After a really hot day I drove through rain almost all the way to the school where Rob and Dave were sweeping the construction debris away. I attempted to start skating in some 868s, but they felt like moon boots and I switched to 440s. Also, even though I had fun on the 8.25/lows I tried my 8.3/thunders and stuck with it. We had a good session. Seemed like everyone was doing different stuff pretty quickly. Rob was doing fakie back nosegrind reverts on the curb over and over. Not sure I’ve ever seen him do that before. It encouraged me to try the regular fakie nosegrind revert which I definitely got close to, maybe even an over 50 make. It felt cool. Dave had kickflip to fakie on the bank, ride on grinds/slides on the curb, switch back 180s up the curb. I couldn’t do a halfcab flip to save my life and kept getting weird wheel bite almost turning me into doing a cab flip. I had some slappy hurricanes which I recently remembered to try again. Rob was going for slappy crooks to fakie, casually did boardslides to fakie, manuals, more that I’m forgetting. Dave became obsessed with switch shove front nose. Then we both tried to 50 the ledge that has grown incredibly tall over the years. Dave was going for back 50 after switch back 180 up and got denied. I was going backside after kickflip up the curb or frontside after pop shove up the curb and I got denied on both even when committing a lot. Argh. The pop shoves up the curb were fun though. After Rob had left Dave and I were messing around on the curb. I got a better slappy hurricane, some switch boardslide 180s out and then randomly posed a nollie front shove backside nose stall. I would get it in a few tries. Dave had been doing slappy front crook and sw slappy front crook then he joined in the nollie shove noseslide game. We would both get little slides with it. Such a cool feeling. I also got one or two to fakie. Then the darkness started weirding us out and we bounced. I think I may have broke my max number of setup changes this week. Yikes.

(setup 5/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder 149 hollow no bottom washer, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic shape washers outside, new balance numeric 440 white size 12 half/no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After dinner I went to dog park to meet Jesse and Mike and possibly Dave. Mike couldn’t make it but Paul rolled in. Jesse was there and we went right in to a game of SKATE which he would win again. I just can’t beat him. Not even after he slammed and hit his chin on a fakie bigspin. It was crazy. It was decent though. I wore some Es Melange shoes and thought they were great at the time, but now my calf is acting up again. Argh. Anyway Jesse won on treflip and I wasn’t even remotely close. Dave showed and did a lot of parking block transfers to get warmed up before he went on to 5-0 over the arc. After playing SKATE I got a different setup out of my car and mostly enjoyed it more. 8.25 with venture lows. I would get a second try f/s halfcab heel, but struggled with kickflips. I had some fun crooks on the back of the two tier, a few manuals on the pad. Dave was all over the place and settled in on some fakie 50 halfcabs for a while. He also almost did a kickflip off the c pad. I had started committing to crooks on the ledge over the manny pad, but never locked in. I was hyped to feel more posted up and committed. I also tried some kickflips over the green curb and some other random stuff. I couldn’t nose manual the pad to save my life. Argh. By the end there was just one younger skater who was trying to learn nose manuals and I’m sure will have them way better than me next time we see him.

(setup 1 3/10 8.25 null spanbauer dead spots, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, 52mm bones v1, es melange black size 12
setup 2 4/10 8.25 null esher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows v-cast, 52mm pink snot wheels)
(pain level 4/10)

This is one of those days I should get docked or red flagged or something because I had two setup changes. I had pulled out my 8.25/5.6v-hollow but put on 53mm wheels. I wasn’t planning on skating early, but I woke up really early so I went to Boulder park. I very much disliked my setup. I didn’t skate well. Took a while to get a warm up run of olllie into a bank, noseslide down part of the hubba, rock fakie a qp, fakie bigspin the hump. I had the park to myself for the first 30 minutes or so until a couple of characters showed up. First guy was short shorts stoney dude with funny sunglasses almost getting me high with the second hand smoke. He ended up being really good of course. Other guy probably orders everything from Zumies, had a good ollie and some scary grinds down the hubba. I didn’t go on to do much, but did make myself get some front disasters which took longer than they should have. Oh and I had slowly and sketchily ollied onto the bench a few times.

After work I picked up the van then met Rob and then Dave at dog park. It was weird because only a couple blocks away it was hailing, but dog park would remain dry. My setup change was less drastic this session, just different trucks (Royals instead of ventures). A casual 180 up the manny pad to get started made me like it. In trying to made dog park more interesting to me I tried to skate it differently. I was trying a line of ollie the kinked rail then boardslide the taller rail. But I would never land the first ollie, although did land on it once at least. Some 303 dudes showed up and I got kind of self conscious about not being able to ollie a little flatbar so I moved back to the normal routine. Only other thing I remember was finally getting a lame little nose manual with a love tap at the end. Rob had done noseslide and frontr board I think on the tall bench, fakie nosegrind revert on the curb, casual mannies, back 50s. Dave did some front blunts on a parking block, a bunch of grinds over the rounded arc ledge, front board fakie a flatbar and 5-0 shove on the curb.

(setup #1 8.25 null spanbauer dead spots, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings, 53mm bones v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insoles)
setup #2 8.25 null spanbauer dead spots, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, 53mm bones v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Met up with Joe, Eric, Lee and Rob on a warm evening at dog park. It was crowded with youth, most of which were annoying. Lee had immediately done a front shove that was too high and Rob commented on how it was over maximum height. Ha ha. Lee warmed up skating the tall flat bars. The annoying youth got to Rob and he bounced. I don’t remember doing much of anything myself. I was adjusting to a setup change of 8.3 and aces. Felt decent. I lost in a game of SKATE to Joe, but had a great feeling b/s flip. I struggled with crooks. Aces pinch so differently than Ventures. Didn’t see Eric skate much. Joe was popping onto the tall ledges casually. Lee’s pop shove nose grind was bonkers.

(setup 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, snot 52 pink swirls, new balance numeric 272 size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a run to 303 I went to redder curbs.  I was armed with the same setup except Ventures.  It was way better, but pretty hefty.  I took forever to get a warm up line of parking block ollie, front slappy, ride on grind, front tail stall a curb, kickflip.  The ollies over the parking block were so bad, so weird.  Also had some slow front 50s on the curbs which felt good, slappy crooks obviously.  Tried a line for a bit of kick back tail a curb then bs flip the hump.  Never got either trick, but was somewhat close to both.  After a while I had changed from 272s to 868s and felt less pain (until my bunion would swell up later).  But they did feel good to kickflip in.  

(setup 4/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture v-cast 5.8 royal bushings no big washer flat top washer, 51mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insoles then some 868s)
(pain level 4/10)

With no real plan I went to the mall after dinner to get my new glasses fitted. It only took a minute and I started to get excited to skate after thinking about the research ledge. This used to be my favorite spot. It’s pretty chunky and dry now, but i still had fun. During the warm up line process I felt an urgency I hadn’t in a while. Maybe it was how bad I felt compared to the better days I’ve had here. I would get a couple lines that sound alright on paper for me. Halfcab flip, on flat, 180 up the curb, fakie flip, switch front nose. B/s flip, halfcab flip, ollie up the curb, noseslide. Was close on uphill switch flips, got a couple bad crooks when they didn’t stick right away. Couldn’t fathom 50s either way. Halfcab flip on the sidewalk part was scary for me. Ended by making myself line out the little manny pad gap and man it was hard. Noseslide to fakie, switch 180 up the curb then ollie onto the little pad and ollie the tiny gap. It was really hard for me to make myself ollie onto the pad and once I finally did I was going slow and did the worst ollie ever. But I tried and that made me feel good.

(setup 4/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal 149 ultralights, 51mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 288sport green/gum size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After working in the office I went to dog park on the way home.  Sean, Paul, Jesse, Tim were there.  I had made a setup change.  No surprise there.  8.3 with ace lows.  I liked it.  Everyone was doing their thing for a while.  Sean and Paul suggested a game of SKATE so I got eliminated pretty quickly from that one.  I finally managed to ollie the little weird cement wallie thing although I bonked a wheel.  It was a rare decent ollie for me though as it was just a narrow strip which made it scarier to me.  It was fun though and I was hyped.  Sean was on a terror.  Not really any new tricks necessarily, but really charging it and getting deep into his bag.  

(setup 6/10 null abstract33 8.3, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55 hard bushings, 52mm pink snot, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Hyped on the Nuggets win I picked up Neil and Rob and we went to meet Big Mike at Greeley.  Except my van had other ideas and broke down just outside of Longmont.  Mike was kind enough to come back and pick us up.  Since we were close to Frederick we skated there.  Needless to say my head wasn’t in the game and I felt very frustrated by the van and it’s continued electrical problems.  The others skated pretty well.  Mikes wallie then front nose to fakie was so good and long boardslides on the bank to curb.  Rob had a few epic manuals to back lip.  Rob and Neil both had boardslide transfers, nose manuals.  Neil with some really casual front shoves off the little kicker, one foots over the hips, kickflips on the hump.  I had gotten pretty upset again trying to get a line of f/s kickflip on the hump then b/s flip over one of the next hips.  I got really close, but ended up giving up.  I just couldn’t focus and was tired and sore.  That park is really fun though.

(setup 4/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, indy forged hollows 149, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After working the morning Neil, Rob and I rolled to Broomfield as rain was threatening.  There were little sprinkles at times, but never enough to fully stop the session.  Jesse and Jack would join us.  Warming up was not easy for anyone.  I had another setup change trying to make 8.5 not feel too large, but it still felt too large.  I won a fun game of SK8 against Rob and Neil which was a decent warm up.  Jesse had lots of front 5-0s.  I had some crooks, noseslides.  Near the end was trying crooks down the end of the escalator ledge then really slow treflips.  I couldn’t get a treflip to save my life and put an end to a very old deck.  Rob had 50s both directions, halfcab noseslide right away, noseslides the bank to ledge, front tail the blue box, shove liplide too!  Neil amazed me again by how quickly he was jumping onto stuff and manualling, nose manualling, 50s, one foots, etc.  He also got on a front tail.  Jack hasn’t been skating much but his first try bigspin pivot and front 5-0’s on qps were hot.  A lot more went down, it was a decent session before I turned into a crybaby about not landing treflips.  

(setup 2/10 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, indy forged hollows 149, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Off to Colorado Springs with Rob, Neil, Joe, Damon.  We started at Galileo which was just as not fun as I remembered.  Damon rattled off like 20 flippers on the bank and some basic grinds on the steeper steps.  Neil got a couple front lips across the smaller set.  Joe wanted a lip to 50, but couldn’t get it.  I battled kickflips and would eventually get a backside one followed by one to fakie.  Neil went to film it as lightning surrounded us and I ran into him on a roll out.  It was funny.  Then it rained.  We went to a skatepark, but it was wet.

Eventually we ended up at a spot recommended by Ryan that was pretty fun.  It was mostly just curbs and a few small stairs.  We all rolled around for a while figuring things out and skating it differently.  Neil hopped up and down everything, boardslides, wallies, 50s.  Damon didn’t skate it too much, but did talk to some lady who said “there is no way that kid is 50” in reference to me.  I proceeded to slam super hard on a no comply flip attempt.  I would get a few of them and even filmed a couple with a fun ride on grind after.  In the process Rob had ollied over the little curb.  After filming I took 6 tries to get a sketchy ollie over it.  Yikes.  I had a fun run of switch 180 up a 2 stair then front 180 down a 3.  Rob got a cool line back 180 up the 2, slappy crook, bean plant the 3.  Joe had a halfcab boardslide one of the curbs.  

Last spot of the day was the DIY.  It had degraded some since last time Jake and I were there.  I had gotten very tired and sore and besides a hurricane and some slashes on the little parking block qp didn’t do much.  Damon slayed it.  Skated the tall ledge like it was a normal ledge and did b/s flip, cab, treflip and ghetto bird over the lumpy hump.  Joe had some great boardslides, front 50 front boards and a boneless over the hip that may or may not have resembled Grant Taylor.  Rob made the smart choice of chilling with a beer then cruising.  Neil was charging.  Halfcab’s over a little flat bar, front 50 a weird banked spine, front pivot the parking block qp, hip ollies, noseslides, boardslides.  

Weird, but fun day.  Then we went to a nearby restaurant that didn’t serve us in a timely manner so we bounced and had a better meal nearby.  

(setup 4/10 8.5 null, jessup ultragrip, royal ultralight 149s, bones 51mm pj stf v1, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 5/10)