There was some cloud cover so Rob and I rolled into dog park at the same time, right before the clouds would disappear. It was hot. My skating was not. Ha, I started on an 8.3, but didn’t last too long on it. Did a kickflip then fakie bigflip first try on the ol’ 8.25 again. Then mostly didn’t have much drive and didn’t do anything. Had an okay crook and a couple slow nose manuals on the curb. Rob ripped it though. Nose manuals, almost nose manual 180, nollie front lip, front boards, back 50 combos.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder hollow 148 venom 88a bushings, spitfire 52mm classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 440high b/w size 12)
(pain level 4/10)

Lazy day didn’t really want to skate, but did want to meet up with Nullers. Sean and I met up at dog park on a cool and cloudy day. I had nothing. Literally no drive or energy. Could barely kickflip, got one halfcab flip and came close to a fakie 50 creepy out. Sean ripped it. Garret showed and then ripped it. Those two are amazing. Then we met up with Jack who also ripped it at the ditch spot.

Then we went to a cali grind spot. Jack had the best 5-0 slam in front of a family. I wussed out on using any speed whatsoever. Garrett got a hammer. It was great seeing the dudes and having a weekend again. Then I watched the Avs win with my son. Fun day.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder hollow 148 venom 88a bushings, spitfire 52mm classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 272 burgundy size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a nice morning I picked up Rob and Dave and we went to Greeley Peak View park where Dave wanted to celebrate his last day of 53. No one complained because this park is awesome. Less is more. Right out of the gate Dave had the fire. He didn’t stop and would be the last one skating some 3 or 4 hours later when the sun had come out. These clips are only a fraction of what he did. At one point we were all sitting except for Mike and Dave and he did a line of boardslide to fakie the ledge, fakie shove on the qp and then front crooks pop out on the ledge. Several long grinds on the diamond cut coping frontside or backside. He also got a varial flip on the bank, some great tailslides on the bank, 540 bertermanns, and that front board transfer ender was beyond insane. HBD Dave, you seriously shred. Cass did some tricks over the hip super casually before sitting down, bigspin, hardflip, kickflip, some frontside ollies on the qp. Kevin shredded like he does. Nollie front nosegrinds, switch front nosegrind 180s all easy, nollie flips, front smith the diamond cut, wallrides, wallies, couldn’t quite get the elusive kick back tail. I skated like dookie. Couldn’t even get a kickflip to fakie on the bank. I came remotely close to nose manual the ledge. I mean I never got into it, but it did feel close and I think if I would have gotten in I would have had it. Anyway I could barely front 50 it, but managed to get one good one. Rob styled out some wallrides, front 5-0s on the diamond cut, nose manuals the pad, kickflip on the bank, proper berts, bean plant the hip, much more that I’m missing. Mike ripped it. Wallrides, boardslides to fakie, switch no comply pole jam, slappies. Noah and Heroki showed and put on a demo. Wow those two are so good. It was a really fun day. Then we did some dinner after without the birthday boy that was quite yummy.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder hollow 148 venom 88a bushings, spitfire 52mm classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 272 burgundy size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a really nice night I met up with Will. We had said dog park, but he was at an almost empty Valmont so we rolled with it and ended up staying there. We started slow, did the rainbow a few times before it got sticky and I could no longer do it. I had a couple kickflips on the bank and also some on the hump almost followed by halfcab flip on the hip. Will quickly did the ollie from high to low on the hip. I was working on the dump truck transfer when Ric showed up. Shortly after Eric did too and it turns out some of the other people there were the Venom dudes. It was a fun session. Ric was shredding, making little kid noises, having fun. Eric was charging and had some crowd pleasers. Will took a bit to get the kickflip, but it was rad. Ric ended it with the lipslide out of the park. Fun night.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder hollow 148 venom 88a bushings, spitfire 52mm classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 272 burgundy size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After work, after dinner I went out for some BATB inspired flatground. I guess it was mostly just Jamie Griffin inspired. I started out trying some caspers which felt close, then went on to try normal tricks for quite some time. And I mean try, because I sure didn’t land much. I think in over an hour I only landed kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, f/s halfcab flip and b/s flip. I was close on heelflips, f/s halfcab heel and somewhat close to back heel which I’ve never done before. Then I settled in on caspers again in hopes of landing it and giving it to Dave. I did feel really close initially, but they kind of drifted away and then I did that whatever flip. Still felt cool to huck. I tried to end it on a 3 shove which turns out I had already given to Dave. That’s when you know a game of SKATE has gone on too long. I never got a clean one, but landed on several. Felt good to skate hard even if I didn’t land much.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder hollow 148 venom 88a bushings, spitfire 52mm classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 272 burgundy size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

So the last couple days I was pretty run down. I thought I felt better, but as soon as I set my board down I could tell I wasn’t feeling good. The crew was rad. Dave, Rob, Jake, Kevin, Nick. We started at dog park. I had nothing and it’s been too long since we skated for me to remember much. It wasn’t too crowded, but a lot more people skating than normal because of GSD. After a while we went over to Valmont park. I did a few random things before settling in on the treflip which I wouldn’t land until Rob,kevin and Nick had already left. But man it felt good. Kevin had some really good lines. Rob got the rainbow. Nick came close to hardflips on the bank. Jake had to chill to avoid pain. Dave’s tail 270 was amazing. He had some good lines too.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder hollow 148 venom 88a bushings, spitfire 51mm classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 272 burgundy size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a really nice morning I went to dog park somewhat early and met up with Rob. It was cool because there was an old guy crew there and they were most likely older than us. And they were charging. Jack B was there and it was cool seeing him again. I had changed my setup. No surprise there. Well, mostly just trucks from venture highs to thunder hollows. And it felt magical to be honest. My kickflips felt the best they have in a while. Probably since the last time I skated Thunders ha ha. I still struggled with some halfcab flips and couldn’t halfcab noseslide, but other then that things were decent. I had some decent front slappies, a terrible back 50 on the taller pad (but I was just happy to actually do a back 50), some crooks and noseslides on the metal bench, a noseslide tab on the table and ended with a front 50 down to front 50 on the stacked cinder block pads as they are being repaired. Rob was ripping. Saw front board pop out and nollie front lip the taller pad, manuals, nose manuals, noseslides, halfcab noseslides, boardslides, halfcab 50, back 50 no comply out. Kevin and Nick had shown. Kevin went right into shredding. Nose manual the table to quick wallie was a banger. As well as nollie front nosegrind to 50 the double stack. I had to leave for work.

After working I ended up on campus. There was some event I didn’t know about and after seeing a bunch of tie-dye shirts I realized it was the Dead & Company concert. It didn’t really effect me skating the little yellow curb, but I didn’t have nearly as much energy and drive as I hoped. It turns out it was because I was getting sick, but I didn’t know it at the time. I kind of just hucked. Kickflip crooks and nollie front tail bigspin. In my opinion they both felt doable, but I doubt they actually looked close. I attempted to skate some more, but ended up being too tired so I went home.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder hollow 148 venom 88a bushings, spitfire 53mm classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 272 green size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a very early work meeting I busted out to Boulder park on a hot morning. I had a bit of anger to work out and even though I was sore and tired I skated with some urgency. It didn’t translate to good skating though. Flip tricks were hard other than a first try kickflip fakie over the hump. I had success popping up onto the bench, but not into grinds. Well, crooks were okay. Had a lucky first try front d on the qp. Ran out of juice then went back to work.

(setup 8.25 null burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate hollow hanger royal bushings, spitfire 52mm radial slim 101a, new balance numeric 272 green size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 5/10 needed more sleep to be less sore)

After a long day of work I went to the side of the school. I had gone back to 8.25 with venture highs and it felt not great. Did a few random tricks, then a couple kickflips before heading home.

(setup 8.25 null burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate hollow hanger royal bushings, spitfire 52mm radial slim 101a, new balance numeric 272 green size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After another long day of work around 5 I met up with Rob at dog park. The park was a little more crowded than normal for an afternoon, but still pretty dead. The two other crews managed to post up in area that really disrupted flow though. I had changed my setup. 8.3 with Royals. Initial take was I liked it. That quickly died after my first halfcab flip worked then I couldn’t land another one to save my life. I hucked a lot, didn’t land much and couldn’t get a halfcab noseslide on the metal bench which was really annoying. I did get another little noseslide on the Cali table, some fun slappy crooks, accidental 5-0s. Skated pretty hard, just didn’t land much of anything. Rob had a pretty good slam early on with front 50, but powered through. Manuals, back 50 back 180, front board pop outs, steezy wallrides on the barrier and a mega banger – Manual the pad to manual to boardslide on full metal jacket. Trick of the day. So sick.

(setup null 8.3 vhs, jessup ultragrip, royal 149 ultralights, 52mm spitfire f4 101a radial slim, new balance numeric 272 green size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)