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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)

Went to dog park around 10. Bratcher, Jesse, Gordon, Paul were there. I hadn’t bothered putting a new 8.25 together, so I was stuck with the 8.3 T2 setup which I completely disliked. I had very little juice. Jack got hurt pretty bad on a boardstall gone wrong. Jesse left. Paul and Gordon ripped some cool combos on the two step. I think Paul did noseslide up noseslide down. Gordon pop shove up, boardslide off. I tried noseslide to fakie then sw front nose and didn’t get too close. After a while I just gave up and resigned myself to trying nollie front tail front shove which I eventually did and was hyped.

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The Nebraska dudes finally showed, but it started raining. Some time later we said we were going to leave so that meant everyone skated harder for another 15 min or so. Lee sw front nosed the tall bar and front 50d the table. I did some of my easiest basics then tried to no comply flip a parking block and couldn’t do it. The young kids adapted and quickly landed their tricks.

Then we went to Willville after some lunch and rain. There was another crew there from Houston which was rad. They were charging. David killed it. I tried some switch 180 manuals, but was not very close.

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After jumping into Boulder creek we ended up at the bank spot out on Arapahoe. It was mostly chill. I did some axle stall and failed to no comply to tail or back pivot. David had a nice backside flip. Cooper a cool beanplant. Long day! Super fun.

(setup 2/10 null 8.3, jessup ultra, thunder T2 149, 52mm spitfire f4 orange/black 99a classic, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After work and a long afternoon nap I went under the shady trees across the street to skate some flatground. Nate had armed me with a 10×10 list, but I ended up not really sticking to it. I remember taking a few tries to kickflip which was the start of my demise. I guess halfcab flip and b/s flip felt good, but heelflip came around and I could not do it to save my life. I don’t know what it is about Thunders, but I cannot land heelflips with them. To make matters worse I went in on treflips after that. Never got both feet on one. Was super frustrated. Was close to nollie flips at least. Left at peace but slammed on a kickflip on the new street on the way home and focused my old board. Wah.

(setup 3/10 null 8.25 time warp, null grip, thunder team hollow 148, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a lot of sitting at work I went to dog park because it was cloudy and so nice out I just couldn’t resist. I started at Valmont very briefly before the toddlers annoyed me and I went to the ledges. Warming up was whatever, I definitely didn’t have much drive and I was sore. But I did rattle off quite a few basics that didn’t require pop. I had a couple back 50s on the curb that felt good, one with a back 180 out that felt good. There was a dude trying to ollie the hydrant that was not even remotely close. it was pretty entertaining. Paul arrived. For whatever reason we did some slappies to quick ollies the next parking block. I got slappy crook then front 180. Almost got a no comply flip, but it was not working. Randomly hucked a few treflip lips on the low flat bar that somehow felt doable. Paul did 180 then switch slappy crook. I couldn’t ollie the kinked round bar, but I did get a bonky first try ollie over a sideways element bar. I couldn’t heelflip again, but did get some of the other basics. Ended with the depression of trying to front 50 the bench which I would eventually do very slowly. Donnie had shown, cool seeing him even if his warm up exercises were longer than our skate session ha ha.

(setup 7/10 null 8.25 time warp, null grip, thunder team hollow 148, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

After work i cruised down to Willville. The first part of the bike path is all downhill and so fun. I had put a smaller complete back together for reasons I don’t really understand. But I did like it. Anyway I went to the little ledge and was kind of going through an okay warm up. Got some slow 50s, nollie front tails felt good, close to kickflip back 50, a couple kickflips. When this rasta dude cruised up all hyper and excited to see someone skate the ledge he often rolls by. He joined me. He was quite drunk, but still rolled into the bank, front 50 and boardslides. I had done a nollie front tail 270 shove and he was so hyped. Ha. I didn’t really get much else, he left. I tried some manuals into the pad, but never quite got it. The soreness from 8 days of skating was getting to me still so I headed home.

(setup 7/10 null 8.25 time warp, null grip, thunder team hollow 148, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)