After work I met up with Rob on a really nice afternoon. I had a new deck so that my Lakai’s would have better grip. It worked. There was little leaves all over the painted section. Rob had cleared them out a little, then we had an official Huf rug that was folded up for doing tricks over. Rob was doing no comply shove and straight no comply in no time. I was trying 180s and switch ollies over it and trying to back them with fakie flip, but couldn’t seem to land a fakie flip. After awhile I gave up and did fakie varial flip first try. Halfcab flips were working too, landed on several treflips, but never rode away from one. I struggled with front shoves too. Argh. Rob had some long lines going. Switch front 180, back 180 the rug, elusive fakie flip, b/s flip revert (ha), probably more I am forgetting right now. Then we played a game of SKATE. It wasn’t our finest. Rob had gotten a couple on me. Front shove (argh) and 43 shifty. I had gotten a couple on him, fakie flip and halfcab flip (I think). We both had some questionable b/s flips. I did a one foot never thinking it would give Rob a letter. But Rob did double or nothing and still didn’t get it. Doh. Varial flop was the last trick. Matt House stopped by with his dog and was 0-3 on treflips. Unheard of. I should have skated longer, but I was tired and hungry and went home.

(setup 8.5 null lazer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, lakai griffin vlk b/w size 11.5, footprint 5mm insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After another exhausting day at work I left for MRKT with no plans. I drove along the foothills which may have taken longer, but it was pretty nice and relaxing. Turns out I would have some sunlight left in FOCO so I went to Fossil. The same crew of dudes was there as last night, just no bikers with flat bars. It was super nice out. I briefly warmed up on the top are of the park doing a couple 50s and stuff on the curb then went down to the ledge below. I struggled with front 50s and crooks. Only landed one crook, but almost got a crook shove the next try. I managed to front 50 the taller part for the first time in awhile. Did a few basic flippers and was somewhat happy with my new Lakais.

(setup 8.5 null perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, lakai griffin b/w vlk size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

On a really nice night I met up with Garrett, Sean and Rob at Broomfield. Justin was there too. The park wasn’t too crowded when we got there, and even less crowded after a little bit. There was one other skater there, kind of a weird dude doing stationary flippers and beaming a little. I felt really good after a day off and some yoga, but it didn’t translate to good skating. We started on the blue bank manny pad where I hung up and slammed on the 4″ tall ollie. Argh. Rob had manuals and a no comply manual I think too. Sean did nose manny up, switch manny down. Then it was kind of everyone doing their own things. Rob was stacking tricks on the blue ledge. Front 50s, back 180 out, front 180 out, front nosegrind. And almost a line ending in halfcab flip, but the halfcab flip was being elusive. Garrett had some funny slams on quartapotty front blunts, some smooth nose manuals, back tails, treflips into the bank and kept not locking into switch crooks and getting switch noseslides instead. Sean did halfcab manny, front board transfer to manual on the brown ledge. A sick line of front nosegrind down the hubba then back 5-0 transfer the brown ledge to revert. I didn’t skate well, but had a few positives. First try fakie 50 the blue ledge, first try halfcab flip and fakie bigflip. Had a line roll on the steep hubba bank, crooks the black ledge, turn around front 50 shove out, shove the kicker then totally bailed the 6 stair. These shoes hurt my feet and I was in a lot of pain.

(setup 8.5 null perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, new balance numeric 345 black/white size 12, adidas thin rubbery insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knee and feet pain)

On a nice day Sean and Kevin met at my house then we rolled to Southern Hills with Ollie. Ollie didn’t skate much, just some 180s and shoves on the handicap ramp then he was sitting and doing homework. Mike, Rob and Squeeks would also meet up. I was struggling hard. I got a pretty bad line of crook, nollie back 180, halfcab noseslide. Actually now that I remember the halfcab noseslide it was way more tech then that. It was a halfcab noseslide rever, revert, revert. Totally intentional. I was able to get up the stairs a couple times, a few kickflips and shoves into the handicap bank and one front axle stall before turning into filmer Glen. Rob had some front boards and front noses on the bench, a bunch of no complies up the 2 stair, one in a line with back 180 into the bank then halfcab noseslide a bench, no comply shoves off the kicker. Mike did a bunch of sick ledge tricks then nailed kick back tail. So good. It was rad seeing Squeeks. He ripped some ledge basics and tried to do back smiths on a street ledge for the first time. Kevin took awhile to get a switch nosegrind 180, but once he did he was somewhat consistent with it and ended up filming a nice line for Stubborns with a back 180 and fakie flip. Sean 50’d the ledge first try out of the gate like it was as easy as rolling off a curb. Man, must be nice. He went on to get a sick line with a heeflip, 50 and front tail.

Then we went to the school by my house where Sean ollied then kickflipped from the parking lot over the gap over the sidewalk into the street. Gnar.

(setup 8.5 null perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, new balance numeric 345 black/white size 12, adidas thin rubbery insoles)
(pain level 7/10 knee pain)

On a beautiful day I was feeling completely burnt out from the work week. I didn’t feel like being around anyone. I went to the school for awhile since India was gonna come hang out. I failed at halfcab 50s for awhile. Had a few switch crook attempts that stuck, but felt good and posted up. There was one that grinded, but it dropped into willy. Had a couple sketchy front 5-0 180s out. Did a bunch of Cali grinds on a rough part of the curb to feed some stoke.

Then India decided to hang out with friends for awhile so I went to the mellow Valmont bank. It ended up being pretty fun. I started with shoves, bigspins, that kind of stuff. Kickflip fakie, b/s and f/s kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, then started hucking cab flip. To my surprise I ‘got’ a few of them similar to above. Not to my surprise, they don’t really count. There was one however that worked out. A slower rotation and a lot more pivot, but the front wheels never went down and I’m saving it for Stubborns. Stoked! It was a fun feeling trick. I tried to clean it up even more, but gave up and started trying fakie tres instead. Never got my feet on that one and left tired. Guess I’m out of shape from working too much.

(setup 8.5 null perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, new balance numeric 345 black/white size 12, adidas thin rubbery insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knee pain)

In the midst of an ~18 hour work day I broke out shortly before dark with Ollie to the school. We messed around for awhile doing our stuff. I felt extremely out of it and it took awhile before I could pop. Ollie had some solid ollies up the curb, 180s both ways off. He did some shoves, manuals, etc. After doing some 50s and stuff I went in on halfcab 50 which are my current challenge from Dave. As you can see I got incredibly close, but never quite landed it. Then it was back to work.

(setup 8.5 null perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, new balance numeric 345 black/white size 12, footprints 5mm insoles)
(pain level 4/10 leg pain from sitting around so much)

This part has a lot of variety and creativity. The editing, music and filming are great too.

After skating so terribly the night before I wanted to get out and redeem myself. No one was at the park when I showed. I dorked in ways I never have at Boulder park before and it was fun. Like little stalls on the mellow bank, manuals across the pyramid, no complys and nollie bigspins. I would dip around carving a little at times too, did some little ollies over the hips. Got the dorky little wallie off the pyramid qp. Didn’t struggle quite as hard with the front 50 across and down. Didn’t get a b/s flip over the weird hip. Then settled in on a line. Front shove to fakie on a tiny bank up top, halfcab flip on flat, front 50 the bump to ledge, 3 flip to fakie the mellow bank. Didn’t get the 3 flip. Left feeling better about skating.

(setup 8.5 null perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, new balance numeric 345 black/white size 12, footprints 5mm insoles)
(pain level 1/10 felt pretty great)

After a long day of work I got to Broomfield after everyone else. Actually Rob was there too, but leaving. We started on the parking block. It was funny. 4 dudes trying slappy crook variations. Garrett and I could do regular ones. Kevin and Sean looked like beginners. It cracked me up. I was the only one that could do slappy front crook. Sean and Kevin’s attempts were really amusing. Then we moved on to the black ledge where I was left looking like the beginner struggling with such basics as front 50. Ugh. Kevin got front crooks first try, but took awhile to get nollie front crook. He rattled off a bunch of tricks the other way. Sean did his tricks with his style which is always a treat. Garrett had some funny falls with impossibles into the bank and some style on the ledge. Front shove back 50 first try, almost to crooks. A bunch of kick 5-0s that were supposed to be 50s. I skated terrible and had no pop. I did almost get a couple nollie tres going 1mph though. Kevin took awhile to get a front 50 kickflip out on the black ledge. Sean tried learning it on the happy ledge. He had a good primo slam and then got it a few tries later. I was trying it on the black ledge too, but going oh so slow and not able to get my foot in the flick position. It was cold when we left. I felt very bad about my skating.

(setup 8.5 null perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, new balance numeric 345 black/white size 12, footprints 5mm insoles)
(pain level 4/10 feet hurt)

On a snowy day I headed to the Steel Yards garage as it’s the warmest and I love the rough little curb by the wall. I finally remembered my rub brick in the car and made the curb even better. Basically the whole hour and a half I tried two trick lines with a flatground trick and a curb trick. Starting basic with shoves and 50s. Front 50s were incredibly fun as they were going like 8 feet. I got stuck on heelflips though. Never landed one. I probably tried 40 of them. I blame the bigger setup somewhat, but really I had been struggling almost as bad with the smaller setup recently. I skated hard. Those are some of the fastest front 50s I’ve done. I landed on treflip and fakie treflip, but never rode away. A homeless dude appeared in the garage and I hadn’t noticed him walk in and it was just weird all of a sudden looking up and seeing someone. I felt bad for how loud my board was when I bailed. I tried Dave’s challenge, halfcab 50 for awhile. Got pretty close and it feels doable, but never got both trucks on it. Overall it was a fun session even though I hardly landed any flip tricks. At least faster 50s were fun.

(setup 8.5 null perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, new balance numeric 345 black/white size 12, footprints 5mm insoles)
(pain level 3/10 feet hurt)