On a Friday after work I was feeling sore and sorry for myself. Liz kind of made me go at least try to skate. So I went to dog park which was totally dead when I got there and pretty wet. I had another setup change – 8.25 again and Thunders again. It felt great. I didn’t do a whole lot at dog park. Some slappies, crooks on the bench, front 50 the lower ledge and front 50 180 out, manual the little pad. Dave showed and the scooter kids had left the park so we went over there and it was pretty chill for a while. That park has so many options and we both seem to skate it differently every time. I had two new lines that were super fun. Ollie the euro, ollie to fakie the steeper mound, fakie flip on the bank (never got a clean one). Ollie the euro, manual the volcano, little grind the high to low qp. The manual was super fun. Dave had manualled it too. He was doing runs starting with flyouts and did a nollie shove on the steep mound. Tailslides over the hip, kickflip on the flat bank and got 5-0 over the rainbow which was so sick. Roth came as I was basically too sore to keep skating and speed lined it around the park. It was a fun session, although I could go without getting so sore.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder 148 hollow lights venom 88a bushings, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 425 black/gum size 11.5 half 440 insole)
(pain level 6/10)

After work and a quick dinner I picked up Dave and we went to the small Stephen Day park. After a brush with fame (ha ha) we got to skating. It’s been a few days, but I think we started off alright without too long of a warm up period. Dave waxed the hip and tailslides were quick on the agenda as were manuals on the decks. Turned into a pretty fun session when we weren’t too interrupted by kids playing scooters. I did a lot of noseslides and kickflips. I thought I was close to the ollie over bar at one point, but then got sore and lost it. The line of noseslide the rounded ledge, kickflip fakie on the bank then switch front nose was fun even if it’s the same tricks I always do. Had a fun halfcab noseslide and crook on the straight part of the C ledge. Had a fun line of noseslide the bigger bump to ledge then b/s flip flyout. As the lightning settled I was trying a line of front 180 fly out, switch nose jib into the bank, front 50 the C. But I could never get the front 50 and I got so mad. Hard to leave on such a bad note after a really fun session. Dave killed it. He had done the halfcab blunt to back tail earlier on too. He had lots of good ollies and nollies over the hip, bluntslides, 50 the bump to ledge, hippy jump the down bar, front noseslides. The halfcab bluntslide to back tail was the hammer of the day for sure.

(setup null vhs 8.3, jessup ultragrip, royal 149 ultralights, 52mm bones 103a stf v1, new balance numeric 288sport green/gum 11.5 with half 440 insoles)
(pain level 5/10 been so sore lately and no idea why)

On much cooler day with rain in the forecast I went to campus. Setup was 8.25 with ace 55s. I disliked it. I tried to skate through it at a weird little ledge spot that is rarely vacant enough to skate. I had a fun warm up line of dropin on the little hubba near the 4 stair, some 180s, switch nose jib. Tried to start a line with an ollie off a tall ledge, but got scared. Did kickflip, noseslide to fakie, fakie flip. Then the frustration really set in when I tried halfcab flip then front 50. I barely got a couple halfcab flips and rather than get frustrating I went home and put the 8.3 deck on.

Back to campus I ended up at the ledge near the rec center. Had a really fun line of chinese ollie, back 180 a 2 stair, switch 180, noseslide, kickflip. Then another run that started the same then went noseslide to fakie then fakie flip.

Rain started so I went to the covered hallway at the UMC. I was pretty motivated and started okay getting tricks two times before moving on. Kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, but could not get a heelflip. Resorted to a line to try and motivate me to treflip. Pop shove, kickflip, treflip. Never committed to the treflip and decided to stop forcing it and walked through the rain to my car and called it a day.

Done with Aces. At least until they have a lighter version.

(setup 8.25 then 8.3 vhs null, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, bones 52mm v1 103a washers outside, new balance numeric 288sport green/gum size 11.5 half 440 insole)
(pain level 3/10 that’s the best it’s been a while. I credit working out more again and wearing cupsoles even if I mostly hate them)

Ha ha, a big “old” crew as in lots of us are pretty old for skateboarding. Dave L was in town and had organized a session pretty early on a hot Saturday morning. I was dealing with the setup madness and had two setups both with Ace trucks. 8.3 with af1 55s and 8.25 with af1 low 44s. I rotated between the two the whole time without really liking or disliking either. I guess overall I liked the 8.3 a lot more, my feet just don’t like trying to maneuver the little 8.25 anymore. I didn’t do anything really of note. Dave L did a manual first try, he had nose manuals too, back 5-0s, 50s, casual kickflips. Man I really miss his casual style and ripping. Kevin was on one again, totally shredding and got the nollie front crooks. Ohio Nick had some manuals and 50s. Dave F did noseslide to tailslide on some parking blocks that were next to each other then went over to the skatepark. Cass always with the good front noseslides, was doing back 180 fakie 50 on the curb, front tails. Jack B on the barrier rides and noseslide/tailside parking blocks before retreating to the shade. Boulder Nick had the long boardslides almost every time and if he didn’t he was mad. Ha. Eric had a Christmas complete and went in on crooks the top tier. Can’t wait for him to get it. He was charging it as always. There were others there too, I’m probably missing someone. Sorry.

After a while Cass, Ohio Nick and I went to play a game of SKATE that Kevin weaseled into. Mainly because the ultimate insult happen when I set the first kickflip and Cass missed it. Then double or nothing missed it, all the way, tripled it and missed, then quad and missed and finally went for SKATE or broke and missed that too. I was impressed he didn’t focus his board because I darn near did when fakie flips were next and I had to quadruple or nothing it. I was really mad and throwing my board like a baby, but it was funny when I got the 4th one I just said “Hey I don’t have any letters”. We went on to have a pretty fun game. The highlight for me was when we all did heelflips in a row. Kevin won on switch tre. I had played that game on the 8.3, I played the next game with only Ohio Nick on the 8.25. I didn’t like it as much, but I did get a halfcab heel. Neither of us could get a treflip, but Nick got a fakie tre. I somehow ended up winning with f/s halfcab flip. Then we went to brunch.

(setups 8.3 / 8.25 nulls, ace af1 55 and 44 low, some smallish wheels, 288sport no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

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On a hot morning Jack, Garrett and I rolled up to Laramie where we met up with Mike, Eric, Joe, Kevin, Rob and Neil at the skatepark. It had been 14 years since I skated there and there has been some new additions. They had painted some of it blue and the reflection was insane. I have no idea how others skated without sunglasses. Jack showed up and immediately went in on kickflip on the extension. Eric shot photos. Joe and I mostly played in the newest area figuring out the slappies. The others showed up. The newest area was pretty crowded at times as everything good was in one area. I got a line of nollie back tail a curb, crooks a bench, slappy the curved bank to curb, carve around kickflip to fakie. Kevin and I played off the little drop near the front for a bit. He switch flipped it. I kickflipped up it which hyped me up. Eric and I skated the bowl for a bit which was pretty weird and hard to skate and we didn’t carve the full pipe very well. Garrett got to 9 first try. Later on Jack would get to 10 on the top of it ha ha. The wallride was sick. Back in the newest area I witnessed boardslides from Eric (can’t believe he was able to skate after yesterdays slam), nollie front lips from Rob, boardslides on the bench lined out with fakie flips on the bank from Joe, Kevin had halfcab bluntslide transfer to back tail then back smith the qp, I managed to boardslide the bench and get a little crook jib on it as well as some front slappies on the bank to curb, Mike was front nose to fakie and a bunch of good slappies.

After some lunch we hit campus. Garrett, Jack and I hit an old area near some dorms I skated a very long time ago. I didn’t really do anything. Jack tried some front nose 270 shoves and some manuals down a 5 stair.

Then we met everyone at a really fun bank to curb where I proceeded to slam on my first axle stall, but then go on to have a lot of fun. Mike had great back 50s. Jack’s acid drops into the bank as setups were highlights on their own as was the grind to grind. Garrett smoothly did slashes, hurricanes, blunts, kickflip fakie, etc. Rob had steezy front tails and slappies. Neil with the fire beanplants, no complies. Joe kickflip rock ‘n roll. Kevin kickflip willies and kickflip axle stall. I got a couple front slashes, hurricane and a rock up to feeble to axle that was surprisingly fun.

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Then we went over to this crazy loading dock with wide round flatbars. Pretty epic spot. Epic stuff went down. Fun was had. Highlights were of course Jack’s epic grind to boardslide, but Kevin’s crooks was incredible too as was Garrett’s back 180 nosegrind. Joe got boardslide pop out and off the end. Neil’s knee didn’t let him land the noseslide even though he got into it perfectly. I had some little noseslide jibs and maybe something that resembles switch front nose. Jack also did some crazy hippy jumps and bluntslides. Garrett wallied up the darn loading dock too. What a great day.

(setup 8.25 null stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium hanger, bones 52mm stf 99a v3, new balance numeric 440h b/w size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

On a very hot morning Rob, Neil and I hit the road, picked up Cass and made our way to Granby. We arrived to a mostly dry park with rain showers threatening. None of us had even really seen this park before. There were a few kids on bikes. The hype was real and the approaching rain made for a frenzied and fun session. I was skating good for me and got a backside flip over the hip 3rd try. The bank to curb was perfect, but a little narrower and rougher on top than it looks. It’s hard to remember the difference in the sessions. Cass had front nose and tail on the bank to ledge, bigspin over the hip. Rob front tails the bank to curb, slappy crooks, manuals and nose manuals the little pad. Neil popping everywhere, manuals, nose manuals, noseslides, one foots. I lined out the noseslide and b/s flip as the rain teased us, almost got first try nose manual front 180 out. Neil took a bad slam on a wet pump bump. I took a bad knee tweak on an attempt to noseslide fakie the ledge off the manny. It was worse than I initially thought and would leave me hurting for round two after the rain and the next day.

After some chilling at a brewery and a dollar store broom investment we went back to the park. We swept puddles as a kid sprayed his little brother. Some dry patches started to form and we skated a little on the bank to get warmed up and I quickly realized my legs were toast. I didn’t really do anything beyond slappies. I don’t really remember what was different for others either, but they were having fun. The rain settled in and we went back to Winter Park and had a fun night of bro’ing down.

(setup 8.3 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast base titanium hanger, bones 52mm 99a stf v3, new balance numeric 272/440highs)
(pain 2/10 initial session 8/10 second session)

It had rained at my house, but when I went to bring boards to Square House it was dry so I went to dog park and it was great. A little breezy at times with some little drops, but nothing that hindered skating. I had put 8″ low ventures on. I had mixed emotions, but I mostly liked it. Had a first try nose manual. Had some first try flippers, f/s halfcab flip, f/s halfcab heel, b/s flip. Took a long time to get halfcab noseslide on the new long bench, but they felt good.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 low with royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm bones stf v2 103a, new balance numeric 272 burgundy size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a really nice morning I went to dog park somewhat early and met up with Rob. It was cool because there was an old guy crew there and they were most likely older than us. And they were charging. Jack B was there and it was cool seeing him again. I had changed my setup. No surprise there. Well, mostly just trucks from venture highs to thunder hollows. And it felt magical to be honest. My kickflips felt the best they have in a while. Probably since the last time I skated Thunders ha ha. I still struggled with some halfcab flips and couldn’t halfcab noseslide, but other then that things were decent. I had some decent front slappies, a terrible back 50 on the taller pad (but I was just happy to actually do a back 50), some crooks and noseslides on the metal bench, a noseslide tab on the table and ended with a front 50 down to front 50 on the stacked cinder block pads as they are being repaired. Rob was ripping. Saw front board pop out and nollie front lip the taller pad, manuals, nose manuals, noseslides, halfcab noseslides, boardslides, halfcab 50, back 50 no comply out. Kevin and Nick had shown. Kevin went right into shredding. Nose manual the table to quick wallie was a banger. As well as nollie front nosegrind to 50 the double stack. I had to leave for work.

After working I ended up on campus. There was some event I didn’t know about and after seeing a bunch of tie-dye shirts I realized it was the Dead & Company concert. It didn’t really effect me skating the little yellow curb, but I didn’t have nearly as much energy and drive as I hoped. It turns out it was because I was getting sick, but I didn’t know it at the time. I kind of just hucked. Kickflip crooks and nollie front tail bigspin. In my opinion they both felt doable, but I doubt they actually looked close. I attempted to skate some more, but ended up being too tired so I went home.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder hollow 148 venom 88a bushings, spitfire 53mm classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 272 green size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a long day of work I went to the side of the school. I had gone back to 8.25 with venture highs and it felt not great. Did a few random tricks, then a couple kickflips before heading home.

(setup 8.25 null burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate hollow hanger royal bushings, spitfire 52mm radial slim 101a, new balance numeric 272 green size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After another long day of work around 5 I met up with Rob at dog park. The park was a little more crowded than normal for an afternoon, but still pretty dead. The two other crews managed to post up in area that really disrupted flow though. I had changed my setup. 8.3 with Royals. Initial take was I liked it. That quickly died after my first halfcab flip worked then I couldn’t land another one to save my life. I hucked a lot, didn’t land much and couldn’t get a halfcab noseslide on the metal bench which was really annoying. I did get another little noseslide on the Cali table, some fun slappy crooks, accidental 5-0s. Skated pretty hard, just didn’t land much of anything. Rob had a pretty good slam early on with front 50, but powered through. Manuals, back 50 back 180, front board pop outs, steezy wallrides on the barrier and a mega banger – Manual the pad to manual to boardslide on full metal jacket. Trick of the day. So sick.

(setup null 8.3 vhs, jessup ultragrip, royal 149 ultralights, 52mm spitfire f4 101a radial slim, new balance numeric 272 green size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)