Went to dog park around 9:30. Rob and I were there first. Bernie, Dave L and Eric would show up shortly after. Along with a bunch of people, it got kind of crowded. Anyway, starting out was okay. We had to avoid the back area because they were doing some electric work (adding lights!!!!). But it messed with the flow of things for me. I don’t really remember a whole lot. Rob is getting his groove back. Eric had a lot of good heelflips and some questionable backside heels at the end. Dave L had some casual kickflips over a parking block and relearned inward heelflips at the end of the session. Bernie manualled the top of the two level ledge, almost got fakie 5-0 shove. I didn’t do a whole lot, but did get remotely close to a dream trick. Crooks shove (the hard way).

After a nap and chilling I went to Willville solo. It was nice and cool out with some little sprinkles that never amounted to anything. I tried to start on the new little waxed ledge, but it didn’t grind. Ended up trying kind of a ridiculous line. Nose manual into the bank, turn around, treflip, ollie onto the ledge then front shove to fakie on the bank. I never got the treflip. And I only got a few feet up the bank when I tried. How Sean and Jack can go that fast up it is beyond me. Then I did a few back 50s, tried switch crook for awhile and failed. Tried f/s cab heelflips for awhile and they felt close even though they didn’t look it. I had made a list of about 6 tricks. I had to do one before I could head home. I couldn’t get a nollie varial flip, but the first try rick flip was the golden ticket home.

(setup 8.25 null archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 custom hollow cast baseplate, v-hollow hanger, bones hard bushings, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric 288s grey/blue size 11.5, xero thin insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

PJ appears to be at the top of his game again and man this clip is pure fire. Stoked to see my favorite skater ripping so hard again.

Feeling pretty arthritic I went to Broomfield pretty early to meet Sean and Rob. Sean was there. We started with a game of SKATE. Sean was sore and I was even more sore than I thought. I got a letter on kickflip and didn’t even think of double or nothing. Sean had me to SKAT, but couldn’t get rid of me. I would get backside flip, halfcab flip and something else. Got him with frontside halfcab flip. But he ended me with fakie 3 shove which I couldn’t get. I had gotten close to 3 shoves before that, but didn’t stay on it. Rob had arrived and was warming up when we finished. He would go on to land a bunch of tricks in long lines. Halfcab noseslides, crooks, fakie bigspins, nose manual the blue bank, halfcab boardslides, front noses, front boards. Sean kept it pretty mellow, some 50s on the happy and sad ledges, manuals, etc. I was struggling to ollie with the arthritis kicking. I tried a line for a bit of beanplant the hump up top, front 180 into the bank, fakie nosegrind. Never committed to the fakie nosegrind though. Tried noseslide 270 shove and didn’t get close, got halfcab noseslide, front 50, front 5-0, switch front nose. But kinda fell apart and got upset. I hate being that guy. Rob and Sean would leave. I mostly just skated flat after that going slow. Got kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, backside flip, varial flip, fakie varial flip, f/s halfcab flip, heelflip. Left bumming on my arthritis. Gotta eat better.

(setup 8.25 null archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollows, bones hard bushings, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric 288s grey/blue size 11.5, xero thin insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Got to dog park a little before 10. Jake was already there and we did some squeegeeing for a bit and got it mostly dry. Then we played a game of SKATE. I had a new deck, 8.25, 5.6 v-hollows. It felt great. The game of SKATE went decent for me. I avoided heelflips since I’ve been known to break new boards with bad heelflips. It was looking like I was going to pink slip Jake, but he strung together a few tricks that I got letters on. One was 360 shove which I tried twice and got it the second try (not a double or nothing). We both had SKAT and were going for 360 flips. I got a couple super bad ones that didn’t count before getting a decent one to win it. Then we skated the goods. Oh, Sean had shown up and was quickly 50/5-0/nosegrinding everything with ease. I skated mostly pretty bad, but had one line that was okay for me. Fakie 50 the weird pad, halfcab noseslide the tall side of the 2 step ledge, front 50 the new black one. I would go on to not land any more flip tricks even though I hucked a lot. It was frustrating. Hayden, Bo, Peyton and Noe showed up. We basically had the park all to us. Jake did some bluntslides on the elevated parking block. I ollied them. Noe did a million flip tricks and some mannies. Sean and Hayden ollied the fire hydrant and did a million cool tricks. Bo ripped it too, such a good treflip and maybe even feeble on the tall bar.

Then we went to Willville. I didn’t skate much there because I was filming Jack and Sean get buck. I don’t know how they can go so fast and ollie up that curb, but man they rip. Hayden got a cool line with Bo. Noe did some cool manuals.

Then we went to the 6-6. I had gotten kind of lost and looked at some new stuff that looked fun. Upon arriving to the 6-6 I saw Jack looked ready so I went to film him. He bailed one nollie tre, then second try he gets the nollie tre then treflip. WTF! Wow Jack. What a surreal moment. Noe did a line too while the rest of us kind of messed around. I got close to a couple switch flips in cracks. Peyton did some cool wall plants. Jack grinded a sharp metal landscaping divider.

Then we went to the ol’ bank to gap spot in the tech center. I started posing rock kickflips to fakie. Hayden nose manualled down it which is so gnarly. Sean nose manualled up it! Joe was trying to ollie up then ollie out over the cone which would be so sick. Noe did a super good fakie bigflip down the gap. Peyton almost got a cool line of ollie up, rock fakie, switch treflip down. All of this while I was still trying rock kickflip fakie. Bo was kind enough to film. Those dudes were all done and chilling so it was just me skating and I felt pretty dumb. Luckily they all rule and I was able to keep trying. I would get about 5 of them, but struggled with the switch 180 down the gap. I kind of got one. The 180 really sucked, but it’s a funny line. Super fun day. I can’t thank Bo enough for helping with filming.

(setup 8.25 null archway deck, jessup, venture 5.6 v-hollows, bones hard bushings, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric 288s grey/blue size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Rain was threatening in Boulder so it seemed like getting out was imperative. Rob was down and we arrived around the same time a little after 9. We had the park to ourselves for awhile. Rob is getting tricks back left and right. Back 50, noseslides both ways, crooks, fakie bigspins, halfcab boardslides, he was looking good. I was still on the little 8″ setup and I didn’t really like it. It flipped around pretty easy, but it wasn’t good for the ledges and I really didn’t land much. The only thing I remember I liked was a front 50 to front board. A crew of younger skaters showed up and had a lot of energy changing the vibe and making it not as fun. Then another couple dudes that were better, but even more annoying. Things like waxing a ledge before skating it, complaining about people being around them (you’re at a skatepark idiot). Rob split when Jake showed up. Jake did a line with front blunt on the quartapotty and then 5-0 fakie on the steep bank. I got his back with a sloppy kickflip or two over the parking block. Then we played a game of SKATE. For once I got Jake a letter on treflip. Mine was questionable, but he did so many primos that he almost had to quit the game. Yikes. I had some other tricks like f/s halfcab flip, heelflip, and a couple more I can’t remember to beat him.

Then we went to Safeway ledge. I started slow not liking the little board and being oh so sore. But we ended up getting some stuff we were hyped on. Jake had fakie back tail and then back tail. His first back tail in the streets. I did my first kick back 50 in awhile. Then we went and had lunch and hung out with Fuzz and it was awesome.

(setup null logo 8″ deck, jessup, venture 5.2 awake lows, bones hard bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric 288s grey/blue size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

I went out to the garage on a rainy evening before dinner. I was motivated and felt decent. The warm up process went alright. I took a few tries to get a pop shove I was happy with which was the start of the struggles. Then kickflip took a few tries, but I did manage my 5 in a row. Then heelflips. I had gotten one and was going for a total of 5 when a missed heelflip resulted in my foot going right through the middle of my board. No worries I grabbed a very old 8″ deck sitting on the garage and swapped them out. It felt a little small and I started with fakie flips to get going. Then I went back to heelflip and was able to get 4 more of those. Did a couple backside flips, a great feeling fakie varial flip. Then couldn’t treflip to save my life followed by many varial heelflip attempts that I couldn’t land either. I hucked a few nollie flips that felt pretty close, but overall I was just so bummed. I tried so hard and I couldn’t come up with a rare or new trick. It really felt like I’m just too old to learn new stuff anymore and it hit me hard.

(setup 8.25 null curby deck/null logo 8″ deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, venture yellow bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric 288s grey/blue size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

On a nice night I met Dave at Red Hawk with about an hour of sunlight left.  I had new shoes.  Another pair of the cupsole 288s.  They felt alright.  Much less pain than the 306 vulcs, but also less grip.  Anyway the warm up wasn’t too bad for me.  I got into my basics pretty quick and was doing a bit more flippers than normal.  Had a couple good feeling halfcab flips and front 50s.  Dave was doing some long front noseslides, manuals on the rock, etc.  I would land on a few tricks, but not really land anything I was overly happy with.  Got close to nollie varial flip, nollie tre, front 5-0 shove, kick back 50/5-0.  I kind of got a front smith.  Dave had such a good front 50 back 180.  He also got into some front crooks which I haven’t seen him try in awhile. He also ended on such a good line of noseslide shove then back 50 nollie shove.  

(setup 8.25 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, venture yellow bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric 288s grey/blue size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a warm night I went to campus about an hour before sunset.  I had thought of the stadium bank and all of these flip tricks I wanted to do there.  So you know what that means right?  That I wouldn’t be able to land anything.  I had done a few warm ups before struggling pretty bad with kickflip to fakie, b/s flip, f/s flip and fakie flip.  Then I just went for treflip.  Over and over with no luck.  At one point my foot started hurting so bad.  I am going to give up on vulcanized shoes again, they are so painful.  The only good that came from it was hucking a f/s cab heelflip and getting remotely close.  When it got too dark I moved on and was surprised at how dark so many spots were.  I ended up at the hidden ledge with no runway and tried Dave’s challenge until I got it.  It took 9 minutes, 38 seconds.  ha.  I tried front 50 for a white.  I was pretty close when a bunch of bugs started roaming around on the ledge and my stupid hippy self didn’t want to hurt them.  So I moved on .. to the car.  Bummer of a night.  

(setup 8.25 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric foy b/w/y size 12, nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 5/10)

After work on a hot afternoon I drove by Southern Hills to skate some flat and benches.  However there were several people there playing basketball so I turned around and moved on.  I ended up at a random nearby school that has a weird flagstone bench with gaps on each side, a sketchy butter bench against a bush with flowers, an alright curb, some decent flatground and a million stop rocks.  I had brought out my old 8.25 with low trucks because I felt desperate to have better flippers.  It worked.  Although I did struggle to ollie up a curb with any confidence.  Anyway I tried a line to get things going.  Back tail a curb, kickflip on flat, ollie up a curb, ollie onto the bench.  I never committed to the bench.  I couldn’t last time I was there either.  I hucked a lot of flippers.  Got kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, b/s flip, halfcab flip, f/s halfcab flip, close to varial heel.  Hucked kick back tails on the curb for a bit and got really close.  Did a bunch of crooks on the bench which was really fun.  I did a few other tricks on it too, but they were even less good than crooks.  I couldn’t get a front 50 on it to save my life.  I was upset about this initially, but really that ledge is something I would normally never touch.  Cracks, stop rocks, a family biking in the parking lot watching me.  Yeah a lot of forces working against me.  I left on peaceful terms even without getting the front 50.  Then I watched Back To The Future with the kids.  That movie rules and was the first skateboarding I ever saw.  I got a skateboard shortly after that.  35 years later here I am still not able to front 50 a bench.  Ha.
(setup 8.25 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, 51mm spitfire F4 101a radial slims, new balance numeric foy b/w/y size 12, nike sb zoom air insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Feeling pretty wiped out Sean talked me into dog park as there was some cloud cover.  I had new shoes, NB# Foy 306.  They felt weird.  Partly because I put too thin of an insole in them.  I struggled with everything, even kickflips.  Sean had been doing his typical lines.  I had tried a line of manual, crook, front smith the new black box for awhile.  Sean had ollied the new hydrant and done the pole jam when I shouted out heelflip manual.  This turned into a manual session on the little guy.  Except that I couldn’t kickflip in to save my life.  It was so frustrating.  Sean would go on to learn halfcab noseslide, heelflip manual, heelflip back 50 and fakie back nosegrind.  Four new tricks in one day.  So insane.  My only redeeming trick was a front smith even though I didn’t really grind it.  Oh, and I also did a funny kickflip up the manny pad once where I used my hands to hold myself up.  Actually that’s more depressing than I thought.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-hollows, stock bushings no boardside washer, 3 washers inside each axle, bones stf 51mm v1 83b, new balance numeric 306 foy b/w/y size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)