On a cloudy morning I woke up really early and have the late shift for work (9:30 am). So I went to Boulder park armed with an arsenal of barely used shoes to see what I liked best. I went with some Lakai Picos first and ended up sticking with them. They weren’t perfection, but they were much better then the Fallen Vibes. I cruised around the park for awhile kind of surprised at how slow my wheels were. I guess they are getting pretty small now. I really didn’t do a whole lot. All of the tricks I had in my head on the way there didn’t seem obtainable (back 50 the deep end mainly). To my surprise I did flip tricks for awhile and perhaps did my first ever 3 flip before 9am. At one point I was cruising around the back of the park and nailed my head on a tree branch that sticks in. Ouch. Just a little goose egg and a tiny amound of blood. The funnest thing I did was drop of a ledge in the far NW corner of the park to a quick roll into the middle part of the bowl. Then I went to get some water and get stuck talking to one of the dudes lurking at the park drinking Steel Reserve.

New shoe blues with the Fallen Vibes. I was the first of us old dudes there. I slammed on an axle stall on the quartapotty to start the session. Not a good omen. It didn’t get much better then that for me. There were some other older dudes that were really good. As Rob would say later, I felt more intimidated about sucking in front of good old dudes then good young kids. Doh. Anyways, we skated. The crew was Dave, Rob, Eric and I. Dave kinda destroyed the hump on top of the bowl. Bluntslide 270 out, proper back tailsldes. I got a line of f/s halfcab flip on flat, roll into the little 3 foot section between the pool and bowl, ride around, boardslide down the tiny rail, front rock the brick qp, b/s 90 flip to halt flyout. Ha. I haven’t skated with Eric much, but he’s got moves for sure. Rob had a real cool old guy trick that I can’t remember now. Like a sweeper slide of some sort on the hump. Halfcab boardslides on the slanted brown ledge. Lots of good. At the end I tried a line of f/s kickflip on the hump followed by front 50 on the pier 7 ledge. I got close, but didn’t land it, got mad and made myself try the 6 stair which I failed at. I committed, but didn’t ride away. I blame the shoes as I was coming disconnected with the board. The main lights shut off and I still hadn’t gotten my March new flip trick. I tried a few fakie double flips in the little light, but couldn’t get one. So I started trying kickflip sex changes and got a couple. Rad! I don’t believe I have done that before. It’s possible, but I’m gonna count it as a new one.

I had such a bad time in those shoes that it is unlikely I will keep skating them. In fact I might not even skate cups anymore. Why can’t skate shoe brands make as good of cup soles as NB+? Argh.