On a wet dreary morning things got delayed. After awhile Jack was at my house. We watched some Stubborns then started skating in front of the house around the time Fuzz showed. Jack and I played a game of SKATE. It was pretty fun. He’s a gentleman and doesn’t take me out immediately with the flippers he knows I can’t do. He did a few tricks before I was ready, but it seemed like a good warm up. It started funny when Jack bailed a kickflip and I beamed him and did a kickflip. Ha. That is such a weird feeling to do a flip trick and not see the board flip. Anyways, it was a fun game, he got me on heelflip, 360 flip, fakie 360 flip, something else and then switch frontside flip. I had gotten him to SKA with halfcab flip and fakie bigflip and something else.

Then Kevin showed and we drove off to campus, but it started sleeting/hailing and we ended up at 303. Some shopping/food/drinks later we ended up at the 3 up 3 down on the hill. It was mostly dry. I was not feeling up to it. Kevin jumped up it right away though. Maybe even quicker than Jack. Fuzz and I dorked on the curb for a bit to get some type of legs to jump up it. For whatever reason I had absolutely nothing and could not commit to the ollie. Kevin was charging high speed manuals. Jack was kickflipping up and wallriding down. Some seriously sick wallrides. Pop shoves up too. Mike joined us. It was good to see someone with as much pop as him slam a couple times getting up the 3. That 3 is no joke. Kevin did 180 up then fakie ollie off. Fuzz tried to get his back, but the 180 up did not come easy. He had a bunch of 180s that slid out. But he did get it, and it was sick. I stubbornly kept attempting the ollie up. I would almost quit and film, but made myself get an ollie up. It took forever. I backed it up with a terrible ollie off. It made me feel better to get up it though. Fuzz and I chatted about what a battle it was and how we are still happy we did the little we did. Then I filmed the young ones rip it. Mike did 360 flip, b/s flip and switch varial heel off. Jack did kickflip up then impossible back 180 off. Kevin did front 180 up then switch fs flip off. It was a struggle, but he got it. Oh, forgot to mention I cracked my board pretty bad on one of my attempts up where I just did a deck check.

(setup 8.5 null lazer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 90a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, es swift 1.5 navy/clear size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 1/10 when we started, then way worse trying to get warmed up again)

Tired after work I went to the Dog Park on a breezy afternoon. I had made two changes to my setup. First, some 90a Indy bushings and second, back to Es Swifts. The shoes felt alright, but them bushings were way too stiff. I was hating it. I had done a few kickflips. Got my warm up line of kickflip, no comply 180, fakie flip. Had tried a heelflip when a few minutes later this kid on a bike showed up watching me. He was this super nice kid and he asked me if I could heelflip. A few tries later I landed my first heelflip in awhile. I asked the kid (Armando) where his board was and he said he didn’t have any wheels. So I went to my car and took the wheels off my extra setup and gave them to him. He was super grateful and it hyped me up. I was also hyped that I had some Venom bushings in the car too so I swapped those out and my board felt so much better. I still didn’t have much energy and it was hard getting used to the slipperier shoes, but I landed on a few of my tricks. The wind kicked in and I went home.

(setup 8.5 null lazer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 90a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, es swift 1.5 navy/clear size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10 i’m always sore by the end of a work week. too much stationary)

On a cool night I battled some traffic and ended up at Broomfield park. Darin was there when I got there and did a sick back 5-0 on the little ledge. Then a long crooks a few tries later. Kevin was already there doing switch manuals and claiming it was a warm up. I started with some non-ollie lines like qp trick then slappy crooks. Kevin really wanted to learn it and ran into the curb. Ha. I showed him the little hip thrust it takes to do it and boom, he landed his first slappy crook. He would get a few more, slam some, but he definitely made progress and landed a few slappy crooks. I was unable to get a slappy front crook, but would grind them pretty good at least. Garrett showed. His first run showed how much younger he is. Youthful energy front blunt on the qp, nose manual, 50s, etc. We mostly skated the manny pad area for awhile. I bailed nose manuals, fakie nosegrinds, etc. Kevin and Garrett made nollie/switch manuals look easy. I ollied onto the downhill ledge for the first time in awhile, it was scary. Tried a line of noseslide to fakie the downhill ledge, fakie smith fakie, fakie nosegrind, but never got the nosegrind. Kevin was doing super fast manuals on the black ledge to back tailslide the brick qp. Garrett was casually treflipping into the bank then kickflipping a trashcan on it’s side. Kevin had 180s over it too. I ran into it trying to ollie it (not intentionally). I had my first few front 50s on the black ledge and followed one up with a kickflip out of the bank that made a BMXer cheer. Not sure if it was sympathy for the old man or not. I was starting to hate the 288s with the high heels. We played a game of SKATE. I was out first. Then we left.

(setup 8.5 null lazer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, new balance numeric 288 tan size 11, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10)