Stopped at Boulder park for a little over 30 minutes in the morning.  It was incredibly nice out.  I had a setup change that I despised.  8.25 and T2s.  There was some snow piles around, but mostly skateable.  Warm up line was supposed to be noseslide the hump to ledge, axle stall, nollie back 270 but I never got the nollie 270.  Had some fun front 50s until I almost broke my thumb on a slam that my thumb caught on the way down.  Ouch.  Hurt so bad.  Thought I’d be going to the ER for a minute.  Did some other basics, they were fun.  Glad I skated with the exception of that slam.

(setup 1/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, thunder t2 149, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, splay rev lt b/w size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10 until the slam but my legs still felt decent)

Feeling overwhelmed with setup madness I ended up just grabbing an old 8.3 with some thunders on it and completely hated it. I had gone to Southern Hills. Haven’t been there in a long time and I remember why. I mean it’s okay, but them ledges are TALL. I did some noseslides and noseslides to fakie and that was really about it.

After some lunch and setting up a new board I went looking for dry spots. I didn’t come up with much, but I ended up at dog park as I was very surprised to see it was dry and almost empty. I had put Royals on and they are pretty good. Not great as they lack pop, but I did prove a couple of things to myself. Mainly, wearing these Splay shoes I need lighter setups. I had regular manuals better than normal. Other tricks were okay. Back 50s on the curb were better than normal. Slappy crooks worked well. Had a line that was really poorly done, but sounds okay on paper. Front 50 180 the lurb, sw front nose the bench, fakie nosegrind the curb. Did halfcab flip then b/s flip first try, but regular kickflips were terrible. Did another line of fakie flip, halfcab noseslide the bench, back 50 the curb. Did more whatever stuff. Ended on a line of sw front nose the narrower metal bench then fakie front nose jib the green ledge. Oh yeah, I couldn’t front 50 it to save my life which I imagine will be a quick death to the Royals. Since I had that problem before too. I should also mention it was quite windy and cold.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, royal ultralight 149, spitfire f4 99a 52mm pink/green classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After a fun morning hanging with Sam and friends at their baby shower I went to dog park around 2pm. The temps were in the low 20s and no one was at the park. A couple people were at Valmont, but I was in the mood for ledges. I had gone back to an old fav setup – 8.25 with 5.8 ventures. It felt mostly great and very poppy, although I didn’t try many flipper because of the cold. I would go on to get most of my normal tricks. Had multiple front 50s on the cement ledge, front 50 shoves and 180 out on the green box pretty consistently. Back 50s on the lurb. Almost got a longer line of crook the metal bench, front 50 the green box, ollie on the lurb, back 180 off, halfcab noseslide. Other rare tricks were fakie 50 halfcab out on the curb and ollie the little kinked round bar. Was a fun session, I skated pretty hard. It was snowing at times, which was funny. I tried to record a front 50 shove on the green box and show the flakes coming down, but it didn’t really come out.

(setup 8/10 null hayden 8.25, jessup ultra, venture 8.5 v8 back truck normal front truck v8 ace bushings titanium hanger washers outside, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Was supposed to be 53 today, but it never got out of the 30s. I met Paul in the afternoon after work and it was cool, but not too bad. We chatted a bit. Warming up was okay, I was back on 8.25/thunder which I liked more, but still hated. Paul was already doing his easy grinds on the ledges. After some warm up we kind of focused on the green box. I did first try accidental 5-0, then nearly lost my mind trying to get a front 50. I would get a few once I finally leaned forward. Paul and I worked on halfcab noseslides. Paul is somehow not good at then so it was nice to have a partner working on such an “easy” trick. We both got some. We did lines of noseslide to fakie the taller wood ledge then halfcab nose the green ledge. I somehow managed to get one on the tall wood ledge which I was happy about. Preston showed and ripped it on his micro board. I didn’t do much else. Flip tricks were whatever, only got the few kf basics. Came somewhat close to kf 50 on the lurb.

(setup 2/10 null time warp 8.25, jessup ultra, thunder hollow 148 t-ii bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Shortly before dark I went to campus since the students are gone. Or so I thought. Rolling into campus there were a lot more people than I thought there would be. I wanted to start at the micro bank to 2 stair, but it was behind a construction fence. I ended up at the mini bank next to the 3 stair near the stadium. I had setup an old 8.5 with aces for some terrible reason. And I went on to hate it so much that I basically gave up on skating after a couple attempts at warm up lines. I did manage a nollie shove to fakie on the bank, sw 180 up the curb across the street, b/s flip a little hip/bump. The b/s flip took like 10 tries and I was losing my mind. Totally committing, but the big board would not flip enough. I tried another line of nollie front 180 on the bank, back 180 up the curb across the street, halfcab flip the bump. But I gave up on the halfcab flip and did a fakie bigspin again. After that I just couldn’t motivate at all so I left.

(setup 1/10 8.5/14.25 null, ace af1 hollow 55, 52mm spits f4 99a, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On the way into work I stopped by Boulder park for a short one. Changed my setup again, same stuff, except Thunders. Infinitely better. Didn’t really get too caught up in much, first try front 50 on the bench made me happiest. Or a first try kickflip to fakie on the mound up top. Took a bit to get the bump to front 50. At one point a young teenager showed up and got his camera out and told me him and his friends were going to film a skit. It was pretty funny, they filmed him cruise around the park warming up and drinking coffee then into him fingerboarding when he got warmed up. Wish I would have gotten their channel because I bet it’s a funny clip.

(setup 6/10 null time warp 8.25, jessup ultra, thunder team hollow 148 t-ii bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, strike mvmnt transit street trainer black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10 sore from skating almost 3 hours the night before)

Was thinking of slacking, but Will wanted to hit Broomfield so we did it. I got there first. I had yet another setup change. 8.25 with indy titaniums. Initial feelings were that I would like it. At the park was leather jacket guy from paco the other day going 100mph trying to boardslide up the diy rail to 50 the parking block. He repeatedly slammed super hard and the parking block messed with the blurb approach. Oh well. I had some okay kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip I think all first try. But shortly after Will showed I went 0-20 on f/s halfcab heel. He on the other hand did a bunch of switch flip, maybe even 5 in a row at one point. I struggled on 50s on the black ledge, had one good feeling sw noseslide 270 shove. Will had the nosegrinds both way all good. Justin showed and was ripping so hard. Phoenix was there ripping nollie nose manuals or nosegrinds. I had some hurricanes on the bank to curb. Near the end Will did sw manual and sw nose manual on the blurb. Amazing. I tried a line of front 50, front slash the quartapotty, kickflip the parking block. Committed to the kf, but never got it. Then I spent like 30+ minutes trying a halfcab heel. I was not close for soooo long, but I did get a bad one eventually. I will say I waxed all my bushing, the pivot cup, everything and nothing would stop the Indys from squeeking incredibly loud. I really don’t like Indys, they just don’t work for me and feel so noodly.

(setup 2/10 8.25 indy titanium 144 52mm strike mvmnt size 12 currex runpro)
(pain level 5/10)

On another unseasonably warm November day I drove to Denver and met Cass at Paco Sanchez park. I had randomly thought about it recently and how good the ledges are. But I didn’t remember how bad I am at ledges now. I was super sore too. With all that going against me I did get an ultra slow/bad line of front 50 shove then halfcab noseslide and some crooks. Cass had some good 50s, noseslides, front shoves, kickflips. Will some really good back 5-0s, manual up the wedge, front 5-0. Cass and I played a game of SKATE, he said it was a good game, it wasn’t. I got letters on fakie flip, halfcab flip, b/s flip, front shove and something else.

Then we went to Barnum as it was only 4 minutes away. It was mostly dead because of a Broncos game. I was so sore at this point, hardly did anything. The 5-0 around the corner was so fun as were the long (for me) back 50s. Will’s ollie over the ball was amazing. As was watching him take like 10 tries to roll in. Cass came out of nowhere with the noseslide shove down the hubba. He had some good grinds on the bank to curb too. It was nice getting out in the sun and doing something different.

(setup 1/10 8.3 thunder hollow 53mm bones strike mvmnt size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

I’ve had a lot of busy weekends lately, so it was nice to not have anything lined up for the day. Around 11 I set out without any real plans in mind. I drove to a school in north Boulder (Foothills) as I hadn’t been there in years. It still wasn’t great, but I saw some options for Dave and I ollied a two stair to get the juices flowing. Then I went to Crestview and discovered the freshly painted curb that was so good. I could do real frontside slappies and it was fun. I did a warm up line of slappy, ollie up a curb, axle stall a dry curb, front 180 down a two stair. Then I went to the metal bench area and was humbled by how hard they were. I couldn’t get a line of front 180 up then sw noseslide 270 shove. I don’t know why the shove would not work. The kickflips up took me a bit, but I would get quite a few eventually. Not sure why I couldn’t front board after, but the little scrape was all I had. I then ended up at the basketball court. I went right past the skatepark. One dude was skating it and popping some ollies over a hip. Another was practicing ollies in the grass in full pads. I proceeded to not feel good on my board at all. Managed some noseslides and little crooks, one front axle stall that took a long time and I barely got up there. Couldn’t do any flip tricks to save my life. Had a setup change of 8.25 and slappy lows, it was okay. I just don’t land anything anymore. With that said, I still had fun getting out and skating different spots.

(setup 3/10 8.25 slappy low profile 52mm splay rev b/w size 12 272 and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10 initially the splays felt great, but by the end I was soooooo sore)

Tried to dawn patrol it since this time of year is so hard to skate in daylight. Got to Boulder park around 7 and proceeded to totally suck it up. I could not wake up to save my life. My setup change felt beyond terrible. 8.3, thunder team hollow, 53mms. I tried for about 30 minutes, but at no point was I happy with anything so I left.

Got out of work with a little daylight left and went to dog park. Had a kinda random session in which I came close to hard stuff, but really I didn’t land much. Had 8.25 with slappy lights. It was way better than my last two setups, but I still didn’t like it. I will say that I really did like the 8.25 at least. I had success with crooks and halfcab flips. Was kind of all over and then went in on a random line for a bit. Front slash the barrier, front board to fakie the little concrete bars, halfcab flip. I got one really bad front board to fakie, but there was a crew of dudes learning kickflips and I kept getting in their way. Tried a lot of noseslide 270 shoves that were not close. Hucked kickflip 50s which I didn’t commit to. Then it got dark.

(setup 1 8.3 thunder team 53mm 0/10
setup 2 8.25 slappy lights 52mm 4/10)
(pain level 5/10)