I picked up Neil and Rob and we met Garrett and Sean at Fredeick park. We had two birthdays to celebrate. Neil turning 49 and Garrett turning 23. That’s a 26 year difference. Skateboarding rules like that. I had new shoes that felt mostly great, but started to feel too large as they broke in. I barely remember this session for some reason. Garrett was killing it birthday style. The back 3 kickflip and nollie heel 270 were money. Sean’s ollies over the pyramid as a setup to 50 the bank to ledge were so casual. Rob was shredding as usual and was on the double bank to curb right away. He did a manual to boardslide too. Neil was digging the park. His one foot off the kicker to quick nose manual to ollie up front shove off was sick. Look for it in the full video Neil makes. I skated okay, the kickflip on the bank took way too long, the noseslides were scarier than they should be.

Then us old dudes went back into Longmont and hit Rocky Mountain. I got really frustrated at first trying the old warm up line of drop in, slappy crooks to fakie, fakie ollie, switch front noseslide. Almost threw my board on the roof ha ha. But I would feel better after a while and skate pretty hard. Got a few flippers, but struggled to get kickflips up the curb or up on the ledge. At one point I did 3 f/s halfcab flips in a row (although there was lots of tic tac involved). No treflips either. Neil had some knee pain, but put it together when it mattered most. That halfcab noseslide is so good. Rob dazzled us with the back 50 to back lip. Also had manuals, front boards and much more.

(setup 8.3 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast base titanium hanger, bones 52mm 99a stf v3, new balance numeric 440highs b/w size 12 half insole)
(pain 4/10)

After a sleepless night for no real reason we stopped for some coffee and went to the bright and mostly dry Granby park. There was still a large pool near the manny pad. What a terrible drainage design. Anyway, my first dropin exposed some serious side pain that would prevent me from doing any real skating. I think the only thing I really did was huck nollie tres over the hip for a bit, none of which were close. There were a couple other dudes skating who were on family vacations. One was 40ish dude that was really nice and trying back 180 nosegrinds then b/s flips over and over. The other was a 15 year old kid that was a little ripper and surprisingly nice and fun to skate with. Both were great additions to the session. Unlike the random bike kids that would come through with no idea what to do at a skatepark. As you can see in the clips Rob was shredding. Bigspin front nose on the bank to curb was hot. Cass got a couple mega hardflips and got a pop shove underflip. All after doing back bigspin over the hip first try. Neil had some knee pain going, but that didn’t stop him from some manuals, one foots, and close to some melons, cabs over the hip and more. We were there quite some time then headed back down to Broomfield and hung out with Fuzz’s which was super fun.

(setup 8.3 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast base titanium hanger, bones 52mm 99a stf v3, new balance numeric 440highs b/w size 12 half insole)
(pain 8/10 knee and side)

On a very hot morning Rob, Neil and I hit the road, picked up Cass and made our way to Granby. We arrived to a mostly dry park with rain showers threatening. None of us had even really seen this park before. There were a few kids on bikes. The hype was real and the approaching rain made for a frenzied and fun session. I was skating good for me and got a backside flip over the hip 3rd try. The bank to curb was perfect, but a little narrower and rougher on top than it looks. It’s hard to remember the difference in the sessions. Cass had front nose and tail on the bank to ledge, bigspin over the hip. Rob front tails the bank to curb, slappy crooks, manuals and nose manuals the little pad. Neil popping everywhere, manuals, nose manuals, noseslides, one foots. I lined out the noseslide and b/s flip as the rain teased us, almost got first try nose manual front 180 out. Neil took a bad slam on a wet pump bump. I took a bad knee tweak on an attempt to noseslide fakie the ledge off the manny. It was worse than I initially thought and would leave me hurting for round two after the rain and the next day.

After some chilling at a brewery and a dollar store broom investment we went back to the park. We swept puddles as a kid sprayed his little brother. Some dry patches started to form and we skated a little on the bank to get warmed up and I quickly realized my legs were toast. I didn’t really do anything beyond slappies. I don’t really remember what was different for others either, but they were having fun. The rain settled in and we went back to Winter Park and had a fun night of bro’ing down.

(setup 8.3 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast base titanium hanger, bones 52mm 99a stf v3, new balance numeric 272/440highs)
(pain 2/10 initial session 8/10 second session)