On a rainy night I forced myself to go skate a parking garage. I wasn’t really sure where I would end up, but it ended up being the Steelyards. I waxed the curb along the sidewalk and starting trying lines to get my rusty soreness going. First real one was front 50, back 180, fakie bigspin. Another was pop shove, back 50, go around then nollie back 180 off the curb. Then front 5-0, kickflip, wallie nollie. This one was surprised me. Halfcab flip, back 50 back 180 out (done horribly though), switch front 180 off the curb. Then I got more into huck mode as I was warmed up enough to have the motivation to try single tricks. I couldn’t quite get a switch crook. Couldn’t get close to front shove back 50. Had a couple f/s halfcab flips, hucked a few fakie lazer flips and they felt doable. Around then a security car rolled in and I took about 5 tries to get a treflip and left when he asked me to.

(setup 8.75″ null valley deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), spitfire f4 radials 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels with 3 washers on the inside, new balance numeric 379 tan/gum size 12, fp 5mm insoles with heelpad)
(pain level 4/10 knee)

On a warm day I rolled up separate and met at the spring canyon ditch spot. Taylor, Brenden, Dave, Mike, Ed were there. John showed up immediately after. Hayden, Andy, Peyton and others after awhile. Dave was already lining things out when I got there. He is built for spots like this. Ed was on the tailblock then 50 pretty quick. John slammed hard on his first axle stall attempt. Everything is harder than it looks in the clip. The pool coping is bigger on one side. But man what a fun spot. I managed a no comply grab to tail then 50 over the “death box” which was really fun. Then John did a finger flip to tail and I wanted to learn it. As you can see it’s still a work in progress, but it felt cool. Maybe not as cool as front 5-0s on the pool coping, but still fun. Even little slashes on the qp were hard. There were a lot of awkward slams. Taylor had such sick front 5-0s. Brenden did some really cool unique stuff. Dave was doing legit lines with wallies, back 180 over the bank medians, etc. John also did front shove to fakie then front shove revert but we’re saving that for Stubborns 2 (slower, lower, older ha ha). Mike had some long back 50s, nose stall to front 50, no comply front 5-0. Hayden showed up and did some stuff quickly. The fakie flip is sick because setting up for that bank is so hard. I had tried kickflip and failed. It was good seeing Hayden getting back into the groove after his foot injury. Peyton had some wild moves. Russian boneless, flamingo, boardslide down the bank median. I think all in one line.

We eventually left to eat and continue at Spring Canyon. Upon arrival it was super crowded though. Argh. Somehow the curb out front didn’t have cars in front of it so we mostly just skated that. Mike Salba’d it and it started grinding for real. It took me awhile to get a real slappy. Peyton was charging it so hard. Mike had some solid slappies. Taylor did a rad front slappy to no comply tailslide to fakie. John was doing nollie tails. I got a slappy front crook. I was feeling better as I had switched to some cupsoles I had in the car. Should have kept skating, but I went home.

(setup 8.75″ null valley deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), spitfire f4 radials 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels with 3 washers on the inside, new balance numeric 379 tan/gum size 12 with lunlarlon insoles then adidas 3st.003 blue size 12 with stock insoles)
(pain level 6/10 knee/foot pain)

On a nice morning I went to Southern Hills around 10:30 am. Liz and I had lunch plans and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to skate after that. After the fun flatground session yesterday I was incredibly sore. So sore that it had me scrounging for some old cupsoles that would hopefully reduce the pain. I went with the 868s. Man they are comfy. I started out trying warm up lines as I normally do. Boardslide, kickflip, 50 the step, noseslide. Also front boardslide, back 50 the step, front nose another bench. Kinda worked. I went for a random new line after that though. Noseslide to fakie on a bench, switch front 180 to 50 on the step, then crooks. To my surprise I would get the line. The switch 180 50 was locked in, but just don’t look at my hands as they may have used the 2nd stair to balance. Ha. I thought I was going to bail a crook, but landed it and it felt cool. The bigger setup made halfcab noseslides feel more doable, although I don’t think I actually landed one. Then I went in on front 50s. Ugh. This is where it got ugly. I decided a line would help. Kickflip into the handicap ramp then front 50. I was feeling good, getting kickflips, getting into 50 then all of a sudden I could no longer kickflip. That’s when I switched back to the 379s. But I felt so sore I switched back again after awhile. I guess my body just can’t deal with vulcs right now. After those switches I kinda ran out of time. I hadn’t been able to ollie up the 2 either. Ugh. So all in all kind of a bummer. I thought the huge board would help me ollie up things. It doesn’t really seem to.

(setup 8.75″ null valley deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), spitfire f4 radials 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels with 3 washers on the inside, new balance numeric 868/379s size 12, basically stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10 some knee pain)

Dave convinced me to meet him and Rob at Blue Skies on a gorgeous Friday. Warming up wasn’t easy for any of us. Rob went the manual route. Dave seemed on the shove/180 tip and I was on a similar program. Kickflips eventually started coming for us. I had some hideous fakie flips at the start. Struggled with halfcab flips. That trick gets so much harder with a bigger setup. I made up for it with a first try f/s halfcab flip. Couldn’t get fakie bigflip. Magically got a nollie treflip (with some toe drag) that felt pretty great. Rob was lining out some shoves/180s/fakie bigs to kickflips. Dave had some cabs, fakie bigs, kickflips. He had a pretty magical f/s halfcab flip where his momentum stopped, but he wanted it so bad and stuck with it. Rob was doing some cool old school tricks in the mix too. I got a sketchy treflip which fueled the desire to get a fakie tre as well to get all 3 of the tres (switch doesn’t exist in my world). We played a game of SKATE. Or rather, Rob and Dave played because I was out so quickly. I got 2 letters on front shove, bailed a halfcab one foot, got a letter on sex change (although I was very close) and lost on shove revert (can’t believe it). I tried a line of treflip then fakie treflip while they kept playing. I got a few treflips, landed on a bunch of fakie tres, but never got the line. I saw Rob get Dave with a halfcab flip. Dave get Rob with a creepy spin. Dave do the steeziest hand down fakie varial flip. Rob got a sick fakie bigspin then no comply bigspin line. I had to get going to work so I did just fakie tre until I got one. It also had some toe drag, but it still felt great. Then it was off to work. I’m surprised how much I like this big setup. Although halfcab flips and heelflips seem impossible.

(setup 8.75″ null valley deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), spitfire f4 radials 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels with 3 washers on the inside, new balance numeric 379 tan/gum size 12, lakai rubbery insoles)
(pain level 2/10 felt way better than expected) 

On a cool evening I went over to Saul’s and joined him and Ed for a sunset session. Writing about the tricks that happened is always short because it’s way harder to skate than it looks. Saul almost got a really long 5-0, he had the best back 50 I’ve seen him do, did his patented long lines with lots of carve grinds, a bunch of really good ride in grinds. Ed bailed a bunch of back disasters. Ha ha. He did some really nice looking rock ‘n rolls, long back 50s, but yeah, couldn’t reel in the back d. I enjoyed the bigger setup. I had a few back 50s better than I’ve done in awhile, a couple little front scratches. Tried front smiths for awhile, but never got one.

(setup 8.75″ null valley deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), spitfire f4 radials 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels with 3 washers on the inside, new balance numeric 379 tan/gum size 12, rubbery lakai insoles)
(pain level 3/10 some knee pain)

Man I love this part. Neil has such a classic street style. His ollies are perfect, he hops up ledges like it’s nothing, he skates fast. Neil rules. There are still DVDs available …

Went out to the garage and did a few manuals to warm up, then some kickflips and a fakie flip. I had put a washer on the boardside bushing to try and prevent wheelbite a little. It might help.

(setup 8.75″ null valley deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), spitfire f4 radials 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels with all washers on the inside, new balance numeric 868 black/gum size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 6/10 knee pain)

Windy Sunday. I was surprised Rob and Dave risked the drive from Longmont. We all showed up at “Glenn Close” around the same time. I had switched to some narrower Spitfire Classics to see if it reduced wheel bite. It did. They didn’t feel as stable though. Saul was doing slappys no problem right out of the gates. He did some around the lower corner too. We all started out doing our own things. My knees were really hurting, most likely from the big weather change about to happen. I should have probably wore cupsoles. Rob was feeling the spot this time. Had some nice lines going with 180s out of curb cuts, no comply shove out of curb cut, back 50s quick. Dave went in on completely posted up crooks. They were amazing. Saul did a cool hands-behind-the-back slappy (I would later do because it looked so fun). I kind of got slappys through the corner, couldn’t get a front slappy, had so much fun doing backside ones. The spot is really cool how everyone skates it different. I was kinda caught up in my own line attempts so don’t remember a whole lot. I know Rob had done back smiths, nollie back 5-0, nollie front 50, front 5-0. Dave did a bunch of crook shoves was lining out with 180s and switch 180s on curb cuts, fakie bigspins, front shoves. The wind was super intense at times. I had a fun line of front 50, front slappy the curb cut, b/s flip straight out of the curb cut. Also a front 50 back 180 then a fakie flip off the curb cut that felt good until I rolled into the grass about six inches past the bump. Ha. Was also hyped to finally get a front shove out of the curb cut. I’m not sure how to differentiate between going straight out of the curb cut or going into the parking lot. Maybe only I will know. I also had a fun ollie over a water bottle, some good feeling slappy front crooks, front 5-0s, and lots of regular slappys. What a cool spot. We ended as Dave did his second switch slappy crook shove. Unreal. Fun spot, fun crew.

(setup 8.75″ null valley deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, spitfire f4 classics green/yellow 52mm swirl wheels with all washers on the inside, new balance numeric 379 tan/gum size 12, rubbery lakai insoles)
(pain level 6/10 knee pain)

I met up with Rob, Sean, Carleigh and eventually Fuzz (yes Fuzz at Broomfield park!) at Broomfield before 11am. Warming up was alright. Sean was doing his flip trick warm up. I was kind of all over. Rob was putting on a demo. Ha. Back 50 back 180, front 50 back 180, back 50 shove, manuals, nose manuals all happened quickly. Sean had some great looking flippers. The nollie heel was probably my fav. Carleigh showed and almost manualled the blue pad first try. She had some good boardslides and front 50s then did her disasters on the brick qp. I manualled the blue pad which is rare. Had a line with “nollie” front tail to fakie, fakie axle to fakie the quartapotty, fakie nosegrind (just a real quick jib). Rob was doing lines starting with the blue ledge and ending black and I wanted in on that. I know he had several back 50 shoves, a fakie nosegrind 180 or two, crooks, front boards. I got a line of noseslide the brown ledge, treflip on flat, crooks the black ledge. That line was the highlight for me. Carleigh worked on back 50s. Sean was doing tricks like nollie back nosegrind shove perfectly on the ledge. Fuzz had arrived and after starting off chill with some manuals and slappy noseslides he did a banger of a line. Ollie the little rail into the bank, ollie onto the happy ledge, back 180 off, switch front shove. Dude! Rob and I played a fun game of SKATE. I think we had a combined 20 tries before b/s flip was landed. I think I was the one to get it. I took awhile to get halfcab flip. Rob got me with 3 shove and fakie 3 shove. I ended up getting Rob with a no comply b/s shove. Fuzz had dared him to do double or nothing. Blame Fuzz. Ha. Really fun session. Had to get home and celebrate Ollie turning 17! So crazy. Time flies. Go skate while you still can.

(setup 8.75″ null valley deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, spitfire f4 radials 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels with all washers on the inside, new balance numeric 379 tan/gum size 12, rubbery lakai insoles)
(pain level 6/10 knee pain)

I’ve been wanting to try an 8.75″ board for awhile now. After dinner on a breezy Friday night with rain showers threatening I went to the research ledge. I started up near the long stairs and messed around for a bit. I was amazed how easy it was to ollie up a step. After a bit I went down to the ledge and tried noseslide and it stuck so fierce I almost flew into the wall. Yikes. So I waxed it. It’s not in that great of shape anymore. Saul biked by as the rain drops started, but the wind dried them up quickly. I had some growing pains with the big board, but for the most part it was a decent session. I skated the first half in the 379s, but since I’ve been so sore I also busted out some old 868s. They felt pretty comfy, but harder to flick. I did manage my best line in them though. Front 180 up the curb, halfcab flip on flat, crooks, sketchy treflip on flat. I also managed to kickflip up the curb which I was extra happy about with the bigger board. With the crack placement on that curb it makes me pop sooner than I want to get up the curb. I had a few bad tic tac’y back 50s, a not-posted-up-at-all halfcab noseslide, couple front 50s that didn’t really grind because the ledge up hill is garbage, was 3-3 on backside flips. I tried to end with some posted up crooks, but it was pretty dark and I didn’t have nearly as good of board feel in the 868s.

(setup 8.75″ null valley deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, spitfire f4 radials 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels with all washers on the inside, new balance numeric 379 / 868s size 12)
(pain level 5/10 knee pain)