Jack and Jesse picked me up pretty early and we were off to 112th park in Thornton. I had made a slight setup change now that I had access to all my goods again. 8.25, but still 5.8 ventures and 51s. It felt pretty good and I started off quicker than normal. Maybe it was having 3 days off skating. I did the bank ride over the long 2 stair pretty quickly, had some basic flippers that felt good, was popping my tail and having fun. Most of the other old dudes were at the bowl area. Jack was doing the wallies real quick. Jesse was popping hit tricks high like he does. I had a fun first try b/s flip over one of the micro hips, also first try kickflip out of a little bank, some crooks, but couldn’t front 50. Salty had a rad line of powerslide to fakie the volcano then fakie carve over the bench. Those dudes arranged a session at a miniramp but I wasn’t really ready I was having too much fun. Luckily I got a line I had been trying. Bank ride down the 2, ollie down the tiny euro, axle stall the incredibly weird no deck qp, kickflip out of a micro bank, crooks the tall ledge. Lastly I ollied the weird snowboard euro while they were figuring things out.

The miniramp was much taller than we had thought, but it was mellow. We started slow and eventually put down some tricks in the not sun. Me and Jesse raced to front 50s and got them back to back. I couldn’t get a front disaster, but did get kind of a slow beanplant to tail which I haven’t done in forever. Jack had some nice ollies to fakie. Salty did feeble to fakie, 50 to fakie, cab feeble and a banger of a cab pivot. The ramp was Scott’s. He ripped and had some unique moves like some weird disaster the side of the extension, cab pivot 270 out. Jesse shut the session down with his first ever lien to tail and it was sick!

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer dead spots, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium/v-cast plate royal bushings flat top washer, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12 nike sb dunk insole)
(pain level 3/10 way less knee pain in the zero lift shoes!)

Feeling lazy on a hot morning I went to the waunakee park.  After some weak attempts to get things going I settled in on noseslide 270 shove.  It felt better to huck a trick that’s hard for me than just putzing around.   I was hyped to get one.  I also did a few slow and low front 50s and basic flippers before making myself do several halfcab noseslides.  My knee buckled near the end.  Argh.  I guess these 272s aren’t good for me.  I wore some 868s and skated for a bit longer.  I hated them but my knee felt more stable.  

(setup 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushings flat top washer, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272s then 868s)
(pain level 6/10)

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)