Got to Broomfield park earlyish since we were going to RMNP. Met Cass and Gordon. I started on a 8.25 with Slappy low profile trucks. It felt decent. The normal warm ups went okay. Gordon was doing all the shoves and ripping manuals and 5-0s pretty easily. I love that little bank to curb to warm up on. Crooks went well. Cass showed. My groin pain was still pretty bad so I kept not ollieing. Gordon made progress on front tails. Cass was on 50s easy. I was rotating between 8.25 with slappy lows on 14.25 and 8.25 with venture hollow on 14 wb. Decided I liked the venture setup more. Was trying to get into the groove but I slammed on a halfcab noseslide on the blue lurb super bad. Put my hand right in the crease of the ledge and the ground and folded some fingers. My initial thought was that I broke all of my fingers. I would actually try to keep skating, but decided against it. Cass took a bad slam a few tries later on a crooks and called it too. Argh.

(setups 8.25s with venture hollow or slappy lows, vans half cab waffle cup b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 10/10)

Went to dog park after work on a hot Friday afternoon. Will was there. I warmed up a little then we played SKATE. I got a letter on a kickflip. I had 8.25 with indys and it sucked. I should have got pink slipped but he counted a really bad fakie bigflip. I tried some faster noseslides than normal and almost slammed so bad. Will had to leave. I didn’t do much else. My groin/hip flexor pain was quite bad still.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, indy titanium 144, spitfire f4 99a tablets 52mm, vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 8/10 everything)

Can’t believe we did it, but we did. Dave and I went up to Idaho Springs park after work and met Cass, Garrett, Joe, Skelly, Jason and Dylan. At times there were several little kids, some on little sit down rolling toys, some on scooters while wearing half cabs, some on skateboards. I felt off the second we got there. Garrett said he was too and took several tries to bigspin the hip, 2nd try b/s flip, several tries to nollie back heel it. He would also have a really good front tail on the qp then wallie to manual to kickflip out. Joe had some nice back tails, front cooks then went in on hardflip down the big 2. He would land on one, but never roll away. Cass had a nice back 180 down the 3 stair, front noseslide, couldn’t get front shove down the 3. Skelly looked good, nice ollies, manual, 50 180 on the pad. Dave did a crazy kickflip to tail over the hip to tail. Oh yeah, the lights didn’t come on until well after dark so there was a period of not skating which made me so sore. Joe, Garrett, Cass had left when they didn’t turn on. Dave also had long 50s on the diamond cut coping, feeble the bank to curb, shit flip on the bank and a lot more I’m forgetting. I skated pretty mid and rotated between my 8.3 and 8.25. Had some good feeling crooks on the ledge was all I was proud of. Some noseslides, front tail stalls on the bank and no comply shove on the mellower bank. Jason was a treat to watch skate, haven’t seen him skate in a long time. Boardslides the long flatbar on the pyramid, almost front board, back 50s. At the end he did a crazy ollie on the stegasoris.

(setups 3/10 8.3 with v8s and 8.25 with royals, vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 7/10 groin pain)

After work I took some short cuts through dirt roads and ended up at a mostly empty Frederick skatepark. I had a bit of time to warm up before Dave arrived. Warm up went alright it seemed. There was a young guy in pads and a helmet and I had just assumed he was an old guy until I got close. He was quite talkative and was trying to get me to do treflips with him. Dave showed. We kinda did our thing warming up then were mostly at the manny pad area for a while. He was going for fakie back nosegrind. I was lining out ollies up the pad and kickflip off. Dave said we should film it and I got one in a few tries after a sw nose shove. And the line made me happy! Dave went on to get a few fakie back nosegrinds and lined them out. Dave was learning haflcab bliuntslides on the hip while I was hucking trreflips FOREVER. Finally got a very questionable one. Filmed Dave line out the halfcab bliunt shove which was incredibly amazing. As was the shove to fakie on the bank. We did more than this, it was a fun session.

(setup 3/10 null 8.3 keyhole, jessup ultra, venture v8 5.8 with flat washer and ti hanger, bones 52mm x99 v1, vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Met up with Garrett and Gordon at York St. Also Ryan and Dale from Ritual and Anthony from Bluecar joined. And it was a really fun session because we only skated the tiny qp. Well, at least that’s all I skated. Gordon and I warmed up with a game of qp SKATE. He won with cab axle stall. I was happy to get a first try front tail though, it’s been a while on that one. Went on to get a lot of my other old Rampy tricks and came up short on kickflip axle stall again. Garrett blunt kickflip fakie and back noseblunt were cool. Ryan varial flip pivot fakie was sick. Dale blunt 3 shove to fakie.

Then we went to Rino spot at 40th and Franklin. I was pretty sore still, but man there is hundreds of feet of curb there. Gordon was killing the slappies. Frontside, backside, switch all of them. Also 50 the bank. Dale had some perfect treflips. Ryan felt out some tricks. Anthony went for a tech line. I would get a line that made me kind of happy. Nose jib to fakie the bank, sw 180 up the curb, noseslide a ledge. Garrett did pop shove 50 so good.

Then we went across the street to a flat gap and I filmed the dudes get some banger in between rain showers.

(setup 3/10 null abstract 43 8.5/14.25, pepper g5, venture 5.8 v-cast flat top washer, bones x99 v1 52mm , new balance numeric 272 brown size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10)

Met up with 98% dudes at Boulder park. I was so incredibly sore, my body was a mess. I had some fun with my ultra basics there, didn’t get beyond that. Collin was shredding hard. Back boneless do disaster was cool. Dan’s cab for Squeeks was cool.

We went out to the butter benches. It was funny the guy working at the bagel place welcomed us to skate and said we could borrow a broom if needed. I couldn’t not land anything. Death of the 8.25 with Royals. Dan had a casual good line and tried another one with nollie front 180 up the 2. Joe’s sw ollie up was so good and the fakie crooks wow. Ian skated fast. Wade’s front nose was awesome.

Then to Casey. My legs were so toast. I filmed Scotty get a line. Dan had manual no comply 180. Wade a cool front board up.

(setup 7/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, royal 144, spitfire f4 99a tablets 52mm, various shoes, but ended on splays)
(pain level 8/10 everything)

Finally feeling less sick. Went to dog park after work. There was a couple dudes there that were really nice. One dude doing lots of cool flippers and even nose manual nollie flip out. I was skating okay, feel like it was the first time in a few weeks I actually ollied. Had most of my basics on the curbs/lurbs. Still didn’t get front 50 on the bench or taller ledge. Dave showed right when I landed a first try fakie bigflip. I would also get halfcab flip, b/s flip, fakie flip. No heelflip tricks or treflip though. There was a fun wood thing to wallie. Dave also feeble transferred it. Crooks on the taller wood bench were still fun. After a while Dave and I went in on smith grinds on the lurb. Well, we each landed some before we went to film it then it took a while before we got them again. Dave actually grinded his. I know the smith 180 looks terrible and is just a pivot off the nose, but I still liked it. I got a switch smith to regs kinda quick. Then battled a full switch crook forever and never got one. Dave would get some other bangers like back 50 to slight crook, Franky grind, nollie front nose, front 180 fakie 50 180. Really fun night and it felt good to finally have energy.

(setup 7/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, royal 144, spitfire f4 99a tablets 52mm, new balance numeric 306cup with half insoles)
(pain level 5/10 hip flexor wasn’t terrible)

Stopped by Boulder park on the way into work. It was nice, but warming quickly. Skated about 30 minutes. Started on my 8.25/14/venture and hated it. Changed to my 8.5/14.25/venture and hated it slightly less. Couldn’t ollie much without pain in the hip flexor/groin. Only fun thing was really long back 50s on the qp. For a bit I tried a line of front 50 the qp then kickflip nose stall the hump to ledge. Didn’t get too close. Left sooner than I needed to because of pain.

(setups meh)
(pain level 7/10)

Nice night. Went out after dinner with low expectations and wanted to skate something different. I chose to skate my 8.25/14/venture hollows setup for some reason. It was okay. I started at some tiny flat gap. Did some ollies and 180s. Couldn’t commit to a b/s flip or kickflip or front shove.

Skated around. Ended up at the loading dock I almost lost my mind at last time. I did slow kickflip and halfcab flip into it. Then a good feeling shove it on my way out.

Ended up at the curb cut thing and did some 180 crooks and shove. Also hucked nollie flips that were close. Okay night.

(setup 4/10 8.25/14 sample, null grip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, 52mm spitfire 99a tablets, new balance numeric 306cup grey size 12 with half insole. I had gamechanger lights in for a while, but took them out to reduce hip/goin pain)
(pain level 6/10 hip flexor/groin)

After hitting every light between Boulder and Loveland I stopped at this ledge to bake and suck in the sun for a while. I only skated about 30 minutes. I felt quite sore and off when I started. I would manage some noseslides, one very slow front 50 and some crooks. The ledge was sticky and the sun prevented wax from working.

Then I met Bo, Sean and Mike at Juniper Pl DIY. By then my body had completely seized up in pain. I attempted to skate, but it was scary and painful. Even pushing hurt. Didn’t really notice this arthritis flare up coming, but man I was in it for sure. Bo on the other hand was hopping onto or over everything. We were all jealous of his pop and energy. Mike had some patented no comply pole jams, boarslides, front noses. Skelly had the bank mound grind, poppy ollies.

(setup 3/10 null abstract 43 8.5/14.25, pepper g5, venture 5.8 v-cast flat top washer, bones x99 v1 52mm and splays size 11.5 green with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 9/10 arthritis as well as groin/hip flexor pain)