Feeling healthier and up for a bit of an adventure I went to NorthGLENn to meet Jack B, ODSC, Jake, Dave, Sean and Kevin. I was pretty determined to flip my board around a lot and was kind of successful even though it rarely came easy. My first real line after warming up was a no comply back shove on the mellow bank, back 50 the little steep bank, b/s flip the small hip. Dave was working on nollie shove hippy jumps. Jake did halfcab noseslide the little ledge first try and some gnar on the wannabe jersey barrier. I had a dookie run of switch 180, crook jib the ledge, kickflip to fakie the little bank. Then halfcab flip the little bank, backside flip the bank. Kevin and Sean had joined. Dave was doing some really long lines. Then I settled in on the ol’ treflip battle after watching Kevin do a really good nollie flip flyout. He would go on to do several flippers out, but got hung up at switch treflip. Sean was kind enough to take turns filming with me and he did a gnarly line. Sugarcane, nose manual up the hubba, back heel the hip. Dave put down some front 180 crooks then the halfcab crook which is so sick. I would eventually kind of get the treflip even though I didn’t really like it much. After that everyone was beat and it was incredibly hot out so we disbanded. Which is probably a good thing because I was definitely still fighting my cold a bit and very exhausted.

(setup null 8.1 all you need deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows hollow hanger royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

After being sick for the better part of a week I went across the street to the school on a hot afternoon to reacquaint myself with my skateboard. Well, my new skateboard that is. Ha ha, had a new deck and hollow axles, but it skated basically the same. I had very little energy but it felt good to ride my skateboard. I would get a few kickflips and lined out a slappy crooks with a b/s flip. Then I sat in the heat and enjoyed being outside for a while before cruising home.

(setup null 8.1 all you need deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows hollow hanger royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

After my first day of skating several hours in a long time I met up with Cass, Dave, Jake and eventually Joe and Garrett at Valmont/dog park. Well actually after some confusion I met Cass at Library, but we didn’t even skate as we were both too sore and wanted some transition. We intended to go to Valmont, but Dave and Jake were at dog park so we did it. Well, I don’t really remember much as Cass and I went over to Valmont after an attempt at warming up. Supposedly Cass slammed pretty good on a boardslide right away and messed up his side. He could still kickflip the hip at valmont though. I did a new trick on the bank there that was really fun. No comply back 270 shove. And I would follow it up with the frontside version on the way back.

Back at the dog park Jake was trying nollie back tail on the long bench so Dave and I joined in trying. Jake got the first one, I got his back! I had never thought of trying that trick on that ledge before and it was super rewarding. I would get a few of them, one of which was totally locked in and felt amazing. Actually they all felt amazing. We tried the fakie version too and I would get a few kickturn versions and maybe one that counted. I’m not sure if Dave got the nollie version. The three of us played a game of SKATE. I didn’t do well, had to do double or nothing on kickflip and missed the one chance I had to set a fakie flip. It was fun though. Then I met up with Jack right as he destroyed his foot and it was an ultra bummer. We ended up at another spot and was fun watching the Nullers get down on a tall ledge.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 5/10 not just knee pain though, soreness from skating a lot the day before which I can accept)

On a hot day I picked up Kevin, Cass, Nick and we rolled down to see Venture Dave’s stomping grounds. We arrived to a park crowded with scooters that didn’t look fun at all. Ha. But we managed to have a good time. We started in the flatground area. Cass and Kevin rattled off some good ones. Cass also learned back lips on the curb. Dave lined out with the crusty curb. I was struggling with flippers, but had a good feeling fakie bigflip. I’ve been challenged to fakie front crook so I started trying them on the little curb. Kevin joined and of course did it right away then learned shove out too. I never got one that grinded. I gave up and had fun lining out stuff. Halfcab flip, boardslide the flatbar, roll in, do a couple grind tricks. I went on to get a kickflip on the qp that felt pretty awesome.

Then I met up with Hayden, Bo, Joe, Chad and eventually Jack at this butter bench spot. I didn’t think we would last long, but we never had any problems and everyone was quite nice actually. Chad and I talked about aging and the fun it brings. I was really sore, but forced myself to skate and was glad I did so. I skated the lowest one uphill for a while. Took a bit to get some noseslides then crooks and I was doubting the low trucks, but I ended up getting some good pop and I liked it. Crooks on that were really fun. Bo got a cool line all quick. Hayden worked on a line, but never quite got it before he just did one for the gram. Joe did a lot of stuff too. I would eventually get a little downhill line of switch noseslide then switch noseslide shove and it felt really awesome. I tried to add a fakie flip in the middle, but was too sore and tired. Fun day.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10 first time down to 3 in forever!)

Up early again feeling pretty good after a chill night where I did some real yoga for the first time in a while. I was running a little late and was going to hit SC instead, but it was cloudy which is so rare and made me want to go to dog park. My warm up was real quick and I did two warm up lines super quick that I was quite happy with. Pop shove, boardslide little flat bar, kickflip, noseslide, slappy crook. Then front shove, front 50 the curb, front nose to fakie the bench, switch front nose 270 out, fakie filp. Oh, yeah, I had another setup change. It was a minor one, but out with the 5.6s and in with the 5.2 lows. It’s just what works overall the best and I love how they look and feel. I tried to start a line with halfcab flip for a while, but I couldn’t halfcab flip. Argh. I hucked a lot of flip tricks actually. I didn’t land much, but it was nice feeling good enough to try. I was somewhat close to nollie flips and nollie varial flips. Had a line of backside flip then halfcab noseslide, both done badly. Some crooks, switch front noses. Made myself finally ollie the green cone to leave and it took a fun line to get the motivation. Halfcab flip, kickflip, ollie. Fun session indeed for once. After a big arthritis flare up like I just had it takes a while to get confidence so hopefully it’ll keep coming.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Woke up early and didn’t have any meetings for work so I went to dog park and was skating by 6:45. I had my 8.25 with 5.6 hollows and it felt better, but still difficult to maneuver. I didn’t skate great, but I did try harder and was able to get a few things. I had a couple of fun lines for warm up. They involved boardslides, 50s on the curb, noseslides and maybe a kickflip or two. I got a little line of backside flip then halfcab noseslide and probably a slappy crook after. I couldn’t get a halfcab flip, was close to nollie varial flip. Had a couple crooks, 50s on the lower ledge. Tried to make myself ollie onto stuff more often. Jack B showed up when I was battling the ollie over the flatbar. I used a little kodak courage as motivation, but didn’t have the desire to clean it up. After that it was time for me to head off to work.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 5/10 there were times when my knees had crazy pain)

After dinner I went to Douglass elem on a really nice night. I had thought of trying noseslide to crooks, but it turns out you have to be able to ollie pretty high there to get into noseslide and I only got up there once or twice. I had a pretty bad session really. Couldn’t crook, kickflip up a curb, in fact I could barely kickflip. I took like 10 tries to kickflip off the little speed bump. My knees hurt bad at times. I think in the past I would have never even attempting to skate in this much pain, but now it’s my normal and I only mark it 6/10 ha ha. Somehow I left not super depressed. Maybe it was still fun to street skate, maybe it’s because I knew I would be skating Ventures again.

(setup 8.3 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 440 size 12 white/red half insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

After work on a very nice afternoon I forced myself to go skate even though I was doubting myself and pretty sore. I arrived to an almost empty and cloudy dog park and slowly worked into actually ollieing. It felt amazing, I was able to actually try tricks. I would get a few crooks that felt soooo good. Some of the best ones I’ve done in a while and I would normally line them out with slappy crooks for good measure. i didn’t have a lot of confidence yet, but I did do some tricks I haven’t tried in a while. Like even just a slow front 5-0 on the lower ledge and some back 50s on the lower manny pad. I had some struggles with flip tricks and I think the heft of the Ace highs were a bit much. But I got halfcab flip and fakie bigflip. After a while it got really crowded so I went over to the skatepark. It was crowded too, but not as crowded. Although the kid on an electric motorbike sure was annoying. I did a kickflip on the flat bank, ollied the euro a couple times and manualed the volcano before my knee started to hurt and I called it a session. Stoked to feel alive again even if most of my confidence appears to be gone.

(setup 8.3 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 440 size 12 white/red half insoles)
(pain level 5/10 it’s funny that pain level 5 feels good now)

After a fun morning doing a boxing photoshoot with Cass and Shad I went to Triple Nipple where I met Nick, Sean and Kevin. My body was hurting and I had two setups that I rotated between but mostly stuck with the 8.3. I really didn’t skate well and it hurt too bad to ollie. I would get a few switch front noses, crooks and close to nollie tres. Kevin was ripping and killed the ledge. Switch crooks, fakie 5-0 halfcab out, back smith, kick back tail. Nick had front nosegrind and nose manual no problem along with some seriously popped fakie flips. Sean was looking really good. Manual to 180 nose manual. Nose manual to tailslide, back nosegrind 180. Shad had shown up and it was so rad to see him shredding. He had some good front 5-0s on the steep bank, tailslides, fast grinds. Chelsy and Jenny ripped it too. Carves over the love seat, front tail the steep bank, some good stuff. I ended really trying to ollie up the ledge, but couldn’t make my knees work. I was so bummed.

(setup 8.3 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 440 size 12 white/red half insoles)
(pain level 7/10 and today marks the day I give up alcohol)

Nice morning, went to dog park after working out too hard which made me pretty sore and tired for skating. But I wasn’t in a ton of pain initially at least. Jack and Salty were there, Nick showed after a while. I did not skate well and still wasn’t really able to ollie comfortably. But slappies were still fun as was the Natas spin. I think I got one fakie bigflip as far as flippers go. Jack’s boardslide to feeble variations on the parking block were so sick. Salty was charging, that dude shreds. Nick’s boardslides are so cool. His board rules too. 9.75 with 215s and 39mm wheels. I was able to kickflip it and tried to treflip it. It was crazy how good the larger board felt. I blame it for planting a seed to me wanting a larger board.

After a while Bo and Noè showed up. Bo brings the energy and was popping things right away. I’m always amazed at how quickly he can pop onto stuff. Noè did like 20 tricks on Nick’s 9.75 then let me pick the first couple tricks for his mega line above. I seriously love his flip tricks.

We went to Arapahoe Ridge where I didn’t really skate, Noè did manual kickflip out then manual treflip out super quick. Then Kevin joined and we went behind the school where Bo tried to nollie shove the big 3 over the ledge. Noè manualled for a mile. I attempted some axle stalls without success on a curb.

Then to Douglass where we met Jack and he went right to work which didn’t go so well and looked incredibly painful. Kevin was shredding and also slammed hard on a wallie. He had a super good switch front noseslide. Bo filmed Noè get a sick line involving heelflips, but it didn’t come easy. Then Kevin, Jack and I hung at Picas until the rain started. Even though I couldn’t really skate, I still had fun.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, pj jessup ultragrip, thunder 148s hollow lite venom 88a bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 440 black size 11.5 half insole)
(pain level 6/10)