On a hot and sunny afternoon I met up with Rob and then Dave right after work at a very bright dog park. The park was mostly empty, the shadows were intense. It took a while to get going, but we did. Rob had lots of back 50s on the curb to get going, manuals, almost manual over to boardslide, boardslides, back 180 fakie 50 180 on the curb, nollie lips. Dave got gnar quickly and after warming up on the sad ledge got some switch ollies up the lurb. Then he did f/s halfcabs off and nose manuals after and then lipslide full metal jacket. He also did an insanely proper front crook on the lurb. I tried to get his back with halfcab crook, but didn’t. I skated alright for me. Had a fun line of front 50 180 the lurb, switch front nose the bench, fakie 50 the curb. Kind of did a front smith on the lurb, but I guess I was in lipslide first. Either way my front wheels were on the ground. Got a second try nose manual the curb, almost kickflip up the lurb and ended by taking wayyyyyy too long to do a halfcab noseslide on the bench. My legs were toast, had some bad knee pain at the end. Argh.

(setup 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, jessup null ultragrip, royal 149 ultralights, 52mm spitfire f4 99a yellow classic shape, new balance numeric 440v2 black/gum size 11.5 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10)

Warm evening, went to the school still feeling worn out after skating so much during Neil’s visit. After sucking so bad on the ledge last session I wanted a more stable and wider board. I went Ventures. And initially I loved them. Would get a few slappies, feel pretty confident, some basic flippers. But went in on 360 flips and it took forever to get a terrible 270 flip. Argh. Went behind the school and did some rock stalls and tried to ollie onto the main rock unsuccessfully.

(setup 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, venture v-cast 5.8 royal bushings, spitfire 52mm yellow classic 99a, new balance numeric 440v2 black/gum size 11.5 currex run pro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After work went to campus, started at the dreadful tall flagstone ledge and ended up staying there for most of my session. The flatground in the nearby hallway is so good. I had another setup change that I liked quite a bit. 8.25 with slace 8.5 trucks. I would get quite a few slow flippers in between flails at the ledge. Flippers were kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, heelflip, f/s halfcab flip, f/s halfcab heelflip and a nollie tre! It’s seriously been years on the nollie tre! I was so hyped even if it was terrible and I put a hand down. It didn’t carry over to being able to front 50 the ledge though. I did ollie onto the ledge at least, had some noseslides, a couple crooks that felt good. Then to the nearby tiny rusted metal ledge to show I can 50 6″ tall ledges. Then around the corner to a dirty loading dock that I wanted to ollie onto. I saw a long piece of angle iron and decided I should line it out. Firecracker a 2, slappy the angle iron, ollie very badly up the loading dock, front 180 off it, almost fakie flip. My knees were sore so I called it.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null dead spots, jessup ultragrip, slace 8.5, bones 52mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 440v2 white size 11.5 wide with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10 some calf and knee pain)

On a super nice night I met Dave and then Nate at dog park. Dave and I had been warming up before Nate showed. At the dog park I saw Dave try fakie 50 halfcabs and was surprisingly struggling with them, fakie back nosegrind, ollie up then nollie back 180 off the c pad. Nate casually front nosegrind the c lurb, front smith it, back and front 5-0s, casual killing. I tried some nosegrind 180s on the c lurb but never quite went fast enough or committed enough. I struggled to kickflip over a parking block which was supposed to set me up to front 50 the bench which I never did. I had on front 50 shove on the c lurb. All this while some some alpha male had to show us how fast he could skate and do the same 2 tricks over and over.

Dave’s back was hurting so we went over to the low impact zone with the scooter kids. Nate had a really good first try ollie the euro. We were treated to some Dave magic although I forget the trick that stood out to make me think that. Kickflips over the hip both ways, solid f/s halfcab over the hip. I pretty much only tried to b/s flip the euro hip and would eventually get it and was quite happy about it. Dave had left. Nate and I did some boardslides into the bank as the wind kicked in. I couldn’t quite get a kickflip to fakie on the shark fin.

(setup 4/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 148 royal bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 440v2 11.5 wide with currex runpro insoles and half 440 insole)
(pain level 3/10 calf pain went away as I was skating it was crazy!)

On a super nice night Dave and I met on campus near the infamous Baker ledge. Dave did a gap to manual on the nearby pad as I kind of just jibbed around trying to get warmed up and used to my setup change. Then we hit the manny pad to grind area. The ledge had cars so couldn’t skate it. I somehow did a couple manual to back 50s pretty quickly. Dave went in on ollie up to ride on front tail then shove out. He never quite got the shove out. He had some back 50s transfer up onto the pad. I would get some front 50s, accidental and intentional 5-0s up onto the pad. One followed with a sketchy b/s flip up the curb, a couple followed by slow and questionable treflips. Either way I was happy. Dave got manual to front 5-0. Front 180 up to ride on switch crook! I got kickflip up then ride on crooks for my fav thing of the day. Came close to nollie tres, kind of close to kickflip manual too. Then we went over to the newly deknobbed ledge both feeling exhausted and sore. I started out by slamming a lot. We did some ride on grinds, Dave even did switch backside. As well as pretty easily getting a solid front 50 and some switch noseslides. I was happy to get a couple slow front 50 jibs. Then we ended with the little kid ride on grinds to nollie shove out. They were fun. One of my better sessions in a while. Really liked my setup too. Which probably means I’ll dislike it next session, but I really liked it today at least.

(setup 9/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 149 royal bushings, spitfire 52mm 99a tablet, new balance numeric 440v2 wide size 11.5 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10 at times my calf was so bad but I kept skating and it eventually loosened up)

After working at the office I met up with Dave on a nice afternoon with rain threatening. I had two changes. Aces and back to the 540 vulcs. I felt much better on my skateboard than the night before. Dave was going in on the hip. He did a really nice back 180 noseslide on the edge of the hip. I took a bit to get warmed up and used to my setup changes. Then as Dave went in on switch back bigs over the hip I tried a line of frontside ollie a hip then b/s flip the next one. Dave would get an amazing switch back big. It was rad. Even the younger crew “was that switch .. damn”. He would go on to also 5-0 the rainbow and f/s flip the other hip. I went through a phase were I couldn’t ollie the hip to save my life and it was driving me mad. Eventually they came back and I would get the line a couple times, but with toe drag. Dave had left, I went over to dog park. I was pretty sore and didn’t do a whole lot, but a few things were rewarding like a couple crooks on the bench, some slow front 50 variations on the lurb. Front 50 shove felt really good and then a switch front nose on the bench. Had a good feeling halfcab flip, didn’t commit to treflip though. I tried to front 50 the bench a few times and could not get it. One squat hurt my knee too much and I called it a session.

(setup 5/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 44, bones stf v1 52mm, new balance numeric 574 vulc size 11.5 with half insole and footprints gamechanger lite insole)
(pain level 6/10)

On my daughter’s last day in CO I escaped for a little session while she ran errands. I waited too long to write this entry, but I remember Dave was shredding and I didn’t land much even though I was close to some good ones. I had some fun nollie shoves on the bank, a fun crooks on the ledge, kickflip up the curb, slappy crooks. Flip tricks were tough. I was close to some harder ones for me like varial heel, treflip but couldn’t get them. I tried like a million front 50s on the ledge and could not get one. Dave on the other hand was ripping. Fakie back nosegrind, fakie back nosegrind 180 on the curb. Manuals on the median. A lot more I’m forgetting, but he ended it off with a banger with several front 5-0s to switch crooks. Incredible. There is a lot I’m missing, it was a fun session, we skated hard.

(setup 5/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 team holllow royal bushings, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, es swift 1.5 size 12 custom orthotic insole)
(pain level 5/10)

After work I had a quick drive to meet up with Dave. He was working in Louisville and we were going to skate a ditch after a meet up at the park. But I bet deep inside both of us knew we wouldn’t stop skating wherever we started. I went through 3 setups as it rained during the warm up stage. Pretty much right away Dave did the boardslide out of the qp after we laughed about how weird the parking block placement was. Did you actually put it there Dave? He also had some nice pivots on the weird qp then front 50 the bank to ledge. I was trying a line of crooks the ledge then noseslide to fakie the bank to ledge. The crooks felt great, but I kept messing up the noseslide to fakie. After a pretty bad slam I needed extra motivation and was trying to add a trick before the crooks but, couldn’t get a treflip or heelflip. Eventually settled on kickflip over the parking block and surprised myself with a great feeling kickflip, good feeling crooks, then great feeling noseslide to fakie. Dave was going to punch me if I didn’t do the noseslide to fakie. That line made me happy though. Struggled with front 50s again and may have only gotten a couple really slow ones. Dave had some good ones and did one with a nollie shove at the end into the little bank that was pretty amazing. Dave went in on a line of ollie to drop in on the mini hubba down the stairs, then ollie onto the ledge and roll into the bank, then back tail on the parking block out of the qp. He would get a couple to fakie, but not quite to forward like he wanted. I really struggled to ollie onto the little ledge and roll in like Dave was. I would never commit to it. But I would get a low b/s flip over the main hip that was pretty rewarding. Dave then did a few and a perfect b/s flip over the mellower hip. I was posing front heels over it and they started to feel kind of realistic and then out of nowhere I landed a really floppy one. And it felt incredible. I rarely land new tricks these days and even rarer do I land them in less than 20 tries. Kind of a mixed session struggling with some basics, but landing a new trick at the end felt incredible.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, new balance numeric 574 vulc blue/white size 11.5 with half insole and currex run pro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

After lounging on a cold morning the sun had come out and I snuck out for a couple hours of skating. After yesterdays performance not being able to ollie well or even push comfortably I had written off Thunders yet again. I tried my 8.5 Slace setup. It felt good. My goal was to go around the school and selfie film a trick at every one of the close to 10 spots around the school. Well, it got off to a bad start when I couldn’t even ollie onto the narrow pad by the chalk board to start. I did have some warm up flippers that came really easily though. Bs flip, halfcab flips, fakie flip, heelflip. I settled for the dorky manual. Then I had posed an ollie over the two block and almost died bailing it. So I was going to selfie film trying to ollie it, but then a group of kids came to the play equipment which is like 5 feet away. Whew, I probably wouldn’t have done it anyway. Then I ended up at the weird curved area and skated the regular ledge at first. It was crazy, I tried a noseslide and went over the top and fell into the dirt. Not as bad as it sounds, but it was still crazy. May have gotten one little crook jib. Couldn’t get halfcab noseslide. Then I messed with the curved ledge for a while. I couldn’t get the nerve (or enough angle) to 50 it. Settled for the ‘nollie’ tail then quick ollie. It was way harder than I wanted it to be. Then I was on the side of the school. I really struggled to front 50 the low ledge comfortably. It was annoying it faces directly at the road so anytime a car would come I would let it get to my head and stop skating. I would eventually go on to get a run that sounds good on paper, but was really slow. Halfcab flip, front 50, curve around and b/s flip out of the little bank. Finally to the front area aka the main attraction and I was pretty sore. I would get some noseslides, noseslide to fakie, perhaps a crook jib and I think a boardslide. Front 50 didn’t even seem remotely possible ugh. Also tried several treflips and came up empty handed. Another tough session. Made me doubt the larger setup. I flipped it well until treflip time and certainly was no better at ollies with it. Argh.

(setup 4/10 null 8.5/14.25 20 year deck, jessup ultragrip, slace 8.5 (ace baseplate and bushings slappy hanger), 51mm bones pj stf v1, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 half insole plus currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10 was pretty sore)

On a nice morning I met Cass at Frederick. We had the park to ourselves for a long time before Bo and then Brian would arrive. I had eaten before skating which is rare and was messing with me getting going. But I had some kickflips on various things and got a couple up onto the smaller pad. We played a game of SKATE that I won kind of quickly somehow. I had first try fakie flip, halfcab flip and heelflip. Cass hit me with a hardflip because he didn’t want to get pink slipped. Forgot to mention I had a different setup. 8.25 with Thunder and I loved it. After the game of SKATE I had a few manuals in a row then ollie up onto the pad and nearly kickflip off. I asked Cass to film it but missed the manual (or nose manual). I was happy to get the ollie up and kickflip off pretty quickly through, maybe around 10 tries. The crooks after was a nice bonus. Cass did the fornt noses then we skated the hump for a bit. Cass got kickflip and kind of a hardflip 180. I got some pivoted varial flips both ways. Then I needed to do a treflip before I got too tried. We skated the fly out area. Cass did a couple of perfect ones. Brian and Bo showed. Cass went on to do several tricks. I would get a couple bad treflips and was really close to several decent treflips. Brian was trying kickflips but the knee and hip wouldn’t let him get it. Bo hadn’t skated in a couple week then just skated the ledge the tall way like it was nothing. Brian did the blunt real quick. Pretty great session. Then Brian, Cass and I went out to lunch which was also pretty great.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow light 148 royal bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 half insole and currex run pro insole)
(pain level 4/10)