On a cold and snowy Thanksgiving morning I met up with Jack B and Seattle Will. It was a bit disorienting skating indoors so early in the day, but we ended up having a good session. We all kind of did our own thing to get going. I had some fun slappies on the bank to curb. Jack had a sick no comply 180 up the euro. Will and I played on the bump to ledge a bit. He would do back 50, back 5-0 then worked for back tail. I did noseslide and crooks, but started doing the crooks in a line with axle stall on the taller qp and a 180 off the kicker onto the pad. It was a really fun line. I joined Jack on the tiny bank to curb section for a while. He was doing 5-0 and switch 5-0 ride on grinds off the little curb. I was trying to line out smith stalls with ride on nosegrind, but never got the nosegrind. Will managed front 50 across and down the main ledge. I did a tiny little front 50 on it, but I was actually hyped as I’ve never popped onto it before. I tried the kickflip then bump to 50 line a while. The front 50 against the wall was so weird. It took quite a few tries so it helped me dial in some kickflips up the euro. Lastly Jack was trying slappy noseslide the top part of the ledge and I was trying crooks on it. But it became time to go so I never got it all the way, would like to do that. Oh yeah, I had gotten little front 50s on it too. Will had done front 50 over it super easy, I think back 50 too.

(setup 8/10 null 8.5/14.25 20 year deck, null jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, xero kelso b/w size 12 with remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cool day I stopped by the parks after work. Dave was there when I got there, we started at the park. I had made a setup change, basically forged v8 5.6s on an 8.25. I loved it. Early on I had some fun in the top bowl area, then a first try kickflip on the shark fin. Paul and Will showed. Dave had a first t f/s kickflip on the bank and a gorgeous 5-0 over the rainbow. I did a line of f/s kickflip on the bank then kickflip to fakie on the shark fin. Will and Paul had some good ollies over the euro. Will good wallies. I started trying treflips to fakie in the little bank. They were all so close. Then I landed a few! I know they weren’t perfect, but actually landing them and doing more than one felt so great. Paul joined the treflip game and did 8 in a row at one point, then a couple more after. Dave added fakie flip and varial flip to fakie. Then a really nice ollie into the bank.

We went over to the plaza. Will proved us wrong by doing first try front nosegrind on the bench that we said wasn’t lit well enough. He had some nice manuals and nose manuals too. I struggled with front 50s on the lurb, but I think I got a line I was trying of front 50, noseslide to fakie the bench, fakie 50 halfcab out the curb. Dave did a similar line starting with back 50 on the lurb, front nose to fakie, then fakie back 50 halfcab out. He would try more to fakie, but didn’t get one I don’t think. I tried some switch front tails and may have technically met the minimum requirements of one.

(setup 8/10 null abstract 8.25, jessup ultragrip, venture redrilled v8 5.6 v-hollows with royal bushings, 53mm bones v1 stf 103a, new balance numeric 440v2 wide black size 11.5 half 574 vulc insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a bright and somewhat cooler morning met up with quite a few people at Broomfield. Salty, Bratcher, Rob, Sean, Eric, Paul, Will. On top of that quite a few others showed and it was quite busy at times. I had a new setup based on some new trucks I’ve been waiting on a long time – Slappy Lows. I would like them and they skated pretty well out of the gates. Rob bounced first so I’ll start there. He wasn’t feeling too good, but tried to get it going with some manuals and I saw a really long g turn that was pretty amazing. Sean was the next to bounce. He had a good amount of excuses lined up, but still ripped. High speed grinds on the black ledge including a line of crooks followed by fakie back 50 180 out. Sean, Paul and I played a game of SKATE. I was the first out, but it was fun. Salty learned boardslides to fakie on the mini bank to curb and almost got blunts on the “bigger” bank to curb. Bratcher took his multitude of boardslides to various obstacles. Switch front board up to back 50 on the bank to ledge was cool as was nollie back lip on the blue ledge. Eric good tailslides, heelflips over the parking block, crooks, charging. Paul did back 50 to front 180 on the bank to ledge, back 5-0 180s on the black ledge, landed a lot of flippers in the game of SKATE. Pretty early on I had a line I liked of halfcab noseslide, noseslide to fakie the bank to ledge then fakie bigfilp. My board was popping really well, I got several front 50s on the ledge into the bank that felt great. Close to noseslide 270 shove, close to kickflip 50 on the bank to ledge. Was happy to get a crooks on the bank to ledge finally. Will showed around the time we were winding down. He had some really good nollie noseslides on the black ledge.

After chilling and talking to India I picked up Cass and met up with the 98% dudes at York St Skatepark. There are even more little qps now and they are fun. Jack filmed a couple of amazing clips for Scotty with a trefip and a noseblunt. Cass and I messed around with an easy roll in to small qp. I got my first front pivot to fakie in a long time. I might have even grinded a little. Joe came along and made it not so easy by ollieing onto the ledge before the roll in. I struggled a bit and kind of hurt my shoulder trying to ollie up as well. Donnie and Cass had no problem with it.

Then we went to the nearby bank to ledge. My accidental training at Broomfield payed off and I would get noseslide to fakie and crooks. The crooks felt really cool, but I’m sure it only grinded an inch or so. Jack rattled off some tricks that were so fun to watch. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him just skating and it was great. I didn’t know Jason and John very well but they skated a long time and Jason’s front tail kickflip out was so good. Donnie came close to a banger, but had to give up and it started raining. It was really fun being in the streets with a crew.

(setup 7/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25 deck, null grip, slappy low profile 8.5 trucks, 53mm bones stf pj 103a wheels, new balance numeric 440v2 white size 11.5 half 574 insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

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)

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)

On a warm and sunny morning I picked up Dave and we went to the nice and simple old prefab Berthoud park. And it ruled even though warming up seemed slow. I took a lot of tries to get a kickflip over the hip. Dave less tries. But once we had moved on it went pretty great. Dave’s switch front bigs were so good. He had never even done a fakie ollie the way over the hip, then he does a fakie flip too! I had fun trying some switch front boards, was hyped the b/s flip only took a couple of tries. The crooks were really fun. I haven’t done a treflip over a hip in like 20 years, since the Aurora Wheel Park days, and maybe even before Null. So yes I know this one is terrible, but man it felt great that it was right there. I want to go do it better now! After that I tried a line for a while of nollie front tail the little round bar, flatground heelflip, front 50 the curved ledge. Never got all of them in a line, but did get each trick. Dave kept going. The slip ‘n slide blunt was cool. And the kickflip tail OMG! Extra fun session.

(setup 9/10 8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow light 148 with royal bushings, spitfire f4 99a yellow classic shape 52mm, new balance numeric 440v2 black/gum size 11.5 half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a super nice night I met Dave and then Nate at dog park. Dave and I had been warming up before Nate showed. At the dog park I saw Dave try fakie 50 halfcabs and was surprisingly struggling with them, fakie back nosegrind, ollie up then nollie back 180 off the c pad. Nate casually front nosegrind the c lurb, front smith it, back and front 5-0s, casual killing. I tried some nosegrind 180s on the c lurb but never quite went fast enough or committed enough. I struggled to kickflip over a parking block which was supposed to set me up to front 50 the bench which I never did. I had on front 50 shove on the c lurb. All this while some some alpha male had to show us how fast he could skate and do the same 2 tricks over and over.

Dave’s back was hurting so we went over to the low impact zone with the scooter kids. Nate had a really good first try ollie the euro. We were treated to some Dave magic although I forget the trick that stood out to make me think that. Kickflips over the hip both ways, solid f/s halfcab over the hip. I pretty much only tried to b/s flip the euro hip and would eventually get it and was quite happy about it. Dave had left. Nate and I did some boardslides into the bank as the wind kicked in. I couldn’t quite get a kickflip to fakie on the shark fin.

(setup 4/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 148 royal bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 440v2 11.5 wide with currex runpro insoles and half 440 insole)
(pain level 3/10 calf pain went away as I was skating it was crazy!)

On a super nice night Dave and I met on campus near the infamous Baker ledge. Dave did a gap to manual on the nearby pad as I kind of just jibbed around trying to get warmed up and used to my setup change. Then we hit the manny pad to grind area. The ledge had cars so couldn’t skate it. I somehow did a couple manual to back 50s pretty quickly. Dave went in on ollie up to ride on front tail then shove out. He never quite got the shove out. He had some back 50s transfer up onto the pad. I would get some front 50s, accidental and intentional 5-0s up onto the pad. One followed with a sketchy b/s flip up the curb, a couple followed by slow and questionable treflips. Either way I was happy. Dave got manual to front 5-0. Front 180 up to ride on switch crook! I got kickflip up then ride on crooks for my fav thing of the day. Came close to nollie tres, kind of close to kickflip manual too. Then we went over to the newly deknobbed ledge both feeling exhausted and sore. I started out by slamming a lot. We did some ride on grinds, Dave even did switch backside. As well as pretty easily getting a solid front 50 and some switch noseslides. I was happy to get a couple slow front 50 jibs. Then we ended with the little kid ride on grinds to nollie shove out. They were fun. One of my better sessions in a while. Really liked my setup too. Which probably means I’ll dislike it next session, but I really liked it today at least.

(setup 9/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 149 royal bushings, spitfire 52mm 99a tablet, new balance numeric 440v2 wide size 11.5 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10 at times my calf was so bad but I kept skating and it eventually loosened up)

After work I had a quick drive to meet up with Dave. He was working in Louisville and we were going to skate a ditch after a meet up at the park. But I bet deep inside both of us knew we wouldn’t stop skating wherever we started. I went through 3 setups as it rained during the warm up stage. Pretty much right away Dave did the boardslide out of the qp after we laughed about how weird the parking block placement was. Did you actually put it there Dave? He also had some nice pivots on the weird qp then front 50 the bank to ledge. I was trying a line of crooks the ledge then noseslide to fakie the bank to ledge. The crooks felt great, but I kept messing up the noseslide to fakie. After a pretty bad slam I needed extra motivation and was trying to add a trick before the crooks but, couldn’t get a treflip or heelflip. Eventually settled on kickflip over the parking block and surprised myself with a great feeling kickflip, good feeling crooks, then great feeling noseslide to fakie. Dave was going to punch me if I didn’t do the noseslide to fakie. That line made me happy though. Struggled with front 50s again and may have only gotten a couple really slow ones. Dave had some good ones and did one with a nollie shove at the end into the little bank that was pretty amazing. Dave went in on a line of ollie to drop in on the mini hubba down the stairs, then ollie onto the ledge and roll into the bank, then back tail on the parking block out of the qp. He would get a couple to fakie, but not quite to forward like he wanted. I really struggled to ollie onto the little ledge and roll in like Dave was. I would never commit to it. But I would get a low b/s flip over the main hip that was pretty rewarding. Dave then did a few and a perfect b/s flip over the mellower hip. I was posing front heels over it and they started to feel kind of realistic and then out of nowhere I landed a really floppy one. And it felt incredible. I rarely land new tricks these days and even rarer do I land them in less than 20 tries. Kind of a mixed session struggling with some basics, but landing a new trick at the end felt incredible.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, new balance numeric 574 vulc blue/white size 11.5 with half insole and currex run pro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

On a nice morning I met Cass at Frederick. We had the park to ourselves for a long time before Bo and then Brian would arrive. I had eaten before skating which is rare and was messing with me getting going. But I had some kickflips on various things and got a couple up onto the smaller pad. We played a game of SKATE that I won kind of quickly somehow. I had first try fakie flip, halfcab flip and heelflip. Cass hit me with a hardflip because he didn’t want to get pink slipped. Forgot to mention I had a different setup. 8.25 with Thunder and I loved it. After the game of SKATE I had a few manuals in a row then ollie up onto the pad and nearly kickflip off. I asked Cass to film it but missed the manual (or nose manual). I was happy to get the ollie up and kickflip off pretty quickly through, maybe around 10 tries. The crooks after was a nice bonus. Cass did the fornt noses then we skated the hump for a bit. Cass got kickflip and kind of a hardflip 180. I got some pivoted varial flips both ways. Then I needed to do a treflip before I got too tried. We skated the fly out area. Cass did a couple of perfect ones. Brian and Bo showed. Cass went on to do several tricks. I would get a couple bad treflips and was really close to several decent treflips. Brian was trying kickflips but the knee and hip wouldn’t let him get it. Bo hadn’t skated in a couple week then just skated the ledge the tall way like it was nothing. Brian did the blunt real quick. Pretty great session. Then Brian, Cass and I went out to lunch which was also pretty great.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow light 148 royal bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 half insole and currex run pro insole)
(pain level 4/10)