On the day my daughter turned 27 I went and picked up Kevin then went to dog park. Kevin was visiting for a couple days. I was feeling quite sick an would not normally have skated, but Kevin was in town so of course I did. Gordon and Bratcher were at the park too. Jack was working on nollie back lip shoves when I showed. He didn’t get one, but they were close. Gordon was popping over things like he does no problem, fast grinds. Kevin took no time to get in the grove and was doing nosegrinds, gish’s and popping over the barrier too. I didn’t do much since I was sick and just kind of riding around seeing how I felt. Did a few crooks and whatnot, but that was about it.

We went to the ledge spot with the little bank. Kevin and Gordon had cool lines nollie and fakie popping over a rubber parking block. Gordon had good front 50s too, front nose. Kevin switch front nose, noseslides, crooks to fakie, halfcab noseslide. I just did some spracks and crooks.

Lastly Kevin and I went to check out the newly redone school nearby and the back was finally open. I felt super sick and out of it, but still managed a tiny ollie. Kevin almost got switch flip. He did do some ollies up onto a rock like it was nothing. There is some line potential at that spot.

(setup 6/10 null abstract 43 8.5/14.25, venture v8 5.8, 52mm bones x99 v1 52mm, vans half cab wafflecup gray size 12 with remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

After some early side/back spasms and resting I went out to Valmont area and Dave was there shredding the park with Satellite Jack. They were doing 540s and more on the little bank. Dave did a 900. I felt very off and had a new board setup so even more off and just did some manuals, but it was too dark. Dave did his back tail 360 out over the hip. Jack did big indy airs. Some young kid did front 360 flyouts.

Dave and I went to dog park. The lights weren’t on. We did some boardslides and stuff on the full metal jacket rail since it was kind of lit. Then the lights came on and boom it felt so amazing and bright. My back had loosened up and I had fun skating while Dave was there. He put together a good line. 180 nose drive over a parking block, fakie nosegrind 180 on the curb, back 50 the c lurb, kickflip, something else. It was pretty amazing. I was kind of all over just being random. It was fun though. Lots of little front 50s, nollie tails, crooks, etc. The Thunder noseslide is the worst. Dave had to leave. I skated more, but kind of fizzled out and my back had started to hurt a little. Max Z showed. That was cool. I really struggled with ollies onto the pad and that made me mad. I hucked some ollies over things, none of which felt good. Fun session though. Especially considering the spasms I was having earlier.

(setup 5/10 8.3 null abstract 43, pepper g5, thunder team hollow 149 t2 bushings, bones x99 52mm v1, vans half cab wafflecup gray size 12 remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Went to dog park after work feeling motivated to do a lot of flippers. I would go on to land almost nothing all night. Starting with a warm up game of no comply skate with Dan and the only one I got was no comply 180. We tried heelflips and I could not get one of those either. Will had them easy. Dan got a good one. I crooked the tall wood ledge which was the only thing I liked even though I do it almost every time. We had some good conversation. Those dudes are cool.

(setup 0/10 8.25/14 thunder team hollow 52mm bones vans half cab wafflecup size 12 impact cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Looking for something different I met up with Skelly at Golden park. Upon arriving the park was super crowded with some young rippers like Andrew and Preston. I felt like garbage initially. We skated the top area. Sean had some good lines. Then the lower part for a while I posed b/s flips over the wedge and some noseslides on the launch to noseslide. I couldn’t land any flip tricks. Managed a crook or two on the taller ledge. Almost died trying to wallie onto the ledge. Sean had a good line with back 50 the spine tube, ollie into the bank, wallie off the corner of the triangle kicker.

(setups 0/10 8.25 with v8s then 8.25/14 with thunders. vans half cab wafflecup grey size 12 remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cool morning that would get warm very quickly Jack picked me up and we met Jake and Cass at Parker skatepark. Jack had never been there before. It is such a fun park. Everyone seemed to cruise around with their own warm ups. My groin was hurting after the drive, but seemed okay while skating. I started with 8.25/14 and thunders and liked it for a while. Came close to switch flip initially. But I couldn’t treflip when Jake and I were trying them. Had some good feeling kickflips on the bank, some noseslides to fakie the bank to ledge, slow front 50 the ledge. We all struggled with crooks on the ledge. Jack’s nollie back lip was sick. Cass had some really good front noseslides before breaking his board. He also did kickflip out of the kicker then back 180 off the tall ledge. Jake, Cass and I noseslid the tall ledge. Jack boardslide off the drop was sick. I took forever to get a switch noseslide on the bank to ledge. Cass front noseslide was so sick. There was a lot more. It was a fun session. I avoided a lot of ollies, but it was still fun. Hucking the little board was fun until it wasn’t fun at all. I had switched to 8.5/14.25 thunder hollows and enjoyed riding it more, but didn’t really try so many ticks.

(setups 8.25/14 thunder and 8.5/14.25 thunder hollow. Neither perfect. vans wafflecup half cabs size 12 grey remind cush impact insole)
(pain level 6/10)

Very quick stop on the way into work. Wanted to skate a little because I was losing my mind after 5 days no skating. So I went with the intention of a very short roll in which I didn’t ollie. It was still fun. There was a guy learning axle stalls on the good new qp so I couldn’t really skate that. Skated the little tiny qp area and did my usual little line. There was a guy there in Xero’s too. Anyway, didn’t do much but it felt great to be on a board.

(setup 8.25 venture v8s halfcabs)
(pain level 6/10)

After a work function at Avery (in which I didn’t drink) I ended up at Frederick park again to meet Dave. There were actually some youth there and they were having fun. I had setup changes and felt off, very off the entire time. I think I took 12-15 tries to land a kickflip. I had mostly stuck with 8.3 and Indys and hated it. I had tried it because I thought I would have more pop as I have previously. But nope, had none and it just felt heavy, big and dumb. Like me. I’m writing this several days later and have very little recollection of the session. Dave did a sick no comply shove noseslide on the hip. Hard to describe, but he did it really good. I had gotten remotely close to a f/s halfcab heel on the hump. I intended to start with a kickflip to fakie, but I was like 1-15 on them so went to pop shove and was also like 1-10. UGH. Dave did some other stuff that was really good. I think I saw a manual on the pad, fakie shoves on the steeper bank, kickflips on the hump. I had started to get really bad groin pain so I stopped skating. I may stop for a while, it keeps lingering and it seems more depressing to skate so badly than it does to not skate.

(setups whack 8.3/indy 149 .. new half cab wafflecups)
(pain level 8/10)

Got to Broomfield park earlyish since we were going to RMNP. Met Cass and Gordon. I started on a 8.25 with Slappy low profile trucks. It felt decent. The normal warm ups went okay. Gordon was doing all the shoves and ripping manuals and 5-0s pretty easily. I love that little bank to curb to warm up on. Crooks went well. Cass showed. My groin pain was still pretty bad so I kept not ollieing. Gordon made progress on front tails. Cass was on 50s easy. I was rotating between 8.25 with slappy lows on 14.25 and 8.25 with venture hollow on 14 wb. Decided I liked the venture setup more. Was trying to get into the groove but I slammed on a halfcab noseslide on the blue lurb super bad. Put my hand right in the crease of the ledge and the ground and folded some fingers. My initial thought was that I broke all of my fingers. I would actually try to keep skating, but decided against it. Cass took a bad slam a few tries later on a crooks and called it too. Argh.

(setups 8.25s with venture hollow or slappy lows, vans half cab waffle cup b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 10/10)

Went to dog park after work on a hot Friday afternoon. Will was there. I warmed up a little then we played SKATE. I got a letter on a kickflip. I had 8.25 with indys and it sucked. I should have got pink slipped but he counted a really bad fakie bigflip. I tried some faster noseslides than normal and almost slammed so bad. Will had to leave. I didn’t do much else. My groin/hip flexor pain was quite bad still.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, indy titanium 144, spitfire f4 99a tablets 52mm, vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 8/10 everything)

After work I took some short cuts through dirt roads and ended up at a mostly empty Frederick skatepark. I had a bit of time to warm up before Dave arrived. Warm up went alright it seemed. There was a young guy in pads and a helmet and I had just assumed he was an old guy until I got close. He was quite talkative and was trying to get me to do treflips with him. Dave showed. We kinda did our thing warming up then were mostly at the manny pad area for a while. He was going for fakie back nosegrind. I was lining out ollies up the pad and kickflip off. Dave said we should film it and I got one in a few tries after a sw nose shove. And the line made me happy! Dave went on to get a few fakie back nosegrinds and lined them out. Dave was learning haflcab bliuntslides on the hip while I was hucking trreflips FOREVER. Finally got a very questionable one. Filmed Dave line out the halfcab bliunt shove which was incredibly amazing. As was the shove to fakie on the bank. We did more than this, it was a fun session.

(setup 3/10 null 8.3 keyhole, jessup ultra, venture v8 5.8 with flat washer and ti hanger, bones 52mm x99 v1, vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 6/10)