After a day full of driving (and seeing a moose at RMNP!) I needed to get out skating. I was exhausted and had no desire to drive. Luckily students are gone so I cruised the bike ride down to Willville. And it was fun. I posted up at the main area mostly. Tried to flip the board a bunch, but didn’t land much. Tried switch 180 manual into the bank, but never held it. Got a line of manual into the bank, then come back and ollie onto the bank then front shove accidental revert. Managed a terrible treflip. Tried to manual the bottom of the pad which was scary, never quite got it. Ollied onto the skate stopped lower level several times, never very well though. Had some noseslides on the upper ledge. When I left I dropped in on the bank down the six stair and it was terrifying for some reason. I survived though.

(setup 6/10 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 5/10)

Had some free time during the festivities so I escaped to dog park. I was tired and hadn’t gotten to do my normal exercises. Much to my surprise and enjoyment both Aki and Dan were there. I hadn’t seen Aki actually skate in a long time so that was cool. He still rips, got some front/back 50s, front tailslide, super dipped nose manuals, manuals. I was kind of rusty and lacked pop. Dan can’t slappy crook and it’s funny. But he can crook the tallest rails/ledges in the park. I had a quick nose manual that felt good, but couldn’t get shove out. Dan was close to a few nose manual variations. Oh he did get no comply out of one that was super sick. I almost got a first try b/s flip over a parking block, but instead it turned into a mini battle. Dan joined but going switch. I would eventually land something vaguely resembling a b/s flip. Dan got my back with a good switch one. Then I had to bounce. 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 5/10)

Woke up early, went to Boulder park around 6:30am. The first half hour or so was comically bad, my body was not working. I tried a warm up line that moved around as I tried. Front d the good long low qp, nollie front 180 out of the bank, fakie flip on the little bank up top, nollie tail the triangle ledge, ollie onto the bench. I was really struggling to ollie. Had a couple 50s that ended up feeling good on the bench, one with a front 180 out. Took a while to get the quickest little crook on the hubba. Was scary, haven’t done a downhill one in forever. I think that was about it.

(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 5/10)

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)