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)

Since I can’t skate for awhile here’s some good skating for once! Ha ha. Anyway, I am soooo stoked to see David get some shine. Dude rules. This part is amazing. You know I like tech a lot, so the frontside flip fakie 5-0 on the picnic table is probably my fav trick. But the whole part is great.

And then this part! Kaue has been on my radar for awhile, but wow this part might end up being my favorite part of the year. The nostalgic Habitat editing to Mr Dibbs is of course incredible, but so is the skating. Dude lands his tricks so clean, has great trick selection, fits, everything. And that ender, wow!

Was stoked to pick up Will since it’s been over a year since I’ve seen him. We went to dog park and said hi to the crew and checked out the progress. It was very exciting. Most of the park was covered in debris from the construction so after a brief warm up Will and I played a game of SKATE. I had been wearing NB 440s this time trying to prevent achilles pain. They may have been doing that, but they are the most uncomfortable shoe ever and I didn’t land anything. Literally 0-10 on kickflips and was out of the game basically after 5 tricks. Then we went to campus. We started at the mellow stadium bank and my achilles was not doing well. I wore my 212s here and they didn’t help me. I was trying to get Will’s back on a kickflip to fakie when shooting pain went through my achilles. I was done, toast, scared. But I did film Will do a nice nollie heel fakie then bomb the hill with him to the bank to curb. Then I just filmed him do some back tails and we walked back to the car. So bummed on being hurt, but looking forward to a break and coming back stronger.

(setup null spanbauer night skate deck 8.3, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger venture bushings no big washer, spitfire 52mm 99a f4 classic shape, NB 440/212s)
(pain level 10/10 achilles)

Went to the dog park right after work to see if Skelly and crew needed any help with the ledge build. I helped move some forms with Sean then he had some other stuff to do so I skated. I wore some Nike Shane Oneil shoes I had gotten awhile ago for the insoles. They kinda sucked. I tried to do a lot of flip tricks, but it wasn’t working. I got a few fakie flips, some halfcab flips, b/s flip, but nothing beyond that. I hated my setup, my shoes, my achilles pain. There was a crew of skaters from the bay area on a skate vacation. It was cool they were all super nice and having fun. I had done a few of my more basic non-pop ledge tricks. I called it a day after an hour or so.

(setup null spanbauer night skate deck 8.3, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger venture bushings no big washer, spitfire 52mm 99a f4 classic shape, nike sb shane b/w size 12 footprint 3mm insoles)
(pain level 5/10 achilles)

Completely exhausted with a super sore achilles I stubbornly met Bryan and Marcus at the Loveland park around 9am. The park was mostly empty except for us save a few scooter kids who weren’t too annoying. I felt real bad out of the gates and didn’t really do much of anything except a couple noseslides and nollie shoves. It was cool seeing Marcus again. He came close to some kickflips, snapped some ollies and cruised around. We tried some switch flips too, he was closer. Bryan did his fakie bigspin on the bank and on the bank to ledge. Oh yeah, I tried nollie tre to fakie on the bank for awhile and got remotely close. Bryan tried front big heel and got close too. Marcus left. Bryan and I played a game of SKATE. It was another slow one. I think I won it, but I know it was close and neither of us landed a whole lot. My achilles pain had really settled in and so I was about to leave after chatting with Bryan when Riley showed up. So we watched him for awhile which is always a treat. The fakie nosebluntslide was so good.

(setup null spanbauer night skate deck 8.3, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger venture bushings no big washer, spitfire 52mm 99a f4 classic shape, es swift 1.5 cream size 12 footprint 3mm insoles)
(pain level 7/10 achilles)

Went to dog park on a very smoky day. The Evergreen dudes were having a private session on their new park. I was bumming watching them. Dave was running late. Luckily Dennis and some of the other younger CU crowd showed up and brought some hype. I gave Dennis some kickflip tips and he landed one. He gave me some nollie heel tips and I didn’t land one. Situation normal. I had tried my old 212s for a bit to see if they reduce achilles pain. They did. But they were also so thin I couldn’t commit to anything with them. So I went back to the Swifts and they were fine for awhile. Dog park sessions are the hardest to blog as they all blend in together. I had no confidence, skated mostly terrible. One line that was okay was boardslide the new bench, crooks the tall bench, slappy crooks to fakie a curb, halfcab flip (then bail a front 50). Also did switch front nose then halfcab nose/crooks (I think there was a brief crooks and that’s what I was trying but I definitely didn’t lock in like I want to). I was almost getting a crooks then treflip line when Skelly showed up and we chatted. After that I was dead tired and too sore to skate. Dave had some good stuff. I forget one line, but it was a long one. Front 50, front nose, boardslide around the beam then something else. He is getting switch front noses down too, they are so fun. We hucked a few flippers, switch tres, switch heels, all kinds of stuff. Not much was landed. I got close to a nollie varial flip.

Eventually we left for a new spot. It’s a weird bank and the curb/flat/bank is so much harder to ollie up than it looks. When we first got there we were both so stiff and sore it’s amazing we didn’t get hurt. I just remember thinking “oh great this is probably the only time this is skateable and we can’t do anything”. My achilles was very painful. Luckily we’re called The Stubborns for a reason and we stuck to it and got a few things. Dave nollied into it and front tailslid into it. I took a few tries to do a little ride on back tail to fakie on it. Riding down the bank switch was fun except the one time my foot came off and I slammed. I tried front shove to fakie, but got a weird front shove 180. Dave had front pivot to fakie. I got no comply shove and no comply bigspin. But I was dying and couldn’t ollie up the curb anymore. Dave was hurting too. We were bummed, no one was kicking us out and the spot will probably be changed or no longer skateable. Oh well, we tried, it was fun.

(setup null spanbauer night skate deck 8.3, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger venture bushings no big washer, spitfire 52mm 99a f4 classic shape, es swift 1.5 cream size 12 footprint 3mm insoles)
(pain level 6/10 achilles)

Met up with Rob and then eventually Dave at dog park. We had the briefest of warmups before Skelly invited us over to look at the new park. So we chatted with him and Emi and Andrew awhile before getting back to skating. Long hair Jake was there too, he’s rad. I tried to get through my achilles pain and did an alright job at ignoring it, but it was bad on a couple kickflip landings. I really don’t remember much about this session and it’s too many days since the session. I did get the switch front nose then fakie 50 line again. Also the boardslide, crooks, bad treflip line. Rob hadn’t skated in a bit, but after a warm up was shredding like normal. Dave was in charge mode as always. Almost got a line of front 50 then nosegrind to end it. Sorry I don’t remember more.

(setup null spanbauer night skate deck 8.3, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, venom 88/91a bushings, spitfire 50mm 99a f4 classic shape, es swift 1.5 cream size 12 stock insoles)
(pain level 5/10 achilles)