So I had gotten some new trucks at 303. Some Thunder 151s. I meant to get some 149s, but they didn’t have them and well I wanted something different. I have to admit to myself that I like bigger boards, but the bigger Ventures require lot of heft to pop them. I wanted a lower and lighter bigger truck for 8.3 or 8.5. So I put them on an almost new 8.3 I had in my garage. I arrived to an almost empty Broomfield park. I started on the quartapotty and it was really fun. Also a few basics on the blue ledge. My setup was feeling great with the exception of flip tricks, but I kind of blame these Es Accel slims for that. Sean showed. We started with a game of SKATE. He pink slipped me again. I had the excuse of new trucks. I mean even though it’s my own fault it’s a decent excuse right? I did get a defensive f/s halfcab heel, but other then that it wasn’t so good. Then we mostly skated the black ledge. Sean methodically went through his routine landing so many tricks first try. 5-0 180s, nosegrind 180s, tailslides, nollie/fakie 5-0s and nosegrinds. I had more pop than normal and was able to 50 the ledge several times. It was fun. Got one shove out, front 180 out, didn’t do any accidental 5-0s. Had halfcab noseslide and noticed the lack of the baseplate Thunder problem. Did some okay crooks, switch front noseslides. After a while I got really tired and chilled. Sean did a line first try of nollie back nosegrind 180 then fakie back 5-0 180. Wow. Then we played a game of SKATE and I finally got a letter on him. Yes, only one letter. Ha ha. And I forget which trick it was on. He was on fire and landed tricks like nollie back heel in one or two tries. After the game I tried treflips until I got a super bad one, got a halfcab flip and could not get fakie bigflip. Sean did the tricks above in a few tries. Man he was ripping.

(setup 8.38 null plant life deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder 151 hollow light, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, all washers on the outside of the wheels, es accel slims tricolor grey size 12, thin rubbery adidas insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After work Jake and I cruised over behind the school to do some flatground. Ollie’s friend Alex was there trying varial heels. We were hyped to see him and after a brief warm up we asked if he wanted to join us in a game of SKATE. I had tried some old 868s to try and reduce pain. They did reduce knee pain, but I didn’t really like them much and they were really hard to get used to. So I got a letter on fakie flip. Alex had to go to work but left us with a varial heel which we both missed. I think I got a letter on halfcab flip too. And couldn’t get a fakie bigflip. I matched Jakes varial flip, got a letter on frontside flip. I got him with heelflip. f/s halfcab heel, I think a f/s halfcab flip and something else. We were both at SKAT so the treflip battle was on. And neither of us could get one. Jake landed on a few at least. I’d say we were about 0-50 before Jake had to leave. I sat for awhile and reflected on how bummed it made me to not be able to treflip, halfcab flip or fakie bigflip. So then I went to 303 to get something new ..

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, venom 91a bushings with roadside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 868 grey size 12, no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Arrived at a very crowded dog park on a nice smokey day. Dave was already there. I was impressed he wanted to stay there. There were so many high school kids, but somehow it wasn’t too bad. That’s the advantage of a street park, there is space for lots of people to skate. I had put thinner insoles into the Accel Slims, I would end up hating it, but still managed to skate. Warming up was fine cruising around getting snaked and doing basics. Dave and I stuck to the slow and low in the back area for awhile. Dave was trying nosegrinds both ways, but never quite got one. We both tried fakie 50 b/s halfcab and came up short. There was this headphone wifebeater wearing dude doing laps on wedgy who was quite annoying. He wouldn’t wait and was clearly only at the park for himself (thanks Feedback TS). I took too long to get a rock flip off the kicker. Managed a nollie back tail to fakie, but still not close to the shove out. Flip tricks weren’t great. I came close to nollie tre, but struggled with everything else. I tried some lines. Back 5-0 the little guy, ollie Wallies World, kick front board Curb Henge. I never got any of the tricks. Ha. Going the other way was trying wallie then a flatground trick and never landing flatground. Then started trying either noseslide to fakie or switch front nose followed by halfcab noseslide 270 out. Got a couple that felt closer, but still not legit. Dave tried too and had similar results. I hucked halfcab heel noseslide a few times. It felt doable and fun to huck. Didn’t struggle as bad at slow 50s on the cinderblock ledge and got one with a shove out. I tried noseslide 270 shoves out on the Two Step and got close, but failed. It really wore me out and a couple bails hurt so I chilled and watched Dave. He had a sick line with a varial flip, long front board on Full Metal Jacket. He did more, but I forget right now. He ended with a solid front 50 or two on the Two Step. Ripping! Pretty fun session.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, venom 91a bushings with roadside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, 3 washers inside each axle, es accel slims tricolor grey size 12, thin xero insoles)
(pain level 5/10 these shoes hurt)

On a nice warm day I met Sean at dog park right after work. It was not crowded. My new shoes felt terrible so I challenged Sean to SKATE. About the only thing I landed was kickflip, fakie flip and heelflip. He smoked me. The rest of the session was mostly a wash for me as well. I once again had the fear of trying to front 50 the cinder block ledge. I hate that I have to overcome that fear every single time I go there. Sean’s ollie the barrier then a quick ollie over the hydrant was crazy good. He also worked the East side with some lines line front nosegrind the two step then nollie back nosegrind the black ledge. Back nosegrind the two step then nollie back nosegrind 180 the black ledge. Wow. I was wanting to huck, but kind of tried a line for awhile. Nollie back tail the little guy, crook the two step, front tail the black ledge. I kind of got it after Sean had left. I had changed to back 50 to start with though. The front tail was just a brief little jib stall. I also came incredibly close to switch flips. There was one in particular that I was over and it just didn’t quite flip fast enough. It would really help my moral to land one. It got kind of crowded after that and I was tired so I left.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollows, venom 91a bushings with roadside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, 3 washers inside each axle, es accel slims tricolor grey size 12, thin flat nb 288 insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After some chores, hiking with Liz and a nap I ended up meeting Dave L at Douglass. It was almost cool out! I had new shoes, Es Accel Slims. They didn’t feel great or terrible. Dave had already been close to 50 on the ledge, but we played a game of SKATE. I struggled with the different shoes for sure and couldn’t even get a heelflip. I had gotten a lead with tricks like fakie flip, halfcab flip and a couple others that Dave normally lands. He got me with switch shoves, back 3 and some more. I had several two try tricks at SKAT. I got a regular cab. I can’t tell it may have been my best one and felt almost like I did it right. I ended up losing on switch front 360 which I was also closer than expected on. I need to work on that one. Then we skated for awhile. Dave ruled the 1 down 1 up. So many different 180 versions up and down. I didn’t land many flippers at all after that, but on the ledge I had a few great feeling crooks. Maybe the best crooks i’ve done there. Then Dave and I started chatting. Then he left and I wanted to battle through some flip tricks. I finally managed a heelflip and f/s halfcab flip, but the rain started in so I left.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollows, venom 91a bushings with roadside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, 3 washers inside each axle, es accel slims tricolor grey size 12, thin flat nb 288 insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Feeling really run down I met Sean, Jack and Kevin at Broomfield. Kevin and Jack were skating, but we left quickly after having to beg Jack to leave the skatepark (ha). We went to Galileo first. Aka stop rock central. It’s one of those spots I should love, but I don’t. Everyone else does though. We were there for a long time. People were doing their thing. Our crew was huge. Donnie, Garrett, Hayden, Bo, Laroy, Sean, Jack, JJ, Kevin and I. Hayden almost got nollie front 180 fakie 5-0 180 on the little one, but slammed super hard. A few bluntslides when across both by Kevin, Hayden, JJ and Garrett. Jack’s first try was front noseblunt. Wow. Him and JJ added back noseblunts. Donnie did switch front 5-0. Garrett never got the Nolan. Hayden came up short. Kevin was ripping. I heard JJ say the spot is hard. Bo was filming right away so I never did. Unfortunately my arthritis was kicking and I was very sore and lacking confidence. I spent about an hour trying to back 50 the low ledge and felt like quitting skateboarding. I started messing around on the bank with a couple basics and Kevin challenged me to bank SKATE. I had to triple or nothing a kickflip to fakie and was borderline losing it. After that it was fun though. I got b/s flip, f/s flip, fakie flip, shoves to fakie and a great feeling halfcab flip. I think Kevin got to SKA. He won and got me on tricks like switch flip, nollie flip, switch front shove (almost had it) and ended me with switch frontside flip.

We eventually ended up at the flat rail where I felt so incredibly sore. Kevin, Sean and I started messing around on the steep bank. It is super fun. Back 50s, pivots were the firsts, then front 5-0s and more. Then we started lining it out even more. As you can see above Sean and Kevin had some long lines. We were fully dorking. It was awesome. I did get a line of a little fakie side rock, kickflip then back 50. I was so sore the kickflip barely possible. I attempted a couple boardslides on the rail, but could not squat because of pain and gave up. Its funny the trick Jack was accidentally doing on the rail. Feeble to 5-0 to shove. Feeble front 180, blunt pop out 5 feet etc. Him and Hayden were feeling out tricks and then started getting oh so close to bangers. I feel bad for Hayden, he got straight up robbed. Joe had joined us and was trying back tails on the rail, but never locked in. After we had a nice dinner. Skateboarding with friends is awesome. Arthritis, not so awesome.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollows, venom 91a bushings with roadside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 440 white size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 7/10 arthritis flare up)

On a warm day I headed up to MRKT and stopped at Fossil on the way. I had run a bunch of errands in the morning and was feeling productive, but not so much motivation in the skate department. I had hit up Bo and he was down to skate at Fossil for awhile. He showed up at the same time and so did front 5-0 first trick. I spent awhile doing basically nothing to try and get warmed up. It was apparent I would be struggling. I almost never feel good on my board when I’m at Fossil. Ugh. Bo rattled off lots of ledge maneuvers like back lip shove, front lip, front 5-0 shove, back 5-0 shove, back 50 treflip! And of course lots of good treflips. I took awhile to get crooks, barely 50d the lower part, halfcab noseslide, had a good feeling switch front nose, struggled with all flip tricks. I tried to kickflip up the low part of the ledge, got a bad one in a few tries. Then I tried another because I wanted to treflip off the ledge. Bo tried b/s flips. There was another dude visiting from Florida that did pop shove up and heelflip up, he was cool. Bot and I tried forever. I was getting so frustrated. Like questioning if I can even skate the way I want to anymore. I would never get it again. Bo got the b/s flip then bounced. I chilled for a bit, then decided I just couldn’t leave feeling this bummed on skating. I was really sore, struggling. Got another crooks that felt alright, switch front nose. Got a line where I ollied up onto the ledge near the Carroll gap, heelflip on flat, kickflip off second try. I left on that note. I was still bummed, but not totally bummed.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollows, venom 91a bushings with roadside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 440 white size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Went to dog park after work. Rob was there when I got there. It wasn’t too crowded, but not dead either. After some cruising around to warm up Rob and I stuck to the little long ledge area for awhile. Flip tricks weren’t working for me again. Rob had some nice back 50s, back 50 back 180 out and a back 50 one foot out. Also manual and nose manual. I took too long to get a manual and nose manual. Had some back 50s, fakie 50s. Couldn’t kickflip the little PVC thing. Jack and Max showed. Jack was in a post schoolwork daze, but still managed some great flippers right out of the gate. Kickflip, heelflip, switch heel, fakie tre. Max had tried to get me to switch heel again and they do feel doable. Max was ripping, he skates so unique. Lots of big pop and flow. At one point he fakie shoved into the mountain ramp kicker so casually. He also ollied into it to manual and curved all the way back to a nose stall transfer into it. He ollied the Jersey barrier in a couple tries. I didn’t see Jack land a whole lot, but he was trying some crazy tech tricks like treflip crook and some feeble to something on the tall round bar. I got remotely close to noseslide 270 shove, had some okay crooks, couldn’t land a treflip. Since Huf had passed I wanted to ollie something taller than normal for me. Somehow I front 50’d the tall side of the two step. I was going super slow and only grinded a little, but it still felt cool. Max was hyped. Glad Rob stayed and skated, great seeing Max skate again and always a pleasure watching Jack rip.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollows, venom 91a bushings with roadside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 440 white size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Finally got on my Ledgy Jr aka LGJ (coined by Ollie) after dark feeling quite tired. I had a tough time finding a parking lot lit enough and ended up at lower valmont.  I tried to take a photo of LGJ, but apparently took a photo of my foot instead.  But it’s a foot tall, 18″ wide and 4′ long.  Square State built it and did a decent job.  But it needs some more work.  I need to add some rubber to the bottom so it doesn’t slide around and Ollie is going to paint it to look all cool.  It took a little rubbing and waxing to get the new angle iron going.  I skated about 30 minutes total and quit since I was so tired.  I had a few crooks, front 50s, good feeling halfcab noseslides.  Had a line of switch 180 up a curb (was supposed to manual), heelflip on flat, front 50 shove.  I had tried a bunch of other flippers without landing any.  I left after I got that line.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollows, venom 91a bushings with roadside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 440 white size 11.5, thin xero insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Right after a busy day of work I went to dog park. Bernie and JJ were there. It was super nice out save for some strong wind that didn’t last long and it wasn’t crowded. Warm up boardslides and slappies went well. Bernie had some nice 5-0s going. JJ was shredding lines. I tried a simple ollie over the pvc and ghost popped and fell. It bummed me out. After a bit I started trying fakie 50 b/s halfcab out on the slow and low. Bernie joined me and was trying fakie 5-0. He probably won, but I got a sketchy one. Then I tried front nosegrind. I was somewhat happy and having fun. Flatground tricks were kind of working in between tries. Halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip, but no treflip or f/s halfcab heel. Bernie did fakie 5-0 shove and was trying fakie flip out when Kevin showed. I tried to race Kevin by getting a nosegrind before he did a switch flip. Well, he won and I would never actually get the nosegrind. That’s when the depression started setting in. Kevin almost got nollie nosegrind shove. JJ was doing front board up the barrier to fakie into the launch ramp then halfcab manual back 180 the wedge. It was incredible. Then he joined the slow & low session and got a back 180 fakie 5-0. We all did our thing for awhile. I took a bit to overcome the fear of just a front 50 on the cinderblock ledge (more depression). Then Kevin, Bernie and I played a game of SKATE. I stupidly suggested we do it over the little parking block and was out in about 6 tricks. I should have gone in totally sideways and cheated a little. Then we played a regular game and other than heelflip it was a maddening game for me. I was out quickly, had gotten close to treflip on my one try, but could not get it after. My nollie flip try was close at least. But I left feeling absolutely terrible about my skating even though Kevin and Bernie were fun to skate with and it was super nice out.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollows, venom 91a bushings with roadside washer, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 440 white size 11.5, thin xero insoles)
(pain level 4/10)