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)

On a very hot afternoon we gathered at Valmont park. Not a lot of people out so the park was mostly chill for a while. Cass pretty quickly front shoved over the hip and front 5-0d the rainbow. Will was mostly in chill mode, but still had some really poppy ollies on hips and things and a pole jam or two. I kind of got obsessed with a line in the pond area. Axle stall, kickflip, rock ‘n roll, noseslide, kickflip fakie. Almost got it all. I was really struggling with my setup though, flailing all over the place and hating how small it felt. Tried some crooks on the bump to ledge and never got one. Dave showed and immediately did cool things like nollie shove tail and kickflip tail over the hip. Eric showed too and had some nice pole jams and wallies. I couldn’t get a front heel on the hip or bank. They were at least close. Cass had a nice b/s flip on the hip, close to bigspin, close to fs flip, maybe got a hardflip. I tried a line of kickflip on the lump bank then b/s flip over the hip but never got it. Actually slammed quite hard on the lump kickflips and it took it’s toll. Dave manualled the euro pad, then went on to nose manual it! Both with wallies after. He also got a switch bigspin over the hip. Amazing. Then we had fun talking skateboarding over a marg at Picas after.

(setup 0/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, thunder 148 team hollows t2 bushings, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic pink/green new balance numeric 600 size 12 black/gum half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Had some time so stopped at Boulder park on the way to work. Had one goal which was to front 50 the bench before leaving. I started off pretty good. There was just a couple kids at the park. I would get some basics on the qp, hump to ledge, one first try b/s flip over the hump, a few accidental 5-0s on the bench pretty quickly and one that turned into a 50. I should have left then, but since the grinds were coming somewhat easy I wanted 50 shove. So of course I could no longer get up onto a 50. I left angry.

After work and a positive review I stopped at dog park. Ted was there. We hucked some tricks. Like all kinds of crazy tricks. I got close to kick back tail on the curb. Kind of close to kickflip noseslide on the bench. Did nollie front tail 270 shove and nollie shove noseslide on the curb. Had some other basics. Ted was doing front shove front noseslides, front heel nose. We played a game of SKATE and new guy Nick joined. I sucked and was out first so I left. Had a decent halfcab flip at least.

(setup 1/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, thunder 148 team hollows t2 bushings, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic pink/green new balance numeric 600 size 12 black/gum half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a nice day I went driving looking for a new spot, but ended up at Douglass again. I didn’t feel great on my board to start, which I did on the side. About lost my mind unable to kickflip or 50 the curb initially. Would eventually get a line that I hardly remember anymore. Like front 5-0 then kickflip flyout. I had thought I’d do treflip flyout too. Nope. Really I didn’t do anything. Went to the front as a storm appeared to be rolling in. It would of course never rain. I had some okay noseslides, and a couple crooks. Then I went in on front 50s. As you can see I didn’t really get it. I really do not want to go back there and try anymore.

Then I went to dog park. Not sure why. I should have waited for Dave to be able to skate. There were some toddlers playing cat/mouse. Like little kids without scooters even just playing. That got on my nerves for some dumb reason and then when I bailed a couple 50s on the lurb I left.

(setup 3/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, thunder 148 team hollows t2 bushings, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic pink/green new balance numeric 600 size 12 black/gum currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Was supposed to be a cooler day, sure didn’t feel that way on a sunny morning. I met Cass and Gordon at broomfield park. Taylor was there. Warming up was okay. I had done the rare thing of eating early so I was lazy to start. Gordon was doing his moves. He was close to pop shove nose manuals. Also a cool line of nollie front 180 over the parking block then sw 180 manual the blue pad. Then a kickflip over the parking block, manual, front 180 fakie 50. Cass seemed to do his tricks pretty well and quickly like he does. Front shoves out of the bank, front noses, back 50s, looking good. Green Boi showed up after a while. Good to see him. He can still manual and grind really easily. I had an okay performance as far as did some basics. At the end I managed a crook on the bank to ledge which was maybe the only thing I was proud of.

(setup 5/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, thunder 148 team hollows t2 bushings, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic pink/green new balance numeric 600 size 12 black/gum currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After a very hot day I went to Douglass around 7pm. Warmed up on the side of the school. Was really struggling again, these 600s are hard to break in. I would get a line of kickflip, accidental 5-0, front 180 my water bottle out of the bump. Went to the front of the school. Hucked some flippers, but never landed anything. On the ledge got some noseslides and crooks. My August goals were to front 50 Douglass and to do a new flip trick. I have also added not to change my setup after this. Anyway, my pop was okay. I started committing to front 50s. I was going slow but one of them got up on there. I was kind of so shocked I freaked out and almost came off. So it was mostly an axle stall to feeble to hand on the ledge. But I was hyped. I would like to clean it and do it legit, but it felt cool regardless.

(setup 7/10 null 8.25 time warp, jessup ultra, thunder 149 team hollows t2 bushings, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic pink/green new balance numeric 600 size 12 black/gum currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Oh yeah, I skated at dog park on the way into work for about 20 minutes. It was super meh. 8.25 with Thunder T2s was not a good combo.

Had changed back to Indys. Very much disliked it. I skated to Willville. My board was more cracked than I remembered and I had new 600s. I couldn’t even kickflip. We started out on a tiny curb. I came close to doing a nollie front crook stall. Dave almost did nollie front 180 fakie 50. We went back to the main area. I managed one kickflip up the curb and was about 10% close to a sw 180 manual. Dave though, he almost did switch manual revert into the bank. It was amazing really.

(setup 0/10 8.3 null time warp, indy hollow 149, spitfire f4 99a 52mm tablets, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)