Almost forgot to write this entry. I was so tired and pretty sore after work. I sat around watching football with Ollie trying to motivate to skate when he said he’d skate the school with me during halftime. Rad. He almost landed his first kickflip first try, but never got it. He ollied up the curb a few times, had some 180s off, front axle stall. I did a few nollie back tails and then randomly started trying a new trick. Nollie back shove to front nose. I got a few, but was never totally posted up on it, still fun though.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric brown 212s size 11.5, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

I thought WKND would win it last week, but then this surprise NB# edit came out with 3 dudes killing ledges and it hyped me up even more.

Went to the dog park on the coolest morning of the season so far, in the mid 40s. It felt great. I had more time than normal so I warmed up a bit more than normal. Did some kickflip, fakie flips, halfcab flip, shove its, etc before digging in.

Backside flip – yes
Fakie varial flip – yes
Nollie varial flip – no, normally can get this one
Heelflip – yes, 10th try, worst heelflip i’ve ever done. I seem to have forgot how to do them.
Rick flip – no, couldn’t even commit
360 flip – yes, finally got an ugly one after it’s eluded me all week
Nollie 360 flip – no, the hands down one is funny though
Switch flip – no, it flips when I pose it, but not when I commit. hmm.
Switch fs flip – no, I’ve never landed this, felt close though
Nollie heel – no, never landed this, the one that flipped was pure luck
varial heel – no, felt remotely close, it’s been awhile. maybe since boards were smaller than 8″
ghetto bird – no, never done this one, feels possible.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric brown 212s size 11.5, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Feeling a little better than the day before (since I only skated once yesterday ha ha) I went to the dog park on a cool morning. Warm ups went okay, then I went in on the list I made.

Fakie flip – make
heelflip – 10th try make
Frontside halfcab flip – Barely a make
Halfcab heel – slow make
360 flip – Missed this one again. Argh. The 2 hands down landing was before the 10 tries were up, the 1 try landing was like 30 tries later and that’s all I got.
Nollie flip – not close this time
Switch flip – was committing at least
Rick Flip – Not quite a make, but felt cool
Nollie inward heel – Hard to believe I have landed this trick once before
Nollie front heel – Not even close

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric brown 212s size 11.5, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Made a list of tricks in which I really can’t land many of them. Did a couple minutes of basic warm up then went to it.

Heelflip – Can’t believe I missed this
Halfcab heelflip – Again, mad I missed this
Fakie bigflip – The only trick I landed, but I had to go super slow
Varial heel – Not even close
360 flip – So mad I missed this one
Nollie flip – Haven’t landed one in a couple years, at least it felt close
switch flip – Same as above
Switch frontside flip – never landed this, it seems possible
Blizzard flip – Felt like hucking
Frontside cab heelflip – A dream trick that seems somewhat possible

After the list I started back in to 360 flips and ended up giving up. Somehow without focusing my board.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric brown 212s size 11.5, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

On Sunday I had made a 10×10 list, but was too sore and tired to get at it so I did Monday before work. I warmed up slightly with some shoves, 180s, etc then went right in on the list. Here’s the results.

kickflip – make
heelflip – make
halfcab flip – make
halfcab heel – x
bs flip – make
360 flip – x
fakie 360 flip -x
nollie flip -x
switch flip -x
switch front heel -x

About what I expected, was bummed on not getting treflip and halfcab heel, but the others I understand.

After work I swooped up Dave and we hit the little Longmont park again. There were a few biker kids there, but they didn’t get in the way much. It was already getting dark and it felt like we both put some effort in to get warmed up quick. Dave waxed the bank hip and we both had some front tailslides that were so fun. I had a kickflip to fakie after, then kind of a bigflip. I started trying to ollie the hip rail and after about 30 tries at least got both feet over it before bailing. That would be a big ollie for me. Dave did such a sick line. Bump to 50 the corner ledge, front 180 the hip, fakie ollie to front 50 down the odd hubba on the bank. He tried it with a 5-0 too, but it didn’t work. Then he tried front tailslide shove out for awhile and it looked like he got pretty close to me. I was kind of dorking around at this point not really trying one thing and just throwing random stuff out there. It was fun. I managed to get up the stage once, but struggled with the c ledge 50. Dave kind of did back 50 around the c ledge, did a rad front shove fakie over the tiny hip and managed a kickflip in the dark. This little park is so fun.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric brown 212s size 11.5, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 1/10 in the morning then 4/10 leg soreness after work)

Went to Safeway on a warm Saturday to meet Rob, Fuzz, Kevin and Sean. Kevin and Rob were there when I arrived. Kevin was already doing nollie flips and tailslides or something. I was feeling pretty good as I warmed up with the ol’ no-pop noseslides and went into some of my basics. Fuzz and Sean showed around the same time. Sean went on to totally destroy. He landed pretty much everything first try for awhile. Rob was in the zone for awhile. Cab front nose fakie, bigspint front nose to forward (Rob NBD), back smiths, nollie lips. Totally shredding. Fuzz came life and threw down a sick little line for the Stubborns. I couldn’t do kick back 50, but I did get a first try front 50 front shove out that felt really good. Kevin did a back tail shove. Sean learned fakie flip front tail and did it buttery ( that might be the first time I’ve used buttery on this blog). Oh yeah my 255s tore on the sole so I changed over to some old 212s.

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@baffoos fighting the good fight. Good times at La Raza yesterday

A post shared by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on Sep 23, 2018 at 9:47am PDT

Then we went to La Raza. I was starting slow and Rob was feeling a trick so I filmed him get a line for the Stubborns. Back 180, halfcab board shove, no comply shove. The tricks alone sound great, but then remember that style king Rob did them and you can get even more excited for the video. Rob was also kind enough to film Fuzz after this go for a tech hammer while I warmed back up. Less than 20 tries later Fuzz put down a banger. Switch board to front board. Powerful as all get out. Dang, we stacking clips! Kevin and I skated for awhile. Kevin was trying a line of fakie bigspin over the weird crack then nollie nosegrind shove. He was getting close. I took a long time to get a regular shove over the crack then tried to follow it with front 50 or 5-0 shove out. I didn’t get it and started filming Kevin who eventually had to call it.

All day I had been thinking of a trick I wanted to try into this bank. Sean had said he thought it was possible. Having never been to this spot it was hard to say, but I wanted to no comply finger flip into it. When we got there the bank looked intense. I couldn’t even drop in from the top initially. But I stayed calm and played with it for awhile. Dropping in a couple feet further each time until I felt comfortable with the roll in. Kevin rolled in a couple times too. I started playing with the trick just to feel it out. It kinda seemed doable. The runway is absolutely terrible. It was super hot. There were ants everywhere. There was gum right where I wanted to push. But I kept at it inching closer and closer before getting a lame one. Thankfully Fuzz knew I could do better and told me to give it another try. I went for it that try, but the board didn’t flip right. Did I mention my fingers were bloody from flipping the board? A good slam and a dozen more bails then I rode away from a better one. It felt pretty amazing. What’s also amazing is the camera died on the roll away. Luckily there is enough roll away that it looks fine. But man I was happy as it comes. Everyone was. We stacked some good clips and had fun. On the way to the car Kevin did nolle flip and nollie treflip while holding onto a bottle. Ha. We went out to dinner and had some margs and it was a blast.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric 255 cream/gum size 12 then brown 212s size 11.5, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 3/10 general soreness)

After work and a very long drive Rob and I ended up at Fossil. The whole point of going was really because I just wanted to do crooks on the main ledge. So to say I was disappointed when we noticed a flatbar sitting in front of it and bikers/skaters doing ledge to rail combos is an understatement. I had a new deck. Back to my norm of 8.25. It felt weird. I kept missing the tail initially. We were at the top area. Rob was hitting manuals and nose manuals right away. I did have a good feeling 2nd try nollie back tail on the curb. Chadman showed up. Hugs were had. He immediately went to work trying to earn his spot back on the team. Ha ha. He did kill it though. Ollies over the little ledge off the curb like it was nothing. The ollie over to nose manual was extra sick. He almost got it back 180 to fakie nose manual too. Rob was going in on nose manual shove to manual and getting super close. I had a few kickflips up the curb, but they didn’t come easy. Had some ollies up the 3 stair ledge, but never really landed the stairs. Rob got up the ledge too and managed to get down the stairs. Chadman switch heeled up the ledge! He was flying up/down the 3 stair. Okay, mostly just up it, he didn’t really do anything down it. Another dude joined us for awhile. Then we went down to the main area and asked if we could skate the ledge without the flatbar. It was moved and I got a great feeling crooks pretty quick to make the drive feel somewhat worth it. Rob kept with the nose manual shove manual attempts. Chad 50’s all of it, first try fakie 5-0, first try hardflip up the ledge, front 5-0, manuals, kickflips up, etc. He was shredding and it was fun to watch. I struggled even with front 50s on the lower part. The accidental 5-0 felt fun. Rob and I had a good laugh since he was the only other one there that knew it was an accident. I got a couple more crooks, but struggled with them more than I wanted to. I first try halfcab noseside cheered me up a little even it wasn’t posted up (since when have I ever posted up on the trick though?). It got dark. Chad switch pole jammed a deck that was placed in a crack. Good seeing Chad, but not sure the drive through Friday traffic was worth it.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric 255 cream/gum size 12, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 3/10 ingrown toenail hurt and I just felt weird in general)

Went to Erie park after a run to boulder 303. I arrived to the park 30 minutes later than I wanted to, but I guess it worked out as Kevin said a bunch of scooter kids had just left. There were some youth with energy and pop ripping the park. I don’t really like this park much when it’s even slightly crowded. I kind of locked up and didn’t do anything. I tried to warm up with the dork kickflip off the little wedge to mellow bank. Kevin was shredding. Crooks, back 50s, front nosegrinds, halfcab into the euro. Dude kills it. There was another somewhat older dude there that was nice and fun to skate with. He had some moves like front 50 on the bank to ledge. Kevin had a good slam on a front 5-0 attempt down the little rail/hubba thing. I couldn’t even kickflip to fakie on the bank. The maze grip on my old warped 8″ board was driving me nuts, the print makes it so slippery. I didn’t do much other than a couple longer than normal noseslides. Kevin had a real bad slam on a back tail on the qp where he stepped on his leg. We thought he was done, but we ended up playing a game of SKATE that was the only part of the night I had some fun. The slippery grip got me a few times, but we still got through a lot of tricks. Of course I got letters on nollie/switch flip. I got him with halfcab flip. I got close but couldn’t land nollie varial flip and f/s halfcab heel. Kevin eventually won it, I forget the trick. Then we split.

(setup 8 null lazer deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, doh dohs 92 bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric 255 cream/gum size 12, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 2/10 but felt really off)

Went to Lafayette after work with rain threatening and some gusty wind. Since I had cracked my board and didn’t have grip I had mounted an older 8″ board I had in the garage. The park wasn’t too crowded. I had some fun little grinds in the fishbowl, almost a lipslide in it. A fun little backside ollie under the manhole bump, almost a kickflip to fakie on a bank almost front 50 on the granite ledge and then the rain started. I was kind of bummed since I was just approaching the warmed up stage, but also kind of happy to get home and chill.

(setup 8 null lazer deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, doh dohs 92 bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric 255 cream/gum size 12, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 3/10 pretty sore when I started)