On a nice Tuesday evening I went to Square State knowing that Garrett would show, but that was it. The crew would end up being Dennis, Jesse, Garrett and Nick. Solid crew. Dennis and I were there first and warming up was tough. I had new shoes. Es Swifts. They felt mostly great though and I landed my first 3 kickflips. I went on to skate alright, but didn’t have a whole lot to show for it. Had some fun wallie nollies on the pyramid wall, fun roll in to axle stall the bank to curb, a few kickflips in a row up the euro, but couldn’t get b/s flip the hip. Nick had a sick rock ‘n roll powerslide, nollie disaster revers the bank to curb, shove it’s everywhere. Jesse has such good ollies and did first try varial flip and I think treflip up the euro. Garrett was ripping so hard. He was the only one skating the big qp doing smiths, disasters. Ollie up the 3 stair, switch heel, kickflip, treflip, fakie treflip down the 3. Back 3 the hip. It was sick. Dennis shut the session down though with nollie down the 3, nollie front 180 up the euro and then nollie up the euro.

(setup 7/10 8/3 null abstract33, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 148, 51mm bones pj 2 washers inside, es swift 1.5 maroon thin nb insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knee was slightly better)

After a bad night of sleep I met up with some mostly older folks at dog park. It was supposed to be super nice, but instead it was pretty windy which sucked the warmth out. Bratcher and Jesse were there shredding, working on crooked grinds when I first showed. Jesse was popping over flat bars like it was nothing. Jack apparently switch 50d the curb and had some nice back 5-0s that I saw. Paul was there shredding like he does. Back 5-0s easy, switch slappy crooks, nollie 180 switch crooks on the curb. Will showed up and casually front 50’d everything. Sean worked up to a line of ollie the hydrant, nose manual up the table, back nosegrind the bench, front 180 nose manual, fakie flip on flat. Wow! I had new skate shoes. I had given up on the Xeros. I had the one shoe closest resembling the fit I want. The New Balance 288 Sport. They felt decent. I wasn’t sure how they would feel after six weeks of Xeros so I paired it with an 8.5 with venture 5.8s that I immediately hated. I have no recollection of anything noteworthy that I did.

(setup 1/10 null vhs 8.5, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast/titanium, 51mm bones stf pj 103a v1, new balance numeric 288S size 12 w/b 425 insoles)
(pain level 4/10 body still adjusting to skating again)

On a cold night I went to campus and had lost my gloves in CO Springs. Doh! Also, new shoes, 440s aka my fav. I had just watched the new Kai Kishi part and was excited to try and get tech. But on my first couple of pushes some intense pain shot through through my upper calf right below my pushing knee. Ugh. It had started hurting at the end of the CO spring session but I didn’t think much of it at the time. I thought it might loosen up and did a few slappy crooks then walked a bit and cruised down a hill. Ended up at the new wood bench spot. Started out with some curb stalls and couple stall poses on the ledge under the 3 stair. Then went up to the bench area that had the table off the bench. I really wanted to turn it on, but my calf prevented it. Pushing hurt and I was fearful of really hurting myself. So I posed some slow flippers mostly pushing mongo or switch. Really wanted to do a line of kickflip, nollie tre, treflip but never got the nollie tre. Posed some switch/nollie flips too. Argh. Darn injuries.

(setup 4/10 null 8.3 vhs, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 148 venom 88a bushings, 51mm bones v1 pj stf 103a washers inside, new balance 440 white/maroon size 12 half insole)
(pain level 8/10 right upper calf argh)

Was hyped to head out to Square House on a cold night and skate with some older dudes. But I had new shoe blues for most of the session and felt quite off and sore. Dave and I started on the flatground of the miniramp doing multiple trick challenges. Starting with 2 then 3 and then 4. Christian joined us for a bit. I think I got a pathetic 4 tricker of shove, both nollie shoves, stationary kickflip. The dunks felt weird, but they did kickflip well. I skated the mini very briefly with Brian and Christian, but it was making me sore. Off to the main park to struggle. I would get a couple kickflips up the euro, one okay crooks on the bump to ledge, kind of a front tail back 180 out on the pyramid, but that was about it. Tried a bunch of treflips on flat and while being very close never got one. Kyle battled switch heel up the euro. Dave was struggling too, I want to see the nollie front 180 up the euro. He had some smooth front 50s on the bump to ledge, halfcab bluntslide the pyramid. Brian had solid front 5-0s over the corner of the little qp, crazy slappy feeble attempts dropping in right into the curb basically. Ashton was the token young kid for the session learning back 180 nosegrind shoves. Christian flew all over the place. At the end I got smoked by Kyle in a game of SKATE that included him doing a first try switch heel body varial. Thanks again Brian for hosting us! Hope I skate better the next time.

(setup 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, nike sb sad dunks size 12 half nb 425 insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knees)

Went to Golden park early on my to meet my mom on a road trip through Utah. It was quite cold and windy and mostly miserable. I didn’t like my setup and I had new shoes. My warm up line was noseslide the main ledge, turn around on the wallie thing, kickflip fakie on the mellow bank. Also did crooks the ledge and tried to line out to kickflip the hip and couldn’t commit to the kickflip. Flip tricks went decent on flat which was the one saving grace. I couldn’t front 50 one of the benches in the small section. I did ollie on to one and manual the pad, couldn’t nose manual though. I ended with a fun line of halfcab noseslide one bench, crooks the next, bad front 50 the pad.

(setup null mc hesher 8.25, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-cast with bones medium bushings, 51mm bones pj 103a v1, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Drove through rush hour traffic and pulled in to Rocky Mountain as soon as it started raining. Argh! But it was cool to catch up with Rob. He was on his board for the first time in a while. The rain finally let up shortly before dark and we tried to squeeze in a session. I had all new everything. Well, the trucks aren’t actually new, but I have barely used them. Somehow I’ve never done Thunder hollows on 8.5 before. It felt pretty great. I’m just determined to finally make 8.5 work as it feels so natural to ride.

Rob rolled around on his cruiser at first before getting out his regular board and getting a bunch of axle stall combos. I was all over the place never really sticking with anything. Couldn’t quite get nollie back tail on the ledge, had a fun first try crooks, some back 50s on the curb, slappy front crooks, kickflips felt okay, couldn’t get Dave’s trick, was definitely struggling getting used to the setup change. Dave did his fakie front crooks a few times, boardslides to fakie, nollie to fakie on the bank, halfcab boardslide the curb, ride on front tail shove. It was a fun session even if it was cut short by rain.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 151 venom 88a bushings, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a fun morning doing a boxing photoshoot with Cass and Shad I went to Triple Nipple where I met Nick, Sean and Kevin. My body was hurting and I had two setups that I rotated between but mostly stuck with the 8.3. I really didn’t skate well and it hurt too bad to ollie. I would get a few switch front noses, crooks and close to nollie tres. Kevin was ripping and killed the ledge. Switch crooks, fakie 5-0 halfcab out, back smith, kick back tail. Nick had front nosegrind and nose manual no problem along with some seriously popped fakie flips. Sean was looking really good. Manual to 180 nose manual. Nose manual to tailslide, back nosegrind 180. Shad had shown up and it was so rad to see him shredding. He had some good front 5-0s on the steep bank, tailslides, fast grinds. Chelsy and Jenny ripped it too. Carves over the love seat, front tail the steep bank, some good stuff. I ended really trying to ollie up the ledge, but couldn’t make my knees work. I was so bummed.

(setup 8.3 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 440 size 12 white/red half insoles)
(pain level 7/10 and today marks the day I give up alcohol)

I bet Dave on a hot night after dinner at Rocky Mountain. I had new shoes and they felt super weird at first. I slammed dropping in and on a fakie shove during warm ups. Dave arrived right about the time I got the warm up line of drop in on the kink, slappy crook, front 180 up the curb, switch front nose. I felt really off pushing throughout the night and had some moments where I felt very uncoordinated and awkward. I was able to get kickflip, but struggled for anything else even fakie flips. Couldn’t get crooks on the ledge or halfcab noseslide. I did not skate well, but I tried hard and the new shoes seemed to help resist some of the pains I’ve had recently. At the end I got a fakie nose jib on the curb. Dave had some nice boardslides to fakie, nollie fakie on the bank, 50s on the curb, switch slappy crook, slappy crooks, manual the bank median, back 50 nollie front 180 out then ended it with the back 50 to back lip. It was funny I was filming it and seeing the weird reflection and could not figure out where it came from. It took us a good 5 minutes to figure out it was from my phone reflecting off the street lights across the way. Fun night even though my skating was pretty bad.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder 148 hollow lights venom 88a bushings, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 440 black 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

So the last couple days I was pretty run down. I thought I felt better, but as soon as I set my board down I could tell I wasn’t feeling good. The crew was rad. Dave, Rob, Jake, Kevin, Nick. We started at dog park. I had nothing and it’s been too long since we skated for me to remember much. It wasn’t too crowded, but a lot more people skating than normal because of GSD. After a while we went over to Valmont park. I did a few random things before settling in on the treflip which I wouldn’t land until Rob,kevin and Nick had already left. But man it felt good. Kevin had some really good lines. Rob got the rainbow. Nick came close to hardflips on the bank. Jake had to chill to avoid pain. Dave’s tail 270 was amazing. He had some good lines too.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder hollow 148 venom 88a bushings, spitfire 51mm classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 272 burgundy size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a really nice night I met Cass at Arvada park. It wasn’t too crowded. I had new shoes, 272s. This time in 11.5. We started our on the little qp/bank and blue chip. It was pretty run even though I took a while to do tricks like front 50 and front tail. We both got kickflips quickly, but couldn’t get treflips and Cass was trying hardflip. Then we kind of spread out. Had some fun axle stalls on the smaller bank to curb, but I couldn’t kickflip the hip to line it out. In fact I bailed an ollie too. Cass front boards the flat bar, I had some fun little noseslide jibs. We skated the pier 7 area briefly. I took a bit to get a switch front nose, Cass may have manualled it. Then he took off and I just kind of wandered around looking for a place to try Dave’s cab no comply challenge. I found the big bowl was totally empty and skated the shallow end and tried it for quite a while. As you can see above I technically did it, but it sucked. I tried to clean it up more, but there was a couple close calls to the chest and my sternum was hurting. So I called it and left. I think I got pretty dizzy trying it. It’s weird for how big that park is, it’s not really very good.

(setup 8.25 null burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer, bones 52mm slims 99a stf, new balance numeric 272 green 11.5 half 272/425 insoles)
(pain level 3/10)