On a pretty nice night I went to campus for the first time in months. I was armed with high top shoes in hopes that maybe that is what it would take to help the achilles. It may have helped, but we’ll see in the long run. I struggled through a couple slappy crooks then went down the little sidewalk towards the underpass. It was crazy skating even a little hill, it’s been too long. Add in lots of gravel from winter and it was a little scary. I ended up at the new business area and randomly chose to warm up on a little median doing various nose/tail stall variations that didn’t involve popping. It was pretty fun, I tried to front 270 out of a few ‘nollie’ front tails and they felt pretty doable. I did a couple that didn’t count at all, but still felt fun. I started getting kickflips and fakie flips. Oh yeah, I had put high trucks on to make things weird. Then I went in on trying to front 180 the little median. The other side was a slight drop into a slight bank. I would never get it. I committed a few times, but had no pop. It was a bummer, but luckily I had gotten a couple basic flippers to ease the pain. I went around the corner to the brightly lit tall wood benches and man they felt tall. I only got noseslide barely. Then I tried a line of switch 180, boardslide the long curb, ollie a manhole, front nose a bench. The front nose was the worst one ever done. The manhole ollies were terrible too. I was leaving when I noticed some tables had been cleared from a concrete ledge which looked inviting. Did a line of front 180 up a little step, switch back 180 on flat, noseslide to fakie. So I skated pretty terrible, but being out in the streets felt good so it was mostly fun.

(setup null 8″ burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollow highs bones medium bushings, boardycakes 49.99mm round ups 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 440 high b/w size 12)
(pain level 3/10)

My achilles was hurting and the motivation was low so Kevin and I went to the tennis court DIY on a warm and breezy day. I say breezy, but really it was either calm or very windy. Dave would meet up shortly, Sean after awhile. I wore cupsoles, they felt good, I had less pain. I started alright, had some of my basic dork tricks and some harder ones like first try fakie bigflip. Kevin rattled off 50s and nosegrinds like it was nothing. I would go on to not skate very well or consistent. It’s hard to skate when even pushing hurts. I would get up on a slow front 50, some good feeling crooks, halfcab noseslides, remotely close to kick back 50, halfcab flips, still couldn’t get a heelflip and didn’t get a treflip. Kevin had some good nollie nosegrinds, switch nosegrind 180s, close to nollie nosegrind shove, switch flips over the parking block. Dave had slappy crooks transfer, 6 trick line starting on the parking block, some shoves, front nose, nollie 180, halfcab boardslide 270 transfer the parking block. Ended strong with kickflips and switch crooks and nose manual. Sean came and we started a timer waiting to see how long before he would ollie the tennis net. Unfortunately he needed some coaxing to do it so we kinda lost all bets. But man Sean is so fun to watch skate. Nosegrinds right away, the back nosegrind 180 out was so sick. His pop is something else. Front 5-0 shove, steezy flilppers, etc. After Kevin and I went to 303 and I got some high tops for skating. Hoping that helps reduce some achilles pain. Certainly at least when my board hits it sometimes.

(setup null 8″ burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows bones medium bushings, boardycakes 49.99mm round ups 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 288s grey size 11.5)
(pain level 4/10 achilles)

On a crisp morning I met Cass and Kevin at the newly opened Thornton park. There was almost no one there, a little ice still in the shady areas and lots of sun. Warming up was initially really hard as it felt very cold. Cass and Kevin talked camera while I got going. Had a fun line of a kickflip on a bank then a 180 out of a bank, switch noseslide the little ledge, turn around crooks. Then we all mostly skated the mellow hip. We would line it out. Cass and Kevin were doing tricks on the flat bar, I would hit the ledge. Cass had a nice back bigspin after front board. Kevin went in on crooks the flat bar, nollie front 180 the a-frame, halfcab flip the hip. The halfcab flip took him a long time surprisingly. I had gotten crooks the little ledge then b/s flip quickly. Then halfcab nose, front 180 the a-frame, halfcab flip the hip. Lastly switch front nose the ledge then fakie bigflip the hip. Posed a few others over the hip, but couldn’t get b/s 360 kickflip or bigflip. I couldn’t front 50 the little ledge though, that was a bummer. I hurt my achilles a little pushing to get back up the bank. There was some other stuff, Kevin was shredding for sure. Cass did a primo slide. So awesome. We attempted to skate some street at the nearby Northglenn High, but none of us were feeling it and I was oh so sore. It’s a fun park. Especially when it’s not crowded.

(setup null 8″ burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows bones medium bushings, boardycakes 49.99mm round ups 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 half fp elite insole)
(pain level 5/10 vulc cold pain)

Kinda nice night I had setup a new complete. Ugh. Yes. 8″ venture lows and 50mm wheels. Went to the curb to warm up, it didn’t feel great. Left after a few basics that weren’t good. Behind the school I got some warm up lines quickly like 180 then fakie shoves. Pop shove took a few tries, but kickflip felt good. Fakie flips felt great too, but halfcab flips took a bit. I skated for a little over 30 minutes and would get kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, fakie big flip and b/s flip. Still couldn’t get heelflip. Hucked some other tricks like switch flips which were close. Near the end I was tired and hucked a couple kickflips and landed them way easier than I thought. Made me happy to try flippers on a smaller board again.

(setup null 8″ burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows bones medium bushings, boardycakes 49.99mm round ups 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 half fp elite insole)
(pain level 3/10)

On a warm, but breezy night I went to Will’s in Frederic to skate his ramp for the first time. Dave would join after awhile. It’s mellow. Very mellow compared to Rampy, smaller coping. Took me awhile to get used to it. I would get some basics when my king pin didn’t hang me up. Will quickly showed it’s his ramp. Dave warms up so cool. Below coping kickturns and fakie kickturns. As we got going Will instituted a ‘mandatory flatground’ when you ended up in the middle of the ramp. Will quickly got stationary varial flip, treflip, switch flip, front heel. Dang! Dave would get a few varial flips. I would get kickflip and whatever weird varial flip body varial treflip attempt I randomly do sometimes. I was mad I couldn’t get a treflip. Dave would manual the deck, fakie front pivots, lots of Dave ripping. I got a few front disasters, maybe one or two that slid, front 50s, axle stalls to fakie, fakie pivots, etc. Will had some blunt to rock fakie, fakie front smith to fakie, pivot and feeble fakies, etc. It was a really fun session.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, 5.2 venture lows bpmes med bushings, 1/16 riser, 51mm f4 101a spitfire classic shape 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 half fp elite insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a surprisingly nice night I went to dog park after dinner and it was vacant for the whole time I skated. I had switched to 272 shoes, with an insole only in the front and I really liked it. It’s been too long since I skated to remember much about this session. I just know that I started with some of the basics then tried to take advantage of no one else being there. I haven’t 50’d the cement benches since my achilles injury. And that would remain true unfortunately but I had some fun lines trying to ollie a parking block going fast to set me up for it. I posed other taller ollies, got a sketchy nose manual, posed nosegrinds, got a back 50 back 180 out on the curb, a couple flippers. Skated hard, enjoyed having the place to myself, looking forward to not totally sucking again some day in my life

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, 5.2 venture lows bpmes med bushings, 1/16 riser, 51mm f4 101a spitfire classic shape 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 half fp elite insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a sketchy drive down from the mountains I went to go skate before it got dark. It was breezy and 65 degrees when I left my house. I wanted to skate some street and something I haven’t in awhile or even a new spot. First I went to Southern Hills, but there was a school event. Then I went to Bear Creek which also had an event. I was randomly going to park in a different place so drove up Baseline and randomly saw a kid skating in a tennis court and noticed it had a ledge. Whoa! So I pulled in to check it out and skate. It turns out I had seen this spot on the gram, but didn’t think it was in Boulder. There was a young kid skating. I tried a slappy crook on a really good parking block and bailed, then he skated across the court to try slappy crooks. It was funny, but turns out he was just learning them. He never quite got it and I never quite got my truck pinched into slappy front crooks. I was wearing skate shoes for the first time in awhile. NB# 288S. They felt clumsy, but did flick better. The tennis court finish is weird and slows your roll quickly. I did not skate very well, but at the same time did get a few basics. Part of this was because the clouds moved in and the temperature was dropping like crazy, but most of it is me. I took a few tries to get a nose manual, ollie onto the taller ledge, really bad and slow front 50. Got a few halfcab flip, fakie flips, I felt better on my board even though I didn’t land much. The 288s didn’t seem as shock absorbing as the Splays. I had a few crooks, noseslides, switch noseslides, halfcab noseslide. Remotely close to noseslide 270 shove. Hucked manual shove out which was remotely close too. When I finished skating it was 31 degrees. That’s a 34 degree drop in less than two hours. Insane. Stoked to find this spot. Hope i start skating better soon.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, 5.2 venture lows venom 91a bushings, 1/16 riser, 51mm f4 101a spitfire classic shape 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 288s size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Up pretty early and needing to go to my moms in Buena Vista I setup a skate date at Golden. Jake, Kevin, Cass. Jake brought a new Dave. Ted was randomly there. Jaixon from Bluecar met up, but didn’t skate. Out of the gates I felt very off on my board, mostly because I had hit the wall with the Splay shoes as skate shoes. Jake on the other hand was shredding right away as was Kevin. In different ways, but still shredding. Jake got a run of front rock a steep little qp, ollie up the kicker, f/s flip the bank. Kevin did something then ollie up then nollie f/s flip. Dave had impossibles to fakie on the banks every time. Cass did a perfect hardflip on flat after saying he had lost them. I had some crooks on the tall ledge, but couldn’t get the noseslide after. I had to go pretty quickly to get up to the mountains in time.

After spending way too long at AT&T helping my mom buy a new phone I went to the Salida park in the remaining sunlight. There was a couple people that could ride skateboards, but mostly kids playing with scooters with no idea that skaters were trying tricks. Argh. I posed some tricks, slid out fierce on the slippery concrete after a boardslide, landed my silly switch front nose first try. It took me way too many tries to get a kickflip over the perfect hip and the one I got felt like a miracle. Totally over the Splays. I got a noseslide on the tall bump to ledge. Ended with a fun line of boneless over the a-frame rail then kickflip to fakie the mellow bank. Man that park is slippery. Not the best park, not the worst. Didn’t hit the bowls at all.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, 5.2 venture lows venom 91a bushings, 1/16 riser, 51mm f4 101a spitfire classic shape 2 washers inside, splay freestyle grey size 12 nb# custom insoles)
(pain level 6/10 these barefoot shoes are not meant for skating)

After work I went behind the school since it was already dark and there is a section that’s lit okay. I had put together an 8.25 with venture 5.2 lows again because, well, I hate how heavy even the hollow Indy mids are. I attempted a couple slappies, but they didn’t really work so I just went back to the school. I did some warm ups then went into sucking. I definitely hit a wall with skating in the Splay shoes. The flick is just so inconsistent. I did some kickflips and stuff, took forever to get a fakie flip. Could not for the life of me do a heelflip. It was miserable. At one point I had a fakie flip followed by a halfcab flip as my only bright spot. Which is such a bummer considering how those tricks didn’t used to feel like highlights, just warm ups. I landed on a few heelflips, but never rolled away. I hucked some fakie and switch varial flips. Got a b/s flip and fakie bigflip. Close to a few others, but yeah, that’s it. 1 hour and only 4 flip tricks. Somehow I left not wanting so shoot myself, but rather was motivated to try skate flatground more.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, 5.2 venture lows venom 91a bushings, 1/16 riser, 52mm f4 99a spitfire classic shape 2 washers inside, splay freestyle grey size 12 nb# custom insoles)
(pain level 4/10 these barefoot shoes are not meant for skating)

On a nice night I went out to Frederick for the first time in months to meet Dave and Garrett. I had a new Christmas Complete. And I hated it the entire time. I had mostly enjoyed my last stint on Indy mids, but they were too heavy. I thought maybe the hollow version would help. Nope, they felt no lighter. Add in a new 8.3 deck and 52mm Spitfire classic shapes. Patrick was there too happy to skate after his knee injury. We were in the back mellow bank/curb area for awhile. Dave did amazing front nose to fakie then fakie tail. He also started with some crazy step off trick on the bank that I couldn’t grasp, but Garrett got second try. I took too many tries to get a kickflip fakie then couldn’t quite get a front heel. Garrett did cool fakie tre out of the bank then fakie flip into the next one. Then it was all over for awhile. I was able to push pretty well so that was nice. I couldn’t quite get up the taller ledge, struggled to noseslide anything, flip tricks were impossible. Ugh. Dave and I did the 180 then switch front noses. Garrett did the manual tricks like it was nothing. Dave did switch front shove on the bank after a cool wallride to fakie. I dragged a lot of heel on a b/s flip on the attempt in between posing hardflip variations. Eventually we all got tired and called it a night.

(setup null smoke valley 8.3, jessup ultragrip, indy hollow mids, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic shape, splay freestyle shoes size 12 custom thin nb# abzorb insole and naboso activation insoles)
(pain level 2/10)