Was supposed to be 53 today, but it never got out of the 30s. I met Paul in the afternoon after work and it was cool, but not too bad. We chatted a bit. Warming up was okay, I was back on 8.25/thunder which I liked more, but still hated. Paul was already doing his easy grinds on the ledges. After some warm up we kind of focused on the green box. I did first try accidental 5-0, then nearly lost my mind trying to get a front 50. I would get a few once I finally leaned forward. Paul and I worked on halfcab noseslides. Paul is somehow not good at then so it was nice to have a partner working on such an “easy” trick. We both got some. We did lines of noseslide to fakie the taller wood ledge then halfcab nose the green ledge. I somehow managed to get one on the tall wood ledge which I was happy about. Preston showed and ripped it on his micro board. I didn’t do much else. Flip tricks were whatever, only got the few kf basics. Came somewhat close to kf 50 on the lurb.

(setup 2/10 null time warp 8.25, jessup ultra, thunder hollow 148 t-ii bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Shortly before dark I went to campus since the students are gone. Or so I thought. Rolling into campus there were a lot more people than I thought there would be. I wanted to start at the micro bank to 2 stair, but it was behind a construction fence. I ended up at the mini bank next to the 3 stair near the stadium. I had setup an old 8.5 with aces for some terrible reason. And I went on to hate it so much that I basically gave up on skating after a couple attempts at warm up lines. I did manage a nollie shove to fakie on the bank, sw 180 up the curb across the street, b/s flip a little hip/bump. The b/s flip took like 10 tries and I was losing my mind. Totally committing, but the big board would not flip enough. I tried another line of nollie front 180 on the bank, back 180 up the curb across the street, halfcab flip the bump. But I gave up on the halfcab flip and did a fakie bigspin again. After that I just couldn’t motivate at all so I left.

(setup 1/10 8.5/14.25 null, ace af1 hollow 55, 52mm spits f4 99a, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a nice morning I got out before others and went to the destination – the newish superior ledge spot. I had it to myself for quite some time. Now that does not mean I landed much. I did try hard though. Like pretty hard and kept just not landing stuff. I had started with some sw noseslides. Went in on front 50s on the lower curved part and only got one really bad one. Had some fun lines of front 180 the little gap, sw noseslide, sw noseslide to forward, bail a treflip. I started trying front noseslides to fakie to start a line and would get a dream line twice, front nose to fakie, sw noseslide to forward, treflip. But when Kyle went to film it, nope, I could not get the darn treflip. I was so close so many times, but could not get it. Argh. Garrett had started doing some good crooks and back tails. I had to give up on my line because I felt so bad wasting everyones time. It worked out, Garrett got a banger b/s flip out and even more. Good work Garrett! I was defeated I couldn’t film that line, but I did get it twice for myself so that felt good at least.

(setup 3/10 null time warp 8.25, jessup ultra, thunder team hollow 148 t-ii bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a sunny nice day I met Dave around noon at the old mellow bank spot in Niwot. I was there slightly before and was just warming up trying some manuals and stuff. Dave would show and beat me to the nollie bonk manual. I had kind of a fun manual to back 180 pivot in. Dave did f/s halfcab into the bank. I did a kickflip or two on the bank. Then we did flippers into it. I had a couple fakie bigflips that were garbage, but would get a b/s flip which felt pretty awesome. Dave hammered out a f/s halfcab flip. Yes, we’re saving some of these clips for Stubborns 2. Then we put a beam on the bank. I treated like a bank to curb for a while and did a few basics, also a halfcab flip on the bank. Dave did a crazy back 5-0 halfcab out then nosegrind 180. I did 180 sw crook stall shove out. Dave back 180 pivot to rock was awesome, but not as amazing as the back 180 sw crook transfer. I got his back with a no comply to tail. We ended on a Dave kickflip into the bank and attempted to hit another spot, but there was cars everywhere.

(setup 6/10 null time warp 8.25, jessup ultra, thunder team hollow 148 t-ii bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After work on a Friday got about an hour of daylight and a little of the lights. It was pretty cool out. I started at the park. Didn’t do anything I can think of beyond some brief warmup. At GB I skated okay. Was trying hard, but not really getting much. Flip tricks were not working. Got a couple crooks on the top of the pad, but not across it. It was funny because one dude was trying back tail bigspin and I told him it was my dream to crooks it. I got about 1 foot on one and he was like “you got it you’re so close”. ha ha, yeah just 10 more feet to go. It was cool though. I don’t remember much else other than my board did not feel very poppy or good.

(setup 4/10 null time warp 8.25, jessup ultra, thunder team hollow 148 t-ii bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, strike mvmnt transit street trainer black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cool night I left my house to skate with no idea where I’d go. Ended up on Pearl and remembered this newish spot so went to check it out. Turned out the backside ledge was waxed up and had lights so I ended up skating that for about an hour. It’s got somewhat of a downhill approach, but it’s not too bad. Took me a while to get used to skating around random people again. Lots of cars stopped at the light right after the landing. I had forgotten wax like I always do, but luckily it was in good shape. Although I would have liked to wax is sooner where its lower. Noseslides were okay. Did a lot of crooks, a couple were some of my best in a long time. Bummer my phone had stopped recording those. Spent forever trying to get a clean back 50. That’s about it. It’s cool you can do a nollie bonk to manual at the start too, some small gaps. I didn’t go in the front because a lot of people were going in and out of the place and I didn’t want to get the boot. I didn’t land much and I was really sore, but it was still fun.

(setup 6/10 null time warp 8.25, jessup ultra, thunder team hollow 148 t-ii bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, strike mvmnt transit street trainer black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

On the way into work I stopped by Boulder park for a short one. Changed my setup again, same stuff, except Thunders. Infinitely better. Didn’t really get too caught up in much, first try front 50 on the bench made me happiest. Or a first try kickflip to fakie on the mound up top. Took a bit to get the bump to front 50. At one point a young teenager showed up and got his camera out and told me him and his friends were going to film a skit. It was pretty funny, they filmed him cruise around the park warming up and drinking coffee then into him fingerboarding when he got warmed up. Wish I would have gotten their channel because I bet it’s a funny clip.

(setup 6/10 null time warp 8.25, jessup ultra, thunder team hollow 148 t-ii bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, strike mvmnt transit street trainer black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10 sore from skating almost 3 hours the night before)

Was thinking of slacking, but Will wanted to hit Broomfield so we did it. I got there first. I had yet another setup change. 8.25 with indy titaniums. Initial feelings were that I would like it. At the park was leather jacket guy from paco the other day going 100mph trying to boardslide up the diy rail to 50 the parking block. He repeatedly slammed super hard and the parking block messed with the blurb approach. Oh well. I had some okay kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip I think all first try. But shortly after Will showed I went 0-20 on f/s halfcab heel. He on the other hand did a bunch of switch flip, maybe even 5 in a row at one point. I struggled on 50s on the black ledge, had one good feeling sw noseslide 270 shove. Will had the nosegrinds both way all good. Justin showed and was ripping so hard. Phoenix was there ripping nollie nose manuals or nosegrinds. I had some hurricanes on the bank to curb. Near the end Will did sw manual and sw nose manual on the blurb. Amazing. I tried a line of front 50, front slash the quartapotty, kickflip the parking block. Committed to the kf, but never got it. Then I spent like 30+ minutes trying a halfcab heel. I was not close for soooo long, but I did get a bad one eventually. I will say I waxed all my bushing, the pivot cup, everything and nothing would stop the Indys from squeeking incredibly loud. I really don’t like Indys, they just don’t work for me and feel so noodly.

(setup 2/10 8.25 indy titanium 144 52mm strike mvmnt size 12 currex runpro)
(pain level 5/10)

On another unseasonably warm November day I drove to Denver and met Cass at Paco Sanchez park. I had randomly thought about it recently and how good the ledges are. But I didn’t remember how bad I am at ledges now. I was super sore too. With all that going against me I did get an ultra slow/bad line of front 50 shove then halfcab noseslide and some crooks. Cass had some good 50s, noseslides, front shoves, kickflips. Will some really good back 5-0s, manual up the wedge, front 5-0. Cass and I played a game of SKATE, he said it was a good game, it wasn’t. I got letters on fakie flip, halfcab flip, b/s flip, front shove and something else.

Then we went to Barnum as it was only 4 minutes away. It was mostly dead because of a Broncos game. I was so sore at this point, hardly did anything. The 5-0 around the corner was so fun as were the long (for me) back 50s. Will’s ollie over the ball was amazing. As was watching him take like 10 tries to roll in. Cass came out of nowhere with the noseslide shove down the hubba. He had some good grinds on the bank to curb too. It was nice getting out in the sun and doing something different.

(setup 1/10 8.3 thunder hollow 53mm bones strike mvmnt size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

I’ve had a lot of busy weekends lately, so it was nice to not have anything lined up for the day. Around 11 I set out without any real plans in mind. I drove to a school in north Boulder (Foothills) as I hadn’t been there in years. It still wasn’t great, but I saw some options for Dave and I ollied a two stair to get the juices flowing. Then I went to Crestview and discovered the freshly painted curb that was so good. I could do real frontside slappies and it was fun. I did a warm up line of slappy, ollie up a curb, axle stall a dry curb, front 180 down a two stair. Then I went to the metal bench area and was humbled by how hard they were. I couldn’t get a line of front 180 up then sw noseslide 270 shove. I don’t know why the shove would not work. The kickflips up took me a bit, but I would get quite a few eventually. Not sure why I couldn’t front board after, but the little scrape was all I had. I then ended up at the basketball court. I went right past the skatepark. One dude was skating it and popping some ollies over a hip. Another was practicing ollies in the grass in full pads. I proceeded to not feel good on my board at all. Managed some noseslides and little crooks, one front axle stall that took a long time and I barely got up there. Couldn’t do any flip tricks to save my life. Had a setup change of 8.25 and slappy lows, it was okay. I just don’t land anything anymore. With that said, I still had fun getting out and skating different spots.

(setup 3/10 8.25 slappy low profile 52mm splay rev b/w size 12 272 and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10 initially the splays felt great, but by the end I was soooooo sore)