On a nice day I went driving looking for a new spot, but ended up at Douglass again. I didn’t feel great on my board to start, which I did on the side. About lost my mind unable to kickflip or 50 the curb initially. Would eventually get a line that I hardly remember anymore. Like front 5-0 then kickflip flyout. I had thought I’d do treflip flyout too. Nope. Really I didn’t do anything. Went to the front as a storm appeared to be rolling in. It would of course never rain. I had some okay noseslides, and a couple crooks. Then I went in on front 50s. As you can see I didn’t really get it. I really do not want to go back there and try anymore.

Then I went to dog park. Not sure why. I should have waited for Dave to be able to skate. There were some toddlers playing cat/mouse. Like little kids without scooters even just playing. That got on my nerves for some dumb reason and then when I bailed a couple 50s on the lurb I left.

(setup 3/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, thunder 148 team hollows t2 bushings, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic pink/green new balance numeric 600 size 12 black/gum currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Was supposed to be a cooler day, sure didn’t feel that way on a sunny morning. I met Cass and Gordon at broomfield park. Taylor was there. Warming up was okay. I had done the rare thing of eating early so I was lazy to start. Gordon was doing his moves. He was close to pop shove nose manuals. Also a cool line of nollie front 180 over the parking block then sw 180 manual the blue pad. Then a kickflip over the parking block, manual, front 180 fakie 50. Cass seemed to do his tricks pretty well and quickly like he does. Front shoves out of the bank, front noses, back 50s, looking good. Green Boi showed up after a while. Good to see him. He can still manual and grind really easily. I had an okay performance as far as did some basics. At the end I managed a crook on the bank to ledge which was maybe the only thing I was proud of.

(setup 5/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, thunder 148 team hollows t2 bushings, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic pink/green new balance numeric 600 size 12 black/gum currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After a very hot day I went to Douglass around 7pm. Warmed up on the side of the school. Was really struggling again, these 600s are hard to break in. I would get a line of kickflip, accidental 5-0, front 180 my water bottle out of the bump. Went to the front of the school. Hucked some flippers, but never landed anything. On the ledge got some noseslides and crooks. My August goals were to front 50 Douglass and to do a new flip trick. I have also added not to change my setup after this. Anyway, my pop was okay. I started committing to front 50s. I was going slow but one of them got up on there. I was kind of so shocked I freaked out and almost came off. So it was mostly an axle stall to feeble to hand on the ledge. But I was hyped. I would like to clean it and do it legit, but it felt cool regardless.

(setup 7/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, thunder 149 team hollows t2 bushings, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic pink/green new balance numeric 600 size 12 black/gum currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Oh yeah, I skated at dog park on the way into work for about 20 minutes. It was super meh. 8.25 with Thunder T2s was not a good combo.

Had changed back to Indys. Very much disliked it. I skated to Willville. My board was more cracked than I remembered and I had new 600s. I couldn’t even kickflip. We started out on a tiny curb. I came close to doing a nollie front crook stall. Dave almost did nollie front 180 fakie 50. We went back to the main area. I managed one kickflip up the curb and was about 10% close to a sw 180 manual. Dave though, he almost did switch manual revert into the bank. It was amazing really.

(setup 0/10 8.3 null time warp, indy hollow 149, spitfire f4 99a 52mm tablets, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

On a warm morning I met up with Cass, Kyle, Joe and eventually Garrett at Dayton skatepark. I remember thinking it was fun, but I also don’t remember much. Kyle, Cass and I had first try kickflips. Cass had nice front noses. I was happy to get a little line of back 50 to fakie on the qp then halfcab noseslide the ledge under the qp. Had some okay front 50s, couldn’t back 50. Kyle with the 5-0 kickflip out. There was a dude there doing long crooks on the qp and impossibles every time which was cool.

Then we went to a weird nearby ledge/loading dock spot. Most hucked over a trash can. I dorked around on a little bump and eventually found a fun line of kickflip on the bump to front 180 off the loading dock. It was really fun. Kyle had done a really nice kickflip over the trash can. Donnie tested his endurance trying a sw 180 crooks.

Lastly we ended up at a place I have only skated a couple of times that I love (last spot in this clip). And it did not let me down. They had redone it a little so the spot is slightly different. Garrett did a cool 180 into a bank then fakie tre the 2. I had pretty quickly landed crooks then kickflip down the 3. I got up the 3 a couple times, but it was a struggle. Joe and Dan had some great lines. I managed another line of sw front 180 a 2 stair then front shove the 3. Made me pretty happy. What a fun day!

(setup 5/10 8.3 null time warp, thunder hollow 149 with t2 bushings, spitfire f4 99a 52mm tablets, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 2/10 !!!)

Josh had to head up to Glenwood so we decided to hit Golden earlyish so we could skate a little more before he left. We arrived to a mostly empty park, but two kids playing on boards really found a way to constantly interrupt the flow. Good for them being on boards at least. Josh started ripping right away, I was so burnt feeling. He was quickly wallieing off the corner of the wedge, skating the quarterpipes, flowing. We kind of settled on the slightly downhill ledge for a while. I would get some boardslides all the way, some noseslides and crooks that were not the whole ledge. Josh would noseslide it, front 50, switch noseslide. We tried to do some 3 trick lines up top with the curb/ride on grinds, qp and tiny qp. Was pretty fun. Josh had to leave. I skated a bit longer an finally landed a couple things. On was a line of noseslide to fakie the slightly downhill ledge then fakie flip on the mellow bank. The other was switch. 180 into the mellow bank, crooks the curved ledge, kickflip on the bank then noseslide the weird launch ramp to to ledge. Okay, no more skating for at least a day!

(setup 5/10 8.3 null time warp, thunder hollow 149 with t2 bushings, spitfire f4 99a 52mm tablets, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Had the day off work to skate with one of my main homies Josh Pluger. We started at Frederick and it was great. Kind of bright an hot, but it was great. Especially when long time friend Andy showed up with his crew of kids in skate lessons. But before that we skated quite a while. Josh adapted well and was rifling off lines. Like most sessions there we warmed up on the bank to curb section and mellow bank. Josh even flipped his board! I had gotten a first try kickflip so he did a first try kickflip to fakie. I was happy that I got a few flippers relatively quickly like kf fakie, fakie flip, halfcab flip and b/s flip. Josh’s slappies were cool. After some chatting with Andy and smoothies we mostly skated the ledge. Josh manned up and front 50’d it, front 50 180, front noseslide, backside noseslide, sw noseslides, etc. Ripping. I couldn’t commit to front 50, but I did get some crooks, switch noses and a very weak halfcab noseslide.

Next up the old Berthoud park. It’s so fun. Josh ripped it. His poppy ollies over the hip alone were sick. Add in some good qp tricks, front axle on the bank to ledge, 50 around the C ledge, front shove to fakie and fakie bigspin. He was ripping. I was struggling, but did get a couple b/s flips in a row over the hip. Josh had one a good back 3 over it. I started doing crooks on the C ledge and tried to varial flip the hip after. Josh got a sense of my temper on that one. Geez, I just could not land it and it was so frustrating. I was so close, but never once got both feet on it. At the end I did perhaps the slowest and worst front 50 on the C ledge of all time.

Then we went the newer Berthoud park after some yummy poke. We played on the tiny qp for a while which was fun. We did a lot of tricks. Then I skated the ledge section doing some noseslide variations and trying to front 50 coming back. Took a while, did some fun noseslides to fakie. Slammed super hard on one though and it started raining so we called it a day.

(setup 2/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v-cast no big washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic orange/black, new balance numeric 430 size 12 b/w half insole currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

After work my good friend Josh showed up and after catching up we went over to the parks. There was no one at Valmont so we started there. Josh went in on the pole jam first. He got it quick, also some of his patented no complies and bean plants. I had some kickflips on the flat bank. We did some stuff around the park, cruising, checking out the stupid curved quarterpipes.

Then we went over to Green Block. Josh was kind of surprised how hard it was to skate. But he still lined things out. Wallies, slappies, 50s, cruising. I was mostly struggling. At one point I was trying crook shove and almost did an accidental nollie heel out. Man I wish I would have landed that because it will never happen again. Josh and I made ourselves do some halfcab noseslides since he struggles with that trick too.

We went back over to Valmont as the toddlers had left. Filmed Josh do the pole jam then he filmed me do the crooks then kickflip.

(setup 5/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v-cast no big washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic orange/black, new balance numeric 430 size 12 b/w half insole currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Went over to the school to skate flatground. No real plan in mind other than to get 10 flip tricks. I started kind of slow though, took a bit to get fakie flip. But then wow, after that it was so downhill. For like a full 30 minutes I didn’t get beyond kickflip/fakie flip. Bailed trick after trick. Could not get heelflip, treflip. Eventually would get varial flip, halfcab flip, b/s flip, f/s halfcab flip and that was it. Went in on treflips and heelflips and could not get either. It was so frustrating. I felt like I was skating hard and having fun for the early part of this session, but wow did I leave depressed.

(setup 2/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, slappy low profile 8.25, 53mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 3/10)

In the early evening I went to campus after some cloud cover moved in. But it was still really hot in the low 90s. My legs had nothing, it was surprising. I had a setup change and a new deck. 8.25 with slappy lows and 53mm wheels this time around. Will it be the magical setup that cures my madness? Doubtful, but I did like it this day at least. I started on the little curb on the downhill sidewalk. Did a couple 50s and kickflips then went over to Baker ledge. Never got a clean manual. Noseslides were a little weird. Crooks worked. Got a front axle stall, almost an actual front 50. Halfcab flips felt good. At the end I was super tired, made myself do a halfcab noseslide. Took longer than it should. Also tried treflips for a while and at least got both feet on, but no make.

(setup 7/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, slappy low profile 8.25, 53mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10 but my legs had no juice at all)