On a hot day Rob and I rolled towards Fort Collins and met Hayden and Bo at Spring Canyon.  First time carpooling with Rob in a long time! It was rad. It felt incredibly hot when we got there.  But the park was mostly dead so our warm up process went pretty well.  I had made some subtle setup changes – 8.25 hangers and larger old 54mm wheels.  Felt alright, not great.  Rob was on mannies and back 50s quickly then got into nose manuals, crooks the tall bench, alley oop manuals on the hump, some no complies and more.  I had tried to do a decent back 50, but did an accidental back 5-0 where I locked in and came to a halt so did a shove out.  I was unable to manual or nose manual and the larger wheels did not help me get up the ledges any easier.  Bo and Hayden joined.  Hayden did the most casual manuals right out of the gate, like even back 180 fakie manuals.  Bo brought the energy and was popping up/off everything.  I tried a line for a bit of crooks the bench then nollie tre on flat and got it!  The nollie tre felt pretty amazing.  Hayden and I played a game of SKATE in which I got smoked.  I think I only got him with a halfcab flip.  Then I had the dumb idea of trying front 180 up then fakie flip off the curb.  Neither Hayden nor Bo had done it either.  Hayden did it real quick.  Bo pretty quick too.  I thought I would have Bo’s back, but instead as you can see in the clip above I decided to not land it in near 100 tries.  I had tried about 20 before I asked Hayden to film me for “3 tries”.  As you can see it turned into an hour of Hayden getting sunburnt filming me in the heat.  I tried it in the line as hype for awhile and then gave up just trying the 180/flip.  It was fun trying so hard.  I probably would have kept going, but the heat was too much.  Thanks for filming me for so long Hayden.  

(setup 8.38 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hanger, bones hard bushings, bones 54mm stf v5, new balance numeric b/w/blue 212 size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Feeling exhausted after such a long day before I met Rob and Jake at Boulder park before 10. It was cloudy, but humid and felt hot. Billy from Evergreen was there which was cool talking to him and seeing him rip his own work. I had forgotten caffeine so was extra out of it. I took too long to do a b/s flip over the hip, noseslide down the new side of the old hubba, finally ollied onto the pad, had some crooks, felt pretty bad on my board and didn’t have the energy to pop onto stuff. Jake and Rob also like the new stuff. Jake was charging pretty hard. Front 50s down the hubba followed by front blunt attempts on the little qp, crooks and back 50s the new ledge, pivot fakie the noping volcano. Rob had one heck of a bean plant over the hip, back 50s across the bank to ledge, snappy b/s ollies over the hip. Then we chatted with Billy a bunch, it was cool.

(setup 8.38 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium hanger no big washer, bones 52mm stf v1, new balance numeric b/w/blue 212 size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After some slacking in the morning I got a text from Skelly that it was cool to skate the new addition at Boulder park. It was very hot and sunny and the park was kinda crowded. Lots of bikers in the old section, a mixed bag of skaters in the new. I chatted with Skelly for awhile, rolled around and looked at the new stuff. Skelly didn’t skate much. I imagine it’s pretty weird seeing everyone skate what you just built. There were a few other Evergreen dudes there ripping. I was kind of jittery a little too excited to have new stuff in Boulder. There was a lot of bailing, doing nothing. I got a couple b/s flips which felt really fun. Had some grinds and other tricks, but I guess the b/s flip is really the only thing worth mentioning. I had trouble 50’ing the bump to ledge even though I really liked it. Oh some noseslides to fakie across it. Null Sean and Kevin showed up and quickly began ripping it. The little bench got nosegrinded right away, Kevin’s halfcab into the transition was crazy, but not as crazy as Sean going 100mph to flyout out of the bank onto the ledge. Then we left and had a nice long lunch before heading to triple nipple.

The clouds had settled in right when we got to little Arvada which felt really nice. Sean F and Kevin went right to work on the ledge. Like first thing just jump up on 50s. I was jealous. Mike was there and ripping long lines with grinds. Skelly would come too. The 5 of us basically had the park to ourselves and the weather was great the whole time. Sean F and Sean seriously did so many tricks on the ledge. Sean’s first try front tail 270 was a highlight as was the nollie back nosegrind. Kevin switch nosegrind 180s were great, crooks, back smiths, first try back tail. I had not confidence going frontside on the ledge and only got a front board pop out. Backside I had some crooks, noseslides, switch front nose, failed at crooks shove and got close to a clean noseslide 270 shove. I did a few basics on the quarterpipes, spine. Skelly had some nice carves over the love seat, grinds on the steep bank, tricks over the parking block like halfcab one foot.

Then we went to Parris’s. Man what a cool spot. We lost Sean F, but gained Dave, Parris, D5, other Dave. Like anything it was harder at first and took awhile to get things figured out. Parris had a bad slam on his first run slipping out. Fuller had been there for a bit and was figuring it out pretty quickly with long boardslide across the parking block, stalls on the Dpark replica. Kevin took no time to figure things out and was quickly rattling off stalls on the rock extension, front tails the parking block, switch roll ins, everything. Great seeing D5 doing well. His homie David has good style, ripped some cool tricks. Mike grinds really long and would get all the way through some corners and isn’t afraid of switch carve grinds. Parris had some style and did no comply tails, tails, feebles on the parking block. Fuller was the last one skating of course. He did so much, first try kickflip on the lower bank was crazy, boardslide 270, front tail the corner of the Dpark replica. I skated okay, not great but after so much skating it was good and I had fun. Slappy crooks, front tails the dpark, rocks on the rocks, some manuals. Fun day, fun crews, fun spots.

(setup 8.38 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium hanger no big washer, bones 52mm stf v1, new balance numeric b/w/blue 212 size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Woke up really early and had time to go to Golden.  Arrived to a mostly empty park, just a few carver type skaters.  One of which turns out will possibly be Ollie’s professor at CU.  That’s pretty random.  I warmed up with some carving around of my own.  Before long I was in the ledge area and took too long to manual the pad and followed it with a first try front 50 on one of the benches.  Ollied onto one of the benches a couple of times which is hard for me.  I did some noseslides and crooks on the tall ledge.  Tried a line for a long time of noseslide to fakie the narrow ledge, halfcab noseslide the curved ledge, turn around and ollie onto it.  Never got it because the halfcab boardslide was killing me, I only landed one cruddy one.   I got an accidental 5-0.  That ledge is taller than it looks.  Also had some boardslides on the ridiculously slick flat bar, switch flip poses on the bank.  I messed around a little after that, but got really tired and headed in to work.

(setup 8.38 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium hanger no big washer, bones 52mm stf v1, new balance numeric b/w/blue 212 size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10 right knee pain)

Up early before working later again so I went skating. I felt like something totally different so I ended up at Big Arvada. It’s been a couple years I think since I’ve been there. I was surprised when I pulled in around 7:45 by how few people there were. Only 2 other skaters. And one of them even seemed much older than me. The park would have a steady stream of other people joining, but never got crowded when I left shortly after 9. My legs felt rested after a two day break and my ankle seemed fine. After a bit of putzing around I got the first warm up line. Ollie onto the manny pad, ollie up the little euro, kickflip to fakie the mellow blue bank. Then I did front 50 the little manny pad (very slowly I hate how little confidence I have on that trick now), b/s flip on a bank, kickflip to fakie on the next bank. That felt cool. Then I did halfcab noseslide then 360 flip to fakie on the mellow blue bank. I struggled with halfcab noseslides and it was more of a 270 flip when I got it, but I was still happy. Then I settled in on the fakie bigflip on the bank. It came pretty quickly and made me happy even if it wasn’t rotated all the way around. Next I did the noseslide which a bit. I only had a few minutes left so I just kinda did some bank to curb axle stalls/front rock and a couple basics on the tiny qp up top. Oh and I took a couple scary runs in the snake run. Really fun session, mixing it up is good for me. Landing new tricks feels pretty magical too.

(setup 8.38 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium hanger no big washer, bones 52mm stf v1, new balance numeric b/w/blue 212 size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 2/10 !! first time in a long time)

With rain drops still sputtering I went to campus hoping it would stay dry.  It did. Barely. I started at the little yellow lurb to warm up.  What a fun little spot.  Pretty quickly I settled in on trying nollie bsts shove and front nosegrind 180.  I would get neither, but was at least close to the nosegrind 180.  I started to get really frustrated trying them so decided I’d roll out instead.  Ended up at the stadium bank.  Did a few shoves to warm up.  Then 5 kickflips to fakie to help break in the new 212s.  A few b/s flips.  Then tried big flip for too long.  Fakie flip took a bit.  Halfcab flips came easy.  Then I tried a GleNBD for awhile.  Fakie bigflip.  Never done it on a bank before.  Didn’t get it although was kinda close.  It would be easier on a steeper bank with a better runway.  Next I went to the fitness center area determined to do a 360 flip then ollie one of the little rocks.  And by 360 flip I mean 270 flip.  Ha.  I got a few cruddy ones, but then a CU truck pulled up and prevented the ollie.  Oh well.  I did one slappy on a highly waxed curb by the hill after this then went home tired and sore.  I had kinda rolled my ankle on one of the 360 flips.  At the time I knew it hurt, but didn’t think it would be much. As I write this it’s worse than I thought, but should only be a couple days.

(setup 8.38 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium hanger no big washer, bones 52mm stf v1, new balance numeric b/w/blue 212 size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a nice morning I met up with Rob and Kevin at dog park. Eric would come later. Miles and a friend were there, but the park was mostly empty. I had a new deck, 8.38 Jack. My goal is to stick with 8.3 for a long time. I started really slow. In fact I didn’t really do anything noteworthy. I finally got a good feeling halfcab noseslide. A new trick on the little guy – switch front 180 5050 nollie shove out. Sounds cool, but I’m glad there is no footage of it. Kevin had some odd slams, but still rattled off tons of trick. Nollie nosegrind, back 180 fakie 50 fakie ollie out, nollie 5-0s, back smiths, a lot. Rob had some hits like no comply boardslide, manuals, back 50 no comply out, boardslide the tall bench. Eric had some good tailslides, 5-0s although seemed to struggle with heelflips which is ultra rare. Kevin and I played a couple game of SKATE to end the day. We played two because the first one ended too quickly when I did double or nothing on halfcab flip and missed even though I landed on both. He also got me with the nollie and switch flips obviously. I forget what the last trick was. Second game featured me not landing much of anything again except for a treflip which made me feel okay. Kevin finished me with a switch b/s flip.

(setup 8.38 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium hanger no big washer, bones 52mm stf v1, new balance numeric salmon 212 size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10 felt good but the shoes have gotten too thin)

Up early again, but not as energetic. I had been too lazy to setup a new 8.3 so I just put my Ventures on the 8.5 setup. It felt too large the whole time. I started off slow with a warmup line of ride on grind, boardslide the flatbar, ollie the qp/bank/mound hip, front tail the hip. Next I tried to ollie onto the little manual pad, kickflip, crooks, noseslide the bump to ledge. I’m not sure if I got that one, but I got all the tricks. Front 50s on the ledge were hard. The big board is heavy and the extra wheelbase makes it harder. I took a long time to get a halfcab noseslide. I’m not sure what’s up with that. I seem to have almost totally lost that basic easy trick. Then I got kinda motivated to try and selfie film a couple “harder” clips. The first was supposed to be b/s flip the hip. Except that I never got it. I literally tried 55 of them. A solid hour of trying. Only got my feet on like 3 of them. And I really don’t know why. After that I was too bummed to try anything else “harder”. I posed some halfcab heel noseslides. One of which flipped and locked in perfectly, but only with the front foot on. I ended with a line of manual the pyramid, axle stall, noseslide pyramid ledge. It was harder than it sounds since the qp is so weird I kept shooting out on the axle stall.

(setup 8.5 null perception deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger no big washer, bones stf 103a v1 52mm, new balance numeric 212 salmon size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10 felt really good but sore from skating more lately)

Woke up at 5:30 and didn’t have to work til 9:30. So I got going and went to Broomfield on a nice sunny day. I was determined to make the 8.5″ with Indys work. I skated it for awhile and warmed up on it. Ollie the parking block, nollie front tail the blue ledge, kickflip on flat, noseslide to fakie the black ledge. Then I was going for noseslide black ledge, front 50 front 180 out blue ledge, fakie flip, switch front nose black ledge. But I couldn’t front 50 the Indys. I debated it, but I went and grabbed the 8.25 and ended up getting that line real quick. I stayed with it the rest of the session even though I mostly hated it too. I did some basics training, akay ollieing onto ledges. Things I don’t do when others are around as I’m too embarrassed. I did ollie onto the black ledge and front 180 off then fakie bigflip. Manualled the blue pad even though I was just trying to ollie onto it. Ha. Had some longer crooks, couldn’t halfcab noseslide to save my life (UGH!). I tried a line that took awhile. Front slash the brick qp, boardslide transfer the brown ledge, kickflip flyout of the bank. I had gotten too tired to pop onto ledges anymore. Lastly I tried halfcab noseslides on the little blue ledge until I got a few. In between tries I posed switch flips which felt close until I started committing and then they were no where to be found. Weird session. Gonna go back to 8.3 and stay there forever (ha ha ha) and 52mm wheels.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium hanger, venom 91a big bushing and venture little bushing, spitfire 50mm f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 salmon size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10 weird left knee pain)

On a warm evening I set out in front of the house to warm up briefly before going to campus. I had taken a couple days off after the 2nd vaccine shot kinda messed me up. I had setup an old 8.5″ deck with some Indys. It felt great initially until I got to a kickflip and remembered why I stopped skating Indys. So I biked to campus with my regular 8.25 and stopped at the flagstone ledge for a “warm up”. Instead I never got going and had one of those “why do I even try to skate?” sessions. My setup felt terrible. I hadn’t had a chance to put some larger wheels on. I had a couple slams on flatground kickflips, couldn’t ollie onto the ledge, couldn’t do other flippers. At one point I started to feel a little better doing crooks than b/s flip until I got a major shinner on the b/s flip. As it was getting dark I setup the camera for a crook so I could post and say something like “the only trick I have left” or something else dramatic and negative. I had done a few, but was trying to get a good one when I saw the spark. It was way brighter on my eyes than the video shows. It was cool. After that I sat for awhile and decided I would call it a day. I had gotten some other tricks like noseslide, noseslide fakie, boardslides, the slowest front 50 imaginable.

(setup 8.25 nullosaur, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium hanger, venom 91a big bushing and venture little bushing, spitfire 50mm f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 salmon size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)