Dave L and I took the long way to get to the ditch picking up a couple parking blocks on the way. Rob, Will and Dave F would show shortly after that. This ditch looks easy to skate, but it is not. The steep side is quite steep. My first reaction was to go skate somewhere else. But we skated and it ended up being quite fun. We put the broken cement parking block and smaller plastic one at different points. I warmed up with some boneless tail transfer things and rock ‘n rolls. I couldn’t kickflip to save my nice initially. I really don’t like the 440s. Rob had some amazing backside ollies on the bank near the building. Fuller had a really bad slam right away doing a deck 180 on the weird ledge to bank by the building. He recovered though and was quickly doing rocks and feebles on the parking blocks. Dave L was doing feeble stalls on the plastic curb which seemed scary to me. After awhile we moved the cement parking block down and rub bricked/waxed the edge which grinded pretty well once we got it going. Dave L had some nice front slashes then boardslides and hurricane and decked transfers on the building ledge/bank. Will had some grinds on the bank, couldn’t get frontside though. Neither could I, too scary. Fuller had however was doing front and back tails, grinds, then some crazy back 180 pivot transfers. I had some fun slappy crooks once I figured out how to get to it. Rob and Will took off. We put the plastic curb upright on the bank. Dave L had a great line ollieing it to quick nollie lip. Then I tried wallie 50s for quite some time. It had gotten super windy. I worked pretty hard and got an alright one that came to a stop on the grind. Then Fuller did it frontside in like 5 tries without having to push like a madman. Man he’s good. Fun session. Then Rob and I went and helped with some clean up at dog park which felt pretty awesome to help with.

(setup 8.3 null smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, spitfire 51mm 99a radial slag green, new balance numeric skateshop 440s size 12 no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

I should know not to skate right after work.  I had done plenty of exercises and wasn’t sore, but on the drive to dog park I was not energized.  That wouldn’t change when I got there and it was all young kids skating.  I had gone back to the 8.3 with 5.6s.  It felt okay, not great.  The only decent things I did were a couple basic flippers, but even then those tricks should be automatic by now.  I skated for two hours and have nothing to show for it.  I guess crooks on the tall bench, first try f/s halfcab flip, remotely close to noseslide 270 shove.  It wasn’t a total wash I guess, but definitely lacked motivation.  I look forward to some new and better obstacles.

(setup 8.3 null smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow hanger cast baseplate, spitfire 51mm 99a radial slag green, new balance numeric skateshop 440s size 12 no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Got off work with some time to kill before a curb session so I went to take a little nap.  But I woke up an hour later.  Doh.  I rolled over to meet Dave L, Saul and Rob, but I was so beat.  Other than a couple normal slappies and a super lucky first try switch front slappy I didn’t do anything.  I had messed with my setup to prove a point.  Can you still flip a big board in cupsoles?  I had 8.5 with 6.1 trucks and the answer was a resounding NO.  I saw Dave do some good back 5-0s, nose mannies and almost switch 180 manual.  Rob had a sick back 180 fakie 50, back 50 mongo, I think no comply back 50, tailslide, bean plant.  Saul had some hook magic, solid slappies everywhere.  

(setup null 8.5 spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 6.1s with bones medium bushings, 52mm 101a radial slim spits, new balance numeric skateshop 440s size 12 no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Up early trying to beat the rain I drove to NE Longmont to mee the Daves and Rob.  We hit a weird flat bar spot.  Wide round tubes with a rounded ending.  We did some sweeping to warm up, some flatground and ollies.  Boardslides started happening, noseslides.  Then the rain started threatening.  You could see the wall coming.  We did a few group boardslides which was fun.  Rob got sick halfcab boardslides, noseslides.  Dave F wallie 50 for the hammer of the session.  Dave L almost front lip, but broke his board.  I had the tiniest crook jib ever and as you can see the worst switch front board.  I was motivated to try that for Jam since he did that trick so much.  

Dave F and I lurked for awhile, found a really sick bank spot then ended up at Rocky Mountain.  It was wet, but the weird stair area below was mostly dry.  We messed around on a really frustrating double ride on grind for awhile.  I fell on my wrist and got mad.  Oh yeah, I had switched from the 212s to 440s to avoid pain (it worked) but was taking some adjusting to.  Then we skated flat at the basketball court.  Initially we each had little section between puddles, but it would dry out and become mostly skateable.  Dave started by hucking flippers like switch varial heel, nollie varial flip, then settled into kickflips and fakie flips.  I tried to work my way through some “basics” in the new shoes.  I got kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, heelflip.  Couldn’t get fakie bigflip.  Tried the Iron Man challenge starting with heelflip.  I kind of got a treflip,  It was bizarre though.  The board only rotated as far as varial flip and somehow I stood on it and turned it forward.  Then we skated the school as it had dried up.  I was dead at this point.  I had a fun run though of switch ollie up the curb then switch front nose the ledge.  Dave was going for his back pivot switch crook down the median.  I took a long time to get a line of nollie shove spin on the bank, manual a brick median, crook the ledge.  I think i only did noseslide, but Dave said it was crooks so it counts.  He did first try back 50 the ledge then struggled through getting another one.  He almost had switch flip on the bump.  He ollied the medians casually and was still skating when I left – trying switch back 180 50 on the curb.  Maybe he’s still skating now, he’s the energizer bunny.

(setup 8.38 null smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, 5.8 ventures titanium axle, venom 91a bushings with both washers, spitfire 51mm green slag radial 99a f4, nb# 212 then nb# 440)
(pain 5/10)

Feeling sore in the morning I went across the street to skate flat for a bit and see if my legs would work. They didn’t. I had some new 440s to try and help with pain. While they may have helped I was so frustrated I would give up pretty quickly. I think I did kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, b/s flip. But they were all extremely slow and uncomfortable.

Then after some food I went to the pipe bank spot to meet Luzius, Rob, Will and Eric. What an awesome crew and it would really help cheer me up to be around friends. Will was trying a crazy trick when we got there. No comply disaster, but he never got it. We were talking about how Dave doesn’t need setup time and Eric made me laugh saying ‘normally you need to establish a cruising speed’. Eric had some slams on the awkward ledge, some good heelflips. Rob had somehow never skated there before. He was pretty quick to front boards, front nose 270, no comply beanplant (I think that’s what it’s called?) and crails. I had some warm up switch noses, a couple kickflips, a lot of boardslides and one tail stall. Also some fun carves over the pipes. Dave L did a lot of filming but then would casually kill some front 50, front tails, front 180 the pipe and back tail the curb. These dudes rule.

(setup 8.38 null smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, 5.8 ventures titanium axle, venom 91a bushings with both washers, spitfire 51mm green slag radial 99a f4, new balance 440s for flatground then 212s with run 619 insoles at bank)
(pain 6/10)

After a bad day of work I went across the street for a short one. My body was not feeling very well. Flip tricks out of the gate were impossible, even slappies were hard. But I ended up doing some stuff. The normal slappies, although I couldn’t quite get the new switch front slappy. Flip tricks did come, I would get kickflip, halfcab flip, b/s flip, treflip, but seriously couldn’t fakie flip to save my life. I blew a hole in the side of the Lakais. Can’t say I’ll miss them. Saul had some solid slappies as always. Frontside, backside it don’t matter. Also may have gotten slappy crook and did the hook.

(setup 8.38 null smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, 5.8 ventures titanium axle, venom 91a bushings with both washers, spitfire 51mm green slag radial 99a f4, lakai carrol xlk grey size 12 no insoles)
(pain 5/10)

Went to dog park after work. It’s been awhile since I’ve been there in the afternoon and it was much more chill than I had imagined. I was there solo for awhile. I felt terrible on my board so I kinda just stuck to the curb high ledges and built up some board feel. I did some slappies, little 50s, nollie tails and started to feel better. Slappy front crooks felt better than ever. Then I kinda cruised all over for awhile before settling in on some lines on the far side. The famous artist Rob showed. Ha, there was this dude that saw my board and asked if it was from the artist in Rooster. He was cool and gave Rob some much deserved props. I got a couple lines that probably sound alright on paper. Halfcab flip, crooks the tall side of the two step, heelflip. Ollie the kinked flat bar, noseslide to fakie the tall part of the weird ledge, fakie flip. Rob was getting firing lines left and right. Posted up boardslides on the tall bench, no comply shoves, back 50, and much more. I didn’t get a whole lot more, but didn’t skate terribly or anything. Just normal dog park stuff. Near the end I tried a f/s halfcab flip and got some hot pocket that hurt and took me out. Still a fun session, was super hyped that Rob came. I really do hate these Lakais though.

(setup 8.38 null smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, 5.8 ventures titanium axle, venom 91a bushings with both washers, spitfire 51mm green slag radial 99a f4, lakai carrol xlk grey size 12 no insoles)
(pain 4/10)

I woke up at 5:30am for some dumb reason and decided to take advantage of the situation and go skate.  I arrived shortly before metal rollerblader Brendan.  Warming up was a bit harder than I thought it would be.  Popping felt impossible.  I tried a warm up line for a bit of fakie flip on flat, halfcab noseslide, back 50 the mj ledge.  Never got the back 50.  I really struggled with pop.  Took way too long to do crooks the new bench then terrible front 50 the cinder block ledge.  Didn’t land treflip or heelflip.  The Carrol’s are working, but have such bad board feel.  Often I would just go by whatever I was trying to hit rather than even pose ollies.  I was able to do a nosegrind 180 for the first time in way too long.  I guess this is the advantage of skating by myself, as I allow myself to slowly work up when I would normally be too embarrassed.  I took like 20 tries to do it on the 3″ tall “ledge”.  Next I tried some “faster” 50s on the low ledge and kind of got back 180 out.  Then I got tired and called it a day and went to work.

(setup 8.38 null smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, 5.8 ventures titanium axle, venom 91a bushings with both washers, spitfire 51mm green slag radial 99a f4, lakai carrol xlk grey size 12 no insoles)
(pain 4/10)

Met Saul across the street for some slappies.  He was trying feebles on the upper deck.  Then we did some regular ones on the main curb before heading down to the hook.  Saul did several.  I took a bit.  That curve is incredibly fun, it keeps you locked in.

(setup 8.38 null smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, 5.8 ventures titanium axle, venom 91a bushings with both washers, spitfire 51mm green slag radial 99a f4, lakai carrol xlk grey size 12 no insoles)
(pain 3/10 but i didn’t really try to ollie)

Had a couple hours free on my anniversary so I went to the dog park. Kevin, Dan and Collin were there. I had thought my body would loosen up after a hike, but it didn’t. I was so much more sore than I thought and could barely slappy or anything. It was rad seeing Dan he was shredding as always. The back nosegrind pop out was great. I didn’t see much of what Collin did unfortunately. Kevin raved about a new trick he had done then demonstrated it – nollie back 180 nosegrind on the top of a cinder block ledge which was on the ground. I was starting to feel maybe a little warmed up though, boardslides, crooks, noseslides when Kevin asked me to film him. It took awhile and I was too sore after. Sean joined and killed it immediately. Front nosegrind followed by nollie back nosegrind shove. I managed a crook on the cinder block ledge then front board the new bench for my only remote satisfaction of the day. If I had known I was actually that sore I wouldn’t have tried to skate.

(setup 8.38 null smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, 5.6 ventures hollow axle 3 washers on the inside of each axle, spitfire 51mm green slag radial 99a f4, new balance numeric 212 size 12 nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain 8/10)