I’m writing this after several days of editing Something and remember basically nothing about it. I know I didn’t have the will to pull out my big board again so I was on my little 8.1″ board and it felt small, but awesome. The kicker had been raised and some dude kickflipped the picnic table so casually. He would also hardflip it. I don’t think I did much other than some slow flip tricks. I think Fergs was there too bringing the fun. Rob said he did nollie front lip on the little flat bar which he hadn’t done there before. I’m sure he was killing manuals and nose manuals and back 50s too.

(setup 8.1″ null all you need deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows royal bushings no big washer flat top washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance 440 black 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level probably something like 3/10)

After work went and met Rob at dog park with a little over an hour of light left. It wasn’t crowded. The metal grates were propped up for a mini kicker which added a fun new obstacle. Rob went in on some poppy ollies and back 180s quickly. My neck was still really hurting from the rain slam a couple days ago and made popping hard. I also started to completely hate my setup and couldn’t flip easily or ollie onto anything. I had some ghost pops up onto the ledge to setup for nollie back tails which I never got a clean one. At the end I took way too long to do a front shove off the side of the kicker, but not so long to get a satisfying kickflip off it. Rob had done a really good fakie 50 halfcab out, manual to manual to boardslide. Also a bunch of really long lines with all kinds of tricks like boardslide pop out, back 180 50, halfcab noseslides, etc. Decently fun night before diving back into editing.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 272 maroon size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 5/10 neck pain)

On a cool misty morning I met up with Cass. Dog park was puddled out so we started at Valmont. Pretty early on it was drizzling and I made the dumb mistake of going through the pump track and died going sideways down a hump. It hurt so bad. It was hard to get going after that, especially after I kept getting ghost pop over the hip. Argh. Cass got a first try kickflip over the hip. I didn’t. Then we mostly skated the mellow bank. Cass did a bunch of perfect frontside flips, I barely got one that wasn’t rotated. There were a couple of other dudes there that were fun to skate with. Then we went over to dog park. The puddles took away some of the fun and we played a game of SKATE. Cass won again, I had halfcab flip and heelflip back to back, but other than that didn’t land much of anything. Then it was off to 303 and some filming which didn’t go so well.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 272 maroon size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Went to Broomfield park not super early and met up with Sean, Collin and Cass. The first thing Collin did was a switch flip. It was like hanging with Kevin ha ha. It’s been a few days since the session and I’m jaded from editing so much since then. I will say I hadn’t really seen Collin skate a park like that and wow he’s good. The kickflip crooks, cab crooks, nollie front 180 crooks and I think a switch tre in there too. Sean killed it like he does. The back nosegrinds on the happy ledge and nollie back nosegrind 180 were so smooth every time. I had one line that I liked of front 50 shove the blue ledge then turn around and nollie back tail it. Other than that I didn’t have much energy or drive. Cass had some good fakie back tails, front noses, front tails. Him and I played a game of SKATE which he easily won and he hasn’t skated in a few weeks. Argh. A few other dudes had shown. One dude that is kind of a favorite of mine that is way better than he looks like he would be. Stokes me out. He had switch tre and back tail bigspin first try. Then we went to a gnarly spot for Sean to try and ollie and unfortunately he got smoked. Then to a nearby ledge where Garrett did a cool crook while Jack filmed it. But nothing for the video.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a terrible night of sleep I got out of bed and went for my Friday tradition of skating Boulder park before work. Warm up obviously took a bit. I had the park to myself for the first 45 minutes or so. In that time I basically just did some warm ups and battled a line I had thought about while laying in bed wishing I was sleeping. Front 50 the bump to ledge, kickflip to fakie the little escalator, halfcab noseslide the triangle ledge. It did not come easy. At least the roll in for setup is fun and when I finally got the line I did an accidental 5-0 that was not pretty. Oh well it felt cool to link up those tricks. I had done a few flatground tricks in between attempts. Around the time I got that line a dude showed up and was rattling off flip tricks in the flat of the new area as his warm up. I think he did a few tricks like fakie bigflip and treflip before kickflip. Then he went on to do double flip variations all over the place. On the bank, out of the bank, double varial flip flyouts. It was cool, he stomped ’em. I tried front 50 back 180 the mini bank to ledge for a while and couldn’t get it, also front halfcab heels over the hump which were surprisingly close. I ended on a crooks on the bench that took a few too many tries. I may be really enjoying my setup, but definitely struggling with crooks so far. For as tired as I was I was happy to skate as hard as I did.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Around 5 I met up with Rob on a super nice night. The park wasn’t too crowded, but everyone was skating and it was hard to get into a flow. It was a fun session though. I saw Rob get manual and nose manual around the curved pad, back 50 back 180, halfcab back 50 back 180 out, nollie front lip, halfcab noseslide and more. I skated pretty well for me again. Had a line of front 50 shove then fakie 50 switch front shove out on the lurb then curb, finally boardslide through 3 of the broken concrete sliders, a nose manual on the small pad. Close to back 50s the lurb and front 50s on the main benches. Flip tricks didn’t go great, but I had a great feeling halfcab flip and was really close to treflip.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 2/10 only!!!!)

Trying not to disappoint here as everyone was joking about this entry while we were there. Maybe because I actually landed a few tricks for once. Anyway, shortly before sunset Kevin, Rob, Sean, Paul, Jack and I gathered at Broomfield park for Kevin’s final session before moving. Jack just chilled since his foot is broke. There were quite a few younger skaters getting at it and the place had a lot of energy. So it was kind of tough to get going. I saw Rob trying a bunch of no comply front boards. The man of the hour Kevin forgot to put his contact in, but still managed to rip in his glasses. Switch front 5-0 first try, fakie 5-0 halfcab out, switch nosegrind 180 and kick back tail. Paul worked on fakie back tails. I saw Sean nollie the double set which I hadn’t seen before. He went through his bag on the ledges and ended with nosegrind back 180 on the happy ledge. I didn’t land a lot of flippers, but for once the ledge didn’t totally defeat me. I was really hyped to get noseslide 270 shove, halfcab noseslide, crooks took a while adjusting to the Ace pinch, fakie 50 and fakie 50 switch 180 flop out, and finally a front 50 or two and even the old accidental 5-0 that I followed with a kickflip out of the curb cut. Darin had shown and I tried nollie tre while he tried fakie tre, but neither of us got them. Oh well, fun night. Really gonna miss Kevin being around.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 2/10 only!!!!)

On a beautiful day everyone drove separately up to Evergreen because of conflicting schedules and where we all live. Kevin and I were first, Rob and Jake next. Then a whole slew of skaters that I’d be surprised I remember everyone. Donnie, Sean, Hayden, Chad, Garrett, Ted, Nick, Dan. I’m always impressed with how quickly Kevin is jumping up on to ledges and popping big ollies over the hip. Jake and I had a couple of physical challenges to start that he won by a mile. Like a simple ollie up the curb, ollie the ledge, ollie the crack gap. I did like how it felt when I finally got it. Rob was killing the curb immediately with back 50 variations and would go on to get the trick of the day even if it wasn’t what he was trying – no comply backside 5-0. It was so sick. I was struggling with crooks and would finally get a little one and follow it up with a slow kickflip off the curb. Was stoked to see Chad show up and get some manuals and nose manuals, some 50s and maybe a 5-0. Jake was charging lining tricks out like nollie back tail on the ledge, front blunt the smaller qp, front 5-0 the vert one. Donnie started outside the park on the sidewalk and we were all disappointed he didn’t start down the hill with his dirt board. Ha. But really he was ripping and the ease at which he was doing grinds across the vert qp was amazing. Was so hyped to see Dan. He had some of his patented solid skating and came close to nose manual janoski flip out. Nick was struggling with backside flips and never quite got one even though he was popping them to the moon. Hayden casually did amazing things but kind of rolled his ankle so took it easy. Still though the first try magical treflip over the hip was something else. Sean’s front 3 over the hip was so good. Garrett did like every trick I’ve seen him do. The blizzard flip over the hip only took a try or two. Later on we were treated to a Rob bean plant over the hip which is mandatory for any Evergreen session. There was also a curb angled down the metal curb which peaked Rob’s interest and he got a back 50 to boardslide. Dan had a nice nose manual to front lip. Ted was trying slappy front crooks on the parking block. I had gotten a few, but had to resort to regular front slappys to try and line out a backside flip which took a long time, but man it felt good when I finally got it. I would also get a really bad halfcab flip which was kind of comically awesome. I was the last one skating and took way too long to get a sketchy fakie bigflip. I was pretty happy with how I felt skating, not necessarily the results, but it was fun. Kevin was having some ab issues that hurt when he’d jump so it took him down a few notches. But he still did 100 mph back smiths on the qp, nosegrinds down the hubba and the patented switch nosegrind 180 on the fence ledge. It was a really fun session, great people. We’re going to miss you Kevin.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a surprisingly hot day I met up with a bunch of people that my video making brain is too fried to remember. I’m sorry. I remember skating alright, not great, but I skated pretty hard. I thought I’d only have an hour before being the filmer so I paced myself for an hour of skating and when it became 2+ hours I was exhausted. I had switched back to Aces and I liked it a lot. I had some early easy 50s on the blue box, but couldn’t get them on the black box. Had a lot of noseslides that felt good and was trying 270 shoves out which were somewhat close. Crooks were not very good. I tried a lot of flippers which I didn’t land many of, but they did flip around and give me hope. Not landing front 50 on the black ledge definitely made me mad, so i just stopped trying it. I played a game of SKATE with Bo. I didn’t get pink slipped and I landed a heelflip so I was happy about that. Everyone else was ripping, but again, I forget even who was there so I’m just sticking with me since it’s my journal ha ha.

After some filming and posing a six stair we ended up at the Broomfield bank spot. I took too long to get a front truck bonk, but it was fun when I did. Sean was doing them really well. Noè started in on a crazy manual that he would try even after we got booted and we somehow lasted. I could have gone for another try or two to clean up the kickflip, but it is what it is. I was surprised how good the board flipped for being 8.5. I guess narrower wheelbase really does matter. Anyway, we had a fun session, Bo, Sean and Noè ripped it. After the kickout that turned into no kickout I just rolled around on the cruiser a little and tried to keep Noè cheered up.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Woke up early after a bad night of sleep. Went to Boulder park for my Friday morning tradition. I had put Royals on to lighten things up and I hated it so much it’s crazy. I had some okay noseslides, but I couldn’t ollie to save my life. So I eventually gave up and just tried cab flips over the hump. Some felt close.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, royal ultra lite 149s, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)