After several days off skating due to intense back pain I drove to Bluecar then Emage before finally ending up at Broomfield park. The crew was 98%, null, square state, so good. We all had a blast the night before at the 98% premiere. It’s really hard to remember what all everyone did. I know watching Jack skate was extra amazing. He was fully shredding, doing so many things first try. Bump to bar blunt to back lip, crooks transfer nose manual, front smiths on the brick qp, everything so good. Garrett too, sheesh, back tail the ledge into the bank then back 180 nosegrind the black ledge then kick back tail. Brian got trick of the day with the skier front rock. Maybe the blunt to fakie from low to high too. Ashton manual kickflip out the mountain pad. Cass and I kind of hid out of sight for a while. Played a game of SKATE in which I landed absolutely nothing. At no point did I do anything noteworthy, but with my back being so tight it was understandable. There were a lot more people, it was hard to keep track of and really fun.

(setup 3/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, thunder t2 149, 53mm bones stf, strike mvmnt street transits with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10 but I was happy that skating seemed to loosen up my back)

After rain and then a cold wind I cleaned out the garage then skated flatground for an hour. I had a smaller setup. 8.25 with Thunders. It felt nice at first, but I took like 8 tries to get a kickflip. Oh yeah, I had new shoes too, Es Accel Slims. They suck. I mean they are grippy at least, but so incredibly thin and the toebox is way too narrow. Got a fakie flip in a couple tries. Halfcab flip took a while and almost drove me crazy. B/s flip wasn’t too bad. Couldn’t get nollie varial flip or heelflip. Then went in on treflip and never landed one. I was quite close though. Oh yeah, before treflips I did a couple varial flip reverts that were not good at all. Man my flatground is so bad now.

(setup 4/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, thunder team hollow 148 t-ii bushings, old spitfire f4 99a 51mm classics, es accel slim b/w size 12 with footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Went to meet up with 98% dudes. Thought they would be filming some hammers, but everyone was just in a hockey rink goofing around with flat. I rode a smaller board with aces and big wheels and didn’t really land anything. I came remotely close to rick flip and got a kickflip or two, but that was really about it. Dan and Jason played an epic game of SKATE. Garrett landed a lot too. It was a fun even if I didn’t try hard.

(setup 0/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, ace af1 44 hollow, 53mm bones sft v1 103a, new balance numeric 440v2 high wide black size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10 things have not been so great lately)

Feeling tired and arthritic I met Cass at Broomfield mostly because I needed to pick up the Hayden boards from him. We warmed up on the bank to curb which is quickly disintegrating into a weird qp, still a fun warm up though. Mixed in some of the easier black ledge tricks. Laughed because Cass took like 5 tries to do a noseslide. I had a setup change, 8.3 with venture v8s. It was fine. On the blue lurb Cass smoked me to front 50 shove. We tried to mirror them out with back 50 shove but neither of us got them. Both failing in totally different ways. He would go fast and miss the shove off the end. I would go slow and come to a halt. Justin and Jameson were there, as were some other rippers. I took too long to do a slow halfcab noseslide. At the end Cass did a really good hardflip flyout, then treflip and a good flatground treflip. I did a terrible flyout kickflip and took a few tries to do boardslide on the bump to bar.

(setup 7/10 null flaherty 8.3, jessup pj, venture 5.8 v8 titanium hanger, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic pink/green, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 with custom insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 6/10)

On a very windy morning in Boulder I drove to Longmont and met Dave at a very nice and calm Indian Peaks. 10 minutes later, it wasn’t so calm and the wind would get much worse, but we still skated. I hadn’t skated the front in decades so it was fun. The manny pad is better than it looks, the waxed up curb was fun, the flatground is good too. I hucked a lot, landed very little other than manual, a couple kickflips, halfcab flip and a nollie front crook (no grind) which I believe is a GleNBD. I liked how my board popped, but I was like 1/20 on kickflips up a curb which did not sit well. Dave had nollie crooks, fakie crooks, spracks to manual, cabs, 5-0 180s, crooks, he was ripping. After I left he did a switch manual on the pad!

(setup 5/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, indy titanium 144, 52mm spitfire pink/green 99a class, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 custom insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Had some time, stopped at Boulder park. Reverted back to my 8.25 with venture hollows. Felt way better for the most part. I felt sore from the double session the day before, but I felt good pretty quickly. Front 50s worked first try on the 3 ledges I tried them on the day before. Also, the smaller/lower setup felt better for flipping. Did one little b/s flip on the hump. Did some f/s ollies on the main hip. Did a line of front 50 the bump to ledge, kickflp to fakie on the upper little bank, halfcab noseslide the triangle ledge. Front 50 shove the bench. Took a while to end on back 50 on the triangle ledge again, but it felt great.

(setup 7/10 8.25 null timewarp, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v-hollow, spitfire f4 99a 52mm pink/green classic, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 with weird custom insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Had some time before meeting so stopped at Boulder park on the way into work. I was on an 8.3 and T2s and thought I liked it. I hadn’t been there in a while. Kind of cruised around for a bit getting the feel of things before going in on front 50s again. They felt really good on the bump to triangle. I think I did a line of front 50 the bump to triangle ledge, go up top then front 50 the bump to ledge, then over to the bench and front 50 it. I had done some other stuff, but that made me happy. I then worked on back 50 over the corner on the upper part of the triangle ledge which I did and it felt cool. I think I did a kickflip or two, but they didn’t feel great.

After work I went to dog park. I was pretty sore from skating earlier, but it was sooooo nice out I just had to. Ted was there. He tried back 50 heelflip out on the curb, so I tried front 50 kickflip out. He got closer. My session didn’t go so well. I managed some basics, but really started hate my heavy setup and high trucks. I went in on front shove and it took way too long. I had started by lining it out, then just gave up and did it solo. Then finally set my phone up as a little more motivation. Finally got it. Left after that. Forgot there was another older dude there in D3s with some amazing manual combos.

(setup 2/10 8.3 null, jessup pj, thunder t2 149, spifire f4 99a pink/green 52mm classic, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12 weird custom insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10 first session 5/10 second session)

Still feeling run down I went across the street after work on a nice and cool day. I had a setup change. 8.3 with T2s. Felt great to roll on, but I really didn’t do much. I had forgotten wax for the curb and it didn’t grind well at all. Managed some front slappies and crooks both ways. Got one kickflip that felt great, one that felt terrible. A couple nollie front 180s that felt great. Maybe a few shoves.

(setup 6/10 null 8.3 flaherty, jessup ultra pj, thunder t2 149, spitfire 51mm f4 99a classic, vans half cab wafflecup beige size 12)
(pain level 3/10 but I didn’t really do anything)

Went to dog park after my first 4 day stint off the board all year I think. I hate not skating. I also hate being sick. Bratcher was there, Fergs too, Gordon after a while, Ace one of the only solo youth showing up by himself and totally ripping. I felt quite out of it and even dizzy at times, but skated okay mostly. Halfcab flips worked finally, crooks, noseslides, 50s on the lurb. Ace rattled off like 20 tricks in a row on the big wood ledge, it was crazy. And casually doing hard qp tricks too. Gordon had his good manuals and grinds and tried some other moves. Bratcher was getting his feet back after another bad slam. After a while Eric showed too, took a bit to get manual. I squeeked out a couple nose manuals. I battled front 50 on the annoying bench and was about to get very upset, but luckily put down a couple. One of which even felt good. It started raining and I was happy about that as I was beat.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null timewarp, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v-hollow, spitfire f4 99a 52mm pink/green classic, new balance numeric 272 army size 12 with half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After Kevin flew in early, took the bus and got a new job we rolled out to Idaho Springs picking up Garrett on the way. To our surprise Mike was there too. It was mostly chill for quite a while. Joe would show about an hour into the session. Garrett didn’t have many issues getting used to the park. Wallie manual kickflip out, b/s flip the hip, back big, nollie big, nollie back heel the hip, everything so good. On the ledge halfcab crooks, sw crooks, back tails, whatever he wanted. Kevin was struggling a bit understandably considering he had been up for like 8 hours already at this point. But still crooks, back tail the ledges, manuals on the big ledge, long grinds on the diamond cut, back blunt on the bank to curb. I was getting used to a setup change of new 8.25 deck and Thunders. Meh. But I did get a first try manual on the little pad and a line I forget that involved a kickflip to fakie then a sw front nose. Took me forever to ollie up onto the main ledge. Had a fun line of ollie the 3 then b/s flip the mini hip. Also got a crooks on the ledge off the manny pad. Joe was funny. Did a trick on the ledge and said “this ledge is perfect” then proceeded to slam super hard on it next try. He ollied the big gap, back tails, front crooks, fakie hardflip the mini hip followed by a hilarious slam on a fakie shove.

After a long enough drive for soreness to really settle in we arrived at Breckenridge skatepark. I’ll just start by saying the new stuff is amazing. Kevin and I started mostly on the old though with tricks into the bank. His sw f/s flip was so good. It’s crazy how ugly my fakie bigflips have gotten. It was fun to roll in after a trick though. Had some fun doing some front 50s on the small noping in the old section and lining it with noseslide to fakie on the new bank to ledge. That bank to ledge is so awesome. Kevin and I did crooks doubles. His were actually good. I took a long time to get a front 50 on it. Joe had front crooks and back tail on the a frame ledge. Garrett put together the line in a few tries at the end after sitting. It was a fun session, fun day. Even a fun meal after that Zach joined us at after some random person came out of nowhere and insisted we eat at Albertos.

(setup 5/10 8.25 null timewarp, jessup ultra, thunder hollow 148, spitfire f4 99a 52mm pink/green classic, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)