I debated calling in sick for work as I was feeling a cold come on. Instead I went to work, had a really busy day then went home and took a long nap. I love naps. Love them. After some dinner I played basketball with Ollie for awhile and John hit me up to go skating. We texted for several minutes about where to skate before I just gave up and called him. We met at Valmont basically as the sun was setting. The ledge area was wet, but the manny pads were good. After some pretty typical old man warming up (ie, barely landed ollies up low curbs) we got in a groove. John got a halfcab manual followed by nose manny. I came super close to front 180 nose manny and almost did a kickflip nose manual but I touched at the start. I was having fun lining out the basics too. Then we started just dorking around skating a curb like it was a ledge since John wanted to learn back tails. I kept telling him they are impossible and that kickflip back tails are way easier. So he tried back tails while I tried kick back tails. Since kick back tails are easier than back tails I landed some. I also tried a few front pivot kickflips out and did a pretty good impression of Lloyd’s ballet kick, but that was about it. Then we played a long mellow game of SKATE that ended when rock star john hurt his rock star wrist and didn’t want to put tomorrow nights show in jeapordy. Oh, I know it’s the middle of May, but seriously, it was pretty warm for February.

Kind of a late start to go to Lafayette, but I wasn’t really feeling any street spots in particular and Carleigh liked the sounds of Lafayette. We got there around 8:15. The drive there sucked. That is one of the worst drives ever. Everyone drive well under the speed limit and it’s just annoying residential streets. Anyways, the weather was threatening rain and there was lightning nearby. I like skating in that kind of weather. We started off kind of all over. The park wasn’t super busy by any means. Oh yeah, I had been in class all day so my legs felt sore from sitting in one place all much and not doing my normal stretches and stuff. But after some cruising around things felt pretty good. Carleigh did a f/s halfcab into the mellow bank and I got her back with a boardslide down the rail then noseslide down the hubba. That is a really fun combo. Carleigh also got pop shove into the bank. I wanted to noseslide the pier 7 tripleca, but the stupid street side lights shut off at like 8:40. WTF? Come on City of Lafayette, that is pathetic. Carleigh kept skating the bank. She did like 6 tricks into it total. Nollie shoves, nollie back 180, kickflip. We skated the snakerun for awhile. Carleigh got a frontside wallride on the bank to bank. She could dropin on it too. I was terrified of dropping in on that for some reason, but eventually I did it. Then I started trying to do kickflip wallride on it. Less than 10 tries later I did it. That really really hyped me up. I did cruising around the snakerun with some little ollies. Fun. Right at the end I tried ollieing onto one of those round planter things up by the vert bowl and had almost got it when the rest of the lights shut off. Doh. Gotta say I’m bummed on the city of Lafayette for blowing it so bad shutting off the lights so early.

After a long day at work I stopped by Meta for a bit to sell some wheels. I had about 30 minutes before dinner so I rolled into campus. I was in a class at work so didn’t have a chance to do my normal stretching. I was so stiff and sore. Ugh. Anyways the first place I ended up was the banked manny pad spot. After a couple super basics I started trying quick up to f/s flip. So hard. I did one, but it was horrible. Did I mention it was insanely windy? Well, it was. I had altered between tre and nollie flips between attempts. Neither of which I landed. Both were close though. After that I went to the double set boardslide that was on my list. I got on it from the top, but didn’t have the will to stick with it. The furthest I got was the middle before I jumped off into the grass. Ugh. Then I did a crappy little rock wallie and called it a day.

Had a really fun Mothers day with my parents and my family. After a little afternoon snack I went to go skate. I put the Adidas on before going skating and the little toes yelled “NO!” So I went with the shoes I was breaking in that I had gotten from Fuzz. The Kenny Reed Lows with some fancy “waxed suede”. I’ve had the non-fancy version of the shoes before and they were awesome. These didn’t dissappoint. A few minutes info campus and I was trying a line. Halfcab flip on flat, ollie a metal grate, ollie onto the tall ledge at the engineering building. That didn’t take too long. I did some noseslides on that ledge too. It’s really tall. I cruised around for a bit and ended up near the gym at the tiny manny pad and kicker spot. Surprisingly it took me a long time to get a kickflip out of that stupid kicker. Ugh. Then I manualled the long manny pad near the theater before going up to the theater itself. I scoped out that 5 stair ledge and was determined to 50 it. But right after a couple ‘JT to Laters’ a couple squirrels pinned me in a corner and seemed determined to deter me from skating there. Not wanting to start a fight with rodents I left. I think I might put that on my ‘by 40’ trick list though. Maybe 50 shove or 50 180 out. Before long I ended up at the newly repaved parking below the 14. I had done a little nose manny and was looking at the ledge. I want to ollie over one of those. I don’t have an ollie like that on my list either. I want to add that too. Ollie one of the ledges near the spot that Bernie did the fakie manual fakie flip out in the previous null teaser. Anyways, there was a bmx’er cruising around so I wasn’t really feeling it and then a cop drove by so I definitely wasn’t feeling it. I played dumb and cruised on down the sidewalk. I ended up near the two downhill-narrow-skatestopped manny pads and 5 stair. I tried to huck the long 5. It’s not tall at all, but long. I almost committed to it before feeling over it. Before leaving I ollied off the ledge above it though. I didn’t have to clear anything, but it was a lot taller. I went faster than normal and landed it really good. It felt great. It’s one of the taller things I’ve ollied off of and I’ve done it several time over the years. Although, never that fast. I cruised off down the bikepath and actually tried a bunch of flip tricks. I was happy to have shoes that I couldn’t complain about. I did fakie big, heelflip, tried nollie tre, etc then saw a gap I’ve never seen before. Off a narrow ledge about 4 feet to a sidewalk. Nothing big, but it was fun. I started heading home I thought then saw this manny pad that was 1 up with a long 2 down. I remember trying to manual it years ago and failing. I setup a line to it. Dropin on this little 4 stair thing, kickflip then try the manny. The kickflips got the best of me though. It was on a downhill slope which always freaks me out and as much as I loved the new shoes I didn’t feel all that confident trying kickflips at speed. I did the kickflips quite a few times, but when I did I never matched it with the manny. Doh. Then it was time to go back to Mother’s Day chilling with the Mighty LZA. I was happy to have finally skated hard and couldn’t use my shoes as excuses.

Being the famous celebrity that I am I was called upon to help judge the YMCA Spring Fling at the Boulder contest. When I got there no one wanted the boards I had as prizes and no one needed my help judging. So John and I attempted to play SKATE, but it was quickly interrupted by his true stardom status as him and Sam recieved an award from the YMCA for all the effort Meta has provided over the years. Meta rules. John and Sam are way more famous than me. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t remember the score before John had to “leave”. SKA – S. That’s right Johny Stardom. Anyways, joking aside for a few sentences. I actually had fun. For awhile I cruised the bowl and was pleasantly surprised to get a backside scratcher grind in the round bowl. Later on I played a game of SKATE with Max’s brother where I missed every go to trick I can do (all 3 of them). Then there was an organized game of SKATE that I thought involved Josh Steele and others. But no, it was me vs 15 young kids. It was hilarious. Ric called out ‘age before beauty’, but I still went first. I landed kickflip, heelflip, front shove, fakie flip before bailing. I thought it would get all tech after that, but the next trick was front 180. That’s when I realized I had been a jerk. There was a couple kids in there that had some moves though. I ended up losing out with tricks like cab, nollie flip, sw flip, some other dumb switch trick and another dumb switch trick (I’m kidding, it’s just jealousy). Anyways, around then my feet really started to hurt. I’ve worn the Adidas a few days, but not for more then a few hours before. It got to the point where I didn’t want to walk it hurt so bad. Those shoes are too long and too narrow for me. One of the worst fits I’ve ever tried. Hopefully they’ll work for JP. Before calling it a day with the Eating Factory I skated the curb for awhile and did a couple front 5-0s with back 180s out. I might have done that trick before at Red Curbs, but never grinding that far. Oh yeah, the Advanced contest was crazy. It was a Max demo. See a bunch of photos here on Carleigh’s blog. TF went to a nearby bar to get food/drinks. It was fun. Sam and I watched some basketball. I knocked a glass off the table and broke it and I wasn’t even drinking. Then I got a call from an annoyed wife and went home to clean the bathrooms. Not so fun.

Got off work on a really nice day and went to meet Bernie at the gnarly industrial bank in Longmont. I had a few minutes to kill before he arrived and messed around with some wallrides on the bank in a spot I didn’t have to ollie onto, but there was a big crack coming back. I did a few each way. Bernie arrived and we played a couple pathetic games of SKATE. Well, pathetic from my point of view. I absolutely hate the Adidas. Too long and way too narrow. Anyways Bernie was skating pretty well so I started filming. Unfortunately he didn’t get his trick, but he tried pretty hard and the wind definitely took it’s toll on Bernie. After that we skated the nearby weird stair spot that Bernie and Max have tricks on in Bernie’s video. I was sucking initially with my filmer legs, but started trying a run of ollie up all three curbs (the last one has no setup time) then kickflip down the three. I didn’t get there before we got booted. Doh. I can’t believe how easy it was for Bernie to do the quick ups. Then we went to a nearby school and just kinda messed around a bit before Bernie ollied on top of a tall picnic table. I started trying too and got remotely close. I got up into rock pretty easily anyway. Hyped we did that. Bernie is so fun to skate with.

Ended up having a busier evening then I figured running errands and shooting some hoops with Ollie. Carleigh came by at around 8:30 and we went to campus. There wasn’t much parking as it was graduation, but found a good spot. We ended up first at the double set with the curb I want to boardslide. It’s not lit very well so there was no way I was really gonna go for it. But it was kinda fun just dorking around. Next we ended up at the round stair spot that goes from 1 stair up to 6. After ollieing the 4 we each settled into our own things. I was trying a line of ollieng the 4 then doing a quick manual where the big crack starts right after the stairs. That took a long time. Actually, after a couple slams and lots of bails I started trying it different. I ended up doing crooks on the ledge, ollie the 3, then the manual. I think I finally landed it after Carleigh nollied the two stair for her first nollie down “something”. My next line was a noseslide to fakie then a front pop shove down the two going 2mph. 2 for 2. Lastly I did a back 50 on the ledge then kickflipped the two. Kinda hyped on that one. Then we went to the nearby flatground area and Carleigh broke her 1-0 kickflip record for the day. She struggled, but got one. I took awhile to finally get a treflip in the clown shoes, but managed to rattle off several other tricks and felt decent. On the way to the car we had a fun downhill ride through the new parking lot with the 3 stair manny pad. Fun.

Kind of worn out feeling and had just sat around and had a movie/popcorn date with India (Despicable Me).  Decided I should go skate and get them new clown shoes broken in.  I refer to them as clown shoes because of the colors and the fact that they feel about two sizes too long.  Anyways, I was pretty motivated once I got to Valmont surprisingly.  I mostly skated the manny pads and after a few flatground kickflips settled into a couple line attempts.  Going one way I was trying to do a speedy manual, nose manual on the next one, front 180 up the curb, f/s halfcab flip off.  I was trying to go fast enough on the first manual that I wouldn’t have to push again.  It took a bit, but I did get it.  By the time I got to the f/s halfcab flip I was going pretty slow, but whatevs, I was hyped.  Kickflips are the best way for me to break in shoes.  So going the other way I was doing kickflip up the curb, kickflip off the curb then trying kickflip manual.  I got this one too with a scrape.  But the kick manny took forever.  I must have done 100 kickflips total.  Since I had gotten the f/s halfcab flip line I started trying another ridiculous line for me.  Nose manny, manual front 180 out the next one, front shove up the curb, b/s flip off.  The front shove was the initial roadblock, then for some reason I started becoming unable to do nose manuals.  It was really annoying.  I tried a few other flippers and long nose mannies when I would mess up.  I couldn’t get a treflip in these shoes to save my life.  I slammed a lot and it felt good.  I tried ollie’ing off the loading dock a couple times and slammed both times.  Total wheel bite slams.  Ugh.  St Julien will never happen.

Right after work I picked up Sean and Max, then met Chad, Josh, Carleigh and Dean at this new bikepath ledge spot.  Everyone got the warm up on.  Some better (Max) than others (Me).  Sean was killing some fun looking lines doing the basics perfect.  Chad was working on his Josh Steele ollies next to Josh Steele.  I had new shoes.  Adidas Campus Vulcs.   Sorry, it’s basically the only option I had at the time and I like to get my shoes broken in ahead of skating.  Anyways, they have a great sole it seems like, but overall I think I the shoe feels really large like I’m wearing a size 12 or something.  It took me forever to get a basic line done horrible.  Kickflip, noseslide, back 50.  The spot is ridiculous.  It wasn’t long before I turned into filmer Glen.  Max got a bangin’ line and trick.  Josh got a couple lines and almost a bangin’ trick.  Dean got some amazing photos.  Then we drove to this spot where I’ve been hoping someone would quick up ollie over the pole for years.  Josh finally manned up.  It wasn’t easy for even him, but he did it.  I was soooo blown away.  I wish I would have filmed it better though.  Max was going bonkers around this time and skating all over the place with tons of energy.  It was epic.  We filmed a line using my $2 LED flashlight that came out amazing.  So hyped.

After the Null kids killed it I tried to go skate.  This was after 10pm.  I got out of the car and realized I was so hungry the stomach acid was going crazy.  I tried to skate.  It didn’t work though.  Partly the new shoes, mostly the hunger.  After playing spot tag with some bikers I went behind UMC and did a few flippers.  The only ok one was some bad frontside flips.  But in my head they felt as cool as the ones Josh had done in a line earlier.  That’s all that matters.  Ha.

Forever ago on a filming mission for Soup D’Jour we had one of the most epic filming and skating days in Fort Morgan, CO. We’ve been back a couple times since with various crews. The initial crew was Bernie, Eric Napolitano, Tyler’s brother Josh and me. This time around it was Jack, Derek, Bernie, Dean and I. We got a really early start and were pulling into drive by coffee around 11am. It was hilarious because we were in rural Colorado and when Dean and his English accent ordered an “English Breakfast” the lady just stared at him. Then we went to the skatepark. Everyone started at the miniramp. Jack killed it, the rest of us struggled. Derek was sore from the day before. Me and Dean aren’t the best skaters. I’m not sure what Bernie’s excuse was. Ha. Apparently we missed an amazing slam as Jack tried to manual from high to low and drop into front disaster and missed. He had some really steezey front 5-0’s to fakie the Strubing way, no comply tailslides and more slams. I can’t skate anything but Rampy it seems. I worked up to front ds, smiths and that’s about it. Mellow ramps are so hard to skate.

Then we hit the crack ridden main area of the park. We played a game of SKATE that Bernie or Jack won. Then I kinda tried a few lines. I did boardslide the flatbar, f/s ollie on the flatbank, rock ‘n roll on the tight qp, kickflip over a crack then early grab melon/method/whatever happened off the launch ramp. So fun. I got another run with front 50 on the ledge, b/s flip on the flatbank then another launcher. Jack was kind of on fire everywhere. He back 50’d the ridiculous 5 stair rail and back salad’ it. Back 270 front lip on the flat bar. Derek did nose manny nollie back 180 out on the ledge that took me forever to manual. Next we hit the tennis court wallride where Jack went so high we filmed a line to it.

Then we went to the nearby school where Jack went nuts and hippy jumped the bar in no time. Then we skated the manny pad for awhile. Bernie got close to halfcab manual b/s flip out while I struggled to get manual and nose manual. Then I went to work filming for awhile. Lets just say Jack got a bangin’ line and Bernie almost got a rad manual trick. We drove around for awhile, found a rail, harassed an old lady, filmed Jack dropin on something, posed on a flatbars, and ended up at a gap to rail that Jack manned up to. Last spot of the day was a downhill manny pad where everyone but Derek had fun. Ha. Derek was so tired and worked so hard to do a front 180 nose manual. Bernie slammed harder than possible on a curb, but got back up and kick nose mannied it. Jack got nollie heel manual. Dean filmed while I felt about as old as I could possibly feel. I had managed to manual it pretty quickly, but could not kickflip up the curb to save my life ugh.

Oh, and I didn’t bitch about my shoes enough.  As you can see above the stupid red dye in the soles of the Supras messed up the rubber and it all just rubs off right away.  It’s so bad in the ollie area that there is no grip after a few ollies.  I have been on a serious shoe slump lately.  Luckily, Jack gave me permission to retire the Supras as we sat at Taco John’s before leaving Ft Morgan.  Those shoes sucked.