On a cool morning we picked up Sean then headed to the warehouse. We met up with Garrett and Will. I was feeling quite sick. Slammed on a sw front nose right away and almost went to the van to try and sleep. Nothing except crooks were working for me. I would get a crooks shove and then worked on crooks 270 shove which I’ve never done before. Was remotely close. I couldn’t front 50 at all, and it really bummed me out. Kevin and Sean did some very long lines, but were never quite happy with their full pulls. Garrett worked on nollie front crooks. Will did a bunch of wallies and back smiths.

Then we went to the weird downhill ditch and it sucked. Well, it was okay to ride down. Will surprised us all with a banging b/s flip over a hip.

Last we went to Stanley Market ditch. There were a couple people skating already so we felt bad barging their session. Sean and Joe sat it out. Garrett took his nollie front crooks to this spot. I did some noseslides and I think that was it. Kevin struggled to find the right angles, but did such good crooks to fakie then sw flips.

Then we went and had some drinks to celebrate Kevin turning 40 years young.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null timewarp, jessup ultra, thunder hollow 148, spitfire f4 99a 52mm pink/green classic, new balance numeric 272 army size 12 with half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10 mostly just sick and sore)

I wasn’t feeling too good. Kevin and I didn’t start too early and ended up in Longmont at one of Dave’s spots. As we waited for the spot to dry we started dinking around on this nearby little bank and it ended up being really fun. We put this little rail on it and anchored it down and it worked. Dave did a nollie crooks before the phone came out that was so amazing. Also crooks, crooks to fakie. Gordon got Vallely on us. Kevin with the nollie nosegrind pop out. I had done some tiny hippy jumps above then ollied into the bank and then took way too long to do a front 5-0 to fakie.

Then over to the double curb Gordon hit his face slamming, but still did nollie front tails really well. I was struggling soooo bad, had zero confidence. Thank god I finally did a couple noseslide tricks. Dave killed it with the slappy crooks and front 5-0 combos.

(setup 3/10 8.25 null timewarp, jessup ultra, thunder hollow 148, spitfire f4 99a 52mm pink/green classic, new balance numeric 272 army size 12 with half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

After Kevin flew in early, took the bus and got a new job we rolled out to Idaho Springs picking up Garrett on the way. To our surprise Mike was there too. It was mostly chill for quite a while. Joe would show about an hour into the session. Garrett didn’t have many issues getting used to the park. Wallie manual kickflip out, b/s flip the hip, back big, nollie big, nollie back heel the hip, everything so good. On the ledge halfcab crooks, sw crooks, back tails, whatever he wanted. Kevin was struggling a bit understandably considering he had been up for like 8 hours already at this point. But still crooks, back tail the ledges, manuals on the big ledge, long grinds on the diamond cut, back blunt on the bank to curb. I was getting used to a setup change of new 8.25 deck and Thunders. Meh. But I did get a first try manual on the little pad and a line I forget that involved a kickflip to fakie then a sw front nose. Took me forever to ollie up onto the main ledge. Had a fun line of ollie the 3 then b/s flip the mini hip. Also got a crooks on the ledge off the manny pad. Joe was funny. Did a trick on the ledge and said “this ledge is perfect” then proceeded to slam super hard on it next try. He ollied the big gap, back tails, front crooks, fakie hardflip the mini hip followed by a hilarious slam on a fakie shove.

After a long enough drive for soreness to really settle in we arrived at Breckenridge skatepark. I’ll just start by saying the new stuff is amazing. Kevin and I started mostly on the old though with tricks into the bank. His sw f/s flip was so good. It’s crazy how ugly my fakie bigflips have gotten. It was fun to roll in after a trick though. Had some fun doing some front 50s on the small noping in the old section and lining it with noseslide to fakie on the new bank to ledge. That bank to ledge is so awesome. Kevin and I did crooks doubles. His were actually good. I took a long time to get a front 50 on it. Joe had front crooks and back tail on the a frame ledge. Garrett put together the line in a few tries at the end after sitting. It was a fun session, fun day. Even a fun meal after that Zach joined us at after some random person came out of nowhere and insisted we eat at Albertos.

(setup 5/10 8.25 null timewarp, jessup ultra, thunder hollow 148, spitfire f4 99a 52mm pink/green classic, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Went to the career fair at CSU, then hung at MRKT for a while. Hit Fossil for about 30 minutes. Had a setup change of ace trucks instead of venture. Disliked them. Started on the area up top. Did some 50s. Boardslide off the 1, noseslide, sw front nose. Kinda fun. On the lower side could not get a front 50, but did a few noseslides and crooks.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 44 hollow, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a really nice evening I went solo to Broomfield. Jameson was there, a couple others, and then Justin would show. My body wasn’t feeling too well, but wow I did not think I would struggle THAT bad. Warm up was okay, doing the same normal tricks without pop. But once it got to ollies it went downhill. Only thing that worked better than normal was back 50s on the lurb. I left after about an hour of skating so I was at least smart enough not to continue struggling.

(setup 1/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultragrip, 5.6 venture v-cast kader with ace bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Another nice warm early autumn day. Went to dog park for the GB Games. As soon as I set my board down I felt very off, kind of side spasms even. But I rolled around, did some slappies, a few crooks. Played a game of SKATE with Paul where he was bailing every trick and had SKA then came back and beat me. I think he was just hustling me. I lost on halfcab flip and then could not do a heelflip after. Argh. Did some more slappies with old guys. Charlie had a good feeble, Brian too, Shad skated the ledge like a man, Ted ripped the ledge too. Was fun times.

After a nap and the slightest setup change (cast instead of forged baseplates) I went to the side of the school for an hour of flatground. It went better than earlier. I had gotten to 6 flippers in like 15 minutes. Kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, backside flip, fakie bigflip, f/s halfcab flip. Then it took a while to get a couple more like varial flip and f/s halfcab heel. I could not get a heelflip or treflip. They were somewhat close, but not really. Same with nollie tre. Varial heels were closer. Fakie hards not close. Oh well, glad I skated.

(setup 7/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultragrip, 5.6 venture v-cast kader with ace bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 272 army size 12 with half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Super nice day. I had managed to get my neck to loosen up with some exercises and the theragun. Met Gordon a little later than normal and felt better than expected. Gordon was already ripping when I got there. As was Cody almost getting nollie tre down the 6. Gordon and I mostly skated the blue lurb. He might have gotten switch manual. Definitely nollie nose manual. My f/s tricks went better than normal. Got front 50 shove first try, front 50 180, Joe Hamilton. Couldn’t get a back 50 though, was close to kickflip 50. My neck was allowing me to skate, but I was still a little hesitant. I didn’t really land flip tricks even though they felt great on my smaller woke setup. Managed to ollie into the downhill ledge which I hadn’t done in forever. Got another front 50 into the bank which was harder than it should be. I’m missing a lot, but it was a fun session.

(setup 8/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultragrip, 5.6 venture v-hollow with ace bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 272 army size 12 with half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Woke up with such a painful and stiff neck. Tried to loosen it up throughout the day, but it wasn’t good. Went to dog park since Nolan was passing through and wanted to meet there. We had a heck of a crew. Ladd, Donnie, Nolan, Sean, Garrett, Joe, Will, me. We started at dog park initially, but it was really heated with some youth going hard. I had only done a few slappies and stuff. Over to Valmont where Will b/s flipped the euro hip. We skated in the pond for a while. Nolan easily did blunt to fakie along with other tricks so easily. Ladd had some big pop. I did some very tech axle stalls. I had some fun noseslides on the bump to ledge. Also some fun grinds on the little bowl area. Then I mostly just posed flip tricks on the bank with Sean. Except he landed his. I came remotely close to f/s halfcab heel and even closer to fakie hardflip. Sean did nollie back heel then f/s halfcab flip. Joe with the amazing every try fakie hardflip over the hip and ollie the barrier from flat. Donnie madman attacking the rainbow rail. The grind ollie grind was so cool. Nolan pole jam to manual, first try back noseblunt on the volcano then the funniest peter blunt ever on the rainbow. Donnie’s kid running to the plaza and Sean saying “See Donnie your kid wants to go to the real park” was hilarious. Garrett was slaying it. One of the best kickflips to fakie I’ve seen, hurricane the barrier, so much style. Sean ended the session on a very non-Sean like trick was a highlight. I gotta get one of those fakie hards!

(setup 8/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultragrip, 5.6 venture v-hollow with ace bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 272 army size 12 with half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10 neck)

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to skate after my first day in the office after vacation in NYC. Nope. It was cool walking into a park and seeing so many of the normal crew though. Will, Ted, Steezy, Dennis, and more I’m not remembering. I had my new TJ Rogers bricks. I mean shoes. But maybe bricks is a more accurate description. They felt terrible to skate in. At no point did I do anything good and kickflips were impossible to flick in those shoes. Will went in on some flippers. He did switch heel, switch flip and switch backside flip. All while I think I only landed kickflip.

(setup 4/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium redrilled to v8, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink swirl classic, es tj rogers b/w size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

On an incredibly nice day I journeyed to upper east side of Manhattan for this park Suciu claims ‘best park‘ on. My body was not doing well, like just so achy and sore and not wanting to move quickly. So my initial rolls around the park were sketchy, everything was actually sketchy. I did a warm up line that was so lame. It was like a brief nose jib on the bank to bar, an attempt at boardslide down the last bank to curb, then a bump to front 50. I think I gave up on that. Did some rock ‘n rolls on the smallest part of the bank to curb. Had some bump to crooks eventually. Noseslides down the hubba were sketchy. Tried a line for a while of crook a bench, kickturn on the bank to bank, noseslide to fakie the amazing mellow bank to ledge. The noseslide to fakie took me FOREVER. I had some other fun crooks and noseslides on the ledges on the far side, one kickflip on the bank. After a while I just had to give up, my body was not working at all. It sucked. The park was so amazing, the few skaters there were nice, the weather was good. Oh well, hope to skate there again.

(setup 1/10 null 20 years 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, indy forged hollow 149 with ace bushings, spitfire f4 99a 52mm pink/green classic, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
Pain level 7/10