On a really windy day I randomly ended up at this little downhill driveway / manny pad / wallride spot. I was tired from the punk show and a little under the weather. Skating didn’t go well. I did some brief dorking around to warm up before going in on a line. Manual, ollie up, wallie nollie off. I got a couple manuals right away, then couldn’t do it again. It was so frustrating. Something about how short the little manny pad was scared me. I kept bailing ever kickflip trick in between tries too and it was driving me nuts. I finally just filmed the wallie nollie. Then I tried some frontside whirlybirds that wen’t very close.

(setup 1/10 8.25 null timewarp, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v-hollow, 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 pretty sore)

Went to dog park after my first 4 day stint off the board all year I think. I hate not skating. I also hate being sick. Bratcher was there, Fergs too, Gordon after a while, Ace one of the only solo youth showing up by himself and totally ripping. I felt quite out of it and even dizzy at times, but skated okay mostly. Halfcab flips worked finally, crooks, noseslides, 50s on the lurb. Ace rattled off like 20 tricks in a row on the big wood ledge, it was crazy. And casually doing hard qp tricks too. Gordon had his good manuals and grinds and tried some other moves. Bratcher was getting his feet back after another bad slam. After a while Eric showed too, took a bit to get manual. I squeeked out a couple nose manuals. I battled front 50 on the annoying bench and was about to get very upset, but luckily put down a couple. One of which even felt good. It started raining and I was happy about that as I was beat.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null timewarp, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v-hollow, spitfire f4 99a 52mm pink/green classic, new balance numeric 272 army size 12 with half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cool and rainy morning Kevin and I barged the Square House. I was finally feeling better and had some energy. And it seemed like right away the session was popping. We captured most of the highlights on video, but we skated hard for almost 4 hours. Kevin did the nollie flip right away and I somehow got his back with a first try kickflip. Kevin’s noseblunt was crazy. I was unhappy that I couldn’t ollie onto the stage. The wallie up the brick section is so fun. It took me a while to get the sw 180 into the bank. I was just trying for that part of the line, but it set me up for kickflip so I posed a couple before realizing I could actually do it. Getting that line was my highlight and made me quite happy. At the end we played treflip. Kevin and I got regular ones (mine was crap) then he got a good switch one and I never quite got a nollie tre. Oh well, really fun session.

(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 4/10)

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)