After another busy day at work and a quick dinner I met Kevin at dog park. I was wearing Lems and had a slightly larger board with smaller trucks. It felt flippy and surfy. Kevin was already in his groove doing hitting the ledges. I had a line that made my day and last month of not skating. Although I’m not sure I remember it but it was something like fake flip, switch 180, no comply 180, fakie bigspin. I couldn’t crook the ledge though. Had noseslides again, one really slow front 50 on the low manny pad. We went over to the Valmont park, Saul joined. The flyout laps were in full effect. Saul did some laps, but had to go because of knee pain. Doh. Kevin and I mostly skated the hump area. He did a great line. Grind the rainbow, pivot, slash, slash, nollie frontside flip the hip. Also a switch flip on the bank followed by a back 180 over the rainbow rail. Yes, all 1″ of it. I posed some treflips, but couldn’t get my speed or flick right. Going the other way I had some fun on the bank with first try no comply bigspin and bigflip. Both made me quite happy. Kevin was killing it manualling the volcano, back smith the barrier, nollie flip the bank. Mess around in the transition a little, the lack of a flat quarterpipe is annoying. We hit the hips for a bit at the end, but did not commit to b/s flips over the euro hip. Then we played a game of SKATE in the lights at dog park. I got a first try halfcab flip which also made me happy, but other than that didn’t land much. Kevin got me with switch flip, a couple more then ended with nollie tre which I was close. Kevin left and I tried to skate the manny pad ledge. After how decent of a night I had it really exposed how I couldn’t ollie. At all. It took me like 15 tries to get a very bad 50. Ugh.

(setup null 8.3 spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 cast baseplate v-hollow hanger no big washer, spitfire f4 99a classic shape 50mm, lems navy chillum size 12)
(pain 3/10 still scared to fully push because of achilles)

Went to Loveland to meet Riley and hopefully more. Was warming up on an 8″ with venture lows and wasn’t really feeling good. Did a couple ultra basics then Riley showed and we chatted. Riley had to leave and I went to Fossil where I met Bo and Noe. I skated the 8″ for awhile, but ended up not really liking it. I did get a crooks at least, some switch noseslides. I really didn’t skate much. Noe and Bo killed it. That’s the most I’ve seen Noe skate, man all them flippers, so fun to watch.

After how bad my achilles hurt form the short session in Denver I decided no more skate shoes. I wore some old Xero Hana shoes and honestly they felt incredible. At no point did I feel like I have my normal skate pains. But I guess the big thing is I really didn’t try much. Kevin was there first and he was hitting the ledges. I kind of messed around but was super cautious. After awhile I did a kickflip! It did not hurt and man it felt good. Dave showed and we eventually all ended up skating the barrier area. We did some silly rides to fakie, Dave had a rad one where he grinded back down it. Kevin charged some to back 50. Kevin was unable to get front 5-0 and slammed hard on the crooks. He had to take off. Dave and I kept it mellow. Dave’s pivot shove feeble line was great. I did a few more kickflips, a rock to fakie followed by a fakie flip which Dave would get too. Then Dave and I went over to the pump track. I mean, the concrete pump track/ scooter kid flyout park. It was mellow though and we were able to have some fun. The bank area is pretty cool. I did the line with the barrier ride then kickflip fakie a few times. I tried another one with a rock fakie then halfcab flip, but never got the right speed. Had some fun side disasters, but couldn’t turn them in to fakie. Dave had some good nollies over the hip, the sickest switch board 180 transfer into the bank, switch ollies on the bank and more. All in all a fun day. I was only supposed to skate around 30 minutes, I skated close to 3 hours. My achilles was sore near the end, but not bad.

(setup 8.25 null glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow no big washer, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, xero minimalist hana shoe with lems insoles)
(pain level 3/10 still just cautious of the little pain in my achilles)

Was in Denver to see the Dr and he gave me the okay to skate a little bit. So I quickly ended up at one of my favorite spots – this granite ledge. Pushing two blocks to get there did not feel as good as I had hoped. When I got to the ledge I just threw down and tried crooks. I felt incredibly rusty and it took like 30 tries to get this mediocre one. Switch front noses still felt good. I hated being in skate shoes for the first time in a month.

(setup 8.25 null glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, 92a doh doh big bushing venture little bushing no big washer, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric cream 212 size 12, custom nike sb/es insoles)
(pain level 5/10 achilles but more of a recovery feeling pain nulike the pain when i started to hurt it)

After a busy day of driving, cleaning and unboxing 2 tons of skateboards I needed a quick skate fix.  And since it’s my achilles that’s injured I didn’t want to push so I went to the “meetup curb” on campus.  It’s slightly downhill so I could just throw down and not push.  I wore some Lems Chillum shoes that I was hoping would be good for skating.  They felt okay, too slippery though.  Anyway, it felt incredible to roll on my skateboard.  I did a few slappy crooks and felt fine.  Did a couple crooks to fakie and followed by a couple switch ollies.  A no comply 180, posed a switch flip which didn’t hurt and got my flip trick juices flowing.  I did a couple test pushes which did not hurt at all, but I was definitely not comfortable with it.  I ended with a very satisfying slappy crook.

(setup 8.25 null glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, 92a doh doh big bushing venture little bushing no big washer, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, lems chillum navy size 12)
(pain level 2/10 slight achilles)