On a surprisingly hot morning I went to Boulder park around sunrise. I had reached the point again where I had known that the Venture lows weren’t treating me well so I put some 5.6 highs on. I never liked the change except for on coping tricks. I could not get in a groove although I did do a backside bigspin over the hump which I’m not sure I’ve ever done. After a while I gave up and just tried switch flips on the tiny mellow bank under the triangle pad. A couple were close. I did also have my 8.3 with Aces and gave it a whirl, thought I really disliked it as well, but there was one little ollie that felt much lighter and planted a seed.

(setup null 8.1 all you need deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 hollow hanger cast baseplate royal bushings flat top washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10 !!!!)

Sean and I met up with Bo, Hayden and Noè at Edora. I fell dropping in immediately on a bank and it hurt my knee. Great. I went on to do nothing and dislike my shoes and setup. Sean wasn’t feeling it either but did have some good manuals. Bo did his warm up run of kickflip into the bank then treflip up the euro first try. Noè did b/s flip and bigflip over the hip.

Then we went to a little plaza and met up with Chad L. Bo got a heelflip real quick. Hayden linked a a couple things together that was awesome. Noè put together another marathon line with all the hits. Then Sean worked out a banker as the rest of us kept the security guard engaged in discussion. Ha ha.

Off to crusty manny pad that Noè wanted to skate there was a nearby ledge and set of stairs that I posed an ollie down that was depressing just how much of a pose it actually was. Noè went on to get his trick and man it was so good. We celebrated with a dinner.

Then I dropped Sean off at his car and went to Rocky Mountain to try Dave’s latest challenge – fakie front crooks. It took me a while to get warmed up and I hated my setup the entire time. Ugh. I would get a few flippers and was starting to get into the fakie crooks when Dave and his girls showed up. We both basically tried it and would only get stalls with no grind. Doh. I really wanted to knock the trick out, but alas, I will have to keep trying.

(setup null 8.1 all you need deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows hollow hanger royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Feeling healthier and up for a bit of an adventure I went to NorthGLENn to meet Jack B, ODSC, Jake, Dave, Sean and Kevin. I was pretty determined to flip my board around a lot and was kind of successful even though it rarely came easy. My first real line after warming up was a no comply back shove on the mellow bank, back 50 the little steep bank, b/s flip the small hip. Dave was working on nollie shove hippy jumps. Jake did halfcab noseslide the little ledge first try and some gnar on the wannabe jersey barrier. I had a dookie run of switch 180, crook jib the ledge, kickflip to fakie the little bank. Then halfcab flip the little bank, backside flip the bank. Kevin and Sean had joined. Dave was doing some really long lines. Then I settled in on the ol’ treflip battle after watching Kevin do a really good nollie flip flyout. He would go on to do several flippers out, but got hung up at switch treflip. Sean was kind enough to take turns filming with me and he did a gnarly line. Sugarcane, nose manual up the hubba, back heel the hip. Dave put down some front 180 crooks then the halfcab crook which is so sick. I would eventually kind of get the treflip even though I didn’t really like it much. After that everyone was beat and it was incredibly hot out so we disbanded. Which is probably a good thing because I was definitely still fighting my cold a bit and very exhausted.

(setup null 8.1 all you need deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows hollow hanger royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

After being sick for the better part of a week I went across the street to the school on a hot afternoon to reacquaint myself with my skateboard. Well, my new skateboard that is. Ha ha, had a new deck and hollow axles, but it skated basically the same. I had very little energy but it felt good to ride my skateboard. I would get a few kickflips and lined out a slappy crooks with a b/s flip. Then I sat in the heat and enjoyed being outside for a while before cruising home.

(setup null 8.1 all you need deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows hollow hanger royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

After my first day of skating several hours in a long time I met up with Cass, Dave, Jake and eventually Joe and Garrett at Valmont/dog park. Well actually after some confusion I met Cass at Library, but we didn’t even skate as we were both too sore and wanted some transition. We intended to go to Valmont, but Dave and Jake were at dog park so we did it. Well, I don’t really remember much as Cass and I went over to Valmont after an attempt at warming up. Supposedly Cass slammed pretty good on a boardslide right away and messed up his side. He could still kickflip the hip at valmont though. I did a new trick on the bank there that was really fun. No comply back 270 shove. And I would follow it up with the frontside version on the way back.

Back at the dog park Jake was trying nollie back tail on the long bench so Dave and I joined in trying. Jake got the first one, I got his back! I had never thought of trying that trick on that ledge before and it was super rewarding. I would get a few of them, one of which was totally locked in and felt amazing. Actually they all felt amazing. We tried the fakie version too and I would get a few kickturn versions and maybe one that counted. I’m not sure if Dave got the nollie version. The three of us played a game of SKATE. I didn’t do well, had to do double or nothing on kickflip and missed the one chance I had to set a fakie flip. It was fun though. Then I met up with Jack right as he destroyed his foot and it was an ultra bummer. We ended up at another spot and was fun watching the Nullers get down on a tall ledge.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 5/10 not just knee pain though, soreness from skating a lot the day before which I can accept)

On a hot day I picked up Kevin, Cass, Nick and we rolled down to see Venture Dave’s stomping grounds. We arrived to a park crowded with scooters that didn’t look fun at all. Ha. But we managed to have a good time. We started in the flatground area. Cass and Kevin rattled off some good ones. Cass also learned back lips on the curb. Dave lined out with the crusty curb. I was struggling with flippers, but had a good feeling fakie bigflip. I’ve been challenged to fakie front crook so I started trying them on the little curb. Kevin joined and of course did it right away then learned shove out too. I never got one that grinded. I gave up and had fun lining out stuff. Halfcab flip, boardslide the flatbar, roll in, do a couple grind tricks. I went on to get a kickflip on the qp that felt pretty awesome.

Then I met up with Hayden, Bo, Joe, Chad and eventually Jack at this butter bench spot. I didn’t think we would last long, but we never had any problems and everyone was quite nice actually. Chad and I talked about aging and the fun it brings. I was really sore, but forced myself to skate and was glad I did so. I skated the lowest one uphill for a while. Took a bit to get some noseslides then crooks and I was doubting the low trucks, but I ended up getting some good pop and I liked it. Crooks on that were really fun. Bo got a cool line all quick. Hayden worked on a line, but never quite got it before he just did one for the gram. Joe did a lot of stuff too. I would eventually get a little downhill line of switch noseslide then switch noseslide shove and it felt really awesome. I tried to add a fakie flip in the middle, but was too sore and tired. Fun day.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10 first time down to 3 in forever!)

Cannot wait for this! The dudes been working so hard!

Trevor is one of my favs and one heck of a nice dude.

And wow everything about these two parts is incredible. Ross Norman is a new fav.

Up early again feeling pretty good after a chill night where I did some real yoga for the first time in a while. I was running a little late and was going to hit SC instead, but it was cloudy which is so rare and made me want to go to dog park. My warm up was real quick and I did two warm up lines super quick that I was quite happy with. Pop shove, boardslide little flat bar, kickflip, noseslide, slappy crook. Then front shove, front 50 the curb, front nose to fakie the bench, switch front nose 270 out, fakie filp. Oh, yeah, I had another setup change. It was a minor one, but out with the 5.6s and in with the 5.2 lows. It’s just what works overall the best and I love how they look and feel. I tried to start a line with halfcab flip for a while, but I couldn’t halfcab flip. Argh. I hucked a lot of flip tricks actually. I didn’t land much, but it was nice feeling good enough to try. I was somewhat close to nollie flips and nollie varial flips. Had a line of backside flip then halfcab noseslide, both done badly. Some crooks, switch front noses. Made myself finally ollie the green cone to leave and it took a fun line to get the motivation. Halfcab flip, kickflip, ollie. Fun session indeed for once. After a big arthritis flare up like I just had it takes a while to get confidence so hopefully it’ll keep coming.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Woke up early and didn’t have any meetings for work so I went to dog park and was skating by 6:45. I had my 8.25 with 5.6 hollows and it felt better, but still difficult to maneuver. I didn’t skate great, but I did try harder and was able to get a few things. I had a couple of fun lines for warm up. They involved boardslides, 50s on the curb, noseslides and maybe a kickflip or two. I got a little line of backside flip then halfcab noseslide and probably a slappy crook after. I couldn’t get a halfcab flip, was close to nollie varial flip. Had a couple crooks, 50s on the lower ledge. Tried to make myself ollie onto stuff more often. Jack B showed up when I was battling the ollie over the flatbar. I used a little kodak courage as motivation, but didn’t have the desire to clean it up. After that it was time for me to head off to work.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, 440 white/red size 12 half insole)
(pain level 5/10 there were times when my knees had crazy pain)