As I headed over to skate a new manual pad Neil said him and Brian were skating Lafayette.  I skated the manny pad for awhile since Carleigh was gonna meet up and was feeling pretty weird.  I had woken up with back spasms and did my best to sleep them off.  I was super tired and out of it, but it felt good to be on a real board again (a Null of course!).  I kinda wanted to go to Lafayette to meet up with them, but was so lazy.  I did try starting trying nose manual nollie treflip out.  I have gotten nowhere near close to that trick, but it still feels possible and I’m starting to be able to setup my back foot for the flick better.  I don’t know if I’ll ever land it, but hucking it is fun either way.  Carleigh showed up kinda bumming because of school.  We had a mellow session.  Nothing special went down and it started sprinkling after awhile.

Seriously, it was snowing in the morning.  April 23rd, and it’s snowing.  Ugh, Colorado can be so lame sometimes.  It killed filming plans.  I spent the time trying to make a new Null teaser which was for the most part very productive.  But sitting down for so long killed my legs.  I attempted to go skate at Southern Hills.  I had told Carleigh and Neil to come meet me and they both sounded interested.  I warmed up ok.  But had a couple weird falls that I blame on that Creature board.  I seriously hate that board.  It felt wider than it was long.  The tail was so short I would miss ollies non stop.  Anyways the one thing I did I was happy with was a kickflip over the little crack thing followed by a crooks on the bench.  I’ve wanted to try that for awhile and it came quick.  After that I started thinking about trying the bench to bench gap.  I figured a good warm up would be to ollie off the two stair with speed.  I ended up falling super awkward and in my head just could not deal with that board anymore.  I got up and focused the shit out of that board.  One stomp.  One pissed off stomp that went through that board so easy I hurt my heel on the concrete.  Session over.  Board done.  Good riddance.

Carleigh and I rolled to CO Springs to meet up with Bernie, Sam, Mikey and Derek.  After hitting Proper we went and met up with the dudes at a somewhat famous rail.  Derek was the only one to get on it even with a boardslide.  Pretty gnarly spot.  The rest of us just kinda skated around.  I did a dumb run of front smith stall on a wood ledge, followed by a nosestall on a ledge, then ollie a 4 stair then back 180 right away over a crack in the sidewalk.  After some driving around we decided to just skate around downtown Springs.  Not a whole lot went down for awhile.  We ended up at the City Hall or something which had a nice ledge down a 5 stair.  Mikey was able to nose manual it, Derek back 50’d it.  I tried to noseslide it.  But it felt like it was time to move on.  We ended up at a downtown park with this bank:

Bernie and I skated while others investigated the nearby spots.  I beat Bernie to a back smith, front rock, but he did ollie up to front 50 like it was nothing to prove he is better.  Ha.  We had fun though.  The front slash above was super fun.  Sometimes doing a basic trick first try feels the best.  I didn’t go much beyond this.  Mikey kinda killed it.  Blunt to pivot, nosepick.  Derek did front blunt easy, back disaster, almost pivot fakie.  Then we took a long skate back to the car.  On the way the funnest thing I did was a wallride on a jersey barrier.

Next we went to a school we had peeped earlier.  It was basically a long three stair where each step was about 3 feet long and about 40 feet long and curved.  It looked insanely fun and we (at least I) had a blast.  Bernie and Derek kinda messed around and did some sick manual tricks from one stair up to the next and back down etc.  Bernie did manual kickflip up to the next level and almost fakie manual up to fakie nose manual which would have been of the chains.  There were gaps off the second and third levels.  Carleigh did a front 180 off the second one into the parking lot.  Mike almost nollie nose mannied the lower level and slammed a lot trying flippers off the second level.  I kinda somehow found the drive and skated about as well as I could.  After I got kickflip up the first then manual the second in only a couple tries I had a lot to work with.  Coming the other way I wallied up to the second level, kickflipped on flat then back 180’d the gap to the parking lot.  Coming the other way I got kickflip up the first level, ollie up on, ollie up one, front 180 off the 3rd level.  And the line I worked up to which made me so happy was wallie up the two, kickflip up onto the third then ollie to axle stall the curb into the parking lot.  It was one of the best feeling lines I’ve ever done.  Not only was every trick good for me, but I did them good and I seemed to have a fluid motion throughout.  The wallie up felt super good.  Popped above the ledge and floaty feeling.  Seriously felt awesome. One of my favorite lines I’ve ever done.  Next we went to the dream spot bank school where I failed at back 50s and Bernie failed at kickflip front 50s.  Derek had fun playing Bball skate.  Mikey had a nice front blunt.  After filming we played a loose game of flat bank SKATE that deteriorated into a game of HORSE with a flat basketball that Bernie won.  Then was dinner.  Fun day.  Had a blast at that 3 stair spot.  Still hate that board though.  On the way home Mikey joined a very tired Carleigh and a slightly intoxicated me for a Pissed Jeans music fest on the way home.  I obviously loved it.  That band is the best.

Met up with Max, Connor, Derek, Nate, Aaron, Carleigh, Matt, Justin and eventually Fuzz in Broomfield after work.  We started at the Safeway ledges.  No filming went down yet.  Max had the best switch back tails that spanned at least 2 mm of distance.  I had nothing either.  Connor was the only one that skated worth a crap there.  It was a good warm up though.  I really hate this Creature board.  Then we went and looked at the nearby bank spot.  Derek contemplated a gnarly ollie in, but didn’t want to pull the trigger.  Max got in the zone and started trying block long downhill lines and I started filming and he got two banger lines.  Derek almost got a sick line too, but had to go and slammed super hard trying to fakie flip into the bank in the photo above.  Next up we went to the Hobby Lobby manny pad spot.  A truck kind of messed with it, but it was still fun to skate.  I did some filming, but skated after.  I could not get that board to nose manual nor could I ollie up a curb comfortably.  Ugh.  I did manage to manual the two stair part, but that was about it.  Fuzz showed up, but not much more went down other than Matt, Max, Fuzz and I trying to nose manny out of a tailstall to the car.  Max went around the block with it while the rest of us struggled to get to the first line.  Matt did to it fakie though.  Decent day.  Hate this board.  More photos on Carleigh’s blog here.

I met Carleigh at Meta. I had just picked up some new shoes to start breaking in and to show what a hypocrite I can be.  You’ll see.  We had originally thought of skating Red Curbs if it was raining, but it wasn’t.  But then when we left Meta it was kind of sprinkling.  While trying to figure it out it started raining harder so the decision was made.  Red Curbs.  We started off doing our own things just skating around and warming up.  I was having a tough time with the Creature tank of a board.  With the exception of a test Sans board years ago (yes, you know how that went) I have only skated Generator wood for six years now (Null was originally on Systems then  Syndrome wood) and it sure felt awkward.  It took like 10 tries to get a kickflip where the tail touched.  Carleigh was mostly trying flatground lines.  I saw lots of kickflips, nollie shoves, etc.  I failed at nose mannys miserably.  I failed at almost everything actually.  Carleigh did some mannies on the short manny pad.  I got a couple front 180 nose mannies on the short one which is about the extent of that trick for me.  Carleigh was working on heelflips and slamming hard.  I was jealous because I was my typical lame self just walking away from bails instead of committing.  I’ll blame the wide ass board I’m skating.  I took a long time to get a front lipslide.  I took forever to get a fakie bigflip.  For some reason I started trying halfcab nose manuals.  Some felt like I could do it.  Most felt like I was just learning how to skateboard (wait, it always feels like that).  I had a couple back lip attempts that were mostly just ollie over the corner to 90 degree wheel pivot.  At the very end I was trying front tailslides (got a couple little ones) and we were both trying flatground tricks over and over.  I saw Carleigh stomp a heelflip then in less than 20 tries land a first ever fakie varial flip.  Sick!  I tried nollie f/s flips and had one that was so close I can’t believe I didn’t get both feet on it.  It took lots of tries to flip that big board around for treflips.  Never got a nollie tre.  Heelflip took awhile too.  We had fun.  We skated hard.  Awesome.

After a long and draining day at work I went home and fell asleep for awhile. After some dinner then an hour of basketball with Ollie we skated Rampy for a little bit. I had my new board that I won in the eating contest in SF. Thanks Cruz! This board is 8.25 which felt good on Rampy. I haven’t had a pro board since I started Null eight years ago. Crazy! I had one of the better first runs I’ve had. I didn’t do a whole lot though as I was mostly just goofing around with Ollie trying to make sure he had fun and would want to skate again soon. I suppose I should have been making Ollie do all of this tricks at least 10 times, but we skated for about 30 minutes before doing some butt dropins and races. He did manage to get front rocks again, even though it took a few tries. He also did a flatground shove and fakie shove. Radical.

Had a super bad morning. Nothing like waking up early after staying out late and waking up to strong winds. Then having to waste time at T-Mobile and the wind was still going. Bernie still wanted to try though and after he arrived we drove off with no expectations. I had some new Supra ‘Amigo’ shoes which I had worn around a little to break in. We ended up at a weird loading dock spot that I would have never spotted. It was “low” to get on, normal height to get off. But the run up had a weird banked curb about 6 feet before the loading dock so you had to ride through it right before the ollie. It made it weird just to ollie up. Unless your Bernie who manual and nose mannied it pretty quick. The wind didn’t bother us to much because it was going the right direction. I was struggling and getting used to new shoes about the time Dean and then Carleigh arrived. We all skated for awhile. Dean and Carleigh might have been playing SKATE. I settled in to trying a line of front shove on flat, ollie up, then ollie off the loading dock past a crack. That took a long time, but I finally managed it. I also tried another one of f/s halfcab flip, front 180 up the ledge, turn around then ollie from the low side into the little banked curb. I was content with only getting the front wheels into it and after several tries I got it. A couple slams were painful, but felt good as I felt like I was trying to skate hard. Carleigh got a run of kickflip on flat, ollie up the ledge then ride off the tall part of the dock. The landing was pretty rough. Bernie came close to manny kickflip manny, nose manny shove manny, nose manny front 180 switch manual. My last line was b/s halfcab flip, ollie up, turn around front shove off the low end. I had cracked my board on a bad landing, but the board still had pop and I managed to get the line with a really good feeling front shove. Pretty hyped on that front shove. Hyped to have skated such a hard spot even though it felt pretty frustrating at the time. We called it a day after that. Also hyped on how good these shoes felt.

A busy saturday lined up. After a fun friday night I slept in a little and managed to get in a little flatground before India’s ballet. It was pretty windy and I was trying to break in some new softer bushings which felt good from the gates. I didn’t get much, but I did come super close to nollie f/s flip. Later on after the recital, dinner with my parents and a nap I met Carleigh and Jack at the Mikes Camera manny pad. I felt pretty out of it, but it marks the first session where I started going for nose manual nollie treflips out. I didn’t get remotely close, but it somehow does feel possible. I wanted to try kickflip nose manuals too, but those crappy Vox shoes had no tread left on the front foot and I couldn’t even consistently kickflip. I came somewhat close to nollie front shove manny which I’ve never done before. Carreigh didn’t get any manuals, but I saw some good kickflips and other trick attempts. Jack had some moves. Nollie nose man. Nollie heel man. I’m not sure what all else. We had fun though.

After this session I retired these shoes. One week. That’s all I got out of them. I couldn’t stand wearing them any more. The sole felt like paper. I like Vox as a company a ton, but they gotta do better than this.

Carleigh picked me up after work and we stopped by Crisis before Fuzz did some paperwork.  We went to Subway and I got a meatball sub that was somehow only $2!!!  Wow.  We started off at the nearby Safeway ledge where we skated with Connor and Neil joined after awhile.  That ledge is super good, but the daylight was diminishing and there isn’t a light above the ledge.  Caleigh got noseslide shove quick.  Connor steezed out 5-0s, lipslides, tailslides.  I had a few front 50s and some sorry excuses for back crooks and 50s.

Connor left and Fuzz arrived.  We heard that John Brandow was at the Broomfield park so we went there to “grab him”.  Fuzz wanted to skate a street spot, but we ended up getting snuggled into the park and I think everyone was fine with it.  It was good to see John, but my initial vibe was kinda bummed we had resorted to the park.  But Fuzz started up a mixed ledge/flatground game of SKATE that John and Neil joined in on and it ended up being a blast.  Mostly basics went down.  The halfcab manual Fuzz did on the blue ledge was pretty awesome.  We mostly just made fun of each others tricks in good spirits.  What a fun crew.  I had a halfcab boardslide that generated lots of laughter.  John jibbed the end of a ledge in a frontside “5-0”.  Fuzz won it at the end with 360 flip and I could not land one at all.  Argh.  We all skated around for awhile doing our own thing.  The nice thing about skating street so much is when it comes to skating a park everything seemed lower than it used to.  I managed a crooks on the taller brown ledge as well as a front 50 transfer into it.  I couldn’t do a nose manual on the blue ledge.  I got a back 50 front 180 out on the blue ledge.  Posed a couple kick back tails.  After awhile John, Fuzz and I played a flatground game of SKATE.  I was the first one out so I’m not sure who claimed victory on that one.  When I left Fuzz had SKAT and John had SK so probably John.  I failed at tres and nollie tres, almost got a f/s halfcab heel, failed at fakie bigflips.  Oh well.  Carleigh was having a bummer, but skating flat and did a heelflip.  Then we all did tricks on the blue bank.  John, Fuzz and I started with quick up to front shove fakie.  John’s was easy as cake.  Fuzz’s was bolts.  Mine was butt out, arms out horrid.  We went on to do b/s flips, kickflip fakie.  Fuzz and John added fakie flips.  Fuzz did front 180 in as the setup, John switch ollie (scary!).  I took a few tries to get frontside flip.  Fuzz and John added a bunch of other fun tricks.  It was a blast with the exception of Carleigh being down.  But she didn’t throw a fit and we all know it happens.

Rain/snow.  Seriously.  I hate April sometimes.  Anyways, I went out to Rampy unmotivated and grouchy to be skating inside.  I didn’t skate Rampy well at all.  I struggled at everything.  Things got better when I started adding some flatground to the mix.  I almost landed a nollie flip and I started trying stationary kickflips and trying to land in a nose manual.  Actually did a couple.  On Rampy the only things that felt good were front disasters, fakie pivot fakie and a couple of my better frontside ollies.