On the way to work I stopped for a brief mostly-flatground session.  I had 8.25 with slappy lows and mostly hated it. Especially the incredibly noisy pivot cups.  I struggled to kickflip or halfcab flip.  Did some basics around the park briefly after flailing at flatground.  Then remembered Monico was in a Rick flip challenge so I went in on them.  And I got one!  And it made me very happy.  

After work then a long traffic jam I ended up at a mostly empty Frederick park with Dave.  Warming up wasn’t as bad as I thought and for some random reason I thought of Donnie inspiration and we hucked some fs ollies up the bank.  And it was super fun.  We stuck to the bank area most of the night.  We tried lines for quite a while.  Dave did his line of fakie flip then bigspin, but of course I got a spam call which messed up the recording.  I tried kf to fakie then rick flip for a while but was not close to the rick flip, was also not close to f/s halfcab flip or even f/s flip.  I tried some sw front bluntslides and gave up after a slam.  Dave had sw blunt slide and front shove over the hip.  I had some alley oop fakie frontside grinds down the qp that were fun.  This seems like very little, but it was actually a long session and quite fun.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, slappy low profile 8.25, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, splay rev lt b/w size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Stopped at Boulder park for a little over 30 minutes in the morning.  It was incredibly nice out.  I had a setup change that I despised.  8.25 and T2s.  There was some snow piles around, but mostly skateable.  Warm up line was supposed to be noseslide the hump to ledge, axle stall, nollie back 270 but I never got the nollie 270.  Had some fun front 50s until I almost broke my thumb on a slam that my thumb caught on the way down.  Ouch.  Hurt so bad.  Thought I’d be going to the ER for a minute.  Did some other basics, they were fun.  Glad I skated with the exception of that slam.

(setup 1/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, thunder t2 149, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic pink/green, splay rev lt b/w size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10 until the slam but my legs still felt decent)

Feeling overwhelmed with setup madness I ended up just grabbing an old 8.3 with some thunders on it and completely hated it. I had gone to Southern Hills. Haven’t been there in a long time and I remember why. I mean it’s okay, but them ledges are TALL. I did some noseslides and noseslides to fakie and that was really about it.

After some lunch and setting up a new board I went looking for dry spots. I didn’t come up with much, but I ended up at dog park as I was very surprised to see it was dry and almost empty. I had put Royals on and they are pretty good. Not great as they lack pop, but I did prove a couple of things to myself. Mainly, wearing these Splay shoes I need lighter setups. I had regular manuals better than normal. Other tricks were okay. Back 50s on the curb were better than normal. Slappy crooks worked well. Had a line that was really poorly done, but sounds okay on paper. Front 50 180 the lurb, sw front nose the bench, fakie nosegrind the curb. Did halfcab flip then b/s flip first try, but regular kickflips were terrible. Did another line of fakie flip, halfcab noseslide the bench, back 50 the curb. Did more whatever stuff. Ended on a line of sw front nose the narrower metal bench then fakie front nose jib the green ledge. Oh yeah, I couldn’t front 50 it to save my life which I imagine will be a quick death to the Royals. Since I had that problem before too. I should also mention it was quite windy and cold.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null time warp, jessup ultra, royal ultralight 149, spitfire f4 99a 52mm pink/green classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 with remind cush insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Cass and I decided on Frederick on a Saturday as we knew it had been shoveled. Dave was hopeful to show later. Cass and I pulled in at the same time and were hyped to see Scott P, Dan and Donnie were there too. As well as other Longmont ripper JJ. We chatted a bit and got going. The weather was mostly nice, but cloud cover would cool it off a lot at times. Donne and Dan learned new tricks on the little curb to get warmed up. Nollie front crook and fakie 5-0 pop out respectively. I cruised around some and eventually spent some time in the bank to curb area. Cass was killing the back 50s on the curb. I had a kickflip to fakie that didn’t feel poppy or good. Donnie destroyed the curb area with some cool approaches to grinds and reverts. Can’t even really describe them. Dave had shown. He made light work of tailslides and boardslides too. I had a fun line of noseslide the bump to ledge then b/s flip the hip. I tried to do some ollies to fakie and stuff on the steeper bank. Donnie front 50’d the ledge on the top of it. We were all in the front area a while on the manny pads and such. Dan did fakie manual which didn’t come easy. Dave manual, but couldn’t seem to get nose manual. The crazy pop shove noseblunt slide over the pyramid was nuts. I tried a line of back 50 the curb, ollie onto the taller pad, kickflip off. Didn’t get it. Dan and JJ were manualing the tall pad like it was nothing. Cass had done front board shove on the bump to bar which was pretty amazing. I changed my line to front slash the speed reducing qp, olllie up the euro, kickflip off. took me forever, but I got it eventually. Unfortunately I cracked my tail really bad. While trying that line I had done a couple fakie bigflips over the pyramid which I was happy about. But when I went to go film it I couldn’t get it. Dave got some kickflip tail reverts over it though. Fun session. I’m sure I’m missing a lot, we were there a long time.

(setup 3/10 null hayden 8.25, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v8 ace bushings hollow hangers, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Snowy night. Went to Square State thinking I’d be unlocking it, but it was open with a bunch of youth hanging around. They would skate, but they kept to themselves mostly in the corner. I had done some warming up before the others showed. Man, the new layout is soooo congested. It’s fun, but it takes some getting used to. Not so much for the others, but for me it was. Will did 50s on all the ledge, nosegrind the tiny hubba, kickflips out of the kicker, lots of stuff. Jameson and I started with wallrides on the pryamid. His was all 4, mine was a sketchy wallie nollie. Jameson would do like 500 tricks. His bag is huge. Hardflip the kicker, treflip the 3, backside boneless, late back shove, nose pick, 50 the hubba to the long ledge, so much stuff. This dude Kyle was working and skated with us. He ripped the ledges. The halfcab noseslide was crazy. I did some whatever stuff. I didn’t think the euro to ledge would work for me, but noseslide was first try and I would get a lot of crooks. I did the kickflip better in a line earlier and did slappy crooks on the back to ledge after then almost front pivot to fakie on the little qp after. Justin shredded as one would expect and then some. Front tail to fakie the whole ledge was my fav. Front blunt, nosegrind, 5-0s to fakie then fakie grind up the kid qp, front tail the big qp to nose manual around the slippery deck. At the end I did a nosegrind or two on the curb. Justin and Jameson did a bunch of flip tricks. It was a fun session, there was a lot more. Jameson had played great music, it added to the fun.

(setup 7/10 null hayden 8.25, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v8 ace bushings hollow hangers, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

What started as a decent night got windier and cold and eventually even started snowing. I got there first and had quite some time with just a couple beginner skaters. I did not skate well and kind of hoped the snow would come in so I could leave. I did get some front 50s and a back 50 I think on the blue lurb. Tried front 50 to fakie then fakie smith on the quartapotty which I hadn’t done in forever. But then I struggled doing any basics so I started hucking. I tried treflip noseslides out of the bump, kickflip noseslide on the black ledge, fakie hardflips on the mellow bank and kick back tails on the low side of the brown ledge. I didn’t land any. Fakie hard was the only one I was remotely close to. Will showed, quickly rattled off basics like he does so well. Justin and Jameson showed too. The Justin demo was real. Near the end I did the that fakie smith fakie line. My body had seriously seized up and I felt very arthritic. Then it started snowing like crazy all quick. Will did the 50 and we bounced.

(setup 3/10 null hayden 8.25, jessup ultra, venture 5.6 v8 back truck normal front truck v8 ace bushings hollow hangers, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 7/10)

Sun was out, took a little lunch break and hit scott carpenter. It was a weird start I didn’t have much focus, but found some different lines around and back 50s on the little qp felt so good. Had fun front 50s on the hump to ledge, bump to ledge, but struggled on the regular bench. A younger skater showed and managed to go non-stop trying front 50s on the top of the triangle ledge. He kept not getting it which was weird, but secretly made me feel better about myself. I tried back 50s on the hump to ledge. Never quite got one, but I did get an accidental back 5-0. So that felt good to at least get something new. I ended it on a line that took too long. Back 50 on the qp, kickflip the hump, accidental front 5-0 the bench. Happy I got out in the sun. Not so happy about how front 50s felt on the bench.

(setup 5/10 null hayden 8.25, jessup ultra, venture 8.5 v8 back truck normal front truck v8 ace bushings titanium hanger washers outside, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After a fun morning hanging with Sam and friends at their baby shower I went to dog park around 2pm. The temps were in the low 20s and no one was at the park. A couple people were at Valmont, but I was in the mood for ledges. I had gone back to an old fav setup – 8.25 with 5.8 ventures. It felt mostly great and very poppy, although I didn’t try many flipper because of the cold. I would go on to get most of my normal tricks. Had multiple front 50s on the cement ledge, front 50 shoves and 180 out on the green box pretty consistently. Back 50s on the lurb. Almost got a longer line of crook the metal bench, front 50 the green box, ollie on the lurb, back 180 off, halfcab noseslide. Other rare tricks were fakie 50 halfcab out on the curb and ollie the little kinked round bar. Was a fun session, I skated pretty hard. It was snowing at times, which was funny. I tried to record a front 50 shove on the green box and show the flakes coming down, but it didn’t really come out.

(setup 8/10 null hayden 8.25, jessup ultra, venture 8.5 v8 back truck normal front truck v8 ace bushings titanium hanger washers outside, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Nice day. Met Paul, Gordon and eventually Will at Broomfield park. Taylor was there ripping too. I was disappointed in my lack of pop yet again. I did at least do front and back 50 on the lurb in one line. Will was doing manuals, nose manual, 50s, 5-0s, no problems. Same with Paul. I did eventually get a line I liked. F/s halfcab flip on flat, axle stall to rock ‘n roll on the bank to curb, crooks the ledge. I tried to improve it by 180’ing into the bank then halfcab noseslide the ledge but never got it. Paul had noseslide to fakie the ledge then fakie 50 the bank to ledge which was amazing. I had done halfcab noseslide the ledge then noseslide to fakie the bank to ledge, then maybe a fakie flip after. Will showed and quickly did 5-0s, nosegrinds, etc. Ripper.

After my smoothie we left to go to a nearby bank spot, but there was a truck there. So Gordon mentioned this spot on the Denver spot locater and we went there. Wow that 3 stair is tall. The ledges on the side were tall. I was impressed with the manual and nose manuals. I couldn’t get up the gusto to ollie up the ledge at all. At least I could crooks, bummed I couldn’t treflip after. Filmed Gordon try to front 50 to manual for a while, but he couldn’t quite get it. In the end someone drove up and told us they were fencing off the whole area. Doh, hope that’s not the case.

I went spot lurking for a while. Driving in to all kinds of businesses. I found the bank to curb and even though I was sore by that point I had to skate it. It’s steeper than it looks in the clip. Axle stall took me a bit, but the front tail came within a couple tries. I felt weird being there solo and left. Probably should have skated it longer, but I’m not sure what I would have done. Either way I want to go back there, it’s a cool spot.

(setup 2/10 null time warp 8.25, jessup ultra, thunder hollow 148 t-ii bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went to campus on a crisp morning. Was not feeling overly ambitious, but wanted to start at the rec center area since I knew it would be dead. Warming up was okay. I was getting into a groove of trying a slow kickflip off a bump then trying to ollie the rock when a truck pulled up to work on the rental e-bikes by the bump. Doh. So I hit the ledge for a bit. Noseslides were not easy, but the crooks did feel good. I had also done some very easy axle stalls on knobbed ledge which made me think I could 50 again. Oh yeah, before the guy worked on the bikes he did a funny little workout. I should encourage anyone working out, but it was just funny in the middle of the sidewalk like that. He eventually left and I went back to trying to ollie the rock. I never committed. There was a couple that felt close, but I never went fast enough and committed. I cruised down to the little manual pad area. I could not do a regular manual or nose manual to save my life. So I just tried sw 180 manual which I eventually slowly got. I wanted the back 180 out and was close. I hucked heelflips until I eventually landed one then moved on to the ledge off the step that has no runway. Sw noseslide shove was fun. But I once again could not front 50 and it of course put me in a terrible mood and not a good way to end a mostly fun session.

(setup 3/10 null time warp 8.25, jessup ultra, thunder hollow 148 t-ii bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a pink/green classic, splay rev lt b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 4/10)