Was able to get out of work for a bit to enjoy a session with the boys. I had only though it would be Jake, Rob, Dave and me, but it turned into a rad collection of homies. Dan, Colin, long haired Jake, Will, even Saul was there walking a cute new dog. I had put wide ventures on the 8.25. It was way better than the aces. It was a fun session. Some highlights. Dan first try treflip on his new 8.75, back nosegrind over the step, front blunt the metal bench, manual no comply, this dude is a shredder. Colin first try nollie tre, almost manual kickflip out. Rob nollie front lip all quick, manual drop down to manual through the crowd to boardslide was epic. Jake front tails, manuals, back 50s. Dave was charging back 50s on the curb, then around the C ledge, manuals and got several nosegrinds then ended with a front nosegrind 180. It hyped me up to try nosegrinds too which I would eventually get a couple with some tail taps. I got a really sloppy front nosegrind 180 in way less tries. Before that I had skated alright for me with a lot of accidental front 5-0s on the curb, crooks, a few flippers and came close to a super sloppy line that would have made me so hyped. Fakie flip, font halfcab heel, nollie tre. After Dave and I had shut down the curb with our nosegrind dominance we went over to the barrier where Rob and Jake were talking. I hyped up Jake with a first try front rock, but he never got the follow up front blunt and owes me a huge horchata now. Dan and Collin joined. I think everyone did front rocks except Dan who did it switch. I would get a front slash which was a great ender. The wind was getting super annoying. Fun session, rad crew.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null esher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium bones medium bushings, 51mm bones pj stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cold night I drove downtown in my new minivan after selling my beloved wagon. I had a setup change. 8.25 with aces and boy did it suck. I started near St Julian and did a little line of nollie front tail the long low curb, crooks the ledge by the fence, kickflip on flat. Also tried some fakie bigspins then front 50 the fence ledge but was not close at all. Then I moved around. Hit the alley behind the main parking garage and did a couple pivots and came close to front heels. More cruising around and didn’t really find anything in particular that interested me until I was back near my car. But I was really cold at that point and hating my board. Aces eliminated from potential 2023 goal of not changing setups.

(setup 1/10 8.25 null esher, jessup ultragrip, ace 44, bones 51mm pj stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insole)
(pain 3/10)

Got out on a nice night. Rolled down the sidewalk to the underpass on a new setup that was fun. Did a couple brief ollies. Was wearing the 1010s really trying to make them work, but I hated them. Ended up at the covered downhill ledge and got in a few noseslides and a fun noseslide to fakie before the wind went nuts and I went home.

(setup null 8.3 vhs, jessup ultragrip, royal 149 ultralights, bones stf pj 51mm v1, new balance numeric 1010 white size 11.5 half 272 insole)
(pain level 4/10 knee pain from the 1010s kicked in pretty quick)

Nice day out. I rolled down to Dayton to meet Cass and Jake. There were some other older guys there, solid session, great vibe. Jake was quick to shred the “spine” and quarterpipe. Cass was dealing with some back issues. We all seemed to skate alright. My flippers weren’t working as easy as hoped. Oh, it’s actually funny I had 3 setups in the car and chose an older deck with Thunders on it. At first I didn’t like it, but ended up liking it. Got a few of the ledge basics. Jake did front 50 on the tallish ledge and I made myself get one too before we left for the bank to ledge. Except that I did a Glen 50 which is a 5-0.

Then to the nearby bank to ledge Cass had Stefan to join us so we had a good crew of 4 of us. It took most of us a bit to get used to it. Maybe not Stefan or Cass so much. Cass was doing video part tricks quickly. Aka front nose shove. Stefan front 50s and tails quick. I would get some questionable slappy crooks, noseslides, first try noseslide to fakie and a front pivot/smith stall, super close to kickflip back 50. Jake would get close to crooks, front 50, front 3. Cass got some front 50s and front nose variations before he had to leave. Stefan did the most buttery nollie front crooks. At the end I became obsessed with a 3 trick line. Crooks, kickflip, kickflip fakie. As you can see the crooks where terrible, but it was a fun way to end a really fun day.

(setup 8/10 null 8.25 spanbauer night spots, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 hollows venom 88a bushings, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic shape, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Went over behind the school feeling like doing a few flippers. I had put 5.6 v-hollow on and wore my Tiago shoes. Those shoes are so sturdy it’s crazy, but not great feel. Anyway I only did a few kickflips, fakie flip, halfcab flip and backside flip. Posed a few others, but not really.

(setup 4/10: null 8.25 esher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings no big washer, 51mm pj bones v1 103a stf, new balance numeric 1010 white size 11.5 with half 272 insole)
(pain level 4/10)

On a sunny Saturday I let things dry up some then went in search of rad. It took a while, but I ended up at a newly redone parking lot off Valmont. I had brought two setups. The 8.25 with ace lows and my 8.1 with venture lows. The aces felt much better to just cruise on, but my first try magical feeling kickflip on the venture setup sold me. I would go on to skate really hard and land a few things. I skated about an hour before trying to film anything and it was fun. I would try some lines with little ollies over parking blocks and stuff that were harder than they should be. And this one little gap over a curb down a little grass gap felt absolutely huge, but it was less than a 3 stair and I couldn’t get myself to commit at all. I came the closest I’ve come to the Reynolds line I’ve been trying for a while. Backside flip, fakie flip, halfcab flip. I got to the halfcab flip 3 or 4 times and couldn’t get it even though I had several outside of the line. Got one bad treflip, heelflip, almost first try nollie varial flip. After a while I saw the sun would be setting soon and wanted to get the nollie varial flip on tape so I could give it to Dave. Nope. I tried for like 30 minutes along with halfcab heels and couldn’t get either. I gave up and went over and tried back heels on the ‘almost a bank’ bank and got denied there too. Kind of a bummer ending to a session where I was really skating hard.

(setup null beatles 8.1, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 low v-cast plate v-hollow hanger 4 washers inside each axle royal bushings, 51mm pj bones v1 103a, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a cool night I had some juice. I drove around for a bit and ended up at a new parking garage in north Boulder that was super well lit. I did a few basic tricks before realizing I just couldn’t do flatground only in a parking garage. On I went and I ended up at a newish building with a few tall ledges and a normal sized one that had snow around it. I had a setup change once again – 8.25 ace lows and I really liked it. This new spot had some decent flatground, some okay manny pads and then a few smooth and tall ledges in weird locations. Initially I tried to quick up to crooks, but wasn’t ready for that. Then I lined out a flip trick, noseslide to fakie, flip trick. But noseslide to fakie got hard. Had a few varial flips, couldn’t put down a heelflip or crooks. I was trying lots of flippers, hucking away, not landing much. After a while of trying to line out the taller benches I saw the shorter one with the snow. It’s hard to see but the gap in was a little scary (to me) because of the snow and it took a while for me to commit. In between tries I got backside flips, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, fakie varial flip and close to a lot more. The noseslide was hard, I was hyped that i did it. Hyped on the session in general, I skated really hard and felt good.

(setup null 8.25 mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 44 lows hard bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 2/10 really some of the best i’ve felt in a while)

After driving from Grand Junction I chilled for a bit then rushed off to dog park on a nice cool afternoon. Valmont was empty so I started there. I had changed my setup to 8.3 with ace 44 lows. I liked it more than the previous setup, but wasn’t exactly in love with it. I had some fun on the top section. Did a little roll out on a weird little rounded qp, rock ‘n roll the tight qp, back 50 the main qp, curve around then front disaster it. Did a few variations of that which were all fun. Had some good feeling ollies over the euro, kickflip to fakie did not come easy on the bank.

Then I went to the dog park which was mostly empty too. I skated alright, cruised around faster than normal, didn’t land much flippers. Had a fun line of front 50 180 out, halfcab noseslide the bench, back 50 the curb. After a while I went in on fakie 50 creepy spin out. I kind of landed a couple, but not good enough to hand off to Dave. Fun session. I skated the ledges okay, transition pretty well, flatground not good at all.

(null 8.3 vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace 44 af1 lows hard bushing, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a cloudy and cool morning I went to dog park feeling excited to skate. For one, it wasn’t too windy and for another I was woke again. Venture finally came out with hollow cast plates and the timing was too good to not add in a christmas complete. Anyway, warming up wasn’t too bad except I kept seeming to get in everyones way. Rob showed up basically the same time as me, Cass was later, Jack B later. Dennis and crew were there as well as some other older skaters and it was a good vibe. I skated okay and had energy. Personal highlights were front 180 off the grate kicker to really bad switch front board on a parking block, halfcab flip first try, how much pop my board had, boardslides on everything felt good as did crooks. Cass was over at the skatepark for a while. Rob had first try shove lipslide! Also close to nose manual shove. Jack B front 50’d the bench, dude got pop! Cass, Rob and I played a game of SKATE featuring the worst f/s halfcab ever (by me of course, actually I ended up not counting it because it was so bad), a lot of bailed flip tricks by me, no comply back 360 by Rob and he won it on that fakie bigspin no comply.

After that Cass and I kickflipped a parking block a few times, we did it in a train. I was happy to kickflip it, it’s been a while. I couldn’t get a clean no comply flip though.

After a very filling burger Cass and I went to Douglass. We did a lap around the school since Cass hadn’t seen it all. We ended up in the back and have no idea why we haven’t skated there more. The little ledge was fun, but we didn’t have wax. We both imagined noseslides dropping down to noseslide. I posed some switch front noses. Then we went to the front and struggled. I was happy how my setup popped up the curb easily, but I really struggled with kickflips. I posed some other flippers, but landed nothing. In the end I think Cass had done some good back 180s up the curb, halfcabs on flat then couldn’t get a noseslide. I did ollie up the curb, kickflip, some type of noseslide that was supposed to be a crook. I also got switch 180 up the curb, pop shove on flat, noseslide to fakie, almost fakie flip.

(setup null mc hesher 8.25, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-cast with bones medium bushings, 51mm bones pj 103a v1, new balance numeric 440 blue size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10)

On a nice bright Saturday I drove the shaking Honda wagon to the dog park. I knew Rob, Sean, Nick would be there. But was hyped on Jack B, Eric, Paul and others. I brought my smaller 8.1 setup and stuck with it after first try kickflip and fakie flip felt so good. I wouldn’t skate very well, but did get a noseslide 270 out that felt cool and almost front shove off the c pad. Nick had some nice manuals and poppy flippers. Sean battled back nosegrind to quick kickflip nose manual. So good. Eric always charges. He was over on the barrier for a while so I couldn’t see much, but still saw some heelflip, almost heelflip back 50, so close to crooks on the upper deck. Rob was killing it. Fakie nosegrind 180 on the curb, halfcab back 50s, back smiths and manual around the backside part of the C pad and then went on to get back 180 out. I was unhappy with how incredibly sore I got. But Nick and I closed out with a game of SKATE that involved a lot of misses, but was pretty fun. I was happy to get a first try backside flip and eventually get a fakie bigflip. Nick won on a fakie treflip.

(setup null all you need 8.1, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings no big washer flat top washer, 51mm bones pj ladd v1 103a, new balance numeric 440 blue size 12 half insole)
(pain level 5/10 ugh)