Out early on a Sunday I drove to Denver to meet Cass, Rob and birthday boy Dave to check out the new Barnum skatepark. We arrived to a bunch of old dudes already skating it. Was hyped to see Rob getting in the mix right away feeling things out. He was back 50ing the metal curb right away, would get one to manual after a while, some casual manuals. Dave was on the bank to curb immediately and would do about every trick imaginable on it. Should have filmed the coast to coast switch slappy crooks because they were amazing. Dave had lots of long lines that were all pretty inspiring. The kickflip pivot was sick. He had also done a first try front 50 on the bench into the bank. I had some troubles getting used to the park and my smaller board, but would end up getting some stuff I was happy with. A line of noseslide on the taller bump to ledge then b/s kickflip on the bank. Kickflip up the curb, noseslide the smaller hubba, struggled to grind the qp but the one I got was really fun, took a while to get a bad bigflip on the bank, front 5-0s to fakie on the ultra mellow qp were fun. Saw Cass with some long back 50s on the qp, noseslide down the hubba, kickflip or two. Sean ripped the park ollieing the ball first try, nosegrinds, kickflip the ball, manuals cruising. Garrett and Joe showed at the end. Garrett with the kicky back tail. Joe first try ollie the ball and managed to not get eaten by a dog.

Then we went to this spot where all 4 of us would get clips. UNHEARD OF. Garrett kick back tail fakie. Joe front crooks shove. Sean the noseslide and kickflip. Me, with a switch nose jib 270 shove. Fun times.

(setup 6/10 null 8.25 timewarp, null grip, thunder hollow lights 148 with bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 currex runpro insole and half insole)
(pain level 5/10 pretty insanely sore by the end)

Heading into the weekend I was starting to feel better and wanted to skate some. I just wanted to skate a nice mellow qp by myself and Superior fit the bill. I had a 8.3 with Aces and it skated good until I tried tricks beyond kickflip. I started really slow and was super out of it. Would get some basic lines on the qp then ledge. I think eventually I did a line of kickflip out of the bank, front d on the qp, crooks the ledge. I couldn’t axle stall the weird tight qp. Then I went in on treflip. Like 50 of them. Never got my feet on one. I somehow didn’t get mad.

(setup 4/10 8.3 null time warp, jessup ultra, ace af1 55, spitfire f4 101a classic 51mm, last resort cm002 brown size 11.5 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Trying to feel better I went over to the school shortly before sunset. I think I did a line of switch 180 the manhole, slappy crook, kickflip on flat. Maybe something else, but it was memorable.

(setup I think it was 8.25 with ace and it was pretty meh)

Mid day on the first full day of vacation I had some time to get out and skate. A quick drive got me to this weird park in Central City Nebraska. I have skated there once before. It is still weird, but last time I hadn’t really hit the mellow hips it seemed. After some warming up and cruising around I wanted to do a b/s flip first since it seemed like it could rain any minute. It only took a few tries and it felt awesome. After that I probably did a bunch of crooks because they were so fun on the little ledge. I would go on to get a lot of my ledge tricks, but nothing rare. The regular kickflip over the hip took me a while. Last thing I did was some axle stalls on the bigger qp then some ollies over the steep hip which were kind of scary. Then it was back to swimming in the lake before a lot of rain.

(setup 5/10 8.3 null time warp, jessup ultragrip, royal 149 ultralights with ace hard bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a class orange/black, last resort cm002 brown size 11.5 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10 felt kind of run down)

Not the best night of sleep. Did some exercises then met Cass at Broomfield. Taylor was there too. I had a setup change. 8.3, slappy high lights. Meh. Cass’ back started hurting after a while so I filmed him before it got too bad. His front shoves are so good. Front noses too. He had done a lot more than what’s in the clip. I had some okay lines too. We filmed a couple. The boardslide, tail stall, crooks was first try so I tried a second line that didn’t go as well. The halfcab noseslide and noseslide to fakie were pretty consistent, but I could not do a fakie flip trick to save my life. After Cass left I saw Taylor do a crooks to shove into the bank. I tried a ridiculous line that I never got close to. Front 50 front 180 out the blue lurb, f/s halfcab flip or heel depending on my feet, kickflip noseslide. Surprisingly I was closer to the kf noseslide than the flatground trick.

After some breakfast and a break Ollie and I biked to campus to get some skating in. I was so hyped to skate with him, it’s been a couple years since he’s skated. We went to the downhill 2 stairs first and he freaking did them first try. I couldn’t believe it. Took me like 15 tries to ride down them all. I was incredibly sore after already skating a lot earlier so that’s my excuse. I think I did shove and fakie bigspin. Tried a few kickflips down the first 2 set, but wasn’t able to commit. We skated a mini downramp. Ollie had some nice back 180s in. I did shoves and a kickflip. Then we went to the Engineering building and had some fun. Ollie ollied the 3 stairs a few times. Those cracks are brutal in front of the steps. I took a long time to get the back 50s locked in. Couldn’t quite get a 180 down, but did get a no pop ollie. Man it was great skating with Ollie again. Then we went to 303 and Petes. Good times.

(setup 4/10 null 8.3 time warp, jessup ultra, slappy lights 8.5 indy 92a bushings, spitfire f4 99a classic 52mm orange/black, last resort cm002 size 11.5 brown currex runspro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Went to the school during a lunch break in the sunny hot part of the day. Made the slightest change to my setup, 8.25 axles. Felt infinitely better. I wore my last resorts which were more comfy too. I only skated about 30 minutes. I didn’t skate great, but I did get some of the basic kickflip flippers and was close on some heelflips.

(setup 7/10 8.25 null time warp, null grip, thunder team hollow 148, spifire f4 99a radial slim green, last resort cm002 brown size 11.5 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Was sore, side hurting, not overly motivated but it was so nice out after the rain. That is until I went skating. It looked like it would rain more, but instead it just got incredibly windy. For a while on the side of the school I was able to avoid it behind the trees. I had put 8″ team hollows on my 8.25. I almost fell on my first push. I went on to think the setup was okay at times, but really it felt way too small for me. I couldn’t heelflip it which was weird. I had gotten 7 kickflip variations pretty quickly then stalled out and the wind kicked in something fierce so I left.

(setup 3/10 8.25 null time warp, null grip, thunder team hollow 147, spifire f4 99a radial slim green, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Stopped by dog park on the way home from work. I was super exhausted but I could see on maps that traffic was terrible so why not let the traffic die down? I had nothing, hated my setup change. Had some okay noeslides, but other than that completely eliminated slappy/ace highs from my consideration.

(setup 8.25 slaces)
(pain level 6/10)

Left Boulder and it was cloudy, cool and looked like it was going to rain. Got to Broomfield and the sun had come out and remained sunny the four hours we were there. I got there the same time as Dave and Rob. Kyle was there. Luzius and Cass would come too. It was a fun crew, everyone seemed to skate pretty hard and good. It was cool catching up with Kyle and seeing him skate so well even though he’s had some gnarly disease. Didn’t get to see Luzius skate a whole lot, but saw a casual manual or two. Cass had some poppy kickflips, good noseslides and 50s both ways. Rob had manuals, front boards, g turns, fakie bigs to nollie shoves, nollie lip, good seeing him shredding. I had better luck with flip tricks and would get quite a few including a questionable treflip. Struggled with front 50s though and barely got one into the bank. Hucked some treflip noseslides because why not. Dave was beast mode as usual. He had a line near the end of boardslide the brick qp, front 50 back 180 out the bump to ledge then kickflip into the bank. Also lots of other tricks on the brick qp, great slappy variations, so much more that I’m forgetting. It was a fun session, good peoples.

(setup 6/10 null time warp 8.25, null grip, slappy lights 8.25 indy 92a bushings, spitfire f4 99a radial slim green 51mm, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 3/10)

On a very nice day I went to blue skies for an hour during lunch as I thought it would rain later. I hadn’t exercised much and felt incredibly off. I also had a new board, different trucks and wore different shoes. So I guess all things considered it wasn’t terrible. I had some okay noeslides to fakie on a taller ledge followed by switch front nose on the flat bar. But I couldn’t get a flipper after. Did some ollies to fakie low on the bank followed by halfcab noseslide. Got a crooks on the low ledge. One ollie over the lowest part of the dragon rail that did not come easy.

After more meetings, a run to LOCO Dave and I met Will at Frederick. It was a nice night at first, but some showers and wind did come through (although never stopped skating). I had gotten new shoes which felt better, but I did still get very sore. Which is probably more due to having already skated and then sat down for several hours at work. Anyway, warming up actually felt alright though. We were all doing our own things as it looked like rain would come in quickly. Will was popping up the euro to manual and got really close to popping into the far euro. I was enjoying some back 50s on the double bank to curb followed by nollie front 180 out of the bank. Nollies were really working. Jumping was not though. I struggled to do anything beyond that really. Maybe a kickflip to fakie, hucked some bs double flips over the hip that weren’t too close. Dave was doing lung blunt slides on the bank and of course got better at them the wetter the park got. He also had a line of back tail the bank to curb then varial flip out of the bank. The whole process was full of other surprises like back tail back 360 out. Then we were treated to Heroki and Noah showing up and absolutely destroying the place in seconds. They are incredible.

(setup 4/10 null time warp 8.3, jessup ultra, venture 5.8 v8 titanium hanger bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic 99a orange/black, first park last resort cm002 frederick new balance 430s both size 12 both with gamechanger painful insoles)
(pain level 7/10)