Got to dog park shortly after sunrise. Jake was already there skating the barrier so I joined him. We worked up to tricks. I did a bad rock ‘n roll on the tall section, he did a frontside grind. Then we played in the dreamy new ledge section. I was wearing skate shoes this time, 272s. They felt decent. We mostly skated the small curbs/lurbs. Jake got a manual, 50s, back 50s, crooks, fakie 50, almost back tail. I did some front 50s, some with front 90 or 180 out, crooks, switch front noseslides, a first try front smith that didn’t really grind, the tiniest jib of a halfcab noseslide, slammed on back 50s, posed kick back 50s. We played a game of SKATE. I forget most of it, but I had Jake to SKAT and we were trying treflips. But neither of us could get one and I had to go to work. We were both close, both landed on a few, it was a frustrating ending to a fun session.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer night skate deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger bones medium bushings, 50mm spitfire classic shape f4 99a wheels, new balance numeric 272 black size 12, custom high/low insole)
(pain level 0/10 for real!!!!!!!!)

Met up with Bryan at dog park on a breezy morning. I wore the Xero’s this time. They felt incredibly thin, but still better than the Lems. We mostly skated the new stuff at dog park because it’s awesome. I didn’t skate well, was still nervous to push, but skated and had some fun and mixed in some mongo pushing to reduce achilles use. I landed a few front 50s on the low curbs, lots of crooks, noseslides, some kickflips, a halfcab flip followed by a heelflip. Bryan had fakie bigfpin tails and manuals, back 50 to back tail, a bunch more. We ended he was trying fakie bigspin tail 270 shove out and I was trying crooks shove (the hard way). He was closer. I hit the pump track, I mean skate park for a bit. It was a zoo of kids doing laps.

After hanging at Emage for awhile we went to the river manny pad. I was sore. Cass and I played SKATE on the top section while everyone else hit the manny pad. It was a small area and it took a bit to get used to. Our games were not good. I won the first, Cass won the second, the tie breaker was called off after Cass hurt his back. He had landed treflips in every game, I had not landed any. I was really struggling. I think f/s halfcab flip was the only trick I liked. Cass had a funny slam at one point launching his board down the steps. Jack was “not skating” which meant heelflip manual kickflip out, double flips and almost switch heel manual on a cruiser board. Hayden threw some stuff around. Donnie did some crazy powerslide 270. Joe came close to hardflip nose manual. Noe did a million flippers then focused on switch nose manual fakie tre. He battled forever and would succeed. It was so sick. Oh yeah, I couldn’t get a nose manual to save my life. Probably a result of not being used to low trucks and tiny wheels.

We hit a ledge spot after near the art museum. I didn’t skate. Noe had some flippers and funny manuals, Jack ruled it and filmed since I didn’t know about pushing, Donnie played with a cement pipe, Joe messes around for awhile then did an amazing line, Hayden felt some stuff out then chilled, Garrett put together a sick line, Bo also put down a sick line. Productive session. Good times.

(setup null 8.25 glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture awake lows 5.2 venom 90a bushings, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape with 3 washers inside each wheel, xero hana shoes size 12 with lems insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a hot morning Jake, Cass, Kevin and I battled a full parking lot at a very old skatepark – Clement. I had switched my setup and was skating Xero shoes. It felt alright. We hit the mini bowl for a bit. Jake ripped it, Kevin recovered from a first wall first run slam. Then it was basically mostly a session on the long mellow bank and flatground. Jake did skate the bowl. First challenge was kickflip to fakie which we did. Kevin would go on to land pretty much every flip trick imaginable. Cass had the sickest bigflip/treflips to powerslides. Kevin and I got back to back halfcab flips. I would get a non poppy front heel. We all tried flatground treflips for awhile. Cass would get the most. Jake got robbed. I landed one! It was a great feeling as it’s been a long time since I’ve landed that trick. We also had some fun manual combos up the bank after the qp.

After hitting Blue Car then some lunch and drinks we ended up at a little skatepark in Lakewood. None of us have been there before. It’s got a pretty steep incline so super hard to skate. Especially when you don’t want to push much with a bad achilles. We were beat from skating, the sun and lunch. This old dude Dustin was there with a fresh authentic 90s setup. 8.8 football with wide indys and 48mm wheels. He was fun to skate with and popped a few tricks around. Kevin killed the ledge. Back tail, back smith, crooks, fakie 50. Cass showed me up on back 50s, but couldn’t get crooks. I had crooks, noseslides and sw front noseslides. Also had some fun kickflip and nollie bigspins on the bank. I had the worst back 50 ever. In fact, Cass called it an axle stall. Fun day though. Felt great to have landed a treflip and some other tricks again. It’s also crazy how little pain I get in the Xero shoes.

(setup null 8.25 glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture awake lows 5.2 venom 90a bushings, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape with 3 washers inside each wheel, xero hana shoes size 12 with lems insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

As you can see in the background of this I was once again playing with my setup. I switched between 8″ with Ventures and 8.25 with Thunders, but mostly skated the 8.25. The 8″ felt too small, but the Thunders felt like garbage. In about an hour of skating I landed kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, b/s flip. Ugh!

(setup 8.25 null glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, 148 thunder hollows, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, lems navy chillum size 12)
(pain level 2/10)

Woke up early and felt like skating the new park in hopes of it not being crowded. I got my wish and had the parks to myself. I had put a big washer on to stiffen up my trucks, but it was too much and made for some weird turns throughout the session. I warmed up in the skateable pumptrack section. Sure wish one of the quarterpipes had a flat top, but maybe I’ll get used to the weirdness. I never got a good noseslide, but didn’t really care to keep trying. I messed around with some of the quarterpipes along the edge that would be more fun if they had a deck. Then I took quite a while to do a kickflip to fakie on the bank. I did have a few pushes that felt alright.

Then I went over to dog park and had a very humbling session. I had a few things, but was amazed at how little pop i had. I could barely ollie a parking block. I got a couple little crooks, little front 50 on the little ledge, switch front nose, some boardslides. Got halfcab flip followed by b/s flip at one point, one terrible heelflip. I left for work feeling pretty down.

(setup 8.25 null glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate hollow hanger, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, lems navy chillum size 12 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10 some hot pocket pain when I missed front 50s)

After another busy day at work and a quick dinner I met Kevin at dog park. I was wearing Lems and had a slightly larger board with smaller trucks. It felt flippy and surfy. Kevin was already in his groove doing hitting the ledges. I had a line that made my day and last month of not skating. Although I’m not sure I remember it but it was something like fake flip, switch 180, no comply 180, fakie bigspin. I couldn’t crook the ledge though. Had noseslides again, one really slow front 50 on the low manny pad. We went over to the Valmont park, Saul joined. The flyout laps were in full effect. Saul did some laps, but had to go because of knee pain. Doh. Kevin and I mostly skated the hump area. He did a great line. Grind the rainbow, pivot, slash, slash, nollie frontside flip the hip. Also a switch flip on the bank followed by a back 180 over the rainbow rail. Yes, all 1″ of it. I posed some treflips, but couldn’t get my speed or flick right. Going the other way I had some fun on the bank with first try no comply bigspin and bigflip. Both made me quite happy. Kevin was killing it manualling the volcano, back smith the barrier, nollie flip the bank. Mess around in the transition a little, the lack of a flat quarterpipe is annoying. We hit the hips for a bit at the end, but did not commit to b/s flips over the euro hip. Then we played a game of SKATE in the lights at dog park. I got a first try halfcab flip which also made me happy, but other than that didn’t land much. Kevin got me with switch flip, a couple more then ended with nollie tre which I was close. Kevin left and I tried to skate the manny pad ledge. After how decent of a night I had it really exposed how I couldn’t ollie. At all. It took me like 15 tries to get a very bad 50. Ugh.

(setup null 8.3 spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 cast baseplate v-hollow hanger no big washer, spitfire f4 99a classic shape 50mm, lems navy chillum size 12)
(pain 3/10 still scared to fully push because of achilles)

Went to Loveland to meet Riley and hopefully more. Was warming up on an 8″ with venture lows and wasn’t really feeling good. Did a couple ultra basics then Riley showed and we chatted. Riley had to leave and I went to Fossil where I met Bo and Noe. I skated the 8″ for awhile, but ended up not really liking it. I did get a crooks at least, some switch noseslides. I really didn’t skate much. Noe and Bo killed it. That’s the most I’ve seen Noe skate, man all them flippers, so fun to watch.

After how bad my achilles hurt form the short session in Denver I decided no more skate shoes. I wore some old Xero Hana shoes and honestly they felt incredible. At no point did I feel like I have my normal skate pains. But I guess the big thing is I really didn’t try much. Kevin was there first and he was hitting the ledges. I kind of messed around but was super cautious. After awhile I did a kickflip! It did not hurt and man it felt good. Dave showed and we eventually all ended up skating the barrier area. We did some silly rides to fakie, Dave had a rad one where he grinded back down it. Kevin charged some to back 50. Kevin was unable to get front 5-0 and slammed hard on the crooks. He had to take off. Dave and I kept it mellow. Dave’s pivot shove feeble line was great. I did a few more kickflips, a rock to fakie followed by a fakie flip which Dave would get too. Then Dave and I went over to the pump track. I mean, the concrete pump track/ scooter kid flyout park. It was mellow though and we were able to have some fun. The bank area is pretty cool. I did the line with the barrier ride then kickflip fakie a few times. I tried another one with a rock fakie then halfcab flip, but never got the right speed. Had some fun side disasters, but couldn’t turn them in to fakie. Dave had some good nollies over the hip, the sickest switch board 180 transfer into the bank, switch ollies on the bank and more. All in all a fun day. I was only supposed to skate around 30 minutes, I skated close to 3 hours. My achilles was sore near the end, but not bad.

(setup 8.25 null glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow no big washer, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, xero minimalist hana shoe with lems insoles)
(pain level 3/10 still just cautious of the little pain in my achilles)

Was in Denver to see the Dr and he gave me the okay to skate a little bit. So I quickly ended up at one of my favorite spots – this granite ledge. Pushing two blocks to get there did not feel as good as I had hoped. When I got to the ledge I just threw down and tried crooks. I felt incredibly rusty and it took like 30 tries to get this mediocre one. Switch front noses still felt good. I hated being in skate shoes for the first time in a month.

(setup 8.25 null glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, 92a doh doh big bushing venture little bushing no big washer, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric cream 212 size 12, custom nike sb/es insoles)
(pain level 5/10 achilles but more of a recovery feeling pain nulike the pain when i started to hurt it)

After a busy day of driving, cleaning and unboxing 2 tons of skateboards I needed a quick skate fix.  And since it’s my achilles that’s injured I didn’t want to push so I went to the “meetup curb” on campus.  It’s slightly downhill so I could just throw down and not push.  I wore some Lems Chillum shoes that I was hoping would be good for skating.  They felt okay, too slippery though.  Anyway, it felt incredible to roll on my skateboard.  I did a few slappy crooks and felt fine.  Did a couple crooks to fakie and followed by a couple switch ollies.  A no comply 180, posed a switch flip which didn’t hurt and got my flip trick juices flowing.  I did a couple test pushes which did not hurt at all, but I was definitely not comfortable with it.  I ended with a very satisfying slappy crook.

(setup 8.25 null glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, 92a doh doh big bushing venture little bushing no big washer, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, lems chillum navy size 12)
(pain level 2/10 slight achilles)