On a very nice day I went to meet Rob and Dave at dog park for a skate lunch.  It was colder than it seemed like it should be.  Although it did warm up quickly.  Some other older skaters were skating too and then some youngsters at the end of the session.  I skated well and with some motivation again.  We were all skating hard it seemed.  Dave was mostly trying lines to manual the picnic table.  5-0s, kickflips, etc to get the line going.  Rob had some halfcab boardslides to fakie some with a little shuffle after, front board the tall bench, halfcab nose, front 50 the new ledge first try, fakie bigspins.  I started with a poser line of ollie to fakie the steeper wedge, fakie flip, switch back nosegrind the little guy.  I never committed to the sbng.  I did back 5-0 and 50 the the little guy which I haven’t done in a bit.  I got on the cinder block ledges pretty easily for once.  Tried the Joe Hamilton, but didn’t get one although I had a ghost front board that was pretty funny.  I had one halfcab noseslide 270 out attempt that cool even though I know it didn’t count.  Couldn’t get noseslide 270 shove or nosegrind 180.  I ended trying to ollie the jersey barrier off the decked wedge.  I would eventually get it and came so close to a treflip after.  The treflip would have been such a great ender.  Still, had a blast skating with the dudes in the sun and being motivated again.  Dave’s manuals were gnar.

(setup null 8.5 plant life, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8, venom 88a bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 blue/gum size 11.5, nb# abzorb insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Rather than feel sorry for myself for being in pain and not skating well I went to campus in search of new/old/different spots I haven’t skated before or in years.  I would start behind the student center.  Initially with some straight dorking to get warmed up.  Then slightly less dorking for a warm up line that would stoke me out.  A kickflip fakie on the mellowest slope ever solely as a way to warm up and setup switch for switch 180 over a little grate into a little slope, ollie off a two stair (that had a crack a couple feet after so it felt like a little gap) then pose a back 180 down a 3 stair. Ollieing the little gap felt incredibly fun and reminded me how street skating soothes my soul.  I never got close to the back 180, but I didn’t really care and moved to the front where I took some time to ollie up the two stair, ride off (it was dark) and then noseslide a tall rounded bench.  I looked around for a while and ended up at the Baker ledge.  I feel like I was somewhere else before this, but can’t remember.  I tried a line of manual, noseslide to fakie, fakie flip.  Never got the fakie flip, but started not caring and trying switch flips instead and got very close to one.  Also got a little crook jib and ended with a front 50 that I didn’t think I’d be able to get because it was dark and due to ice I had to get on a somewhat taller section.  It was an incredibly fun feeling front 50.  I went home happy after that.  

(setup null 8.5 plant life, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8, venom 88a bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 blue/gum size 11.5, footprints 5mm insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Was so incredibly sore.  Rob and Kevin were there when I arrived.  We chatted then went to it.  I have waited too long to write this so remember very little.   Eric and Sean would show too.  Cass eventually.  I did not skate well for a couple of hours because I was so sore.  I only remember the end of the session when Sean and I were trying lines.  He would get his.  Something like kickflip the wallie world, front nosegrind the metal bench, nollie back nosegrind 180 the cinder block bench.  Also close to front 180 the hydrant, fakie flip, fakie crooks.  I was trying various tricks and just trying to ollie onto the double wide cinder blocks.  I could not do it to save my life, I was so scared.  I had wallies, halfcab flips, the worst little switch crook jib and more, but still only managed the worst slow ollie up to manual stall. Sorry for not remembering everyone else.  I know Rob, Kevin and Eric were ripping.  Rob halfcab boardlides to fakie.  Kevin almost got fakie 5-0 halfcab out.  Eric casually heelfipped a parking block, 5-0s.  Then we met Jack, Dan and Joe downtown and I filmed.  Jack ripped it.  Others had fun.  

(setup null 8.5 plant life, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8, venom 88a bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 blue/gum size 11.5, nb# abzorb insoles)
(pain level 6/10 everything)

Was hyped to skate when I woke up. Especially because an early old guy Broomfield session was already organized so I didn’t spend any time texting. But then I went to leave and my car wouldn’t start. Literally all my motivation left me when the car made the failing whirring noise. Ugh. I spent all last weekend with plumbing. So I ended up spending a couple hours trying to figure it out and it would eventually start. After some basketball I went to campus hoping I’d be hyped. I wore my 288s in hopes of less knee pain. Initially it helped. I started at the flagstone ledge and it went decent actually. Boardslide, noseslide, noseslide fakie were all first try. I did a couple flippers under the covered area. Switch noseslides both ways. A front board pop out that felt really cool. Front nose to fakie. And a front axle stall as I went too slow to grind. I started to feel pretty disoriented and weird on my board as I checked out some crazy new tall wooden benches with banks on them. Looks like it could be a dream spot. I rolled in on one then went to ollie off the lower level and bailed for no reason and it hurt. After that I posed some ollies over a little ledge then walked around aimlessly before going home.

(setup null 8.5 plant life, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8, venom 88a bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 288s maroon size 11.5, xero insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knees don’t like me)

On a pretty nice day I had enough of work and went for a lunch break. After 3 days off I felt like going with the 8.5 setup. Maybe my goal will be to skate less and have the energy and pop to skate the bigger board. Or just not skate much at all because it’s so darn painful during the winter. Even when it’s warm up. Anyway, I felt rusty and less motivated than I had hoped after a few days off. I blame work mostly, it’s been way too stressful. I had an alright time though. Did some slappies, slappy crooks. A few slow flippers. Kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip, heelflip, a f/s flip that was maybe legit and an incredibly slow 360 flip that made me happy. I also did a switch front 50 on the curb.

(setup null 8.5 plant life, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8, venom 88a bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 blue/gum size 11.5, nb# abzorb insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knees don’t like me)

For some reason I went skating again. I was excited to check out dog park again as it’s been awhile and I hadn’t seen the lights. There were a couple young skaters I’ve seen around showing off their youth and energy at all times. They wouldn’t stop, except to sit and smoke up. With the lights the park feels much smaller as the edges aren’t really skateable. I had put some thicker insoles in to hopefully ease some pain, but it just made me feel even more terrible on my skateboard. I would go on to have quite a depressing night. It stated when I couldn’t get back 50 over and over. There is a new ledge there that’s a little longer and wider with a big piece of angle iron that seems to grind and slide well. I took too long to get a halfcab noseslide on it, got crooks after the youth did a couple perfect ones, switch front nose. The shadows messed with me on some other stuff like the cinder block ledges. I couldn’t get much for flatground. Got a bad switch noseslide shove. Was starting to get up on front 50s on the new ledge when the lights shut out early. Doh. I need to take a break from skateboarding. Mentally and physically I need a recharge. We’ll see how long I can go.

(setup 8.25 303 clfx spirt deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium, venom 88a bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, 3 washers on outside of wheels, new balance numeric 212 blue/gum size 11.5 stock insoles)
(pain level 6/10 knees)

After making some progress in figuring out where the auger is stuck in my drain I met Dave on Campus. The video above basically documents what we skated. I felt terrible initially. Just so out of it, sore and afraid of knee pain. Dave was was riding down the stairs already and doing kickflips when I got there. It stinks having to park off of campus now. We looked at the rails off the ledge, did some stalls on the steps, some kickflips, etc, then moved on to look at some other things. We hit the brick curb area for awhile. It was fun trying to line things out. It’s crazy how hard it was for me to ollie that pile of snow. I don’t think I cleanly got the ollie, but I did get a fun line. I forget exactly how it started, I think it was a tail stall on the manhole that Dave kickflips, kickflip on flat, ollie the snow, front 50 180, fakie flip, halfcab flip. I was going slow for the last couple, but it still felt pretty great considering how sore I felt. Dave had a bunch of kickflips over the manhole, easily 180’d the snow and even switch ollied it! I treated the top as a mini bank and did a frontside kickflip which took too long and couldn’t quite get front 50 shove after. But I would get a fun one while Dave was perfecting a ride off grind. Next up Dave avoided a scooter doing the wallie ollie challenge. Then he did something on the black bar and we ended up at the bank to curb. That spot is way harder than it looks. I was happy to get up the curb somewhat consistently and get a crooks first try. Then I started trying 180 up tail stall shove and would get one in less than 20 tries (which is incredibly quick for me ha ha). Dave did some ride on nosegrinds to fakie then started trying nose picks to fakie. I added in a back axle stall that also made me a little happy before filming Dave try the nosepick. But I messed up and didn’t hit record on the one he landed. Luckily he kept trying and would get an even better trick that will someday grace the big screen. After that we was done. I could have skated more, but with my soreness and the sun going down I called it when Dave had to go.

(setup 8.25 303 clfx spirt deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium, venom 88a bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, 3 washers on outside of wheels, new balance numeric 212 blue/gum size 11.5 stock insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

After a bad night of sleep due to knee pain and then dealing with plumbing issues for several hours I gave up because I needed to get outside in the nice weather. I met Rob at Douglass around 2:30. The warm up battle didn’t seem overly long for either of us. Today I could land kickflips, but struggled with halfcab flips. We mostly tried lines starting out on the road, going up the curb and hitting the various ledges. I had a decent one early on. Pop shove on flat, ollie up the curb, first try heelflip, noseslide to fakie, switch 180 off the curb. Rob got fakie bigspin, back 180 up the curb, then halfcab boardslide the side of a bench. It was nuts. He also had front boardslides, no complys up the curb, some of his old patented quick foot action – back 180 – fakie bigspin – nollie shove all done super quickly. He got a couple kickflips, but they didn’t come easy. Flippers weren’t really working for me, neither were crooks. I would get a couple halfcab flips, fakie flip, but couldn’t get b/s flip or treflip. I also couldn’t even ollie onto the bench. Argh. There was a pink haired scantily clad woman dancing on her rollerskates while we were there. It was a little distracting. Then I left to meet Skelly and his buddy Mike at Saul’s. They were late, so Saul and I skated. He had his patented fun to watch fast grind lines, close to some proper stand up back 50s. I did some carve grinds and axle stalls, couldn’t get a front slash even in the shallow. Mike and Sean skated it pretty well when they got there shortly before dark. Mike had some smooth style and good slams. Skelly had lots of front smiths and back grinds. It was rad seeing the stoke that everyone gets when they see Saul’s.

(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 5/10)

After a nice day of chilling with the family and eating Thanksgiving leftovers for breakfast Jake and I rolled to Longmont to meet Dave and Rob at Rocky Mountain Elem. It’s one of those good winter sun spots. Dave and I talked about our rough starts. I figured after a long walk and an earlier work out I would be feeling good. Nope. I think I was 1-5 on kickflips to start. Yikes! Someone has been giving the curbs there some love and they were extra fun. Nollie front lips were had by all, what a fun trick. Jake pretty much stuck to the curb. Good slappies, slappy crooks, his first ever nollie back lips and a second try pop shove lip. Rob had a banger line going. High speed ollie up the curb to beautiful no comply, back 180 up the curb switch boardslide. Had I brought the camera I would have requested to film it. We all tried regular front lipslides too, Rob being the first to land one. I think he got the shove in variation too. Dave was the second to get a front lip. He was charging some high speed ollies up the curbs to tricks on the medians like front 180 nose manual, kickflip onto one, a crazy pop shove with a sideways land that he survived. He almost got a sex change on the bank. Boardslides to fakie, some flippers and ended the session with a front 50 on the ledge second try that was way better than any of the ones I did. I pretty much tried two lines the whole time. Flip trick, front 50 the ledge, lipslide the curb, flip trick. Backside kickflip low on a bank then crooks shove the ledge. I would get quite a few kickflips on the bank with varying degree of cleanliness. A few crooks shove felt really good and close, but I never got my feet on one. The ledge is growing. And it’s not just because I’m getting older. It’s actually lifting for some reason. Anyway flip tricks were a struggle to start lines, but I did get a few halfcab flips. 1/10 on heelflips ugh. Got a halfcab 90 heel, one incredibly slow treflip. I think I only got a couple front 50s, they were so hard for me. I would get the lipslide at the end, but went to fakie. Oh well it was fun sliding some. That spot is hard. I was skating with some good motivation, but I was pretty disappointed in how badly I actually skated. At least the crew was a good one and the sun was nice.

(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 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)