After a rainy night I was ready to skate earlyish on a Saturday. Bratcher said he was at library so I went too. There were some other dudes too I’ve seen before. Positive dudes, excessive filmers. I had a setup change and I would like it. 8.3 with thunder team hollows. My shoes felt small, but good. I would have a decent session. Noseslides, crooks, switch noseslides all good. Front 50s worked on the lower ledge. Had a few on the taller ledge, but it was a struggle. Almost got a line of front 50 the taller ledge followed by back 50 shove the lower ledge. Got a 3rd try treflip. Did some other halfcab noseslides and fakie 50s and what not. Bratcher was ripping too. He he had some taller front and back 50s, noseslides, boardslides. At the end we skated the C beam which was a fun ender.

Then after some lunch Dave hit me up to skate and we met at Valmont aka Toddler Park. We were lucky for a while without many toddlers. Dave did a cool fakie front tail 360 out over the hip. I was all over the place for a while, legs were starting to hurt. Managed some okay noseslides on the PJ ledge then managed the best feeling crooks I’ve done in a while. We tried some boardslide nollie shove transfers. Dave got a good one.

(setup 8/10 null 8.3 keyhole, jessup ultra, thunder team hollows 149, old spitfire f4 99a green radial slim, last resort cm002 black size 11 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went by dog park after work. Valmont was overrun with toddlers. Will and Ted were at dog park. Things started off alright actually. I would get a fun line of boardslide through the crack the cement things, no comply to tail the bank to curb, a weird f/s grind up the edge of the barrier. Had an okay slow line of nollie front tail the lurb, crook jib to fakie the bench, fakie nosegrind the curb. Other than that though, things really fell apart when I slammed trying to front 50 the curb. I would go on to make it much worse by trying to front 50 the bench again and never getting it. I somehow stayed positive on the outside, but on the inside I was dying. Will had some casual bangers and tried to switch manual the pad. Oh yeah, there was some rollerskating girls there that kept getting in the way. Like they would never look where anyone else was and would just post up in the worst spots. That didn’t help me. Will and Ted seemed to survive fine though.

(setups 0/10 tried 8.5/14.25 thunder and 8.25/indy and disliked both, last resort cm002 black size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

The sun came out and the wet concrete dried quickly. Went to Platte because it normally dries quickly. In fact no part of the south side even had run off. I started at the manny pad. Normally I hate this manny pad due to the cracks, but today I liked it. Warming up was tough. I took some getting used to my setup change and 440s again. Felt good though. Got manual and nose manual pretty quick. May have gotten a line of halfcab flip then nose manual. Started going for nose manual shove and kick back tail. Never got the nose manual shove although was very close. Got a kick back tail which made me happy. Went over to the 3 stair. Ollied up, down and 180 down. The ollie up was not clean though. Then I skated the good flatground area for a while. Didn’t land much. Really struggled with heelflips and could not get one. Was really close to halfcab heel.

(setup 7/10 8.25 pmg (that’s so old it’s been to Germany and back), jessup ultragrip, 5.6 venture v-hollow redrilled to v8, bones stf 103a pj 53mm v1, new balance numeric 440v2 wide half 574 insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a really nice day Kevin and I chilled at 303 for a bit then rolled into campus. I got some titanium 144s to hopefully finally have a perfect setup (no chance whatsoever). First spot was the little flower pot triangle ledge. I had tried a line of kickflip up the curb then curve around and crooks, but the kickflip wasn’t happening. Then we went to the downhill ledge. I took a while just to be able to noseslide it from the top of the “hill”. We got to the point where we did tricks into the “hill” and then ledge tricks. Kevin halfcab flip and then crooks was sick. He also tried switch flip then switch front nose, but the speed was too much. We wanted to get a student to walk up halfway so he could have the excuse of having to slow down around a student, but we didn’t. Would have been funny. I took a while to get varial flop in and halfcab flip. But once I calibrated the huge floppy shoes and new smallerish setup I had a few in a row that felt very good. Then to the slope to steps spot. I took too long to do front tail shove then front shove. Kevin took less long to do the blunt then kickflip. Last spot was the tiny bank that I didn’t really skate. Kevin did nollie and switch flip easily. Fun session.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null flaherty, forged titanium indy 144 with royal bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl classic, last resort grey cm002 size 12 (way too big) with footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a very warm Saturday Rob, Dave, Paul and I rolled up to Evergreen for a birthday tradition. We met up with Salty, Bratcher, Miller and Jake (still unable to skate). Great crew. We filmed almost nothing which was kind of nice. Bratcher had a migraine and didn’t really skate. Salty had some cool grind reverts on the qp and went for some fast boardslides on the ledge. Paul was the youngest and it showed popping onto the ledges with ease. Front 50 down the slight hubba looked fun, back 5-0s, front nosegrind the fence ledge, windshield wiper on the qp. Rob manuals, crails, front board pop out, back 50s, front slash the qp. I was skating decent and starting a line with kickflip over the hip but totally broke my board. Doh. Luckily I had a used one in the car that was somehow actually in better shape. I don’t know if I quite got back into the groove after that. But I would get a bad b/s flip over the hip, first t fakie bigspin over it. I had a bunch of crooks, noseslides on the fence ledge, a few slow front 50s. One thing I actually liked the most was kickflip up the curb then noseslide the out ledge. Had some fun 180 nose manuals from the wedge to the hip deck. I ended trying slow treflips and eventually got a very sorry excuse of a treflip. Dave lasted the longest of course and was shredding. Lots of kickflips over the f/s hip, b/s flips over it, pivot the steep qp, bump to nose manual the wedge to hip deck, front 50s the bump to ledge, showed up Paul with a layback grind to tail, back 3 over the hip, ended on a varial flip that took a bit. Fun session, great crew, fun park, great weather, good margs after.

(setup 5/10 8.25 null keyhole, forged hollow indy 149 with royal bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl classic, last resort grey cm002 size 12 (way too big) with footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

I took a half day and on a warm afternoon picked up Bratcher and rolled to Windsor park. We met Hayden and Will and we basically had the park to ourselves until the end save for an e-motorbike. Ended up being a pretty fun session. Bratcher lots of tricks on the curb height ledge, ollied up the euro, front 50 the taller ledge. Hayden is so fun to watch. Such casual manuals, back tails, crooks, nosegrinds. Filmed an amazing line of him 50’ing the double set curb, crooks off the bank to ledge then a super lofty b/s ollie the qp hip. Will skated the tall ledge with ease. Front smith on the bank to ledge was amazing. First try pop shove up the euro. I had a couple of lines I liked, but I struggled in my oversized shoes. Warm up line above was about as good as I did all day. Crooks, noseslide to fakie, halfcab noseslide. Later on I would get a crooks on the lower ledge, flatground heelflip, front 180 the euro. Other than those nothing really stands out as noteworthy from me. Fun session, good crew.

(setup 3/10 8.25 null keyhole, cast hollow 144 mindys, 52mm spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl classic, last resort grey cm002 size 12 (way too big) with footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a snowy Friday I went to the garage. I had been kind of sick the last couple days, but wanted to get the legs moving. I had a new deck, different setup. Basically after chatting with Lord Degros he recommended this setup. 8.3, Indys, 51mms. Warming up felt great just doing ollies and shoves. Kickflips were okay. Took forever to get a b/s flip, but I blame my legs from not exercises for 3 days. At the end I hucked varial heel and nollie flip, varial heel was remotely close.

(setup 6/10 null keyhole 2 8.3, jessup ultragrip, indy forged hollow knox 149 royal bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10 felt so uncoordinated)

Had a bit of time on the way into work so I stopped by dog park. It was cloudy and cool, but not cold and it felt great. I had told myself I need to do 4 basics before I could leave. Manual, front 50 the bench, halfcab noseslide the bench and ollie something. I would get them all, the front 50 taking the longest. Had some good feeling back 50s on the curb. Skated my 8.5/14.25 with Thunders. It was pretty mid. Ended with an ollie over the kinked round bar with a little wheel bonk. It was a decent quick morning session.

(setup 3/10 8.25/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, thunder 149 hollow lights with bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12 with half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 3/10)

After a rainy morning I met up with 98% dudes at some apartments out on Arapahoe. I rolled up to Donnie getting nuts on the ride on curb that goes off a 7 stair with a narrow bank. He did 5-0, switch crook and switch crook halfcab into the bank. So nuts. I had rolled into it a couple of times and posed some flatground.

Then we went up to the ledge area. Garrett went nuts and got some bangers. Halfcab noseslide then kickflip back tail. He had also just messed around doing 6 tricks lines. Also kickflip up the two, front tail, b/s flip up a little gap. I was hyped to see some Wade front noseslides. Ladd had some good crooks and 50s. I had some crooks and noseslides and Scotty was kind enough to point the camera and I somehow managed a couple of lines. Crooks then front 180 up a little gap. Switch nose jib then kickflip down a 2 stair. I was pretty happy with those, but really wanted to get a treflip and could not get one to save my life. Donnie had some great slams and got another great line or two. Really fun session, great dude.

(setup 2/10 null flaherty 8.3, jessup ultra, slappy lights 8.5 indy 92a bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic black/orange swirl, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12 half insole currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After last night’s brutal session a setup change was of course in order. I’m sure it has nothing to do with my lack of motivation. Anyway, I got out of work at decent time and biked over to Willville thinking I had limited time to skate. Dinner plans got canceled, but I still only skated a little over an hour and I was beat. I did skate hard. Basically just skated the mellow pad/ledge area. Would do a warm up line of halfcab noseslide, kickflip on flat, ollie onto the pad and ride back down to fakie. Was supposed to be an ollie to fakie or a shove or something cool. But it wasn’t. Did a couple flippers, front 50s, kind of a back 50. Tried to line out manual into the downhill, treflip, ledge trick. Never got the treflip. I kind of blame my setup change, but mostly the the completely bald and dead 600s I was skating. I also struggled with fakie bigflip and heelflips. Then started trying kickflips onto the pad with the slight intention of doing kickflip manual into the downhill. Only got a couple kickflips though and neither went into manual. I ran out of juice and called it a night.

(setup 7/10 null flaherty 8.3, jessup ultra, ace af1 hollow 55, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 600 knox black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)