On a Saturday in which I was still avoiding ollies I drove off to explore and maybe skate a little. First spot was the school on Mapleton and I found nothing. Then I went to the long ride on grind over the stairs, but it had so much gravel around it. I went around that area and didn’t find much other than a pretty good manny pad. Next to Columbine elem. Didn’t do anything there other than huck some sw bs flips off a speed bump that were not close at all. More driving ended up at Bear Creek. Made myself roll down the stairs and do a couple of drop down manuals. Saw that someone fixed up the ledge in the back so that is awesome. I just did a sw fs noseslide on it. Then I made myself try 10 sw bs flips on flat and was not even remotely close.

(setup 5/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, venture 5.6 v8 hollow, bones x99 v1, new balance 306c grey size 12 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Still dealing with groin strain, but needing to go skate on a nice night I went to WF qp. I skated about an hour and never ollied. Tricks didn’t come that easy. And it was weird one homeless dude was nice and left when I got there, but then he came back. He was encouraging, but I felt bad disrupting his sleep. Anyway, everything took several tries. Well, not the 50s. I had done some 50 reverts and some 5-0s and thought I should actually do a 5-0 to fakie. I still did the cheater version, but it made me happy. The frontside version took a while again, but I couldn’t get it with a grind. Felt good to skate and I don’t think I caused any damage.

(setup 7/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, venture 5.6 v8 hollow, bones x99 v1, vans half cab wafflecup grey size 12 remind impact cush insoles)
(pain level 5/10 didn’t do anything to risk the groin, but was kinda crazy how much pain I was in just skating this little qp)

Stopped at dog park on the way in for another short / no ollie session. Chris was there ripping the c ledge. I did some slappies, low boardslides, no pop shoves. Switch tricks didn’t hurt somehow. I did a couple of sw crook jibs on the lurb. Hucked a few sw bs flips which also didn’t hurt and a couple were even kind of close. I did one fakie 50 on the curb and even just that hurt the groin. Doh. I cannot skate frontside anymore. Had some sw fs noseslides that were fun. Felt good being out in the sun again.

(setup 7/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, venture 5.6 v8 hollow, bones x99 v1, new balance 306c grey size 12 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Very quick stop on the way into work. Wanted to skate a little because I was losing my mind after 5 days no skating. So I went with the intention of a very short roll in which I didn’t ollie. It was still fun. There was a guy learning axle stalls on the good new qp so I couldn’t really skate that. Skated the little tiny qp area and did my usual little line. There was a guy there in Xero’s too. Anyway, didn’t do much but it felt great to be on a board.

(setup 8.25 venture v8s halfcabs)
(pain level 6/10)

After a work function at Avery (in which I didn’t drink) I ended up at Frederick park again to meet Dave. There were actually some youth there and they were having fun. I had setup changes and felt off, very off the entire time. I think I took 12-15 tries to land a kickflip. I had mostly stuck with 8.3 and Indys and hated it. I had tried it because I thought I would have more pop as I have previously. But nope, had none and it just felt heavy, big and dumb. Like me. I’m writing this several days later and have very little recollection of the session. Dave did a sick no comply shove noseslide on the hip. Hard to describe, but he did it really good. I had gotten remotely close to a f/s halfcab heel on the hump. I intended to start with a kickflip to fakie, but I was like 1-15 on them so went to pop shove and was also like 1-10. UGH. Dave did some other stuff that was really good. I think I saw a manual on the pad, fakie shoves on the steeper bank, kickflips on the hump. I had started to get really bad groin pain so I stopped skating. I may stop for a while, it keeps lingering and it seems more depressing to skate so badly than it does to not skate.

(setups whack 8.3/indy 149 .. new half cab wafflecups)
(pain level 8/10)

As the sun came out and the temp got hot I rolled to the nearby terrible and fun wallie curb. I just wanted to see if my bruised thumb would allow me to skate and it seemed fine. So after some stalls and feeling out the spot I ended up driving to Louisville. Found a bank. It’s a little steeper than it looks. I warmed up, couldn’t get a kickflip, but got first try kickflip to fakie. Kind of a halfcab flip. Then went in on treflip to fakie. I would get somewhat close, but gave up after about 40 tries. Then some more exploring around I didn’t really find much so I ended up at the little metal curb I haven’t skated in a long time. And it was pretty lame. My groin was hurting bad, even just little ollies up the curb. I would get one manual. Some 50s both ways. Went in on kickflip back 50 and never got one. Nearly lost my mind. My axle had shifted and one wheel had totally locked up which made everything even more annoying. I had some sketchy bails, managed not to focus my board and left. I skated hard and my thumb wasn’t broke so I couldn’t really get too upset at not landing harder tricks.

(setup 3/10 8.25/14 sample, null grip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, 52mm spitfire 99a tablets, vans half cab waffle cup b/w size 12 with remind impact cush insoles)
(pain level 6/10 groin/hip flexor)

Got to Broomfield park earlyish since we were going to RMNP. Met Cass and Gordon. I started on a 8.25 with Slappy low profile trucks. It felt decent. The normal warm ups went okay. Gordon was doing all the shoves and ripping manuals and 5-0s pretty easily. I love that little bank to curb to warm up on. Crooks went well. Cass showed. My groin pain was still pretty bad so I kept not ollieing. Gordon made progress on front tails. Cass was on 50s easy. I was rotating between 8.25 with slappy lows on 14.25 and 8.25 with venture hollow on 14 wb. Decided I liked the venture setup more. Was trying to get into the groove but I slammed on a halfcab noseslide on the blue lurb super bad. Put my hand right in the crease of the ledge and the ground and folded some fingers. My initial thought was that I broke all of my fingers. I would actually try to keep skating, but decided against it. Cass took a bad slam a few tries later on a crooks and called it too. Argh.

(setups 8.25s with venture hollow or slappy lows, vans half cab waffle cup b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 10/10)

Went to dog park after work on a hot Friday afternoon. Will was there. I warmed up a little then we played SKATE. I got a letter on a kickflip. I had 8.25 with indys and it sucked. I should have got pink slipped but he counted a really bad fakie bigflip. I tried some faster noseslides than normal and almost slammed so bad. Will had to leave. I didn’t do much else. My groin/hip flexor pain was quite bad still.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null abstract 43, pepper g5, indy titanium 144, spitfire f4 99a tablets 52mm, vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 8/10 everything)

Can’t believe we did it, but we did. Dave and I went up to Idaho Springs park after work and met Cass, Garrett, Joe, Skelly, Jason and Dylan. At times there were several little kids, some on little sit down rolling toys, some on scooters while wearing half cabs, some on skateboards. I felt off the second we got there. Garrett said he was too and took several tries to bigspin the hip, 2nd try b/s flip, several tries to nollie back heel it. He would also have a really good front tail on the qp then wallie to manual to kickflip out. Joe had some nice back tails, front cooks then went in on hardflip down the big 2. He would land on one, but never roll away. Cass had a nice back 180 down the 3 stair, front noseslide, couldn’t get front shove down the 3. Skelly looked good, nice ollies, manual, 50 180 on the pad. Dave did a crazy kickflip to tail over the hip to tail. Oh yeah, the lights didn’t come on until well after dark so there was a period of not skating which made me so sore. Joe, Garrett, Cass had left when they didn’t turn on. Dave also had long 50s on the diamond cut coping, feeble the bank to curb, shit flip on the bank and a lot more I’m forgetting. I skated pretty mid and rotated between my 8.3 and 8.25. Had some good feeling crooks on the ledge was all I was proud of. Some noseslides, front tail stalls on the bank and no comply shove on the mellower bank. Jason was a treat to watch skate, haven’t seen him skate in a long time. Boardslides the long flatbar on the pyramid, almost front board, back 50s. At the end he did a crazy ollie on the stegasoris.

(setups 3/10 8.3 with v8s and 8.25 with royals, vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 7/10 groin pain)

After work I took some short cuts through dirt roads and ended up at a mostly empty Frederick skatepark. I had a bit of time to warm up before Dave arrived. Warm up went alright it seemed. There was a young guy in pads and a helmet and I had just assumed he was an old guy until I got close. He was quite talkative and was trying to get me to do treflips with him. Dave showed. We kinda did our thing warming up then were mostly at the manny pad area for a while. He was going for fakie back nosegrind. I was lining out ollies up the pad and kickflip off. Dave said we should film it and I got one in a few tries after a sw nose shove. And the line made me happy! Dave went on to get a few fakie back nosegrinds and lined them out. Dave was learning haflcab bliuntslides on the hip while I was hucking trreflips FOREVER. Finally got a very questionable one. Filmed Dave line out the halfcab bliunt shove which was incredibly amazing. As was the shove to fakie on the bank. We did more than this, it was a fun session.

(setup 3/10 null 8.3 keyhole, jessup ultra, venture v8 5.8 with flat washer and ti hanger, bones 52mm x99 v1, vans half cab wafflecup b/w size 12 remind cush insoles)
(pain level 6/10)