Pretty nice day out, but I was quite sore from the kickflip beating the day before. I got out because I heard John Brandow was gonna skate. And when I arrived I got to see him do a back blunt on the parking block qp. It was so sick! Lots of chatting before I skated, so many amazing people. Donnie was straight killing it. Filmed like 5 clips in 10 minutes. I took a long time to get anything going besides some slappies. Did have one fun line of wallie the taller blue parking block, front board the angle iron ledge, kickflip up the curb. The front boards were extra fun, some of them might have even been leveled out. After some more chatting I made myself do 5 ledge tricks just to feel slightly accomplished. Crooks weren’t working too well, but I did one okay. Switch noseslide 270 shove was my fav trick. Halfcab noseslide felt cool too. As far as other people skating there were so many so here’s some randomness:
Jack – has a broken rib but managed a first try dolphin flip on the sk8 mafia board
Garrett – Nose manny to nose manny to nose manny
Dan – switch tre the skate mafia board
Ladd – Got denied on feebles
Preston – New guy from WA was shredding
Collin – halfcab flips were sick
Scotty – The man, cool manuals down the weird pad
Wade – Some really cool boardslid variations
Donnie – The ollie to boardslide the spine was so gnar
Joe – hardflip fastplants were rad
A lotta rippers!

(setup 6/10 null keyhole2 8.3, jessup ultragrip, slappy 8.5 low profile, spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl classic shape, new balance numeric 574 vulc blue size 11.5 gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

On a cloudy morning with high winds in the forecast I went to dog park to meet up with Paul, Bratcher and Dave.  Ted was there, as was a couple others.  The wind never really came until the very end some 3.5 hours later.  I had a new setup.  Brand new 8.3 board, slappy lows 8.5 and luckily it felt pretty great for almost everything.  But an early game of SKATE with Paul was kind of tough, I abused the ‘double are nothing’ card and somehow won on a halfcab flip that took a lot of tries. Somewhat soon after that I got a line that made me pretty happy even though it started off kind of weak.  Accidental front 5-0 on the bench, heelflip on flat, ollie the weird wider aluminum flatbar.  I would also get a line of crooks the back of the two step then kickflip onto the C pad.  I would get 3 or 4 kickflips onto it.  Had a first try cruddy fakie fs halfcab heel.  Bratcher had some some cool tricks on the C ledge.  Paul was mostly chilling after not diving into his bag too far.  Dave was doing some cool axle stalls to fakie on the bank to curb, then would go on to have some banger lines including tricks like ollie over the grate, back feebles on the low flat bar, front 50s around the C, back 5-0 the curb, nose manual the C pad and then he just casually learns front 50 body varial (the hard way!) like it was nothing. I went in on kickflip over the flat bar and it was a battle.  Ollie the grate, kickflip the flat bar.  Committed a lot, landed on a couple, bonked the one I landed.  Dave was able to kickflip it too in like 10 tries.  

Then we went over to the park.  I just kind of dorked around for a bit, but Dave went in on switch front 180 nose manual on the volcano.  Yeah, insane.  He had some good manuals and kickflips to fakie as setups.  Great day.

(setup 8/10 null keyhole2 8.3, jessup ultragrip, slappy 8.5 low profile, spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl classic shape, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12, half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro)
(pain level 4/10)

After work went across the street and messed around for a while as work had really annoyed me. I ended up skating kind of hard, but didn’t land much. I had some good feeling slappies of all my variations. Adding in some regular backside slappies which I haven’t been good at for a while, also front crooks felt good. Attempted some front pivot kickflips out, but never got close. Hucked some tres over the bump to manhole after switch slappy crooks, but wasn’t very close. Managed to finally get a kickflip over it at least, but it was way harder than it should be. Went to the front and did a few kickflips into a curb cut, but couldn’t commit to treflip out of the next one. Glad I skated.

(setup 5/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, null grip, thunder hollow lights 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric with currex runpro insoles and half 574 vulc insoles in the front)
(pain level 5/10)

After work and shortly before sunset I met up with Dave who was at Willville waxing the little ledge under the manny pads. Which would be our spot for the next hour or so. Dave had done boardslide to fakie then was going in on halfcab boardslide to fakie which took a bit. I rattled off some low effort warm up tricks like slappy crooks, nollie tails, switch front nose before trying a million fakie nosegrinds. It was so annoying, it would not grind for me. Finally got one that was more just a fakie bonk. Oh well. Dave got the halfcab board, halfcab noseslide, halfcab noseslide shove, front 50, front 50 180, back 50, back 180 fakie 50 and an amazing front crook after my phone had ran out of space. I went in on halfcab crooks and was getting into quite a few and we think I did one or maybe two. Since my phone had run out of space we’ll just say they were makes. Ha. The one in the clip is just to show it was close. After it got dark we went up top and messed around on the 3 block area. Dave tried some drop downs to manual and got pretty close. I did a couple ollies onto the low level. Dave did the cool switch deck check to nose bonk and would go on to get a Mangoesque manual you will see in Stubborns 2 coming in 2050. Fun night, got pretty cold quick though.

(setup 6/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, null grip, thunder hollow lights 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric with currex runpro insoles and half 574 vulc insoles in the front)
(pain level 5/10)

On a really nice morning I went skating kind of early since I had the day off work and family festivities weren’t until later. I started at Valmont park which was alright for a while, only a couple toddler bikers. Didn’t do a whole lot, but had one fun warm up line of grind over the rainbow, kickflip on the shark fin, front 180 a hip. Had a kickflip to fakie on the mellow bank. Then the families rolled in and it became too much so I went to the ledges.

Dave showed, Paul showed shortly, Matt was walking Teddy. We did our things for a while. I tried to pop more, had some success on the smaller flat bar, but not larger ones. Dave slammed on a pivot on the bank to curb, then went back and lined one out next try. Paul was working on his Sean moves and the nollie front 50 on the bench was pretty rad. Paul and I ollied the grate, so much easier than anticipated. I struggled to front 50 the bench, but would get quite a few slow ones. Tried to line them out with heelflip or treflip before ollieing a flat bar, but never got the flippers. Argh. I had to leave, it was a fun session.

(setup 3/10 nullosaur 8.5, jessup ultragrip, slace 8.5, 52mm spitfire f4 classic shape orange/black swirl 99a, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12 half 574vulc insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain 6/10)

Feeling pretty blah for some reason on a day off work I went to campus after a bit of shopping. I started out up by the tunnel of the hill and attempted to get my body working. My feet were not feeling great, but probably better than the last couple days. My first couple ollies and nollies felt good, but that quickly dissipated. Tried to do a line of pop shove on flat, ride on grind the no-longer-waxed uphill curb, front tail over the micro curb hip. But lots of people were walking around and I wasn’t into it. Ended up a couple buildings lower and saw someone had put a copious amount of wax on the double sided curb/ledge. I took way too long to boardslide it, the pop out was hard. I had hucked a few flippers but nothing worked. Had a couple noseslides, switch front noses, a sorry excuse for a crook. Went to the fitness center area and tried to ollie a rock, but gave up as I knew I didn’t have the drive to commit. Did a noseslide on the downhill alley ledge on the way to the car and that was it.

(setup 4/10 nullosaur 8.5, jessup ultragrip, slace 8.5, 52mm spitfire f4 classic shape orange/black swirl 99a, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12 footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain 6/10)

Had some time before family festivities and went to campus on a cloudy but warm day. Was pretty sore. Was delighted to see Baker ledge was completely clear so I skated there most of the time. Warming up was pretty brutal, but since no one was around it was nice to work into things slowly. I kept not quite getting clean manuals, but would eventually get a line of manual, noseslide to fakie, fakie flip. Going the other way I did a few halfcab flips and got a couple of front 50s after. Like actual front 50s which I haven’t done there in what feels like years. They weren’t fast, but it’s been a long time since I did actual grinds there and it felt great. I hucked a lot of other flippers, but came up short. Came close to back 50, had some switch noseslides.

Went down to the bank to curb to try some front shove to back 50s. Would get kind of close, but never got both feet on it. Settled for an alley oop front 50. Had done a couple flippers like varial flip, b/s flip and fakie bigflip. Decent session for how tired and sore I was.

(setup 7/10 nullosaur 8.5, jessup ultragrip, slace 8.5, 52mm spitfire f4 classic shape orange/black swirl 99a, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12 footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain 6/10)

On an incredibly nice day I met Cass and Kyle at Broomfield. Taylor was there and did a nice crooks shove. We didn’t skate long, just some warm ups and a brief flatground sesh. Cass had first try hardflip, I had fakie bigflip first t, Kyle had a bunch of tricks first try. I was happy to try one front 50 on the black ledge and it came easily.

Off to Westminster station which I’ve been wanting to check out for a couple of years now. We met Ryan and Greg there. They were skating the ride on grind spot where we started at, but Cass, Kyle and I went through the tunnel to the two downhill ledges. Kyle felt out an amazing line and did nollie heel front tail and fakie front nose shove. But he got smoked trying nollie inward heel front nose and chilled the rest of the day. I had a couple fun warm up lines. Switch nose, nollie tail, b/s flip. Switch nose 270 shove, front 50 180, fakie flip. Should have filmed that one ha it was better than what I tried to film for a long time. Cass had done front noseslides and some front 50s but wasn’t feeling it. I went in on a line of switch nose 270 shove then front 50 shove which I did, but both tricks were done poorly. Argh. It was fun trying so hard though and I might end up saving for Stubborns 2 (coming in 20 years). Back to the ride on grind area I got a 5-0 across it, Kyle did nosegrind, Ryan did front tail, front lip, back lip all messing around as he had already filmed tricks out of those.

After lunch and a couple of margs I stopped at squeekside just because it was there and still so nice out. I didn’t really do much. Some slappies, rock and roll the transition to curb, some pivots on the ultra tiny bank to curb. Ended on a line of ollie into a downhill piece of wood, nollie front tail the countertop, crook jib the qp to curb.

(setup 6/10 nullosaur 8.5, jessup ultragrip, slace 8.5, 52mm spitfire f4 classic orange/black swirl 99a, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12 footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain 5/10)

On a crisp morning that warmed up quickly I went to dog park and had about 90 minutes before family festivities would begin. I had a setup change. 8.5 with Slace (ace baseplate and bushings with slappy hanger because they are lighter). I liked it. I was sore from bad holiday eating and drinking, but had some motivation. I didn’t stick totally do it, but got a warm up line that sounds good on paper. Front 50 180 out the lurb, halfcab noseslide the bench, back 50 180 out the curb. My back 50s on the curb felt really good on this setup. My front 50s felt good on the lower stuff, but I still struggled to 50 the bench. I would get a couple accidental 5-0s. The ledges felt incredibly sticky for slides for some reason I don’t understand. I guess the overnight freeze? I don’t know but slides were really weird. My ollies onto the pads felt good, never quite got manuals but I only tried a couple. Had a line of crooks the bench, back 50 the curb, ollie the kinked bar. Last line was to ollie the little flat bar, front board the metal bench, front nosegrind 180 the curb. The ollies in that line were so fun, front boards were bad, nosegrind 180 was not so good but it was like 3rd try. I had done a few other things, flippers didn’t work well as one would expect when changing to a larger board. Anyway, fun session.

(setup 6/10 nullosaur 8.5, jessup ultragrip, slace 8.5, 52mm spitfire f4 classic shape orange/black swirl 99a, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12 footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain 5/10)

As the sun set I went to dog park. Eric was there, Will would be shortly. Eric was charging as usual. Had some cool boardslide transfers over the barrier, lipslides on Dave’s parking block, manuals and more. I was able to get the switch nose revert on the bank to curb in a couple of tries, but then I went on to take forever to get a warm up line. Slappy crooks Dave’s block, front 50 the green box, ollie nose stall the bank to curb, fakie 50 the green bench. Seriously took way too long and I felt so dumb how I struggled to setup for the 50 in 20′ after the slappy crooks. Will had gone to battle with back tails on the main bench, then an even longer battle to do it after a nose manual. I had done a few things on the benches that were pretty whatever. Went in pretty hard on kickflip back 50 on the taller pad, but could never get it. Flip tricks felt impossible. Argh, tough night.

(setup 2/10 null 8.25 keyhole 2, null grip, venture v8 5.6 with hollow axle and bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape orange/black, new balance numeric 440v2 wide size 12 navy with half old 440 insole and gamechanger lite insoles)
(pain level 5/10)