Ollie and I got dropped off at the Buena Vista park on a nice, but breezy day (when is it not windy up there?). There was a couple scooter kids and that was it when we got there. I really do hate that park. The coping is big, the flow is weird and there are no basic ledges. But whatever, I’ve been trying to skate more variety. Shortly after we got there biker after biker showed. Little kids on striders, parents coaching their kids and several high school kids that mostly just sat there smoking. Ugh. Even though I have two high school kids of my own it’s amazing how annoyed I get with other high school kids. Ollie wasn’t feeling it either. He mostly just tried the line above for awhile. He did some fakie shoves, but couldn’t get the regular pop shove to fakie. I bailed a lot of back 50s. The classic shape wheels get on the coping quick, but for some reason I was going over the deck a lot. I got a couple slow front 50s on the weird ledge to ride into the tranny/bank. Got a line with front 50 on the ledge, front slash the coping then kickflip to fakie on a bank similar to the one above. Nothing came easy, couldn’t hardly wallie up the little ledge, couldn’t boardslide the flat bar, everything on the quarterpipes was hard. I kind of blame the Indys. The ollie off the ledge into the bank took way too long, but getting a kickflip after felt pretty cool. Then we got picked up and headed out for dinner. Hyped that Ollie wanted to skate.

(setup 8.5″ null rabethica, indy black titanium 144s, spitfire f4 classic 53mm yellow/orange swirl, 4 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings, bones swiss, lakai manchester grey size 11.5, spenco thinsole, adidas majerus insole)

Had the day off work, but off to a slow start. Ollie wanted to skate too and I told him to invite his friend Gabriel aka Gabo. We went to the bikepath ledge/hip spot. I started off real slow and i’m not really sure why. I battled with slappy crooks, back 50s and anything involving ollies. I did get a b/s flip over the hip first try though. Ollie did rocks both ways on the curb, they both did shoves on the little bank. Gabes was his first moving shove and it’s on film (above). He just started skating a few weeks ago. I did try a bunch of lines either starting with back 50 or slappy crook. Got front pivot to fakie, kckflip to fakie, f/s flip over the hip, nollie 270 over the hip, some stuff. Ollie got close to kickflip on flat. Then we went to eat which took the rest of our time and we needed to head to my mom’s.

(setup 8.5″ null rabethica, indy black titanium 144s, spitfire f4 classic 53mm yellow/orange swirl, 4 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings, bones swiss, lakai manchester grey size 11.5, spenco thinsole, adidas majerus insole)

Went to Longmont park after work and met Dave. There was just a scooter kid and one other skater when I got there. It felt very cold. It was in the low 30s, but it felt even colder than that. We started with some flat ground. After a no comply back shove I started trying no comply back shove revert. Kind of like a 43 shifty, but with a shove before it. I would get a few of them and they were really fun. It must be kind of hard because Dave wasn’t able to do it. I forget what else Dave was trying. Oh yeah, we were doing shove revert style tricks. Those are fun. Then we went into the park. We were doing our own things for a bit. Dave got a back big over the back hip first try. Sick. I was hyped on a cab bigspin on the mellow bank (aka the Joe Hamilton) followed by a front shove to fakie on the next bank. The front shove was probably my favorite trick of the day because it was spontaneous and I actually landed it. I had a terrible slam on a front board attempt on the little ledge. One of those slams where you lie there for a second to see if everything is alright. Luckily i was. Dave and I tried noseslides on the tall ledge. Well, Dave was. I couldn’t get it. This would be the start of the downfall of Indys. Then this high school kid (who called a bailed flyo-out of his “fire”) challenged us to SKATE. After some interesting decision making it turned out I would start the game. I went pop shove and kickflip and the kids didn’t have either. This kid did have a mean double flip though. It was fun, although kind of weird hanging out at the high school hangout. After the kids were eliminated Dave and I played for one last trick. I tried 360 flips, but Dave beat me with a switch no comply front shove. Whoa! I almost had it with some beginners luck first try, but was nowhere near close the next try. After that we skated the crappy little ledge for a bit. I started off great getting my basics first try. Front 50, front 50 180, front 50 shove, crooks, halfcab noseslide, but it went downhill quick and I couldn’t land halfcab crook or get close to anything really. But that’s when Dave started landing tricks. He got back 50s, boardslides to fakie, and a super sick boardslide 270 out. Oh yeah, forgot how hard I slammed trying a switch noseslide 270 out. That’s not fun when it’s super cold out.

(setup 8.5″ null rabethica, indy black titanium 144s, spitfire f4 classic 53mm yellow/orange swirl, 4 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings, bones swiss, lakai manchester grey size 11.5, spenco thinsole, adidas majerus insole)