I went out to the garage on a rainy evening before dinner. I was motivated and felt decent. The warm up process went alright. I took a few tries to get a pop shove I was happy with which was the start of the struggles. Then kickflip took a few tries, but I did manage my 5 in a row. Then heelflips. I had gotten one and was going for a total of 5 when a missed heelflip resulted in my foot going right through the middle of my board. No worries I grabbed a very old 8″ deck sitting on the garage and swapped them out. It felt a little small and I started with fakie flips to get going. Then I went back to heelflip and was able to get 4 more of those. Did a couple backside flips, a great feeling fakie varial flip. Then couldn’t treflip to save my life followed by many varial heelflip attempts that I couldn’t land either. I hucked a few nollie flips that felt pretty close, but overall I was just so bummed. I tried so hard and I couldn’t come up with a rare or new trick. It really felt like I’m just too old to learn new stuff anymore and it hit me hard.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck/null logo 8″ deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, venture yellow bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric 288s grey/blue size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

After work on a hot afternoon I drove by Southern Hills to skate some flat and benches.  However there were several people there playing basketball so I turned around and moved on.  I ended up at a random nearby school that has a weird flagstone bench with gaps on each side, a sketchy butter bench against a bush with flowers, an alright curb, some decent flatground and a million stop rocks.  I had brought out my old 8.25 with low trucks because I felt desperate to have better flippers.  It worked.  Although I did struggle to ollie up a curb with any confidence.  Anyway I tried a line to get things going.  Back tail a curb, kickflip on flat, ollie up a curb, ollie onto the bench.  I never committed to the bench.  I couldn’t last time I was there either.  I hucked a lot of flippers.  Got kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, b/s flip, halfcab flip, f/s halfcab flip, close to varial heel.  Hucked kick back tails on the curb for a bit and got really close.  Did a bunch of crooks on the bench which was really fun.  I did a few other tricks on it too, but they were even less good than crooks.  I couldn’t get a front 50 on it to save my life.  I was upset about this initially, but really that ledge is something I would normally never touch.  Cracks, stop rocks, a family biking in the parking lot watching me.  Yeah a lot of forces working against me.  I left on peaceful terms even without getting the front 50.  Then I watched Back To The Future with the kids.  That movie rules and was the first skateboarding I ever saw.  I got a skateboard shortly after that.  35 years later here I am still not able to front 50 a bench.  Ha.
(setup 8.25 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric foy b/w/y size 12, nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 3/10)

On a very hot day Kevin, Eric and I rolled to 3rd St park in Greeley. Dave L would join after awhile. I had changed my setup to 8.3 with 5.8s. It felt a little weird, but not too weird. This was because I could barely ollie up to nose manual at Golden the day before. I didn’t have much juice and was having troubles committing to stuff. That seemed to be going around. Eric however went right for the hammer and did rock to fakie, back rock and front rock on the big bank there. He also rode up the bank then down into front 50 which was nuts. I fell into a zone of trying treflips up the bank. I was close so many times, but it took forever to land one and by then the sprinklers had turned on and we were gonna move on. Kevin had gotten a nollie tre up it, nosegrinds, 50 the long hubba. Dave L with super lofty ollies, casual manuals and switch manuals, pop shove and varial flip up the euro.

Next we went to Peak View park which was super fun even though the sun was so hot on us. I managed a backside flip over the hip in a few tries and did another one. Back 50s on the diamond cut coping were really fun too. I hucked treflip for a bit and got kinda close before overheating. Kevin got nollie b/s flip over the hip, pole jams, some nice grinds on the qp. Eric was trying boardslides on the spine, but was beat and it didn’t really work out. Dave had manuals, switch manuals, nice ollies, manual the china bank.

Then we went to the school. We warmed up with a game of SKATE. Dave was the first one out, Kevin got me out on heelflip. It was fun though, it definitely got us warmed up and I did a few flippers. Kevin went in right away on front 50s and was trying to come up with other stuff like back 180 out. But he slammed and overheated. Dave couldn’t quite get into boardslides on it. He had some cool drop down / up shoves and manuals on the long 3 stair though. I tried to drop down and kickflip up and struggled. Dave and I hit the 4 stair area for awhile. He had a sick ollie then front board pop out. I had ollies then back board or noseslide. Then spent a long time trying front 180 then switch front nose. I would get several, but none were very good. Got a couple flippers in between tries like heelflip and varial flip. Man it was hot. Looking forward to a break.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 101a 51mm radial slims, new balance numeric 288s navy, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10 some soreness and mental fatigue from skating in the sun so much0

On the first day of summer, Go Skate Day and Father’s Day my family drove to Denver. We were running late for the #pushforprogress and pulled up right as everyone was skating off. So we went right from the car to pushing a couple miles. I should have rode my cruiser, but instead I had my regular board that I had switched up again and put Venture Lows on. Anyway, I didn’t ollie or anything although did do a fun wallride on a jersey barrier. Ollie and Kevin were in our crew. Man it was cool. I was stoked all the Nullers were there too.

Then after a nice nap Ollie and I went to campus to do our annual Father’s Day skate session. The rain was threatening and we got in a few minutes on the narrow bank before the rain dumped on us. The lightning was so crazy. I had front shove to fakie and kickflip to fakie before doing fakie flips. We were trying to line things out going up a handicap ramp and off a loading dock. I couldn’t commit to the back 180. Ollie had some ollies. Ha. He got pop shove to fakie first try. He was close to front shove to fakie, but at least rode out a couple times turning around. He was popping his tricks way more than he used to.

Then we went to the engineering building to avoid the rain. It poured so much that it quickly limited the options at the spot. We had done a couple lines down the banks. I got close to kickflip into the first one, nollie the second then ollie up the 3. But the rain runoff stopped that. Ollie had back 180 into the first, halfcab into the second. Then we just played on the lower bank. Ollie tried kickflip to fakie for over an hour. He never got it, but he did at least land a kickflip and turn around. It was cool seeing him work so hard. I had the bad 3 flip out, but it felt good to land. The ‘tre a day’ thing is stressful. After that I got a heelflip, close to nollie varial flip and close to front heel. After Ollie landed the kickflip we headed home for dinner. Oh yeah, I had new shoes, my favorite as of late, 288S. They felt good.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck, venture awake 5.2 lows, 1/16″ riser, bones medium bushings, 3 speed washers inside each axle, 51mm spitfire f4 101a radial slim, new balance numeric 288S size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a rainy night I went out into the garage after making yet another setup change. I had given Ollie the Enjoi board since I disliked it so much and assembled an old 8.3 deck with razor tail. I liked it though. I took a bit to get going. Did kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip before setting into a rotation of 3 tricks. Varial heel, treflip and a random one to keep me interested. For awhile it was nollie flips and I got very close. I never landed a varial heel, but I was incredibly close. I got a couple bad treflips. Not really too close on other flippers, but it was a fun night.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, 3 washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 51mm radial slim 101a, new balance numeric foy 306 size 12 blue, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10 getting sick of vulcs hoping these die soon)

On a warm night I met up with Sean, Kevin, Carleigh, Mike, Dave L. Darin and crew were there too. I had of course put some high trucks on after Sunday’s performance. I tried the 5.8s. They felt super stiff and terrible from the start. I tried to warm up for a bit, then was trying a noseslide on the brown ledge and slammed incredibly hard. Hard enough that people got my board and asked if I was okay rather than laugh. It took me awhile to recover from that. Mike was ripping, flying everywhere. Kevin too, he was adding in Janoski flips. Sean was mostly on the flip trick tip. His back heels rule. Dave was keeping it low key with little manuals and transfers onto the brown ledge. I got things somewhat into gear by doing some flip tricks even though they were not working well. Skated the black ledge briefly, had crooks and front 50. Mike did kick back tail. Sean did nollie back nosegrind shove. Carleigh showed and went in on disasters right away. She would get both. Also some good board slides and ollies into the bank. I had basically given up on my session and just tried halfcab crooks on the little blue ledge for awhile. I got one! Justin was there ripping. Dave had some really cool manual lines. I don’t remember a whole lot of what others were doing because it was weird being at a crowded skatepark again. I don’t think I’ll ever buy a non-Geneartor board again. I hate that Enjoi so much. Gonna give it to Ollie.

(setup 8.25 Enjoi Wallin deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 custom hollow cast baseplate titanium hanger, spitfire 51mm 101a f4 radial slims, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 4/10 – since I slammed right away it kinda ruined me)

A little after 9am on a Sunday I went over to the school as Dave F said he was gonna be there with a friend. Tony. He was cool. Total surfy style going fast on slappies. I had a new board and wheels – Enjoi Wallin deck with Franky Villani graphics and Spitfire F4 51mm radial slims. It’s crazy how good the F4s felt compared to what I’ve had recently (blanks and classic formula). Those guys were already warmed up and trying feebles on the double sided curb. Dave had a nice front board. Tony did a rad noseslide over the drainage hole. I had some okay slappies. I had put the lows on again with a riser. They flipped nice. After awhile we were mostly at the hook area. Dave and Tony were doing amazing noseslides through it. I slowly worked up to some front slappies through it and they were so incredibly fun. Tony ollied the gap to the sidewalk a few times. Dave would end up doing a no comply over it. I was trying to line out, flip trick, slappy, gap. I got halfcab flip then front slappy, but missed the ollie. Then I did one of the best fakie bigflips I’ve done in awhile, got a questionable front slappy and missed the ollie again. Then I took awhile to do a switch front 180 up the curb cut then kickflip off, missed the front slappy but still rode away then tried a no comply flip over the gap, but didn’t get it. Fun morning.

Then I met up with Garrett and Jack and we met up with JJ, Sean, Jeff, Ryan, Cass, Ted, Joe, Brian and probably more I’m forgetting. We went to that new ledge school on Tejon. Well, the old school with the knobbed rail that now has tons of ledges. People were hitting the ledge over the gravel gap. I felt very out of place, and failed at noseslides forever. Jack casually did front tail front heel and back lip shove. Sean did a bunch of front tail variations, but not the one he wanted. Garrett did crooks and crooks fakie quick, but no halfcab noseslide nollie flip. JJ tried to run into the wall. Jeff did nose manual nollie flip and a textbook switch tre. Man it ruled seeing Jeff skate again. Joe did the slowest and most chill back 50 ever. It made me jealous.

Then we went down the block to skate a bank to rail. But Ted and I got distracted by this and stayed there for awhile. Okay a long while. I never got the boardslide, I was skating so timidly. Ted front 50’d it. Cass joined after awhile and got close to the boardslide, but like me struggled with how inconsistent that side was. Jeff would show up and front 50 it casually. Then Brian showed up who I haven’t seen in forever. He looked as good as ever on the board even though he apparently hasn’t been skating at all. He front 50’d it then went on to front 50 to front board like Ted did.

Last we went to the steep stadium bank. I dropped in once or twice near the top then Garrett was ready to go so I started filming. It took awhile but he got a Janoski flip! It was sick. Joe and Brian tried some tricks too, but never got their feet on them. That was the day. I felt terrible after, I guess the heat got to me. Argh.

(setup 8.25 enjoy wallin, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, 1/8″ riser, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm spitfire f4 radial slims 101a wheels, new balance numeric 306 foy blue size 12, nike sb zoom insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cloudy warm morning I went to the dog park before work. I work lates again and am still having to wear glasses so the cloudy skies would help. I had changed my setup yet again, 8.5 this time. I feel like I should just accept it’s the ideal size for me. Anyway, warming didn’t feel great, I struggled with a lot of things, but ollies felt decent. I had a warm up line of front 5-0 the min cinder block, front 50 the low pad, boardslide the wallie barrier, then kickflip. Except the kickflip took for freaking ever! I couldn’t believe how bad they felt. Next warm up line was front shove on flat, crooks cinder block ledge, kickflip on flat, back 50 the low pad, front 180 the mini cinder block. This took way too long as well. My crooks were terrible, front shoves were terrible, kickflips were terrible. It took a few tries to get a back 50, but I ended up getting them decent. I changed the line to pop shove, back 50, front 180. The front 180 did not come easy, but at least I did back 5-0 before that to make it feel cool. Then for the super depressing part of the session, front 50s on the cinder block. I thought I’d just do it then front nosegrind 180 the mini cinder block after, but no, the front 50 felt terrible. It wasn’t that I couldn’t do it, it was that my mind didn’t want to. I got a few, posed some flips tricks and was about to leave super depressed. Instead I made myself huck a couple dream tricks for a few minutes. I tried halfcab noseslide 270 shoves on the cinder block ledge (not even remotely close) and switch crooks on the metal butter ledge. I got kinda into a couple of those so at least that felt cool. I left somehow not in a terrible mood.

(setup 8.5 nolan null deck, ultra grip, venture 5.8 custom hollow cast baseplate titanium hangers, 52mm spitfire green/yellow swirl classic 99a F4, new balance numeric 255 b/w size 12, thin rubbery adidas insole)
(pain level 3/10 some knee pain wanting to come through)

After such a busy week of work I lounged in the morning. Add in a stye in my eye forcing me to wear contacts and I was pretty unmotivated. I had just about left to do a solo campus in the afternoon when Dave hit me up and we agreed on the mellow gunbarrel bank. We arrived at the same time, for some reason I was on my 8.75 setup. The board didn’t feel that huge, but the 54mm classic fulls felt huge. Pretty quickly we piled up the crate and tire for the added fun. Nothing came easy for me and I had a pretty bad slam right away trying to wallie over a little tire wedge. I had done a kickflip to fakie, front tail, front pivot on before trying kick back axle for like 30 minutes. It was so frustrating. In that time Dave did like 20 tricks like pivot shove fakie, both shove nose bashes, back tail on the tire and many more. I ended up giving up on the kickflip axle, did a no comply to tail, front smith and then took way too long to do front tail revert. Part of the issue was really old grip tape. Dave did a switch pivot! The insanity. Then pop shove noseslide, manual in, quick footed tire ride. He was ripping. I did the basic kickflips and added a f/s quarter cab flip on my last try before Dave had to leave. He ended on fakie flip. BOLTS! Can’t believe we skated there for so long, but that’s part of why I really enjoy skating with Dave. We just skate and feed off each other trying new things. It’s fun.

After that I went to a nearby ledge spot that looked pretty fun. I was beat, and frustrated to take like 20 tries to do a front 50. Then I went home.

(setup 8.75 null perception deck, venture 6.1 trucks, 54mm classic full 99a F4 lance green wheels, new balance numeric 255 b/w size 12, thin adidas rubbery insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a warm morning I went behind the school to the nice flatground and after a brief warmup went into a list of 15 tricks. I didn’t want to film it. I had made a subtle setup change. I put 5.6 v-hollows on instead and taken off the 5.8s. Other then some intense wheelbite at first it felt like a good move.
Kickflip – took a few tries to get one I was happy with
Fakie flip – got it pretty quick
Halfcab flip – this one took like 20 tries, I was so mad.
Fakie bigflip – since I struggled on halfcab flips it makes sense that this would be first and third try.
Backside flip – got a couple that were not clean
Frontside flip – struggled with it, but got a defensive one
Treflip – my standard for this trick is bad lately, this was no exception
Heelflip – got a couple
Fs halfcab heel – much to my surprise I got this one in around 10 tries. It’s the first time in awhile I’ve landed one of my more rare tricks.
Varial heel – not as close as I hoped, but commited.
Nollie flip – committed to a few, but never got both feet on.
Janoski flip – maybe slightly closer than nollie flip
Switch flip – not too close, but committed
Switch heel – same as above
Heelflip sex change – pretty close, but no commits.

After chilling for awhile I went to campus. I wanted to compare the smaller trucks to how I skated the day before so I went to the flagstone ledge again. I got similar tricks backside. Boardslide, noseslide, noseslide to fakie, crooks and I got a really bad halfcab noseslide which I didn’t get the day before. I was trying a few flippers, but it was hard because the tunnel area that’s good for it was like a wind tunnel. I got kickflip, halfcab flip, heelflip, fakie flip. Close to fakie varial flip and treflip. I took a few more tries to get ollie onto the ledge, less tries to get a front 50 which felt better than the accidental front 5-0. But I couldn’t do it again. Struggled with switch noseslides. Had a fun front board pop out. I was planning on moving further into campus, but it was pretty stormy. I ended up nearby in a brick area with a few smaller chunks of flagstone. I tried to ollie onto one. Technically I did, but I did the intentional back truck hang up to slow me down. Still, it was a tall ledge that was only a couple feet long so it was scary to me. I never got a clean ollie onto it. Then I wanted to skate a nearby 2 stair, but the wind kicked in fierce. I had done front 180 up and down. A few ollies up and wanting to kickflip down after, but the wind was just too much. I went home mostly happy about skateboarding.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck, venture 5.6 v-hollows, doh dohs 88a boardside bushing no washer minilogo 94a roadside with flat washer, 53mm purple swirl blank wheels, new balance numeric 288s b/w size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)