On a beautiful morning I drove to Longmont park to meet Dave. He was meeting with some other older skaters that were mostly going to skate the bowl. Dave and I started in the main area though. I started off really bad actually, skateboarding wasn’t feeling right. Maybe I was rusty from taking my first day off in awhile. Ha. I was doing axle stalls then kickflip to fakie on the bank. Or axle stall then b/s flip. Then tried to do f/s flip, but kind of got distracted and annoyed by other skaters. Dave had some rad lines with switch ollies on the bank, front tails over the hip, nollie shove on the bank first try, boneless, front pivots and a cool powerslide body varial over the hip. We skated the steep to mellow hip a bit. Dave got a perfect back bigspin over it. I randomly decided to try front 270s over it. I never set one down, but some felt close. Dave was shredding the bowl. I tried nollie treflips to fakie on the mellow bank for awhile and came really close. Kevin showed up and quickly did kickflip to fakie, nollie flip to fakie and switch flip. Then him and I skated the f/s hip near the big qp. It’s really hard to skate because it’s so boosty. Kevin was trying nollie b/s flip and I was trying regular b/s flips. We went at it for awhile, both getting close at times. I kind of did one, but it was really bad. Only spun like 30 degrees, put my hand down and almost rode back in the direction I started. Ha ha.

Then we went to Rocky Mtn Elem. When we first got there I didn’t think I’d be able to skate anymore. My legs were shot. Young pup Kevin was manualling the brick medians on the bank and front tailing the ledge before I had even landed a slappy. Fuzz was on the slow start too with slappies. There are some really good curbs there for slappies. Dave got on back 50 on the ledge right away and some manuals on the bank medians. I kept it mellow for a bit and just skated the ledge. Got the slowest front 50 ever, a few accidental front 5-0s that I didn’t land, noseslide. Got a couple lines. Kickflip up the curb then crooks the ledge, front 180 up the curb then switch front noses. Fuzz, Kevin and Dave were mostly on the bank. Dave had the sick feeble stall on the edge, Kevin had front pivot on it, then I think Dave did the pivot too. Dave and Kevin were going hard at a bank. Then Dave started filming Kevin since he was trying a ridiculous line. Front 180 up the curb, switch flip on the bank, nollie back 180 off (or back bigspin later on). I also tried some lines where I ollied the first median, manualed the last brick median, then hucked kickflip back 50 and kickflip noseslide. I committed to the kickflip noseslide, but wasn’t close. I was hyped I was skating so hard, but not hyped I never got a clean ollie over a median, I kept doing a tail jib. Fuzz was in on it with a Sal flip and then kickflip to fakie. I was nervous about ollieing up the curb that fast, but joined. Ended up getting a couple no comply finger flips to fakie and a no comply shove to fakie. Kevin got the non bigspin version of the line and after a couple more slams called it good. Dave was contemplating some more skating, but had a couple bad falls on flatground and a rock. I bailed out to go on a hike with Liz. Had a good time with the dudes and forgot sunscreen so I got burnt too.

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm bones stf v3, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 255 blue size 12, pinnacle powerstep orthotic insole)

Up in BV for a couple days since my brother is in town with his boys. We went to Salida so the kids could swim. Ollie was there too. I swam and hung out with them for an hour then bailed early so I could skate some flat at a basketball court next to the pool. At first I was very winded and didn’t think it would work out too well. But I kept at it and would have a decent little flatground session. I tried a bunch of nollie flips, but wasn’t close. Tried the ironman line again, but couldn’t seem to do a heelflip to save my life. I did get a very slow backside halfcab heel though. Tried a few nollie varial heels, that trick is starting to seem possible. Had b/s flips, varial flip, sloppy treflip, halfcab flips. After awhile a dude came to play basketball so I only had half of the small court. I tried nollie tres for awhile, but then my wheel fell off and I couldn’t find the nut and my brother and the kids were ready to go. Hyped I got a little skating in.

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm bones stf v3, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 255 blue size 12, pinnacle powerstep orthotic insole)

Skipped out for an early lunch to meet Dave at Blue Skies. I was crazing some tricks on the flat bank, but when I arrived Dave was in the rink. So we started on flat. It was pretty crisp and cool, but that would change quickly into absolutely perfect weather. It’s amazing how impossible skating feels at first. I was sore and the warm up had me thinking kickflips might be out of the question. But a few minutes in I had to beat Dave to kickflip and ended up getting 5 in a row. That was a good omen. Also a switch no comply 180. Dave struggled with shoves for awhile which is rare to see. But he would get them in all directions. The switch ones were so good. I got a bs halfcab heelflip pretty quick. That’s a rare one so I was hyped. Shortly after a nollie varial flip. I was trying the Ironman line the downhill direction. Kickflips and heelflips were feeling good. I kind of got the treflip once. Still felt cool to do the line. Dave was hucking like crazy. Fakie flips, fs halfcab flips, varial flips and I saw him stomp a heelflip and back it with a back bigspin. I added a sketchy fs halfcab heel to my list of rare tricks for the day. Hucked a lot more that I hope to someday land. It was so beautiful out it was hard to go back to work. Fun day. Today was the first time where it felt like all the flatground skating lately is paying off. So many more tricks to learn…

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm bones stf v3, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 255 blue size 12, pinnacle powerstep orthotic insole)