Rolled down to Wilville on a hot afternoon after a day of lounging around. I started at the bottom of the two 3 stairs and told myself I had to ollie up the first one before I could move on. I dorked around on the bottom step for a bit doing little stalls. Then I started going for the ollie. I got a couple where the back wheel clipped a little, but counted it. Then I tried a line. Front 180 up the 2, halfcab flip on flat, ollie the 3s. But I never landed a halfacb flip. A halfcab flip! Ugh. And to make things worse I would try 3 flips on the way back and failed at those too until eventually landing another terrible one. This ‘tre a day’ goal seems to be making me worse at treflips. I went over to the middle section and was stoked to see a knob off the low part of the ledge. I hucked for a bit. Switch noseslide kickflip out. Got pretty close actually. I came to a halt, but whatever, I’m starting to lay into the ‘almost 50’ excuse. I also got close to a few varial heels. I also struggled to manual across it. Then I sat for like 30 minutes until I could go to Saul’s. It was Eric, Saul and me. Eric was charging out of the gates. Almost lipslide around the shallow corner. Long grinds, front slashes, ride on grind transfers. I skated okay, had some fun 50s, front slashes, rock ‘n rolls. Saul blessed us with a couple of his quick carve grind runs, close to 5-0 to tail. I got tired real quick and headed home for dinner. Oh yeah, I had a new pair of 288S. Same color and everything.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones stf 54mm v3 99a, new balance numeric 288s navy, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Deja Vu. Same spot as yesterday. Except this time the average age was much higher. Except when all the scooter kids came I suppose. The crew was both Daves, Kevin, Eric, Sean, me. Warming up felt alright to me. Kevin and Sean were quick to do 50s, 5-0s, nosegrinds, tailslides. Dave L had never been there before. It’s such a good spot for him. He had some cool quick foot manuals, nose manuals and grinds right away. Eric was almost manualling the bottom bench, doing long 50s. Fuller arrived way after the rest of us and got to warm up while we were already going hard. I was mostly just doing crooks or front 50/5-0 and trying to working up the courage to nosegrind 180 the end. Dave L filmed Kevin for awhile try a really tech line and he didn’t get it. I had done a bunch of front 5-0s and they were finally feeling good when they stopped working and I did the ol’ Joe Hamilton instead. Which felt rad. I almost got the nosegrind 180 after one of them. Sean came somewhat close to back 5-0 the entire ledge. It was beyond incredible. Eric got some heelflips onto the rock. Him and Sean left. I had fun with crooks and front 50 through the little kink, a lame fakie nosegrind. Dave L got back 50 through the kink. He had some good lines to back tail too. Kevin and him wanted to leave, but Fuller and I were stuck in out battles. I had to do a treflip. He wanted the front 50 body varial. I got a really bad treflip. Dave slammed hard and then got a really good 50 body varial.

Then we went to the nearby wallride spot. Dave L had a cool nose manual 180 around the pole. I had some kickflips up the curb and bad wallie nollies. Fuller had some amazing wallride nollies and wallrides. Kevin got the wallride. Then they both got lines on film. Kevin’s was halfcab up, wallride to fakie, switch front shove off the curb. Dave got front 180 up, fakie thruster, nollie back 180 off. Good work boys.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones stf 54mm v3 99a, new balance numeric 288s navy, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a night of trying to sleep through fireworks I went to the dog park on a warm morning. I had the park to myself for almost a couple hours. It went alright. I finally got back up on the second step ledge. The one ‘new’ trick I did was a nollie front 5-0 on a little ledge just kinda messing around. Flip tricks weren’t working at all, definitely have noticed some difficulty with the larger wheels. I did more stuff I’m embarrassed by when other people around like just trying to ollie onto ledges and stuff. Back 50s were hard as well even on the little ledge. I committed to an ollie over a cinder block ledge, but then the shadows started messing with me. Near the end I just wanted to get the ‘tre a day’ out of the way, but they weren’t working at all. So I resorted to nollie tre, but that took forever too. I was trying them after crooks on a cinder block ledge and some actually felt alright. But the nollie tre took like 30 minutes. It was so annoying, I was so close so many times. The one I landed I got real bad wheel bite and almost came off the board, but I was so desperate I held on.

After some food I met the Nullers at Red Hawk, aka the best spot ever. The crew was Riley (just shooting photos except for two 50s he did with a huge smile), Hayden, Peyton, Sean, Bo, Jack, Joe. Bo was quick to get out the camera so I skated for awhile. I got some front 50s, nollie front tails, noseslides, crooks, switch front noses. I filmed Jack get gnar for a bit. Bo was filming Sean and Hayden try to get tech, but it didn’t work out. Peyton jumped off a wall which was gnar. I started trying crooks bigspins for awhile. I would get really close. I landed on a crooks shove and turned it to fakie. In my head I thought maybe that was the bigspin, but judging by the response it clearly wasn’t. Don’t these people know I’m approaching 50 years old? Ha ha. Then I did some more filming and Sean ended up getting his line super good. Joe had some rad tricks too and a good line. We went to a nearby wallride spot. I barely got a wallie/nollie, Sean and Hayden had some good ones. Jack had a cool manual, I think Hayden did nose manual around the pole too.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones stf 54mm v3 99a, new balance numeric 288s navy, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10 I was good when I was warmed up, but oh so sore after sitting or filming for a bit)

After slacking all morning I went to Safeway for a bit to warm up and get my treflip before going to Darin’s ramp. I was even less motivated than I imagined when I got there. The spot is a little different now, there is a dumpster so people have waxed up the next section to the east. It’s actually a better ledge, less angle. But the backside run up kinda stinks. Oh well, I did a bunch of slow no-pop noseslide variations to get warmed up. Eventually got some 50s both ways and intentional front 5-0s. Nollie flips were feeling really close. I would do them after backside tricks. Frontside I tried tailslide then treflip until technically I got it. It was maybe the most questionable treflip I’ve done in this two week span of ‘a tre a day’. But with how tired I was I counted it. Actually the tailslide was pretty bogus too, but at least that one is rare for me and a couple actually slid. I tried quite a few front shove back 50s and got remotely close, but never got both feet on.

Then I went to Darin’s and it was a rad chill session with only a few people I knew. Kevein, Carleigh, Margaret and Darin. Kevin was absolutely destroying it. Smiths both ways, tails, lips, ollies, 5-0s to fakie, switch disasters, the list goes on. Darin looked good on his ramp. He had long back 50s to fakie, feebles to fakie, switch disaster, switch 50, was trying blunts. Margaret has rad layback 5-0s that she never quite landed, lots of back 50s. Carleigh was doing frontside and backside ollies. I’ve never seen here do those on transition before. Also feeble fakie, front rock, back 50s. I started really slow and the taller wheels were messing with me. Near the end I was finally remembering what it’s like to skate a ramp and was bummed it started raining. About the only tricks I was happy with were fakie back smith to fakie and front rock. Back 50s are of course always fun too. I wish we wouldn’t have gotten rained out.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones stf 54mm v3 99a, new balance numeric 288s navy, no insoles)
(pain level 4/10 my knees did not enjoy running up /down the ramp)

After a long drive from Steamboat and some chilling at home I ended up at Southern Hills on a warm evening. I had put some new wheels on. I think the old 54mms proved they help me get up on things, but the wide ones were hard to flip. So I am trying some narrow 54s. STF 99a V3. They felt good on the disintegrating concrete at Southern Hills. I haven’t been there for awhile, there were pebbles everywhere, but the benches were in good shape as was the step. I did what I always do there, line things out. First one was pop shove, front 50 the step, noseslide to fakie a bench. Then kickflip, back 50 the step, front nose to fakie a bench. Fakie flip on flat, switch 180 to front 50 the step, crooks the bench. Ollie up the two, no comply 180 into the handicap ramp, switch noseslide a bench. Then the line that darn near killed me. Ollie up the two, kickflip into the handicap ramp, front 50 a bench. To my surprise I got most of the ollies up the two. It felt great, like the taller wheels were a cheat code or something. I was able to flip them too. I would try flippers on the way back or at the start of lines. Got first try halfcab flip, treflip in under 10 tries, super close to nollie flips. I would get into a few front 50s, but not land them. I was so tired I guess from the drive. Anyway, I would eventually land the line and it felt awesome. Like really awesome. I know it’s just a front 50 on a normal size ledge, but that is a battle for me these days. I wanted to also try a line of halfcab noseslide, frontside flip, switch crook on the step, crook the bench, but I couldnt get the halfcab noseslide. I hucked a few front heels that were really close and felt good. I got a little switch crook to forward followed by crook on a bench and it made me feel good so I left on that note. Fun motivated session even if I was overly tired for some reason.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones stf 54mm v3 99a, new balance numeric 288s navy, no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Woke up early and the kids were still sleeping so I went skating. I arrived at a park I’ve never skated before on a crisp morning that would warm quickly. My bushings seemed frozen from being in the car overnight and never really loosened up. There were two people skating. One quiet girl mostly chilling in the bowl. And this younger dude fully charging like it was his last day to skate on earth. It was kinda awesome and inspiring. He was piling up cones, popping over 4 at a time from flat, ollieing out to manual on the bump to ledge (a typical feature by Team Pain that is way bigger than it should be). The park felt way smaller than I thought it would. Especially with hyper young guy in effect. He was pretty nice and left after about 30 minutes. I had the park to myself for awhile and kinda stuck in a rut of axle stall the parking block then flyout treflip fail. I tried so many times, I couldn’t do it. I did a few front tails on the short elevator ledge that felt cool even if I didn’t slide to start the line. I eventually gave up, tried several on flat, still couldn’t do one, couldn’t nollie tre either. I guess the bigger wheels were taking their toll, but I could not do one to save my life. I started to get really mad. I was able to ollie onto the tall ledge from flat as the one saving grace of the session. I couldn’t even do a front tail on the parking block. The little 3 foot qp would normally be pretty fun I suppose, but in the early sun it had a nasty shadow/glare that messed with me. After awhile a kid and has dad showed up. They were chill. The kid really liked how the park was basically just a flyout park. I continued to try treflip after treflip not really enjoying myself until I finally landed one. It was a relief, but not fun. Oh well, only another week of ‘a tre a day’.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, bones stf 83b 54mm v5, new balance numeric 288s navy, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a hot morning I met up with Sean and then Fuller around 10:30. I was way more sore than I thought I’d be and even slightly burnt out from so much skating the day before. I had put some old 54mm bones on since I was disappointed in not being able to ollie up the ledge in Manitou. It did seem to make things seem shorter, but I was so tired it was a bad time to gauge it. Sean was ripping. Fakie/nollie nosegrinds flying, back 180 the jersey barrier, 5-0s the two step ledge. I basically did nothing other then some slow front 50s and try treflip or nollie treflip until I finally landed a bad treflip. Dave was crushing fast slappy feebles on the metal beam, no complies over a parking block, boardslides to fakie the line of parking blocks. Also back 50s, front 50s and maybe a front nosegrind or two. We played a game of SKATE at the end that was pretty fun and was over pretty quickly. Sean won with fakie 3 shove and Dave and I tried a few until we both got them.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, bones stf 83b 54mm v5, new balance numeric 288s navy, no insoles)
(pain level 4/10 soreness and arthritis pain)

Bernie and I headed to Woodland via 285 on a long drive that neither of us had done before. We arrived at the park about 20 minutes or so before Dave L would show up. There would be waves of little kids treating the skatepark as a playground, but for the most part we had it all to ourselves. Warming up went okay, I felt a little rusty from a day off (ha ha). We had some warm ups of mostly 50s on the various little perfect ledges. Seriously, why is Team Pain incapable of such simple ledges? This park was even better in person. Although I had a terrible slam on a front nosegrind 180 attempt where I came very close to rolling my ankle badly. Luckily I was okay (until the next day when I would realize my neck was super messed up). Bernie was quickly on the manual tip. Dave L also casually manualled and nose manualled. I got a b/s flip over the hip in a few tries. Bernie took a bit to get one and he said it was the first time he’s been frustrated while skating again. Dave took a bit to get kickflip over the f/s hip, those are so hard. I took way too long to get a bad treflip flyout. I got the line in the vid pretty quick. Actually, I did several b/s flips, but with too much toe drag. I had hucked some 270 heels over the hip too and wasn’t close. Dave had some nice lines throughout the park when the kids weren’t around. Bernie did both of the manuals in the clip pretty quick. He couldn’t quite get halfcab nose manual back 180 out though.

After hitting up Mountainside skateshop we ended up at the Manitou Springs skatepark. Wow, what a weird and mostly terrible skatepark. The coping is nonexistent in places, you can’t tell if there are banks or quarterpipes. It was super hot, but we skated for about an hour. I did one kickflip on one of the big main banks. That’s about the only trick I did even though it seems like I tried more. Bernie didn’t quite get hardflip on the same bank. Dave chilled a bit and cruised his stylee ollies around. The scene there was something out of a movie. Kids on vacation, old school young dude playing Blink 182, mountain man with trial shoes. It was fun.

Then we went to the high school since Ryan suggested there was something the dudes wax up. We were really surprised to find such an absolutely perfect ledge. I was really sore/tired at that time and even nosesliding it seemed impossible at the start. I would only go on to get noseslide, noseslide to fakie and crooks. Bernie would do front 50 and front tail I think. Dave had some good front 50s, front noseslides and a killer line. Ollie up the lower bench, boardslide to fakie, switch 180 off. He also back 50’d the 2nd level. Bernie manualled it. I posed some gap to noseslides. I needed the motivation of ollieing up the ledge to commit and unfortunately that was a little too hard for me. I only got up it once. I committed and proved to myself that I could do it, but I didn’t land it. I had done a few flippers in between tries. Super fun day even if I didn’t get one of the gnarliest tricks I’ve tried (ha).

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 101a 51mm radial slims, new balance numeric 288s navy, no insoles)
(pain level 4/10 some arthritis pain)