Went to Crisis early to do big bidness before Fuzz opened. While I was at it I setup some Independent trucks. It’s funny how I avoided Indy forever and realized I had never put better bushings in them so maybe they are an option after all. And since the Royals were done due to too much wheelbite, Ace were done because the kingpin was loose and the hangers were bent (POS trucks) I was down to try Indy. With the white medium Venom bushings.

We went to the bank spot out on on 120th. I had a lot more energy then last time, but was struggling a bit due to the obvious reason of having an almost entirely new setup. Rob and Neil each had good lines after a short warm up. I don’t remember them exactly but Rob’s was something like kickflip out of the curb kicker, bean plant on the bank, kickflip on the bank, boneless. All done well. Neil also had a long one with Neil comply boneless, backside ollie, frontside ollie, basics done well. Neil and Rob also had b/s 180s out of the curb kicker, Rob had a kickflip on the bank. I struggled with kickflips out of the curb kicker, but eventually got one in a line with a kickflip on the bank after.

Then we went to a ledge we’ve never skated across the street. We should call it the struggle ledge because we all struggled. It wasn’t that tall, but it was just weird. Rob got a few crooks, Neil got into a few crooks, I slammed on a front board, got into front 50. Then a cop came to boot us and we thanked him for putting us out of our misery. He laughed.

We drove around for awhile and ended up at some abandoned government building. We found a smooth section and a curb that slid well for boardlides and hit it for awhile. Rob had a bigspin front noseslide, lap over lipslides, Neil had lipslides. I had a few “switch” boardslides and then almost got a line of kickflip over a hose, 3 flip on flat then kick back tail the curb. I broke my board on a heelflip on the way back though. DOH.

So we went to Crisis so I could setup a new board. I went with 8.5 this time mainly because there was one of the new Neandernulls with a yellow bottom sheet. Freakin’ gorgeous! We went across the street to the Safeway ledges. Neil was sore and didn’t really skate. Rob and I skated pretty hard for awhile. He got a lot of his tricks. Cab front nose, nollie front 50 first try, front 5-0, lots of good back 50s, back 180 fakie 50 halfcab out, back 50 back 180 (I think). I got a few back 50s and then one locked in kick back 50, but couldn’t get another kick back 50 (was gonna try shove out), a hilarious “front smith” where I didn’t grind and somehow fell out of it and rolled away, tried front tail shove, tried crooks on the fence ledge but kept doing noseslides. My flatground game was ok, got a treflip and started hucking Rick flips for some random reason. Even landed on one that could maybe count on defense in an over 50 game of SKATE. Rob and I ended with a really fun game of SKATE that went T-T before I won it on a fakie bigflip. Other tricks that went down were 43 shifty, no comply shove, no comply 360, no comply, front shove, b/s flip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, f/s halfcab flip (Rob went double or nothing on it and unfortunately came up short). It was a perfect ender for a really fun day.

Woke up around 5:30 am for some ridiculous reason. I slacked for awhile then decided I should go skate. I thought I’d be pretty sore, but ended up feeling pretty good. I had put my Ace trucks back on and some new Null wheels. I of course had the park to myself. Warming up was not as hard as it should be. Maybe it’s because it felt like I hadn’t really stopped skating from the night before. I tried that dumb flyout into the downhill that every 10 year old kid with pads can do, but still failed. Man that’s embarrassing. It’s fun cruising that park when no one else is there. I did more tricks then I thought I would, but nothing really noteworthy. I got a line of rock fakie the little white tooth qp (yes I consider that a trick because yes I am not good at skateboarding), fakie flip on the bank, then carved onto the bench. Ended with a line that I tried for a bit that I could normally never do with people flying around the park. Front shove on flat near the top of the fish pond (I had tried treflip and failed), kickflip to fakie on the narrowish bank to the right of the ledges, fakie flip on the mellow bank next to the round rail, then tried to noseslide the hubba. I got to the hubba twice and on the second attempt I got tossed to the flat. It didn’t hurt. Well, I mean I guess it did, but the people walking the dog nearby reacted like I had been shot or something. It was one of those slams where you just kind of laugh in the air and wait for it to be over. I guess to the average person walking their dog it must look incredibly dangerous.

I was half an hour late to meet up with Rob at Red Curbs on what was supposed to be a rainy night, but instead it was just cloudy and a little cool. Rob had been there for awhile so he was warmed up and doing nollie 50s already. I warmed up with some ride on front 50s and some regular front 50s. Then we kinda skated the non-red-curb for awhile. Rob posted up on some back lipslides (the slide aint no typo!) and landed a few of them. So sick! And with Rob’s steeze too, dang. I eventually got a front lipslide. I had to cheat over the corner of course and when I tried to get on in the middle of the curb I cracked my board a little. Doh, although still totally skateable. Rob took off. I debated going somewhere else, but ended up staying. I tried a few lines. Ollie a box, front lip the non-red curb, kick back t on the red curb. Never got the kick back t. Also tried front 50 the red curb then kickflip noseslide the 2 stair ledge. Never got the kick noseslide, but somewhat close. My flatground game was sucking. Well, especially treflips. I was also getting a lot of wheelbite which was annoying considering how small my wheels were worn down to. That will be the end of the Royals and their short lived stint. Well, at least until next week probably. I ended by trying to get a new flip trick. I tried heelflip body varials for awhile, but couldn’t commit. Then did a sex change to get warmed up and tried them fakie. Got one. Lamest new flipper yet this year.

I work the later shift which means til 6pm this week. I didn’t feel like organizing a crew up to FoCo because I was lazy. On the way to the Fort I decided to stop and my Dad’s grave and it ended up being pretty tough. It’s been almost 3 years since he passed. Anyways the rest of the drive was pleasant and I enjoyed some tunes and rolled up to MRKT at closing time. We did business quick and hung for a bit before Chad and I rolled onto campus. It was apparent immediately that it was going to be a fun night. Especially because the first place we looked ended up having this freshly painted perfect slappy curb. Slanted and everything, The whole spot was amazing. There was perfect asphalt on the street, a new ledge (like the rainbow ledge in Boulder), a different slappy curb, the slappy curb in the photo and then this parking lot filters into another parking lot down a mellow hill with a few options. We both just kind of did our thing and would smile at each other going by saying “this is so fun” or “this spot rules” or something. I had one run with front 180 up the curb, halfcab flip on flat, crooks the ledge, slappy one curb, slappy the next curb, ollie onto a curb, ollie off, kickflip on flat, ollie a 3 stair, nollie off a little bump, front 180 off a curb, fakie flip on flat. Fun! Started trying with f/s halfcab flip instead and kinda got it and after the slappies I did a little gap in gap out median that Chad manualled. I didn’t see all of what Chad did, but they started with fakie flip then switch heel, halfcab up the curb, back 50 the ledge then into the abyss. We were here for awhile. It was a freaking blast.

Then we ended up at this thing. Chad ollied up, b/s ollie on the bank, ollied off. He darn near kickflipped onto it too. It’s taller to get onto then it looks. I took several tries to get up, but managed. Oh yeah, I was breaking in new shoes:

Yeap, I’m living up to the “Corporate” in my name. I’ve been wanting to try to Adidas for awhile. These are the Busenitz vulcs. They seem decent, not as grippy as Vans, but also not as painful. Anyways, we pushed on. Ended up at some little mini bank and played on it. Then a four stair I should have ollied first try like Chad did, but I didn’t. Chad wallied this weird metal bin off a ledge, I bailed it. We saw some cops lurking so we bailed. Then we came up on a “hill” where we saw a longboarder slam earlier. Bad enough he limped off. We both laughed because it was the tiniest hill. I ollied a little gap into it to start my “bomb”. Then we played a game of SKATE that I lost miserably. I missed a fakie flip, got two letters on front shove since I missed the double-or-nothing and it didn’t get better. I blame new shoes! But I started skating them before the Vans were completely dead because they need to be broken in in a week when the Fremont crew comes out!

After a long day of watching Ollie play football (he had two games (not back to back)) I went out in the early evening and skated flat for a bit. Warming up was a pain. I got through a lot of the basics including treflip and started hucking nollie tres and varial heels, but came up short and called it a night.

A gloomy start to a Saturday, but it ended up being super nice out. Neil, Blake, Rob, Ollie, Lazer and I started at CU. We messed around at the Physics building (I think?). Some little ollies up curbs, down, up ledges, etc. Everyone seemed to be struggling a bit. Lazer slammed on a nosebonk, but ended up ollie’ing a the gap over the ledge. Cops drove by and as Carleigh arrived told us that we couldn’t do any “acrobatic skateboarding”. After watching us skate for awhile clearly doing tricks. I guess they weren’t acrobatic enough. Anyways, we moved up near the student center. Rob no complied up a 3 stair, Lazer had a steezy ollie down it. I tried a line of riding through the skate stoppers then something off the bench, but it didn’t work so well. Then the cops came by again and gave us the official boot. Doh.

We went to Casey. It was a strugglefest. I ended up just skating flatground. I got through a quite a few of them and got stuck on treflips. Then I cracked my new board on treflips. Doh. It wasn’t bad at all though. I started getting really frustrated with my trucks as they weren’t turning tight enough and sat down for awhile as most everyone else was too. Ollie was playing basketball. Rob was crossing a dream trick off his list though. Wallride nollie out. He got a few. So sick! Looks for the documented proof in a Gnarly Carleigh photo somewhere, sometime.

Next up was the bank to curb/ledge. On the way there I stopped at home and grabbed my Venom bushing that I liked in my Ventures and put them in my Royals. Then they were super loose and I was hyped on them! Neil was having a tough day which is a bummer since it’s one of his last weekends before moving to Hawaii. He did manage to lipslide the two stair and front tail the curb though. Blake did his front 50 transfer again, almost dieing on some attempts. Lazer was boardsliding for miles. I managed quite a few tricks on the curb; front board to forward, switch boardslide, front tails with no slide, and geez, I guess that’s it. Probably not “quite a few” after all. I also got noseslide and boardslide on the taller part which hyped me up. Rob had a nice back feeble that grinded pretty far. Carleigh chilled and snapped photos. She wasn’t skating much because she hurt her elbow.

Then we went to Southern Hills after a stop at Que’s to say hi to Jack and then picking up Jake. I engaged in some of Colorado’s finest with Lazer and Rob and it made for an interesting session for me. My heart was pounding and I thought I would pass out, but man I felt extremely motivated to skate. Jake was killing it out of the gates. Rob went nuts too. It was a great session and a lot went down that’s hard to remember. Jake tre flipped into the handicap ramp, front tail and front tail to fakie on the ledge, quite a few fakie flips, halfcab boardslide, probably a lot more. Rob had some really long runs. Tricks like front shove out of the handicap ramp, kickflip into it, front noseslide on the bench, back noseslides, no complies. I’m blowing it on remember what all he did, but he was honestly skating some of the best I’ve seen him skate. Almost stomped a varial heel out of the handicap ramp. I tried a bunch of lines. First the ollie onto the narrow bench, kickflip off and back 180 off the 2 stair, but I kept not rotating enough on the back 180 and slamming so I gave up on that. Slammed hard trying to kickflip into the handicap ramp. Ha. Did some lines with heelflips or treflips to start then noseslide/boardslide/crooks on the bench. Or started with front board on the bench of the picnic table. Came really close to a line of halfcab flip into the handicap ramp then front 50 shove out on the bench. Lazer didn’t skate much and Carleigh kept it mellow with some ollies and cruised around a little. Blake had left. Ollie too. At the end Jake and I played a game of SKATE. It was a fun one, that I finally won. He normally beats me. I got Jake to do a f/s halfcab flip which he hasn’t done in forever. He got me on a treflip. I have decided to not try varial flips in SKATE anymore because when I don’t land them I get really mad. Anyways yeah, what a long day of skating. Felt great, weather was great, tight crew, good times.

After work and a tiny nap Neil came over on a beautiful night and we cruised over to Boulder Ditch to meet Dave and Rob. Boulder Ditch is really hard to skate, but a pretty good warm up for the legs. Neil boardslid the ledge pretty quick, lots of ollies, front tails on the pvc, front slashes on the little qp. Dave rolled in on the wood qp, front pivots on the tall qp, long boardslides on the pvc, front 5-0s on the pvc (photo). Rob didn’t skate this spot much, but still managed to boardslide the pvc all steezy. I had a couple hard slams. One just sliding on the concrete and it didn’t slide so I landed on my back. The other trying to crooks the box and I still have a headache from that. But I had fun doing a line with kickflip over the “hip” and boardsliding the pvc or nosesliding the box or not landing crooks.

Then we went to campus. We started out at the main parking lot with the little manny pad, tall manny pad, ledges, and the frustrating two curb spot. This was an epic part of the night, we were all struggling so bad. You know when it takes Neil multiple tries to ollie a curb that things aren’t going well. Basically this spot is a wallie curb followed somewhat quickly (10 feetish) by another curb that drops onto a sidewalk. Neil ended up being the first to get it, Rob second and they both were lining it out with some manual/nose manuals around some cars. I cracked my board pretty bad on a pop shove. Doh. It was still skateable though and I ended up getting a line of fakie flip, sw 180, wallie the wallie curb, the worst ollie ever done over the 2nd curb and then a back 180 off the sidewalk where I landed not moving. Perfect. Ha. Dave had some nice fakie bispgins, helipops, and put down the wallie/ollie combo, but didn’t quite ride away. Oh well.

Then we went over the the newly waxed slappy ledge and it was even more waxed up. Awesome. Dave went to work immediately with a slappy front 5-0. Ridiculous. He also went on to do slappy back 50, a bunch more slappy front 5-0s and then a proper slappy crooks after dropping in on the narrow stair ledge nearby. Rob did front tail right away and got a few slappy back 5-0s that were all inside and steezy. I liked how he carved it more then I was posting up on it. I managed one slappy front 50, some weak slappy crooks, slappy back 50s, front 50s and one front 5-0 which felt fun because you can kind of drop into the bank on the land. I tried to get more 5-0s to start a line, but couldn’t do it. Ended up settling for front 50, kickflip, wallie onto a similar ledge, back 180 off it, manual scrape the little manny pad, flung myself up the taller part of the red ledge. That felt fun. Neil was lining out the spot as he normally does. Ollie onto the red ledge, ollie off over the corner of the manual pad, front tail the ledge, almost front tail to fakie.

Then we kinda of looked at some other stuff. Dave was thinking boardsliding this. Ha, not the handrail, the curb. But he ended up dropping into 50 instead. So rad. We played on the little rock to narrow flagstone path for a bit. I had a couple front tail to fakies, Dave wallied into blunt. I ollied a gap off a narrow ledge and then we skated back to the car. Super fun night. I haven’t felt that good in awhile. My legs didn’t even hurt all that bad except after we had stopped for a bit.

Well my obsession over new trucks resulted in some new Royals. Based off a lot of things. First, I had them a long time ago and liked them. Second, Meta had them. Third, just look at the dudes that skate them! Cory Kennedy, Wes Kremer, Mike Carrol, Hsu, etc. Baller team and their footage looks like their trucks perform how I’d like mine to. Stable on straights, tight when you want them. Fourth, still completely blown away by the level of nerdiness on this site and he says great things about Royal. Anyways, I was at Meta at closing time and Matt came by with his cruiser, but we went and got his real board to get gnar. We started by looking for some metal construction manual pads and upon finding them just bombed a little hill instead. Then we ended up walking up to Casey and the ledges were lit so we skated there. My new trucks were a bit weird, but I couldn’t really complain. I didn’t have much pop. Got a front nose 270 out (aka the Helmstetter), noseslides, boardslide, possibly a crooks and a front 50 that was a battle. Flip tricks went ok, the Royals are lower so flip faster. The 3flip I landed felt really weird. Matt had no problem front tailing the ledge. Then went on to do a sick line with a little manual bonk on a rock, front tail to fakie then switch tre on flat. Whoa! He also got noseslide 270 shove and back tail. Then we rolled the rough hill back down and called it a night. Fun.

Met Rob a little before 5pm on another chilly day. Sure it wasn’t all that cold (around 50), but there was a cold chill in breeze and it’s the middle of May already darn it! Warming up was very slow for me. I didn’t even really do any flip tricks, but I did one fakie flip where I was barely moving. So slow in fact that Rob laughed because he saw me land it, looked away, looked back and I was still in the same place. Yeap, that sounds like me. We mostly skated the ledge. Rob had some longer noseslides and boardslides, some crooks (the photo above isn’t a make, but oh well), front noseslides, halfcab boardslide, and manualled the whole hill a couple times. I had a few longer noseslides, crooks, couldn’t get back 50, got a front board pop out then started hucking a Fuller trick. Front board to fakie. Not even possible. I did however end up getting a front board back 270 out. Pretty sure it slid at least 6″ so it maybe counts as a new trick. It was fun. We didn’t skate too long, it was nice. I have to say I’m wanting to try some new trucks that turn tighter. Not sure what it’s going to be yet, but man, this website rules with all it’s info about trucks. I’ve been completely out-nerded. I’m ashamed.

Shortly after dinner on what will hopefully be the last cold night (~40 degrees) I headed to campus to skate for a bit. The students are gone! Normally when the students are gone and I’m skating campus after dinner when it’s still light out it’s warm. But no, there was still snow in some grassy areas and I had three layers on and a beanie. Anyways, I had thought of the area above because of a session awhile ago when there was some jersey barriers. The barriers were gone though. I popped a few ollies on the way to the spot that didn’t get off the ground. Great. I felt good, but just couldn’t ollie apparently. I blame the cold. But I got to this area and ended up having fun trying a couple lines. The first one was just ollie onto the platform (far right behind the upright parking gate), ollie off, nose manny the little manny pad, lap over lipslide a parking block then a manual the long way. Tried to do some flatground after that, but my legs were shot. Next line was a front 50 on the somewhat waxed part of the ledge, heelflip on flat (I rarely landed them), manny the manny pad, ollie up onto the platform (coming from the left is so much taller), then back 180 off. I only got to the back 180 once and landed on it, but didn’t rotate enough. A cop walked by and gave me a mean look at this point. I tried a few more times, but ended up getting tired and the temperature had dropped and it was snowing a little so I left. In between heelflip bails I would try slappy crooks on the waxed part of the ledge and got into a couple, but not enough to ride away. I had fun, it was cold, but I skated and actually listened to my body saying it was done rather then stubbornly continuing.