On Sunday I had made a 10×10 list, but was too sore and tired to get at it so I did Monday before work. I warmed up slightly with some shoves, 180s, etc then went right in on the list. Here’s the results.

kickflip – make
heelflip – make
halfcab flip – make
halfcab heel – x
bs flip – make
360 flip – x
fakie 360 flip -x
nollie flip -x
switch flip -x
switch front heel -x

About what I expected, was bummed on not getting treflip and halfcab heel, but the others I understand.

After work I swooped up Dave and we hit the little Longmont park again. There were a few biker kids there, but they didn’t get in the way much. It was already getting dark and it felt like we both put some effort in to get warmed up quick. Dave waxed the bank hip and we both had some front tailslides that were so fun. I had a kickflip to fakie after, then kind of a bigflip. I started trying to ollie the hip rail and after about 30 tries at least got both feet over it before bailing. That would be a big ollie for me. Dave did such a sick line. Bump to 50 the corner ledge, front 180 the hip, fakie ollie to front 50 down the odd hubba on the bank. He tried it with a 5-0 too, but it didn’t work. Then he tried front tailslide shove out for awhile and it looked like he got pretty close to me. I was kind of dorking around at this point not really trying one thing and just throwing random stuff out there. It was fun. I managed to get up the stage once, but struggled with the c ledge 50. Dave kind of did back 50 around the c ledge, did a rad front shove fakie over the tiny hip and managed a kickflip in the dark. This little park is so fun.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric brown 212s size 11.5, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 1/10 in the morning then 4/10 leg soreness after work)

Went to Safeway on a warm Saturday to meet Rob, Fuzz, Kevin and Sean. Kevin and Rob were there when I arrived. Kevin was already doing nollie flips and tailslides or something. I was feeling pretty good as I warmed up with the ol’ no-pop noseslides and went into some of my basics. Fuzz and Sean showed around the same time. Sean went on to totally destroy. He landed pretty much everything first try for awhile. Rob was in the zone for awhile. Cab front nose fakie, bigspint front nose to forward (Rob NBD), back smiths, nollie lips. Totally shredding. Fuzz came life and threw down a sick little line for the Stubborns. I couldn’t do kick back 50, but I did get a first try front 50 front shove out that felt really good. Kevin did a back tail shove. Sean learned fakie flip front tail and did it buttery ( that might be the first time I’ve used buttery on this blog). Oh yeah my 255s tore on the sole so I changed over to some old 212s.

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@baffoos fighting the good fight. Good times at La Raza yesterday

A post shared by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on Sep 23, 2018 at 9:47am PDT

Then we went to La Raza. I was starting slow and Rob was feeling a trick so I filmed him get a line for the Stubborns. Back 180, halfcab board shove, no comply shove. The tricks alone sound great, but then remember that style king Rob did them and you can get even more excited for the video. Rob was also kind enough to film Fuzz after this go for a tech hammer while I warmed back up. Less than 20 tries later Fuzz put down a banger. Switch board to front board. Powerful as all get out. Dang, we stacking clips! Kevin and I skated for awhile. Kevin was trying a line of fakie bigspin over the weird crack then nollie nosegrind shove. He was getting close. I took a long time to get a regular shove over the crack then tried to follow it with front 50 or 5-0 shove out. I didn’t get it and started filming Kevin who eventually had to call it.

All day I had been thinking of a trick I wanted to try into this bank. Sean had said he thought it was possible. Having never been to this spot it was hard to say, but I wanted to no comply finger flip into it. When we got there the bank looked intense. I couldn’t even drop in from the top initially. But I stayed calm and played with it for awhile. Dropping in a couple feet further each time until I felt comfortable with the roll in. Kevin rolled in a couple times too. I started playing with the trick just to feel it out. It kinda seemed doable. The runway is absolutely terrible. It was super hot. There were ants everywhere. There was gum right where I wanted to push. But I kept at it inching closer and closer before getting a lame one. Thankfully Fuzz knew I could do better and told me to give it another try. I went for it that try, but the board didn’t flip right. Did I mention my fingers were bloody from flipping the board? A good slam and a dozen more bails then I rode away from a better one. It felt pretty amazing. What’s also amazing is the camera died on the roll away. Luckily there is enough roll away that it looks fine. But man I was happy as it comes. Everyone was. We stacked some good clips and had fun. On the way to the car Kevin did nolle flip and nollie treflip while holding onto a bottle. Ha. We went out to dinner and had some margs and it was a blast.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric 255 cream/gum size 12 then brown 212s size 11.5, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 3/10 general soreness)