Went to campus kinda early after work since Liz was finally getting home. I had put cast baseplates on and it made the small setup even worse. I started at an old 2 stair area above the famous square rail and could barely ollie up the 2 stair. Hucked flippers, not close to them at all. Moved on to the fitness center area as I wanted to do this weird quick tiny gap thing in a line. The line was supposed to start with f/s halfcab heel which I was not close on at all. I did do the little ollie/180 out, but it was dumb. I looked at some other stuff but basically just walked back to the car and debated if it’s time to hang up the skateboard.

(setup 0/10 8.25/14″ venture v-cast 5.6 bones medium bushings 52mm spits vans walker wafflecup size 12 b/w fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After a terrible night of sleep Ollie and I went to campus. I parked under it this time. I was armed with an even smaller setup and it did not work whatsoever. Ollie did the drop down manuals like it was nothing. He hasn’t skated since last Father’s Day that I know of. He also pushed fast into the hill above the stairs and had no problems. The drop down manny took me a bit, I came really close to kickflip off. Then we went to the weird loading dock area that Ollie is shown above performing his name. I also ollie’d off it after a switch 180 into the tiny hill before it. Next up the engineering building where Ollie had no problems jumping down the 3 stairs. I had a lot of fun with slappy crooks. Couldn’t get kickflip after. I did get back 180 but didn’t feel the need to put it in the post. Ollie’s boardslide was pretty cool, never seen him do that before like that. All in all a really fun day with Ollie even if my skating was terrible.

(setup 2/10 8.25/14″ sample venture 5.6 v-hollow 52mm spits vans walker wafflecup size 12 fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Met up with Cass at Broomfield park. He had already messed up his toe though. Taylor was there. As were some other older dudes and then even 303 Sam. It was pretty great, like 20 older dudes skating. Although only one teenager. So crazy. After struggling with pop I had changed to Slappy highs. Dumb idea. I did have some okay success with front 50s on the lurb, but mostly had a pretty meaningless session. Talking to Sam was my fav part. I did have one axle stall to rock ‘n roll that felt good on the bank to curb, some noseslides. Was hyped on Chris and Alex being there too, some freestyle dudes.

Later on in the afternoon when it got really hot I went to campus armed with a smaller setup. 8.25 with indy titanium. Basically just did sone front 50s on the lower parts of the fitness center ledge. Flip tricks didn’t work, I gotta stop thinking I can do them.

(setups how to I mark two setup changes in one day? ha ha
2/10 8.5/14.25 slappy lights 52mm spits
2/10 8.25 indy titanium 52mm spits
vans kyle walker wafflecup b/w size 12 fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10 ! warm weather is good)

Biked over to the research area after work on a nice warm Friday. Ended up mostly just skating the ledge area. It was better for slides than I would have thought, not so good for grinds. Tried a line for a while of noseslide to fakie then halfcab flip in the street. Never got the hc flip. Ugh. Oh yeah, I had 8.5/14.25 with thunders. Never really did more than that. Did get a couple crooks, sw front nose, sw nose. Had a couple sketchy slams trying to front 50. Had a b/s flip in the street then sw 180 then ollie up the curb and failed the crooks. It was a fun session even if I really didn’t land much.

(setup 5/10 8.5/14.25 sample, jessup pj ultra, thunder team hollows 149, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classics pink/green, vans kyle walker size 12 b/w fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went to campus on an 8.25 with mindys. Hated it so bad I went back to the car and got my 8.3 with v8s which was better. Made myself ollie to deck check then pull into the long curved hubba then noseslide the tall bench. Then I did some jersey barrier rides, nollie front 180 and tried halfcab heel but never got close. Then I proceeded to not land a b/s flip over this awkward little hip. I was close to f/s halfcab heel after. Lastly did a manual on the tiny pad across from the stadium and called it a night.

(setup 4/10 8.3 null pepper grip venture v8 5.8 53mm snot vans walker wafflecup b/w size 12 fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a warm night I went to campus armed with a setup that would ollie better darn it. But it didn’t. At all. 8.5/14.25 with T2s aka the most useless truck made to date. Anyway I started at the mini bank to area and as soon as I had a ghost pop ollie to fakie I knew it would be bad. Bailed several switch ollies over a tiny gap. Moved on down the bank to curb. Sucked it up. Tried to do a nollie front tail (in which I didn’t even ollie up) and follow it by a b/s flip. Couldn’t get the b/s flip. Going downhill I had a little ollie up to nollie shove and some noseslides. Wasn’t confident enough to go fast enough to try anything else. Went down below and saw the amazing sunset and had to try a trick or two on the weird Ralphie ledge. Got noseslide to fakie, couldn’t get crooks. At the end I saw a tall ledge that Conor did a cool manual on forever ago in a Crisis video. I couldn’t ollie onto it, but I did do a front rock.

(setup 2/10 8.5/14.25 sample, jessup pj ultra, thunder t2s 149, snot 53mm franky wheels, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 with footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

It was cloudy and looked like rain in Boulder, but sunny and warm in south Denver where I met Cass and Jake at Thomas Jefferson. It would be a fun session. Jake kinda killed it stacking lots of tricks. Crooks, crooks shove, front 50, front tail, nollie front tail, nollie back tail, halfcab noseslide, fakie back tail, fakie front crook. I’m probably missing something. Cass had some really good crooks early on, 50s, couldn’t get kickflip 50, such good front noseslides, front nose shove. Also showed me up with a front shove out of a kicker first try in a warm up line. I really struggled with pop. Got a front 50 right away, then could not do it again. Had a lot of crooks, noseslides, nollie front tails. The kickflip off took a while, but man it felt good. And it felt good taking the slams and my foot not complaining too much.

(setup 5/10 8.3 null, jessup pj grip, venture v8 5.8 ti hanger, snot 53mm franky wheels, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 with footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Back in sunny CO without too bad of jet lag I biked to campus to meet Eric and Jack. They were at Baker. There were a couple cars ruining the ledge, but the manny pad was still good. Bratcher and Eric got mannies pretty quick. Jack with the manny to grind for trick of the day. I was skating an 8.25 with slappy lows and it sucked. There was a youth soccer tournament on campus so we had waves of kids walking through. Which of course meant we heard ‘do a kickflip’ like 100 times. I started trying some in anticipation so they wouldn’t say it. But I couldn’t land them. Argh. I got a manual and a nose manual eventually. The nose manual I tapped on was funny because the kids walking up were so hyped. Jack tried some switch manuals. Eric was going for 180 nose manny.

We went to the little ledge after that. I was sucking so bad. Got some slow front 50s on the lowest part. Bratcher had a first try back 50 to back tail, but couldn’t get one again. Eric had some good front 50s then front lip too. At the end I managed a goofy line that brought some joy. Going uphill back 50 then curve around ollie the little 2 stair then back uphill to a little nollie back tail. Felt good to get out and street skate in the sun, but man I am rusty.

(setup 0/10 8.25 slappy lows vans half cab wafflecup)
(pain level 4/10)

Went to Broomfield on a whim around 8 because Will was going. Got there first, warmed up and felt okay. My warm ups were basic and went okay. I didn’t ollie much though and I never tried front 50s even. I did get a fakie 50 on the blurb though, lots of crooks and noseslides. Some other stuff. Bank to curb was fun. There was a lot of people skating, it was kind of hectic. Will had switch manual easy, some good ollies into the bank over a cone. At the end I took like 20 tries to get a kickflip and my foot was not happy. Will took less tries to get several switch flips. I tried some tres, but called it a night. My foot was not too happy about skating and not being able to kickflip at the end left me with mixed emotions. I had an 8.5/14.25 with thunders and it felt good for everything except flip tricks.

(setup 5/10 null sample 8.5/14.25 jessup pj ultra thunder team hollow 149 53 pink snot franky vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 7/10 my foot sucks and I should probably not skate anymore)

Went to dog park incredibly sore from the long night before. Some old dudes were still there. Bratcher learned switch slappy. Cass and I were sucking and tried a warm up game of SKATE that didn’t go well for me getting letters on tricks I should do like bs flip, halfcab flip, etc. I don’t remember getting much of anything. The FOCO Nullers showed and I mostly filmed Hayden and it was cool.

We went to a weird spot. The boys killed it. We went to another weird bank spot. Less was killed.

FOCO dudes left, a few of us went to the benches off Arapahoe. Ladd, Sean and I skated. I had some okay noseslides, some questionable crooks, questionable switch front noseslides. Ladd had good 50s, really good crooks, crooks shove, almost crooks 270 shove. Sean did maybe the best looking front shoves and kickflips down the 2 stairs. 5-0s, tailslides, killed it.

Then everyone else left and Eric and I tried some no comply flips/regular ones over a tiny gap across from dog park. I would get a regular one.

(setup 5/10 8.25 slappy lights 53mm snots strike mvmnt transit street trainer no insoles)
(pain level 7/10 not wearing arch support seemed to help my recent foot pain)