On a rainy morning in Boulder I went to Broomfield to meet Kevin and a friend from Ohio, Larry. He was rad. So was Wade. Rob was there when I got there, Jake a little alter. It was a different session. The Ohio dudes were already warmed up and skating the escalator rail. Rob was lining things out. I was kind of all over. I laughed when Larry was impressed with a no comply shove then no comply finger flip. I told him he could do the finger flip in 5 tries, but he didn’t get it. Wade was playing music, it was reggae, it sounded good. But then he put on Dinosuar Jr pandora and it brought the hype for more than just me. It doesn’t mean I landed much, but I was trying. Jake and I played a game of SAKTE. It took a long time. Rob didn’t play, but he did get his first few kickflips in months and they looked really good. I landed quite a few tricks, but Jake was too. I got him with heelflip, fakie bigflip, f/s halfcab flip and treflip. He got me with fakie 3 shove, switch back 180 (argh), creepy spin, something else. He was about to beat me with pop shove body varial, but he broke his board on a redo. Doh! He would skate my extra 8.75 setup after that. Rob had been cruising around us, doing nose manual, manuals, back 50s, front boards. Those other dudes were skating the sad ledge doing nosegrinds, crooks, 5-0 shoves, back 180 nosegrinds. I really wanted to do a front feeble to fakie for my game of SKATE with Dave. It took a long time, but I got it. Jake was trying front nosesblunts, Kevin was trying switch front pivots. Somehow I was the first one do land my trick? That never happens. It felt cool. I also did some fakie axles to fakie and a fakie pivot to fakie for the first time in awhile. I almost got a fakie 50 switch front shove after. Fun session.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 custom titanium, stock bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a tablets, new balance numeric 306 b/w size 12, thin NB 533v2 insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After work I resisted a nap and went and played a couple games of basketball with Ollie. It started raining at the end which meant no skating outside. I was hyped to hit the garage though. I put Swervedriver on and had a decent time. Kickflips and fakie flips didn’t come as easy as I hoped. Heelflip and fakie heel were battles too. Somehow I had gotten a hole in my wheels the day before and it was pretty annoying. Oh well, wasn’t gonna change it that quickly. Backside flip was whatever. Treflip was less than 20 tries for a change. Then I tried switch flip and nollie varial flip for awhile. Not super close to switch flip, but landed on a few nollie varial flips and was surprised to not land it. TGIF.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 custom titanium, stock bushings, 51mm spitfire 101a F4 classic shape, new balance numeric 306 b/w size 12, thin NB 533v2 insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went out not feeling very good after some food poisoning the day before around sunset. I drove without much energy or desire to skate. I ended up at lower valmont at the little manny pad where you have to move the bike path. I had changed my shoes to tome old Foys with thin insoles. They felt weird and spongy and I had a pretty bad slam trying to ollie up the curb. I almost quit at that point, but I’m way too stubborn. I would take like 20 tries to get a manual, a couple tries to get nose manual. Then I tried a trick for Dave for a long time. Switch front 180 manual back 180 out. I couldn’t get the manual, but I did enjoy doing a lot of switch 180s and back 180s off. I tried a few flippers, but they weren’t really working. Then I went over to the new area nearby with the white rocks and basically just looked around and then went home.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 custom titanium, stock bushings, 51mm spitfire 101a F4 classic shape, new balance numeric 306 b/w size 12, thin adidas rubbery insoles)
(pain level 3/10)  

Drove by the BV skatepark on my way home and it was full of kids on strider bikes so I yelled some obscenities and went to Fairplay. I had Fairplay to myself for most of the session until a minivan dropped off 4 kids with the gamut of toys; skateboards, scooters and bikes. I never went in the bowl except to get my board out. Ha. I started out mostly on the ledge. Noseslide, noseslide to fakie, crooks, boardslide, front board, switch noseslide, switch front nose, front 50, front 50 shove, couldn’t get halfcab noseslide. Then I struggled to get ollie up, ollie the gap. I went through a few flippers setting up, but got stuck at fakie big and treflip. Then I tried kickflip axle stall for a long time. 30 minutes. I couldn’t quite get it. It was so frustrating. About when I gave up on that is when the kids showed up. I got super frustrated again just trying noseslide to fakie. How was that trick hard? The kickflip off the kicker took about 10 tries to commit, but I got the first one I committed to and it felt good. After that i kind of dorked around trying a deck check to manual down the little angled ledge. I wanted to skate more, but I was out of juice. Another session where I left wanting more of myself.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 custom titanium, stock bushings, 51mm spitfire 101a F4 classic shape, lakai atlantic b/w size 11.5, xero thin insoles)
(pain level 4/10 knees)  

Out early on my way to my mom’s I remembered I needed to get her a printer. So I stopped in Silverthorne and skated for almost an hour before going to OfficeMax. I started slow, pumping around the outside. Actually, only once did I even to into the main area. I took a bit to get an axle stall on a rock that has transition into it. Then a little kickflip to fakie on a bank, noseslide on the bump to red ledge, nothing really on the main ledge although I was close to nose manual. Then I pretty much only tried a line for awhile. Ollie onto the ledge, heelflip on flat, noseslide down the big hubba. I would get incredibly close, but didn’t land the noseslide right. Some of my heelflips felt really good.

Then I ended up at Leadville park which had ropes around it with a warning that it was partially closed. No one was working and one little kid was skating so I joined. He would leave after a bit, another guy skated briefly, then I basically had it all to myself for a couple hours. A couple hours? Yikes I did not land much considering I was there that long. I dorked around with some back 50s on the little curved ledge, got close to nose manual the round pad, manualled up the MJ ledge, couldn’t crooks the bump to ledge. Had some fun frontside ollies on the bank then got a questionable noseslide 270 shove. I debated cleaning it up, but preferred to just skate around. I like the top area with the drop down ollie up. But I didn’t skate it well at all, couldn’t even do a trick down other than ollie. Tried a line of kickflip on the hump then front 50 shove the MJ ledge. But I couldn’t keep my speed well enough after the kickflip and gave up on that. I made myself ollie up the curb with speed a few times. I say with speed, but for me that means slightly more than stationary. I failed at some nosegrinds on the little ledge. Then I headed out. It was another one of those days where I didn’t skate bad necessarily, but I wasn’t happy when I was done.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 custom titanium, stock bushings, 51mm spitfire 101a F4 classic shape, lakai atlantic b/w size 11.5, xero thin insoles)
(pain level 4/10)  

After some fun plumbing issues at home Jack, Jake and I went to Evergreen park. Arriving into the park I felt off, this would not change. My excuse lately has been that I have to wear glasses. We were hyped to see Crisis crew Chase and Garrett were there. Jack was doing back 3s over the hip and some incredibly gorgeous kickflips. My warm up playing around was worse than normal. I actually don’t remember a whole lot about this session as I’m writing it a few days after. I’ll just do a quick highlights. Chase rips, so man steezy flippers over the hip. I’ve never seen Garrett skate before, he goes big. Rob was doing manuals, nose manual, back 50s, halfcab boardslide and blessed us with a bean plant over the hip. Jake was shredding. Tailslides, front blunt the qp, sweeper on the steep qp, kickflip the hip. I took forever to get a backside flip over the hip and the one I landed was terrible, kickflip off the little kicker then noseslide the flat ledge, a bad kickflip from the orange kicker up onto the hip, posed some kick back tails on it, somewhat close to nollie tre the hip. Basically I sucked. Jack wasn’t hyped on how he skated, but man, hardflip, beat me to nollie tre, back smith the flat ledge, his kickflips over the hip were seriously amazing, varial heel the hip, rick flip too! I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot. Jack and I both said we didn’t skate terrible, but weren’t happy with how we skated. Jake on the other hand was stoked. Good for you Jake. Ha ha.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 custom titanium, stock bushings, 51mm spitfire 101a F4 classic shape, lakai atlantic b/w size 11.5, xero thin insoles)
(pain level 4/10)  

After work on a hot day I met Sean and then JJ joined us. Sean and I warmed up a little then played a game of SKATE to get warmed up. Luckily it wasn’t one of those hour long games. I got a letter on front shove, heelflip although I landed on it, back heel, something else and lost on fakie heel. I had beat Sean to fakie flip, halfcab flip, first try fakie bigflip and got another bad backside flip. Then we skated everything. I had no pop. 50s on the cinder block ledge were scary for some reason, probably because they were moving around. The only things I did I was happy about were a couple questionable switch crooks (more like willy grinds but it’s a start!), almost switch front nose pretzel, ollied the orange barrier off the kicker once, really close to switch flips. Sean had a sick line of fakie 50 the tall metal bench then fakie back 5-0 f/s halfcab out and almost creepy out. And he was ollieing the hydrant so casually. JJ had some mean hurricanes on the flat bar, lipslides, slappies. I didn’t skate great, but I didn’t skate terrible so I guess that’s alright.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 custom titanium, stock bushings, 51mm spitfire 101a F4 classic shape, lakai atlantic b/w size 11.5, xero thin insoles)
(pain level 4/10 can’t shake the right knee pain)  

Went to dog park after work to meet up with Nolan who was rolling through town. Jack and Sean were trying fakie crooks when I got there as part of some challenge. Jack got it both ways, I’m not sure if Sean did or not. I don’t remember much of anything from me other than I tried crooks shove (the hard way). There were a couple that felt possible. Nolan showed and we chilled for awhile and caught up. Jack and I started messing around with switch flips. Jack told me ‘just do one right now’ and it resonated. I didn’t land one, but it did seem to somehow make me think it was easier. Jack got a few of them. Then I mostly pointed the phone camera at everyone. Jack’s treflip was amazing. Stupid phone glich. Sean’s shifties looked so fun. JJ rips, I haven’t skated with him this much before, he has a unique bag and it’s fun to watch. Seeing Nolan skate again was so awesome. His skating is so fun to be around. The blunt bigspin was 2nd try. Hopefully we see him soon!

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 custom titanium, bones hard bushings, 51mm spitfire 101a F4 classic shape, lakai atlantic b/w size 11.5, xero thin insoles)
(pain level 4/10)  

Trying to escape the heat Jake and I went to Frisco. We parked right next to Dan and Ted. Epic. So we all skated awhile. I had put my 8.3 setup back together and was riding it. It was crazy how much more pop the higher trucks had. Other than a quick nose manual I really sucked it up. Dan was ripping as he always does. Ted and Dan put on a treflip clinic. I wasn’t really feeling like trying flippers. Partly because of pain. I wasn’t feeling great. Jake was working on blunts on the bank ledge. I was trying back 50s over the top on the little curb and failing. Ted went for a crazy back 50 no comply back bigspin out. So nuts. I tried my line a few times, but the crowd near the bench became too much and it was just too annoying. Dan killed it, nollie front 180 nose manual, feebles and blunts on the flat bar, back smith the ledge, nosegrind up the ledge, so much goodness. Jake basically tried to line out the front 5-0 in the weird corner the whole session. He did have some good crooks on the curved ledge. Me too, it locks in good. I took a bit to get the kickflip to fakie. Then was trying a fun line of crooks, back 50 the tiny ledge, front nosegrind the tiny ledge. I couldn’t quite get the nosegrind. Near the end I tried and almost got into a kick back tail. Jake and I got some food and were going to hit evergreen on the way home, but we were beat and just drove all the way home.

(setup 8.3 null curby deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 custom v-hollow, bones hard bushings, 51mm spitfire 101a F4 classic shape, 3 washers inside each axle, lakai atlantic b/w size 11.5, xero thin insoles)
(pain level 4/10)  

On a really hot and smokey day Sean, Jack, Cass, Garrett and I rolled up to the Fort. First stop was Fossil Creek for a Launch event. Some of us warmed up on the top with a game of SKATE after some messing around. I had new shoes. Lakai Atlantics. They felt pretty good, definitely different. Sean smoked us, but it was an okay warm up. I didn’t skate too well, mostly just kind of cruised around, bailing crooks and hating my low trucks. It was great seeing Riley skating. He was ripping. Front 5-0 back shove, fakie shove nose manual, a bunch of tricks up the euro. Jack warmed up by hucking kick back tails across the Carrol gap, did late shove for the Greg Harbour challenge and gap 50. Sean’s ollie over the elevated flat bar was so amazing. As was his front 3 up the euro. Garrett said he wasn’t skating because of knee pain, but still ripped it. Nose manny drop nose manny. Hayden did the gap board to fakie so casually even though he hadn’t done that before. He also almost killed a kid trying nose manual into the euro.

After that we went to a bank to narrow brick ledge. Most people didn’t skate it. Jack and Joe did though. Joe had a nice front 50. Jack did a funny casper stall, pivot and crooks shove.

Next up was this ledge spot. Really hard to skate, but oh so cool looking. Bo was quick with the camera so I tried to skate. I was really not feeling well, my feet felt weird in the new shoes. But since Bo was filming I made myself skate. My setup was driving me nuts too, I had no pop at all. I managed a couple noseslides and almost a crook. Jack went right to work with some back 50s then back nosegrind combos. Joe ripped it with the back 5-0 then back nosegrind 180. Sean came through with a sick 5-0 nosegerind 180 combo. Next was a wood rail that Hayden made quick work of. Then the ol king sooper bank, but we got the boot right away. So we chilled in the shade for awhile until Jack setup a board. But then him and Joe were having so much fun messing around on the little hips that I joined them. Joe was thinking ollie over the rail into the bank and somehow avoid a semi trailer. Jack was doing backside flips and double flips off the kicker. I started trying kickflips onto a little metal slant. Joe joined me, but was going hardflip. We got the boot before putting it down, but it was fun to try for a bit. Then a new bank to curb on campus that was amazing. I tried to skate, but felt nauseous and ended up just sitting. Chris Jones was there! We were so all so stoked to see him. And he was ripping! Manual to kickflip on the bank to switch manual out. Ridiculous! Jack ripped it too with the nose pick shove pivot, back axle to front axle. Cass almost had a hardflip to fakie. Joe had some good ollies in. Hayden had a couple moves. Then we went to eat at Torchys and have a couple margs. These dudes rule.

(setup 8.25 null archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 custom hollow AWAKE lows, bones hard bushings, 51mm spitfire 101a F4 classic shape, 3 washers inside each axle, lakai atlantic b/w size 11.5, no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)