Went to campus kinda early after work since Liz was finally getting home. I had put cast baseplates on and it made the small setup even worse. I started at an old 2 stair area above the famous square rail and could barely ollie up the 2 stair. Hucked flippers, not close to them at all. Moved on to the fitness center area as I wanted to do this weird quick tiny gap thing in a line. The line was supposed to start with f/s halfcab heel which I was not close on at all. I did do the little ollie/180 out, but it was dumb. I looked at some other stuff but basically just walked back to the car and debated if it’s time to hang up the skateboard.

(setup 0/10 8.25/14″ venture v-cast 5.6 bones medium bushings 52mm spits vans walker wafflecup size 12 b/w fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After a terrible night of sleep Ollie and I went to campus. I parked under it this time. I was armed with an even smaller setup and it did not work whatsoever. Ollie did the drop down manuals like it was nothing. He hasn’t skated since last Father’s Day that I know of. He also pushed fast into the hill above the stairs and had no problems. The drop down manny took me a bit, I came really close to kickflip off. Then we went to the weird loading dock area that Ollie is shown above performing his name. I also ollie’d off it after a switch 180 into the tiny hill before it. Next up the engineering building where Ollie had no problems jumping down the 3 stairs. I had a lot of fun with slappy crooks. Couldn’t get kickflip after. I did get back 180 but didn’t feel the need to put it in the post. Ollie’s boardslide was pretty cool, never seen him do that before like that. All in all a really fun day with Ollie even if my skating was terrible.

(setup 2/10 8.25/14″ sample venture 5.6 v-hollow 52mm spits vans walker wafflecup size 12 fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Met up with Cass at Broomfield park. He had already messed up his toe though. Taylor was there. As were some other older dudes and then even 303 Sam. It was pretty great, like 20 older dudes skating. Although only one teenager. So crazy. After struggling with pop I had changed to Slappy highs. Dumb idea. I did have some okay success with front 50s on the lurb, but mostly had a pretty meaningless session. Talking to Sam was my fav part. I did have one axle stall to rock ‘n roll that felt good on the bank to curb, some noseslides. Was hyped on Chris and Alex being there too, some freestyle dudes.

Later on in the afternoon when it got really hot I went to campus armed with a smaller setup. 8.25 with indy titanium. Basically just did sone front 50s on the lower parts of the fitness center ledge. Flip tricks didn’t work, I gotta stop thinking I can do them.

(setups how to I mark two setup changes in one day? ha ha
2/10 8.5/14.25 slappy lights 52mm spits
2/10 8.25 indy titanium 52mm spits
vans kyle walker wafflecup b/w size 12 fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10 ! warm weather is good)

Biked over to the research area after work on a nice warm Friday. Ended up mostly just skating the ledge area. It was better for slides than I would have thought, not so good for grinds. Tried a line for a while of noseslide to fakie then halfcab flip in the street. Never got the hc flip. Ugh. Oh yeah, I had 8.5/14.25 with thunders. Never really did more than that. Did get a couple crooks, sw front nose, sw nose. Had a couple sketchy slams trying to front 50. Had a b/s flip in the street then sw 180 then ollie up the curb and failed the crooks. It was a fun session even if I really didn’t land much.

(setup 5/10 8.5/14.25 sample, jessup pj ultra, thunder team hollows 149, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classics pink/green, vans kyle walker size 12 b/w fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a very nice night I got to Frederick first and there was literally no one else there. It was almost spooky. I did some warming up. Dave showed. We got into a 3 trick challenge near the bank to curb section. Trick out of the bank, trick on flat, trick into bank. Dave had shove, front shove, shove into the bank multiple times. Along with almost getting 180 sw crooks on the start of the bank to curb. In between bailing kickflips on the longer bank I flailed my 3 trick line of kickflip out, “nollie” front 180, switch nose jib. The kickflip at least felt good. Skelly showed and went immediately to work on popping like crazy. He did multiple lines with like 8 ollies in them. Ollies to fakie on the steeper bank, into banks, out of banks, etc. It was sick, he was charging. He also did a really good ride on grind onto the bank to curb. Halfcabs on the mellow bank. Cool lines on the double bank section after the lights went off. Dave was killing it as usual. Bluntslide shove, bigspins on the steep bank, slappy crooks to disaster revert transfer, manuals, everything. Even ended with a halfcab flip over the hip. I had some noseslides on the bump to ledge, some fun nollie front 180s on the mound, some fakie 50s on the curb. I had fun, but man it’s hard to shake off this rust.

(setup 3/10 8.3 null pepper grip venture v8 5.8 ti hanger 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classics, vans vans kyle walker wafflecup size 12 b/w fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Went to campus on an 8.25 with mindys. Hated it so bad I went back to the car and got my 8.3 with v8s which was better. Made myself ollie to deck check then pull into the long curved hubba then noseslide the tall bench. Then I did some jersey barrier rides, nollie front 180 and tried halfcab heel but never got close. Then I proceeded to not land a b/s flip over this awkward little hip. I was close to f/s halfcab heel after. Lastly did a manual on the tiny pad across from the stadium and called it a night.

(setup 4/10 8.3 null pepper grip venture v8 5.8 53mm snot vans walker wafflecup b/w size 12 fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a warm night I went to campus armed with a setup that would ollie better darn it. But it didn’t. At all. 8.5/14.25 with T2s aka the most useless truck made to date. Anyway I started at the mini bank to area and as soon as I had a ghost pop ollie to fakie I knew it would be bad. Bailed several switch ollies over a tiny gap. Moved on down the bank to curb. Sucked it up. Tried to do a nollie front tail (in which I didn’t even ollie up) and follow it by a b/s flip. Couldn’t get the b/s flip. Going downhill I had a little ollie up to nollie shove and some noseslides. Wasn’t confident enough to go fast enough to try anything else. Went down below and saw the amazing sunset and had to try a trick or two on the weird Ralphie ledge. Got noseslide to fakie, couldn’t get crooks. At the end I saw a tall ledge that Conor did a cool manual on forever ago in a Crisis video. I couldn’t ollie onto it, but I did do a front rock.

(setup 2/10 8.5/14.25 sample, jessup pj ultra, thunder t2s 149, snot 53mm franky wheels, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 with footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

It was cloudy and looked like rain in Boulder, but sunny and warm in south Denver where I met Cass and Jake at Thomas Jefferson. It would be a fun session. Jake kinda killed it stacking lots of tricks. Crooks, crooks shove, front 50, front tail, nollie front tail, nollie back tail, halfcab noseslide, fakie back tail, fakie front crook. I’m probably missing something. Cass had some really good crooks early on, 50s, couldn’t get kickflip 50, such good front noseslides, front nose shove. Also showed me up with a front shove out of a kicker first try in a warm up line. I really struggled with pop. Got a front 50 right away, then could not do it again. Had a lot of crooks, noseslides, nollie front tails. The kickflip off took a while, but man it felt good. And it felt good taking the slams and my foot not complaining too much.

(setup 5/10 8.3 null, jessup pj grip, venture v8 5.8 ti hanger, snot 53mm franky wheels, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 with footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Back in sunny CO without too bad of jet lag I biked to campus to meet Eric and Jack. They were at Baker. There were a couple cars ruining the ledge, but the manny pad was still good. Bratcher and Eric got mannies pretty quick. Jack with the manny to grind for trick of the day. I was skating an 8.25 with slappy lows and it sucked. There was a youth soccer tournament on campus so we had waves of kids walking through. Which of course meant we heard ‘do a kickflip’ like 100 times. I started trying some in anticipation so they wouldn’t say it. But I couldn’t land them. Argh. I got a manual and a nose manual eventually. The nose manual I tapped on was funny because the kids walking up were so hyped. Jack tried some switch manuals. Eric was going for 180 nose manny.

We went to the little ledge after that. I was sucking so bad. Got some slow front 50s on the lowest part. Bratcher had a first try back 50 to back tail, but couldn’t get one again. Eric had some good front 50s then front lip too. At the end I managed a goofy line that brought some joy. Going uphill back 50 then curve around ollie the little 2 stair then back uphill to a little nollie back tail. Felt good to get out and street skate in the sun, but man I am rusty.

(setup 0/10 8.25 slappy lows vans half cab wafflecup)
(pain level 4/10)

Had some free time in the morning. Went to the riverside skatepark again. there were skate/bike lessons. I attempted to skate it, but wasn’t really feeling it and could tell the people doing the lessons weren’t hyped. So I skated a street spot on the other side of the bridge. The ledges were super tall. Tall enough I couldn’t even noseslide. It started to rain and my foot was killing me. It dried quickly. I took a long time to get the manual into the bank. The bank was quite a bit steeper to me than it looks in the video. Maybe because my foot was killing me and I was afraid of any impact. A manual front 180 into the bank would have been so much cooler. Went back to the skatepark since the lessons were on lunch break. But the vibe was so weird and the skate coaches were just cruising around vibing and I hated it. Seems like dudes with fresh Asics and Ace trucks are likely to be vibers. so I went back to the street spot. On the other side I tried to fakie bigflip into the mellower bank. Then sw 180 in. Then I wanted to sw 180 manual in, but ended up having to leave.

(setup 2/10 null sample 8.5/14.25 jessup pj ultra thunder team hollow 149 53 pink snot franky vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 8/10 os peroneum pain was bad enough I shouldn’t have been skating, but when you only have one chance to skate a spot, you skate the spot )