On a hot night I was about to not skate again, but Dave and I rallied for a meeting point in the middle at the old Case Logic bank. There was a SUV parked in front, but we were able to avoid it. I started on an 8″ setup and realized after a bit that I didn’t really like it much and went back to the slightly modified 8.25. I had done kickflips and kickflips to fakie. Dave hadn’t skated in a while due to covid and brushed off the rust with some nollies into the bank, switch shoves, back 360s, switch front ollies. Then we kind of battled for a while. I was close to front heel so I setup the camera thinking I’d get it quickly. Nope. I was close, but nope. Dave went for switch back tail like Tiago. Then pop shove body varial. Then we did some other stuff. I couldn’t get a varial flip to fakie. Dave’s kickflip was nice. We ended up getting the boot as it was getting dark. Fun little session, surprised we lasted that long.

Oh yeah I was wearing some Adidas Puig’s. Trying to skate some of the shoes that have been sitting in my closet collecting dust. I don’t really like them much, but they aren’t too bad and they fit pretty well.

(setup 8.25 null stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, bones 51mm stf 101a v2, adidas puig b/w size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

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On a hot morning Jack, Garrett and I rolled up to Laramie where we met up with Mike, Eric, Joe, Kevin, Rob and Neil at the skatepark. It had been 14 years since I skated there and there has been some new additions. They had painted some of it blue and the reflection was insane. I have no idea how others skated without sunglasses. Jack showed up and immediately went in on kickflip on the extension. Eric shot photos. Joe and I mostly played in the newest area figuring out the slappies. The others showed up. The newest area was pretty crowded at times as everything good was in one area. I got a line of nollie back tail a curb, crooks a bench, slappy the curved bank to curb, carve around kickflip to fakie. Kevin and I played off the little drop near the front for a bit. He switch flipped it. I kickflipped up it which hyped me up. Eric and I skated the bowl for a bit which was pretty weird and hard to skate and we didn’t carve the full pipe very well. Garrett got to 9 first try. Later on Jack would get to 10 on the top of it ha ha. The wallride was sick. Back in the newest area I witnessed boardslides from Eric (can’t believe he was able to skate after yesterdays slam), nollie front lips from Rob, boardslides on the bench lined out with fakie flips on the bank from Joe, Kevin had halfcab bluntslide transfer to back tail then back smith the qp, I managed to boardslide the bench and get a little crook jib on it as well as some front slappies on the bank to curb, Mike was front nose to fakie and a bunch of good slappies.

After some lunch we hit campus. Garrett, Jack and I hit an old area near some dorms I skated a very long time ago. I didn’t really do anything. Jack tried some front nose 270 shoves and some manuals down a 5 stair.

Then we met everyone at a really fun bank to curb where I proceeded to slam on my first axle stall, but then go on to have a lot of fun. Mike had great back 50s. Jack’s acid drops into the bank as setups were highlights on their own as was the grind to grind. Garrett smoothly did slashes, hurricanes, blunts, kickflip fakie, etc. Rob had steezy front tails and slappies. Neil with the fire beanplants, no complies. Joe kickflip rock ‘n roll. Kevin kickflip willies and kickflip axle stall. I got a couple front slashes, hurricane and a rock up to feeble to axle that was surprisingly fun.

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Then we went over to this crazy loading dock with wide round flatbars. Pretty epic spot. Epic stuff went down. Fun was had. Highlights were of course Jack’s epic grind to boardslide, but Kevin’s crooks was incredible too as was Garrett’s back 180 nosegrind. Joe got boardslide pop out and off the end. Neil’s knee didn’t let him land the noseslide even though he got into it perfectly. I had some little noseslide jibs and maybe something that resembles switch front nose. Jack also did some crazy hippy jumps and bluntslides. Garrett wallied up the darn loading dock too. What a great day.

(setup 8.25 null stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium hanger, bones 52mm stf 99a v3, new balance numeric 440h b/w size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

On a hot day Eric, Joe and I picked up Rob and Neil and we headed to the Greeley plaza park first. Garrett met us there. We had the park to ourselves for the most part and two other rippers for a bit. Everyone else seemed to be ripping. Garrett obviously needed the least warmup and was backside flipping the hip, 50ing the upper level, manualling the bench right away. I’m not sure if he got his full line, but he did all the tricks. Nollie back heel up the euro, halfcab noseslide the long hubba, front smith the qp, back 360 the hip, front tail f/s flip out. So sick. Rob was getting up on the pad right away with manuals, 50s, boardslide the upper level, no comply up the 2, maybe even halfcab 50. Neil was looking good. Manuals, nose manuals, 50s, one foot up the euro, quick up 50 the top then one foot off, front shove off the manny pad. Joe front 50 shove and the Joe H on the upper level, crooks, front smith the ledge, kickflip fakie. I skated like dookie. Only things I liked were a couple crooks on the ledge and a b/s 90 flip flyout.

After some lunch we ended up at Peak View. It was super hot, there were ~20 rollerblader kids there playing bad rap music and a mixture of a few skaters and a little motorcross bike. Not the ideal environment to flame the stoke, but we did it. Eckert had the horrendous rock fakie slam. I was stoked to see him going so gnar, but he obviously didn’t skate more after that slam. I skated like dookie again, couldn’t do a kickflip on the bank and could barely ollie up the ledge. I did however get a noseslide 270 shove which put a smile on my face for a solid 30 minutes. Joe of course did his tricks on the ledge and maybe even did the Hoe Jamilton. He was pretty easily skating the ledge doing his tricks. Neil’s knee had had enough, but he still managed to cruise around and do a few things. Rob had some good manuals and I think nose manuals, front boards, kickflip the bank, one foots on the bank, some crail slides or something on the bank. Garrett had kickflip nose manual, switch crooks, halfcab crooks, all kinds of stuff. Pretty fun day we skated hard in the heat and earned our margs.

(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)

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)

Feeling somewhat run down I met Rob and Neil at the entrance to campus. It was very hot out. We quickly retreated to the shady hallway student center and skated flatground for a while. Unfortunately Neil quickly established his knees would not be working. He did get some cool nollie crack bonks, no complys, 180s, half cabs, fakie bigspins first at least. Rob got his quick footed magic going. Fakie bigspin, nollie shove, no comply shove. Wallie nollies, back 180s, nollie bonk shifties. I really struggled and it bummed me out. Fakie flips were hard. Argh. I had some fun though. The nollie crack bonk back 180’s were fun, got a couple halfcab flip, f/s halfcab flip, b/s flip, varial flop. I was not happy with my inconsistency. Then we went to the bank spot and saw they had stopped it. Such a bummer. We checked out the new spot, but our knees hurt too much to skate it. Ended up at a bench down stairs where my knees wouldn’t even let me pose noseslides down it. Argh.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate hollow hanger with royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm bones stf v2 103a, new balance numeric 272 burgundy size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 7/10 knees ugh)

Arrived to dog park around 10 to an old guy session that was popping off already. Love the old guy crew that’s been skating there and they brought the hype again. I was very sore, started very slow and didn’t do much other than some crooks and a couple slow kickflips. Neil was charging! Nose manuals, manuals, 50s, one foots, ollies over stuff. Rob too. Halfcab 50s, almost halfcab 50 body varial. There were a lot of others skating, it was rad. Mike, old Jack, Salty, lots of gray that were charging and I loved it. Jeff showed and immediately made tricks like nosegrind 180 look easy, switch crooks, etc.

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Then we went over to Valmont where I proceeded to do nothing then went and sat with Neil and Rob. Sean, Bo and Hayden had shown up and it would soon be a fun demo to watch and get me off my butt to film. Hayden with the steez indy flyout, pole jam nose manual and insane gap to back tail. Jeff switch f/s flip, switch hardflip and front big heel the bigger hip. Cass bigspin, treflip, kickflip. Sean front 3 the hip.

Then we drove to Jack and Joe’s new bank to ledge spot and oh man what a treat. The crew was large as we gained Jack and Joe. Only one person can skate at once which got to Neil. But he still pieced together a rad nose manual then no comply line. Joe did at least 5 hardflip nose body varials and grunted in disapproval on every one of them. Cass with the sick front nose body varial. Jeff right away front crook to fakie, then front blunt pop out which was soooo amazing. I did a slappy crook jib, noseslide, switch nose jib and had a fun line of noseslide to fakie then halfcab flip on the opposing bank. Jack struck out on the tricks he was trying for, but still did a back 180 fakie crook 270 out. Sean shut the session down with fakie back tail kickflip out done so perfectly the crowd erupted. Heck of a crew.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate hollow hanger with royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm bones stf v2 103a, new balance numeric 272 burgundy size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a hot morning I picked up Neil! Was so hyped to see him, we did breakfast then connected with Rob and headed to Arvada. We had the park mostly to ourselves except for a few beginners for a while. Jeff and Cass showed and it was a really fun crew. Neil had a red eye flight and was still managing to skate pretty well even though it took a bit to ride over the spine ha ha. Rob had some good front board pop outs, front slashes, spine transfers, boardslides, backside ollies on nipples. Neil popped up the euro, up onto the ledge, noseslides, no comply 360, boardslides. I was feeling decent early on. Had a couple first try runs on film which never happens. Switch front nose, fakie flip, fakie board transfer. Crooks, spine transfer, front disaster. I couldn’t get the noseslide 270 shove, ollie onto the ledge or even a halfcab flip. Cass had a nice front noseslide shove and got a line with a nipple ollie, front 50 on the qp. Jeff switch manualled the box, nose manual 180, big nipple ollies, so much more.

After a rain and margarita delay we ended up at Parris’. Right away it was a fun session. The new pink curb was a good addition. Neil had that stoke going and was getting runs in right and left and it was good seeing him so hyped. The long back 50s around the pool coping corner were sick, ollies up/down/randomly, bean plants to gain control, front slash the rock coping every time. Rob was getting it too. Front slashes, high speed carves, pivots on the upper deck. Cass had some sketchy falls, front boards to fakie on the parking block. Jeff’s kickflip on the hip was so smooth, front 5-0 the parking block, much more. I didn’t skate great, but definitely had fun. Wish I could have gotten a more proper slappy crook, but the front tail stalls and back pivots on the upper deck were fun. Parris had some smooth lines grinding the curbs with easy. Local guy Kevin had the sugarcane out of nowhere. Overboard Kevin of course got the pivot to fakie. What a fun spot and session.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 low with royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm bones stf v2 103a, new balance numeric 272 burgundy size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

It had rained at my house, but when I went to bring boards to Square House it was dry so I went to dog park and it was great. A little breezy at times with some little drops, but nothing that hindered skating. I had put 8″ low ventures on. I had mixed emotions, but I mostly liked it. Had a first try nose manual. Had some first try flippers, f/s halfcab flip, f/s halfcab heel, b/s flip. Took a long time to get halfcab noseslide on the new long bench, but they felt good.

(setup null 8.25 stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 low with royal bushings flat top washer, 51mm bones stf v2 103a, new balance numeric 272 burgundy size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)