Another hot CO summer day. Met Bratcher and Jesse at Broomfield in the morning. Skating started alright. Everyone kind of bothered by the heat. Jesse had some back 50s and an amazing fakie heel out of the bank. Bratcher is getting back in the groove after a toe problem. He looked good though. 50s, switch boardslides, kickflips. I got a few of the ultra basic flippers, but no treflips. Skated okay until it came time to really pop and it bothered me a lot. Definitely got pretty upset. Jack joined us at the end and learned back 180 fakie manual fakie front shove out because he is amazing like that.

(setup 3/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, venture v-cast 5.6 flat top washer, 52mm bones x99 v1, vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After work on a hot day I met Jack at Willville where it’s nice and shady. We hugged and then skated. I really struggled, didn’t land squat and hated my attempt at mixing T2 baseplates with hollow thunder hangers. I literally landed nothing. Jack had some good nollie front heels. He did back 180 fakie manual revert around into the bank. Close to fakie shove to switch manual. Then we went and enjoyed some good food and drinks.

(setup 0/10 8.3 thunder t2 baseplate with t1 hanger and old 52mm spits – vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Was sore and had gone for my first run in months. Why did I go skate? I guess just to get even more depressed about my skateboarding. In 30 minutes I went 0-20 on halfcab flips and the only flip tricks I landed was kickflip and one very bad fakie flip.

(setup 1/10 8.25 venture 5.6 v-hollow blah vans waffle cup)
(pain level 6/10)

On a very hot early evening I went to dog park to meet Nolan and others. Chatted with Riley for a while. Brian, Donnie, Nolan’s brother skated. I did very little, just basics. I was so tired. At the park I mostly just filmed Nolan after some basic cruising. It was fun watching him rip.

(setup 8.25 venture 5.6)
(pain level 7/10)

After a much needed day off of skating we rolled up to the mountains. First stop was a breezy and sunny Idaho Springs. Was a pretty fun session. Neil was able to tap into the fire and get going. He had wallies, manuals, noseslides, one foots, crooks, boardslides. This is the Neil we know and love. Rob was shredding too. Manuals, back 50s, ollies. Cass was boardsliding the bigger rails, some frontside. I was the last man standing, for quite some time. I was happy with some crooks (even if a younger dude came and did them 10 feet further), one incredibly slow front 50, quick up noseslide, kickflip on the steeper bank that was bad then a kickflip to fakie on the mellower one.

Then we drove up to an almost empty Breck park (that would fill in a little shortly after we arrived). The road leg soreness had settled in and it took a long time to feel good. Cass was on front noses pretty much immediately and would get close to bigspin out. Rob had the sick back 50s onto the bank then lined them out with boardslides, maybe noseslide too. Neil with great one foots on/over/down the hip, front 50 into the bank like Rob, I think kickflip the hip. I skated like 2 hours longer than anyone. I wish I had a lot to say, but it basically took me that long to land anything so that’s why. I just keep hucking until the stars finally align. I did beat Cass to crooks on the ditch to ledge, had some fun noseslides to fakie on it. Took a long time to get a fun line of front 50 the weird noping tight qp, ollie the hip (couldn’t get kickflip) then noseslide to fakie. Almost got a similar line with kickflip on the bank and crooks after. Spent a long time trying back 50 on the upper deck of the miniramp, but it was an ultra fun ride away with the roll in. Hucked a little. Got close to noseslide the bump to snowboard jump. Ended making myself do 10 qp tricks on the little section. Last trick was dumb, but fun – rock to feeble (but not in one motion like good people do it).

(setup 7/10 8.5/14.25 null purple archway, pepper g5, ace af1 hollow 55, old spitfire f4 99a classic 52mm pink, vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Hot day. Cass, Joe, Rob, Neil and I rolled up to Loveland. Dave met us. We started at this little park since the weird and fun river spot is right there. Joe did some long boardslides. Cass front board shove. I did some kickflips to fakie on the mellow bank. Neil got some boardslides and back 180 off the bank.

We rolled to the river spot. Neil found the hardest angle and spot to do a no comply to tail. Joe did 3 tricks while I tried one. Front 50 shove, front 5-0 to rock, front pivot to front tail shove. All while I tried front pivot kickflip out. A few of which were very close. Dave found a crazy path to shove nose stall and went to fakie. So sick. I gave up on the pivot kickflip and did no comply shove instead.

Then we went to the weird motorcycle manny pad spot. It was so freaking hot, but the spot is so good it had Rob in the mix. No comply bigspin, no comply up (maybe to manual?), almost no comply flip up. Cass was the first to get manual and then would get close to manual back shove out. Neil lined out manuals, nose manuals, noseslides, kickflip. Dave had a pretty magical line going up up then kickflip into the bank. He also did manual front 180. I basically only did some noseslides.

Off to the DIY which had some young bucks ripping, Dave ripping a line with 360s over the hip. Rob cruised it. Joe did a bunch of tricks on the little ledge.

(setup 7/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, venture v-cast 5.6 flat top washer, 52mm bones x99 v1, vans kyle walker b/w size 12 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a hot day Rob, Joe, Neil, Cass and I pulled into the Barnum DIY and it was completely covered in fireworks from the 4th. We thought about going elsewhere, but we started sweeping it. Then some neighbors and Justin showed up with a leaf blower. 30 min later we were in business. Gordon, Dave and Jake showed as well. It was a long session mixed with basketball and socializing. I myself skated like dookie so I hucked halfcab heel noseslides and a couple felt really close. Neil slammed on a crack right away, still had some lines and the ride on grind. I played a game of SKATE with Cass and Gordon in which I lost on very difficult tricks like kickflip and back 180. Ugh. I had my first setup change of the trip with 8.25/indy and basically hated it. Joe did front lip to front 50 to front board all in one trick. Hammer hammer! Dave was killing it as we would expect. Back 50 nollie shove, boardslide shove, crooks, ride on grinds. Gordon was poppy and fast. Jake was ripping but hurt his back on a halfcab noseslide. Cass did back 180 nosegrind and a lot more.

Then we went to the nearby skatepark. We lost some of the crew and several just chilled. Neil was in the mix at the start and was close to getting an ollie over the ball. I stunk it up. Only thing that was fun was the little front 5-0s to fakie. Joe and Dave killed it. Dave had insane lines using the bank to curb, qp, little qps, everything. He even did a kickflip pivot on the little qp. Oh yeah, Neil had done a kickflip on it too. Joe had a lot of tricks on the bank. It was 95 degrees and I can’t believe we skated during peak sun hours like that, but we did. And it was fun.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null kaleidoscape, cheap pepper, indy titanium, bones 52mm x99 v1, vans kyle walker size 12 b/w with fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Kinda slacked, then met Gordon at Broomfield around noon. The park was kinda popping. I skated alright. Was back at home on an 8.25 with Thunders. Struggled with kickflips which is kinda funny. Had a first try fakie bigflip, fakie flip, kickflip, b/s flip, maybe a halfcab flip. Hucked more. Gordon did all the shoves. Taylor was there ripping halfcab heels. I had some fun crooks, took a bit to get halfcab noseslide.

Then I drove to Loveland and went to the DIY to meet Dave and Hayden who had Nora and Emmett with him. I saw Dave do a switch 180 over the hip and a few grinds over the bank boob. Nora styled some kickflips to fakie, grinds on the flatbar on the bank and a lot more. Emmett too, that family has such good casual style on skateboards. Hayden ripped it. Pop shove tail grab off the bank boob and a cool line. I took a while to get going. Had a fakie back smith to fakie on the little qp followed by halfcab nose on the little ledge. Then took an hour to do that crappy kickflip.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null kaleidoscape, cheap pepper, thunder 148 hollow lite, bones 52mm x99 v1, vans kyle walker size 12 b/w with fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a day of working on site and lots of sitting I went to dog park and got there the same time as Dan. We played a warm up game of no comply SKATE that was pretty fun. He won, but we both got quite a few tricks and it was fun. Then we kinda just focused on the lurb. He was trying 180 switch crooks and I was trying switch crooks. We both got some, but not great. I had put Ventures on my setup and meh, realize I just cannot flip an 8.5 anymore to save my life.

(setup 8.5/14.25 null purple archway, pepper g5, venture 5.8 v-cast bones medium bushings, 52mm bones x99 v1, new balance numeric 306 cup grey size 12 half 440 insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

Up early on a Friday I picked up Dave in Longmont and we rolled to Greeley Peak View skatepark. We had the place to ourselves for the first couple hours and then a few scooter kids came and did some laps. It was almost kind of chilly when we got there, but so hot by the time we left. Our warm up was slappy crooks over the puddle aka the death gap. Dave of course would go on to line it out with a switch crook over it. Kind of quickly I hopped on front 50 first try which is ultra rare for me and it felt good. Oh yeah, I had a setup change of aces on 8.5/14.25 and it would be good (except for bigflip later on). The video showcases most of the skating. We were both pretty winded at times so it was just easy to film each other. Dave’s lines are crazy good. The spine transfer is nuts. The grinds at full speed, all of it. I was pretty hyped on my line of the sw noseslide shove then tiny ollie then kickflip fakie. At one point I battled treflips when I should have just been trying b/s flip on the hip. Dave’s b/s flip was nuts. At the end Dave battled the bigspins on the hip and I tried bigflip on the bank but never got one. Really fun session. Dave is the man. Happy birthday Dave!

(setup 8/10 sample 8.5/14.25, jessup ultra pj, ace 55 af1 hollow, 52mm spitfire tablet 99a, vans walker wafflecup b/w size 12 with fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)