skate journal: Pueblo for fun! (Jan 11, 2014)
Neil’s Of Fire b/s ollie
Gnarly Carleigh front tailslide.
On PJ Ladd’s birthday a small crew headed to Pueblo in search of warmer temperatures and drier spots. We got both. The crew was Carleigh, Neil, Chadman and myself and we started on campus at the mellow bank spot above. Although it was pretty warm and dry, we didn’t escape the winds. Parts of campus that weren’t behind buildings weren’t skateable. Doh. The bank area was fun though. Neil did a pretty crazy long wallride over a grass gap, his patented b/s ollies, one foots, front 5-0s, etc. Chadman was hyped to skate for fun and it showed. He had some really nice front 5-0s on the bank and tried kickflip out of some. Chad also killed it on multiple swing sets (there are swing sets all over campus now hanging from trees) and was seriously enjoying the non-filming session. I was feeling weird on my board and was 3-10 on kickflips. I don’t remember the last time my kickflip ratio was so bad. Wind really seems to effect my arthritis. I managed a few little front 5-0s and a gap to f/s bank ride front 180 out. Also a few switch f/s noseslides on a weird ledge and even got one with a front 180 over a little gap right in front of it. That hyped me up. Carleigh had a bunch of back 5-0s, front 5-0, front tail and tried back blunt.
Chad showed us this area which was fun for awhile. There was another bench that was setup perfect to do tricks into the bank. I tried to noseslide it, but didn’t get close. Chad got kinda close to back 50’ing it. Then we played flyout for awhile. Roll in next to the stairs in the top photo then fly out below. I had a fun line of varial flip on flat, then front shove out flyout. Carleigh got close to kickflip. Chad did kickflip and f/s flip.
Then we went to Ka*Mitt and sold some Null and were super hyped the Fred joined us and showed us this spot. We didn’t really skate it like that as there are a couple benches there too and some good flatground. I was skating like crap and still struggling with kickflips. I got a couple flipper basics, a boardslide on the bench and a few frontside wallrides on a rock. Carleigh did a bunch of kickflips, noseslide the bench and close to front 180 nosegrind. Neil got some boardslides but was mostly chilling. Fred was going full tilt on some back overcrook attempts. Gnarly. Some steezy no compy back 360s. Chadman had one of the steeziest 43 shifty’s ever, hardflip, boneless to frontside rock ride, and spent the most time becoming one with the river.
Next up was this ditch spot that was truly amazing. Rick from Ka*Mitt met up with us too and slayed it. Full speed flippers down the middle of the debris riddled ditch and front 50, front 5-0, front smith and front tail on the ledge. Fred was determined to get the back overcrook. Carleigh was shooting photos. Neil got a no comply to tail. Chad was cruising. I had a fun line of kickflip a little pile of grass on the bank then crooks on the ledge. Then out of nowhere some dude came flying out behind the fence with a bat telling us to leave. Things got sketchy for a minute.
We went to another bank spot, but only Fred and Rick really skated it. Chad and I found this silly little miniramp bank and played a game of SKATE on it that he won. It was silly, and fun. Then Neil came over and said he found some other really fun stuff nearby so we hit it. First up was a perfect flyout over a curb. I never ollied it. Chad and Neil boosted over it and Chad ollied into the bank a few times too, even trying to manual out.
Fred and Rick were getting gnar on the bank and everyone was watching, but I felt like skating a little more so started trying tricks off this curb. Well, I was thinking ‘start with front shove and go from there’. Turns out the front shove would be a battle. Doh. Got a few and one with a manual on the next sidewalk. Man I was struggling. Ricky came up and put on a demo. Serious ripping. Full speed ollies over medians, manuals, flippers, everything. Dude has the best treflips which inspired me to land a slow one that cheered me up after skating so bad all day. It was now dark out and the session was done. What a fun day. Fred and Ricky are seriously the nicest dudes.