Met up with the 98 crew at dog park on a really nice and cool day. Dan gave me a brief warm up before pink slipping me in no-comply SKATE. Oh wait, I actually got a couple of letters on him this time. I had a setup change. 8.25 and slappy lights. Meh. I skated okay, not great. Things were not easy. Bratcher and Jesse were there. Garrett came out ripping when he finally arrived. Donnie, Ian and Kyle skated the metal barrier like it was nothing doing weird grinds and stalls. Eric was there and almost wallied over it which was gnarly. Dan almost no comply. I think he did it before the camera came out. Eric had a heelflip. I didn’t land much for flippers.

After a while we went to Howard Hueston so Ladd could try a gnarly flyout. He got close. The rest of us did a million slappies as we tried to coordinate most of us doing slappy variations in a row. It was pretty crazy, some bad slams, some hilarious moments. Joe did a hardflip front nose in a line. Insanity. Donnie got a crazy curb trick. Collin did like 4 no comply flips in a row. Wade with some cool slappies. Ted, Collin and Ian did so many front slappies. Garrett had some good back 50s and crooks on the ledge. I only mustered some noseslides and the ledges felt so tall. Filmed Garrett try a really hard line that he got super close to. Good times with the dudes even if my skating was dook.

(setup 3/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, slappy lights 8.25 95a bushings, 52mm bones x99 v1, vans half cab wafflecup grey size 12 with remind impact cush insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a very nice Friday afternoon I picked up Dave and hit his alley spot before picking up Rob and seeing DJR in FTC. This spot is quite difficult to skate, way harder than Dave makes it look. Watching him warm up was cool, little boardslides, ride on grinds galore. I took a long time to get anything at all. Even just navigating the narrow space to roll up onto it is hard. It’s hard to describe tricks done here. Besides the long boardslide Dave also did crooks, crooks to fakie and crooks to shove over the grate. So amazing. Also some frontside stuff. We both struggled with flatground. I had fun trying to manual and would get one manual that I didn’t scrape along with some attempts to manual into grind. Funnest thing for me was doing a little ride on grind up then ride on grind the next side. Dave had some solid slams on halfcab flip attempts. Some really good kickflips though. We went to leave and saw the little wallride and we both had to do it before leaving. Dave of course beat me. It was a fun way to end the session. Then Rob and I had a blast at Dinosaur Jr.

(setup 6/10 8.3 null abstract 43, pepper g5, ace af1 lows 55, snot 53mm pink franky, vans half cab wafflecup grey size 12 remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Before Dinosaur Jr I went to dog park and met Dan, Garrett and Joe. I played a game of no comply SKATE with Dan and once again landed nothing and got pink slipped. Joe did an incredible no push line of ollie the grate, ollie the hydrant, hardflip off the grate kicker. Wowsers. Garrett kick 50’d the top rope then did the ledge trick combos. I hucked a lot, but didn’t land much. Got one first try front 50 shove on the lurb that felt good though.

(setup 6/10 8.3 null abstract 43, pepper g5, ace af1 lows 55, snot 53mm pink franky, vans half cab wafflecup grey size 12 remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a bad night of sleep and long day at work I stopped at dog park because it was so incredibly nice out. I had a setup change of 8.3 and ace lows. It’s one of the better setups I’ve had for pop. Somehow not the best for flippers though. Collin had shown, that was cool. Turns out he lives right near me. He rips, lots of fast grinds and manuals. I was trying to pop more, try flippers more. I didn’t really land much although I was close. I got one line I really liked. Switch crook jib to forward then front 50 on the wood ledge. I came to a halt on the wood ledge, but whatever, I had only 50’d it once before. Another line was crook the wood ledge (felt really good) then b/s flip, but I messed up the halfcab noseslide after. I was close to heelflips, but never put one down. Doh.

(setup 6/10 8.3 null abstract 43, pepper g5, ace af1 lows 55, snot 53mm pink franky, vans half cab wafflecup grey size 12 remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cool morning I went to Arvada to meet up with 98, Cass and eventually Green Boi. I had slept great, but could not wake up to save my life. Doesn’t help wearing glasses, but man I was in a fog to say the least. After some messing around Cass and I played SKATE on the circle bank, but we never even finished it since we kept not landing anything. I mean we did get some tricks early on like kickflips and shoves at least. Went to the pier 7 area. Collin and Ladd were doing manuals all casual then kickflips up the big euro. I was struggling with 2mph front 50s. Landed a bs flip on flat, but couldn’t get a halfcab flip. Ladd did some cancel flips. Then near the hip area I did not get Cass’ back on b/s flip. I had a noseslide on the pyramid, but didn’t go all the way on it.

Then we went to the hip spot. We started on the far side looking at the wallride potential. The roll out is so scary with the death crack. I had to drop in from a couple of feet up multiple times just to get confidence to try the wallie nollie. I would get it with a deck check so not that great, but still fun. Collin got a crazy b/s no comply wallride. Ladd and Joe tried tricks into the bank. Then back to the hip area. Joe came close multiple time to sw ghetto bird. Collin would battle and get sw bs flip. Preston is so dang good. Front 3 and almost kf nose manual. Ladd got a kickflip right away, then slammed sooo hard on cancel flip. Wade had some cool boardslide 270s on the curb. I hucked 270 front heels which never got that close even though they did feel possible. I would get a few no comply 270s that were to tail. Fun time skating street even if my tricks were questionable.

(setup 5/10 null abstract 43 8.5/14.25, pepper g5, ace af1 hollow 55, snot 53mm pink franky, vans half cab wafflecup grey size 12 with remind impact cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a very late night at Launch I met Will in the slight drizzle at the curved Louisville ledge spot. I was there first. There was a couple of kids there ollieing off a ledge. It was cool to see some kids out skating. They took off right away though. I did my nose jibs and stuff. Will showed. He 50’d it first try. Filmed him get a better one. I tried some front 50s. The downhill really weirds me out. I got one really bad one, couldn’t do it again which was depressing. Will had tailslide too. I struggled with front 180s over the little gap to start. Did a couple of lines without good slides which is ironic considering last time I had Thunders which aren’t supposed to slide, but I slid way better. Then the rain started. Fun little session.

(setup 3/10 8.3 null abstract 43, pepper g5, venture v8 5.8 hollow, 52mm bones x99 v1, vans half cab wafflecup grey size 12 with remind impact cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Nice Friday afternoon I bolted to dog park after work to meet Will. He was front boarding the narrow concrete wedges. I started warming up and Brian said he would come pick me up for old man night at Launch so I tried to get some skating in real quick. I wanted to do a nollie varial flip, but I wasn’t close. I had some grinds on the low ledges and a halfcab noseslide on the bench before Brian arrived.

After a fun drive with the crew we arrived to a very crowded ramp session. I had no intention of skating it and went and got tacos. Ha. I mean it ruled, but I’m just not a crowded ramp kind of person. I did enjoy talking to everyone I talked to. I did skate outside a little which was completely disorienting having to wear glasses. There were some ledges and wedges around that were barely lit. Whitman was there ripping. Dave came out after a while and shredded it. He had cabs over the wedge to mini loading dock hip. maybe even a back 360. I think all I landed were some noseslides.

Eventually the ramp session had cooled down enough that I could go in and bail axle stalls on the small side. It was really fun to watch. Dave was butter smooth as always. Brian with the crowd pleasers. Kyle G flipping his board. Other Kyle ollieing the gap like it was nothing, to disaster, or tail. Riley was there! And he was ripping. I was happy to see a backside beanplant along with his long grinds and smooth style. Christian was destroying. Donnie was destroying. Connor was destroying. There was a lot going on. I was mid axle stall at one point when Connor landed a lip slide down the escalator and everyone went nuts. At the end we talked to Andy until 1:30 in the morning I couldn’t believe it. He rules. It was fun chatting skateboarding, setups, and colorado history.

(setup 5/10 8.3 null abstract 43, pepper g5, venture v8 5.8 hollow, 52mm bones x99 v1, vans half cab wafflecup grey size 12 with remind impact cush insoles)
(pain level 5/10 ramp skating kills me)

Stopped by on the way home from work and it was cloudy which is nice while having to wear glasses. There were a few people there, but pretty chill. I had tried 8.3 with ace and would dislike it. Wanted to do a line of crooks the wood ledge then b/s flip on flat then halfcab noseslide on the lurb. But there was this guy trying front 5-0s over and over and over on the lurb and filming them and he kept being in the way. I had some front 50s on the lurb and tried my best not to do an accidental 5-0 in front of him. Ollies felt very bad on the setup. I only got one b/s flip. It started to get dark and my vision went to garbage. While driving home I came very close to hitting a large buck crossing baseline. Sheesh. As if I wasn’t already afraid to drive at night with my glasses.

(setup 2/10 8.3 null abstract 43, pepper g5, ace af1 hollow 55, bones x99 52mm v1, vans half cab wafflecup grey size 12 with remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

I have to wear my glasses for a while because of stye/arthritis issues. I also tried to skate some new Village PM 2pm shoes. I left my house not knowing where I was going and ended up at the dork wallie curb. I proceeded to totally suck. Beyond levels of suck I could imagine. I had done some pivots and posed some manuals on the weird plastic cover. Barely ollied up a curb, barely 180’d off it. It’s well lit, it’s a cool night spot. I tried to do a mini wallie the corner to manual and could not do it. Changed to my Vans and would get it somewhat soon then I went home.

(setups 8.25 and 8.5/14.25 with ventures and village pm 2pm shoes that I will never again wear)
(pain level 4/10)

Another nice day I picked up Kevin and we went to Broomfield park. We would be meeting a million people, most of which were 98 dudes and then Sean. The park was popping. Kevin and I warmed up on the bank to curb. He did both blunts right away then went on to kill the black ledge. I made myself do 10 tricks on the blue lurb which didn’t come easy. Front 50 180 was the best feeling one. And halfcab noseslide considering last time I almost broke all my fingers. Flip tricks didn’t work. Saw a lot of really good skateboarding. Can’t even start listing everyone as there was like 12 dudes. Sean showed and rattled off his tricks rather quickly before we left.

We went to the ledge into the bank spot per Kevin’s request. The crew was heavy and I didn’t feel like getting in that rotation so I went to show Wade the weird stuff behind the school and we ended up having a blast on the weird bank/ledge spot. We just kept going and going. Trying tricks and getting some of them. My nose to tail to shove was really rewarding. As were the nosepick and no complies. The last trick to front nose was pretty silly. I really like Wade’s skating. He is creative and fun to skate with.

We went back and watched some bangers at the ledge spot. Garrett, Sean, Kevin, Collin were still going at it. It was a fun day.

(setup 4/10 null abstract 43 8.5/14.25, venture v8 5.8, 52mm bones x99 v1 52mm, vans half cab wafflecup gray size 12 with remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 4/10)