I’ve wanted to skate the post office by my house for about 10 years now and I decided this night was the night to make it happen. Rather then start right at the post office though I cruised across the street for a bit to get warmed up. I was feeling pretty rusty and ended up at this odd configuration of stairs. Going up them was really hard for me. There is not much runway and a slight uphill between the 2 and 1. I finally started getting up the two with enough speed to get up the one as well and first try got front 180 down a 3 stair in the background of the photo. It’s actually a pretty good 3 so a pretty fun run. I was breathing like crazy from jumping so much, but wanted to also do back 180 down the stairs. I got close, but ended up giving up.

Then I went back to the post office. It was quite a bit harder then I figured it would be. The goal was to do a trick into the handicap ramp then a trick on the bench. Well the ramp was way narrower then I thought and the bench comes up real quick with a nasty crack right in front of it. I did eventually get a couple kickflips into the bank with jibby front boards on the end of the bench. No front 50s like I wanted, but I think it would just stick anyway. I also had a line of switch front 180 into the ramp, ollie a little curb gap then a horrible ollie on this weird little hip. My legs were feeling weird. They had energy, but they were heavy. I think it’s pretty clear that the gluten free diet is having a positive effect on my arthritis/muscle pains. Hopefully it will keep getting even better. My board was finally starting to really bum me out. 8.25s are not the size for me. I added pop shove, nollie and halfcab into the ramp before moving on to skate flat in the lot next to the post office.

I tried a front lip on a parking block first though and crack! I was happier then a pig in mud! Going back to 8 inch!

I didn’t think I’d skate at all in Wisconsin, but Steve and I ended up heading to the little Wauanakee park. I didn’t have my board so we took turns with his. An old Null palm tree deck. 7 7/8. He had tight Tracker trucks on there and some 95a Pigs that were pretty big. I didn’t have my skate shoes either, but I took some Emerica Laced shoes that I have given my brother. They skated great so I took them back for good. Ha. Anyways, the photos pretty much show it all. We weren’t there for too long, it was really cold. Seeing my brother skate was awesome. The boneless really surprised me, he did it first try and many more tries. The only trick he did that I didn’t get a photo of was a rock ‘n roll on the halfpipe. This park is actually really fun. A good bank, good flat bar, good ledge and a good miniramp. I had fun and was just stoked to skate. I didn’t let the change in setup mess with me too much and I didn’t try to do a whole lot. I was happy to get a few b/s flips on the bank and a kickflip to fakie. Also a boneless or two, front d in the halfpipe, front 50 on the ledge, noseslides, etc. Doing a trick on the halfpipe then coming out and boardsliding the flat bar was fun too.

After brunch with my mom and Liz I got out for a bit to skate flat in front of the house. The snow had melted, the sun was out and it was quite nice out. I didn’t feel so good initially. This switch to no gluten has made me feel weird. Not much (if any) muscle pain, but I still feel kind of heavy and slow. The first few kickflips weren’t easy, but I got to a point when things started to feel ok. Halfcab flips and treflip had gone down. Jake was biking by and went to grab his board. He got back and we had a cute nooner flat ground session. Both of us seemed to be having fun. I came close to nollie tres and put down a few tres. At the end Jake got a line of fs flip, fakie flip and fs hc big spin. Also a halfcab flip. I got a line that hyped me up. Halfcab flip, treflip then heelflip. Hyped! The treflip felt great. It was like I should have fallen, but for some reason instead I rode away fine. Then it was off to the airport to Wisconsin with my mom.

After chillin’ with Fuzz at Crisis for awhile, Carleigh and I went to the Broomfield park. Upon arrival the above was going on. Nothing makes you feel old like trying to warm up on the cold when tricks like this are going down. It was ridiculous. Carleigh was having a fun girl night that started with them warming up in the flow bowl. I was doing slappy noseslide variations on the blue box and trying to stay out of peoples ways. It soon became apparent that my legs would not function. For about 1.5 hours I was having the worst session ever. Hanging up on back 50s on the low blow box. Bailing axle stalls on the quartapotty, etc. It was insane. The only thing I did that was kinda cool was a back 5-0 on the blue ledge where I tried front shove out and got remotely close. But when I went to try more I couldn’t even do the 5-0. I got so frustrated that when my board shot into some bushes at one point I almost left the skatepark without getting my board out of the bushes. Carleigh was having a blast and skating some of the best I’ve seen her skate in awhile and I’m having the worst session. Figures. I shot my board off the brick qp and instead of getting hit in the head like I deserved my board got stuck in the tree. I came even closer to leaving the park without my board. (Un)fortunately one of Carleigh’s friends got it down.

The park started clearing out at this point and I started to feel slightly better. Carleigh and I mostly hit the brick qp. I added back boardslide, back slash to fakie and front d to my list of tricks done on the brick qp. Carleigh did like 5 front tails which is a new trick for her and so awesome. I hung up on a front d and dove to the ground. Ugh. I did have fun at this point though. Tried a line of nollie into the bank, back slash to fakie, fakie bigspin on flat. Also tried a line of kickflip into the bank, front d the brick qp, b/s flip flyout. Never got the last tricks in either. After everyone except Carleigh left I made myself ollie the six stair for the first time since my birthday (6 months!) and then a treflip on flat. At that point it was 35 degrees out. Cold.

Feeling a bit better. After picking up India from ballet and then dinner with the family I headed out on a solo mission. Was kinda thinking Arvada skatepark, but it was sleeting a tiny bit so I opted to stay in Boulder. I drove by a couple potential spots I haven’t skated much, but ended up at the ol’ staple, Valmont. Warming up didn’t take as long as normal. I tried to slide some back noseslides as far as I could. Without being able to get much speed backside for the ledge it’s hard, but I got a few I was hyped on. My new board was feeling pretty big. It’s funny how 8 -> 8.125 doesn’t feel much different, but 8.125 -> 8.25 does. I did quite a few flippers throughout. I finally missed a heelflip, but was still like 5-6 or something which is really good for me. I started trying some lines. Kickfilp up the curb behind the loading dock, ollie off the loading dock then crooks the ledge. Got that a couple times, but the crooks were really quick jibs. Doh. Got a couple good ones on their own, but not in the line. On the way back to the start of the line I would do tricks down the little hill like kickflips, back 180’s and fakie ollie into the final curb cut which were really fun. I started to realize that my body wasn’t in much pain and I was skating harder/better then I have in awhile. I’m not sure whether to credit not eating/drinking any gluten in a few days or the fact that I was drinking a protein drink. I also had way more energy then I have had in a few weeks so I’m leaning towards the lack of gluten helping me out. I tried another line of kickflip up the curb, front 180 off the loading dock then halfcab noseslide on the ledge. But after slamming the first 180 I couldn’t commit to it again. Tried another line of ollie over the box (which wasn’t easy for me), tiny frontside ollie on the red bank (and I mean TINY), then front 50 the middle/taller section of the ledge. Don’t think I ever got the 50 in the line. That’s tall for me anymore. I got a few without the line at least. One of the reason I wanted to setup an 8.25 this time was for a bigger tail because I’ve been thinking of front tails lately. It appears to help as I got a couple just a few tries. I struggled with nollie and regular 3 flips. Got a couple regular ones, but they were hard and bad. Even kickflips up the curb were harder with the bigger board. I forced myself to do a back 50. Tried a few fakie nosegrinds to forward, but never got too close. I was having lots of fun. My phone was on shuffle and the tunes sounded nice. Sometimes solo sessions are the best. I got tired after a couple hours and ended with a few flip tricks. Oh yeah, there were all these little centipede critters crawling around and I would do my best to pick them up and move them out of the way. But near the end my board got one and it kind of weirded me out so I left. Pretty pathetic eh? This isn’t because I’m an animal lover freak, but I rolled my ankle once after a praying mantis kept getting in my way and ever since then I’ve been weirded out by bugs. Really fun night. The skating was fun and all, but even more so I was happy to have energy and that my quads weren’t super sore after 20 minutes of skating. I’ll be finding out this week if I have an actual gluten allergy/disease, but either way I think I’m sold on it. Bye bye cheap beer/pizza/lots of other things I love.

After destroying my grip trying kick boardslides yesterday I decided it was time for a new board anyway. And I was sooo sick of those grey wheels that I put some new superthanes on. Lastly, since those Lakai’s were killing my feet I went with some new shoes too. Emerica Provosts. My first vulcs I’m excited about in awhile. They have Strobel construction at least though. After trying to get Ollie to go skating all day he finally agreed to it when Liz and India got home and I could have just gone skating solo or with friends anyway. Ha. We went to campus. Right out of the car Ollie sets his board down, does a fakie shove and then a f/s halfcab. Whoa! We rolled around the new dorms on the south side which were torture because there are so many new amazing ledges, but they all have that crappy flagstone finish with cracks between them. We did find a way to skate them a little though. We kept pushing, ollie’ing up curbs, off curbs, etc. Did the hill down from the basketball center which was fun. My new wheels are really really fast! Ollie foot drags with his front foot. Ha, darn mongo pushers. We ended up at the weird ledge thing that Carleigh and I kickflipped the monstrous flat gap a long time ago. This time I took a bit to get used to new wheels and did a gap to manual. It was pretty fun, I normally chicken out of manuals with drops that tall. Ollie was having fun ollie’ing down the 2 stair by it and riding through the grass. We moved on some more. I manualled one of the long downhill pads first try. Sweet. We dorked around that area for awhile. Then dorked around on that one stair ledge that you can’t get any speed for. I did a front tail off it which was still not the easiest thing for me. Oh, so my new deck was an 8.25 and I wasn’t really noticing a problem with it. Cool. The new shoes fit a little loose, but I was liking them too. We hit the art building area and I did some flatground while Ollie hid in the bushes so that people wouldn’t see him. I got a few heelflips which surprised me. I was 3-0. I forgot how awesome vulcs are for heelflips. Halfcab flips felt a little harder with the bigger board. After that we basically headed home.

Went to the ol’ Research Center ledge with Jake and Neil and a really nice afternoon. This spot rules. It’s got curbs, good flat ground, a manny pad (or two) and a really good ledge. Warming up was easier for Neil and Jake then it was for me. This is to be expected from Neil who is always ready to go and Jake who is only 20 something. Lines were the norm for everyone and some good ones for us went down. It’s hard to remember them all now. Heading uphill Jake kickflipped the longer manhole then front tailed the ledge. Neil was getting tech! Pop shove off the curb, heelflip on flat, ollie up the curb, crooks shove on the ledge. So good. Jake did some nollies and f/s halfcabs off the curbs to start runs with crooks to fakie and back 50s as the ledge tricks. I had a couple of my sloppy crooks early on in lines with kickflips up curbs. Had a line with switch front 180 off a curb, front 180 back up it and halfcab noseslide. I really struggled with flip tricks. My arthritis was kinda kicking, but my feet were hurting bad. I’m not sure what’s up with the Lakai Guys this time, but they feel like they have no padding at all. It took me forever to commit to a kickflip off the curb. Geez. A lot of other tricks went down. I got front 50 shove. Neil got front tail to fakie. We were all skating pretty hard and it was awesome. We went around the back to look at other stuff. All 3 of us ollied the 4 stair first try and we moved on to Retal Curbs.

I was so sore when we first arrived here. I didn’t even think I’d be able to skate. I had some coconut water though and did a few boardslides and before long I was skating ok. Jake had some scary halfcab boardslides and some other quick ones like front lip. Neil did some long boardslides, halfcab boardslide, switch boardslide. I had halfcab boardslide and then started hucking kickflip back boardslides. My board was pretty old so I was willing to take the risk of it breaking. About 20 tries in I put both feet on it bailed off. Then it was on and I would get my feet on a couple here or there. About 100 tries later I skidded a little kickflip boardslide and to say the least I was extremely hyped. Thanks Jake and Neil for sitting there for an hour while I tried it over and over.

Had some time before meeting up with the crew for Jack’s 21st birthday. It was raining so I went to the parking garage near my house. For some reason it’s the first time I’ve gone there which is crazy considering it’s like a 3 minute drive. It’s got some manny pad and parking block options so it offers more then just flatground. It has a bit of a slope too it though and it’s not very big. But I’m sure I’ll be back there sometime. Anyways, skating didn’t go all that good. My feet are really hurting in the Lakai Guys. I might try a thicker insole or just move on. I did manage a bad treflip, lots of halfcab flips, fakie bigflips, varial flips and I tried a bunch of nollie f/s flips. Front 50s on the parking block and slappy crooks were fun too. I didn’t skate very good, but it felt good to get out. Oh yeah, I had some new Levis skate jeans that Sam from 303 said would be super comfy once they broke in and the crispness wore off. Well so far they are about as uncomfortable as pants come. That didn’t help.

Met up with Blaine and Derek after work. Went to 303 which took a long time and we got out around the time it turned dark. We went to the “The Only Spot In Denver” and were warming up when a motorcycle cop came by and threatened $200 tickets so we left. Some driving around and we ended up at the 9th & Santa Fe blocks. Initially I could not ollie up the main block. Partly because it’s tall and partly because it was really dark. Derek was getting close to some crazy tricks. Blaine was filming. And for that I was incredibly grateful and skated the whole time. I eventually got a few ollies up the main block. A few with enough speed to front 180 the gap at the end or do a little 180 pivot on the edge of the sidewalk. I was hyped on that. Going the other way I would try a flip trick then a noseslide on taller main block which was kinda fun because you had to gap in. I never got a 360 flip even when Blaine jokingly tried to film me. Chadman and Kit had shown up too. Kit used his pop to do some crazy lines right away. Going up hill ollie the far ledge, ollie the gap to the low block, up, up, manual. Going the other way ollie up, drop to front 50, almost die. Ha. Chadman didn’t really try much, but skated. He should have done the manual kickflip over the gap. Derek never got what he was really trying. Doh. This is why having Blaine around rules. Blaine is down to film. So sick. I had a lot of fun skating something harder then I would normally skate and it was a super nice night.

After hitting Market, Blaine and I went to the courthouse where we were supposed to meet Chad. Blaine and I kinda cruised around and were trying the wallie you see above. I did a horrible one off the very corner. Blaine though. Oh Blaine. He ate shit so hard! Blood on the elbows and wrist hard. Chad showed and was landing lots of flippers right away. I wasn’t landing any and figured playing a game of SKATE with him might help. Nope. I almost got pink slipped. I landed a kickflip and a halfcab flip. That’s it. Geez. We moved on and ended up at a nearby city building with a gnarly narrow ledge to bench quick feet gap that Chad eyed up. Before Blaine and I went filmer mode we did some stuff into the double downhill handicap ramp. Blaine did no comply 180 and halfcab. I took awhile to get halfcab flip then kickflip. Chad didn’t get his trick. Doh. He was stressing too. I Felt bad.

Then we went to the slappy contest. It was a lot of fun. Lots of rad people. I only did a couple slappy crooks and front slappies. Other people were doing some crazy ones. Wallies, kickflips over the bump, etc. Rad, fun scene as I’ve come to expect from the fort. We went across the street for a bit to skate the euro thing. I ollied up it barely. Teagan joined and nose mannied it. Chadman tried to film a line with kickflip up, wallride and a back 180 off, but he bailed a perfect back 180. ARgh. Teagan almost switch tre’d the gap. Then we got the boot. Skated the slappy jam some more. Went home tired.