Went to dog park after work on a nice Friday afternoon. Will was there. I attempted to start out in my Dunks, but the narrow toebox quickly caused too much pain so I put the TJ’s on again. They are too much. Anyway, I skated. Will was ripping, switch manual the c pad, halfcab manual, close to switch nose manual. He got me jumping up and down it, even if I couldn’t feel the manual pocket in those thick shoes. I did some of my ultra basics, that’s about it. Back 50s felt okay on the low obstacles. Couldn’t kickflip onto the lurb and didn’t try to front 50 anything tall. Was motivated and trying hard for a while, but nothing seemed to work. Played a game of SKATE with Will and I lost on halfcab flip. So depressing. I used to have that trick 99% of the time. Was going to leave but Brian, Kyle, David showed up. Goofed around a little with Brian, but then took off.

(setup 6/10 null flaherty 8.3, jessup pj, venture 5.8 v8 titanium hanger, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic pink/green, es tj rogers b/w size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10 getting sick of being in so much pain)

After work on a perfect cloudy afternoon I met up with Paul, Ted and several others were there. It was a rad crew. Sold Ted a new Hayden board and people were digging the graphic. My arthritis was finally not fully raging and I felt somewhat comfortable on my board. Robbie, tall guy and sketchy fast guy were ripping through the block like it was nothing. Paul was ripping the new ledges. I really liked the quick line in the clip above. I didn’t really do anything well, but was finally moving okay and it felt nice. Mostly just tricks I’ve done before although I did try some nollie front tail bigspins out that felt possible. Paul learned slappy sw crooks to tail. I liked my crooks then front shove line even if neither trick was done very well. That ledge is really tall.

(setup 5/10 null flaherty 8.3, jessup pj, venture 5.8 v8 titanium hanger, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic pink/green, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 with custom insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

Feeling very arthritic I stubbornly went to Blue Skies for a lunch break session. Kind of the main point was to see if the supportive TJ shoes would help. They did. I skated terribly. Went through some motions and a lot of tricks were closest on first try then I would lose confidence. Like front 50 on the low ledge that always gives me trouble, got into it the first few tries, then lost it. Boardslides and noseslides on the flatbar was about the only thing that felt good. Some ollies and nollie 180s on the bank were okay.

(setup 7/10 null flaherty 8.3, jessup pj, venture 5.8 v8 titanium hanger, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic pink/green, es tj rogers b/w size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 8/10 arthritis everywhere)

Feeling tired and arthritic I met Cass at Broomfield mostly because I needed to pick up the Hayden boards from him. We warmed up on the bank to curb which is quickly disintegrating into a weird qp, still a fun warm up though. Mixed in some of the easier black ledge tricks. Laughed because Cass took like 5 tries to do a noseslide. I had a setup change, 8.3 with venture v8s. It was fine. On the blue lurb Cass smoked me to front 50 shove. We tried to mirror them out with back 50 shove but neither of us got them. Both failing in totally different ways. He would go fast and miss the shove off the end. I would go slow and come to a halt. Justin and Jameson were there, as were some other rippers. I took too long to do a slow halfcab noseslide. At the end Cass did a really good hardflip flyout, then treflip and a good flatground treflip. I did a terrible flyout kickflip and took a few tries to do boardslide on the bump to bar.

(setup 7/10 null flaherty 8.3, jessup pj, venture 5.8 v8 titanium hanger, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic pink/green, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 with custom insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 6/10)

Feeling tired after a late night at the CSU game I rolled towards Longmont and stopped in Niwot. Said I would warm up at the mellow bank spot to begin. Did some manuals across it, some ollies out/in, was feeling fun. Struggled a bit with shove it, then took a long time to do kickflip fakie and started to lose my mind. Like what the heck I could not kickflip that board to save my life. Would eventually get a couple and fakie flip, one b/s flip. Could not get varial flip, fakie tre, back heel.

Decided to leave for the nearby ledge spot, but it had a dumpster in front of it so drove around a little and found the new flyout bank spot that looked so incredible. And it was. But I SUCKED. Couldn’t get a front shove out to start, took a while to get kickflip. Went in front heels, never flipped enough. Went in on treflips and never got bot feet on and lost my mind. There was no one around, except of course the one freak out I had where I threw my board and screamed. Dude came out of nowhere. It was funny. Unlike my skating.

(setup 0/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, indy titanium 144, 52mm spitfire pink/green 99a class, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 custom insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

On a very windy morning in Boulder I drove to Longmont and met Dave at a very nice and calm Indian Peaks. 10 minutes later, it wasn’t so calm and the wind would get much worse, but we still skated. I hadn’t skated the front in decades so it was fun. The manny pad is better than it looks, the waxed up curb was fun, the flatground is good too. I hucked a lot, landed very little other than manual, a couple kickflips, halfcab flip and a nollie front crook (no grind) which I believe is a GleNBD. I liked how my board popped, but I was like 1/20 on kickflips up a curb which did not sit well. Dave had nollie crooks, fakie crooks, spracks to manual, cabs, 5-0 180s, crooks, he was ripping. After I left he did a switch manual on the pad!

(setup 5/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, indy titanium 144, 52mm spitfire pink/green 99a class, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 custom insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After work on my daughter’s 26th birthday I went to dog park. Well, I considered Valmont, but there was a toddler birthday party and lots of strider bikes. Dog park had a few heated college rippers. It was tough to decide but I went dog park as it’s easier to hide. Ended up not being that bad. I made up for that. It’s been a few long days since the session so i don’t remember a whole lot other than I skated like dog crap. Trying to remember anything I did worth a crap and I can’t. Had some normal crooks, noseslides, 50s on the curb. Dave showed. At least the vibe was better. We stuck in the back and lined out the qps and the huge metal grate manny pad. Dave had a line of something like axle to fakie the smaller qp, flatground cab, switch manual the grate. So sick. I couldn’t land any flip tricks. Only thing I liked was a wallie off the round metal thing up onto the pad. I was really scared to do it though. I left after that.

(setup 1/10 8.25 null timewarp, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v-hollow, spitfire f4 99a 52mm pink/green classic, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 with weird custom insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Had some time, stopped at Boulder park. Reverted back to my 8.25 with venture hollows. Felt way better for the most part. I felt sore from the double session the day before, but I felt good pretty quickly. Front 50s worked first try on the 3 ledges I tried them on the day before. Also, the smaller/lower setup felt better for flipping. Did one little b/s flip on the hump. Did some f/s ollies on the main hip. Did a line of front 50 the bump to ledge, kickflp to fakie on the upper little bank, halfcab noseslide the triangle ledge. Front 50 shove the bench. Took a while to end on back 50 on the triangle ledge again, but it felt great.

(setup 7/10 8.25 null timewarp, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v-hollow, spitfire f4 99a 52mm pink/green classic, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 with weird custom insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Had some time before meeting so stopped at Boulder park on the way into work. I was on an 8.3 and T2s and thought I liked it. I hadn’t been there in a while. Kind of cruised around for a bit getting the feel of things before going in on front 50s again. They felt really good on the bump to triangle. I think I did a line of front 50 the bump to triangle ledge, go up top then front 50 the bump to ledge, then over to the bench and front 50 it. I had done some other stuff, but that made me happy. I then worked on back 50 over the corner on the upper part of the triangle ledge which I did and it felt cool. I think I did a kickflip or two, but they didn’t feel great.

After work I went to dog park. I was pretty sore from skating earlier, but it was sooooo nice out I just had to. Ted was there. He tried back 50 heelflip out on the curb, so I tried front 50 kickflip out. He got closer. My session didn’t go so well. I managed some basics, but really started hate my heavy setup and high trucks. I went in on front shove and it took way too long. I had started by lining it out, then just gave up and did it solo. Then finally set my phone up as a little more motivation. Finally got it. Left after that. Forgot there was another older dude there in D3s with some amazing manual combos.

(setup 2/10 8.3 null, jessup pj, thunder t2 149, spifire f4 99a pink/green 52mm classic, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 weird custom insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10 first session 5/10 second session)

Still feeling run down I went across the street after work on a nice and cool day. I had a setup change. 8.3 with T2s. Felt great to roll on, but I really didn’t do much. I had forgotten wax for the curb and it didn’t grind well at all. Managed some front slappies and crooks both ways. Got one kickflip that felt great, one that felt terrible. A couple nollie front 180s that felt great. Maybe a few shoves.

(setup 6/10 null 8.3 flaherty, jessup ultra pj, thunder t2 149, spitfire 51mm f4 99a classic, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12)
(pain level 3/10 but I didn’t really do anything)