Woke up early with the late shift at work so I went to dog park. It was still pretty cold out before 8am when I got there and there was some iced over puddles. It was mostly dry though and would warm up quickly (unlike me). I was more sore than I had anticipated and doing anything involving an ollie seemed unrealistic at first. I haven’t been there in a few weeks and things were quite different. I had some fun with the ‘nollie’ tails, boardslides, ‘slappy’ noseslides then started to try 50s on the long narrow pad. Frontside were easy, backside took a bit. I battled front 50 on one of the wood ledge for a bit. It took me a bit to commit to ollieing that high, but once I did I had some real nice slow front 50s. I did have a line all picked out though. Front 50, back 50 the old tiny pad, 180 flip, halfcab noseslide the cinder block ledge then front 50 the new narrow bench. I got a first try frontside flip (well, it was one of those kickflip late spins on the ground), but never got another f/s flip and bailed b/s flips too. Then I started doing a different line. Crook the new lower bench, ollie over wallies world, ollie a parking block, kick back 50 on the weird pad, ollie the new metal ledge. Never go the kick back 50, but I was hyped I ollied the wallie so many times. I had done halfcab flip and fakie bigflip. Last thing I tried was a line of noseslide the new bench, front 50 the cinder block ledge, treflip on flat. My front 50s were bad as the approach was hard after the noseslide, but I would get the line. The treflip wasn’t great, but it was time to go to work.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 50mm classic shape 99a, new balance numeric foy 306 navy size 12, thin es insoles)
(pain level 6/10 super sore)

After a busy week of work I met up with Dave and then Sean at a crowded dog park. The wind made the temp in the upper 30s feel really cold. Dave was there first, I rolled in to him doing a first try front blunt on a parking block. Then he went on to do a bunch of them really fast and good. My right knee was hurting, but Dave’s energy hyped me up and I joined him in the parking block lane. I even got a slow front blunt that felt pretty good. I had a new deck. It felt huge, but I think it was partially that I had put harder bushing in. Kickflips were a major struggle, ugh. Sean would join too, tired from a busy week of work. We tried the little angle iron bonk, tiny pad/ledge, parking block, mountain launch ramp. I think Dave was the only one to get all 4 without pushing. The only thing I did I was happy with was a front 180 off the little launcher which I hadn’t done before. Sean said he was tired and sucking then did a front nosegrind on the tall metal bench followed with back nosegrind 180. Yeah, totally sucking. He also ollied the hydrant to quick wallie. Dave and I battled kickflips to fakie on the grey wedge for a bit. They didn’t come easy for either of us. Dave would get two of them at least. I was happy when I finally got one. Then we were kind of all skating different stuff for awhile. I tried switch noseslide kickflip out for a bit and didn’t get close. Dave left. Sean was chilling and made the mistake of pointing the camera at me as the wind and darkness set in and the cold was almost unbearable. I tried fakie 50 fakie flip out which I’ve never done before. I got close on a lot of them, although i did come to a stop on most. I also tried 360 flips and got one bad one. Then kind of the fakie 50 fakie flip out. Obviously it doesn’t really count, but at least I can take advantage of the “over 40 years old, under 40 degrees” excuse.

(setup 8.5 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 red cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape with all washers outside the wheels, es accel slim plus gray size 12, xero thin insoles)
(pain level 4/10 my right knee, at least the left knee was feeling better)

On a cold night I drove out and met Dave at Frederick.  The park had more snow and ice than we had thought.  The manny pads weren’t an option.  The bump to ledge/hump and curb areas were about it.  And the two weird benches by the dumb sculpture.  We basically had the park to ourselves except when shoveler Patrick showed up for awhile.  We skated the hump and curb area the most.  We skated for over a couple hours so it’s hard to remember all that went down.  Warming up wasn’t as bad as you would think.  Dave did a lot of curb stalls/transfers/grinds.  All of which were made harder by limited run up.  Front hurricane, boardslides, noseslides, nose stall reverts and the amazing back axle to rock to revert transfer.  Wow.  He also had some incredible lines that had switch shoves on the hump to quick wallrides.  I mostly posed flip tricks and got used to my new trucks.  Yes, new trucks again.  This time Indy Mids.  Had to try them, they felt great before the bushings totally froze up.  I had a line of caveman grind then b/s flip the hip.  I couldn’t get a regular kickflip over the hip.  I posed hardflips for awhile on the little bank and got kind of close. I took too long to get a varial flip over the hip.  I lost interest when Pat stole my trick.  Then after he left I tried again and got a couple weird feeling ones.   I tried a line of fakie flip on the little bank then f/s halfcab flip over the hip, but was really struggling.  Dave’s lines were pretty amazing.  It’s hard to describe the crazy curb transfers then switch shoves on the hump to quick wallrides and the smoothness.  We ended on the weird sculpture benches.  I was unable to switch noseslide either way.  I guess the Indys might not be so good for ledges.  But I had some alright crooks and a fun noseslide shove.  Dave had a good line of front noseslide to fakie, fakie flip on the tiny bank, noseslide to fakie.  Oh yeah then we hit the bank for a bit.  Dave did some great fakie ollies.  I did some weak ollies to fakie.  

(setup 303 8.25 deck, jessup ultragrip, 144 indy mids, bones medium bushings,  spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint mid elite insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

I had about an hour to kill before an old guy curb session I brought LGJ out to a dry asphalt parking lot behind the research center by Foothills Parkway. I wanted to do at least 10 ledge tricks in an hour. It sounds easy, but LGJ is hard. Sorry I forgot to take a photo again. I am not good at quick ledges. Especially when they aren’t short. I started off terribly. Oh yeah, I had a new board. A 303 CLFX deck since I’m out of 8.25s and I want consistency these days. I had new wheels too. Spitfire 52mm F4 classic shape. I am hoping I this wheel flips faster than the radial slim and I like them this time around so I can stick with it. I should find a better parking lot, but this one worked. I got boardslide, noseslide, noseslide to fakie quick. Front board. Almost a couple good front noseslides, but instead I settled for a really bad one. I tried to do a line of fakie flip, halfcab noseslide, b/s flip. I got all the tricks, but the halfcab noseslide was super hard for some dumb reason. I had put a plastic pad under LGJ and it helped prevent it from sliding away. Got a switch front nose or too, switch backside was hard I kept moving the ledge when I’d get in. I had a good slam trying fakie nosegrind. Got a couple incredibly slow front 50s. Lots of crooks, a crooks to fakie. Couldn’t get close to halfcab crooks. Got halfcab noseslide to fakie. Landed a terrible treflip.

Then went and met up with Eric, Saul, Ed, Jake at Glenn Close. Miles from Square State would randomly show up as well as a young kid. It was fun. The classic shape wheels definitely slappy easier than a more square shape. Since Jake was the first to leave I’ll start with him. He was going in on slappy shoves for awhile. I tried some too and we were looking for motivation so I jokingly said if we don’t get it in 5 tries were doing 20 pushups. We both did 20 push ups. Jake had bluntslide, may have gotten the slappy shove, frontside slappies, slappy crook shove. Ed has one stylee slappy and was ripping some energetic lines with pops off the curb cuts and manuals. He ended with such a good front slappy. We can all thank Saul for shoveling the spot earlier in the day. He bashed the scary spork deck into the curb for some good slappies both ways, did the hook, I think got slappy crook. Eric was on heelflip tip. Off the curb cut, over the tiny bank. He had a good slam off the curb cut on one. I’m not sure if he even hit the curb, but he did go for a few long manuals. Miles was fun to skate with. He had a mean kickflip and treflip. I had my normal slappy tricks, but couldn’t get slappy front feeble or the slappy shove. I came close to switch front 50. I was inspired to get a better treflip than earlier so I tried a line of front slappy (or slappy front crook) then a slow treflip. I needed to get going after that as did everyone else. Fun crew. Wish I would have taken a photo of all of us together.

(setup 8.25 303 clfx spirt deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 trucks (cast baseplate titanium hanger), venom 88a bushings, 52mm spitfire classic shape f4 99a, 3 washers on outside of wheels, new balance numeric 212 blue/gum size 11.5 stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

I met Rob around 10 at Frederick on another warm and gorgeous day. Cass would show shortly after us. I had setup a new board and shoes. They felt fine, but I had some back pain I haven’t had in a long time. I couldn’t really squat well and everything hurt. I didn’t skate as bad as I felt at least, but nowhere as well as the day before. After some rolling around and warming up we mostly hit the manny pad/ledge for a bit. I took a few tries to get a nose manual, but finally got it. I also got switch front 180 up, nollie front tail off. Front 180 up, switch front nose off. Cass did some really good front noseslides, front noseslide bigspin and maybe manual to front board. Rob had a rad boardslide transfer then 270 off. Also manual to boardslide, manuals, I think nose manual. Cass had some good treflips over the kicker. I had some fun long back 50s down the dumb corner quarterpipe. We hit the bank to curb section. Rob had a nice front tail. Cass had good slappies and treflip flyouts. I didn’t get anything on the curb and couldn’t get b/s flip on the hip again. Rob left. Cass and I played a game of SKATE. It wasn’t great for either of us, but I got letters on tricks I can do like treflip (I was close at least), front shove, b/s flip and I lost on halfcab flip. Argh. I did get a good heelflip and a defensive f/s flip that made me happy. I thought that would get my body going, but it didn’t. I went to the bowls for a bit. But I was in too much pain to run down the transition so I was ultra conservative and went to sit down. Saul had joined and was in lots of pain too. Dang. He was able to get his patented quick scratch grinds until he got warn out. I did a couple attempts at the pull-up loop again and some nollie inward heels. But I was toast and ended up leaving.

(setup null 8″ archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollow highs on red cast baseplate, venom 88a bushings no boardside washer, old bones stf v2 51mm, new balance numeric 306 foy navy/white size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 6/10 i was able to skate at times, but by the end it was unbearable)

Got a decent start and was at the dog park around 7:30 on a somewhat cool morning. The smoke made it seem cloudy, but it wasn’t. I had setup a new board. An 8.25 Jack board with 8″ high ventures. It actually felt great with the exception of the bushings I picked being too tight. Ollie had done some amazing artwork as you can see. Between the awesome artwork on the top and bottom of the board, my friend Jack’s name being on it, smaller trucks and wanting revenge for yesterday I skated much better. At least for the first hour or so. I had some decent lines. Nothing I hadn’t done before really, but lined out some things and didn’t struggled to 50 the cinder block ledges. One line was front 5-0 (accident) the cinder block boogie, kickflip to fakie on a little wedge, halfcab boardslide the curb lounge. Halfcab boardslide was one of the tricks I thought of for some reason which I hadn’t done before. Back 50 the low ledge, back 50 the lowest ledge over the corner, front 5-0 the end of Slow & Low, noseslide to fakie the two step then almost switch noseslide 270 shove the regular black ledge. I tried halfcab noseslide 270 and didn’t get close, got into halfcab crook but came out and rubbed my angle under the ledge, a switch crook jib, a front tail to fakie that was supposed to just be a tail stall but it slid so it counts ha ha. Hucked some flippers. Was happy to get a first try halfcab flip. Came close to switch b/s flip again. Couldn’t get treflip. Tried to get a kick back 50 on the low two step, but failed. Off to work.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollows, 88a big bushing ace little bushing top washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 440 white size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Kevin and I rolled to Loveland hitting LOCO and Sk8 Ratz on the way before first hitting the awkard vectors of Loveland High. Kevin hadn’t been there before. I was wearing cupsoles to help the pain, old PJ 533s. They felt good until later on. Loveland high was kind of whatever. We tried some stuff, but nothing really stuck. I got remotely close to a frontside cab over the hip, slappy crooks from the driveway onto the pad, beanplant into the bank and the lucky first try 5-0 on the round bar we found. Kevin had some fast ollies up the curb to noseslide the curb, switch back 180 the hip, a bunch of ollies and then tried that line for a while with the pop shove. He got robbed.

We went to the nearby skatepark next. Kevin destroyed the ledges. Him and my skating were night and day different. I kept doing 5-0s instead of 50s. I had some okay crooks, the terrible front 5-0 shove, kickflip over the hip and close to b/s flip over the hip. I was quite unhappy with my ledge skating. Another skater showed and asked to play SKATE. I said yes and another dude joined and we played a couple fun games of SKATE that Kevin won. I was out quick in the first game on Kevin’s round of switch/nollie flips. The second game I did pretty well and matched a few tricks like heelflip, varial flip, halfcab flip and was only at SK with everyone at SKAT. I should have ended with fakie bigflip, but instead I took two turns trying 360 flip (landed on both at least) and by then it was over. I was hyped to do a front 360 even though it turned out I was supposed to do it switch. Those games were fun. Then we headed to Sean’s.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 custom hollow baseplate v-hollow axles, stock bushings, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 533v2 PJ grey size 13, thin xero insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After an insanely busy day at work I went to an old spot with a new complete on a really hot day. I put some wax on the ledge, but it just melted. So I kind of avoided the melted area and did stalls. I should have rub bricked it. But stalls were fun and I noticed the bigger wheels helping me get up on it. I had done some axle stalls and went in on some more. Front tails felt cool and since it was a stall why not shove out. Kickflip axle stalls didn’t really work, but still felt cool. Flip tricks went okay, nothing special though.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 92 custom hollow baseplate, stock bushings, 54mm spitfire f4 99a radials red/yellow swirl, new balance numeric 306 foy b/w size 12, thin 533 insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

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)

A little after 9am on a Sunday I went over to the school as Dave F said he was gonna be there with a friend. Tony. He was cool. Total surfy style going fast on slappies. I had a new board and wheels – Enjoi Wallin deck with Franky Villani graphics and Spitfire F4 51mm radial slims. It’s crazy how good the F4s felt compared to what I’ve had recently (blanks and classic formula). Those guys were already warmed up and trying feebles on the double sided curb. Dave had a nice front board. Tony did a rad noseslide over the drainage hole. I had some okay slappies. I had put the lows on again with a riser. They flipped nice. After awhile we were mostly at the hook area. Dave and Tony were doing amazing noseslides through it. I slowly worked up to some front slappies through it and they were so incredibly fun. Tony ollied the gap to the sidewalk a few times. Dave would end up doing a no comply over it. I was trying to line out, flip trick, slappy, gap. I got halfcab flip then front slappy, but missed the ollie. Then I did one of the best fakie bigflips I’ve done in awhile, got a questionable front slappy and missed the ollie again. Then I took awhile to do a switch front 180 up the curb cut then kickflip off, missed the front slappy but still rode away then tried a no comply flip over the gap, but didn’t get it. Fun morning.

Then I met up with Garrett and Jack and we met up with JJ, Sean, Jeff, Ryan, Cass, Ted, Joe, Brian and probably more I’m forgetting. We went to that new ledge school on Tejon. Well, the old school with the knobbed rail that now has tons of ledges. People were hitting the ledge over the gravel gap. I felt very out of place, and failed at noseslides forever. Jack casually did front tail front heel and back lip shove. Sean did a bunch of front tail variations, but not the one he wanted. Garrett did crooks and crooks fakie quick, but no halfcab noseslide nollie flip. JJ tried to run into the wall. Jeff did nose manual nollie flip and a textbook switch tre. Man it ruled seeing Jeff skate again. Joe did the slowest and most chill back 50 ever. It made me jealous.

Then we went down the block to skate a bank to rail. But Ted and I got distracted by this and stayed there for awhile. Okay a long while. I never got the boardslide, I was skating so timidly. Ted front 50’d it. Cass joined after awhile and got close to the boardslide, but like me struggled with how inconsistent that side was. Jeff would show up and front 50 it casually. Then Brian showed up who I haven’t seen in forever. He looked as good as ever on the board even though he apparently hasn’t been skating at all. He front 50’d it then went on to front 50 to front board like Ted did.

Last we went to the steep stadium bank. I dropped in once or twice near the top then Garrett was ready to go so I started filming. It took awhile but he got a Janoski flip! It was sick. Joe and Brian tried some tricks too, but never got their feet on them. That was the day. I felt terrible after, I guess the heat got to me. Argh.

(setup 8.25 enjoy wallin, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, 1/8″ riser, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm spitfire f4 radial slims 101a wheels, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom insoles)
(pain level 4/10)