Met up with Paul after work at Valmont. There was cloud cover and it was nice out and there weren’t many toddlers learning to stand at the skatepark. Paul had done a couple front 50s on the PJ ledge. I warmed up and then for whatever reason we went in on the hip. Paul did some switch 180s, then got some cabs over it, then some switch bigspins. I had posed some cab flips that weren’t very close before doing a few fakie bigflips and a couple b/s flips. We hucked some more, I felt surprisingly close to treflip a couple times, didn’t quite get halfcab flip.

Went over to the plaza. It was seriously so nice out. Didn’t do a whole lot beyond my basics. Oh I guess a nosegrind 180 on the curb that made Paul laugh because he said I didn’t even ollie into it. Skated okay until the dreaded front 50 on the bench which I could not do this time spiraling me into setup madness.

Hip session was great though.

(setup 3/10 null time warp 8.25, null grip, venture 5.6 v8 with hollow hanger, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, emerica og-1 black size 12 gameghanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On another sunny and warm morning I met Cass and Kyle at the old Commerce City skatepark. I had a setup change. 8.25 with Venture V8s. I was quite happy with it at times. Anyway, Cass and Kyle were kinda lazy with it, not really feeling it. They did skate some. Kyle did a cool kickflip wallride on the back of the capsule. Cass had some nice front noseslides and front boards on the new flatbar. I had some okay feeling boardslides and stuff, took several tries to get a kickflip. But man, had a first try ollie up up a ledge that surprised Cass and I. That made me pretty happy. Kyle and Cass left while I waited for Garrett. I did a line on top of slow front 50 the curved ledge, ollie up the ledge, kickflip on flat, flailed a wallie nollie. Then tried a line for a while of ollie to fakie on a bank, halfcab noseslide a bench, back 50. Never got the back 50 and really struggled with the ollies to fakie which was annoying. Garrett came and did his line pretty quickly and man it looked good. He had also done a nosegrind shove that was very pretty.

Then Garrett and I went and met with Kyle and Cass at the warehouse DIY. There were a few other there, everyone was cool. I chilled for a bit since I was full from drinking my smoothie between spots. Cass had a nice crook. Kyle with the ridiculous line in the gram above and ride on grind the entire ledge. They all took turns on the Sk8 Mafia mini board. Kyle’s treflips were ridiculous. Garrett’s crooks and kickflip up the ledge. Garrett skated his regular board too and had some good nollie front noses, back tail bigspin, etc on the long ledge. I got warmed up slowly then went in on a line that made me happy. Noseslide to fakie the new tall ledge, halfcab flip on flat, drop down, front 50 the long ledge. I think I got it and I also did front 50 shove but I’m not sure if it was in the line or not. Had a lot of crooks that felt good too on both ledges. Then we celebrated Garrett’s birthday over some very over priced margs. Fun day.

(setup 7/10 null time warp 8.25, null grip, venture 5.6 v8 with hollow hanger, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, emerica og-1 black size 12 gameghanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Another hot day. Had no plans and kind of lounged around for a while after a run with Liz. Waited for some cloud cover then went to campus in the early afternoon. I started at Baker. Similar setup to yesterday but Aces instead of Slappy lights which I liked more. But that’s not saying much. I was pretty sore out of the gate and would have periods when I felt okay. I started with some no pop slide tricks on the lower part. Was starting to get beyond the warm up tricks when it started raining. I chilled under a gazebo for a while then went to the downhill covered hallway. Took a bit to do kickflip then noseslide. Went back to Baker when it dried. Didn’t get beyond warm ups again, got into a couple front 50s, manual, good feeling noseslides. Then I went and looked at this little area with a picnic table and a 3 stair. I’ve wanted to line out something like this for a long time, but it was so much harder than I thought. Mainly because the bench of the table felt like it was super tall. But I would eventually get some bad noseslides. Got an ollie after. Then eventually the 180 too. Regardless of how sloppy it was, I did enjoy it. I think I basically went home after that.

(setup 3/10 null time warp 8.3, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 ksl 44, 52mm spitfire f4 99a tablets, emerica og-1 black size 12 with footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Met Gordon and then Paul after a while at dog park on a warm morning. I went back to 8.3 with thunders. Hated it. I think I hate every setup at this point. Anyway, warming up was mid for me. Gordon was ripping, poppy grinds, shoves and manuals. Paul came and immediately back 50’d the bench. I had a line of crooks the bench then back 50 front 180 out the curb. Tried several halfcab crooks, was not close. Took a bit to ollie the grate then boardslide the taller portable flat bar. I was wearing the Emerica MJ remakes. They felt good as far as pain, but were not very grippy. Gordon got a line of nollie back 5-0, front nosegrind, nollie nose manual. But never linked them all together again when we tried to film it. Paul went in on noseslides over the top tier. He took a while, but he got it. I was trying a line of crooks then kickflip 50 which I got kind of close to, but not that close. Then it started to rain a lot harder and longer than it looked like it would.

(setup 4/10 null time warp 8.3, jessup ultragrip, thunder 149 team hollow, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, emerica og-1 black size 12 with footprint gamechanger insoles)

After a couple of naps I ended up at Willville with a different setup. Well, same everything except trucks. Didn’t like it. Imagine that! I mostly skated the shady flatround area. Kickflips were hard, but I did manage some halfcab flips and fakie bigflip. No treflips though argh. Posed a bunch of kf nose stalls which were kind of close. Couldn’t ollie for crap with this setup though and couldn’t even axle stall the upper knobbed ledges. The tree growth made the manuals weird. At the end I made myself do 10 tricks on the lower ledge. I think every trick was a non-ollie trick except for front 50. Still fun. Glad I skated an eliminated another setup from contention.

(setup 4/10 null time warp 8.3, jessup ultragrip, slappy lights 8.25 with indy 92a bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, emerica og-1 black size 12 with footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a hot Thursday afternoon before a 3 day weekend I went to skate campus without knowing there was a big Phish concert. Doh. I had parked and was well into campus before I realized what was happening. I went to warm up at the downhill hallway spot, but there was already a couple people skating. Ended up at the shaded hallway by the student center and skated flatground for a while. I had a setup change, basically the same but with indy titaniums. I hated them and everything about the setup. I struggled to land anything, I think in 30 minutes I had only done kf, fakie flip, halfcab flip and b/s flip. Ugh. I moved on, rolled all over campus, didn’t really skate anything until the flagstone ledge where I proceeded to lay an egg and basically did nothing.

(setup 1/10 8.25 null flaherty, pj grip, indy titanium 144, bones stf v1 53mm 103a, new balance numeric 440v2 wide size 12 navy with half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 7/10 in fact after skating I sent Nate a text that said ‘it’s one thing totally sucking at skating and another totally sucking and being in incredible pain while sucking’ ugh)

Stopped by the parks on my way home. It was hot. Valmont was empty so I started there. I didn’t do anything beyond normal warm ups there. Was bummed at ghost pop over the hip. Did a couple kickflips to fakie on the mellow bank, a noseslide or two on the bump to ledge.

Went over to the plaza. Dennis was there which was great. After some cruising Dennis and I settled in on crooks on the metal bench. He has never done one, but was close. I did several and followed one with perhaps my worst excuse for a treflip to date. I actually didn’t count it but Dennis insisted. He’s too positive. Ha. It started to get incredibly windy so I left.

(setup 2/10 null 8.25 timewarp, null grip, thunder hollow lights 148 with bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, last resort cm002 brown size 11.5 half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 6/10 always sucks skating after work)

Man this clip is inspiring. Dude is the best.

Out early on a Sunday I drove to Denver to meet Cass, Rob and birthday boy Dave to check out the new Barnum skatepark. We arrived to a bunch of old dudes already skating it. Was hyped to see Rob getting in the mix right away feeling things out. He was back 50ing the metal curb right away, would get one to manual after a while, some casual manuals. Dave was on the bank to curb immediately and would do about every trick imaginable on it. Should have filmed the coast to coast switch slappy crooks because they were amazing. Dave had lots of long lines that were all pretty inspiring. The kickflip pivot was sick. He had also done a first try front 50 on the bench into the bank. I had some troubles getting used to the park and my smaller board, but would end up getting some stuff I was happy with. A line of noseslide on the taller bump to ledge then b/s kickflip on the bank. Kickflip up the curb, noseslide the smaller hubba, struggled to grind the qp but the one I got was really fun, took a while to get a bad bigflip on the bank, front 5-0s to fakie on the ultra mellow qp were fun. Saw Cass with some long back 50s on the qp, noseslide down the hubba, kickflip or two. Sean ripped the park ollieing the ball first try, nosegrinds, kickflip the ball, manuals cruising. Garrett and Joe showed at the end. Garrett with the kicky back tail. Joe first try ollie the ball and managed to not get eaten by a dog.

Then we went to this spot where all 4 of us would get clips. UNHEARD OF. Garrett kick back tail fakie. Joe front crooks shove. Sean the noseslide and kickflip. Me, with a switch nose jib 270 shove. Fun times.

(setup 6/10 null 8.25 timewarp, null grip, thunder hollow lights 148 with bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 12 currex runpro insole and half insole)
(pain level 5/10 pretty insanely sore by the end)

On a very hot day I swooped up Cass and we went to the shady warehouse. There was one other dude skating when we got there, but he left pretty quickly. Cass and I played a warm up game of SKATE that lasted forever and I didn’t land anything decent other than halfcab flip. Cass made the comeback and got a hardflip and I forget what he won it on. Then we skated some. Oh yeah, I had skated an 8.25 with Slappy lows and really didn’t like it so went back to the 8.3 with Aces. We did some noseslides and crooks, but that was about it. Cass’ crook was super good. I took forever to get a front 50 at the end. We didn’t skate too long, but it was good for me to take it easy anyway after being sick.

(setup 3/10 8.3 null time warp, jessup ultra, ace af1 55, spitfire f4 101a classic 51mm, new balance numeric 430 b/w size 11.5 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Heading into the weekend I was starting to feel better and wanted to skate some. I just wanted to skate a nice mellow qp by myself and Superior fit the bill. I had a 8.3 with Aces and it skated good until I tried tricks beyond kickflip. I started really slow and was super out of it. Would get some basic lines on the qp then ledge. I think eventually I did a line of kickflip out of the bank, front d on the qp, crooks the ledge. I couldn’t axle stall the weird tight qp. Then I went in on treflip. Like 50 of them. Never got my feet on one. I somehow didn’t get mad.

(setup 4/10 8.3 null time warp, jessup ultra, ace af1 55, spitfire f4 101a classic 51mm, last resort cm002 brown size 11.5 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)