Trying not to disappoint here as everyone was joking about this entry while we were there. Maybe because I actually landed a few tricks for once. Anyway, shortly before sunset Kevin, Rob, Sean, Paul, Jack and I gathered at Broomfield park for Kevin’s final session before moving. Jack just chilled since his foot is broke. There were quite a few younger skaters getting at it and the place had a lot of energy. So it was kind of tough to get going. I saw Rob trying a bunch of no comply front boards. The man of the hour Kevin forgot to put his contact in, but still managed to rip in his glasses. Switch front 5-0 first try, fakie 5-0 halfcab out, switch nosegrind 180 and kick back tail. Paul worked on fakie back tails. I saw Sean nollie the double set which I hadn’t seen before. He went through his bag on the ledges and ended with nosegrind back 180 on the happy ledge. I didn’t land a lot of flippers, but for once the ledge didn’t totally defeat me. I was really hyped to get noseslide 270 shove, halfcab noseslide, crooks took a while adjusting to the Ace pinch, fakie 50 and fakie 50 switch 180 flop out, and finally a front 50 or two and even the old accidental 5-0 that I followed with a kickflip out of the curb cut. Darin had shown and I tried nollie tre while he tried fakie tre, but neither of us got them. Oh well, fun night. Really gonna miss Kevin being around.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 2/10 only!!!!)

On a beautiful day everyone drove separately up to Evergreen because of conflicting schedules and where we all live. Kevin and I were first, Rob and Jake next. Then a whole slew of skaters that I’d be surprised I remember everyone. Donnie, Sean, Hayden, Chad, Garrett, Ted, Nick, Dan. I’m always impressed with how quickly Kevin is jumping up on to ledges and popping big ollies over the hip. Jake and I had a couple of physical challenges to start that he won by a mile. Like a simple ollie up the curb, ollie the ledge, ollie the crack gap. I did like how it felt when I finally got it. Rob was killing the curb immediately with back 50 variations and would go on to get the trick of the day even if it wasn’t what he was trying – no comply backside 5-0. It was so sick. I was struggling with crooks and would finally get a little one and follow it up with a slow kickflip off the curb. Was stoked to see Chad show up and get some manuals and nose manuals, some 50s and maybe a 5-0. Jake was charging lining tricks out like nollie back tail on the ledge, front blunt the smaller qp, front 5-0 the vert one. Donnie started outside the park on the sidewalk and we were all disappointed he didn’t start down the hill with his dirt board. Ha. But really he was ripping and the ease at which he was doing grinds across the vert qp was amazing. Was so hyped to see Dan. He had some of his patented solid skating and came close to nose manual janoski flip out. Nick was struggling with backside flips and never quite got one even though he was popping them to the moon. Hayden casually did amazing things but kind of rolled his ankle so took it easy. Still though the first try magical treflip over the hip was something else. Sean’s front 3 over the hip was so good. Garrett did like every trick I’ve seen him do. The blizzard flip over the hip only took a try or two. Later on we were treated to a Rob bean plant over the hip which is mandatory for any Evergreen session. There was also a curb angled down the metal curb which peaked Rob’s interest and he got a back 50 to boardslide. Dan had a nice nose manual to front lip. Ted was trying slappy front crooks on the parking block. I had gotten a few, but had to resort to regular front slappys to try and line out a backside flip which took a long time, but man it felt good when I finally got it. I would also get a really bad halfcab flip which was kind of comically awesome. I was the last one skating and took way too long to get a sketchy fakie bigflip. I was pretty happy with how I felt skating, not necessarily the results, but it was fun. Kevin was having some ab issues that hurt when he’d jump so it took him down a few notches. But he still did 100 mph back smiths on the qp, nosegrinds down the hubba and the patented switch nosegrind 180 on the fence ledge. It was a really fun session, great people. We’re going to miss you Kevin.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a surprisingly hot day I met up with a bunch of people that my video making brain is too fried to remember. I’m sorry. I remember skating alright, not great, but I skated pretty hard. I thought I’d only have an hour before being the filmer so I paced myself for an hour of skating and when it became 2+ hours I was exhausted. I had switched back to Aces and I liked it a lot. I had some early easy 50s on the blue box, but couldn’t get them on the black box. Had a lot of noseslides that felt good and was trying 270 shoves out which were somewhat close. Crooks were not very good. I tried a lot of flippers which I didn’t land many of, but they did flip around and give me hope. Not landing front 50 on the black ledge definitely made me mad, so i just stopped trying it. I played a game of SKATE with Bo. I didn’t get pink slipped and I landed a heelflip so I was happy about that. Everyone else was ripping, but again, I forget even who was there so I’m just sticking with me since it’s my journal ha ha.

After some filming and posing a six stair we ended up at the Broomfield bank spot. I took too long to get a front truck bonk, but it was fun when I did. Sean was doing them really well. Noè started in on a crazy manual that he would try even after we got booted and we somehow lasted. I could have gone for another try or two to clean up the kickflip, but it is what it is. I was surprised how good the board flipped for being 8.5. I guess narrower wheelbase really does matter. Anyway, we had a fun session, Bo, Sean and Noè ripped it. After the kickout that turned into no kickout I just rolled around on the cruiser a little and tried to keep Noè cheered up.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Woke up early after a bad night of sleep. Went to Boulder park for my Friday morning tradition. I had put Royals on to lighten things up and I hated it so much it’s crazy. I had some okay noseslides, but I couldn’t ollie to save my life. So I eventually gave up and just tried cab flips over the hump. Some felt close.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, royal ultra lite 149s, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went to Valmont park after a rainy day. Initially the scene was cool. Just this girl carving around Z Boys style and me. I wanted to do the no comply big for my game of SKATE with Dave. And since I barely got the minimum fakie front crook I figured I shouldn’t go to hard. I did a few of the no comply shoves and they were all super fun. Kickflips were not fun, grinding transition was not that fun either. I did get close to my line of 50s down the pond, noseslide the bump to ledge then kickflip to fakie on the low part of a hump. But I couldn’t get the kickflip. It got me really frustrated. I also really struggled to ollie up the euro. The scene got less fun when cute carver girl left and was replaced by a non social dude and a rollerskating girl followed by a bunch of youth. I tried to end of halfcab flip on the bank, but instead just bashed my toe. I had worn vulcs to try and mix it up and while they felt fine for park skating I didn’t really like them.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate ti hanger royal bushings, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 272 maroon size 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Had a short amount of time and it was raining and my garage is a mess so I drove across town to an abandoned garage to skate for 45 minutes. I had put Ventures on. I like it. I thought. I mean I did like them more than Thunders, but flip tricks were still really hard. I went in on the fakie front crooks. The one above was actually the first one I did. I tried to grind further and I did scoot a couple along, but none were as “quick” as the one above. I can’t believe how hard that trick is. I took a long time to get fakie flip, Halfcab flip was quick. Couldn’t get treflip or fakie bigflip.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate ti hanger royal bushings, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After work feeling better I went to skate the tennis court, but there was a football practice next to it and all the ledges were piled in a corner. So I drove near campus and went to the little 4 stair gap with the flagstone bench after it. But the flatground had pebbles everywhere and there were still kids around so I went down the sidewalk and ended up at uni hill school where I would camp out for a couple hours. That spot is pretty epic I’m not sure why it’s not waxed in spots. I messed around with a couple of things before settling in on a line. Flip trick, shove off the curved bench, ollie the lowest part of the ledge. I thought that would be a good warm up line. Two hours later I was scraping myself up off the floor amazed at how bad I am at skateboarding. Granted the flip trick at the top of the hill was awkward, but still I was like 5/50 on varial flips and when I did land them I was too scared to commit to the pop shove. Then it was fakie bigflip which I was like 4/50 on and only committed to one shove. Halfcab flips were super hard and I only got one. I was starting to get so incredibly tired and resorted to kickflips to start, but I had the board backwards to setup for shoves and it was so hard. I landed one pop shove finally with my hands down then finally tried the tiny little ollie and slammed so incredibly hard. Like fully shot out and landed on the upper part of my back. I was happy to skate hard and to street skate, but man, that was brutal.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149 venom 88a bushings, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went to Spring Canyon to meet up with Noè, Garrett, Joe and Sean. Noè was already rattling off flippers when we showed. We started skating and I still didn’t feel good. I had taken Saturday off because I felt really run down. I didn’t do much other then some nose manuals on the lowest pad and a crooks or two on the bench. Those dudes all ripped it. But it didn’t translate to ripping in the streets as we went 0-4 batteries full of filming. Ugh. Some days kinda suck.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149 venom 88a bushings, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a bad night of sleep I was woken up by Liz’s alarm as she slept through it. So I got up and since I had some free time before work I went to skate. I started at valmont and wasn’t really feeling it so much and thinking that “uh oh I’m not going to like this setup”. But I went over to dog park and liked it a lot there. I had some decent warm up lines and then would chill a bit in between and catch my breath. I really started liking my setup doing a simple front 180 over a parking block, it felt so right. Fakie flip and halfcab flip after didn’t come easy though and I bashed my knee real good with my board once. Argh. But some things came so much easier than normal like front 50 180 on the taller pad, manual the low pad, halfcab noseslides. Crooks didn’t feel good though. I had a fun front 50 back 180 out (it was a flop out, but it was first try and made me smile). Fun run of accidental front 5-0, crooks, back 50, b/s flip. Near the end I was trying nose manual then front 50 the bench, but I kept not quite getting the nose manual. I was super close to some treflips, but ran out of juice and needed to get to work.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149 venom 88a bushings, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Drove through rush hour traffic and pulled in to Rocky Mountain as soon as it started raining. Argh! But it was cool to catch up with Rob. He was on his board for the first time in a while. The rain finally let up shortly before dark and we tried to squeeze in a session. I had all new everything. Well, the trucks aren’t actually new, but I have barely used them. Somehow I’ve never done Thunder hollows on 8.5 before. It felt pretty great. I’m just determined to finally make 8.5 work as it feels so natural to ride.

Rob rolled around on his cruiser at first before getting out his regular board and getting a bunch of axle stall combos. I was all over the place never really sticking with anything. Couldn’t quite get nollie back tail on the ledge, had a fun first try crooks, some back 50s on the curb, slappy front crooks, kickflips felt okay, couldn’t get Dave’s trick, was definitely struggling getting used to the setup change. Dave did his fakie front crooks a few times, boardslides to fakie, nollie to fakie on the bank, halfcab boardslide the curb, ride on front tail shove. It was a fun session even if it was cut short by rain.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 151 venom 88a bushings, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)