After my first three day break from skateboarding in a long time I went to Square State on a snowy night. It was a silver session, but I didn’t really know what to expect and it turns out it was super mellow with only a few people there. It was awesome. It was Will, Darin, Tom, Tom, Clayton, Chris, Jason. Will and I started a little on the tiny section, then skated with Jason Born (for real his name) on the main section. Jason was going for 5-0 kickflip out, front tail shove back to tail, treflip 50. I just did some noseslides and crooks, then went in on front shove up the euro which I don’t think I had done there before. They felt great and it was cool to impromptu get another one off the kicker after. Will had back 5-0. I tried some kickflips into grinds, but was not close. I took too long to get a little line of slappy crooks the bank to curb then come back and kickflip on the bank. Near the end Will was getting into kick back tail so I filmed him. And between tries I would do slow flip tricks on the spongy masonite. But I managed kickflip, heelflip, b/s flip and treflip. Will did the kick back tail so good. Serious hammer. What a great session. Oh yeah, I had changed back to my 8.5 with thunders and liked it.

(setup 8/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, thunder 149 hollow lite royal bushings, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, new balance numeric 440v2 wide brown size 12 half 574 insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

On a nice Saturday morning I picked up Bratcher and Eric and we met Dave at Frederick. Several other older dudes showed up which was cool, all were fun to skate with. I was still pretty sore and have lowered my coffee intake so I was slow to start and didn’t have much drive initially. But that changed once I got going. Especially after some dinking around the park and I popped up onto the taller pad with ease. Got me hyped. So I went in on a line before my legs got too tired. Manual the long low pad (couldn’t seem to nose manual it), ollie onto the tall pad, kickflip off. The kickflip off was garbage, but I counted it and added a crooks after. I was hyped to get multiple manuals. Eric was the only other one in the area, took a bit to get some manuals and boardslides, but he got some good ones. Jack did halfcab manual on the pyramid. I lined out noseslide then b/s flip the hip. Dave was doing fakie front shoves on the hump. Most people were skating the bank to curb. Dave did some Dave magic. Jack did some boardslides on it. I went for another line, what do you know. Crooks the bank to curb, kickflip out of the bank, front slash the qp, absolutely horrid ollie up the euro, front shove off (which felt really good and only took 3 tries). Jameson had shown up and it’s a treat to watch him shred. I spent a while by myself trying to front 50 over the corner above the pad. All I got was a very short accidental 5-0. After some smoothie I joined Dave in a quest to line out a flipper into the monstrous (incredibly mellow) bank near the scuplture. He would do ollie nosebash on the bank to curb then f/s halfcab flip in. I got shove to fakie on the bank then fakie bigflip into the bank. Also a kickflip on the bank then a very bad b/s flip into it. Dave was trying switch shove body varial on the bank then fakie flip into the bank which I think he got as we were driving off. I was sore, but was hyped on how I skated for the most part.

(setup 8/10 null 8.3 keyhole, jessup ultra grip, slappy lights 8.5 indy 92 bushings, spitfire f4 99a classic orange/black, new balance numeric 440v2 wide brown size 12 half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 5/10)

On the way to Nebraska for the fiftyfifty premiere we stopped at the Brush park because it looked kind of interesting in the photos. There was a lot of snow, but we still had fun. Jack hadn’t skated in a while and said “I’m not going to do this” as he treflipped out of the snowboard jump 3rd try. Man he good. He did the manual and steep ride in grind right away too. Garrett was ripping everything with style. He did a bunch of the nollie back tails, first try kickflip to fakie then through the snow, a lot of good looking skateboarding. Cass was able to hang with the snowboard jump and got back 180s. I couldn’t make myself ride off it. My board was having serious issues though as the bushings had broken. My board was a wobbly mess. I had a couple of kickflips, flat bar boardslides and did the noseslide a couple of times. It was quite scary when I’d bail into the snow. Jack skated the flat bar, almost got bigspin front blunt shove out. Would love to go back to that park again. It was so fun being there, being on a road trip again, exploring something new.

(setup 2/10 null 8.25 keyhole, null grip, slappy lights 8.25, spitfire f4 99a classic orange/black, new balance numeric 440v2 wide brown size 12 half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Up kind of early on a cool morning went to Lafayette for the morning session, but no one was skating. Saw there was quite a bit of snow so I almost left, but Dave was on the way so I stuck it out and played around a little. Grey was there after all, had a nice blunt to fakie on the spine. I did a non-decked rock ‘n roll on the mini saber tooth. Dave showed, wasn’t feeling it either. But of course we skated for a while. The lines above are basically the extent of the session.

Dave and I met Ryan and Cass at the DIY with the two qps and amazing curb. I never skated the qps. They were already filming as Cass was trying a slappy back 5-0 back 180 out which he would eventually get. Ryan had dome some bluntside combos and rattled off several of his first frontside slappies. I did a lot of different tricks that covered less than 2 feet of curb. Dave did a lot of tricks that covered at least 8 feet of curb. All things considered I was happy to get slappy front feeble, slappy front 180, kind of slappy to board stall, switch front slappy and several little switch slappy crooks. Dave playing on the hip part of it was cool.

After a while the clouds came out and the weak went for food. Ha. Dave and I went to the warehouse. It was really cold inside. We started at the little manny pads where I didn’t think I’d be able to get things going and Dave did his boardslides. I did a couple of crooks on the ledge. Then we did our lines. The little qp is so fun. Took me a bit to get the back 50 to cheater fakie, but they were fun. Also took a few tries to get a fakie flip, but that’s okay.

Lastly we ended up at York St skatepark with very little juice left. We did some cruising around. Dave did a line of slappy switch crook 180 (with a bit of 5-0 for good measure) then back 50 the qp gap. I did a line of ollie onto the ledge, roll in then the little front 5-0 jib to fakie which was a really fun ender. We did look at the nearby benches and bank to ledge, but didn’t really skate. Awesome day. Lots of skating.

(setup 7/10 null 20 years 8.5/14.25, null grip, thunder hollow light 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl, new balance numeric 574 vulc half 272 insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Out somewhat early on a winter Saturday because it was supposed to get windy. The crew was Bratcher, Gordon, Jesse, Tim, Eric and some old man named Glen. I wore vulcs which had a lot less pain, but less confidence with flippers. I would go on to have a decent session with the exception of flippers. Gordon was popping right away, doing lines similar to Paul and Sean. Jack and Jesse warmed up mostly with non-pop tricks. Eric’s front tail on the curb that didn’t lock in was actually super awesome. As were his fast mannies. Jesse and Gordon back 180’d over the grate. Oh, for a while we had a flat bar on the grate so when you ollied it was kind of like you popped over a rail. Felt pretty cool. I only did it once. Jesse made it look really easy. I did a lot of popping, most of which was slow and not confident, but oh well. Had a line of front 180 a tiny snow pile, switch front board jib the last inch of the tiny flat bar, fakie flip on flat. Almost got front 50 the main bench then kickflip 50 the lurb. Got a nose manual, although the one in the edit is clearly not a make. Tried for a bit to finally get even the tiniest front 50 above the pad and managed one. It felt pretty awesome. Eric basically did it too. Had a couple sloppy back 50 shoves. We skated almost 3 hours. I’m missing a lot. Everyone seemed to skate decent. Still wish dog park would have a better ledge.

(setup 7/10 null 20 years 8.5/14.25, null grip, thunder hollow light 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl, new balance numeric 547 vulc half 272 insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

After some chilling and football with Ollie I eventually ended up on campus. It was nice in the sun when the wind wasn’t kicking, which was rare. I felt like I wouldn’t have much drive as I started cruising around looking for a spot inspiring of a warm up. I ended up at the two stair with a slight bank into it and it served me well. After some initial no pop nose stalls, tail stall, pivots I started hucking. Was hyped to get front crook to fakie and kickflip axle stall pretty quick. Then I started hucking kickflip nose stall which I’ve never really done. I’ve had some that flop off, but never posted up. They were hard, but man when I got one I was so hyped. After this went around the corner to the tall engineering ledge and did a line of slow heelflip then barely a noseslide. Can’t believe I 50’d it back in my 20s. Then down to the narrow bank where I took way too long to do a kickflip to fakie. Then I did a fun line of ollie to fakie, switch 180 up the curb across the street and b/s flip on a micro hip. Up to the little hill spot I made myself do 5 tricks “into the hill”. Nollie front 180, pop shove, halfcab flip took too long, a really bad treflip that still made me happy, fakie shove. Did a front axle on a nearby banked ledge and the wind kicked in fierce and the temp dropped so I left. Fun first session of the year.

(setup 7/10 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)

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)