Drove to Milwaukee to skate with Kevin.   We met at a DIY that looked extra fun to me.  It was.  Initially I was like a kid in a candy store and couldn’t figure out what I wanted to skate.   After a bit we started with some warm ups on the hip.  I had obviously put backside flip on my list after seeing the hip.  Kevin was going for nollie bs flip.  Both of us took longer than we wanted to but would get them.  The halfcab flip was fun.  Kevin got my back with janoski flip.   Then we hit the ledges for a bit.  I was quickly reminded how hard Kevin destroys ledges.  He did more than what’s in the clip.  Back smith, back tail, nosegrind, but the switch crook was my fav.  Oh and obviously the Gish.  I got a couple slow accidental 5-0s and 50s.  My pop was super off in the 288s which I wore to avoid knee pain with some success. We ended with a game of SKATE that Kevin smoked me in and won on a treflip.  I would force myself to do a slow crappy one before we settled in for a post session drink and cruise to the lake.  

(setup 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushings flat top washer, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 288S size 11.5 green/gum thin insole)
(pain level 5/10)

Did a kickflip early in the day after losing miserably in basketball. Then later, on after a few drinks, we went to the Waunakee Skate Park.  My brother and I took turns on my board.  He did some kick turns and a couple board slides. I basically just did some noseslide tricks, although there was one run near the end, where I did a crooks and a switch front nose slide along with a switch noseslide shove.

(setup 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushings flat top washer, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 288S green/gum thin insole)
(pain level 1/10)

After a rain delay I met Joe at the 20th street DIY.  It had gone from pouring rain to sunny and super hot/humid in no time.  It took me a while to get going.  Partly because there is so much greatness that I couldn’t figure out where to start.   The line I worked up to was really fun.  Grind over the love seat, crooks, kickflip to fakie.  I had some way better feeling crooks than I did in the clip.  Joe rattled off his ledge maneuvers and got some legit crooks.   The rock and roll I did on the double qp was so fun.  That’s why I love this park so much.   There is some weird fun stuff but also some perfect ledges.  I would get a line of front slash the little qp then slow front 50 shove the red ledge.  Hyped me up to ollie that high.  Joe’s boardslide around the bar was gnar as was the halfcab flip ender.  Super fun session.  I’m missing a lot.   Man I wish DIYs were as good in CO.  Maybe I should do something about that. 

(setup 5/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushings flat top washer, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insole)
(pain level 2/10 but pain in my left knee)

On a hot night I pulled into a hectic Broomfield park about the same time as dave and Rob.  The batting cages were crowded, there were teenagers “going beast” with shopping carts, BMXers, and then surprisingly Jack, Joe and Garrett too.  So yeah, it was an overwhelming vibe for us older folks.  

The bank to curb was more fun than normal to me.  Did some slappy crooks on it and finally a front tail.  Saw Rob get some front tails too.   Dave and I played on the mellow bank doing his new trick.  Nollie back shove body varial.  He got a really good one.  I would get a sketchy one that was really fun.  

Then it was mostly chaos.  Saw Rob get close to halfcab noseslide the bank to ledge.  Dave fakie pivot the quartapotty which needs a new nickname because of the gnarly new coping.  He nose manualled the blue pad too.  I tried a lot of kf 50s that were close, but never got both feet on.  Had some slow front 50s on the black box but couldn’t back them with a treflip flyout.   

The Nullers ripped.   Jack did his first kickflip in 9 months.   Garrett so smooth. Kf back tail was hot.  Joe showed off his pop.  Sean joined at the end and rattled off flippers and black box staples.  

(setup 6/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushings flat top washer, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10)

On a hot afternoon I went to Dayton park and met up with Stefan. Had a pretty fun session. I had some great feeling crooks, back and front 50 over the ledge on the quarterpipe, had a new audience for switch front noses, a couple slow accidental front 5-0s and a lot of bails throughout. Stefan is a positive dude, fun to skate with. He was shredding. 5-0 to fakie over the ledge, nollie front nosegrind, nollie tails, 50s easy. After a while we started trying nollie tres. Well, I tried, he landed. He got like 8 of them and I could not get one even though I landed on several of them. Doh! It was a fun session.

(setup 6/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushings flat top washer, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10)

On a hot and breezy day Cass, Rob and I pulled into a mostly empty Spring Canyon. Hayden would join, but couldn’t skate because of foot pain. Cass put on DJR radio to begin and it did hype me up and got me going a little faster than normal even though I couldn’t manual to save my life. Rob had done manuals and nose manuals while the rest of us multiple decade skaters couldn’t do one. Okay, well Cass did get a manual and then a back 50 or two before hurting his back again and chilling. Jake had done some fun hips to tail on the little mount that were fun and Cass and I played copycat. I may have recorded the slowest back 50 on record. I took a while to get the ollie up then boardslide the little rail. It’s a bummer it’s not as easy as it once way, but I am happy I didn’t give up. Jake had a few tricks on the steep qp like feeble to fakie, pivot to fakie and a meaty front d. Rob may have gotten his manual around the potato chip, some noeslides on the bench, steezy barrier rides. I had some accidental 5-0s, front 50 180, front 50 shove on the lurb. As everyone was sitting I battled a line of crooks the bench then kickflip on the lumpy qp (it was like 1/3 up the transition). Oh yeah, I had gotten really close to a Rick flip or two.

After MRKT and a snack we ended up at Northside. It was pretty chill. Rob joined Cass in the shade having an adult beverage after a few laps around the park. Jake was shredding the mini. I was dorking around trying to overcome my new fear of rolling into the bank which Jake did first try. I called out 3 tricks on the barrier, but we ended up doing more. I slammed on a rock ‘n roll and my board hit my arm and it hurt way more than it should. I would get rock ‘n roll, way too many tries for axle stall, front rock, front slash. Jake would add back pivot and feeble fakie. Then we played down below. Jake was trying no comply pole jams. I did a few noseslides on the ledge and some of the better feeling crooks I’ve done. I couldn’t get a f/s halfcab flip. Ended by trying slappy crook the china bank ledge followed by an ultra slow treflip. I would get the line but the treflip was quite questionable.

(setup 6/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushings flat top washer, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10)

After work I met Rob, Paul, Sean at dog park.  Alton would show too as did Roth briefly.  The warm up took longer than normal as there was some good socializing to be had.  Sean was fully charging though getting through routine quickly.  I had made the slightest setup change – forged baseplate instead of cast.  But it did reduce the hefty feel a lot.  My first few kickflips felt great.  I had a decent session until the end.  Came close to kick back 50, kind of did a switch crooks, had some fun crooks, flip tricks felt okay although I didn’t commit to much.  At the end I couldn’t do a fakie front 50 on the bench to save my life and it bummed me out.  Paul ripped, played the hits with 5-0s, fakie 5-0s, etc.  Sean did a new line of back 5-0 front 180 out the bench followed by a quick fakie back nosegrind.  Also kickflip nose manual, several tricks over the upper deck, ollies over the hydrant, etc.  Rob had good back 50 back 180, halfcab boardslide and front board the bench, manuals, nose manuals.  Alton is fun to skate with, almost had some tall switch crooks and looked good in some 808s.

(setup 5/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushings flat top washer, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10)

After a run to 303 I went to redder curbs.  I was armed with the same setup except Ventures.  It was way better, but pretty hefty.  I took forever to get a warm up line of parking block ollie, front slappy, ride on grind, front tail stall a curb, kickflip.  The ollies over the parking block were so bad, so weird.  Also had some slow front 50s on the curbs which felt good, slappy crooks obviously.  Tried a line for a bit of kick back tail a curb then bs flip the hump.  Never got either trick, but was somewhat close to both.  After a while I had changed from 272s to 868s and felt less pain (until my bunion would swell up later).  But they did feel good to kickflip in.  

(setup 4/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture v-cast 5.8 royal bushings no big washer flat top washer, 51mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insoles then some 868s)
(pain level 4/10)

Had a late meeting so took off in the afternoon and had an hour and a half to skate.  I went to Wilville as rain was threatening.  And holy smokes I felt off.  I had new shoes, but they were the same as my previous shoes 272s so I don’t think that was it.  I literally almost hung up on a one foot flat gap in a warm up line.  I skated the top part for a bit because there was a police truck parked down under the pad.  After my pathetic showing I went down below realizing the truck was just parked there.  I skated the ledge.  Took way too many tries for some slow front 50s.  Kind of did one little switch crook jib as the only remote highlight for the session.  Oh some slappy crooks.  Could barely ollie onto the ledge and I couldn’t kickflip.  Luckily it started to rain.

(setup 3/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal ultralight 149, 51mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10 some weird knee pain)

With no real plan I went to the mall after dinner to get my new glasses fitted. It only took a minute and I started to get excited to skate after thinking about the research ledge. This used to be my favorite spot. It’s pretty chunky and dry now, but i still had fun. During the warm up line process I felt an urgency I hadn’t in a while. Maybe it was how bad I felt compared to the better days I’ve had here. I would get a couple lines that sound alright on paper for me. Halfcab flip, on flat, 180 up the curb, fakie flip, switch front nose. B/s flip, halfcab flip, ollie up the curb, noseslide. Was close on uphill switch flips, got a couple bad crooks when they didn’t stick right away. Couldn’t fathom 50s either way. Halfcab flip on the sidewalk part was scary for me. Ended by making myself line out the little manny pad gap and man it was hard. Noseslide to fakie, switch 180 up the curb then ollie onto the little pad and ollie the tiny gap. It was really hard for me to make myself ollie onto the pad and once I finally did I was going slow and did the worst ollie ever. But I tried and that made me feel good.

(setup 4/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal 149 ultralights, 51mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 288sport green/gum size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 5/10)