After dinner I bailed on going to a crowded Lafayette (thanks for the report Garrett) and just went to the school to skate flat. The side of the school is lit alright, but not great. I warmed up with a few slappies that didn’t feel so great. I got the kickflip and fakie flip prereq then went in on an 11 tricks 11 tries list.

Halfcab flip- took like 6 tries to land one, but then I got like 4 more
fakie bigflip – Didn’t get one in 11 tries, but I mixed in a few with the next trick and got one in a few tries that felt really good.
Heelflip – Didn’t come easy, but landed one or two
Front heel – didn’t get close
Backside flip – took a few tries for a dumb tic tacy one
fakie varial flip – almost got it first try, then couldn’t get close again
Treflip – The lighting and shadow really messed with me on this one. Came remotely close, but never committed with both feet.
nollie tre – not even close
nollie flip – not even close
switch flip – not even close
switch heel – there was a couple that stayed under me but I never got my feet on it

Ugh right? I mean I tried a few tricks I can’t do, but I am really sick of not landing treflips. I hucked some random flippers in between tries. Got a few switch front shoves, kind of close to pop shove under flip.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder 151 hollow light, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, all washers on the outside of the wheels, new balance numeric 212 b/w/yellow size 12, nikesb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Running late after a tough night of not sleeping I met Jack, Hayden, Bo and Riley at a new manny pad spot in Loveland. Yes, I said Riley! And it ruled seeing him skate. He switch manualled it like it was nothing. Fakie shove manual, gave me some pointers on switch flips and switch heels. It was great seeing him. He had to take off and around then Joe joined us. I had skated the old guy spot in the other corner of the parking lot for a bit. There is a fun bank to ledge, but it does require ollieing up a curb. There is also a nearby ledge and 3 stair. I got a no comply to tail on the bank to ledge then ollied the 3 stair. It was a fun warm up. That place would be really fun to try a harder line. Then I skated with the crew. Jack was doing the sickest wallies on this rock to quick nose manual. Hayden was doing manual shove manual. Whoa. Bo was ruling it filming. Joe was doing pop shoves up the ledge, hardflips off. I started with some slow ollies up and posing treflips off. Then started realizing I should actually try it. Eventually I worked up the courage to go fast enough to ollie up, kickflip on flat then treflip off. Bo was kind enough to get me in the rotation. I kind of landed it. Well, I did land it. My hands may have been down, but it still felt rewarding. Actually it was rewarding to be skating hard. Maybe Sean is right about me not eating enough protein after all as I finally had energy. Jack got robbed on his trick. Oh yeah I had worn some old 212s. My favorite shoe. Seeing as how I’ve still had knee pain wearing cupsoles I tried and really liked the added boardfeel. I was in more pain after this though.

Next up we went to the old Loveland library where Jack tried a few gnarly gap to lipslides. I worked on my studly base tan taking photos. Next up was a crazy little electrical box that I was too sore and sketched to try. Bo gave kickflip a few goes, but didn’t put it down. Joe didn’t get the back 5-0 either. Jack got the classic one foot nosegrind. Hayden felt out a few tricks then put down a solid boardslide to fakie. Bo went for front 5-0 and got so incredibly robbed. It was nearly dark so we went and got the classic mexican post-skate meal. Good times with good dudes.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder 151 hollow light, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, all washers on the outside of the wheels, new balance numeric 212 b/w/yellow size 12, nikesb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10 felt good until I stopped skating)

Not feeling too good on a nice day I went to meet everyone at dog park at 11. I think almost everyone was already there when I arrived. Eric, Kevin, Rob, Bernie, Sean, Jake, Dave L. Eric was bringing the heat already. Lipslides, 5-0s and I saw a legit nosegrind. I was struggling early and fell on a ledge and acted like a baby and Rob called me out which kind of woke me up and got me out of my self hatred funk. It’s hard to remember what everyone was doing because there were so many people skating. Bernie had some nice controlled 5-0s and manuals. Rob was charging too. I saw halfcab noseslide the two step, front board the tall part of the weird obstacle, back 50 to boardslide Slow & Low. Sean ollied the manhole, fire hydrant and then the jersey barrier. Jake had some nice ollies then bluntslide curbhenge. Birthday boy Kevin was ripping his normal tricks. I think he was stuck on kick back tail. I struggled with back 50s on the tiny guy and instead got a few back 5-0s, wallies, got a line of front 180 the manhole fakie flip on flat then fakie nosegrind the cinder block ledge. I also tried a back 50 on a low ledge and got into 5-0 and was leaning in a way where shove out made sense and got it. That cheered me up some. Luzius was ripping and hiding in the corners it seemed. He can do the most casual front or back 180s over anything.

Then we was off to Crestview. We would lose Dave and Jake, but gain Jack. I was feeling oh so out of it I went and did a few nose stalls on a curved ledge around the back. I tried to skate the bench with Jack, Sean and Kevin, but I could barely even commit to the slowest of boardslides. It was so frustrating. Sean front lipped it. Kevin was back 50’ing it easy, doing boardslide pop over. Jack did boardslide pop over to manual shove out, Louie boardslide. I went and played on the manny pad with Bernie. Rob and Eric were chilling. Bernie did a fakie manual, I got nose manual. Bernie went for front 180 fakie manual, I tried kickflip manual. My kickflips up were decent for me, but I didn’t lock one into manual. Jack, Sean and Kevin joined us on the manny pad. Sean did an ollie over a cone to quick nose manual. Kevin had a good slam and came real close to switch flip manny. Jack came close to fakie tre nose manual. Jack and Bernie entertained us by manualling the whole sidewalk and parking lot.

After chilling we went to the nearby bike path snowboard jump. It was the perfect spot to chill and catch some phat air. Sean’s ollies were phenomenal. Jack did some other tricks too like impossible, almost kickflip under flip or something. Kevin charged some back 180s but couldn’t give us a switch Gish. I took too many tries for a kickflp and then even more tries to not land a 360 flip. Oh well, it’s fun just rolling down that bike path. It was funny when some Square State kids recognized Sean and Jack. Then it was dinner time. Yum.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder 151 hollow light, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, all washers on the outside of the wheels, es accel slims tricolor grey size 12, thin rubbery adidas insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

So I had gotten some new trucks at 303. Some Thunder 151s. I meant to get some 149s, but they didn’t have them and well I wanted something different. I have to admit to myself that I like bigger boards, but the bigger Ventures require lot of heft to pop them. I wanted a lower and lighter bigger truck for 8.3 or 8.5. So I put them on an almost new 8.3 I had in my garage. I arrived to an almost empty Broomfield park. I started on the quartapotty and it was really fun. Also a few basics on the blue ledge. My setup was feeling great with the exception of flip tricks, but I kind of blame these Es Accel slims for that. Sean showed. We started with a game of SKATE. He pink slipped me again. I had the excuse of new trucks. I mean even though it’s my own fault it’s a decent excuse right? I did get a defensive f/s halfcab heel, but other then that it wasn’t so good. Then we mostly skated the black ledge. Sean methodically went through his routine landing so many tricks first try. 5-0 180s, nosegrind 180s, tailslides, nollie/fakie 5-0s and nosegrinds. I had more pop than normal and was able to 50 the ledge several times. It was fun. Got one shove out, front 180 out, didn’t do any accidental 5-0s. Had halfcab noseslide and noticed the lack of the baseplate Thunder problem. Did some okay crooks, switch front noseslides. After a while I got really tired and chilled. Sean did a line first try of nollie back nosegrind 180 then fakie back 5-0 180. Wow. Then we played a game of SKATE and I finally got a letter on him. Yes, only one letter. Ha ha. And I forget which trick it was on. He was on fire and landed tricks like nollie back heel in one or two tries. After the game I tried treflips until I got a super bad one, got a halfcab flip and could not get fakie bigflip. Sean did the tricks above in a few tries. Man he was ripping.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder 151 hollow light, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, all washers on the outside of the wheels, es accel slims tricolor grey size 12, thin rubbery adidas insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After work Jake and I cruised over behind the school to do some flatground. Ollie’s friend Alex was there trying varial heels. We were hyped to see him and after a brief warm up we asked if he wanted to join us in a game of SKATE. I had tried some old 868s to try and reduce pain. They did reduce knee pain, but I didn’t really like them much and they were really hard to get used to. So I got a letter on fakie flip. Alex had to go to work but left us with a varial heel which we both missed. I think I got a letter on halfcab flip too. And couldn’t get a fakie bigflip. I matched Jakes varial flip, got a letter on frontside flip. I got him with heelflip. f/s halfcab heel, I think a f/s halfcab flip and something else. We were both at SKAT so the treflip battle was on. And neither of us could get one. Jake landed on a few at least. I’d say we were about 0-50 before Jake had to leave. I sat for awhile and reflected on how bummed it made me to not be able to treflip, halfcab flip or fakie bigflip. So then I went to 303 to get something new ..

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, venom 91a bushings with roadside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 868 grey size 12, no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Arrived at a very crowded dog park on a nice smokey day. Dave was already there. I was impressed he wanted to stay there. There were so many high school kids, but somehow it wasn’t too bad. That’s the advantage of a street park, there is space for lots of people to skate. I had put thinner insoles into the Accel Slims, I would end up hating it, but still managed to skate. Warming up was fine cruising around getting snaked and doing basics. Dave and I stuck to the slow and low in the back area for awhile. Dave was trying nosegrinds both ways, but never quite got one. We both tried fakie 50 b/s halfcab and came up short. There was this headphone wifebeater wearing dude doing laps on wedgy who was quite annoying. He wouldn’t wait and was clearly only at the park for himself (thanks Feedback TS). I took too long to get a rock flip off the kicker. Managed a nollie back tail to fakie, but still not close to the shove out. Flip tricks weren’t great. I came close to nollie tre, but struggled with everything else. I tried some lines. Back 5-0 the little guy, ollie Wallies World, kick front board Curb Henge. I never got any of the tricks. Ha. Going the other way was trying wallie then a flatground trick and never landing flatground. Then started trying either noseslide to fakie or switch front nose followed by halfcab noseslide 270 out. Got a couple that felt closer, but still not legit. Dave tried too and had similar results. I hucked halfcab heel noseslide a few times. It felt doable and fun to huck. Didn’t struggle as bad at slow 50s on the cinderblock ledge and got one with a shove out. I tried noseslide 270 shoves out on the Two Step and got close, but failed. It really wore me out and a couple bails hurt so I chilled and watched Dave. He had a sick line with a varial flip, long front board on Full Metal Jacket. He did more, but I forget right now. He ended with a solid front 50 or two on the Two Step. Ripping! Pretty fun session.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, venom 91a bushings with roadside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, 3 washers inside each axle, es accel slims tricolor grey size 12, thin xero insoles)
(pain level 5/10 these shoes hurt)