Day 2 of the trip we started at AMR just like last time I was in Hawaii. My body felt like garbage. I was hardly able to skate and mostly just filmed those dudes. Neil was kind of chilling too and setup new wheels. He had ollied the bench like it was nothing of course. I wish I had gotten clips of him. He had nice ollies over the hips, front 50, noseslides on the bench, much more. Nate was mostly skating the butter ledge trying back lips, blunt slides, etc. He did a nice nose manual to back lip too. Josh went right into total shredding and started the rumor that he isn’t actually over 40 years old. He was doing so many tricks in long lines. It was awesome to see and inspiring. He had front tail, front lip, maybe front nosegrind on the butter ledge, 180s, fakie bigspin over the hips, kickflips, kickflip fakie. I did have a couple bright moments. Noseslide the bump to ledge and a weird deck check up to manual on the lower to higher banks. I had tried a bunch of nollie bigspins over the hip and gotten pretty close, but the rain moved in and put an end to it.

So we went about 1/4 of a mile away to the Turkey Shoots ditch and somehow it was totally dry! Carving down it was really fun. There was a part you could grind down near the bottom and Josh and I skated it for awhile. It was funny, Josh couldn’t get his truck to quite grind for awhile. He kept just missing. Neil had some cool ollies the whole way down. Paul met up with us. He rules. And he started things off with a long manual down the sidewalk after a nice kickturn around the grate which was way rougher than it looks. Josh was the only one who managed to crack an ollie over the hip after carving around.

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After awhile we went to Courts. I think we all felt terrible on our boards. Nate and I played quite possibly our worst game of SKATE ever. It took like an hour and I won with front shove. Front shove!?!? I think it had taken me about 20 tries to get a halfcab flip. Josh had been lining out noseslide, noseslide and noseslide. Ha ha. Neil was of course cruising the way he does. Lots of style and consistency. The game of SKATE did manage to loosen me up a little and Nate and I went in on the boardslides around the C ledge. Thanks for filming Josh. I ended up never getting a clean one, but it was really fun to try. Nate’s were so good. Neil’s line was pretty sick, it’s way closer than it looks.

After some chilling and dinner we ended up at Ewa Beach skatepark for Thursday Night Lights. I felt absolutely terrible and didn’t skate. Josh and Neil ripped it. Nose manuals like nothing. Josh got the transfer to tail and a million tricks on the quarterpipes. Nate got in on some of the action and did nose manual too super casually. Paul was there ripping. Neil filmed the dudes. It was a really cool scene there. Everyone says hi to everyone and goodbye when they leave. For real everyone shakes everyones hand in the park when they come or go. It’s pretty epic.

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 foy blue/white size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 7/10 knee pain argh)

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A post shared by Neil Thurman (@neilsoffire)

After a very long flight I was picked up by Neil, Nate and Josh and we drove through some rain and dropped our stuff off at Neil’s. Luckily the sun had come out so we were out to do what we do best – skate! Neil picked a great first spot, this smooth lot with a couple double sided curbs and some other options. We all warmed up in our various ways. What a dream crew. Eventually we all kinda stuck to certain lines and Neil was kind enough to document them. I had come close to adding 360 flip to the end of my slappy crooks line. Nate’s hurricane transfer to grass bail was awesome. Josh had some good slappies too and some really long nollie front lips.

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Then we hit this ledge spot. The Palace dudes warmed it up but we shut it down. Josh kicked it off with some good noseslides then went on to do some really good front noseslides. Nate had the switch noseslides. I was struggling to even get a noseslide, but had a fun run of wallride nollie, noseslide to fakie then a halfcab flip attempt where I just kind of collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. I sat after that. Nate, Neil and Josh ollied up from the lower ledge to the higher one. Josh took a couple epic slams to get up it, but got a solid one. Then we hit the beach!

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 foy blue/white size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 6/10 not a good start to a trip)

On a cold night I went into the garage just wanting to do a few kickflips. I wanted to see where the flick hole would form and do a preemptive shoegoo. At first I felt totally worthless and had no desire, but then I did a few kickflips and it was fun. Ollie joined me and tried exactly 10 kickflips and didn’t get too close this time. I added fakie flip, backside flip, nollie front 180 to my list and hucked a few switch flips/heels that felt close.

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 foy blue/white size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 2/10 least in awhile!)

On a cold and snowy day I met Dave at the dungeon known as the Steelyards garage. He was already warming up with noseslides and waxing up the other part for board slides. I had changed my setup. Again, yup. This time up to 8.3 with 5.8 trucks. It felt great and would feel great the whole time. The whole setup change thing gets out of control I know. But I think the smaller board with biggish wheels was the nail in the coffin that I dislike any setup with large wheels. Anyway, I got into 50s pretty quick and was reminded how fun that little curb is. Lines were fun, we both got going pretty good I think. I was hyped on trying Kevin’s trick (fakie back nosegrind), but man when I saw what it looked like I was bummed. Ha. I should have tried more f/s halfcabs off because the one was first try. Dave had a cool back 50 nollie shove, kickflips, front 50, front 5-0, back 5-0, His switch ollies over the trash can lid were so good. I started having fun with fastish ollies over the trash can lid to back 50 shove on the curb. Got one and it was really fun. I had tried a back nosegrind at one point and it really seemed to help me do back 50s better. Or maybe it’s the wall helping since I can’t seem to back 50 without one. We both tried switch crooks for awhile. We both got backside ones. Then switch frontside was fun. Dave had never tried them, but was getting up on them really well. I wasn’t as posted up, but did get a few to grind.

Then things had dried up and we went to this really hard bank to bar spot. Dave did the fakie tail every try. The nose stall to fakie didn’t come as easy, but he got a few. I tried some crook jibs. I never really got it. I posed some front smiths, but never got in.

Then I went to Saul’s for what turned into a quickie. I was so sore when I started, but watching Saul do the quick carve grinds so good brought the hype. I had a couple fun runs with carve grinds, a rock ‘n roll, axle stalls and a little front slash in the shallow. Then Saul had to go. Super fun day.

(setup 8.38 null collage deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 foy white/gum size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10 least in awhile!)

On a really nice day I met Kevin at Broomfield park by 11. It was just us there initially, but it would fill in quickly. I felt pretty blah and rusty and it stayed that way. Kevin chipped his brand new deck right away. He did switch manual before I ollied. I got a fakie nosegrind pretty quick, but other then that I stunk it up and felt bummed. I had a few crooks, switch front noseslides, couldn’t halfcab noseslide, didn’t land much for flippers. Kevin ripped although took longer than normal to get tricks like nollie nosegrind, back tail. After awhile Sean showed and we went over to Emerald. Kevin quickly went to work on crooks bonk. I lined out a dorky noseslide to fakie then creepy spin over the ‘hip’. Also got a nollie front bigspin (dave’s latest challenge), but I gotta do it on something better. Sean worked on back 3s. Kevin did nollie cabs, Janoski flip. Fuzz showed. Sean did a crazy ollie. Then we chilled. Great seeing Fuzz again.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.6 cast baseplate with v-hollow hanger, venture white bushings no bottom washer and bones flat top washer, 51mm bones stf v1, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 foy white/gum size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles

Went out to the garage on a cold night after working from home due to another snowstorm. I was feeling a bit tired, but figured I’d go out anyway. This time on 8.25 with 42mm wheels. Ha. Nate had made me a list. I didn’t do the tricks in order, but after a few kickflips I went in on it.
double flip – never committed, but got some to flip
switch front shove (popped) – got a couple okay ones for me
nollie varial heel – do not understand this trick at all
varial flip – got a couple
backside bigspin – never committed. I blame the fear of diving into bikes if I bailed.
Heelflip – got one, but was struggling
Backside Flip – got a couple
Tre Flip – got a really bad one in about 15 tries, but it felt great to finally land one again. I had saved this trick for last.
Shove it rewind – got a couple that felt really fun.
Primo stall then flip out – well I stood on the board in primo and jumped, but nothing happened other than me looking like an idiot.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.6 cast baseplate with v-hollow hanger, venture white bushings no bottom washer and bones flat top washer, 42mm oj wheels (ha!), jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)

Feeling a little run down I didn’t want to try to find something dry in the cold. I had made a list for 10×10, but to my surprise Ollie came out and skated with me. So that changed things a little. I had done some warmups, kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip when he came in. He just worked on kickflips. Oh man he got so close too. He said he was only going to try 10, but he probably tried 50. I’m sure he could get it. I didn’t get heelflip or halfcab heelflip. I got b/s flip and one weak f/s flip then went into treflips. I never even got both feet on it. I was like 0-50. I think I need to give up on 8″ because I can’t treflip on it. I didn’t get depressed though because I was happy Ollie was skating. And my knees weren’t hurting.

(setup 8 null collage machine deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow hanger and cast baseplate, 52mm bones easy street 99a v5 wheels, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 white/gum size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went to Douglas on a nice day late in the afternoon after running errands most of the day. It was nice being lazy. My knees were still killing, but I’m dumb. The main ledges were all snowy. There was one ledge on the south side that was dry. But I quickly established I couldn’t ollie that high. I did a few 180s, 1 great feeling kickflip. I was comparing 8 & 8.25 setups. The 8 fell way better. I wore NB# 306s. They felt good.

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On a decent day Kevin and I rolled to Longmont to Indian Peaks on rumors it was mostly dry. And it was. We shoveled the hip part of it, but the main bank was mostly all anyone skated. I knew on my first push that my knees were totally done. I tried to power through it, but each push made my left (front) knee worse. Dave F, Kevin and I had been trying pop shoves to fakie. Dave did his right away. Kevin was struggling and Dave and I couldn’t believe it. I got one before Kevin and he was like “see I suck”. Ha. That might be the first time I’ve ever beat Kevin to a trick. The shove did feel good, but after that I tried a few kickflips then sat out the rest of the session after a boneless. Saul and Eric showed up. So rad. Street Saul had some nice bertleman slides, the handplant wallride thing was epic. I think he was 3/3. Eric went in on heelflips pretty quick although I’m not sure he got one, got back wallride, then got robbed on frontside wallride. Dave L showed up too. Man what a crew, I was so bummed to be hurting so badly. Dave F rattled off different shoves, the invert varial thing, back 360s, wallrides. Dude was shredding and looked so good. Kevin made most flip tricks look easy and did a really good wallride. Then got stuck on nollie tre for a long time, but man the one he got was so casual. Dave L managed to warm up quick and get some styley shoves and kickflips then close to inward heel. Then he did some quick feet action with kickflip and shove on the same wall!

(setup 8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.6 cast baseplate/v-hollow hanger, 52mm bones v5 99a stf, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 288 sport b/w size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 9/10 – knees are toast. it’s the cupsole dilemna. they feel good for awhile then all of a sudden the pain is intolerable)

Felt pretty good at work all day. Skipped the gym so I could leave early and enjoy the sun. Found some dry out in the industrial area that looked good, but it was really rough. I had a new 8″ deck. It felt small out in the streets. I was also incredibly sore once I tried to skate. Nate had given me a list. I went pretty much right into it after some warm up 180s, shoves, kickflips. Here’s the scoop:
Heelflip – Didn’t get it in 10 tries and saw that my phone had blown over, then it took another 10 tries to get another one.
Backside flip – Only got the crappy one. I think it’s appropriate that the still shot for the youtube video highlights the toe drag.
Fakie flip – The only trick I was happy with
Fakie varial flip – I was so mad at not landing this one. Seriously furious.
Halfcab flip – Was only 2/10 and quite angry with this too.
F/s halfcab flip – Got two terrible ones
Nollie varial flip – This is where I had given up. Dave had called me and by the time I was off the call I had lost interest in skating. I posed a few, but my heart was not in it.

(setup 8 null collage machine deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow hanger and cast baseplate, old 53mm bones pj v1 wheels, bones medium bushings, mob grip, new balance numeric 288 sport b/w, stock insoles)
(pain level 6/10 leg soreness)