After working the morning Neil, Rob and I rolled to Broomfield as rain was threatening.  There were little sprinkles at times, but never enough to fully stop the session.  Jesse and Jack would join us.  Warming up was not easy for anyone.  I had another setup change trying to make 8.5 not feel too large, but it still felt too large.  I won a fun game of SK8 against Rob and Neil which was a decent warm up.  Jesse had lots of front 5-0s.  I had some crooks, noseslides.  Near the end was trying crooks down the end of the escalator ledge then really slow treflips.  I couldn’t get a treflip to save my life and put an end to a very old deck.  Rob had 50s both directions, halfcab noseslide right away, noseslides the bank to ledge, front tail the blue box, shove liplide too!  Neil amazed me again by how quickly he was jumping onto stuff and manualling, nose manualling, 50s, one foots, etc.  He also got on a front tail.  Jack hasn’t been skating much but his first try bigspin pivot and front 5-0’s on qps were hot.  A lot more went down, it was a decent session before I turned into a crybaby about not landing treflips.  

(setup 2/10 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, indy forged hollows 149, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Off to Colorado Springs with Rob, Neil, Joe, Damon.  We started at Galileo which was just as not fun as I remembered.  Damon rattled off like 20 flippers on the bank and some basic grinds on the steeper steps.  Neil got a couple front lips across the smaller set.  Joe wanted a lip to 50, but couldn’t get it.  I battled kickflips and would eventually get a backside one followed by one to fakie.  Neil went to film it as lightning surrounded us and I ran into him on a roll out.  It was funny.  Then it rained.  We went to a skatepark, but it was wet.

Eventually we ended up at a spot recommended by Ryan that was pretty fun.  It was mostly just curbs and a few small stairs.  We all rolled around for a while figuring things out and skating it differently.  Neil hopped up and down everything, boardslides, wallies, 50s.  Damon didn’t skate it too much, but did talk to some lady who said “there is no way that kid is 50” in reference to me.  I proceeded to slam super hard on a no comply flip attempt.  I would get a few of them and even filmed a couple with a fun ride on grind after.  In the process Rob had ollied over the little curb.  After filming I took 6 tries to get a sketchy ollie over it.  Yikes.  I had a fun run of switch 180 up a 2 stair then front 180 down a 3.  Rob got a cool line back 180 up the 2, slappy crook, bean plant the 3.  Joe had a halfcab boardslide one of the curbs.  

Last spot of the day was the DIY.  It had degraded some since last time Jake and I were there.  I had gotten very tired and sore and besides a hurricane and some slashes on the little parking block qp didn’t do much.  Damon slayed it.  Skated the tall ledge like it was a normal ledge and did b/s flip, cab, treflip and ghetto bird over the lumpy hump.  Joe had some great boardslides, front 50 front boards and a boneless over the hip that may or may not have resembled Grant Taylor.  Rob made the smart choice of chilling with a beer then cruising.  Neil was charging.  Halfcab’s over a little flat bar, front 50 a weird banked spine, front pivot the parking block qp, hip ollies, noseslides, boardslides.  

Weird, but fun day.  Then we went to a nearby restaurant that didn’t serve us in a timely manner so we bounced and had a better meal nearby.  

(setup 4/10 8.5 null, jessup ultragrip, royal ultralight 149s, bones 51mm pj stf v1, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Off to Evergreen on a nice day.  Rob, Neil, Joe, Damon, Jake, Damon, Garrett and then the Emage dudes also showed up.  I didn’t have a good session.  Joe, Cass and I battled b/s flip the hip.  Cass was first of course.  Joe and I both had questionable ones before getting good ones.  Mine felt great and was about the only trick I really liked for the day.  Oh I guess kickflipping from the bump onto the hip was fun too.  We got to see a Rob bean plant over the hip, some manuals and back 50s.  Damon did a million tricks over the hip, often in lines.  Cass hurt his back.  Neil popped up and over things with ease, manuals, 50s, one foots.  Joe had a lot of grinds, also halfcab flip the hip.  Jake was the only one of us that did tricks on the steep qp.  Garrett got over some initial jitters then proceeded to casually kill it.  Fakie tres over the hip, back 50 up the ledge drop down to the curb, nollie back heel, back 360.  Shredding.  Fun session, but I was definitely sore and tired.

(setup 3/10 8.5 smoke valley redrilled to 14.125 wheelbase, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast, bones 52mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

On a nice and sunny day we went to the TAXI skateable structure spot.  The crew was Rob, Neil, Joe, Damon, Cass, Jake and me.  I spent the whole session getting one of the most fun lines I’ve done in a while.  Drop in, front disaster an upper deck then go into the ditch and eventually b/s flip the hip.  Damon had a bangin kickflip to fakie.  Cass almost had front shove to fakie.  Jake would eventually get a front tail to fakie to pivot fakie.  And then he would have to do it again because I didn’t hit record in time.  Luckily he did it better anyway.  

Then we went to the river front area across the street.  We started at the tall metal ledges.  Neil and I would get noseslides, but Neil’s was in a good line.  Damon back 50s and fakie nosegrinds.  Joe got a front 50.  Jake almost nollie back tail.  Next we ended up at the new wood area.  It took some getting used to, but it ended up being a really fun session.  It was cool because you could start a line with a barrier ride which Neil and I both did to start lines along with a pop shove.  Neil would hop up onto the lower level then did a wallride then b/s 180 out.  I would do a crook and then a kickflip.  Neil also got a nose manual to front lip followed by a front 50.  Damon slammed bad on a fakie 50.  Joe got some 50 combos.  Jake did some barrier rides too.  Rob with a killer nose manual.  That was basically the session.  One of my fav sessions in a while, best I’ve skated, didn’t get hurt, epic crew, some new spots, man it was great.

(setup 2/10 null 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 no big washer, 51mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half nsoles)
(pain level 2/10 !!!)

Picked up Neil from the park ‘n ride early then did breakfast with Rob too.  Got to dog park which was a little wet so we started at Valmont.  Man I really don’t remember much about the Valmont part of the session.  Okay actually I don’t remember a single thing about it.  

At dog park I know Neil got a really sick line.  Nose manual, something to fakie, halfcab manual.  Rob was in demo mode.  I was still timid with my calf and avoided any fs grinds, did some dumb kickflips to fakie on the tiny propped up grate.  

Then we went to Wilville and brought Jesse with us.  We started at the manny pad/ledge area.  Rob got a no comply manual into it, I got a nose manual into it.  Some tricks were done on the ledge by all.  I struggled with slappy crooks after doing several two days before.  Jesse and Neil had some front 50 variations.  Then we went down to the rock area.  Neil had a cool wallride on steep rock, no comply up the 2.  I took a bit to get a really fun line of front 180 up the 2, fakie flip on flat, fakie rock jam, ollie the 3s.  Then everyone else ollied the lower 3 stair too.  Maybe all that huge stair jumping is why I was so sore.  Ha ha.  Totally awesome day though.  Felt amazing to skate and not hurt myself and be with great friends.  

(setup 3/10 null 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 no big washer, 51mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 288sport / 272s)
(pain level 4/10)

It wasn’t hard for people to show me up, but it was hard for me to do 50 tricks. Somehow I actually did 58 and I’m super happy I was able to get rid of a couple of the ugliest ones (yes that means there are indeed worse ones that what you see above). But really I love all of the people in this video and it was incredibly fun (and exhausting) to do.

With Neil coming in a couple days I felt I had to test out the calf to see what my body was capable of. With rain threatening I went to Wilville as I was feeling a strong lack of confidence and anxiousness about my calf pain. Setting my board down felt good though and I went on to have some fun. Had a few really slow kickflips, fakie flips, didn’t really get beyond that on flippers but for some reason felt like nollie b/s flips were possible (never got close to one). Dave showed and we both kind of played with manuals into the bank to start lines. Dave would actually get some manuals though, I never made it to the bank. He lined it out with a nollie shove fakie on the bank then switch 180 off. I had done a line I really liked of kickflip, manual, 180, switch nose shove, shove. Also had some fun slappy crooks and boardslides. Nollie tails both ways were fun. Didn’t want to try any front 50s as that was the trick that hurt me the last two times. Was really happy to skate and not get hurt.

(setup 3/10 null 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 no big washer, 51mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 288sport green/gum size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After breakfast I left my mom’s and stopped at the Fairplay park on the way home. I had the park by myself up until the minute the calf pain shot up again. The park was a little wet when I got there and they had done a couple of things to it like make a little euro gap, put in a rail, a couple wood ledges with angle iron. I was incredibly cautious to begin and didn’t feel good on my board. Man I hate how Thunders turn. I had some slow kickflips, some little pops on things, axle stalls on the brick coping qp. I had no confidence though, couldn’t even make myself roll in on the brick coping that I’ve done many times before. I would get one run I was kind of happy with. Ollie onto the ledge then a kickflip to fakie on bank near the hip. Man, after writing that it should have been something I do first try. I had tried a few noseslides to crooks but never got too close. Got a few flow flip tricks like halfcab flip, fakie flip, b/s flip, varial flip. Was trying to front 50 the ledge and got into a couple stalls before pain shot through the calf on one. ARGH. I’m really sick of this pain and recurring injuries with my pushing/ollie leg. It’s quite depressing, like maybe I’ve finally worn my body out.

(setup 4/10 null 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 no big washer, 53mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 7/10 calf)

Thought a day off and some new shoes would help my calf which seemed to hold true initially. It was incredibly nice out as I got there around 5 after work. The park was mostly dead except a group of kids that would constantly be in the way. I had 288 Sports and they were super slippery on the older griptape. But man my kickflips felt good. I skated about 40 minutes. Came really close to a slow kickflip 50 on the lurb and ended with an accidental 5-0 on the bench which made me happy, but hurt enough I knew to stop.

(setup 5/10 null 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 no big washer, 53mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 288S green/gum size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 7/10 calf)

After feeling sick and resting most of the day I went to the side of the school for some flatground. I was on a bigger board again with Thunders. My calf was hurting pretty good and my dumbass was determined to skate through it. I would get a few flippers. Kickflips, fakie flips, halfcab flips, b/s flips, fake bigflip, varial flip, but that was about it. Close on some on other ones. Liked my setup. But when I was done my calf hated me.

(setup 5/10 null 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 no big washer, 53mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 306 blue size 12 nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain level 5/10 calf/general pains from 306 which hurt me and I don’t know why I tried skating them again)