Another very hot day. It was now or never to go skate so I went to dog park to meet several wonderful people. Fun times were had even though I didn’t skate well. But I suppose that is better than Jack who got smoked twice breaking his toe unfortunately. He had done an amazing line of nosegrind the bump to down rail then back 180 fakie manny 180 out before kicking his foot into the Z bar. Such a bummer. When Jack is in pain, you know it’s bad. I had flashes of motivation, but was unable to flip my board at all and it killed me. Actually I couldn’t really ollie at all either. Doh. I had some fun noseslides and crooks, that’s about it. Well at the end I had fun messing around with Ladd and Jason on the little wallie cone thing. Ladd killed it. Watching Jason skate is amazing. He can really flip that board like it’s nothing. Kickflip front 50, kickflip onto the cone, so much control. Dan’s switch front board shove was a banger. I like all of his casual manuals too. Lots of other good peeps there. Preston is a certified shredder and did switch back tail and every boardslide transfer imaginable.

(setup 1/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, venture v-cast 5.6 flat top washer, 52mm bones x99 v1, vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Another hot CO summer day. Met Bratcher and Jesse at Broomfield in the morning. Skating started alright. Everyone kind of bothered by the heat. Jesse had some back 50s and an amazing fakie heel out of the bank. Bratcher is getting back in the groove after a toe problem. He looked good though. 50s, switch boardslides, kickflips. I got a few of the ultra basic flippers, but no treflips. Skated okay until it came time to really pop and it bothered me a lot. Definitely got pretty upset. Jack joined us at the end and learned back 180 fakie manual fakie front shove out because he is amazing like that.

(setup 3/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, venture v-cast 5.6 flat top washer, 52mm bones x99 v1, vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After work on a hot day I met Jack at Willville where it’s nice and shady. We hugged and then skated. I really struggled, didn’t land squat and hated my attempt at mixing T2 baseplates with hollow thunder hangers. I literally landed nothing. Jack had some good nollie front heels. He did back 180 fakie manual revert around into the bank. Close to fakie shove to switch manual. Then we went and enjoyed some good food and drinks.

(setup 0/10 8.3 thunder t2 baseplate with t1 hanger and old 52mm spits – vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Was sore and had gone for my first run in months. Why did I go skate? I guess just to get even more depressed about my skateboarding. In 30 minutes I went 0-20 on halfcab flips and the only flip tricks I landed was kickflip and one very bad fakie flip.

(setup 1/10 8.25 venture 5.6 v-hollow blah vans waffle cup)
(pain level 6/10)

On a very hot early evening I went to dog park to meet Nolan and others. Chatted with Riley for a while. Brian, Donnie, Nolan’s brother skated. I did very little, just basics. I was so tired. At the park I mostly just filmed Nolan after some basic cruising. It was fun watching him rip.

(setup 8.25 venture 5.6)
(pain level 7/10)

On a half day after I scraped a car parking we hit campus. Neil, Rob, Gordon, Cass and I. We started at the shaded hallway. I didn’t really do anything. Some ollies were had, some 180s. Not sure a single flipper went down.

Next was the fitness center low to “high” ledge. Some 50s were had, some slides. Nothing too crazy. Rob’s back 50 were great. Neil is the king of grinding a perfect front 50, but not landing it. He was doing some cool lines to it. Gordon and Cass had long front 50s. I had a couple weak ones.

Next up was Baker Baker and to my surprise there were no cars. Neil may have done a cab off the curb then halfcab noseslide. Gordon and Cass had first try solid front 50s. Rob manuals, noseslides, and I think halfcab noseslides, no comply manual. I had a manual or two and some noseslides, messed around with some other stuff. I think Neil did nose manual too.

Then to the ledge spot with the ride on grind. Rob had more noseslides and frontside ride on grind, backside down it. Neil with a little grind on the fence base that was funny when he bailed, noseslide shove, front shove. Cass maybe a front nose. And that was it for the trip. Fun times fellas!

(setup 1/10 8.5/14.25 null purple archway, pepper g5, ace af1 hollow 55, old spitfire f4 99a classic 52mm pink, vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

After a much needed day off of skating we rolled up to the mountains. First stop was a breezy and sunny Idaho Springs. Was a pretty fun session. Neil was able to tap into the fire and get going. He had wallies, manuals, noseslides, one foots, crooks, boardslides. This is the Neil we know and love. Rob was shredding too. Manuals, back 50s, ollies. Cass was boardsliding the bigger rails, some frontside. I was the last man standing, for quite some time. I was happy with some crooks (even if a younger dude came and did them 10 feet further), one incredibly slow front 50, quick up noseslide, kickflip on the steeper bank that was bad then a kickflip to fakie on the mellower one.

Then we drove up to an almost empty Breck park (that would fill in a little shortly after we arrived). The road leg soreness had settled in and it took a long time to feel good. Cass was on front noses pretty much immediately and would get close to bigspin out. Rob had the sick back 50s onto the bank then lined them out with boardslides, maybe noseslide too. Neil with great one foots on/over/down the hip, front 50 into the bank like Rob, I think kickflip the hip. I skated like 2 hours longer than anyone. I wish I had a lot to say, but it basically took me that long to land anything so that’s why. I just keep hucking until the stars finally align. I did beat Cass to crooks on the ditch to ledge, had some fun noseslides to fakie on it. Took a long time to get a fun line of front 50 the weird noping tight qp, ollie the hip (couldn’t get kickflip) then noseslide to fakie. Almost got a similar line with kickflip on the bank and crooks after. Spent a long time trying back 50 on the upper deck of the miniramp, but it was an ultra fun ride away with the roll in. Hucked a little. Got close to noseslide the bump to snowboard jump. Ended making myself do 10 qp tricks on the little section. Last trick was dumb, but fun – rock to feeble (but not in one motion like good people do it).

(setup 7/10 8.5/14.25 null purple archway, pepper g5, ace af1 hollow 55, old spitfire f4 99a classic 52mm pink, vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 fp gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

On a hot morning Joe, Rob, Neil and I went to Boulder park. We had the park mostly to ourselves with the exception of some brief others. Rob had some speed carves and good bump to boardslides. Neil had no comply 180s, switch boards, almost manuals on the triangle pad. I skated alright initially until losing my mind trying the bump to front 50. Managed to throw my board over the net into the field. Rob was kind and got it for me while I had gone to fill up my water bottle. Joe was the champ. Front 50 the hubba, front 50 across and down, halfcab flip the bank. Then we went up to Ned, had some good pizza and enjoyed the hike at Caribou.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, venture v-cast 5.6 flat top washer, 52mm bones x99 v1, vans kyle walker b/w size 12 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Got to Broomfield park on another warm day. The crew was rob, joe, neil, sean, eric and dudes, gordon. Gordon did his high pop thing and good solid grinds. Rob got in the mix with some manuals up and around the mountain bank, boardslides and more. I made myself do 10 tricks on the lurb, but kept going and it turned into 20+ tricks which made me happy. Lots of them were no-pop tricks, but one of the last ones was front 50 shove and I really liked that one. Joe did 10 50-50 variations. Sean looked slightly rusty, but still killed it. Garrett was there with Square State and killed it.

Off to the ledge to bank spot which is way harder to skate than it looks. Neil was getting into noseslides, lined it out with front shove and got close. I kinda like the accidental manual. I took forever to do the switch nose jib, couldn’t pop it out like I wanted. No comply shove and kickflip to fakie on the bank were fun. Rob had some style carves on the bank. Joe boardslide then the back 50 variations. Eckert showed up with his crew who did a few tricks. Sean had shown and did front 50 into it easily then back 50 from the bank.

Lastly we skated Safeway while being totally beat. So beat that it took Joe like 15 tries to get a front 50 shove. He would end the session with a really good front tail. Rob had some good noseslides and stuff. Neil got up on some front 50s and more. I got a couple 50s each way. Fun way to end the day. I wish that spot was as magical as it used to be. Then we had a fun dinner after with Fuzz and Leslie.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, venture v-cast 5.6 flat top washer, 52mm bones x99 v1, vans kyle walker b/w size 12 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Hot day. Cass, Joe, Rob, Neil and I rolled up to Loveland. Dave met us. We started at this little park since the weird and fun river spot is right there. Joe did some long boardslides. Cass front board shove. I did some kickflips to fakie on the mellow bank. Neil got some boardslides and back 180 off the bank.

We rolled to the river spot. Neil found the hardest angle and spot to do a no comply to tail. Joe did 3 tricks while I tried one. Front 50 shove, front 5-0 to rock, front pivot to front tail shove. All while I tried front pivot kickflip out. A few of which were very close. Dave found a crazy path to shove nose stall and went to fakie. So sick. I gave up on the pivot kickflip and did no comply shove instead.

Then we went to the weird motorcycle manny pad spot. It was so freaking hot, but the spot is so good it had Rob in the mix. No comply bigspin, no comply up (maybe to manual?), almost no comply flip up. Cass was the first to get manual and then would get close to manual back shove out. Neil lined out manuals, nose manuals, noseslides, kickflip. Dave had a pretty magical line going up up then kickflip into the bank. He also did manual front 180. I basically only did some noseslides.

Off to the DIY which had some young bucks ripping, Dave ripping a line with 360s over the hip. Rob cruised it. Joe did a bunch of tricks on the little ledge.

(setup 7/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, venture v-cast 5.6 flat top washer, 52mm bones x99 v1, vans kyle walker b/w size 12 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)