On a really nice day I went to Uni Hill Elem to meet up with Jake, Rob and Dave. I’ve been here a couple of times, but haven’t really fully skated it. This spot has so much potential. I arrived first and was cruising around and getting some ideas. Rob and Jake showed shortly after. Rob wasn’t feeling it. I started trying to line out the curved ledge, ollie and make it to a boardslide. Jake joined me with some back 50s. I think once I got back 50, no pop ollie the mini ledge, kickflip and slid the boardslide, but didn’t pop over. Not sure that I would know how to pop over. I came close to back 50 shove. Jake couldn’t quite get nollie back tail. Dave started a session up top doing tricks into the turf bank. He got fakie shove. Rob did some tail spins (?) into it. I’m not sure Jake got shove or kickflip in. Jake and Rob moved on to campus and I tried to ollie up the ledge into the sidewalk, but never got it. When I committed my back foot didn’t get the height. Doh.

On campus we went to start with a game of SKATE. I failed 3 kickflips in a row so I quit the game and somehow managed to not focus my board. This is probably due to yet another setup change and wearing different shoes, but I was still upset. So I just skated flatground while those guys played SKATE. I was still struggling, but did get a line of 4 or 5 tricks at one point.

Then we went to Baker ledge which a few students were already skating. At times I got incredibly annoyed as the youth clearly weren’t paying attention and just going when they felt like it. I came close to noseslide up to crooks and got a couple kickflips up the curb. But I couldn’t front 50 the ledge or nose manual the pad. Jake got nollie back tail, noseslide and crooks. Rob may have gotten no comply manual to 50, halfcab noseslide, front board. Dave front 50’d like second try then went on to do some ride on front crooks to fakie that were so sick. Fun day.

(setup null 8.5 vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushing no big washer flat little washer, spitfire 51mm 101a classic f4, new balance numeric 425 black/gum size 11.5 half insole)
(pain level 4/10 started off pretty good and the different shoe avoided the sharp knee pain but the smaller shoe definitely hurt after a while)

After a fun hike with the Nebraska crew I swapped vans at square house and met up with people at Broomfield park. I was not very focused and obviously distracted by the upcoming event. The only thing I remember doing was trying crooks and then treflips for a long time. Never got the treflip. Was trying 8.5 with Indy 149s and basically hated it. Played a game of SKATE with Cass where I didn’t land anything it seemed like, but still won with f/s halfcab heel. Rob was shredding, I saw a shove lipslide. Richard was there and did a super fast kick back nosegrind so perfectly. Sean was making everything look easy. Garrett, Joe, Hayden, Bo, everyone was skating good. Then it was time to bounce and pick up Jack and get the party started.

(setup null 8.5 vhs, jessup ultragrip, indy barbee 149s, spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 440 size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Feeling pretty exhausted still but wanting to skate with Carleigh before she left Paul picked me up and we met up with Dave, Darin and others. I had a Christmas complete. My reward for finishing Something. It was an 8.5 with 51mm PJ wheels and hollow Ace 55s. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. Popping was hard. I got close to noseslide 270 shoves and did a sloppy fakie bigflip out of the bank, but other than that was pretty lackluster for me. Carleigh was lofting ollies into the bank and doing front and back disasters on the brick qp, boardslides, kickflips. Ripping. Paul is really good, was back 50’ing the black ledge before I had even pushed. He went on to do a lot more tricks like back 50 front 180, fakie tails both ways. Dave had some poppy nollies into the bank, nollie front 180s out of it, almost nose manual the black box, there’s a lot more, but I’m forgetting. Darin, Justin, Kyler, other Tuesday night locals were there charging it. Pretty fun session.

(setup 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55 hollows, 51mm pj bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 440 size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10 some good ol’ cupsole knee sharp pain)

Another entry well after the fact and a big premiere later. Cass and I went over to Valmont to get warmed up. Had a couple of kickflips when we went in on the top little bowl area that is super hard to skate. Some back 50s and ollies went down. I do wish there was more flat coping instead of the obnoxious slope. Still, it was fun to skate it differently. Back at the ledges we got a status report from Rob who said he had gotten shove lipslide. Sick! I had one decent feeling crooks and couldn’t fakie 50 the bench.  Had a couple fun slappy front crooks.  Cass was trying some fakie back 50s, doing good regular back 50s.

(setup 8.3 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 440 black size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level no idea)

I’m writing this one week after the fact and a huge video premiere later so it’s not going to have much. I had taken a few notes. I had switched to venture 5.8s and hated every second of it. The dog park was heated. Rob and I went over to the skatepark. My only notes are that I did a kickflip on the mellow bank, the rainbow grind and couldn’t get a good grind on the pond qp. After Rob left I went back to the ledges and putzed around for a bit before having a fun little line of wallie the corner of the barrier then boardslide the other end of it.

(setup null vhs 8.3, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium hanger cast baseplate royal bushings no big washer flat top washer, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, new balance numeric 440 black size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level no idea)

I’m writing this after several days of editing Something and remember basically nothing about it. I know I didn’t have the will to pull out my big board again so I was on my little 8.1″ board and it felt small, but awesome. The kicker had been raised and some dude kickflipped the picnic table so casually. He would also hardflip it. I don’t think I did much other than some slow flip tricks. I think Fergs was there too bringing the fun. Rob said he did nollie front lip on the little flat bar which he hadn’t done there before. I’m sure he was killing manuals and nose manuals and back 50s too.

(setup 8.1″ null all you need deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows royal bushings no big washer flat top washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance 440 black 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level probably something like 3/10)

On a surprisingly hot day I met up with a bunch of people that my video making brain is too fried to remember. I’m sorry. I remember skating alright, not great, but I skated pretty hard. I thought I’d only have an hour before being the filmer so I paced myself for an hour of skating and when it became 2+ hours I was exhausted. I had switched back to Aces and I liked it a lot. I had some early easy 50s on the blue box, but couldn’t get them on the black box. Had a lot of noseslides that felt good and was trying 270 shoves out which were somewhat close. Crooks were not very good. I tried a lot of flippers which I didn’t land many of, but they did flip around and give me hope. Not landing front 50 on the black ledge definitely made me mad, so i just stopped trying it. I played a game of SKATE with Bo. I didn’t get pink slipped and I landed a heelflip so I was happy about that. Everyone else was ripping, but again, I forget even who was there so I’m just sticking with me since it’s my journal ha ha.

After some filming and posing a six stair we ended up at the Broomfield bank spot. I took too long to get a front truck bonk, but it was fun when I did. Sean was doing them really well. Noè started in on a crazy manual that he would try even after we got booted and we somehow lasted. I could have gone for another try or two to clean up the kickflip, but it is what it is. I was surprised how good the board flipped for being 8.5. I guess narrower wheelbase really does matter. Anyway, we had a fun session, Bo, Sean and Noè ripped it. After the kickout that turned into no kickout I just rolled around on the cruiser a little and tried to keep Noè cheered up.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Woke up early after a bad night of sleep. Went to Boulder park for my Friday morning tradition. I had put Royals on to lighten things up and I hated it so much it’s crazy. I had some okay noseslides, but I couldn’t ollie to save my life. So I eventually gave up and just tried cab flips over the hump. Some felt close.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, royal ultra lite 149s, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Had a short amount of time and it was raining and my garage is a mess so I drove across town to an abandoned garage to skate for 45 minutes. I had put Ventures on. I like it. I thought. I mean I did like them more than Thunders, but flip tricks were still really hard. I went in on the fakie front crooks. The one above was actually the first one I did. I tried to grind further and I did scoot a couple along, but none were as “quick” as the one above. I can’t believe how hard that trick is. I took a long time to get fakie flip, Halfcab flip was quick. Couldn’t get treflip or fakie bigflip.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate ti hanger royal bushings, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Drove through rush hour traffic and pulled in to Rocky Mountain as soon as it started raining. Argh! But it was cool to catch up with Rob. He was on his board for the first time in a while. The rain finally let up shortly before dark and we tried to squeeze in a session. I had all new everything. Well, the trucks aren’t actually new, but I have barely used them. Somehow I’ve never done Thunder hollows on 8.5 before. It felt pretty great. I’m just determined to finally make 8.5 work as it feels so natural to ride.

Rob rolled around on his cruiser at first before getting out his regular board and getting a bunch of axle stall combos. I was all over the place never really sticking with anything. Couldn’t quite get nollie back tail on the ledge, had a fun first try crooks, some back 50s on the curb, slappy front crooks, kickflips felt okay, couldn’t get Dave’s trick, was definitely struggling getting used to the setup change. Dave did his fakie front crooks a few times, boardslides to fakie, nollie to fakie on the bank, halfcab boardslide the curb, ride on front tail shove. It was a fun session even if it was cut short by rain.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 151 venom 88a bushings, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)