Went to the side of the school on a cool night and didn’t land much of anything. I had a new deck, it felt pretty good. Also forged plates, eh. Some slappy crooks felt good, kickflips were still harder than they should be. I only also got halfcab flip, fakie flip and backside flip. Hucked quite a few other random tricks, but nothing stuck.

(setup 8.25 null burnout stumpy, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings flat top washer, bones 52mm slims 99a stf, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 half 272/425 insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After dinner I went to Longmont and met Dave at Rocky Mountain. I felt better as far as less chest pain, but it was still nagging throughout the session. We both started on the curb. Dave started doing a line of nollie to fakie on the bank and did a million front crooks on the curb. Like really, he just kept doing them. Some fell into noseslide, some stuck, but he got into most of them. I had a couple of those nollie bigspins on the bank, noseslides, couldn’t get crooks on the ledge. Flip tricks didn’t go well for me. Oh yeah, I had started on my 8.3, but then switched back to the 8.25 and was much happier. Tried some front 50s on the ledge and failed. Dave was charging near the end trying a line of slappy crooks to fakie then switch bigspin front nose. He didn’t quite get the sbsfn, but he was really close. I did some slappy crooks and got one slappy front crook. Fun night, rad spot. I had some motivation while skating, but just didn’t land much.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hanger with royal bushings flat top washer, bones 52mm slims 99a stf, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 half 272/425 insoles)
(pain level 4/10 knees were sore from actually skating again)

Up kind of early I went to the side of the school and skated flatground before breakfast. As expected it did not go well, but I may have gotten a bit of confidence. I think I landed like 3 tricks in an hour. Fakie bigflip first try being the only remote highlight. I did huck a lot though. Maybe one of these years it will pay off.

Then I went to Valmont to meet a lot of people. Donnie and I started on a parking block propped onto the banked curb which was fun. I got slappy crooks, he did a bunch of front slappies. Then we hit dog park briefly until Nolan showed up and we went over to Valmont. It was fun cruising around, I got a little courage back. I hucked a lot of front halfcab heels on the bank and didn’t get any, but Sean did. Then I mostly filmed the dudes get buck. Nolan was shredding it so quickly. Donnie proved he’s skated the park the most. Hayden picked some ultra cool lines. Sean ollied the park. Joe’s ghetto bird on the hump was epic. Garrett was slamming a lot but that feeble then kickflip was hot.

Then we went to HH. Donnie slammed really hard on a back 50 to start and it got me scared of falling on my ribs so I just went over to the ledge area with most others. It looked like the dudes were having a good time in the park. Joe did like a million front crooks through the corner. Hayden almost got a cool noseslide shove the hard way through the corner. I did one tiny noseslide through it and bailed a bunch of flip tricks. Garrett had some amazing crooks. Then we went and had a couple drinks and celebrated radness.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hanger with royal bushings flat top washer, bones 52mm slims 99a stf, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 half 272/425 insoles)
(pain level 5/10 just a lot of pain)

On a snowy morning I went out to the always dry big research center parking lot to skate some flatground and see how my ribs/sternum felt. I had brought an 8.5 redrilled to 14.125 wheelbase and my 8.25. I started on the 8.5 and it felt good until I tried kickflips and one snapped up real hard into my knee and hurt so bad. That was a sign to skate the 8.25 which I could kickflip. I was very hesitant to try much and skated extremely slow. Tricks like 360 flip were impossible because of how you open up which hurt my chest. I would get a very slow line of fakie flip, halfcab flip, b/s flip which gave me some hope.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hanger with royal bushings flat top washer, bones 52mm slims 99a stf, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 with 1/2 272/425 insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Up early on a gorgeous Saturday with Matt, Zoey, Joe and Eric we went to Frederick. We met Cass, Dave, Will, Rob, Kevin, Nick. The park was never too crowded. I was in pain from the slam the day before, but not as bad as I had anticipated (until later). I’m writing this four days after the session so it’s going to be impossible to remember everything. I’ll start by saying Matt was shredding right out of the gate. The feeble fakie on the bank to curb was sick. We definitely were posted up on the mellow bank/bank to curb for a while. Will had a nice front heel. Rob with the style beanplant/boneless variations. Joe beat me to fakie flip, but I may have beat him to halfcab flip. Eric had the boardslide on the bank to curb. I was trying lots of nollie tres over the hump and got really close. Also close to nollie varial flip to fakie on the mellow bank. Kevin rattled off a bunch of bank flippers and killed the ledge even doing kick back tail. Cass couldn’t get the front nose bigspin, but did get lots of f/s halfcab boardslides to fakie on the flatbar. Near the end I tried a few of those hang on loops which are fun, but after my chest/ribs would really start hurting.

We went to lunch then hit Thornton. There was a kids large birthday party in the nearby park which lead to lots of kicks looping the pump track around the edges. It made for a weird dynamic of feeling way busier than it was. My chest was killing me, I never did anything and after a while I sat down. Joe hit his head slamming on a front 50 on the weird ledge, got up and smithed it. Matt ollied the hydrant. Kevin slayed the way he does. There was this lady there totally shredding. The treflip down the little drop was amazing. Cass got inspired and shut down the session with a textbook hardflip down the drop. Fun day, but that slam yesterday really messed me up.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hanger with royal bushings flat top washer, bones 52mm slims 99a stf, new balance numeric 425 black/gum 11.5 with half splay insole)
(pain level 6/10 ribs/chest)

On a warm and breezy Friday afternoon Dave persuaded me to see if my back would let me skate. When I arrived Valmont was totally empty so I started there. I was having upper back pain the last couple days and somehow it didn’t really effect my skating. I skated about 30 minutes before Dave came over and a brief visit from Eric. I started really slow feeling disoriented and wearing cupsoles to reduce knee pain. I would try Dave’s cab no comply challenge here and there, then some other stuff. Got kickflip and kickflip fakie on the bank pretty quick. Had a fun line doing the hip ollie, back 180 skid around the next hip then the cab no comply. Never got too close there, but was closer in the top bowly thing. Dave showed and we lined some stuff out having the park mostly to ourselves still. Hucked some tricks on the flat bank for a bit, I felt like f/s halfcab heel was doable, but never got one to flip under me. Then we mostly lined things out like above and it was fun skating it that way. I landed quite a few kickflips to fakie on the hump, Dave got a lot of switch front shoves. Dave did his line the first try I started to film. I took a few tries especially after some freak slam where I came really close to smacking my dome. It was scary and would take a bit out of me, but I would get up and get the line. I knew I should have just tried fakie bigflip as I was close to that as well. Dave got a bigflip on the bank and we went over to dog park. But I was toast at that point and Eric was winding down too. I saw some Dave nose manuals. I don’t remember doing anything myself, maybe just a couple basics. Eric landed on back heels, but didn’t quite get them around enough to ride away. TGIF.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hanger with royal bushings flat top washer, bones 52mm slims 99a stf, new balance numeric 425 black/gum 11.5 with half splay insole)
(pain level 3/10 but that slam did some damage)

Went out after dinner to the side of the school determined to land 10 flip tricks. A brief warm up then went in. Kickflip, fakie flip. Halfcab flip took a bit. Was 2/2 on b/s flips. Tried a bunch and I mean a BUNCH of f/s halfcab heels and could not get one. It was so frustrating and I totally blame the Vans. Got a good feeling f/s halfcab flip at least followed by first try varial flip and I thought I’d roll through these 10 tricks. But I was stalled out at 6 for a long time. I couldn’t get heelflip or fakie bigflip for quite a while, but would get them both. I landed on and almost rode away from nollie varial flip, regular varial flip and fakie varial flip but could not get them. Could not get treflip or nollie tre. Finally gave in and did a sex change. Tried to end on halfcab heel or treflip, but ultimately gave in and did a no comply flip as the last trick. I was so sore and it was getting dark.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow with royal bushings flat top washer, bones 52mm slims 99a stf, vans half cab maroon size 11.5 nb# 272 insole)
(pain level 4/10 vulcs suck)

Biked to campus on a lethargic Sunday trying to find something fun to skate. Instead I started at the Kittridge flagstone ledge. I had biked there since our car broke down. As soon as I stepped on my board it felt so incredibly wrong. I never did anything worth note but one halfcab flip felt okay. Then I biked to a nearby curb and tried kick back tails for a while and got remotely close before ultimately sitting down in and giving up.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 hollow lights with venom 88a bushings, spitfire 51mm classic shape f4 101a, vans half cab maroon size 11.5 nb# 272 insole)
(pain level 3/10 some right knee pain)

Got out for a bit to skate on a warm day before graduation stuff would begin. I had switched setup again and did not like it. 8.3 with 149 thunders. After some warming up I started trying a line of switch front nose, halfcab flip, ollie onto the c ledge then shove off. Never got the shove. In fact ollies felt super weird and I don’t understand why. About the only thing that felt good were crooks on the metal bench. Until I start imagining shove out (the hard way) and then I couldn’t crook anymore. I did manage to finally 5-0 the cinder block ledge. It was supposed to be a 50 and it was incredibly slow, but it’s the first time since I hurt my achilles. So I may have been overall quite bummed, but that part did cheer me up.

(setup 8.3 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 venom 88a bushings, spitfire f4 99a classic shape 51mm, vans half cab maroon 11.5 nb# 272 insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a rainy night I arrived to Square House. I had been feeling a little under the weather but the session would get me feeling better. I never ended up doing a run on the ramp as Dave was getting going on the street and I joined him. There was a new bank to curb and little qp that was interesting. Both Dave and Saul fell on the kink at the bottom of the bank. We wouldn’t get a whole lot on it although the young kids that were there were able to line out a bunch of tricks. Bryan showed and we mostly lined out the new little ledge for a while which was fun. I think at one point I had a line of kickflip to fakie, halfcab noseslide, switch noseslide 270 shove. I would also get really close to noseslide 270 shove and somewhat close to halfcab noseslide 270. Bryan struggled to get his patented fakie bigspin tailslide, but when he did he added 270 shove out. Eventually the ledge session came to an end and we were lining things out. Dave had joined back, Tom was there as was Kyle. Tom had good back tails and switch back 50s. I tried a line of crooks the bump to ledge then noseslide 270 shove and still couldn’t get it. Dave was shredding did shove up the euro like 2nd try, lining out the bank to curb to bigger qp and the bank. At the end Brian watched as I could not land a slow treflip and Dave could learn noseblunt slides across the pyramid. Fun session. I’m missing a lot of the action but it feels like an eternity since I wrote it.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 hollow lights with venom 88a bushings, spitfire 51mm classic shape f4 101a, vans half cab maroon size 11.5 nb# 272 insole)
(pain level 4/10 lots of skating recently)