red Hawk adding Saul and Damon to the mix. At first I sat thinking there is no way my legs would work. Fuzz was chilling too. I went around to the back of the school to look at the tiny little hubbas and there was another skate crew just chilling. It was kind of funny, just being some random dude skating by saying hi. After a nice slam on a stop rock I was back out front and the body started working. Saul was killing the slappys. The ledges were getting skated like crazy. Chad did a line pretty early on with a ledge trick I’m not remembering then ollie on the stage and ollie over the rock. Damon was rolling through his unique tricks. Joe filmed for awhile then working on a line of front 5-0, no comply 180, switch boardslide up to front 50. I had some fun crooks then tried back 180 up, halfcab flip, something on the ledge for a long time, but kept not landing halfcab flips. It was frustrating and started to remind me how I don’t like the 8″ Venture highs. Neil got it going. Shoves up the curb, cabs on flat, manuals on the rock, lipslides, 50s. Rob did like a million no comply shoves up the curb perfectly and lined out with manual on the rock, wallie, crooks, boardslide. Fuzz had some liquid courage going and went in to full destruction mode. He had fakie flips up the curb going super fast, halfcab flips up, his front 180s off the rock were so good, 100mph switch noseslide or boardslides, front tails. It was great seeing it. The session lasted a couple hours. We were all in disbelief we hadn’t gotten the boot yet. Near the end I was trying to lean no comply shove up the curb like Rob and got a couple sloppy ones.

Then we skated Brian’s next. Yes. More skating. Well, not all of us. Saul, me, Chad, Damon, Joe. It was really fun. I haven’t skated a miniramp in so long and I really like that one. I got a lot of the tricks in my bag and it was fun. Saul was the only one to get the parking blocks to grind. Damon has crazy fakie f/s bigspins to pivot and should have died multiple times, but somehow gets out of it. Chad ripped. Joe did the Joe Hamilton. Then Brian joined for one run and a friend of his learned to drop in. It was scary to watch, but he survived and can say he dropped in on a ramp. After this we hung out for quite awhile and it was really fun.

(setup 8.25 null monico deck, venture v-hollow 5.25 high trucks, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf v1 wheels, es accel slim shoes all black size 11.5, footprint gamechanger low profile orthotic insoles)

Joe and Chad arrived from Nebraska on a Friday afternoon. Damon arrived shortly after at my house and then we were off for the Flatground Friday tradition. There were 8 of us. Joe, Dave, Rob, Eric, Damon, Chad, Neil, me. It was cool seeing so many people skating flat, but also kind of hectic. Damon and Chad were the young ones and it showed as they quickly jumped on some flip tricks. Dave beat me to a kickflip. Eric was on them heelflips. Neil was lining out his tricks. A PVC pipe was added to the mix for tricks over. Damon took MVP honors with several tricks like fakie flip, b/s flip and a perfect fakie treflip. Dave, Joe and I got kickflips over it. Rob bean planted it. I think Eric heelflipped it. Neil pop shoved it. At one point I had a good line of halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip. Shortly after I managed a nollie tre which I haven’t done in a long time and it felt great. I couldn’t do a regular treflip though. Also had a fakie bigflip that felt good. I’m sure a bunch of tricks went down, but I’m writing this several days/sessions/sickness later it’s hard to remember.

Ah yes just some good ol fashion fun with friends! coloRADo has been a blast! @fullertrron an @joerhamilton cruising the spots. #neilsdailyvid #coloRADo #skateboardingisfun #superfriends

A post shared by Neil Thurman (@neilsoffire) on May 26, 2018 at 9:13am PDT

The last part of the session was for sliding the pvc coping. Dave feebled it. I fell into it. Joe halfcab boardslid it. Damon did all kinds of stuff on it.

We moved on to this new spot. What a beaut, but the ledges aren’t too forgiving for the older folk. Unless of course you are the oldest one at the session and immediately front 50 around the corner like Dave did. So crazy. It was a fun session. Rob impressed me by getting up front 50s out of the gate too and kept at a sick line which he did get, even if he tried for awhile to clean it up and make it perfect. Noseslide to fakie, fakie 360 shove, halfcab boardslide. Neilsoffire was in effect with the long lines to get his hype up. Lots of front shoves, noseslides to fakie, front 50s and almost front 50 through the corner. Joe had front 50 and front 50 shove and front 50 through the corner all while maintaining the function of pillar in the middle of the spot. Ha. He went on to film Chad get a line of front tail, nollie flip, back 180 nosegrind. He also filmed Damon go for front nosegrind to fakie then fakie front nose through the corner. Damon also did front 50 bigspin out, fakie back 50 halfcab out (magical), fakie front tail and probably like 20 more tricks. Dave was killing it. Slappy crooks! So many front 50s through the corner, boardslide through the corner, front noseslides. I took awhile to get a basic line of switch front nose, switch front 180 (couldn’t land a halfcab flip), crooks. I got one or two front axle stalls which were really scary to me. That’s the end of the skating for day 1. So fun. Such radical people.

(setup 8.25 null monico deck, venture v-hollow 5.25 high trucks, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf v1 wheels, es accel slim shoes all black size 11.5, footprint gamechanger low profile orthotic insoles)

Took the day off work and after a nice morning I met up with the boys a little after noon. We drove through a rain shower and ended up at a completely dry and sunny Dayton park. One other dude was at the park when we arrived. Fuzz quickly raised the bar by carving frontside and then backside over the ledge. I tried, but couldn’t really comprehend it. I had the excuse of a setup change though. Ha ha. Yeah, back down to 8.25, but this time with 8″ hi Ventures. Rob got on back 50s on the small ledge quick. This is rare to see, but Neil was struggling. Bailing disasters, axle stalls, 50s on the ledges. I mean he was still ripping with some manuals, noseslides, ollies, etc, but he was definitely not at normal Neil levels. I took a few tries to get the back 50 on the qp over the ledge which is so fun. Fuzz did it second try I think. Again, he has the advantage of old trucks he is familiar with. Ha ha. Fuzz and I tried to ollie the ledge to manny pad gap. We both got it second try. Fuzz did it by going fast enough on the ollie up the ledge that he didn’t have to push to get the gap. So sick. I did it slower and pushed on the ledge, but I added an impromptu kickflip off the manny pad that felt great. That was the highlight for me. Fuzz went on to do front tail on the qp above the ledge then back 180 off. Rob was getting crooks, snapping some stylee backside ollies on the qp, would go on to get front shove back 50 multiple times. I had some fun crooks and struggled with front 50. I thought the ledge was tall, but there was a dude that showed up doing back 50s on the ledge above the one I was skating. Ha ha. Neil had a funny slam on a shove it where you could see him giving up on his skating. Doh. We left after a GleNBD of back 50 to fakie on the qp over the ledge. Felt really cool.

Then we went to this spot. I was so stiff and sore when we got there I didn’t think I’d be able to skate. Rob was already doing baordslides, trying boardslides to shove and then halfcab boardslide shove to fakie. Do you ever get sore Rob? Ha. Fuzz laid down some sick nollie front tails to fakie. I warmed up with some slow switch noseslide jibs then graduated to slow back 50s and missing front 50s. I blame the narrow trucks. Ha. Neil warmed up by doing tricks next to the homeless man sleeping on a nearby bench to line out to the ledge. He was still struggling. Fuzz went on to do switch noseslides then switch noseslide up to switch crook. So nuts. He was doing them fast and powerful going fast with a back 180 over the crack to setup. Rob had gotten a couple halfcab boardslide shoves, back 50s, almost noseslide up to crooks. I got a bad halfcab noseslide, some switch front noseslides, accidental front 5-0s, couldn’t get front 50 shove as I kept sticking and I’m not good enough to skate faster than I was. We chilled for a bit. Then Rob got a 3rd wind and started doing a bunch of no comply tricks, back 360s, ripping.

Fun day with the dudes. We ate at Chubby’s after. That place sucks.

(setup 8.25 null monico deck, venture v-hollow 5.25 high trucks, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf v1 wheels, es accel slim shoes all black size 11.5, footprint gamechanger lite orthotic insoles)

A post shared by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on May 22, 2018 at 9:02pm PDT

Another Tuesday night session. When I got there only a few people were at the park and Rob and Neil were using a t-shrit to wipe up some puddles. Apparently it had rained in Broomfield. The park wasn’t bad though. As always it took me the longest to crack my tail. Neil was high energy hitting everything. Noseslides, 50s, ollies, wallies, boardslides real quick together. Rob was building on the lines he does there with some stuff I haven’t seen before like back 50 down the escalator ledge, front 50s. Then it rained for a bit. I tried to stay loose by doing flatground under the pavilion, but I felt like I was just annoying everyone. A bunch of people started to show. The session was real heated for awhile and I felt like every time I would get going I would stop and talk for awhile. But seriously, here’s the list of people that were skating (and I’m sure I’m forgetting someone). Carleigh, Rob, Neil, Jake, Ed, Matt, Donnie, Will, Chris, Eric, eventually Fuzz. Not to mention there was of course other people that showed up to skate. So, some highlights from what I remember. Jake noseblunts the parking block. Rob back lips the parking block, boardslides to feeble on it too after paying with some good slams. Carleigh lipslide the parking block and back d the brick qp. Donnie switch hurricanes the brick qp, switch front 5-0 up the steep bank. Chris front board brown ledge, back 180 nosegrind the black ledge. Ed 43 shifty, front lip the parking block. I didn’t see Matt actually land a treflip, but he said he did it first try. He also did back 50s and back 5-0s very easily on the black ledge. Jake and I played a game of SKATE where I nearly focused my board after starting with two letters on fakie flip. He almost pink slipped me, but I managed to finally get him with heelflip and fakie bigflip, also landed a defensive 3 shove and a fakie 3 shove! I forget what he won on. Will was doing long front and back 5-0s, I saw a casual nollie heel. Near the end Eric did like 20 heelflips, he had a nice back 50 on the blue ledge. Then him and Fuzz ended by trying fakie heelflips. Fuzz had a good slam on one, but came back a few tries later and landed a good one right before the lights shut off. So many rad people skating. I tend to lock up in crowded situations so it’s kind of a battle for me just to skate, but I still love seeing everyone and it was a fun time for sure. Pretty sure I will be switching to a smaller setup after tonights performance.

(setup 8.38 null atomic cowboy deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, 51mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, bones medium bushings, es accel slim all black size 11.5, footprints gamechanger lite insoles)

After work I went to Dog Park to meet Rob and Neil. I got there first, did some dynamic stretching things then started the warm up process. I had done a couple things then randomly started trying cabs. I may have gotten a couple that could pass as defense in an over 80 game of SKATE. Rob and Neil showed. It was really warm and nice out. There were some warm up lines that everyone tried, but I think only Rob did. The cone started sideways. I had some fun kickflips over the little part of it. Rob was getting his lines going. Neil was breaking protocol and going off the course. Ha. Man it ruled seeing Neil out there. Him and Rob were doing lots of lines with 180s over the cones then a flip trick. I was trying to put the flip trick before the cone, but rarely landing them. The cone was put upright. Rob and Neil went over it first try no problem. I had to hype myself up to try it so I did that with a heelflip and got over the cone first try. That’s a first for me. Felt cool. Rob would go on to 180 it both ways and bean plant over it. Neil halfcabbed it I think. I couldn’t get 360 flip or nollie 3 flip. Then I had to go.

(setup 8.38 null atomic cowboy deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, 51mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, bones medium bushings, es accel slim all black size 11.5, footprints gamechanger lite insoles)

Yeah, so some of this is old, but who cares! This part is amazing. Mayhew was a favorite of mine when 7 Steps To Heaven come out.

After a busy day with India’s graduation I had a little over an hour to kill. Of course it started raining right then. I wanted to push fast and cruise something like campus. Instead I ended up in a dark little parking garage. I pushed like crazy at first though and it was really fun. When it came time to actually do tricks I was a bit hesitant. So out came selfie cam motivator and it did the trick. The b/s flip was first and I did it first try. It really hyped me up. Then the no comply flip and it was first try too. Whoa. Then the front crooks and I did one first try as well. But I did go back and clean it up a little. Front 50 was first try then 50th try. I had fun hucking the 360 flip noseslide. The first few felt doable, then it got less close with each try. For whatever reason I had obsessed over halfcab heels while sitting around all day. It took me like 20 minutes to “land” it. Man what a battle. All in all a fun day though and I’m glad I was able to skate a little.

(setup 8.38 null atomic cowboy deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, 51mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, bones medium bushings, es accel slim all black size 11.5, footprints gamechanger lite insoles)

Took a lunch break to skate flat at blue skies with Rob and Dave. I got there first. I did my newish dynamic stretches then started pushing around as Rob and Dave assembled. The warm up wasn’t easy for anyone. I got my first kickflip though, then 5 more in a row. Tried the Iron Man a few times, but didn’t get heelflips at that point. After awhile Rob put Dave’s putter in the middle of the rink upright to do tricks over which made things a little more fun. Dave did a switch ollie over it pretty quickly. It’s crazy how casually he can do that. Rob was starting to link long lines together with kickflips, bs flips, back 180s over the board, halfcab over the board, fakie bigpins and a 360 shove. At one point he had a really long run with like 8 tricks. So nuts. There was a period where things were working very well for me. Kickflips and heelflips felt so good. Got a couple kickflips over the board which felt awesome. Couldn’t get the treflip after for a line though. Was also doing a randon flip trick then front 180 over the board, fakie flip and trying fakie treflip. Got close, but never got both feet on the fakie tre. Dave worked for a nollie front 180 over the board. Dave and Rob tried for kickflips over it. Rob might have got one with a scratch violation. I hucked a few nollie back heels. That trick seems so possible. I also got a first try 360 shove.

Then we played a game of SKATE. It went pretty well for me even though Rob was the king of second try on double or nothing. Ha it was funny. I think it was fakie flip, heelflip and varial flip he got 2nd try. His luck ran out eventually though and after a couple double or nothings he went out. I had landed a few flippers in a row. Dave was close to all of them too. Fun flatground friday. It was tough going back to work. Can’t believe how good my shoes felt and the bigger board.

We ended on 360 shoves. It took me several tries to get one this time. Dave was close and added some switch flip attempts. Hyped on 360 shoves though.

(setup 8.38 null atomic cowboy deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, 51mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, bones medium bushings, es accel slim all black size 11.5, footprints gamechanger lite insoles)

Put on my bigger deck again and headed over to the school with some new shoes too. Es Accel Slim. Messed around with some back 50s and front 50s. Tried some slow front 50 kickflip out. Ollie was trying the hurricane really quick and I wanted to film it. He got close for awhile then the slam and that was basically it for him. I was trying flippers in between his attempts. Then Ollie left so I went to the street and skated flat for a bit. It didn’t go well. I struggled with halfcab flips which really made me mad. It didn’t help that huge gusts of wind would ruin things for awhile. Then it would be calm and I would try random stuff. I basically didn’t land anything noteworthy and it made me doubt my shoes and larger board.

(setup 8.38 null atomic cowboy deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, 51mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, bones medium bushings, es accel slim all black size 11.5, footprints gamechanger lite insoles)