An absolutely gorgeous day in the 60s. Neil and Blake were on their way to Boulder and I started warming up with some flatground in front of the house. After 8 days in a row already and a lot of drops at Fossil the day before I finally felt a bit stiff/sore. I seemed to warm up ok though. Flatground tricks felt alright. I got a few of the basics before they showed. We went to the bank to ledge/curb spot by Neil’s old apartment first. Ollie joined us. That spot is hard. I managed slappy nose slides most ways on the curb, boardslide the curb, noseslide the ledge, almost die trying a hurricane on the curb. Ollie wasn’t liking that spot much and spent most of his time throwing rocks around. Blake had a nice 50 transfer from the top, almost boardslide from high to low, front lip. Neil front lipped the stair and got front tail on the curb.

Then we went to Casey as we had seen the ledges were skateable again in the Channel8 video. When we rolled up Neil and I both noted how tall they were. Ha. It looked grim at first, but we all did our thing. Ollie did some ollies and 180’s off the ledges landing some in grass rides, shot rubber bands at me, played tetherball and continued his streak of being awesome. Blake tried to ollie from one ledge down to the next one, but never committed. He had a steezy kickflip into a grass ride and some 180 nosegrinds (like above, except not just a pose for the camera). Neil was trying for a long line starting with a nosebonk over a rock, flatground kickflip, front board one ledge then front 50 the next. The kickflip got the best of him. The easiest part! Ha. I had some good runs for me. Crooks the ledge in the photo (tiny jib crooks), noseslide the second ledge, heelflip on flat, ollie the corner of a rock. Going the other way I got 360 flip, front board the end of the ledge, front 50 the ledge in the photo. I was really hyped on that one. Another run I got a crooks jib, noseslide to fakie, halfcab flip on flat, worst ollie ever over the corner of a rock. I tried front 50 shoves for awhile, but slammed and put my fingers in the grate on the top and ripped open my pinky. Doh. It wasn’t bad, but I did need to get it cleaned out.

After some more spot searching we ended up here and it was really windy. I felt like leaving, but Ollie started flying around the park and Blake and I got hyped (Neil sat in the car). Some tricks were done, but we ended with a flyout session that was a freakin’ blast. The first early grab I committed to resulted in the funnest feeling I’ve had in awhile. I stuck in the grass immediately and did a half flip slide thing down the hill that had me laughing so hard. It was such a pure fun feeling. I get a few early grabs/ollies without slams that were also fun. Ollie was killing the cannonball grabs, also straight ollied it and almost front 180’d into the grass too. He also did a few kickflips while holding on to those bike racks. Real ones soon? Blake tried kickflip into the grass forever and had a ton of hilarious falls. Epic end of a great day.

Had the day off work and had a nice morning with Liz. Was feeling kinda lazy and needed to get to MRKT so left around 2pm on a super nice day where the snow was melting fast. The hour long drive did me good and listening to loud music had me feeling more energetic. I drove by Spring Canyon and it was completely wet. Then drove by Fossil Creek and there were a few dry things and people skating. I started to warm up with some slappy nose/tail tricks on the manual pad when Alfred showed up. He was there last time I skated there. He said we should play a game of warm up SKATE. Now keep in mind that last time we skated he beat Jack. Well, turns out I would win ending on a fakie bigflip. Lets think about this. Alfred beat Jack. I beat Alfred. This makes me better then Jack! Ha. Everyone else but Alfred had left so we just skated the bottom manual pad area for awhile then started trying lines with tricks off the loading dock size drop. I got a back 50 on the manny pad, kickflip up the ledge and front 180 down the drop. I was hyped. Alfred got ollie up the manny pad, perfect nollie flip off, ollie up the ledge, nollie back big off. So good. He also manualled the ledge and dropped down to the narrow ledge with a back 180 off. I had a few 360 flips on flat, front 50 back 180, crooks, bad kick back 50s, kickflip and front shove off the ledge. Then we moved up to the top area and another dude named John joined us who was 37 and used to skated with the Boulder Brothers Boards crew. So rad. He did a bunch of manual tricks. Nose manny, switch nose manny, halfcab manny shove out, switch front 180 manual. Alfred was doing a bunch of switch front boards on narrow ledge next to the curb, ollie’ing snow gaps, manuals that went around and down things. I did a few boardslides, fell kickflipping up a curb, almost b/s flipped off, ollied a little snow gap and at the end front 50’d the ledge off the curb and ollied the narrow ledge. Such a fun session.

Went out to Rampy lacking a little motivation having skated 6 days in a row already. Things were actually feeling pretty good. I did a couple front disasters that felt good and some kickflips. Went up for an axle stall, ate shit and called it a night. Guess I need a break.

A chilly night so I went out to Rampy for a short solo session. I ended up mostly just trying some fakie tricks I hadn’t done in awhile. I started cab rock ‘n roll. Easy. Then fakie rock to back smith. That took awhile. Fakie hurricane, that took awhile too. Lastly was a trick that I can’t remember if I’ve done before. I don’t think so. But a fakie front axle stall then whip the board around to back axle stall. Scary trick. Jason influenced. Fun.

Went to Lafayette park with Ollie after he finished his homework. It had been a warm day, but it felt cool out and the temperature was dropping quick. We showed up at the park and to our surprise Mike from Fort Collins and Sessions were there and only a couple other people. One of which was Mike’s friend Ryan and he was fun to skate with too. My trucks felt tight on my new complete, but I didn’t feel like loosening them. Partly because I was lazy, partly because I wanted to see if tighter trucks help with flippers. I started really slow, not really doing anything, just cruising. Ollie rolled down the flagstone steps into the parking lot below (near the tiny bowl) so Mike, Sessions and I tried it too. Ollie could do it every try, but it took us old guys quite a few tries. Except Sessions, he put it down pretty quick. I was surprised at how small the 8.1 Habitat felt compared to an 8.1 Null. It still skated good. Ollie rolled into the channel and did a pretty fast carve grind in the tiny bowl. So rad. Mike was ripping the park. All terrain killing and some hard slams. He had a couple crazy lines. Ollie the 3 stair, frontside carve the china bank onto the bench, then carve to fakie off. So sick. Cali grinds up/down next to the tube rail. This is probably one of the few times that Ollie annoyed me at the park. He kept standing close and shooting his board into me (on accident) and was wanting to go home soon. Oh well. I had one ok line of kickflip into the mellow bank and then noseslide the ledge. Man tighter trucks are crazy when you land tricks you don’t lose as much speed. Anyways we ended the night up at the tiny tranny to curb. Mike was killing long boardslides to fakie. Ryan was slamming trying front 50s. Ollie tried a couple front boards. I took a long time to do a pivot on the round tranny to mini ledge and then got a few slappy crooks on the tranny to curb that felt really fun.

After the lights shut off at Lafayette I wanted to skate more, but I had to get Ollie home. Mike and Ryan were going to Street League. I thought of a school by Jack’s that had some newly deknobbed ledges and asked Jack if they were lit. He said not well, but enough. I pulled up and it looked so amazingly lit. I laughed, shut off the car and went to open my door and then all the lights shut off. Shit! Ha. Now I saw what he was talking about as it was barely lit. So I moved on and drove by the Ideal Market area and saw all these little curbs and got hyped to slappy a bunch in a row. And it was even funner then I thought it would be. 50s both ways, crooks, crooks to fakie. The one in the bottom photo was super fun because I could try front feebles and get up on it and not run into the next curb. I ended up getting a couple slappy front feebles that felt amazing. Then I tried a marathon line starting from the top photo. Pop shove on the tiny bump then quick back 180 off the curb, fakie flip, switch front 180 up the curb, kickflip off, slappy crooks. Man that felt amazing. My heart was beating like crazy. I guess I don’t normally do that many tricks in a row and I just sat down for a bit and reveled in my happiness.

Then I went behind the building to skate this ledge which I haven’t skated in 5 years! It didn’t go so well. I loosened up on it with some really slow (and when I say ‘really slow’ you know it’s like barely moving) noseslides. Got noseslide, noseslide to fakie, front nose fakie and front nose. Tried front, but could not commit. Got a few crooks. Then I went out front and skated flatground for awhile. Had to do 10 flippers before I could be done. At least it went better this time. Kickflip, fakie flip, varial flip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, gave up on b/s flips they weren’t working, heelflip, fakie heelflip, fakie varial flip, tried switch varial flip for a long time but failed, f/s halfcab flip, tried nollie tres and failed, and ended with treflip. This will go down as one of those ‘favorites’ for me. I am also super happy with my shoe/insole situation and not getting anywhere near as sore as I did in vulcs/sole tech fake vulcs. I actually went to skate more, but the things I looked at were too dark so I just went home stoked.

Been wanting to do this for awhile. After Nothing came out I figured I should treat myself with a new complete. So after a little delay here it is. Suciu board, PJ trucks (Highs), Vincent Alvarez wheels (50mm stoked!!), Venom soft bushings, Bones Swiss bearings. After an intense game of indoor basketball with Ollie I went out to Rampy for a bit. I definitely had some awkward turns due to trucks that aren’t broken in, but I had fun. I avoided revert tricks so I wouldn’t flatspot my new wheels. I struggled with front tail. I was supposed to avoid flatground too, but that board flipped good. It’s supposed to be an 8.1 which are the same size I skate with Null, but it’s clearly samller then the Null 8.1. Anyways I liked it and landed every kickflip I tried, got a 3 flip and came super close to nollie flip. I ended with a couple longer Rampy runs for me and ended with a f/s ollie that was near coping.

After watching the Broncos game with Ollie on a super nice day in the 60s I had to get out and skate. I stopped by Meta for a bit then rolled to the little granite ledge behind the parking garage. I like that spot for warming up. I could tell I wasn’t going to skate great. Whenever I skate it I try to do something I haven’t done before. This time I did switch front 180 to front smith. Not good or anything, but whatevs.

After some blah pushing/walking around I ended up here. It’s normally a quick bust, but since the NFC championship was going on I figured I could last. I started with a warm up line of ollie up the curb, kickflip on flat, ollie the 3. The kickflip took a few tried and i quickly realized there was a ton of gravel near the stairs. Ugh. I tried to clean it a little. Then I went for a line of back 180 up the curb, halfcab flip on flat and front 180 the stairs. Between the back 180 and the halfcab flip it took me like 30 minutes to get this basic line. Ugh. It did feel good to get it though.

I went across the street into this alley and found a basic line i wanted to try. Manual a curb high manny pad, ollie a little curb down a hill, then front 50 the ledge. The f’ing manual was almost the death of me and it took forever. I was getting so frustrated. I finally started to get them and I landed a manual, looked up and there was a cop walking towards me, I said hello and she said hi back, rad, I went right by her and ollied the curb, turned quickly to avoid a big pile of ice and landed the front 50. Cracking up at the fact that I just went right by a cop while skating downtown I decided I’d walk back and see if she was intending to kick me out. Nope, we talked about how nice of a night it was and she told me to have fun. Little did she know that after this I decided to try some flippers on a rough little section of concrete and got super frustrated again. I had told myself I had to do 10 flip tricks before I could leave. I got kickflip, fakie flip and varial flip quick. Nothing else came quick. I added halfcab flips both ways, fakie varial flip, 360 flip, heelflip, b/s flip and f/s flip. The f/s flip was horrible and the fakie varial flip and 360 flip took so many tries. Ugh. All in all a pretty bummer night, but somehow when you go out and street skate it just isn’t as lame feeling as having a bad night at a skatepark. The line passing the cop to the ledge was a great feeling.

After way too many phone calls/texts/etc I met Neil and Blake at the little ledge/manny pad spot by his old house. The ledge was covered in snow. Doh. I did a few 180’s and stuff, but that was about it before we went to Wilville to meet Jack and Carleigh. It was t-shirt weather out! Wilville was busy with students which annoyed people like Carleigh and I. Others seemed fine. Neil liked the young scenery. I continued my flatground woes as of late and struggled to have any confidence. Getting used to new insoles is weird after using the same ones for over 5 years. Neil did a bunch of one foots in. Jack manualled up and down at will. The high speed ollie up the bank to nose manual the top was so sick. I’m not remembering a whole lot more from this.

Off to the wonderful research center it was. Jack suggested we wax it like crazy so we did. I slammed super hard on a noseslide right away. Ugh. No one seemed to rip it right away. I will say that Jack ended up slaying it though. So many tricks. Fakie tre up the curb, noseslide nollie heel out, tried back 50 to wallride, kickflip noseslide, f/s flip up the curb, back 50 to nose manual maybe? and probably 100 more things. Carleigh landed more kickflips then I’ve ever seen her land in one day, but managed to be totally pissed off about it. Not sure I’ve ever seen her that upset before. Doh. Blake had a really nice front 50 shove, heelflips, and a bunch more front 50s. Neil did his patented lipslide all quick, had a bunch of kickflips, actually did a noseslide, but did a lot of sitting. I skated alright and did the ol’ line of front 180 up the curb, halfcab flip on flat, crooks. That’s a fun one. Tried some longer lines with kickflip off the curb, 3 flip on flat or something, but never quite got it all. Got a few back 50s. A nollie varial flip. Tried kick back 50 and failed. At the end I was trying this little quick up a curb gap onto the sidewalk, slammed and my board when in the manhole!

Then we went to this wood bank spot that Neil, Blake and I had never skated before. It didn’t take Blake long to rip it though. We didn’t ollie up, just threw down and had one push at the bank. Blake did feeble, axle stall, back smith, maybe more and did a front 50 off the ledge drop. Carleigh got feeble and axle too. Maybe even a rock ‘n roll and some front 180’s off. I got an axle stall, rock ‘n roll and a few boneless to f/s wallride things. One followed by a kickflip which I thought was fun. Neil did some kick turns then retired to the car. The Jack demo was in effect at this spot. Pivot fakie, front rock, front pivot fakie, no comply to tail, back disaster. Most followed by tricks off the drop too. 360 flip, impossble, switch varial heel, switch heel, fakie tre. So good.

I met Neil after a long day of work at a very crowded Broomfield park. Everyone in the video was there and ripping. I landed my first kickflip of the day which hasn’t been happening much lately. I skated ok overall. Neil kinda hurt his knee and sat down most of the session. Ro was there and back noseblunted the double set rail. Geez. Made me feel great as I was struggling to back 50 the black box at slow speed. I didn’t land anything new, but felt ok on my board and was glad to get out for a bit.

Wanted to skate downtown Boulder. Parked and opened my car door and the wind was so intense I just shut my door, cursed and drove to my favorite wind protected garage. Things started really slow. Borderline board focus slow. I bailed like 3 kickflips in a row. That just doesn’t happen. So I decided to try it over a parking curb to start a line and they started working. Shortly after came a weird sequence of events that hyped me up big time. Skating with John the other night reminded me that I could do fakie back tails on low curbs years ago. So I tried one on the sidewalk curb, got in, slid a whoppin’ inch or two and randomly decided to shove out. Landed it. I had never done that before. Followed it with a fakie flip and then a switch slappy crooks to forward which I had also never done before. Two new tricks in one line. Not sure that has ever happened before for me. I went on to have a pretty great session with the exception of struggling at treflips. Part of the flip trick problem I think is for the first time in like 5 years I didn’t buy shoes that were small for my feet. I had been doing the snug fit for flippers, but it hurts when you run out of tricks. Anyways, I told myself to get used to it and all seemed good. Over the parking block I got kickflip, no comply, front shove, halfcab, fakie ollie (sideways approach), fakie bigspin (took awhile) and b/s flip. I also did a lot of slappy tricks. Back 50, back feeble, back crooks, back crooks fakie, front 50, my best slappy front feeble ever, switch crooks to fakie (these are really new obviously so I was going slow and barely grinded) and a bunch of front crooks. I have no idea how, but I just committed to it with some speed finally and did a few that grinded pretty far. So freakin’ fun! I also got a front lip on the block that felt good. My flatground game wasn’t all that, but I did land a few heelflips again finally, a couple treflips, fakie flips, fakie varial flip, fakie bigflip, halfcab flips, varial flips. Tried a few ones I’ve only rarely done like fakie varial heel, nollie bigflip, switch varial flip. Got really close to the nollie bigflip, not the others. On the little sidewalk curb I tried a bunch of fakie tails with bigspin out. Why not? I’m going slow enough to try. Ha. Also got the best kick back tail I’ve done in awhile with a tiny slide. Came close to kickflip front 50. Lastly on the curved manny pad by the entrance I tried a bunch of manuals to no comply 180 out and felt kinda close, but never put it down. Best part of the new insoles/shoes is how little soreness I felt when I was done. Yea.