On a nice morning I went to the pedestrian bridge and met up with Jake, Cass and his friend Nick. I hadn’t been there since it opened and it was way more fun now that people have added to it and filled in cracks. Nick was getting back into skating and did some boardslides and chilled. Cass easily grinded over the double qp gap. It was really casual. Then he did it frontside and even went to fakie (although he couldn’t do it with the camera on). Jake was going in on tricks on the steep little qp that was quite fun. Also boardslides on the flatbar. I was trying lots of lines, trying to ollie more and grind the little plastic box. I had some front rocks on the bank to curb, rock on the steep qp, front 50 the plastic bench, noseslide a regular ledge. The main line I was trying kind of morphed into what it was. I originally was doing boardslides on the long plastic box then ollie the little curb. Or I would do a front tail transfer over the hip. But the crooks was more fun anyway. The kickflips were hard. Unfortunately pushing started to hurt my calf in the way it did when I had strained it last year. I was so bummed. Had to give up. Then a nice lunch and back home.

Oh and it turns out I accidentally had one ace low truck (back) and a regular one (front). So that really messes with my setup madness!

(setup 4/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace 44, bones 52mm stf v1, emerica og-1 with footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 7/10 calf pain which sucks because I was really loving the shoes and insole combo)

Met up with Paul after work at dog park. I was wearing some bulky Emerica MJ reissues. They felt insane at first, but I have to admit very little pain. It took me a while to get going though. Paul had been there a bit, or maybe not too long. But he was doing slappy crooks back 180 out and he thought somehow I could just learn it in a few tries. Jason from 303 and Steeze were there, both were in good moods and fun to skate with as well. Paul was ripping as he does, but working mostly on slappy crooks 180s. He got a ton of them. I should have filmed him, but I was still skating. I tried a lot of noseslide 270 shoves on the metal bench and was only close a couple of times. Never got a treflip although felt like almost all of them were close. Started getting close to slappy crooks and since Paul was done skating he insisted on filming me try. I was so close. I also did several crooks on the bench, most of which felt decent. I struggled to pop in those shoes, but man I was in the least pain in a while. Fun night.

(setup 5/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace 44, bones 52mm stf v1, emerica og-1 with footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After working at the office I met up with Dave on a nice afternoon with rain threatening. I had two changes. Aces and back to the 540 vulcs. I felt much better on my skateboard than the night before. Dave was going in on the hip. He did a really nice back 180 noseslide on the edge of the hip. I took a bit to get warmed up and used to my setup changes. Then as Dave went in on switch back bigs over the hip I tried a line of frontside ollie a hip then b/s flip the next one. Dave would get an amazing switch back big. It was rad. Even the younger crew “was that switch .. damn”. He would go on to also 5-0 the rainbow and f/s flip the other hip. I went through a phase were I couldn’t ollie the hip to save my life and it was driving me mad. Eventually they came back and I would get the line a couple times, but with toe drag. Dave had left, I went over to dog park. I was pretty sore and didn’t do a whole lot, but a few things were rewarding like a couple crooks on the bench, some slow front 50 variations on the lurb. Front 50 shove felt really good and then a switch front nose on the bench. Had a good feeling halfcab flip, didn’t commit to treflip though. I tried to front 50 the bench a few times and could not get it. One squat hurt my knee too much and I called it a session.

(setup 5/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 44, bones stf v1 52mm, new balance numeric 574 vulc size 11.5 with half insole and footprints gamechanger lite insole)
(pain level 6/10)

Went to Square State on a nice, but breezy night and had it all to myself for a while before Jesse showed up. I had worn my 600s in hope of less pain. There wasn’t really less pain, but there certainly was less board feel. I felt totally off and horrible on my skateboard for the entire session. I had a warm up line before Jesse got there of slappy the bank to parking block, front smith the mellow wood bank to curb then a ride on back 50 terrible front 180 out. Jesse showed and rattled off some tricks on flatground and the mini ledge. I tried too, but kept not ollieing good and couldn’t kickflip. I was going mad. At one point I got front smith stall on the wood bank to ledge then a front smith on the little qp after. Jess had a similar line. He couldn’t quite get a bean plant into the miniramp. I had a line of front tail the wood bank to ledge then hurricane the little qp. That was about the only thing worth a crap I did. Jesse had a back d on the qp.

(setup 0/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 team hollow royal bushings, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 footprints gamechanger lite insole)
(pain level 6/10)

On my daughter’s last day in CO I escaped for a little session while she ran errands. I waited too long to write this entry, but I remember Dave was shredding and I didn’t land much even though I was close to some good ones. I had some fun nollie shoves on the bank, a fun crooks on the ledge, kickflip up the curb, slappy crooks. Flip tricks were tough. I was close to some harder ones for me like varial heel, treflip but couldn’t get them. I tried like a million front 50s on the ledge and could not get one. Dave on the other hand was ripping. Fakie back nosegrind, fakie back nosegrind 180 on the curb. Manuals on the median. A lot more I’m forgetting, but he ended it off with a banger with several front 5-0s to switch crooks. Incredible. There is a lot I’m missing, it was a fun session, we skated hard.

(setup 5/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 team holllow royal bushings, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, es swift 1.5 size 12 custom orthotic insole)
(pain level 5/10)

After brunch for Ollie’s birthday I had some free time. It was raining so I went to the mellow valmont garage. Rolled around a while trying to get a little warmed up. Settled on the front axle kickflip out which took about 10 minutes. After that I tried some flippers then quite a few kick back tail stall attempts. Some of which were close. Flip tricks didn’t go so good in that I couldn’t get heelflip or treflip. I did get kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flips both ways, fakie big flip, varial flip, bs flip. Went in on a lot of treflips at the end and could not get one. It was pretty frustrating.

(setup 4/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, es swift 1.5 size 12 custom orthotic insole)
(pain level 4/10)

After work I had a quick drive to meet up with Dave. He was working in Louisville and we were going to skate a ditch after a meet up at the park. But I bet deep inside both of us knew we wouldn’t stop skating wherever we started. I went through 3 setups as it rained during the warm up stage. Pretty much right away Dave did the boardslide out of the qp after we laughed about how weird the parking block placement was. Did you actually put it there Dave? He also had some nice pivots on the weird qp then front 50 the bank to ledge. I was trying a line of crooks the ledge then noseslide to fakie the bank to ledge. The crooks felt great, but I kept messing up the noseslide to fakie. After a pretty bad slam I needed extra motivation and was trying to add a trick before the crooks but, couldn’t get a treflip or heelflip. Eventually settled on kickflip over the parking block and surprised myself with a great feeling kickflip, good feeling crooks, then great feeling noseslide to fakie. Dave was going to punch me if I didn’t do the noseslide to fakie. That line made me happy though. Struggled with front 50s again and may have only gotten a couple really slow ones. Dave had some good ones and did one with a nollie shove at the end into the little bank that was pretty amazing. Dave went in on a line of ollie to drop in on the mini hubba down the stairs, then ollie onto the ledge and roll into the bank, then back tail on the parking block out of the qp. He would get a couple to fakie, but not quite to forward like he wanted. I really struggled to ollie onto the little ledge and roll in like Dave was. I would never commit to it. But I would get a low b/s flip over the main hip that was pretty rewarding. Dave then did a few and a perfect b/s flip over the mellower hip. I was posing front heels over it and they started to feel kind of realistic and then out of nowhere I landed a really floppy one. And it felt incredible. I rarely land new tricks these days and even rarer do I land them in less than 20 tries. Kind of a mixed session struggling with some basics, but landing a new trick at the end felt incredible.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, new balance numeric 574 vulc blue/white size 11.5 with half insole and currex run pro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

After lounging on a cold morning the sun had come out and I snuck out for a couple hours of skating. After yesterdays performance not being able to ollie well or even push comfortably I had written off Thunders yet again. I tried my 8.5 Slace setup. It felt good. My goal was to go around the school and selfie film a trick at every one of the close to 10 spots around the school. Well, it got off to a bad start when I couldn’t even ollie onto the narrow pad by the chalk board to start. I did have some warm up flippers that came really easily though. Bs flip, halfcab flips, fakie flip, heelflip. I settled for the dorky manual. Then I had posed an ollie over the two block and almost died bailing it. So I was going to selfie film trying to ollie it, but then a group of kids came to the play equipment which is like 5 feet away. Whew, I probably wouldn’t have done it anyway. Then I ended up at the weird curved area and skated the regular ledge at first. It was crazy, I tried a noseslide and went over the top and fell into the dirt. Not as bad as it sounds, but it was still crazy. May have gotten one little crook jib. Couldn’t get halfcab noseslide. Then I messed with the curved ledge for a while. I couldn’t get the nerve (or enough angle) to 50 it. Settled for the ‘nollie’ tail then quick ollie. It was way harder than I wanted it to be. Then I was on the side of the school. I really struggled to front 50 the low ledge comfortably. It was annoying it faces directly at the road so anytime a car would come I would let it get to my head and stop skating. I would eventually go on to get a run that sounds good on paper, but was really slow. Halfcab flip, front 50, curve around and b/s flip out of the little bank. Finally to the front area aka the main attraction and I was pretty sore. I would get some noseslides, noseslide to fakie, perhaps a crook jib and I think a boardslide. Front 50 didn’t even seem remotely possible ugh. Also tried several treflips and came up empty handed. Another tough session. Made me doubt the larger setup. I flipped it well until treflip time and certainly was no better at ollies with it. Argh.

(setup 4/10 null 8.5/14.25 20 year deck, jessup ultragrip, slace 8.5 (ace baseplate and bushings slappy hanger), 51mm bones pj stf v1, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 half insole plus currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10 was pretty sore)

On a cold and snowy day I went to Longmont on a LOCO run. It was flurrying, but let up so I randomly went to Skyline which I haven’t skated in years. It felt even colder than I imagined right around freezing. The ledges seemed infinitely taller than I remembered. I did not feel good on my board nor did I like my board even though it did flip really well. I had an early warm up line of noseslide the downhill one, kickflip, noseslide to fakie the tall one. But it had taken me a while to get to that point. Took a while to do a switch front nose on the downhill one and it was terrible. I got a treflip that might be the biggest stretch of a make to date. I had some alright halfcab flips and b/s flips using the hill. Remotely close to a few cab flips. Couldn’t get a heelflip or a crooked grind on the taller ledge. I tried like a million ollied onto the tall pad and barely got one. I was trying crooks on the downhill when a car pulled up and it was Bernie! Great hearing his voice again and it hyped me up enough to finally get a little crook. I tried a bunch of noseslide to crook and only one attempt was even remotely close. Eventually I left with the intention skating more, but Longmont HS had a bunch of youth roaming around. Tough day at the office.

(setup 4/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow light 148 royal bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 half insole and currex run pro insole)
(pain level 3/10 felt good until the end)

Took a lunch break to Blue Skies and it was sooo nice out. I went with the Strikes again and this time felt like they have some potential. I took a bit to get a warm up line of boardslide a flat bar, kickflip on flat, noseslide down an escalator ledge, b/s nollie on the bank, crooks the ledge. I mostly lined things out the whole time. Had a couple front board jibs, a few halfcab flips, a heelflip, ollies over the lowest part of the dragon rail. Ended doing a crook jib on the escalator ledge followed by front 50 attempt on the lowest ledge which I kind of did but also rode along the top slowly.

After work I met Dave at Valmont park. He was battling back bigspin over the hip and would get a really smooth one. Then he went on to line out several b/s flips over the hip too with back d on the little qp, back tail on the volcano, front ride the barrier. I got quite a few kickflips quickly. To fakie on the mellow bank, b/s on a hump. Went on to do a line of f/s flip on the mellow bank then kickflip to fakie on the shark fin. I was pretty hyped on that. Then I failed at treflips to fakie on the bank for a while and Dave had to leave.

So I went over to dog park. Was hyped that Jamison and Robbie were there ripping. I thought I would do basically nothing, but I ended up doing a few basics. Crooks on the bench was fun, front 50 the lurb was hard because the Strikes are so cushiony they absorb pop, slappies, couldn’t get kick back 50.

Lotta skating. Really sore a day later writing this. I was hoping these strike shoes would avoid that, but alas it doesn’t appear there will ever be a perfect skate shoe.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow light 148 royal bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, strike mvmnt transit street trainer black/gum size 12 currex run pro insole)
(pain level 3/10 felt good until the end)