Another winter night in the upper 20s/lower 30s. Not so good for skatebaording. I started on Rampy for a little bit to get the legs flowing. I had put some thicker insoles in again (NB+ ones) and I don’t know why. I guess for a few shoes now I’ve had a weird desire to put thicker insoles in and it never works out. I felt fine on Rampy, but they bummed me out later on. and I pulled up to downtown to look for something dry to skate. I was pretty tired in general and was gonna try and skate downtown Boulder, but Dave called and I offered to meet him in Gunbarrel. We were pretty desperate and ended up in a parking garage with some square parking blocks. I skated like piss. Dave had some moves. Lipslide boardslides to fakie, etc. I managed a line of ollie over a parking block, ollie up a curb, front 180 off, then switch front board to regs, front board to fakie. We checked out this weird polejam triangle metal contraption for a bit. It sucked. Then we hit a ledge that could be really good for awhile. Dave did a noseslide to manual and I got close to a slappy front tail to manual. Then back into the garage where we built the contraption above. Dave added a feeble on it too. I only did boardslides and tried to ollie this little barrier, but they were bad. Darn snow needs to melt.

Was supposed to meet up with Bernie and Dave in a garage in Longmont, but as I was leaving Bernie called and said it was totally wet. Doh. So I ended up sticking in Boulder. Red curbs was barely skateable because of puddles so I opted for Foothills & Valmont instead. I love that garage. Mostly because the flatground is so good and it’s almost always dry. My body was hurting though. I’m not sure what’s going on. Now I’m starting to think that yoga/stretching is hurting me. I started with a bunch of slappy stalls on a parking block. It was really fun. Got axles both ways, pivots both ways, feebles both ways, crooks both ways, b/s crooks to back 50, back blunt to pivot. Fun. But my arthritis was kicking. I tried a line for awhile of wallie over a parking block, no comply 180, halfcab flip, slappy back tail, ollie a cone. I think I got it, but it was hideous. I was hurting so bad I was about to leave, but ended up sticking with things a little longer. And I’m glad I did. I did go back and ollie the cone clean which made me pretty happy. Kickflip over a parking black, varial flip on flat, almost f/s halfcab flip. No comply a parking block then treflip then kick back d attempt that was close. Tried a bunch of flip tricks I can’t do. Committed to nollie f/s flip. I can flip it perfect everytime until I go to commit then it only flips halfway. Doh. Tried some sw b/s flips as that trick seems like it would be the best trick ever. Didn’t get remotely close. Tried treflip then nollie treflip for awhile. Most of the treflips I landed were crap. Did a really fun line of switch wallie a parking block, push switch fast and do a little switch powerslide. I’ve never done that before I don’t think. This session was a lot of pain and I’m probably stubborn for trying to skate through it, but whatever, I did.

My legs have been hurting and I’m totally over shoes that make things worse. Aka thin vulcanized shoes. So I gave up the Provosts (mediocre shoe) and tried some Etnies Jameson 2s I picked up recently. But they are way too wide for my feet and my foot was moving all around and trying to come out of the shoe. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately for my pocket book) I had another new pair of shoes too, the shoe that proves I am a hypocrite. The New Balance Numeric Stratford. Yeap, the PJ shoe. I’ve been watching a lot of PJ footage lately and saw them at Meta and could not pass them by. They fit my foot absolutely perfect. Needless to say when I went back out to Rampy I was hyped to skate. I rode the ramp a bit and got the legs flowing and then skated flatground for awhile because I knew Carleigh would be over soon. Skating flatground with someone else isn’t possible on Rampy. These shoes flip a little different so it took some getting used to. I got a few kickflips and other basics then starting trying switch flips which ended up being ridiculously close. Man that would be cool. An uninspired Carleigh showed and we began skating the ramp. It went pretty well. We both had some good runs. Carleigh had front d’s, feeble fakies, and got close to front tail and fakie front 50. I had most of my basics and added a fakie crooks before hucking front feebles and kick back 50s which were both kinda close. I was surprised at how good these brand new cupsoles were skating. After Carleigh left I skated flat on Rampy for a few minutes to see if I could get that switch flip feeling back. Nope,

It was almost 60 degrees and snow was in the forecast for the weekend. I went to Lafayette park straight from work and was to meet Carleigh there. I arrived first to a crowd of younger bmx’ers and skaters. Ugh. I just kinda messed around and did some rock wallrides/wallies. Funnest thing at that park. Then I skated the little toilet bowl thing for awhile and had fun. Got a front smith in the corner which I’ve never done in a corner before. Then I was cruising around for awhile and carleigh showed. We skated the flow bowl for awhile and neither of us could get grinds. I blame the darkness though as the lights hadn’t turned on. The only lights that eventually turned on were on the hubba/street area so we decided to skate flat for awhile. I was super sore/arthritic so I didn’t think I’d really be able to flip much. But it ended up being pretty good. Carleigh did a nollie or fakie shove (I can never remember what goofy footers do) to start it out that was sick and a kickflip a few tries later. Not bad for someone who hasn’t skated in a couple weeks and has been sick. I don’t remember if she got a heelflip or not, but she did get a b/s flip. It was bolts! Ha. I was trying to line things out with the little bank. Got most of my flippers. Halfcab flip, heelflip, treflip, fakie flip, fakie varial flip. Also got a few bank tricks eventually like fakie flip, kickflip fakie, b/s flip, f/s flip and big flip. Hucked a cab flip and slammed hard. Then we skated the flow bowl again, both getting our grinds. Carleigh did like 20 of them really good. I added a front d in the low corner that took way too long.

One of the highlights of the day was when my board went into the snakerun causing a ~13 year old boy to swerve a little on his bike. It wasn’t bad in any way. He then threw his bike down and stared at me. I was in disbelief. I asked him if he was beaming me and he said yes. WTF kid! So I got in his face and told him what was up. You’re at a skatepark kid, boards go flying. He didn’t want to deal with boards flying so I told him to go ride on dirt. It was funny. Stupid, stupid kid.

I had promised to watch the One Direction movie with India so I had about 30 minutes to get out on Rampy and skate. Yeah, I know what you are saying, One Direction? Unfortunately yes, but think about it, I listen to bands like Pissed Jeans and The Mighty Jesus Lizard. How do you rebel against that? You listen to boy band mass produced pop music. Anyways, I have been way more sore then normal so I played the new insole game and put the thicker/stiffer New Balance insoles in. They are harder to skate in, but man they make the feet feel good. I actually hit the ramp harder then I have in a long time and did most of my Rampy tricks including a couple that I haven’t done in a long time. Fakie Joe Hamilton, front tail, fakie pivot to fakie and front feeble. Pretty hyped on that. Also did some flip tricks. Got quite a few including treflip, fakie varial flip, halfcab flip, b/s flip, but could not get a heelflip. Not sure what’s up with that. I did land one completely in primo though and stood there before flipping it back onto it’s wheels. That was pretty fun. It sure is nice having a little skate spot in my garage.

My skate New Years Resolution is to learn 12 new flip tricks this year. One for each month. So I went outside on a somewhat cold day and avoided the puddles for awhile. It looked bleak as I couldn’t even do a kickflip for awhile, but I stuck with it and got quite a few of the regular flippers before settling in on new ones. I went for varial double flip one way, nollie f/s flip the other. I started getting closer to the varial double flip so I stuck with it and ended up landing 3 sketchy ones. What a dumb trick. I had figured I could start with dumb double flip variations I haven’t done yet. So now I have the rest of January to get closer to non-circus tricks. I will admit though that I was pretty hyped to land it.

Then I picked up Neil and we went to this spot. Neil posed a crooks in the flurry that started up when we were there. Ugh. We each got a couple boardslides. I was skating like crap, but crooks were fun on that ledge. Going the other way I did a line of front noseslide to fakie (the ‘slide’ part is a stretch), fakie flip, then front shove off a little drop. There are a lot of wood chips there that make skating flatground difficult so it was hard to line that out.

Then we went to go to the little skate park thing by his house and ended up at the school below. Neil ollied the gap. I went for a line of ollie up the first ledge, kickflip up the curb, ollie the gap. Then halfcab flip on flat, ollie the gap (somewhat bigger then it looks in the photos), ollie onto a sidewalk and ollie up the 3 stair. My 3 stair ollie was so slow I landed sideways and halted. Then it started snowing pretty bad again so I boneless’d the gap as my griptape was too wet to try anything else.

Fullertron with a killer edit! I doubt we will actually follow through with it, but why not try!

I was really sore after the epic day before. It had snowed, but was sunny. Still, there was enough snow that spots were still wet so Red Curbs was called. Ollie and I went ahead of the meeting time. I had landed a few things, he had landed a few things. We both seemed tired. Although we both did lines we were hyped on. I did switch front 180 into the far cheesewedge thing, ollie onto a curb and back 180’d off, halfcab flip on flat, nose manual the main manny pad, slappy crooks the red curb, varial flip on flat. That probably wore me out right there. Ollie’s line was front 180 out of the curb cut, halfcab on flat, manual ollie out on the middle area, manual the little cheesewedge, turn around, another manual then front board the end of the taller red curb. I settled into a line attempt for a long time of cali grind the red curb then kick back lip the waxed curb. I came close to the kick back lip, but not too close. Dave showed up and cali grinded the whole curb. So rad. We had some slappy crooks. Then the Crisis dudes showed up which meant shy boy Ollie was done. I skated for awhile longer, but I was beat. The only thing left I was hyped on was a first try no comply shove out of a front 50. I felt like crap after as the cold and wind had gotten to me.

Back in Boulder after a fun time in Omaha for Christmas. It was a super nice morning and I wanted to get out skating early. So I did. I started flatground in front of the house. I had new shoes and new wheels. Emerica Provost. Null superthane 52s. Flatground was fun. After doing several basics I started trying two tricks in a row without pushing between. Since I skate slow this was a challenge. Got fakie bigspin then front shove, no comply 180 then fakie flip, pop shove then treflip, almost kickflip then nollie treflip. Settled for my first nollie varial flip in awhile instead.

Neil arrived so we took off to campus. We started at this silly little rock wallie. Neil and I took awhile, but we both got lines we were hyped on. Back 180 up a curb, b/s halfcab flip on flat, rock wallie, ollie a 4 stair. So ridiculously fun. Both of us were set for the day at this point, but it went on. We ollied the round 4 stair then ended up at the art building double set / ledge area. Ollie, Neil and I back 180’d off a ledge. Neil first try. I tried mine in a line with a crooks then a noseslide on the ledge after. Didn’t get it, but was hyped to try. Then we went to the library. My legs were feeling pretty sore, but I tried a silly line of ollie onto the downhill ledge and ride through skate stoppers by doing the little front wheels/back wheels dance. It was fun, minus the one time i hung up and dove over the last part. Ollie did that too. Neil was too scared of hanging up. Ha. I got one with an ollie onto one of the benches after. Then we hit the plastic ledge area for a bit. Neil got front 50. I got noseslide. Ollie randomly did a perfect no comply. Then a few more to show he had it down. Then we went to go pick up my mom at the bus station and ate some food before heading back out to the streets.

Neil and I were super sore and we started off by riding down some long stairs. It was actually pretty fun. Ollie got buck first with this crazy jump over the mini rail to his board then firecracker a 3 stair then ride down a bunch of long stairs going fast. Neil ollied onto a ledge before the stairs. I did a noseslide down this weird metal ledge then front 180’d the 3, turned around and rode down the stairs. Street skating rules. You can’t do stuff like this at a park.

Then we went around the back and ended up at this thing for awhile. Neil could ollie up all 5 so easy. Ollie mostly just goofed around like in the video above or just riding down the stairs.

I mostly tried lines starting with noseslides. Got one with a b/s flip off the last stair going so slow I didn’t even roll 2 feet past the last stair before I came to a halt. Ha. I managed to ollie up all 5 stairs, but it wasn’t as pretty as Neil’s at all. Last line was front 180 down the first one, switch roll off one, switch front 180, roll off, kickflip off. So hard.

Those dudes were pretty over skating and it had cooled off quite a bit, but I wanted to try a few things back at the front of the school. First was to kickflip into the downhill sidewalk then ollie the 5 stair. Didn’t get the ollie. Didn’t even commit. It was harder then I thought. First the 5 stair is big. Bigger then a normal 5. And second, the downhill takeoff is just plain weird. Didn’t get it. But I did get something else I was probably even more hyped on. Ollie onto the tall ledge down the stairs in the very front of the school, ride around the pole, drop down a level then ride off the big drop. Hammers! Ha.

Lastly after dropping off Neil, Ollie and I went to the Louisville park for a few carves around the snake run. Kind of a nice ender on one of my favorite street skating days ever. Gotta start off with flatground more often!

Went to this skatepark on a pretty nice day for the midwest:

Above is the Precision team skating this park as an overview of the park and below are the Motive dudes skating it.

I rode with Drew from Omaha to Lincoln which was rad. That dude rules. So nice. We met up with Joe, Matt, Dan, Cory and Cody from Fremont. Joe, Matt, Dan and I started in the corner on a 3 foot qp that was super fun. The park was really crowded. Quite a few basics were landed. Then we moved on to the long concrete ledge area. I struggled for awhile and didn’t land much other then crooks. Joe, Matt and Dan though landed all kinds of tricks. Dan had manual to front board, front nose grind to front board and so many other cool tricks. Joe was kinda run down, but still killing it with all his front 50 variations. Matt is too good. I think I saw a nollie shove crooks? So good. Cory had kick back tails and more. Drew would fly by in the middle of a 50 trick line. Then we skated the bank to ledge mostly for awhile. I took a long time to get kick back 50. Joe did boardslide 270 in and almost boardslide shove to fakie. Dan had ollie oop fakie front smith. Matt did nollie flip front noseslide fakie. Serious. Cory did bs flip fakie 50 halfcab out. Geez. Drew was busy front blunting the bump to bar in the middle of the park. The park had started thinning out a little so we kinda split up and did whatever for awhile. I bailed no comply pole jams while Dan almost got no comply pole jam late flips. Back in the long concrete ledge area I managed manuals up and down the slanted bank. Kickflip on the bump into the bank. Such a fun park. Matt, Joe, Dan and I skated the angled manny pad from the bottom for awhile. I did a manual up to rock kickflip to fakie. Dan was hyped on it! Matt manualled around it easy. Dan tried manual up to fakie manual down. Then I did a few transfers over the little spine that felt fun. Near the end Matt made me try to carve the weird tight corner. Pretty easy. Matt and Dan were trying to front 60 the lower part of it above the manhole which just isn’t possible. I managed the grind around the corner and then we left. Super fun session. I wish that park were near here, it’s amazing. There was a lot more I would have liked to have done, but that was a pretty good first time at a new park. The Fremont crew rules. Those dudes are the funnest most positive people. And Drew rules too. I could talk for quite awhile about how rad it was meeting Phil from Precision, Mike Smith, seeing the skateshop, etc. One of those epic days for skateboarding.