On a really nice day met up with a good crew at dog park. Kevin, Sean, Rob, Jack, Ted, Paul, Gordon. Kevin was having some foot pains so he didn’t get too far before it hurt and he couldn’t really skate. But he would smoke me in SKATE later. I was sore to start, but ended up feeling pretty good. I skated my smaller 8.25 and liked it. And its’ funny how much better pop I had. At one point I did a nose manual on the curb followed by kickflip onto the lurb. Had a couple front 50 shoves on the green ledge. Tried to ollie over stuff. Crooked the tall bench, some on the top rope. Saw some good Rob mannies around the corner and back 50s. Sean had some back 5-0 front 180s then halfcab manual around the corner. Jack had some good front noseslides on the green ledge. Paul, Gordon, Kevin, Sean and I played a game of SKATE. I was the first one out. And it was on a treflip. Argh. I was toast after that. I’m missing a ton, it was a fun session.

(setup 7/10 8.25 null flaherty, jessup ultra pj grip, thunder hollow lite 148, spitfire 52mm 99a f4 classic orange/black swirl, new balance numeric 574 vulc orange/grey size 11.5 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 3/10)

After a couple days of feeling sick Bratcher picked me up and we rolled to little Arvada aka Triple Nipple to meet several others. Salty, Gordon, Kevin, and some others were there. That park is awesome, but that ledge is taller than I remember. A lot went on. I’ll start with Salty. Got his grind revert on the top qp. Then put together an amazing line of grind revert then halfcab boardslide transfer the spine. Gordon next. Pop shove up the ledge, front tails the ledge, nose manuals, axle stall to rock transfer the spine, classic ripping. Bratcher had some rad no complys on the hump, spine transfers, long backside grinds, lots of tricks. Kevin was shredding. Big backside ollies over the hip. Switch transfer the spine. I filmed him get an amazing line of the Gish (switch nosegrind 180), front 5-0 the qp, front blunt the ledge, Janoski flip on flat, fakie flip. Switch crooks was hot too. I felt better than expected after being sick. Had some crooks, (poorly) got noseslide 270 shove, front 180 the euro, switch noseslides, some other stuff. Could not get a front 50 on the ledge and lost my mind, focused my board. Doh. Fun session other than that though.

(setup 5/10 null 8.3 keyhole, jessup ultra, thunder team hollows 149, old spitfire f4 99a green radial slim, new balance numeric 574 vulc grey/orange size 11.5 half insole currex runpro insole)
(pain level 2/10)

Had some time between meetings on my way to work so made a quick trip to dog park. I wore some NB vulcs. As soon as I put my board on the ground I felt good. I went on to have a great session for me. After a quick warmup of slappies and boardslides I tried to skate a little different than normal. Things I did that stood out. Crooks the tall bench and above the curb. Manual the curb followed by kickflip up the lurb. Went in on nosegrind 180 and think I got one. In between tries I did some flippers. Had a f/s halfcab flip that felt amazing. Also an alright heelflip. Didn’t get a treflip, but didn’t try too many. Had a run of a Joe Hamilton on the lurb followed by an over the top back 50 on the curb. Ollie onto the pad, first try front shove off. Had more than this. At the end I ollied one of the smaller flat bars, wallied the cone and then a slappy crook and I bounced. Really fun session, finally didn’t hate how my shoes felt so that was nice.

(setup 8/10 null 8.3 keyhole, jessup ultra, thunder team hollows 149, old spitfire f4 99a green radial slim, new balance numeric 574 vulc grey/orange size 11.5 half insole currex runpro insole)
(pain level 2/10)

Woke up kind of early. Had some time before meeting Garrett and Joe so I went to dog park. And I would end up having a couple of hours as they were running late. There was a crew of older dudes I didn’t know. I was very sore, the size 11 Last resorts were killing me. I had done some slow lurb basics including a back 50 before I went and switched into some Halfcabs that were in my car. My feet were mostly too sore to do flip tricks. A dude named Mike introduced himself and gave me some kind words and it cheered me up a lot. Paul showed. I had done some front 50s on the green box and managed a shove out. Then we left for Fort Collins.

We skated campus. I started filming Joe. Then got a no comply on the dumb bank to ledge nearby. Some more filming at a little manny pad. Then Paul and I skated a C ledge for a bit. He got front 50, I got some noseslides. Then we ended up at the long hubba. I was so sore it was insane. But I tried some noseslides and I got up on it a few times, but never got past halfway. Bo was the first to land anything – a front 50. Jason would get some front 50s later. Hayden some noseslides. Other than that no one landed anything although some tricks were close. Then it was dinner time.

(setup 8/10 null 8.3 keyhole, jessup ultra, thunder team hollows 149, old spitfire f4 99a green radial slim, last resort cm002 size 11, vans halfcab, cm002 size 11.5s all with gamechangers)
(pain level 7/10)

After a rainy night I was ready to skate earlyish on a Saturday. Bratcher said he was at library so I went too. There were some other dudes too I’ve seen before. Positive dudes, excessive filmers. I had a setup change and I would like it. 8.3 with thunder team hollows. My shoes felt small, but good. I would have a decent session. Noseslides, crooks, switch noseslides all good. Front 50s worked on the lower ledge. Had a few on the taller ledge, but it was a struggle. Almost got a line of front 50 the taller ledge followed by back 50 shove the lower ledge. Got a 3rd try treflip. Did some other halfcab noseslides and fakie 50s and what not. Bratcher was ripping too. He he had some taller front and back 50s, noseslides, boardslides. At the end we skated the C beam which was a fun ender.

Then after some lunch Dave hit me up to skate and we met at Valmont aka Toddler Park. We were lucky for a while without many toddlers. Dave did a cool fakie front tail 360 out over the hip. I was all over the place for a while, legs were starting to hurt. Managed some okay noseslides on the PJ ledge then managed the best feeling crooks I’ve done in a while. We tried some boardslide nollie shove transfers. Dave got a good one.

(setup 8/10 null 8.3 keyhole, jessup ultra, thunder team hollows 149, old spitfire f4 99a green radial slim, last resort cm002 black size 11 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went by dog park after work. Valmont was overrun with toddlers. Will and Ted were at dog park. Things started off alright actually. I would get a fun line of boardslide through the crack the cement things, no comply to tail the bank to curb, a weird f/s grind up the edge of the barrier. Had an okay slow line of nollie front tail the lurb, crook jib to fakie the bench, fakie nosegrind the curb. Other than that though, things really fell apart when I slammed trying to front 50 the curb. I would go on to make it much worse by trying to front 50 the bench again and never getting it. I somehow stayed positive on the outside, but on the inside I was dying. Will had some casual bangers and tried to switch manual the pad. Oh yeah, there was some rollerskating girls there that kept getting in the way. Like they would never look where anyone else was and would just post up in the worst spots. That didn’t help me. Will and Ted seemed to survive fine though.

(setups 0/10 tried 8.5/14.25 thunder and 8.25/indy and disliked both, last resort cm002 black size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After work, no one met up. Jason, Damien and crew were there. I had tried to get going, maybe got a manual or two, don’t remember anything other than I couldn’t front 50 the bench and I left so depressed.

(setup 2/10 8.25 pmg (that’s so old it’s been to Germany and back), jessup ultragrip, 5.6 venture v-hollow redrilled to v8, bones stf 103a pj 53mm v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12 footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Feeling very sore and not so motivated I attempted to skate some new/rare spots for motivation. Went to the school up on Lehigh and found nothing. All I did was a carve on the little bank. Lots more driving, crowded schools that I avoided .. ended up at Arapahoe Ridge. Got ollie up the 3 curbs, turn around double down manual which was fun. Next thing was ollie onto the longer pad and front 180 off. The drop felt rather large unfortunately. Then tried to just manual the lower section and struggled so bad, kind of got one. More cruising around, ended up at the new area on central, but just wanted to ollie off a weird two stair into a bank. Took a line to do it. Terrible fakie bigflip, nollie shove, ollie a two, front 180 up a 2, ollie the 2 into the bank. Did some more spot lurking, but ended up at home.

(setup 7/10 8.25 pmg (that’s so old it’s been to Germany and back), jessup ultragrip, 5.6 venture v-hollow redrilled to v8, bones stf 103a pj 53mm v1, new balance numeric 440v2 wide half 574 insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10 feet and knees were so sore)

The sun came out and the wet concrete dried quickly. Went to Platte because it normally dries quickly. In fact no part of the south side even had run off. I started at the manny pad. Normally I hate this manny pad due to the cracks, but today I liked it. Warming up was tough. I took some getting used to my setup change and 440s again. Felt good though. Got manual and nose manual pretty quick. May have gotten a line of halfcab flip then nose manual. Started going for nose manual shove and kick back tail. Never got the nose manual shove although was very close. Got a kick back tail which made me happy. Went over to the 3 stair. Ollied up, down and 180 down. The ollie up was not clean though. Then I skated the good flatground area for a while. Didn’t land much. Really struggled with heelflips and could not get one. Was really close to halfcab heel.

(setup 7/10 8.25 pmg (that’s so old it’s been to Germany and back), jessup ultragrip, 5.6 venture v-hollow redrilled to v8, bones stf 103a pj 53mm v1, new balance numeric 440v2 wide half 574 insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Wasn’t feeling overly motivated, but tried to get out and skate some before the weather would turn to snow. Went to the side of the school. Did some slappies. Struggled with flip tricks. Like really struggled. The amount of effort I had to put into a halfcab flip was maddening. Almost got a treflip, but I didn’t.

(setup 3/10 8.25 null flaherty, forged titanium indy 144 with royal bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl classic, emerica og-1 black size 12 footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10)