On a super nice morning I went out in front of the house to skate some flat. I wore my barefoot shoes again. They didn’t feel so magical this time. So after a bit I switched back to my 379s. They felt even less magical so I went back to the Xeros. I stuck with them for the rest of the flatground. I had done a few flippers when Kevin showed. Shortly after that I got a 360 flip that felt alright, first try fakie bigflip, but could not do a heelflip to save my life. Kevin slammed hard on a heelflip, had a bunch of nollie flips, switch flips, heelflips (took him a bit too) and introduced me to Sean’s technique which I think I will be implementing in the future. Do the trick 3 times. If the 3rd one is garbage or a bail you have to do it one more time while skating fast.

Then we went to Southern Hills. Rob would show up shortly after us. I had skated the Xeros, but they felt really weird on the ledge so I went back to the 379s. Then back to the Xeros for the rest of the session. It’s weird, the barefoot shoes allow the toes to spread so it felt like I had more pop. But the shoe is so thin I didn’t have much confidence. Kevin front 50’d the ledge so easy. At least back 50s took him a few tries. Rob showed up while we were shooting hoops with a kickball. Ha. We all did our think for awhile. Kevin was doing front 50’s up the low bar. He would later go on to do it on the higher part of the low bar and make it up the stairs. He also hit his shin really hard a few times. Rob was doing front noseslides to fakie, back 50 no comply out the step, boardslides, front boards, no comply up the 2, kickflip or no comply shove into the bank then boardslide. Mike showed. He would do a sick line of front 180 up the 2, halfcab flip into the bank, slappy front noseslide the bench. He also impossibled and nollie back heeled into the bank as well as a steezy nollie back tail. Eric showed, but had bruised ribs limiting the action. He still got up on some boardslides. No patented heelflips though. Get well soon. I tried a line of crooks, no comply up the 2, b/s flilp into the bank, but never got the bs flip. I struggled with the no comply up. That was about it. The wind had picked up something fierce at times making it tough to skate. Still a fun day though. It’s hard to describe what it’s like to skate in barefoot shoes other than to say it really does feel like you’re skating barefoot. I think it’s a little too little for me.

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, xero hana minimalist shoe with thin es insoles)
(pain level 3/10 somehow much less pain then i normally feel after that much skating)

On a gorgeous day I was kinda slacking. I setup a new board (8.25). I was messing around with it on the rug with my barefoot shoes (not the individual toe shoes I’m not that crazy) and they felt super good. So I went across the street wearing them. They felt beyond incredible. I did a few slappy crooks then started doing some tricks like front 50 and kickflip, but I tore the canvas on the shoes immediately. I went in for a bit and put some glue over them. Then I went out to just skate flatground. The shoes felt weird, but amazing. I felt like I had crazy control. I had done a few flippers when my work phone went off and I had to call it a day. Doh.

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, xero hana minimalist shoe with thin es insoles)
(pain level 1/10)

Feeling somewhat better after my little surgery I went across the street to do some slappy crooks and that’s about it. I didn’t want to push it. A board to the nuts would kill me. I did like 50 slappy crooks. They felt good. Struggled to get a slappy front crook, did a few front 50s, couple back 50s and called it.

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 379 all black size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

April Fools! Ha ha, but i did actually “skate” at Boulder park. This was because I would not be skating for a few days and wanted to get a little skating in. I was super sore though and not really feeling like trying hard. There was a dude I’ve seen there before with his kid. He rips in between taking runs holding hands with his kid. Then a biker showed that was doing monster airs. Pretty sick to watch actually. There was only a few things I was happy about. Some long back 50s on the steeper qp, a b/s flip over the weird hip and a front 50 across and down the little ledge (it took way too long to land though)

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 7/10 lots of knee pain)

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On a beautiful day I rolled to Indian Peaks with Dave L. We arrived at the same time as Dave F (hereby referred to as Dave – Dave L is Dave L). Rob was the first to start doing tricks. No comply bigspin, crails, kickflip. Dave had the fakie shoves. Dave L was cruising around checking out the line possibilities. I was kinda doing nothing, but managed a first try kickflip to fakie to cheer me up some. Rob had some wallride nollies, front shove fakie, front big, kickflip, one foots. Man its great to have his style and energy back in the mix. Dave L working on nollie cabs and did lots of cool little manuals on the brick medians. I tried the little nollie shove then wallride nollie on the lower wall, but couldn’t get the wallie nollie. Dave was doing beautiful wallie nollies, did his first ever Hale spin (nose stall tailgrab 360) which was so sick. He also had a crazy switch shove revert thing. Two Dave NBDs within a few minutes of each other. Crazy. I started hucking backside flips and several tries later I got one, then a really great feeling one, then another one shown in the clip above. I was hyped as that’s a trick I’ve wanted to do there for awhile. I failed at 360 flips to fakie for awhile. Dave had a sick 360 over the hip. Dave L had a nice 360 no comply over it. I finished with a tiny boneless over the hip then the little kickflip. The hip is much harder than it looks since it’s so rounded. Super fun session. Then Dave L and I looked at a ledge spot that I skated with Jason forever ago. It still looks good, gotta wax it up and get it going!

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a 5 hour drive from Pagosa then a quick nap I went right to skating. Oh, well I mean after a setup change of course since the previous session was so bad. I put an old 8.25″ deck on and lower forged baseplates. I got to a dry Southern Hills around 6 and skated for a little over an hour. I had very little confidence and skated poorly the whole time. A warm up run felt okay. Noseslide a bench, kickflip on flat, front 50 the low stair, boardslide another bench. Also did some crooks, noseslide to fakie, back 50s the step. Oh yeah, I had worn some 212s as my 379s had a hole I didn’t have time to fix. They felt good. Then it was time to try front 50. Never got one. Not even close really. I got onto the ledge a couple times, but it was pretty miserable. I did get a halfcab noseslide at least, maybe a quick switch crook turn around on the step. I focused my old board and left.

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10 still some sharp knee pain and no confidence whatsoever)

Feeling sore I went to the Pagosa park by myself as the family chilled. We had just ate a big breakfast and I had way too much coffee. It didn’t seem like it while we ate, but man I was jittery and agitated. There was one other skater there and a couple little kids on scooters/striders. The other skater was kind of a typical small town punker skater doing a lot of no complies and nollie shoves. He was cool. The park flows alright. The hip seemed cool, but there was snow/mud near the landing on both so I avoided it. I did some back 50s on the qps and took way too long to get kickflip and bs kickflip on the bank (far left in the photo, actually a great bank). I kind of ran out of ideas for the park pretty quickly. I did some front slashes on the qp, but that was about it, I have no motivation for transition anymore. So then I went in on the ledge. Crooks and noseslides went quick. I struggled with some front 50s, got one or two and then could no longer do one to save my life. I was so incredibly frustrated. I left.

All in all I would say this skatepark kinda blows. It has some redeemable features at least. The ledge is good although it’s plopped in the middle of the park. The bank is good, the main transitions are good. But the flow is kind of boring, the retainer wall banks are just stupid. The super steep bank to curb didn’t even look worth trying to hit. I didn’t skate the big bowl although it looked alright.

(setup 8.5″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 379 all black size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 5/10 kinda sharp knee pain and coffee jitters)

Went to Saul’s on the warmest evening of the year so far. Which really isn’t saying much, but 60 something felt absolutely great. I went to Saul’s after a quick nap/bite at home. Dave and Saul were skating. Saul had a few of his patented quick grind runs that rule. Dave seemed a bit off. I bailed some axle stalls. Tyler and Veronica came and did a few runs when it was decided we would go to the EBCC slappy spot. We arrived to a very crowded parking lot, but we still skated and it would slowly clear out. We ended up in the yellow curb area for awhile as it had the least amount of cars. I had put an old 8.5″ deck on that was in way better shape than my 8.3″ deck so I felt a little off, but I didn’t let it get to me. Everyone was kind of on their own avoiding cars. I saw Saul do some of his amazing long slappies. Dave hit a rock and slammed super hard. Tyler and Dave swept the yellow bank and waxed it. Dave had a nice front tail. Tyler a nice back tail. I may have slid a front tail. Veronica had just done her first slappy a few days ago and was trying, but these curbs were less forgiving. Tyler made the tiny gap look easy. I had a sketchy ollie down it. Then I started trying a line near where Dave was doing front crook slappies. The line was back slappy, treflip, kickflip up a curb, front 180 the little gap. I was mostly alone for this as people had moved on to the better area of the curb that had cleared out. I got to the kickflip a couple times quickly, but hit stop rocks right before the kickflip and fell. Argh. I would eventually link the whole line and landing the 180 felt absolutely great. Glad I stuck with that line. Tyler and Saul had been doing really long slappies and doubling it up around a corner, then they split. I joined Dave as he tried switch slappy crook shoves. He didn’t get it, but he did get some super good switch slappy crooks. I tried another line. Slappy crooks to fakie, halfcab flip, ollie the quick euro gap. I never got the ollie up the euro, but was close. Fun night. Felt good to be warm and push and be with a crew. Oh yeah, at one point I had ran and jumped off a fire hydrant onto my board since I’ve been inspired by the Vallely 9 club.

(setup 8.5″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 379 all black size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 5/10 kinda sharp knee pain)

Met Matt at 303 and after he finally picked out a shoe we rolled onto campus. We entered from the bottom of the hill and after a fun quick curb kick we were at Macky. Matt 50s it first try. Which is funny because he said he didn’t want to skate anything with impact. I got him to do it again. I should mention at this point I was feeling extremely terrible on my board. The long session the day before and a 4 mile hike earlier in the day had me super sore. Then we were near the rec center where Matt ollied a smallish gap first try. I wasn’t up for it.

Ended up here and we did our kickflip/treflips for the photo.

Then we hit the ledge. Matt got noseslide, boardslide, crooks. I got noseslide, noseslide fakie, a terrible boardslide and couldn’t get crooks.

Lastly we ended up at this spot which always takes a bit of an adjustment. Matt had a couple good back 50s and back 5-0s. I had crappy slappy crooks, back axle stall, noseslide 270, front 180 fakie 50 to forward. Then a truck came so we left.

(setup 8.38 null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 379 all black size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Rob, Carliegh and I showed up at a mostly empty park around 1 under cloudy skies. Carleigh went off to the dog park with Ella and I had the pleasure of skating with Rob for the first time in a few months. He looked good as always. Seeing that perfect back 180 again was awesome. I felt better than I have in awhile. Got a first try manual which is surprisingly rare. Carleigh joined. We were all having fun. Rob got into his groove with manuals, no comply up the curb, back 180s, manual and nose manual the main pad. Carleigh did a flatground ollie as a warm up and it reminded me of how I never just do flatground ollies. It feels so weird. I should more. She boardslid the little rail easily, axle stall the steep qp. I had done a few ledge tricks. Was hyped back 50 didn’t take me forever. Couldn’t get front nosegrind though. Dave showed around when I was trying a line. Ollie onto a potato chip, front 180 off, fakie 50 the ledge. I think I got it, but came out f/s halfcab instead of to fakie. I tried a few noseslide back 270s out (after that amazing Bobby Worrest part!), but wasn’t close. Couldn’t front 50 it to save my life. Crooks worked at least. I started trying a line that would take me forever. Crooks the bench, kickflip up the curb of the wave, push up the hump because I didn’t do the kickflip fast enough, axle stall. The axle stall took forever. But at least when I finally did it I added a first try kickflip off which felt extra great. Dave had been trying a line too. Back tailslide over the tiny hump thing, front 50 the ledge, fakie nosegrind the ledge. The back tails over the hump hip were incredible though. The best I’ve sen him do. Rob got a sick manual up and round a hump. Carleigh was slamming on frontside wallrides then got a super solid one. Dave was trying halfcab manuals on the top of the volcano near the bowl. I don’t think he got one, but it was super crazy. It inspired me to try a transition line. Frontside ollie the qp, axle stall the steep qp, kickflip on the qp. It took me a long time, but I got it and it was a blast. I almost got a treflip to end it. Dave did a crazy back tail 270 on the hump hip. Then we did some front crooks on the slappy curb and called it a day. So fun! One of the best days I’ve had in awhile.

(setup 8.38 null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 379 all black size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 2/10)