Even before work I had it in my head that I would skate flatground after work since I knew there would be a new PJ game of SKATE. Well, the game ended up being nothing special even though it looked like PJ went as easy as he could on the nervous new guy. Doh. The weather though was better then I thought it would be and instead of having to hide in a parking garage I found this section of asphalt on the way out to FedEx. My legs were once again insanely sore. Have I mentioned I’m finally trying to wean off of ibuprofen after taking at least 6 a day since my arthritis flare up over a year ago? Yeah, about time I lay off it. But man, I’m sure paying for it. Lots of aches and pains that my body has to get used to. I knew it was bad when it took more then a couple tries to land a kickflip. I started really slow, but I did manage to get a few things. Mostly I just did “Zero lines” aka two trick lines. Just without any hint of gnar at all. I can’t seem to remember most of the lines I did. Fakie flip then f/s halfcab flip was one. No comply 180 then b/s halfcab flip was another. I tried heelflip then treflip for awhile, but the treflip eluded me. I landed one by itself early on, but failed over and over getting about as close as I could. Came close to nollie tre. No where near a hardflip. I learning it almost standing still on the flat of Rampy probably isn’t the best thing. Oh well, I skated, I got outside, I had fun. Then I drank a few beers and watched the Nuggets destroy the Lakers. That was pretty fun too.

After a long day of filming I definitely needed to get my skate on. Unfortunately it was snowing like crazy outside. I went for Rampy and around 11 I went out for a little session before Ollie got home from his friends. I just kind of cruised for awhile doing different tricks and got pretty far into my bag. Oh yeah, I added another layer of wood to the wide deck so the coping wasn’t as huge and it was really nice for disasters. I fell intro a rut of trying blunt to axle stall. I never got it. When I would fall to the inside of the ramp I would do a flip trick. I got a few treflips, but never the blunt to axle stall. I gave up and did blunt to rock ‘n roll. I’m too much of a pansy to go to fakie. Went in for lunch, then ended up going to hang at Meta with Fuzz for our last time in Meta before moving.

Later on I hit Rampy while in a horrible mood after dinner. I brought some speakers out and hooked up my phone to crank up some Pissed Jeans. Things got better real quick. It’s fun skating Rampy solo because I’ll do a flip trick between every run or just try kickfip 50s over and over. I basically rotated hardflip attempts on flat, kickflip axle stall and regular runs over and over. Never got the kickflip stall, but came really close. It’s so hard to flip on tranny that tight. Had some good runs. Did a front feeble pretty quick. Hardflip attempts kept getting closer and closer and then I landed one. It was sketchy with both feet next to each other and the board only spun like 90 degrees and I had to put my hands down to keep from falling, but I’m 39 and I’ve never done a hardflip before. I was super hyped. Gonna keep working on that one. I skated some more, did some tricks, came close to more hardflips and went inside in a much better mood.

Was feeling pretty hyped on the Null video so far after watching a lot of the footage with Fuzz the other night so decided on a mission to Pueblo where it was dry. Two car loads of people were willing to get up early and make it happen so we did. I had Chad, Connor and Max. Carleigh had Jack, Blaine and Derek. My car got to Pueblo first (of course) and we started out at the courthouse bank spot. My legs were feeling really bad. The quads man. I don’t get it. I could barely move. I did manage some slappies on a low curb and to get two letters on Chad in a game of Break-In-Chads-shoes SKATE. Max was all over tearing it up. I would film him get a good line about the time the second car showed up. I got to have a little more fun doing more slappys and back 50s on a curb, some front tail stalls on the mellow bank, etc. Max tried to ollie a gnarly gap. Carleigh got a million little prickers on her after falling into the grass. We moved on to the Ka*Mitt in Pueblo. Rad shop. We picked up a couple people and headed to the spot above. That spot has everything. While people warmed up I dorked around. Was hyped on getting an awkward kickflip on the bank and doing some kickturns like Carleigh is above. Derek nose picked it all steezy. Jack got a sick line. Our guide Andrew murdered the place. Some boards went in the water. Some boards were broken. IE, my board was broken nollie flipping a pretty big gap over water onto a weird bumpy landing. That should be enough of a clue to tell you I wasn’t skating it. Andrew managed to get the nollie flip on Max’s board. Crazy. Those are some skills to adapt to other peoples setups. We setup our new boards and skated near the shop for a bit. Got kicked out of the RTD station. Went to campus where my legs were feeling ultra weird. I managed a back 5-0 to fakie on the litle mellow fun bank at least. Max and Connor had some sick tricks on that. After that Derek almost got a bangin’ line, but the spot just kind of ended weird. I filmed some more on some weird ledge/block arrangements, but it was nothing crazy. Then it was back on the road heading home and feeling exhausted.

On a snowy night I was sitting around with the kids when Fuzz asked about Rampy. Yes, lets do it! Brett and John were supposed to join too, but they were no shows. I warmed up Rampy solo and it seemed like Rampy was eager for a good session. I was landing lots of tricks and putting together longer runs for me. I also took care of my 3 flip requirement early on which reminds me I had new shoes:

Lakai Carlo. My 3rd or 4th pair. Love these shoes. And I finally remembered to only get size 10.

Fuzz showed up and we immediately went to work laughing, skating and being hyped. It was such a rad session. We just kept going, doing tricks, trying new ones, falling for a long time. Fuzz worked on fakie front 50 body varial to disaster. Or whatever you would call it. It was silly and he had some good slams in the process. He also struggled with front feeble stalls for a bit until I offered him a beer for a make and of course he got it that try. Fuzz did a million more tricks. This is one of those sessions where tricks didn’t stand out as much as the fun that was being had. I was happy to get a few fakie pivot fakies, a front feeble with a grind, close to a frontside Joe Hamilton and happy that I had so much fun on Rampy.

Ollie totally wanted me to sit and watch the Nuggets game with me. I was so tempted. My legs were still really sore. But with the threat of snow a day away Liz made me go skate. Ok, well she told me I should. Good woman. I had finally setup some new wheels. As you can see those little 50mm wheels had worn out quite a bit. I’d say they were 48, maybe even down to 47. So bad! So I went back to the good ol’ supernullethane. When I got to the park there was about 5 people total there. For such a huge park that is almost nothing. I just cruised around for awhile not doing much of anything. It was a blast. I pumped the vert wall of the snake run a few times and probably got about 3 feet from the top. That thing is gnarly. Did some tricks on the tiny qp above it for awhile and ended up with a really fun run. Front feeble on the tiny qp, front 50 the ledge into the bank, ollie into the next bank, ollie into the next bank over the mini step up, ollie up the euro (missed the manual), backside flip on the blue bank. Good times. For the most part I didn’t really skate anything for longer then a few minutes. It was fun cruising around and hitting stuff. In the mini ramp it took a few tries, but I got a run with a front rock, front d and a fakie back smith to fakie. Doing flip tricks was a bit harder getting used to how the bigger wheels rotate. I didn’t land many of them. Then again it was in the low 30s and I was wearing long johns and a jacket. At the end of the session I battled back 50s on the little granite Pier 7 replica thing. It basically took until 30 second left of light to get it. Whew. I’m not sure what’s up with me enjoying skating parks so much, but I’ve never really done it solo before and it’s fun working on stuff I would never do in front of people.

Rating: STYLE
Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: OVERALL

These shoes lasted 11 skate days.

It isn’t any mystery that Lakai is one of my favorite shoe brands. And for good reason. They are skater owned, their shoes are simple, their team is amazing, they make videos and the colorways are always on point. I’ve had a couple of the Brea’s and decided it’s time to get my shoe reviews going again. I am not a fan of the thick insole Lakai has been putting in their vulcanized shoes. I take them out and use some old sole tech insoles along with my orthodic insoles. I have never cared about insoles in shoes though. If I don’t like them I will just use some old ones that I do like (although I should note that my wife probably cares considering some insoles I’ve used for like six months straight). I always wear my shoes for awhile before skating too. I have never thought shoes should be perfect for skating right out of the box. With that said, I may have put these in the work rotation a little longer then most meaning they took awhile to break in. But it was worth it. It’s a great skate shoe. The upper never needed shoe goo which is incredible by my standards. The sole was not so durable though. The tread pattern wore off pretty quick and as you can see I eventually wore through it. I am pretty well known for blowing through shoes quickly though. I do a lot of flip tricks, clean my griptape and weigh almost two hundred bills.

Overall I like this shoe.

Been feeling my lack of tranny/park skills lately and want to skate parks a bit more. Not a lot, just learn to flow through them a little better. So I went to Lafayette after work on a cold evening (mid 30s). Hardly anyone was at the park. I totally just dorked around for awhile. I didn’t realize how bad I flat spotted my wheel yesterday, but it was really bad. Combine that with small ass wheels and skating the bowls was way harder then it should be. Like almost impossible to maintain speed. I like the flow bowl there. I got a few back 50s in different places on it. On the black ledge I did quite a few tricks. I love that thing. It’s too bad you can only skate it backside. Granite is really fun to grind. Front 50 front 180 out, front 50 to front lip, front 50 to front board, couldn’t get front 50 back 180 out or front 50 to manual to the bank. I did a lot of just dorking around doing some tiny ollies, trying to flow over hips and stuff. My legs were super sore. My quads in particular. I think it’s mostly from playing basketball with Ollie in worn down vulc skate shoes. Ugh. I tried a few 3 flips and didn’t come close at all. I tried a line of rollin on a little qp then b/s kickflip on the bank under the mountains then back 50 on the super tight vert qp. Never got the last trick. Gotta set up some new wheels. I like that park. I like it even more that the granite is worn in and grinds all raw now.

After a busy morning of grocery shopping, basketball with Ollie, lunch with my mom and more I met up wtih Neil, Brandon, Alec, Jake, Brett, Dave and eventually Carleigh. We started out at the slappy curb under Meta. It was fun, but lots of bikers flying by. I managed slappy crooks, slappy back feeble and slappy front feebles real quick to remind me why I like that spot so much. Everyone else was getting their slappy on too. And some ollies on the bench to bikebath gap. Dave joined us. Then we ollied the 4 stair gap thing nearby. Moved down into campus and found a huge posse of dudes at the gray bench. Chilled for a minute, Blaine showed me some golden Connor footage. Josh was there happy. We escaped the rippers and hit some jersey barriers for awhile. Jake and I lined some wallrides out with ollies over a little pile of snow. My first attempt was an awkward snow wallie. Funny. Neil wasn’t into that spot. We kind of just did whatever for a bit. We ended up at the multiple ledge spot where we posted up for quite awhile. My ankle was feeling mostly decent, but I was avoiding flip tricks. Dave had some sick slappy noseslides. Jake almost got front tailslides. Alec and Brandon front 50d 3 ledges in a row (their goofy). Neil had some good front lips. I got a front 50 front board pop out and almost a line of crooks the tall ledge then kick back 50 the small ledge. Brett broke a brand new board doing a kickflip off the tallest ledge. Carleigh showed up and did noseslide first t. Then we moved on. We ended up at the manny pad parking lot. I tried a new line of manual then wallie into a bank and got it once, but ran into the next curb. Dave and Jake almost got it too. Dave got a sick fakie shove fakie nose manual. Jake and Dave left. Carleigh was doing lots of flatground kickflips. I tried to ollie up onto the red ledge then off and wallie up into grind on the sidewalk opening. Came close. Carleigh didn’t think she could ollie up the red ledge, but ended up doing it really good before we moved to the nearby building to laugh at me not being able to ollie the curb to drop gap. That was pretty much the session. I should take photos of more spots. It was pretty fun. My legs are too sore from playing basketball with Ollie though. Doh.

Headed up to Fort Collins pretty early with Bernie. We stopped at MRKT then rolled onto campus. My ankle was still pretty sore so I didn’t even try to skate. I was just on the filmer board pushing around while they warmed up. I was able to ollie some curbs pretty comfortably so I’m hoping I’ll be fine in a day or two. I filmed Chad try a line for a long time. Ollie over a hydrant, flip trick, nose manual something really tall. Took him awhile, but he got it. That was pretty much it for the filming. We hit a slappy curb on the way back to the car that was quite fun. Especially with huge wheels. I did a melon grab slappy and a double grab slappy. Ha, total dorking, but it was awesome as well as some frontside slappies. Bernie did a crazy slappy back 5-0 back 180 out. Had fun with Bernie and Chad. Those dudes is good people.

Fuzz and I met at Brett’s house somewhat late on a cold Wednesday night. We hung for awhile, checking out Brett’s place, talking about old videos and stuff. We went to Rocky Mountain Elementary, aka my favorite street spot in Boulder County. The school was dark, but we went to the fun/weird stair/ledge spot below. Warming up was harder than normal for me as I had long johns on for only the third time I’ve ever skated in them. It messes with me for sure. Fuzz had new trucks (he’s confused in life and got Indys). Brett went to work cracking his board right away. Doh. I love that spot though. Fuzz led the pack with ollies up the 3 stairs and he even manualed down the next 2. Brett got up all 3 second. I was last, having to push of course. Fuzz did some up/down lines that were pretty cool. Brett hucks a lot of tricks. Some of which are pretty crazy. I managed a b/s 90 flip up a curb that was really bad. But I was hyped to manual the ledge onto the 2nd stair then almost ollie up a long 1 into the downhill. The call to move down the the hockey court to play SKATE was made so I went for the ollie without the line and got it. Not a small ollie for me. I was stoked. The game of SKATE didn’t go so good. We started oldest to youngest. I’m the oldest. I went kickflip. Brett broke his board in half and Fuzz ate shit. Game over. Time to go setup a new board for Brett.

Then we went to this spot that Brett has been raving about for awhile. Warming up again was tough. It was in the low 30s. I guess that’s not that bad, but it gets old this time of the year. Fuzz was the first to ollie the gap. Brett and I followed. For quite a while we struggled getting setup for tricks. The flat gap might not look big at all, but with the limited setup and goose shit everywhere (luckily it was frozen and easy to clear out with our shoes) it felt big.

For quite awhile dork tricks were the norm. Front disasters. Ollie to rock reverts, etc. Fuzz and I got front 180. Fuzz got switch front 180. Brett slammed so hard on a back 180 attempt. A few tries later he went for an ollie to transfer of some sort, bailed, then went to push away and slammed pushing. Turns out his front axle had fallen off as his kingpin is really loose. So funny to watch someone try to push a board without the front wheels.

I went for front shove for awhile. Sometimes I wasn’t feeling it and I would just pose it, sometimes I would commit and slam hard. A couple of those slams seemed to hurt my front ankle. I started just ollie’ing the gap one way then front shove it the other. The ollies gave me confidence and I eventually got the front shove. It felt great. I turned around and went right for kickflip and boom ate shit! Went for a few more kickflips and slammed so hard every time. I tried a few of flat and that’s when I started to realize my ankle was hurting pretty bad. We ended up calling it a night. My ankle was not good. It’s a weird inside roll, but it’s gonna be a few days before i can skate again (luckily it’s snowing so I wont be all that bummed).