On a beautiful day I headed up to Fort Collins around noon. I went to Fossil and was the only one there for awhile. My legs were feeling pretty bad. I’m guessing the drastic weather change that was coming was responsible. I started with some little noseslide jibs and 50s on the curb. Then got a line on the bottom of ollie up the curb, back 180 off, halfcab noseslide the ledge. Next thing I remember I was up top for revenge on a line I was trying with Rob over the summer. Kickflip up the 1, ollie up the tallish ledge, back 180 the 3 stair. It took a long time. The good is that I was able to to ollie up the ledge pretty often. I struggled on the kickflip the most. When I bailed the kickflip I would try front 50s on the out ledge off the 1. I got one, but it was slow and terrible. One thing I did I liked was ollie over the little ledge off the 1 first try. I would eventually get the line and it worked out with all 3 tricks feeling good. I chilled for a minute and it was right when John showed up. The break cost my legs and I was so sore. John rattled off some of his patented ledge tricks. No ollie noseslides over the ‘gap’, switch front nose, front 50s, front 50 down the mini ledge. It was rad. I forced myself to skate a little. Did some noseslides, a random first try switch noseslide shove going very slow, and took way too many tries to get a little crook.

(setup null rabethica 8.5″ deck, venture 5.8 v-light, 1/16″ riser, bones medium bushings no washers, 52mm spitfire f4 radial slim green/black, new balance numeric 212 burgundy size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, footprints 5mm insole)

Slept in late on a breezy Saturday. Had a few chores and ran boards to Crisis. Time seemed to fly by and before I knew it the afternoon had almost gone by. I biked over to meet Saul at Souther Hills. It’s been awhile since I’ve been there. The bike ride had my legs warmed up, but feeling weird. Started out mostly n the lower stair. Saul got some front 50s. It was sick! I think he also got back 50 and got up on a boardslide on a bench. I also saw him get into a front axle stall on the upper stair. Dang pop! I kind of got in a groove. Had a few noseslides, boardslides, but struggled with crooks. Had some 50s on the stair, ollied up the 2. Then we skated this parking block area for awhile which was fun. The curb didn’t grind too well. Saul would eventually get a few solid slappies on it, almost a feeble. I only got slappy crooks. There was also a fun manual pad there. I got manual and a few tries for nose manual which was really fun feeling. Saul worked on his ollies up the curb and even put a few into manual. My flip tricks were working okay. No treflips, but halfcab flips and b/s flip I think. Oh yeah, I had messed with my setup even though I’m not supposed to. I put an old Jason 8.5″ deck, swapped out baseplates for the forged/hollow axle, added a tiny riser. It felt good.

(setup null rabethica 8.5″ deck, venture 5.8 v-light, 1/16″ riser, bones medium bushings no washers, 52mm spitfire f4 radial slim green/black, new balance numeric 212 burgundy size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, footprints 5mm insole)

Went out to the garage feeling tired after a week of work. It was pretty windy at times and I didn’t want to deal with the wind. I ended up having fun. I skated the little ledge thing. Did a few front 50s and front 5-0s to start with. I tried them near the end of the ledge so that maybe it would make me feel slightly more comfortable coming off the end of ledges. Then I did a couple nosegrinds. The second one is shown above. It made me laugh, but it felt cool. Then I skated the ledge backside. Back 50s and 5-0s were fun. That side of the ledge hasn’t been skated as much so it felt a little more raw to grind it. I tried back 5-0 front 180s out for awhile. Never got a proper one, but had some ones that were more like jibs to powerslide. Kind of got a stationary treflip. Tried a few fakie 5-0s, but never got close. Went in and made dinner.

(setup null monico 8.38″ deck, venture 5.8, bones medium bushings no washers, 3 speed washers on the outside of each axle, 52mm spitfire f4 radial slim green/black, new balance numeric 212 burgundy size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, footprints 5mm insole)