WOW.

Had a skate date arranged for early in the morning from the night before with John at some new “scooter park” in Boulder. Sounded cool. After waking up early on a Sunday for a change and getting the grocery shopping done early I took Ollie and his friend Cooper and we met John at this new park. Took us awhile to find it and when we did we didn’t think it could even be considered any type of scooter or skate park. It was cold and windy and I almost didn’t get out of the car. But we started skating it. It’s basically a little cement pond with 1 foot tall banks that are super mellow. There are a couple spots you can slide, but definitely nothing you can grind. It started off pretty weak, but ended up being one of the funnest sessions ever even though at times it was frigid. Ollie and his buddy Cooper were having a good time. John and I were landing new tricks an finding different ways to make the tiny slab of concrete more fun. John was somehow doing blunts to fakie so he had to fakie manual basically 3 feet since he likes long boards. I did a coupe bad back tail stalls and back tail front 180 and back tail shove. Cooper was doing front tail slides. So sick. Hadn’t even really ever see him do a trick before. Ollie was doing weird manual reverts and some little ollies. So I of course had to say “Nice ollie Ollie”. Oh the fun of naming your kid Ollie. It started to get a bit nicer out after awhile. Another kid showed up and he had a Null deck. Rad. I got some long front tail slides and got a shove out of one. Hyped on that. John and I battled frontside flips for awhile trying to get them all the way around on the bank. We got ’em. Did we get them good? Of course man. Ha. Then we tried to ollie into the bank. John did it every try. Me, I suck at ollies. Took me awhile and when I did it was a sketchy no pop ollie. Ugh. After awhile the kids resorted to grass rides and John and I tried to line in out by ollieing over the little gap into the bank, somehow make the turn, then do a trick over the tiniest hip in a park ever. Ended up being a complete blast. I got a run with the ollie in and then a kickflip over the f/s “hip”. John got ollie in, powerslide/lipslide, b/s flip over the hip. So sick! Super fun session.Later on I went to go skate campus with Nate, but Ollie decided he wanted to skate more so we met Nate at some weird banked manny pads over near Red Curbs. Nothing too eventful was going on. Ollie almost landed a back 180 out of one of the little kicker things. I ollied up into the loading dock which was hard. I ollied out a few times too which still scares me for some embarrassing reason. Nate did a front board to fakie transfer then switch front 180 the other side. Then Nate and I played a game of SKATE while Ollie jumped off the loading dock while landing on his board and pulling his shirt over his knees. He loves doing this. He calls it ‘midgit mode’. I have to admit that I’m not digging the Herman 2s so much for flippers. They have a good flick and feel, but they hurt sometimes. Anways, the game of SKATE was OK. I think I won, but it was because Nate was being nice. Although he did get a nollie big heel, but I’ll take a letter on that any day.Next we went to Boulder ditch per Nates suggestion. It started off sucky which it always does at that place. It’s so hard to skate. Nate and I played on the little q-pipe for awhile and got a few tricks. Front tail was my hardest probably. Nate got a front slasher to fakie. After this Ollie was busy carving over a snow pile and doing rock fakies on rocks and I was trying a line of axle stall on the taller q-pipe followed with boardslide on the narrow ledge. I ended up getting it, but it took awhile. Nate got some good front and back boardslides before almost getting back board 270 out. Fun times.

Rating: STYLE
Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: DURABILITY
Rating: OVERALL

Been awhile since I’ve done a shoe review. Mainly because it’s been awhile since I’ve been so impressed with a shoe. This is perhaps the best shoe I’ve ever had. Seriously. My feet never hurt, I skated great in them, the flick was great, good grip, everything. My only complaint is the stitching on the side of the foot will blow out pretty quick. Since this is the second pair I’ve had in a row though I knew to super glue the stitching. These are the first shoes in years to last me almost two months and I skated a ton in them. They are even comfy to walk in. So congrats DC for making such a good shoe and not putting your logo all over it like most of your mall shoes.DC shoes

This part is RIDICULOUS!!!

Skaterday yeah!  Unfortunately I had to bring the daughter to her 4H Llama club.  Ok, well it’s not that unfortunate, because it is pretty cool seeing her with her friends training an animal I’ve never been fond of.  That lasted most of the afternoon and was pretty draining.  A quick nap (yes I’m old) and I headed out to skate in the last few remaining minutes of light.  It was pretty cold (30s).  I went to this nearby school because I remember some weird round manny pad spot I had checked out on a bike ride some time a long time ago.  Kind of weird how you randomly remember spots.  Anyways I went there and unfortunately they had put in benches which could be cool, but it’s too small of an area really.  I messed around there for awhile before realizing I couldn’t really do anything there and it was too tight of an area to have fun.I went over behind Jason and I’s old favorite Safeway ledge and was surprised to see that somebody had waxed a new spot.  Cool!  It’s a really low ledge against a wall and it’s downhill for backside.  For awhile I skated it both ways trying some lines.  First one I got was backside flip (really bad), halfcab noseslide (bad) and back 180 (bad bad) over a manhole.  I was trying front 5-0 then 360 flip, but never got the 3 flip and eventually just gave up because skating uphill was dumb.  Next line I got was halfcab flip, crooks, kickflip over the manhole.  Felt good about that one.  Next was pop shove then back 50.  I like ledges with a wall behind them.  Makes them less scary.  I did every back 50 I tried and I normally blow at that trick.  I tried a kickflip back 50 and got it first try.  Rad!  Also got another one third try.  I was hyped and started thinking that today was maybe the day to get the trick I’ve wanted forever.  Kick back 5-0 shove out.  Well, I couldn’t get the kick 5-0 part.  Ugh.  Got close and locked in a couple times, but fell off.  Oh well, pretty fun ledge and it’s lit.

The DC’s are finally shot.  Best shoes ever.  So I was too sore to really skate, but I wanted to start breaking these new Herman’s in.  Before a little coffee date with Liz I skated in front of the house for a bit.  Had a few of the basics down before my legs really complained and after slamming on a halfcab flip I called it.

This game is such a fun way to spend a slow day at work.

Is ridiculous.

Tired from skating basically every day for a month, but frustrated with work and wanting to push around I met Nate at 8 downtown.  We started out at the Canyon Center weird metal banks and had a blast there.  After a few wallride variations on a taller one we skated a small one forever.  After getting the hardest trick there (rock fakie) we moved on to tons of new tricks.  In case you don’t know the spot imagine about a 2 foot tall bank where every two feet it changes levels.  It alternates between a higher level, lower level, etc.  Each section is about two feet wide and the elevated sections are about 2 inches taller then the lower sections.  I got an ollie into front tail on the side of the taller level then we started trying all kinds of weird variations on the side.  I got back tail, back tail fakie and some more I can’t remember right now.  Nate got those too and to fakie and nose stalls both ways to fakie which looked way harder.  Fun times.Then after a quick pit stop and some random  cruising we hit up the new boardslide ledge.  My legs were getting really sore and I could barely ollie up the curb.  But I did get an ollie up and then a boardslide.  Nate got a nollie up then boardslide to fakie.  Sick!  I started trying a little run with an ollie off a ledge, kickflip on flat then front board pop out.  Never got the whole line, but did get a front board pop out.  Maybe my first ever.  Nate did a couple really good front board pop outs.Before leaving I attempted to manual up this little thing then off a two stair.  I couldn’t do it.  Argh.  Got kinda bummed.  Whatever though, I should take a day off from skating and rest, but I hope I don’t.