After work on a pretty nice day I went to meet Donnie and skate campus. We met and Uni hill, but ended up staying there. I had gotten there first and attempted very unsuccessfully to warm up. My knee was hurting after putting the compression sleeve on and made popping difficult. After some various goofing around and a couple kickflips we settled in on trying to boardslide the tall ledge into the “steep” ramp. Ha. I had tried boardslide transfer from the ramp first, but it was weird. I got a couple boardslide transfers after all, none of them good, all coming to a stop. But it was tall and it felt foreign being so high up trying to balance and slide. The bails definitely did not feel good on my knee. It was fun though. Donnie’s front board to fakie over it was so good. Then the switch board transfer too. We skated for two hours and all I had to show was a couple of boardslides coming to a halt. ha ha. Oh, and I guess I was happy to get first try kickflip, fakie flip and b/s flp. Couldn’t get halfcab flip though and a treflip attempt hurt my knee. Donnie managed a couple flippers at the end that were really good. First try treflip on a very old 8.75 made me question my manhood ha ha.

(setup 6/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow bones medium bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

On a cold night I went to go to the silver session at Square State. But when I got there no one was there and it was dark and locked up. Doh! So I went to look nearby and saw a new apartment complex with some two stairs and brand new ledges. I felt very out of it cruising around and there were a couple constructions workers left so I felt weird and avoided the benches but rode off the two stairs a few times. Kind of ollied this tiny gap. Dave showed. We explored a parking garage that basically had nothing in it but made for a fun hill bomb. Then ollied this little gap kind of and then saw the banked curb to curb which was infinitely harder to skate than it looks. Dave got the axle stall first and some nice kickflips. I had some ridiculous bails, an axle stall and kind of close to a couple nollie flips. Dave did a front pivot and by then Brian had responded that we could skate Square State so we went over there.

It was crazy having it all to ourselves. I had to warm up over again and pretty quickly went in on the tail jib bigspin. I had to come up with various ways of motivation to get there and eventually settled on ollies into the propped up little ledge. In the meantime Dave was landing trick after trick. Front 50 up and back 50 down the propped up little ledge was amazing. Fakie shove disaster was first try. I think he was 100% on pop shoves up the euro and then got a frontside one too. His lines were so good. I would eventually land my trick. I was really sore and was slamming on kickflips up the euro until I filmed them. Luckily I managed another funny slam. I was so sore though, like unskateable sore and it bummed me out. Dave finished off the session trying switch front shove to disaster but ended up doing it to back smith instead and rode out of it like a champ. What a fun night!

(setup 6/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow bones medium bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, es swift b/w size 12 with spenco 3/4 thinsole orthotics)
(pain level 7/10 knees and side)

On a nice Saturday morning I went to dog park. I haven’t been too motivated by dog park lately but I think now that I can ollie more again it maybe I will again. It ended up being a really fun session, some of the best I’ve felt on my board in months. I took way too long to write this entry though and forget a lot of it. I was happy to get a few kickflips off the kicker and a front 50 front 180 out on the little ledge. I had some more dog park traditional moves like crooks and stuff. I couldn’t get a treflip or kickflip up onto the pad though. Bratcher, Jesse, Dan, Ferg, Scotty, Paul, everyone was ripping. Jesse first try pop shove tailgrab over the grate was nuts. Haven’t seen Paul skate in a while, he’s still got lots of moves. Watching Dan skate is always a treat. Radley was there ripping too. Bratcher had some cool pole rides, slappies and a lot more. It was a really fun session, best I’ve felt on my board in a while. Would have liked to have gotten a treflip though. I was trying them in lines after kickflips off the side of the grate. Oh I also had some halfcab noseslides on the bench which might not seem like anything, but they are hard for me.

(setup 6/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow bones medium bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, es swift b/w size 12 with spenco 3/4 thinsole orthotics)
(pain level 3/10!)

After work and very little warm up I met Cass and Dave at a chill dog park session on a warm day. We had intended to skate Valmont, but it was mobbed with kids on scooters and striders doing laps on the pump track. So over to the dog park where initially there was only a few people and most of us were over 40. Dave was shredding the ride on grind to the curb to front board transfer. We hit the far side for a while. Cass had a nice kickflip over the curb. Dave feebled the little rail and a cool back nosepick 270 transfer over the parking block. I was not feeling good on my skateboard at all. I would get a few basic slides on stuff, one nollie front lip the little rail. Posed some flippers, but landed nothing, hated my setup. Dave had left and like 50 people in their prime showed up. Went over to Valmont and it was even worse. The worst part of spring is how crowded the parks get. Then out to dinner with birthday boy Matt.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace 44 lows hard bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12 custom orthotic insoles)
(pain level 7/10 knee didn’t like the thin shoes or skating after sitting all day at work)

Before dinner I went over to the school hoping the side was clear of snow. It kind of was, but I had to clear some out and it would dry quick. I had a slight setup change, ace lows instead of highs. It flipped rather nicely but I can’t say I was totally sold. I would get several kickflips, some fakie flips, couple halfcab and b/s flips, couple slow f/s halfcab flips, a floppy varial flip. Couldn’t quite get f/s halfcab heel, heelflip or treflip. Argh. At the end I went up and saw this snow pile which I ollied in a few tries. It’s been so long since I ollied over anything, I do love having some random snow piles to ollie in winter.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace 44 lows hard bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12 remind medic insoles)
(pain level 5/10 probably should have taken a day off skating though)

Met up with Cass at Broomfield, did some shoveling/squeegeeing for a while, then went to look at this bank spot but it was covered in snow. Some driving later we ended up back at Broomfield which had dried up quite a bit. We put in a little more effort then were able to skate the lower part without issue really. Darin showed up as we were getting warmed up. Cass was kind of ripping. Back 50s, hardflips, fakie back tail. Darin had his moves and made himself do a treflip pretty quickly. I didn’t land much of anything other than a halfcab noseslide and fakie 50 for quite a while. I was getting quite upset, but then had to reset and just make myself do more basics. Ollied up on the black box then did some accidental 5-0s on the blue. Got a crooks and a 5-0. Switch front nose then switch back nose shove. So it didn’t end up being the worst session, but I definitely wasn’t happy. Especially with how I couldn’t do flip tricks to save my life even on a smaller setup.

(setup 3/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace 44, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12 remind cush impact insole)
(pain level 5/10 pretty sore)

On an incredibly nice afternoon I ran a couple errands and then went in search of dry spots. I ended up at the double micro hip. The f/s hip is steeper than it looks on video, but still a glorified crack hip. I had put together a new setup with ventures and loved it at this spot. I think I did my first 5 kickflips so easily. Also had some solid feeling stalls on the curb. Again, it doesn’t look like a slant but I came somewhat close to a front tail to back 270 shove to fakie out. Then I went in on the wallride nollie which took way longer than it should. Then I took a while to fakie bigspin the hip before a few b/s flips that didn’t take too long or look too good. Then the halfcab flip which took like 30 minutes. I couldn’t believe it. The setup was a little weird having to curve around, but still, ridiculous and yet somewhat rewarding. I guess it just feels good to try hard again even if it’s tricks I used to have on lock.

Then I went to Platte middle school. The good flatground on the side of the school was still snowed in, but the manny pads were dry. I forgot how much I hate those pads, the cracks kill me. Initially I could barely ollie onto the pads and I was so angry and hating my setup. Eventually I would get a nose manual and then much later a regular manual or two which may have had some tilts. Pathetic. I went over to the 3 stair which luckily had some runoff preventing me from trying to ollie up it. I really wanted to ollie down it first try, but instead it took like 8 tries and I once again was annoyed with my lack of confidence and how massive my setup felt. I was happy that I skated as hard as I did though.

(setup 4/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, null grip, venture 5.8 v-cast/titanium with bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, es swift b/s size 12 with spenco 3/4 thinsoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After the snow stopped falling there were some dry patches where it had been plowed so I went searching. Ended up out on Arapahoe and had some good decent flatground a curb and a wet ledge. I hadn’t setup a new 8.5/14.25 board so instead I just brought a couple setups with Aces on them. Meh. I compared the two but mostly skated the 8.25. Did a few stalls on the curbs and managed one fakie back tail. I tried a line of halfcab flip, treflip, b/s flip. Never got the treflip. Wasn’t even really close or fully committed. Did some axle stalls. Would end up getting a few halfcab flips, close to fakie front heel. For the most part though flip tricks seem impossible these days. Kickflipping up the curb was mental battle. Also, ace trucks with 53mm wheels do not flip well. But the wheels did ride through the huge cracks before the bump to ledge pretty well. Kinda weird calling it a setup change because had I known it was going to dry up I would have setup a new board.

(setup 2/10 8.25 pmg ace 44s 53mm pjs es swift 12 with spenco 3/4 thinsoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went to square state for Tuesday night session. At first it was just Nick and I skating. I had some okay warm up lines and ollied and front 180’d up the euro pretty easy, some ghost pops over the wedge. Nick had a good line with rock powerslide the qp, powerslide noseslide the little ledge then pop shove fakie on the little bank. Then it got kind of crowded. I tried a couple kickflips up the euro but wasn’t feeling it. Ended up in the small section for quite some time. Struggled with front 50s on the bank to curb but would get a few. Also really struggled to ollie up the curb which really bummed me out. Did the little line above which took an embarrassing amount of time. Gray had a few axle stall 270s. Then I went onto the ramp to do some flatground and hide by myself but after 3 bailed kickflips I focused my board and left.

(setup 2/10 generator 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 royal bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, es swift b/w size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After a fun day of hanging with the family I got out for a short session. Which was good because my legs didn’t have much anyway. I had thought of this spot and after some lurking ended up just skating here. The ledge is somehow taller than it looks. And I’m not just saying that because I haven’t tried to skate a ledge in a couple months. I warmed up with some no pop lines like switch front nose then fakie shove. Noseslide to fakie then fakie bigspin. Got to crooks then kickflip which I thought would come quick, but no, never landed a crooks. Unheard of! That ledge isn’t really a good crooks ledge though. I got a few very slow front 50s that barely grinded. One halfcab noseslide that felt pretty good but then I couldn’t do it again. I didn’t film long because I didn’t really feel like filming considering how badly I was skating. I got a line of ollie onto the pad, front 180 off then switch noseslide the ledge going so slow. It felt cool though. Got one ultra slow jib fakie front nose. Couldn’t get a back 50. I got a few flippers I haven’t done in a couple months. Varial flip and both halfcab flips. I was pretty beat, but overall pretty happy that I skated and started trying to pop onto a ledge again.

(setup 7/10 generator 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 royal bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12 spenco 3/4 thinsole orthotic and 272 insoles)
(pain level 3/10 unbelievable! after skating for 3 days in a row)