Around noon Paul, Rob, Dave and me rolled up to Estes Skatepark. We arrived to a park filled with a toddler birthday party. Ugh! We saw Bratcher, Jesse and Tyler (I think?) over at the old park so some of us started over there. There was a little ride on grind bar across some dirt where we ruined our bearings. Brian had joined us. Him and Rob had gone over to the new park. Dave was trying to manual the deck of the middle extended qp which was nuts. I had done a few basics and on the ledge and was trying a line to switch front board the mangled flatbar when we decided we should just go to the new park.

Over at the new park. I really struggled. Didn’t sleep well the night before after such a rad night so I didn’t have much energy. But I had fun with the dudes, laughed a lot and had a couple of things I liked. Gapping to front 50 the tiny euro to curb was fun. Rob had them backside too. I missed a lot of flip tricks. At the end at least I had one line I liked with the noseslide to fakie then halfcab flip. The noseslides were really fun. Dave was doing lines with manuals in to the bank and ending with manuals out of the bank with a lot in between. Paul was killing the bank to ledge. Rob was easily doing back 50s on the curbs and got Brian hyped to do some. We skated the minramp section a bit. The highlight being Brian falling backwards having a conversation as he slammed. Well, maybe it was more his blunt to fakie or crazy blindside pivots. Rob handled axle stalls as did Brian. Dave went in on the bank crooks. Eric showed up, had some good lines in the mini, good front 50 the bump to ledge, high speed manual attempts. Brian’s boardslide around the kink on the bank to ledge was great. I’m not remembering much more even though I know a lot happened. The Dave f/s flip attempt was funny. The bs flip was perfect. All session we had to deal with an abundance of kids on scooters or bikes with zero awareness of the dangers of a skatepark. Two times in a row kids rolled under Dave as he was doing tricks on the quarterpipe. The overly positive kid was tough to take after a while. But all in all we had a fun session. That park is fun and it would be way more fun if the youth would have some sense of skatepark etiquette.

(setup 3/10 8.5 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55 hard bushings, 53mm bones stf v1 pj wheels, new balance numeric 440v2 wide white size 11.5 with half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

So yeah, this really happened. I don’t really know how to write this entry. Everyone hear knows he’s been my fav skater since WHL. I have been DM’ing a little with PJ for years. He’s always been super nice and when I saw he was in Omaha I reached out and asked if he was coming through CO. He said yes and I told him about dog park, but it didn’t seem he’d be coming through Boulder. I had plans to meet up with Rob, Paul, Ed on what initially seemed like would be a normal mellow Friday session. But pretty quick into the session PJ said he’d be coming by. After an initial excitement freak out I was able to settle down and we skated.

PJ and Paul showed up around the same time. It was actually kind of funny because PJ slammed on his first kickflip. Like just a little look around at the park, stand on the board, slam on a kickflip. He then did some warm up flatground just going slow in a little section in the back of the park. Then we were all skating just doing our things. Rob had a nice manual around the lurb, back smith the curb (got a cheer from PJ). I’m sure this comes as a surprise to know one, but this session is a blur for me and I don’t remember much. Paul had some nice switch slappy crooks, back 5-0s. PJ had some really casual kickflip manual, 50’d everything, first try front shove back 50. We thought he left, but turns out he was just chilling a bit. Ed had shown and was cruising around getting manuals and ollies and everything. I had some crooks, slow 50s, switch front noseslides.

After a while we noticed PJ skating the actual skatepark so Paul and I went over there. I may have gotten a little line of boardslide transfer into the bank followed by b/s flip the hip but I honestly can’t remember if I did the bs flip. PJ was mostly skating the bump to ledge. PJ did front shove back 50, back tail, nollie crooks, kickflip noseslide pretty quickly. He also took a few tries to ollie the pyramid, but then did 180 and kickflip first try. Varial heel the euro hip first try. A funny kickflip over the hip where he readjusted and landed where most mortals would have bailed. I knew it was now or never to get a clip of him showing me up and he thought the idea was funny. Thanks Paul for filming. PJ had initially tried to show me up with treflip noseslide, but settled for kickflip noseslide. At this point things were pretty normal and it was super fun. I did noseslide then kickflip to fakie on the bank after and PJ did nollie crook (I think) followed by such a casual treflip to fakie. After this I offered to film his his treflip noseslide which took him several tries. It was cool to see his process and that he doesn’t in fact always land everything. When trying the frontside flips Paul was trying the noseblunts. It was cool and both dudes got their tricks. Paul and I chatted with PJ for a bit after skating and it was awesome. I really can’t believe it happened and how normal and fun it felt once it was done. Epic day for me. Thanks for coming to Boulder PJ!

(setup 5/10 8.5 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55 hard bushings, 53mm bones stf v1 pj (ha) wheels, new balance numeric 440v2 wide white size 11.5 with half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Still feeling run down I went over to the school with a bigger setup and proceeded to not land anything. Well, I guess a fluke switch front shove, fakie flip that took too long, halfcab flip and some slappys.

(setup 2/10 8.5/14.25 thunder team hollow)
(pain level 6/10 so sore and arthritic from being sick)

Feeling a little better I went over to Basemar around the time it got dark. I was on a tiny setup and would mostly dislike it. But I hadn’t put mini logos on my truck tier list so kind of needed another session on them. I started out in the kicker area just kind of dorking and really struggling still feeling arthritic from being sick. The cracks at that spot are so bad now. I literally did nothing. Went over to the alley door spot and did a warm up line of ollie to fakie then fakie nosepick the curb. The fakie nosepick felt really cool. Then tried no comply followed by back pivot 270 shove on the curb. But gave up on the pivot shove and spent too long trying kickflip. I would get a few, but kept touching the rail and wanted a clean one. Weird night, I hope to have energy soon.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null beatles, jessup ultragrip, mini logo 8.3 trucks with royal bushings (and they still wouldn’t turn), 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape yellow, new balance numeric 440v2 wide size 11.5 white with half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Went over to the school shortly before dark and did a few slappies. I couldn’t believe how tired and unmotivated I felt. Turns out I was getting sick.

On the way to BV on a Friday afternoon we stopped by Leadville skatepark so I could get a little session in. For some reason I was excited for the park, but when I saw a large group of scooter/bike kids my excitement left. I should have probably not even skated, but I’m stubborn. I was really sore from the very long Frederick session the night before. Like incredibly sore. Like never wearing vulcs again sore. Pretty early on I was trying to get into the flow and wanting to axle stall on weird banks there and the scooter kids kept putting their scooters in the way. What started as me saying ‘come on man pay attention’ turned into these little brats laying down some great quotes. Scooter dork #1, “You cut me off, I was going to drop in”. Scooter dork #2, “Do you know who I am? My dad owns the skatepark.” I was pretty blown away and laughed it off. I mean they really want to get into it with a 50 year old man? Idiots. So I tried my best to just avoid them. Only did a few of things I was remotely proud of. Some okay bump to noseslides, first try front 50 the little qp, a line of front 50 180 out the little ledge then switch front board the tiny round bar. Lastly I was trying to noseslide the bottom of the 3 tier ledges which was quite tall and I would get one to fakie that was long enough I went into the bank and it was fun.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null beatles, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 with royal bushing flat top washer, spitfire f4 99a classic shape yellow wheels, new balance numeric 440v2 wide white size 11.5 half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10 mostly from the night before)

After work on a really nice evening I ate a quick meal then bolted to meet Rob and Dave at Frederick skatepark. Somehow I got there in a little over 30 minutes which is the least amount of time it’s ever taken me to get there. The park was not crowded and was surprisingly chill all night. Warm ups were kind of whatever. We mostly skated the bank to curb area for what seemed like the whole night. Dave was working on slappy crooks shove to board transfer. Never saw him get it. But he did get a kickflip to fakie on the bank followed by f/s halfcab flip into the little bank. And it was funny because of how sketchy it was he looked like he was going down a huge hill. Rob had a couple kickflips on the bank. A line of front shove to fakie on the bank, halfcab out of the smaller bank, shove into the tiny bank. I took way too long to get kickflip to fakie then halfcab flip. I also couldn’t get a treflip out of the bank. At some point I rattled off a 8 trick line of axle stall the bank to curb, kickflip out of the smaller bank, noseslide the ledge, front disaster the lowest part of the qp, maybe a slash the other side, ollie up the euro, 180 off, switch front nose the ledge. This started more attempts to do long lines in what would be an incredibly fun session with lots of falling and laughing. Dave had a few full pulls around the whole park, I had one. I don’t remember all of the tricks. Rob had some ollies the hip, bean plant the hump, slappys on the bank to curb, slappy back smith, slappy crooks, I think manual or nose manual the pad. Rob left and Dave and I kept at it til the lights shut off. I was happy to have tried a couple kickflips off the ledge and landed on both, but fell down. Also a first try front 180 up the tall pad felt cool, crooks the ledge. Was trying back heels on the hump and kind of did a heelflip toe drag to fakie instead. Dave had several ollies up the euro, 50s the manny pad, good ollies the steep hip, f/s flips the upper tight hip, back tail the parking block from the top and from the bank, so much more that are a blur at this point. I tried to start a line with noseslide the bump to ledge then b/s flip the upper tight hip, but never really got beyond it. This was one of my fav sessions in a while. It’s rare I feel good enough to try this hard and can fall this much without pain. Although a day later as I write this the pain is real. Either way, super fun time.

(setup 4/10 8.25 null beatles, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 with royal bushing flat top washer, spitfire f4 99a classic shape yellow wheels, new balance numeric 574 vulc blue size 11.5 with half 272 insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10 but started to get some bad knee pain at the end)

Met up with Paul, Rob, Will at a hot dog park after work. Initially it was pretty chill. I had one line I really liked. Front 180 off the grate, fakie flip, switch front board the little rail. Had some okay crooks, but other than that it was a total struggle and my knee was in a lot of pain. I also got annoyed with some of the youth which is just a self reflection wishing I was skating better. Paul also got annoyed, he had done some of his normal routine and was more on the flatground tip than normal. Rob on the other hand was shredding. Manual and nose manual around the c pad, front 50 the bench all casual, nollie front lipslide, two kickflips in a row, almost front shove 50 on the curb. Will was later, I didn’t see much. But after Rob and I talked to Saul for a bit Will and I went over to Valmont and had a fun session in the pond area. I struggled with axle stalls initially and was about to lose my mind, but ended up having some fun and linking a few things together. I was trying front smiths and I think I got one and it felt really cool. Glad we had the pond ender because the dog park was depressing and annoying.

(setup 5/10 8.25 null beatles, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 with royal bushing flat top washer, spitfire f4 99a classic shape yellow wheels, new balance numeric 574 vulc blue size 11.5 with half 272 insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10 left knee is getting real bad again)

Took it easy, did some exercises earlier, napped, did some chores, played basketball with Ollie and then finally got some spark to go skate. Some cloud cover had moved in so the timing was nice. I stuck to the front and tried to line some lines from the curb to the ledge. After some putzing around to warm up the first warm up line which took too long was ollie up the curb, kickflip on flat, noseslide to fakie, fakie flip. I don’t even know if I got the fakie flip cleanly. Then kickflip up the curb, heelflip, noseslide. The goal was kickflip then nollie treflip, noseslide (or crooks) then treflip. But that would prove way too ambitious. I did get kickflip up and very close to treflip. In between tries I got a really good feeling crooks that I couldn’t do again. I did about 10 kickflips up the curb and wanted to change it up. Did back 180 up, halfcab flip on flat, noseslide to fakie. Switch 180 up the curb, backside flip, tiny switch front nose jib. I had hucked a few more flippers. But the full sprint layup drills with Ollie earlier while playing basketball had me worn out quickly. I liked how the vulc shoes skated.

(setup 8/10 8.25 null beatles, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 with royal bushing flat top washer, spitfire f4 99a classic shape yellow wheels, new balance numeric 574 vulc blue size 11.5 with half 272 insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On another very hot day I met up with Cass and Kyle at the warehouse where things were once again arranged completely different. Cass was doing flatground then a qp trick and did one of the best b/s flips. Kyle was nosesliding the huge table from flat and got 270 shove and 270 out. I had a smaller woke setup, 8.25 with ventures and it felt good. I had done a little flatground and was happy to get a first try halfcab flip which have been a struggle lately. Then I mostly just skated the long metal ledge while the Cass filmed Kyle. I rattled off quite a few warm up tricks. Crooks to fakie and switch noseslide 270 shove being my fav. I struggled with frontside grind unfortunately. I was also starting to ahte the Tiago shoes and was getting some knee pain.

We left for the nearby jersey barrier spot where I didn’t land anything, Kyle showed his front blunt expertise and Cass tried an acrobatic maneuver for an hour.

Then we went to a nearby little gap spot. It’s funny I had skated the big Tiago’s earlier, but had some vulcs on for the gap which felt way more comfortable. I did a few flatground kickflips, the ollie took about 10 tries and I could not do it more than once. Doh. I had wanted to ollie the gap then do a flipper off the curb. Cass would ollie it, back 180 it and get a banger bigspin for stubborns 2. Kyle did a couple mirror lines interchanging switch heels and switch front shoves. Also a fakie flip. Felt fun hucking down that gap and made me miss street skating and filming.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null beatles, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 with royal bushing flat top washer, spitfire f4 99a classic shape yellow wheels, new balance numeric 1010 / 574 vulc with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10 earlier on with the 1010s and would get less with the 574s)