After some OCD obsessing over the new Ace AF1 lows I went to 303, got them, set them up, then went to the empty tennis court spot and gave them a whirl.  And my first impression was excellent.  Even though they are lows they seemed to turn similar to AF1s, but a much lighter pop.  I went on to have a decent session even though I started hating the new 425s and all the heel lift I was getting.  Flip tricks worked well and heelflips felt surprisingly good.  I skated the ledge alright for me.  Crooks and slow front 50s, noseslides, switch noseslides.  Slappies felt good.  Decent first session on new trucks, shoes , wheels.

(setup 8.38 smoke valley null, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55, 52mm bones stf 99a v3 slims, new balance numeric 425 black/gum size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After dinner I went over to the side of the school on a really warm and nice night.  I had new NB# 425s.  They had a great flick and felt good on day one.  I had the goal of doing a rick flip and a treflip and that was it.  I would get neither, but was close to both.  Did a few basics and came close to switch and nollie flips as well. 

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer night skate deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows no big washer, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape 3 rings inside, new balance numeric 425 black/gum size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

After work met up wit Rob at a surprisingly mellow dog park. Warming up went decent for me and it seemed like for Rob too. Saw him lining out halfcab board on the tall bench and almost halfcab nose on it. Close to nollie front lips the c ledge, pops over the green curb, nollie front lips on it, back 50s on the curb with back 180s out, wallrides the barrier, manuals and nose manuals around the C. I skated alright for me, but couldn’t get the kickflip up the c ledge again, or off it. But it was fun finally going through the cracks to ollie up it. Had a couple slow back 50s on the c ledge, some crooks on the back of the upper deck, some fun slappies. Had a few flippers, but nothing special until the end when I got a little line of switch front nose then fakie bigflip. So I left on a good note.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer night skate deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows no big washer, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape 3 rings inside, new balance numeric 288s grey size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Up early on Easter with family brunch a few hours away I went to Southern Hills kind of early. I felt kinda under the weather and things were slow to start. I took a bit to get a warm up line of little pop to manual the “smooth” section, kickflip on flat, front tail stall the curb, noseslide the bench. Next one came like 2nd try. Boardslide a bench then b/s flip out of the handicap ramp. Then went in on a line for quite some time as the wind started to pick up. Front nose to fakie a bench, halfcab flip on flat, front 50 a bench. I would never get it, but I did get up onto the bench. I really wanted to keep at it, but the wind was insane.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer night skate deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows no big washer, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape 3 rings inside, new balance numeric 288s grey size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

For once a later session was planned. Noon at dog park. And it was quite cold out in the morning so that worked out well. I arrived early and was surprised to see Sean, Jack and Riley already skating dog park. It was Rob’s birthday, he’s pretty low key about it but I think everyone still at least said happy bday. Kevin, Jake, Dave were also there. Hayden, Bo would come too. It was a long session. Dave, Riley and I started with a few laps around the concrete pump track then went to the official pump track. It’s quite rough and we did a couple laps. I didn’t last long at Valmont park before heading over to dog park. I had two goals for the day. Kickflip up the C ledge finally and a couple halfcab heels. Warming up was going alright for me doing normal tricks and I was getting close to the kickflip up when Jake suggested a game of SKATE. Got it next try. Was quite happy. Game of SKATE was Dave, Jake, Bo, Riley and me. No surprise Riley won. And I think he only had S. It was fun though a good warm up and I didn’t get letters on too many tricks I can normally land. It was pretty crowded in there. Riley, Jack, Sean all killing it. Jack fakie tre wallie world. Riley fakie shove manual anything. Sean was trying to front nose the upper deck. Man there really was so much going on I can’t even begin to remember all of it. I never got any halfcab heels, but was close. Near the end I tried a bunch of halfcab crooks again. Was close. Saw Jake do some nollie back tails. Dave killing full metal jacket. Rob lining out his moves. I somehow didn’t see Kevin skate much and he had hurt his wrist.

We went to a nearby spot where I rolled down a weird wood bank a few times then filmed the Nullers do a million tricks into/out of it. Fun day!

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer night skate deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows no big washer, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape 3 rings inside, new balance numeric 288s grey size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

The wind finally died down so I went to dog park about an hour before dark. It was cool Robbie, Raul and Cody were there. Warming up wasn’t so bad. I was determined to get a new trick, the main one I had in mind was halfcab crook to fakie. I started with switch noseslide front shove which I had never tried before and I would get two in a row! It put me in a good mood. I then went in pretty hard on halfcab crooks on the flat side of the c ledge. I was getting into them good for a change, but sticking. I would get one or maybe even two. But they weren’t grinds, just quick pivots that probably fell into nose as I went to fakie. I don’t care, it stoked me out. I added a nollie front 50 to lip on the curb to my list of GleNBDs for the night. I was hyped. Then I tried a line for a while of nollie front tail to fakie on the curb, fakie flip on flat, halfcab crook fakie. Never got the halfcab crook in the line. My flip tricks mostly sucked, but I still left in a good mood.

(setup null smoke valley 8.3, venture 5.8 titatnium cast plate, bones medium bushings, 51mm spitfire classic shape f4 101a, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a night of enjoying the wineries in Palisade, then a long hike and directly after stuffing my face with tacos I attempted to skate the park. It’s terrible, super compact with a bunch of features shoved in. Everything is built well, it’s just crammed together. The bowl had water in it. I felt very out of it. I did some bad flyout kickflip attempts, a couple axle stalls then just decided to do 5 tricks for my 50th year. Except I couldn’t land anything and this took like 25 minutes to do. The treflip being so bad worked out so I could say 4.9 on my 49th. Not my best birthday session, and actually maybe my worst. Getting old sucks.

(setup null smoke valley 8.3, venture 5.8 titatnium, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Heard about how Mesa Univ remodeled and made all of their ledges skateable so went there on Liz and I’s mini trip. I had heard they were all tall and that was accurate. I cruised around and didn’t see anything I wanted to so we left. Went to the old skatepark there that I haven’t skated in 20 years. Last time was with JP and Jason! Or maybe even the NE dudes and Jeff, but wow it’s been a long time. I was excited, but the wind and my sucking drained me quick. The curbs on the banks looked fun, but they were all super crusty and didn’t grind well. I tried a line of kickflip on a bank then kickflip to fakie the next bank. But I took way too long to land one kickflip. I skated the ledge for a bit. Had some okay crooks, noseslides and one bad front nose that was in Jason’s honor. Couldn’t get a front 50. There was a dude there that could hardly ride his skateboard, but he could pop super high onto tall flatbars and stuff. It was a weird scene. The wind kicked in ultra fierce so I called it good.

(setup null smoke valley 8.3, venture 5.8 titatnium, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

On a really nice day Rob and Dave picked me up and we went to Evergreen park for a bday tradition session. We met Jake and Venture Dave. I am writing this way too late after the session so hardly remember anything. Except unfortunately it also seems to be tradition that I completely suck and get bummed on myself. Pretty early on Jake and I did warm up lines of noseslide to fakie, switch or fakie 180 off the curb, kickflip to fakie on the bank of the hip. Also early on we saw a patented Rob bean plant over the hip and a Venture Dave fakie impossible. After establishing I was struggling badly I went and hid in the corner and tried a bunch of halfcab flips to start a line. I had a few in a row at times, but then would miss a lot too. Argh. I did halfcab flip then crooks, but never got the treflip after. Rob had some really long back 50s on the curb, manuals, maybe nose manual, halfcab board pop out. Oh yeah we put a parking block on top of the bank which was super awesome. Dave did pivot shove then switch pivot shove!!!! Rob had some banging front tails, pivot to back tail. I had some fun slappy crooks, but they were nowhere near as good as Dave’s. I took to may tries to also do front smith stall and no comply to tail. VD almost got back 180 nosegrind, lots of impossibles, shoves, manuals and nose mannies. Jake lined out some gnar. Nollie back tail, wallie, back 5-0 the qp, hurricane the gnar qp. Front 50 up the hubba and maybe front blunt the main qp. Dave was of course the last one skating. His last line was nollie the a-frame, back disaster the main qp, gap front tail the parking block on the hip. So sick.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hanger, bones medium bushings, spitfire 51m 101a f4 classic shape, new balance numeric 288s grey size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 5/10 lots of knee pain)

On a cool morning I got to Boulder park around sunrise and managed a couple warm up qp grinds before 7. Dang! I went on to have a weird, but decent session. Mainly the board felt quite hefty, but I was popping onto stuff so I shouldn’t complain. Got a couple tricks on the long qp I haven’t done there. Back 50 to fakie and a back pivot (which I think has been forever since I’ve done a backside one). Was kind of all over for a bit. Got a tiny back 50 on the top side of the triangle ledge, had some better front 50s/5-0s on the bank to ledge. Took a bit to get a line of crooks then b/s flip on the hump. Even longer to do noseslide the bank to ledge then front 50 the bench. Almost got shove out and almost 5-0 shove (it’s been a while). Had quite a few b/s tricks on the bench. Not the best session, not the worst and I feel like I did some things that could lead to progress.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hanger, bones medium bushings, spitfire 51m 101a f4 classic shape, new balance numeric 288s grey size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)