Around noon Rob and I headed to our staple, the research center ledge. We started near the Max Rail goofing around. I love that area. Oh yeah, I was wearing some old Lakais I had lieing around as I wanted some cupsoles. The Marianos. They felt pretty good. We headed down the the ledge. I was really ignoring my achilles pain. Rob skates that ledge uphill mostly and I skate it downhill. He had some nice boardslide pop outs, halfcab boardslide, noseslide, crooks. Carleigh would show too and quickly did noseslide and kickflips. I guess since I had skated so much flat the day before I didn’t put much into flippers. I tried crooks forever. Some felt amazing, but I wouldn’t get out. Carleigh tried heelflips for awhile and got into front 50s. rob added crooks and manuals down the whole hill. Once I had gotten the crooks I started trying lines again. Front 180 up the curb, halfcab flip, crooks. I think I got that, maybe it was a noseslide though. Then I tried a line of front 180 up the curb, fakie flip, halfcab noseslide. But I couldn’t get the fakie flip. It sucked. I seriously spent like an hour trying it. Even switched to slow and pathetic fakie ollies up the curb and still couldn’t get the fakie flip after. I ended up just giving up on it. We skated there for quite awhile and our trick total was probably like 5 tricks. Ha. We went and hung with Jack at work for awhile.

Jack thought of this spot so Rob and I went there. I was hoping it was shady, but it wasn’t. It was quite hot. I couldn’t even ollie up the little curb initially I was sore and my achilles was killing me. We pulled through though. First was some ride down manuals which were fun. Then ollieing up the curbs, etc. Rob and I did the main manual starting near the stairs and coming towards the camera. Neither of us got all that we wanted. I worked on kickflips up the glorified curb and eventually got one. I wanted to follow it with a kickflip off, but was going too slow and just bonelessed instead. Rob had a rad line up the stairs of ollie, manual and ollied out of the manual onto the top level. Super clean too. So sick. I ended by doing the quick up then ollie the little gap past the curb. That spot reminds me of Neil and I wish he would have been there to skate with us. :`(

Lots of skating so that was cool, but I got home and my achilles was really swollen. I did some research and that is not good at all. So I might not be skating for awhile. Knowing me it’ll only be a couple days because I’m stubborn like that, but who knows. Not being able to even push comfortably is no fun.

Somehow my achilles felt better. I wanted to skate flat and went to the hockey rink by the rollerblade park near IBM. It was really hot out. My board felt rather large. Guess I’m still not used to the big setup. I skated pretty hard, but my achilles was definitely still effecting me. Got a few clean treflips which is good for me these days. Took a long time on fakie big flips. Other tricks went alright. Wanted to start a line with nollie tre, but never quite got one. I should do this more often. Although when I got back to work I was super sore. Turns out those Etnies RCTs are pushing my big toe in all weird. Ugh. Skate shoes. Ugh.

After work and then some Chipotle I met up with Riley, Scotty, Nolan, Dave and Josh at the Longmont park. At the start I bailed 3 axle stalls on the QP that Josh destroys above. I knew it would be bad after that. Really bad. My pushing leg achilles was hurting so bad. Every push hurt. I should have left, but I didn’t. Dave and I skated the mellow bank in the bank. I actually skated that part alright. Did a lot of no comply tricks initially. No comply bigspin, no comply front shove fakie, no comply finger flip fakie, no comply back shove fakie (never done that one before), no comply back 270 shove (I thought I was doing it like Cory Kennedy, but it turns out I wasn’t at all), fakie flip, b/s flip and a halfcab flip. Dave got a rare fakie flip, nollie bigspin, and more that I can’t remember right now. We were having fun and making fun of some of our ‘over 40’ makes. That was pretty much my skating. After that I filmed Josh for awhile, Riley for awhile and watched Riley, Nolan, Dave and Josh kill the QP. Dave and Josh learned the Scott Stevens trick (fakie body varial backside boneless). Josh also did some crazy tricks as you can see. Nolan and Riley played SKATE and it had some crazy tricks in it. Those dudes rip. I gotta figure out whats wrong with my achilles, it’s not good.

Went to Broomfield park after work/Crisis with Matt, Riley, Scotty, Bernie and Nolan and Darin were there. I started in the flow bowl area and watched Nolan destroy it. I did remotely ok for me and ended with an axle stall on the pool coping. Nolan had some insanely rad lines going in and out of the bowl onto the 3 foot section. Looked fun. Then we went to the street area. I played treflip with Matt and Darin for awhile. Well, Matt did a bunch of tricks, but Darin and I took a long time to get treflips. Riley was straight murdering the park. Lines around the whole park. Above is just a tiny fraction of what he was doing. Darin, Matt and I trained it on pole jams over a rock that had been put after the little bank. So fun. There was some dude there skating so sketchy trying it. It was scary to watch. Then I mostly skated the blue bank you have to ollie onto with Bernie while filming Riley do 20 tricks down the double set. Bernie did kickflip manual up to fakie manual down, halfcab nosemanual around to 180 out, manual to front rock and probably more. I tried ollie up kickflip to manual down, but that was a stretch. Got close once. Tried riding up to rock fakie flip out, but the lights shut off. Not before Riley did a ton of tricks though and not before Matt got pissed at not landing front 50 back 180’s out and put his foot through the middle of his board. Fun night.

Had a pretty fun night with Ollie playing soccer then darts. It was late, but I wanted to skate a little so I went out to Rampy and wow it sucked. I was wearing my glasses and it was the first time on a ramp with a bigger setup again, but man there is no excuse for how long it took me to land a back 50. I almost quit after the 3rd bail, but figured I’d go for a record of suck. I would eventually land a few tricks. The only one standing out is a first try front tail. I tried back tails for awhile. Got remotely close, but man that trick is weird.

On a beautiful Sunday morning Jake, Ollie and I went to this park. We were cruising around warming up. Things were fun, then the park got infested with parents and kids with toys for awhile. So we went and skated flat in the basketball court. After a bit Jake and I played a game of SKATE. Technically I won it on a b/s flip, but Jake refused that trick since he’s never done it and went after treflips for a long time. It sucked, we landed on so many, but either put hands down, toe drag or fell off. Jake would eventually get one. Then we went back to the park. Jake kinda went off. Had a sick line of f/s halfcab off the drop, ollie over the rail (far back right of photo) then bluntslide the ledge. Another line of front 50 down the mini hubba in the back right, ollie up the platform, front 180 into the bank then f/s cab the hip. Wow! Ollie was mostly bored, but did get a few tricks like front 180 over the hip, cannonball over the hip, fakie shove fly out, halfcabs everywhere, f/s 180s. Good to see him skate again. I didn’t skate very well. Had some boardslides around the C ledge, had a line with boardslide the bump to ledge, then noseslide down the C hubba, and took awhile to front 50 the ledge to drop. I had tried to ollie over the rail Jake was, but couldn’t quite get it. Had a fun line with no comply tailslide nose grab followed by kickflip to fakie. Dave joined us after awhile and skated well. There was some cruntslide or something that Jake and I thought was pretty incredible. Good ollies, beanplant front 180 the hip, so many rad tricks.

Had a ridiculous work day. It bummed me out so much. Got done around six and skated flat for awhile. I had discovered most of my achilles pain was due to the newer orthotic incoles I had. I put my older ones in and it felt much better. Whew. Anyways skating went better then expected. The big setup felt big at times, but didn’t seem to effect a whole lot. I got a few of the basics. Halfcab flips felt good. Treflips didn’t. Landed on a nollie bigflip. Had fun and was happy my achilles didn’t hurt so bad.

Stuck working on a Friday night. Ugh. Managed to see most of Ollie’s football games. Then went for a brief skate to the research center. I started near the Max rail and it ruled. I had new shoes (Etnies RCT) and a new 8.25 deck with my old Venture wides. Yeah, so in Portland there were several times where I felt like my board was too small. So I figured it’s time to try the bigger setup again. This time only 8.25 and Ventures instead of Indy. It felt decent. I started with a line of noseslide coming up the handicap ramp, boardslide a curb, then front 180 up the two stair. It’s a dorky spot, but really fun because you have to curve around all crazy. Then I had a super fun line. Firecracker the two stair, ride down the mess of long stairs, kickflip on flat, no comply 180, start doing down the hill, switch front 180, back 180 (felt really good with the bigger setup), turn around, ollie up the curb, crooks the ledge, then manual the long pad. But I ended up falling on the landing of the manual. I laughed then looked up and saw this awesome view.

I skated the ledge for awhile. Locked into some crooks, didn’t land many of them. Did one back 50. Went to try some flippers, but my achilles is still hurting so bad that I stopped.

Last day of the trip. We had until around 3pm to skate. I did some flippers in the street for awhile while waiting for others to get ready. I was feeling alright. Then Dave and I played a game of SKATE. He won. I forget what with, but one trick was a switch front shove. Off to breakfast.

Then we hiked a hill (Tabor?) to start the day with a hill bomb. Fuzz called out everyone had to do a kickflip first. Handled.

Pretty fun way to start the day. Although Dave and I went the wrong way at one point and had to hike back up awhile to go the right way. It was cool though because we got to see the spot that young Rochester, MN ripper Alec Majerus destroyed.

Then we went to the Ed Benedict skate plaza. The park is incredible! Most of us were to sore and exhausted to take full advantage though. Carleigh ripped it though. Ollied the launcher, noseslid over a gap and flowed all around the park. I tried to skate, but had to give up. Had a crooks or two, slammed kickflipping the hip Nate is ollieing, landed the kickflip, ollied a 3 stair and felt too exhausted to skate so I stopped. Fuzz front tailed the weird bank at the entrance, ollied the launcher. Chris ripped it too. Ollied the launcher, some stairs, good back 50s some other stuff I can’t remember any more. Dave had a rad back tail on the bank, front 50 on the bank to ledge. Nate skated good. Fast back 50s, pop, crazy tricks. Matt cruised that park so easy. Fast ollies, tricks on the benches, back nosegrind the bench over the gap, and a crooks up the top of a rail. That was it. Such a fun trip.

Sunday sunday sunday! The plan was street skating and street skating is what went down. We were at this first spot for several hours. It had a lot to offer. A perfect curb that also served as a manny pad, a good ledge, the ledge Nate lipslid over, and much more. In the beginning I saw Matt noseslide the “Nate Ledge”, a bunch of manuals on the curb by most people. I kind of was solo for a bit trying lines with trick up curb, flatground trick then ledge trick. Fuzz joined me. First one was switch front 180 up, kickflip on flat, noseslide. Handled. Second was bs 180 up curb, halfcab flip on flat, crooks. Handled. Well, I’m not sure Fuzz did that one. But he made up for it by doing a few extra 180s. Fuzz had a sick line involving a bunch of really fast 180s, a kickflip and a fast halfcab noseslide. I tried another line of kickflip up curb, b/s flip on flat, hc noseslide. Didn’t quite get it. The bs flips were slow any way. Then most people were skating over by the Nate Ledge as he battled the lipslide for a long time. Jack bluntslid it and bluntslide to fakie. Neil almost lipslid it too. Neil had some good lines to the ledge starting with pop shoves up the curb and no complies over a sign. Fuzz had a really funny slam. Rob was doing this rad line of manual then no comply bs wallride. I messed around with some front 50s on the ledge. Eventually our new homie Snakey Jakie showed and made a little kicker/pole jam thing which was quite fun. Snakey killed it with an ollie out to board break. Fuzz and I did pole jams then 180s off the curb, his bs mine fs. Carleigh rode off to manual. Dave missed an early grab. Jack late shoved it. Nate went out to the street. Matt probably ollied the whole thing.

Dave and Jack filmed some stuff before we ended up here which Nate referred to as “The best manny pad ever!” We wasn’t too far off though as it was pretty fun. He did the trick above so easy so many times. I got a manual to back 180 in (with a couple minor tilts). Then Nate and I tried lines for a bit. He was trying no comply 180 up the curb (the hard way) then halfcab nose manual back 180 into the bank. Got pretty close. I was trying switch 180 up the curb, kickflip off, nose manual front 180 in. Got real close, maybe even did it with a little tilt. I should mention that my achilles was killing me. Every push hurt soooo bad. Ugh.

Went a half block to this which is so much gnarlier then it looks. Matt ollie’ing it was so sick. Dave tried front 360 manuals. I tried something dumb. Nate 50’d the ledge into the bank. Then Jack tried gapping from the kicker down to the edge and about died. He messed up his arm. It was a horrendous slam. Hope his arm is ok.

Then we hit this ledge for awhile. Well, some of us. Everyone was beat, myself included. But I am too stubborn to stop skating. Nate did a few tricks and ended with a really nice front smith grind. I could hardly ollie that high. Dave and I tried lines. Slappy tricks on a curb, then across the street for a ledge trick then down the hill for more. It was kind of weird because people were posted up near the curb and I kept almost hitting them. Anyways I would eventually battle through a line that ended up being my skate highlight of the trip. Halfcab boardslide the parking block, front 50 the ledge, no comply 180 in the street, then switch 180 over the little bank in the photo of Fuzz above. It’s not the best line for me, but considering my worn down condition it felt like the best I could do and it felt super awesome. I yelled in joy when I got the switch 180. Dave had a really sick line. Switch slappy crooks to forward the parking block, crooks the ledge then ended up doing a wallie bash thing off one of the white things on top of the bank. That was the end of the skating. Everyone was beyond beat so we went to see pretty much the coolest thing ever. The Swifts!