On the way into work I stopped at Boulder park on a nice day with a questionable setup change. 8.3 with T2s again. It was okay. Felt really good grinding on the qp, but not so much for ollies or ledge tricks since T2s are so tall. I cruised a bit, got kind of dialed in, did some little basics. Then kind of went in on front 50s over and over on the various ledges and they kind of worked. Even did one on the bump to ledge which I haven’t done in a long time. Kind of forget what else I did, but it was a fun quick session with the park all to myself.

After work the rain made for a change of plans after work and I ended up at the ol’ Valmont parking garage. I was sore, but I did try to get things going. My board felt better than the smaller one yesterday, but all things considered I landed less flip tricks. Almost none. I did have some fun with the weird curb area and relived the 180 pivot shove trick from a couple years ago.

(setup 3/10 null 8.3 time warp, jessup ultragrip pj, thunder 149 t2, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12, half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

Went to Broomfield after breakfast as it had been raining early. Met up with Will and Sean, Taylor was there. I had a setup change, 8.25 with slappy lows. It treated me pretty well and my first kickflip felt great after Sean’s first try kickflip too. I didn’t get going too quickly though, the bright sun after a cloudy morning was messing with me. I think part of it was the depression of skating so bad the last session that I was scared to try hard. I did some things that made me start to feel better though. Ollies onto the black box pretty easily, 180s up, crooks were working, kickflip flyouts were working. Will had some casual back tails then did back tail shove. Actually, two of them. Sean did his normal great black ledge destruction. His flatground seemed pretty good too. I went in on a line that I would mostly get. Crooks the black box, kickflip flyout, pivot on the bank to curb, noseslide to fakie the out ledge into the bank, halfcab noseslide. I had actually been trying this line for quite some time when everyone was there, but didn’t get it until they left. I had mixed in treflip flyout for a while and never got one, but they were close and I decided to not go overboard with it. Oh I had a new pair of 430s too, so that made things a little harder.

Before dinner I had some time and the rain had cleared up so I went and skated flatground on the side of the house. I was sore and didn’t expect much. I didn’t get much, but I hucked a lot and some were close.

(setup 7/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, slappy low profile 8.25, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, new balance numeric 430 b/2 size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

Met up with Gordon, Paul, Jesse and eventually Will at dog park. The clouds made for better visibility. I had a setup change. The Ben DeGros recommendation again, 8.3/Indy 149 hollows/51mm. I liked it. Took a while to get going though. Gordon and Jesse were already ripping and playing an all park game of SKATE. Not sure who won but they were doing 5-0s and stuff on the narrower metal bench. Paul learned slappy noseslides, did a few of his staples, but wasn’t really feeling it. I got a warm up run I liked of fakie flip, sw 180 a parking block, front board the metal bench. I also started hucking halfcab heels on a shadow and they felt good so I tried them on the lurb. And I got insanely close! That would have made my year, ultimate dream drick. Gonna keep trying it. Also came close to kick back tail on the curb. Did some other normal tricks, but the hucking was my fav. Gordon had a funny nutter on a nollie tail shove. Will had nice nosegrinds both ways on the main bench. It eventually started sprinkling and got really windy so I left.

(setup 8/10 8.3 null flaherty, jessup ultragrip pj, indy 149 forged hollow knox, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a very hot day I went to Douglass around 7pm. Warmed up on the side of the school. Was really struggling again, these 600s are hard to break in. I would get a line of kickflip, accidental 5-0, front 180 my water bottle out of the bump. Went to the front of the school. Hucked some flippers, but never landed anything. On the ledge got some noseslides and crooks. My August goals were to front 50 Douglass and to do a new flip trick. I have also added not to change my setup after this. Anyway, my pop was okay. I started committing to front 50s. I was going slow but one of them got up on there. I was kind of so shocked I freaked out and almost came off. So it was mostly an axle stall to feeble to hand on the ledge. But I was hyped. I would like to clean it and do it legit, but it felt cool regardless.

(setup 7/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, thunder 149 team hollows t2 bushings, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic pink/green new balance numeric 600 size 12 black/gum currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Oh yeah, I skated at dog park on the way into work for about 20 minutes. It was super meh. 8.25 with Thunder T2s was not a good combo.

Had changed back to Indys. Very much disliked it. I skated to Willville. My board was more cracked than I remembered and I had new 600s. I couldn’t even kickflip. We started out on a tiny curb. I came close to doing a nollie front crook stall. Dave almost did nollie front 180 fakie 50. We went back to the main area. I managed one kickflip up the curb and was about 10% close to a sw 180 manual. Dave though, he almost did switch manual revert into the bank. It was amazing really.

(setup 0/10 8.3 null time warp, indy hollow 149, spitfire f4 99a 52mm tablets, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Josh had to head up to Glenwood so we decided to hit Golden earlyish so we could skate a little more before he left. We arrived to a mostly empty park, but two kids playing on boards really found a way to constantly interrupt the flow. Good for them being on boards at least. Josh started ripping right away, I was so burnt feeling. He was quickly wallieing off the corner of the wedge, skating the quarterpipes, flowing. We kind of settled on the slightly downhill ledge for a while. I would get some boardslides all the way, some noseslides and crooks that were not the whole ledge. Josh would noseslide it, front 50, switch noseslide. We tried to do some 3 trick lines up top with the curb/ride on grinds, qp and tiny qp. Was pretty fun. Josh had to leave. I skated a bit longer an finally landed a couple things. On was a line of noseslide to fakie the slightly downhill ledge then fakie flip on the mellow bank. The other was switch. 180 into the mellow bank, crooks the curved ledge, kickflip on the bank then noseslide the weird launch ramp to to ledge. Okay, no more skating for at least a day!

(setup 5/10 8.3 null time warp, thunder hollow 149 with t2 bushings, spitfire f4 99a 52mm tablets, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

After work my good friend Josh showed up and after catching up we went over to the parks. There was no one at Valmont so we started there. Josh went in on the pole jam first. He got it quick, also some of his patented no complies and bean plants. I had some kickflips on the flat bank. We did some stuff around the park, cruising, checking out the stupid curved quarterpipes.

Then we went over to Green Block. Josh was kind of surprised how hard it was to skate. But he still lined things out. Wallies, slappies, 50s, cruising. I was mostly struggling. At one point I was trying crook shove and almost did an accidental nollie heel out. Man I wish I would have landed that because it will never happen again. Josh and I made ourselves do some halfcab noseslides since he struggles with that trick too.

We went back over to Valmont as the toddlers had left. Filmed Josh do the pole jam then he filmed me do the crooks then kickflip.

(setup 5/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v-cast no big washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic orange/black, new balance numeric 430 size 12 b/w half insole currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

In the early evening I went to campus after some cloud cover moved in. But it was still really hot in the low 90s. My legs had nothing, it was surprising. I had a setup change and a new deck. 8.25 with slappy lows and 53mm wheels this time around. Will it be the magical setup that cures my madness? Doubtful, but I did like it this day at least. I started on the little curb on the downhill sidewalk. Did a couple 50s and kickflips then went over to Baker ledge. Never got a clean manual. Noseslides were a little weird. Crooks worked. Got a front axle stall, almost an actual front 50. Halfcab flips felt good. At the end I was super tired, made myself do a halfcab noseslide. Took longer than it should. Also tried treflips for a while and at least got both feet on, but no make.

(setup 7/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, slappy low profile 8.25, 53mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10 but my legs had no juice at all)

Went to dog park around 10. Bratcher, Jesse, Gordon, Paul were there. I hadn’t bothered putting a new 8.25 together, so I was stuck with the 8.3 T2 setup which I completely disliked. I had very little juice. Jack got hurt pretty bad on a boardstall gone wrong. Jesse left. Paul and Gordon ripped some cool combos on the two step. I think Paul did noseslide up noseslide down. Gordon pop shove up, boardslide off. I tried noseslide to fakie then sw front nose and didn’t get too close. After a while I just gave up and resigned myself to trying nollie front tail front shove which I eventually did and was hyped.

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The Nebraska dudes finally showed, but it started raining. Some time later we said we were going to leave so that meant everyone skated harder for another 15 min or so. Lee sw front nosed the tall bar and front 50d the table. I did some of my easiest basics then tried to no comply flip a parking block and couldn’t do it. The young kids adapted and quickly landed their tricks.

Then we went to Willville after some lunch and rain. There was another crew there from Houston which was rad. They were charging. David killed it. I tried some switch 180 manuals, but was not very close.

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After jumping into Boulder creek we ended up at the bank spot out on Arapahoe. It was mostly chill. I did some axle stall and failed to no comply to tail or back pivot. David had a nice backside flip. Cooper a cool beanplant. Long day! Super fun.

(setup 2/10 null 8.3, jessup ultra, thunder T2 149, 52mm spitfire f4 orange/black 99a classic, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After work i cruised down to Willville. The first part of the bike path is all downhill and so fun. I had put a smaller complete back together for reasons I don’t really understand. But I did like it. Anyway I went to the little ledge and was kind of going through an okay warm up. Got some slow 50s, nollie front tails felt good, close to kickflip back 50, a couple kickflips. When this rasta dude cruised up all hyper and excited to see someone skate the ledge he often rolls by. He joined me. He was quite drunk, but still rolled into the bank, front 50 and boardslides. I had done a nollie front tail 270 shove and he was so hyped. Ha. I didn’t really get much else, he left. I tried some manuals into the pad, but never quite got it. The soreness from 8 days of skating was getting to me still so I headed home.

(setup 7/10 null 8.25 time warp, null grip, thunder team hollow 148, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)