On a hot and breezy day Cass, Rob and I pulled into a mostly empty Spring Canyon. Hayden would join, but couldn’t skate because of foot pain. Cass put on DJR radio to begin and it did hype me up and got me going a little faster than normal even though I couldn’t manual to save my life. Rob had done manuals and nose manuals while the rest of us multiple decade skaters couldn’t do one. Okay, well Cass did get a manual and then a back 50 or two before hurting his back again and chilling. Jake had done some fun hips to tail on the little mount that were fun and Cass and I played copycat. I may have recorded the slowest back 50 on record. I took a while to get the ollie up then boardslide the little rail. It’s a bummer it’s not as easy as it once way, but I am happy I didn’t give up. Jake had a few tricks on the steep qp like feeble to fakie, pivot to fakie and a meaty front d. Rob may have gotten his manual around the potato chip, some noeslides on the bench, steezy barrier rides. I had some accidental 5-0s, front 50 180, front 50 shove on the lurb. As everyone was sitting I battled a line of crooks the bench then kickflip on the lumpy qp (it was like 1/3 up the transition). Oh yeah, I had gotten really close to a Rick flip or two.

After MRKT and a snack we ended up at Northside. It was pretty chill. Rob joined Cass in the shade having an adult beverage after a few laps around the park. Jake was shredding the mini. I was dorking around trying to overcome my new fear of rolling into the bank which Jake did first try. I called out 3 tricks on the barrier, but we ended up doing more. I slammed on a rock ‘n roll and my board hit my arm and it hurt way more than it should. I would get rock ‘n roll, way too many tries for axle stall, front rock, front slash. Jake would add back pivot and feeble fakie. Then we played down below. Jake was trying no comply pole jams. I did a few noseslides on the ledge and some of the better feeling crooks I’ve done. I couldn’t get a f/s halfcab flip. Ended by trying slappy crook the china bank ledge followed by an ultra slow treflip. I would get the line but the treflip was quite questionable.

(setup 6/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushings flat top washer, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Rob and I pulled up at the same time then rolled into campus and started at the two stair with the slight bank up to it. It’s a good warm up spot and we would get some tricks. Rob back pivot to back tail, then back 180 out and front nosepick to fakie. I had some crook stalls to fakie, front tail shove, kind of a kickflip axle stall and kind of a front smith front 180 out. Next up Baker ledge that continues to get taller each time I go there ha ha. Rob had first try halfcab noseslide, front board pop out, boardslide pop out, halfcab boardslide. I would get some little crooks, noseslides, couldn’t get a slow front 50 but did get a slow fakie front 50 flop out. Next we hit the little manny pad which I haven’t skate in a long time. Rob manualled it right away, nose manual, first try halfcab manual back 180, no comply manual, manual followed by flatground kickflip. I took like 10 tries to get a manual and then ended with one of my fav lines in a while. Heelflip, nose manual, treflip. All done slow, but I was still hyped. Fun day!

(setup 6/10 null abstract33 8.3, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55 hard bushings, 52mm pink snot, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half nsoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a nice and sunny day we went to the TAXI skateable structure spot.  The crew was Rob, Neil, Joe, Damon, Cass, Jake and me.  I spent the whole session getting one of the most fun lines I’ve done in a while.  Drop in, front disaster an upper deck then go into the ditch and eventually b/s flip the hip.  Damon had a bangin kickflip to fakie.  Cass almost had front shove to fakie.  Jake would eventually get a front tail to fakie to pivot fakie.  And then he would have to do it again because I didn’t hit record in time.  Luckily he did it better anyway.  

Then we went to the river front area across the street.  We started at the tall metal ledges.  Neil and I would get noseslides, but Neil’s was in a good line.  Damon back 50s and fakie nosegrinds.  Joe got a front 50.  Jake almost nollie back tail.  Next we ended up at the new wood area.  It took some getting used to, but it ended up being a really fun session.  It was cool because you could start a line with a barrier ride which Neil and I both did to start lines along with a pop shove.  Neil would hop up onto the lower level then did a wallride then b/s 180 out.  I would do a crook and then a kickflip.  Neil also got a nose manual to front lip followed by a front 50.  Damon slammed bad on a fakie 50.  Joe got some 50 combos.  Jake did some barrier rides too.  Rob with a killer nose manual.  That was basically the session.  One of my fav sessions in a while, best I’ve skated, didn’t get hurt, epic crew, some new spots, man it was great.

(setup 2/10 null 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 no big washer, 51mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half nsoles)
(pain level 2/10 !!!)

Took the day off work for obvious reasons and met up with Dave at an empty Frederick park at 10am. I got there first and felt great as soon as I put my board down and did a few warm up laps. Dave showed a few minutes later and we kept our warm ups going. I felt snappy pretty quickly and even got a manual on the little pad first try I think. I man have popped up onto the taller ledge first try too, but I did it a few times. Dave and I settled into some lines on the manny pad area. I couldn’t get a nose manual to start it. Dave got his line way quicker than me. Back 50, manual, quick up front 50, nose manual. Wow! I ended up doing ollie up, kickflip off, noseslide (I had done a few crooks that felt good but when I finally got the kickflip I just wanted to keep it going), 180 onto the pad then switch front nose off it. Normally if I pop up that ledge once I’m pretty hyped, I must have done it 20 times! After that we went to the bank to curb area. Dave had the nice boardslide to tailslide. I got a questionable treflip flyout after struggling to do axle stalls. Dave front pivot to front rock then kickflip flyout was so sick. My phone missed some of the action after this. I had some slappy crooks and nollie front 180s out of the bank. Dave did a halfcab rock up to feeble. He had to get to work. I ended it on front slappy then rolled out to celebrate with the family. Really fun session.

(setup 8/10 null 8.3 abstract33, jessup ultragrip, royal ultralight 149, 51mm bones pj, es melange black size 12)
(pain level 4/10)

After a follow up with Mitchell (best sports doc in Denver) about my calf I met up with Jake at Cushing park. It’s my first time being there since the redo. I’m not sure if I even went before the redo or not. It was 60 degrees out and beautiful, the park wasn’t too crowded. Took me a bit to get a feel of things. That may have been made worse after a setup change and wearing 440s again. But I really liked the setup. I played fakie flip with Jake and his friend Max in the parking lot. Jake tried some fakie bigspins over the hip. I got a little ollie on the a-frame then back around to a cruddy noseslide. We did a few basics on the ledge then Jake skated the miniramp for a while and kept skating the ledge. I was kind of blown away by a really slow front 50 3rd try. I haven’t popped onto a “taller” one in a while and that setup snapped right to it. Like I thought I was bailing and went right into it. Then Jake and I played a game of SKATE in the parking lot. I had a streak of 3 flippers in a row that made me happy. Kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip. I would go on to win with a very slow, but rewarding treflip. Back to the park we lined out ollies up the euro, qp trick, ollie the little set. Jake did it quicker with a back blunt on the qp. I flailed on the qp for reasons I don’t understand so gave up and just did a back 50. Ollieing the little gap was painful, but fun. Was also hyped to see Ft Collins Jake there. No, not Creepy Jake, but Airbud Jake.

(setup 11/10 8/3 null abstract33, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 149, 51mm bones pj washers outside, new balance numeric 440 white size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Not feeling very motivated on a cool night I ended up at Square House for the “Silver Session”. To my surprise only a few people were there and they had moved things around a little making things seem new and exciting. I hid in the back area for awhile and took a bit to get a 5-0 from the little qp to the bank. I was hyped Nick was there and he was hitting that area too doing little shoves on the banks. After a while some dudes had put a parking block on the bank and it looked really enticing. I would go on to get a run of slappy crook, then come back to the bank and kickflip. Felt really cool. I couldn’t get a bigflip on the bank though. The only person there I hadn’t met before was “Steezy” who made me jealous with his tiny setup and flip tricks. At one point he did a fakie flip front tail on the little ledge going ultra slow. Dennis is still one of my favs to skate with, he got a heelflip up the euro. Damian, Pat and Aiten ripped it. Jesse didn’t have his best session but was still in good spirits. I went in on kickflip axle stall on the parking block. It took a good 35 minutes, but was ultra rewarding. Thanks to everyone for the sympathy cheers! It really did make me happy.

(setup 3/10 null 8.3 abstract33, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow with royal bushings no big washer flat small washer, 51mm bones pj v1 with 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 288s w/b size 12)
(pain 3/10)

Seriously love skating random spots just cruising around a downtown area. On a hot day Neil and I started at a kind of random curb spot with some skate stopped ledges and a ride on curb that neither of us could quite get. We quickly went over to the downhill curb slalom that was super fun. We pretty much documented what we did. I wanted to add a fakie bigflip after the back 180, but couldn’t get it. I also couldn’t get a halfcab flip to start the line. I had some fun 5-0s on the first curb too. Neil was charging. His lines were FAST. He almost almost tried 50 gap over the curb at one point too. Paul met up with us and somehow struggled with the front 50 on the first curb. But he ollied the 4 stair first try as well as almost doing the 50 gap over the curb.

Next we hit the little downhill section and 2 stairs. Pauls ollie up and into the bank was so good. My jibs were fun. Behind that was a fun little bank to curb that was for real incredibly fun even if the cracks denied me.

Somehow then we got to skate the downtown plaza for a good minute. Neil was first with the no comply then one foot down the 3. Paul did the manual pretty quick followed by all the ollies which was trick of the day. I played around with the 2 stair then noseslide and could never quite get all the way up on the ledge. We got the boot, walked around some then called it a day. Man it was fun.

(setup 3/10 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55 hollows, 53mm bones pj v1, new balance numeric 288S w/b size 12)
(pain level 3/10)

After a long day in the heat doing some swimming, hiking and the art museum Liz and I met Neil at Ala Moana. I was super disoriented and had to wear glasses because of a huge stye on my eye. I had also changed my setup to 8.5 with ace highs hoping that a whole trip on this setup would convince me I liked it. Neil was charging out the gate. he is built for lines here. He got the phone out pretty quickly and I think did this line first try. It took me a bit to get used to the wavy ledge. It was a fun session. I didn’t get any lines really, but managed to finally land a treflip in Hawaii going 1mph between peds. After this fun session we had some food and went to see Dinosaur Jr!!!!!!! Epic start to the trip.

(setup 3/10 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55 hollows, 53mm bones pj v1, new balance numeric 288S w/b size 12)
(pain level 2/10)

On a super nice day after some exercises and a nice walk with Liz I was picked up by Jack B and we met some other older dudes at Zuni including Cass. Cass and I joined Salty, Michael and another guy on the little bank and tiny qp until we each did new tricks. Cass had done one front 50 to fakie already, but got my back when I finally got the sugarcane. We were hyped. Sugarcane has been a dream trick of mine for years. Hoping to get them better and maybe on an actual qp ha ha. We hit the long little qp for a while. We had a bump to ledge session almost everyone got boardslides. Jack and I got noseslides, Cass with the front noses and front nose shove. Hype man Michael had floaty nollie bonks out of the qp. I did a lot of flippers on flat in between tries. Had halfcab flip followed by backside flip. My treflips were not good, but I did get one. I ended the session with a fun line of halfcab flip on flat, bump to boardslide, ollie the 4 stair. It’s been a long time since I ollied a 4 stair.

Then we went to the Rino spot near Cass’ house. We met Chad there, but his back was mostly hurting. We started slow. I was pretty stiff at this point. The curbs teased us again and didn’t grind well. Barrier rides were the highlight for a while. I had a fun line of frontside barrier ride, tiny manual to quick front 180 out of a curb cut. It sounds way better than it was. At the end I was tossing around a line of something on the ledge then 180 up the curb and Jack suggested I go to the barrier. I had started with nollie back tails, but they were sucking and moved on to halfcab noseslide. Thanks for filming Cass. I got a line I’m hoarding for Stubborns 2 or a 50th bday part or something. Super fun day.

(setup 8/10 null 8.5 vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast plate titanium hanger royal bushings no big washer flat small washer, 51mm bones pj stf v1 103a washers outside, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Nice winter day I picked up Jack B and Jesse and we met up with Dave and Rob at Rocky Mountain. Things started slow it seemed, but everyone got going and it was a really fun one. I’ll start with Rob since he bounced first. Nice manuals, no complys on the bank, back 50 to back lip, nollie front lip shove. Jesse casually did some surprising moves like first try halfcab noseslide, fastplants, varial flips. Jack mostly attacked the curb and was kind enough to film quite a bit. Nollie front lip to 50, switch boardslides up to 50, slappy crooks, slappies. Oh yeah he also kickflipped off the curb which spawned a little kickflip session. I think most people got them first try, Rob on flat, Dave, Jack did them first try off the curb. Jesse got a couple. I got it up and down. My flip tricks were working really well which is kind of ironic since I had upped my board size to 8.5. I got 4 treflips. The most in one day in forever. Granted, they were not very good, but I was still hyped. Also 4/4 on fs halfcab flips. Got a few halfcab flips, fakie bigflip, sketch fakie front heels, backside flips, varial flips, several kickflips up the curb, no regular heelflips though and I couldn’t get a kickflip on the bank. I didn’t really do anything other than flatground and a few slappies. I couldn’t get a front 50 on the ledge although I did almost get a Glen 50 (5-0). As usual Dave was the last man skating. He had done a lot of nollies and shoves to fakie on the bank, manuals on the medians and some crazy curb tricks like switch back 180 5-0 180 out, varial flips, and tried to end on a crazy nollie 270 up onto the kinked brick median. Fun day fellas!

(setup 8/10 null 8.5 vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast plate titanium hanger royal bushings no big washer flat small washer, 51mm bones pj stf v1 103a washers outside, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)