Directly after a stressful day of work I bolted to meet up with Rob, Neil, Dave and we drove to Lakewood.  It was hot.  The ramp had been done since last time we were there. It was crazy how fast the coping was and how smooth the ramp was.  It took some getting used to.  Jake was there as was John the owner who only skated switch on his daughters 7.5″ board.  Ha ha.  He had some good switch carves, axle stall, switch back smith.  Dave had been there recently and it showed.  Grinds over the hips, around the bowl corner like it was nothing.  He would get up to back tail over the hip, switch crook the mellow corner, back d, backside ollies over the hip.  It’s really hard to describe how hard he ripped.  Jake was quick on the grind over the hip too, he would get a few.  He had some nice grinds around the bowl corner too, lots of front 5-0s and the only one to successfully get the ollie transfer.  I battled the transfer with him and landed something, but I never got enough transition.  It was fun hucking though.  I also had some fun back 50s, a few other rampy tricks and a couple back disasters on the tiny qp (couldn’t get the treflip after though doh).  Rob’s carves through the corner are incredible, fast slash grinds, back 50s.  Neil got some rampnesia again, even on the little 3′ wall.  But man he flowed around that bowl slashing grinds and ollies when he got in there.  

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate with riptides v-hollow hanger, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a big bushing 91a small bushing, spitfire f4 99a 50mm classic shape, es switch b/w size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a nice afternoon I went to Dog Park after work to meet a bunch of old dudes.  My adductor pain was pretty intense so I tried some other shoes – this time Es Accel Slim Plus.  They lack board feel, but it seems like they helped with pain.  For a good 30 minutes I just kinda pushed switch and tries switch stuff to even out my hips.  It may have helped, I may have even done a couple slappy switch crooks.  Neil was popping over wallie world, boardsliding, 50s, pop shoves, shredding.  Jake was popping over wallie world too, lining out tailslides, trying nollie back lip, front boards on the little bar.  Rob looked like he was shredding too, saw some back 50s, halfcab boards, ollies over wallie world.  Skelly joined after work and was manualling, halfcab boardslides, one foots, etc.  Saul showed too!  I saw some slappies.  Mike was there but I didn’t really see him skate.  Fuller was shredding of course.  Him and Neil ollied onto the table.  This was before some younger dude changed the kicker to ollie over the table and put down some horrendous slams and then landed a few.  I don’t remember many Dave tricks in particular, but he was shredding.  I tried to crooks the new metal bench, tall metal bench and little flat bar in one line.  I got the first two, then kinda did the flatabar, but it was more a hilariously bad little willy bonk.  Got a laugh out of Rob at least.  I hucked a bunch of flippers and didn’t land much, especially when it came down to a game of SKATE with Jake and Rob at the end.  I mean I wasn’t as bad as Jake who almost didn’t land anything (hee hee he told me to say that).  It was good having Rob back in the SKATE mix and showed how rusty I am on my no complies.  What a fun crew, hope I didn’t miss anyone.  Oh yeah, near the end a whole lot of scooter dudes came and it was super annoying.  Those things are loud when they constantly drop them or throw them when bailing tricks.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate with riptides v-hollow hanger, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a big bushing 91a small bushing, spitfire f4 99a 50mm classic shape, es accel slim plus grey size 12 no insoles)
(pain level 7/10 hip flexor)

Another hot and sunny day, but feeling a little better.  Picked up Rob and Neil and went to 3rd St skatepark in Greeley.  There was a slight breeze and a little shaded area that saved us.  Will was there and doing front smiths and nosegrinds as we pulled in.  We skated a long time there.  I wore cupsole 440s in hopes of less pain, it worked until later on when they felt worse.  I’ll start with Will since he was the first to go.  He almost had a line of crooks then front smith.  He almost got up on front 50 down the long mellow hubba.  I skated decent, but took too long to get a flyout treflip.  Had some fun crooks, kickflips to fakie, slowly ollied up the ledge, failed at ollies up the two stair, and couldn’t get noseslide 270 shove.   I also basically did nothing on the manual pad because i was imagining I would struggle to ollie up it unlike everyone else.  Neil casually ollied up it, ledges, 50s, back 180 and pop shove up the euro, boardslide up the end of the long mellow ledge, a lot more.  Rob was in demo mode.  Manuals, no comply up the 2 stair, back 180 down the 2, almost back 180 up the manny pad to switch boardslide, nollie lipslides, boardslide off the ledge on top of the manny pad, manual around the park, much more.

Then we went to Centennial park.  Blah.  I scared myself dropping in a few places, carved tile in the shallow of the bowl and couldn’t land anything other than axle stalls on the litte qp.  Rob had some sick bean plants out of the crazy A-frame, Neil mostly sat this one out.

Last up was Peak View park where we pulled in the same time as a couple families of scooter kids.  Warming up was incredibly difficult.  Rob got the fire though and we got to see demo mode again.  No complies on the bank, kickflip on the bank, bean plants over the hip, back 50s the curb, one foots on the bank, front slash the diamond cut, there was much more.  Neil had some good lines with no complies on the bank, nose manual the ledge, crooks, 50s and a good case of Rampnesia.  I had some fun back 50s on the diamond cut, but couldn’t put them together with anything.  I ended up forcing myself to skate the ledge even though I was dead tired and only managed a few basics.  It was fun trying though.   Bryan from SK8 Ratz had shown and quickly blew our minds with fakie bigspin front tail 270 shove out!  He had some other wild ones like cab bigspin on the bank, front 50 to front tail shove, nollie heel, dude was ripping and fun to skate with.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate with riptides v-hollow hanger, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a big bushing 91a small bushing, spitfire f4 99a 50mm classic shape, new balance numeric gsd 440s then 212 cream size 12, nike sb zoom air/ sole tech insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Another bright and hot day I was beat and running slow, but would meet up with Rob and Neil on campus.  We were quickly at the Baker ledge.  We seemed to all skate pretty well out of the gates although it was funny seeing Neil bail a manual that was totally locked in.  Neil was the only one locking into front 50s.  Rob had front board, halfcab board, board pop outs, manuals, I think nose manuals.  Neil filmed such a good line of him that included a front board pop out, no comply back 360, no comply finger flip.  Neil had some good lines too.  Front 50 then nose manual, halfcab up the curb front 180 off, halfcab noseslide shove, front shove.  I had manual and nose manual, noseslides and filmed a little line of switch ollie up the curb then switch front noseslide and kind of a fakie bigflip.

We briefly hit the downhill hallway ledge spot.  I got halfcab flip then noseslide.  

Then the stadium bank.  My legs were beat I was really hurting at this point.  Managed some kickflips and stuff, got stuck on back heel and treflip then gave up.  Neil and Rob did some good bean plants.  Neil tried a bunch of halfcab heels, but never got on one.  Rob had kickflip, one foot, back boneless, wallride nollies, killed it.  Then it was off to get some food and play some Cornhole at Jack’s.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate with riptides v-hollow hanger, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a big bushing 91a small bushing, spitfire f4 99a 50mm classic shape, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12, nike sb zoom air/ sole tech insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a hot morning Neil and I rolled to Scott Carpenter after his red eye flight and a breakfast.  There were only a few people there initially and it wouldn’t get crowded.  We skated for about an hour.  Neil had some skate trip energy and was charging.  We stuck only to the new stuff.  It wasn’t long before we filmed some lines of each other.  I was doing crooks then noseslides and trying to add in a 50 or more.  Got one with an accidental 5-0 and nearly a treflip after.  Neil couldn’t quite get kickflip over the hip, but had some sick grinds through the mini snake run.  Then he added crooks shove, one foot the hip and a nose manual on of the bump to ledge. Eric would appear, had some good wallie 180s up the slappy ledges, slammed hard on a crook.  Saul appeared briefly too on his bike around when I got a b/s flip over the hip that only took 4 tries.  Then we bounced, hit 303.

Then we ended up at the Niwot ledge manny pad spot and met Sean F.  Neil and I were there first.  Neil loved the spot and went in pretty hard quickly.  He was shredding.  Manuals, nose manuals, 50s, noseslides.  I would get out the good camera to film a line of his.  Halfcab noseslide, nose manual, front 50 shove.  So good.  Sean was of course shredding too.  Everything at max speed and smoothness.  Neil filmed him do a casual line of front tail to fakie, halfcab manual, back 5-0 shove.  It’s crazy how he could do a tailslide that fast and come out with enough speed to do the halfcab manual.  He would later almost get 180 nose manual too.  I didn’t have much at this spot, I did a few tricks, wasn’t charging and lacked energy.  Had some okay crooks, a back 50, heelflip, accidental front 5-0, posed front crooks and switch crooks and didn’t get close to either.  

Next up after a visit to Sk8 Ratz we met up with Donnie and Riley at a school in Loveland that has a lot of variety.  There’s a bank to curb, a little stairset and a long ledge/manny pad.  Upon arriving I thought the ollie up the curb to the bank to curb felt impossible.  Riley, Donnie and Sean were getting it though.  Riley front tail kickflip out, Sean back pivot front 180, Donnie manual to nose stall to almost fakie manual down.  Oh yeah, Skelly had joined us with Emi.  Skelly kind of kept to himself trying to get his sore back to work.  He did get a back 50 front 180 out on the bank to curb.  The rest of us ended up mostly skating the ledge and man it was fun although tough with how much we had already skated Neil and I definitely struggled.  Donnie had some solid back 50s, front 50, manuals and would eventually get the dirt board out and try some manuals off a little retainer wall.  Man it was good seeing Riley.  He was skating so well.  Switch nose manual the whole thing, almost fakie flip out, halfcab noseslides, halfcab crooks, front 5-0 shove, etc.  Sean had back nosegrind, manual, nose manual and much more.  Neil had gotten himself going for awhile.  Lipslide, manual or nose manual, 50s.  But when i filmed him he had shut down.  I had a couple great feeling crooks and one that grinded so far, but I didn’t land it.  Tried a line of front 50 shove then switch noseslide shove for awhile, but never got them together.  Seriously no idea how I wasn’t landing the front 50 shove I was so close most tries.  Super fun session, day, crew, spots, etc.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate with riptides v-hollow hanger, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a big bushing 91a small bushing, spitfire f4 99a 50mm classic shape, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12, nike sb zoom air/ sole tech insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Feeling lazy after a tough week of work I went behind the school (they have construction going on the side) armed with a list of 10 tricks and a setup change (8.25 / 5.6 / 50mm).  After the briefest of warmups I went in.
kickflip – took a few tries but got a couple
fakie flip – couple tries
halfcab flip – few tries felt good
heelflip – barely got the 10th try
fakie heelflip – Actually got one pretty quickly and it felt cool
halfcab heelflip – was close, but could not get it
360 flip – got a really bad 270 flip one in a few tries, but could not get a better one
nollie bigflip – a couple flipped right, but I didn’t get my feet on any
switch flip – not really close
switch front heel – still feels doable, but not close
Then I ollied onto the rock back there a few times and did a couple stalls.  I was glad I didn’t let the laziness prevent me from skating.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate with riptides v-hollow hanger, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a big bushing 91a small bushing, spitfire f4 99a 50mm classic shape, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After work I went to dog park around the time Skelly finished up at the skatepark and we skated. Tim and Ben from Evergreen also skated. Those two charged hard out of the gates with manuals and nose manuals on the wedge to picnic table. Skelly and I started slower and lower. I wanted to feel better than I did. I know that’s always the story, but I didn’t really get to what I wanted to try. Partly because the cinder block ledge was a total mess then later on I had some knee pain that made ollies hard. I had done a few flippers, but nothing good. Had some fun slappy crooks both ways. Skelly had some good halfcab boardslides, lipslides the curbs, manuals, etc. After awhile a tweaker came into the park and was really wanting to skate. Sean was kind enough to let him ride his board. Dude definitely had skated before and did some boardslides and ollies and managed to survive. He wouldn’t shut up though, so loud not making any sense. He finally left. I ended it kind of doing a nosegrind on the slow low but with a little bonk on the way out.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer night deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 148, bones stf v1 52mm 103a, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10 some knee pain)

Before dinner on a cool day I went over to the school to finally do the silly trick I’ve been trying to do for Dave.  Nollie back tail shove.  I had a fun time hucking and it was a good warm up even if I did it so terribly.  I also randomly started hucking nollie big back heel and some felt close, also switch flips.  I had done a few other basic stalls which were fun like front tail, back 180 nosepick.  Neighbor kid Ben showed up and was fun to skate with.  After doing the nbts we skated the curbs up top.  I had some fun slappies and flippers.  Got both halfcab flips, f/s halfcab heel, fakie flip.  Came close to a slappy crook followed by kick back tail.  Did a front tail followed by front shove from the curb but to parking lot.  Ended it on a front slappy then kickflip from the curb cut to parking lot.  Ben had done some good slappies, took some good slams trying front slappies, back 180s into the curb cut.  It’s pretty rad watching someone learn skateboarding.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer night deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 148, bones stf v1 52mm 103a, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a nice cool day with rain threatening I met Kevin at dog park.  There were several puddles around, but mostly things were skateable.  I had setup a new 8.3 deck since I didn’t like the old 8.25 I had temporarily setup the day before.  I liked it.  We armed up on a bank to curb we built out of the two wedges and it was fun.  I should have gotten a clip for understanding but it was the steeper grey wedge to parking block that was about 2″ taller than the bank.  We both did some pivots/axle stalls/front tails.  Kevin added in back tail, switch pivot and switch front tail.  We had a few boardslides on Wally World and flippers too.  We skated around for a bit before settling in on the little guy.  The smaller wedge was right behind it and it was fun to do a trick, turn around on the wedge then do another trick.  Kevin totally destroyed it.  Switch flip 50?  Yeah.  He almost did fakie front 50 f/s halfcab out too.  I had some fun mirror line attempts like nollie 50 then fakie 50, front 50 back 180 out then back 180 front 180 out.  Then I spent way too long working on the little kid trick  – front 50 kickflip out.  Never got a clean landing, but it was fun trying.   Garrett showed right at the end and we did some halfcab heel noseslide hucking before the rain came in.  We ended up at a spot later and I filmed Garrett get a solid little line.  

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer night deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 148, bones stf v1 52mm 103a, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10 probably sore because of too many ciders lately)

Shortly before 11 I met Rob and Kevin at Broomfield park. As I walked in I said “what’s up with all these damn kids on bikes?” and the mom totally heard me. She took it so well though, laughed and said they were leaving. I apologized, but she was so cool about it that it made the mood good. And then I stepped on my skateboard. Apparently skating a bunch the night before is hard on the legs because I quickly noticed I had nothing. I had put an old 8.25 deck on after Jack put an end to my cracked 8.3 the night before. I very much disliked it. Kevin was dialing a new version of his old setup and it worked as he was shredding everything. First try nollie front nosegrind, switch manual, etc. Rob would beat Kevin and I to crooks. He also had some manuals, front tail, halfcab boardslides, really good kickflip. Kevin and I played a game of SKATE. I struggled although getting heelflip and halfcab flip first try felt good. After that I think I only tried switch front nose shoves and got only remotely close. Kevin was doing switch front 5-0s. The rain moved in and we called it a day.

(setup 8.25 null smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hanger, venom 88a big 91a small bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)