On the way into work I stopped at Boulder park on a nice day with a questionable setup change. 8.3 with T2s again. It was okay. Felt really good grinding on the qp, but not so much for ollies or ledge tricks since T2s are so tall. I cruised a bit, got kind of dialed in, did some little basics. Then kind of went in on front 50s over and over on the various ledges and they kind of worked. Even did one on the bump to ledge which I haven’t done in a long time. Kind of forget what else I did, but it was a fun quick session with the park all to myself.

After work the rain made for a change of plans after work and I ended up at the ol’ Valmont parking garage. I was sore, but I did try to get things going. My board felt better than the smaller one yesterday, but all things considered I landed less flip tricks. Almost none. I did have some fun with the weird curb area and relived the 180 pivot shove trick from a couple years ago.

(setup 3/10 null 8.3 time warp, jessup ultragrip pj, thunder 149 t2, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12, half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

Went to go skate, but it was raining. Drove to a nearby garage and proceeded to completely suck. Like almost can’t even comprehend how I am so bad at flatground now. I had been warming up and this bird kept flying at me. But we worked it out and I kept to an area that he didn’t mind me skating. The lighting wasn’t great, but the concrete is pretty smooth. I would struggle to get kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, varial flip, f/s halfab flip, backside flip, switch back shove, fakie bigspin, some 180s, felt like a complete idiot on my skateboard.

(setup 0/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, slappy low profile 8.25, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Slept in later than expected. But went and met Gordon at dog park. Jesse would show later as would Hayden. It was kind of a weird scene at times with parents sitting on the ledge totally clueless and not even understanding when we asked them to move. Gordon was ripping. I was pretty sore, but would get going and skate alright. I had like 3 kickflips onto the pad and was almost able to try kickflip off. Gordon had kickflips up too and couldn’t get the one off either. I was also 2-2 on front 50s on the cement bench and almost got another with a shove out. On the lurb I had a few tricks like front 50 shove, joe hamilton, front 50 back 180. Some of the Converse dudes came and skated before the 303 Hill contest. Chris Athans was rad to watch, he had some sick moves like first try impossible over the bump to bar, casual front shove over the bump to bar, frontside flip from flat into the metal grate. Townley treflip over the bump to bar and long front blunts were cool. Jesse, Gordon and I played SKATE. I was first out, but it was kind of a bunch of random tricks I wouldn’t really expect to land. It was a fun session. Oh yeah, Hayden came at the end and did his casual manuals and almost noseslide 270 shove.

(setup 7/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, slappy low profile 8.25, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, new balance numeric 430 b/2 size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

Went to Broomfield after breakfast as it had been raining early. Met up with Will and Sean, Taylor was there. I had a setup change, 8.25 with slappy lows. It treated me pretty well and my first kickflip felt great after Sean’s first try kickflip too. I didn’t get going too quickly though, the bright sun after a cloudy morning was messing with me. I think part of it was the depression of skating so bad the last session that I was scared to try hard. I did some things that made me start to feel better though. Ollies onto the black box pretty easily, 180s up, crooks were working, kickflip flyouts were working. Will had some casual back tails then did back tail shove. Actually, two of them. Sean did his normal great black ledge destruction. His flatground seemed pretty good too. I went in on a line that I would mostly get. Crooks the black box, kickflip flyout, pivot on the bank to curb, noseslide to fakie the out ledge into the bank, halfcab noseslide. I had actually been trying this line for quite some time when everyone was there, but didn’t get it until they left. I had mixed in treflip flyout for a while and never got one, but they were close and I decided to not go overboard with it. Oh I had a new pair of 430s too, so that made things a little harder.

Before dinner I had some time and the rain had cleared up so I went and skated flatground on the side of the house. I was sore and didn’t expect much. I didn’t get much, but I hucked a lot and some were close.

(setup 7/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, slappy low profile 8.25, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, new balance numeric 430 b/2 size 12 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

Another hot day. Waited until after a light dinner to go skating. Went to this bank I had never skated before and only saw from the road. It was much mellower than it looked from the road. Also, it was kind of perfect as far as no real cracks or anything. I started out so bad. I was wearing my old 430s as I didn’t want to deal with the 600s again or vulc pain. But I don’t think the shoes had anything to do with it. Turns out my front kingpin nut was falling off so I could only hand tighten it and it felt so incredibly loose. It took me a bit to get a shove, fakie bigspin was easy, front shove was easy. Kickflip was a battle and I was close to losing my mind. Fakie bigflip was 3rd try though, b/s flip was under 10 tries. I debated treflips for a bit then went in on them. 50 tries later I left with my tail between my legs, so incredibly depressed that I can’t seem to treflip anymore.

As I went back to my car I noticed this crazy ledge spot. It was getting dark at this point, somehow the photo makes it look light out. It wasn’t. I managed a few noseslides on the second to lowest level. I tried to drop down to the level below and kind of did a few times. Can’t say it was enough to cheer me up though.

(setup 1/10 8.3 null flaherty, jessup ultragrip pj, indy 149 forged hollow knox, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green swirl classic, new balance numeric 600 b/w size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Stopped by Boulder park on the way to work as I had some time for a quick one. It was pretty hot out, there was about 10 huge new graffiti pieces that were still drying and smelling. I didn’t feel much like hucking flippers or jumping onto the ledges. A couple days later as I write this I don’t remember much about the session. I know I did a lot of axle stalls and stuff. Had some fun front 50s on the hump to ledge. Some nollie variations on the hump hip. Did the weird back 50, rock fakie, fakie front 50 on the tiny section which took way too long. That was about it. Oh yeah I wore vulcs to reduce the pain from the 600s. It kind of helped, but man, I can’t do vulcs anymore.

(setup 3/10 8.3 null flaherty, jessup ultragrip pj, indy 149 forged hollow knox, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 272 khaki size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

After work on a very hot afternoon I met Dave at his shady fairgrounds spot. It was seriously so hot, the shade helped, but man it was hot. This spot is way harder to skate than it looks. The curb is rough and there are cracks everywhere, but it’s still a really cool spot. I struggled for quite some time, my setup was really annoying me the trucks felt so incredibly loose in the heat. Dave would get a banger line pretty quickly though involving a pivot and a shove nose. I kind of got some front slappies, took forever to get a kickflip pretending like it was a real bank. Was fun though, got kickflip to fakie after and almost fakie flip after that. Dave took a while to get the pivot shove which shows just how hard that spot is. I struggled with the front smith stalls too. Dave put together and amazing line with a kickflip to fakie garnish. I got slappy crooks to work somehow on the curb. Dave would go on to do a way better one. I got front crooks. Kind of insane how badly I was struggling with flip tricks, but it was a fun session.

(setup 2/10 8.3 null flaherty, jessup ultragrip pj, indy 149 forged hollow knox, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On another hot night I went to Boulder ditch of all places. It didn’t look good or feel good or even sound good (some campers yelling) so I left after bailing a few axle stalls.

Drove around a bit and ended up at a random spot nearby. Started with some drop down manual attempts and ollie up a couple curbs. Then I saw this taller drop thing which is way narrower than it looks on film. The sunset was amazing as I took a while to first do switch 180 into the mini bank then ride off. I could a couple kickflips into the mini bank, neither had a popped ollie like I wanted. Drove around a while after this trying to find a spot with good lights, but found nothing.

(setup 5/10 8.3 null flaherty, jessup ultragrip pj, indy 149 forged hollow knox, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Not feeling overly motivated I met up with Garrett on a hot afternoon at Broomfield. We chatted awhile then started skating. Garrett was ripping quickly. Lots of tricks in lines I’ve seen him do, but they were all so good. Back tails, halfcab crooks, sw crooks, back 180 nosegrinds, etc. I on the other hand was world class sucking. Got a couple front 50s, but mostly struggled at any consistency. Couldn’t get crooks on the bank to ledge. Had a weird flyout kickflip that I thought I was bailing, but rode away from. Slammed really hard on a crooks on the black ledge. Thought I hurt my wrist bad as I couldn’t initially pick up my board, but it seems okay. On a freakin’ crooks! I was mentally and physically done after that. Filmed Garrett get a really good line at least.

(setup 7/10 8.3 null flaherty, jessup ultragrip pj, indy 149 forged hollow knox, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Met up with Gordon, Paul, Jesse and eventually Will at dog park. The clouds made for better visibility. I had a setup change. The Ben DeGros recommendation again, 8.3/Indy 149 hollows/51mm. I liked it. Took a while to get going though. Gordon and Jesse were already ripping and playing an all park game of SKATE. Not sure who won but they were doing 5-0s and stuff on the narrower metal bench. Paul learned slappy noseslides, did a few of his staples, but wasn’t really feeling it. I got a warm up run I liked of fakie flip, sw 180 a parking block, front board the metal bench. I also started hucking halfcab heels on a shadow and they felt good so I tried them on the lurb. And I got insanely close! That would have made my year, ultimate dream drick. Gonna keep trying it. Also came close to kick back tail on the curb. Did some other normal tricks, but the hucking was my fav. Gordon had a funny nutter on a nollie tail shove. Will had nice nosegrinds both ways on the main bench. It eventually started sprinkling and got really windy so I left.

(setup 8/10 8.3 null flaherty, jessup ultragrip pj, indy 149 forged hollow knox, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)