Last day in Berlin. Had kind of a mellow morning and my knees were so swollen I thought there would be no way I could skate. But eventually we headed to Park am Gleisdreieck to hit the Tetris ledge spot. We met up with Gabe at the skatepark. I took a couple runs in the mellow bowl which was actually kind of fun until I hung up on a back 50 and dove to the flat. It actually served as a good warm up. Gabe and I went over to the ledge spot and it ended up being way more fun than the last time I skated there. Gabe was popping into some fast front 50s right away, noseslides, 180 50s, front 50 drop down to 50. Oh but he had a loose axle nut and kept losing a wheel. I was a little slower to get going, but skating alright. Had some fun crooks, noseslide down to noseslide, front 50, almost quick up to nose manual. Ben showed up with a crew. Fria who they had just met in Berlin and Miles who was a dog park local for a while so that was cool. Fria was jumping on front 50s quickly. Miles was really spry popping up all the spots so easily. Ben had a nice up up to manual and some fast back 50 attempts. At some point Ben started filming Fria and Miles. I had done some things I was happy with like finally a halfcab noseslide and noseslide down to noseslide and crooks one of the taller ledge. Then I kicked off a really fun chain of events. I got a slow front 50 shove out, Miles got 180 up to halfcab manual and then Fria got front 50 drop down 50. It was awesome. Before I could leave I made myself do a treflip, but I was really struggling. I would eventually get a 270ish one. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a nice cherry on top to a really fun session. I did film Ben for a while trying to get a back 50 and Gabe used my board to do the front 180 fakie 50 180. He also had a couple really nice treflips. At the end a dude from France joined and had a really cool quick up to a taller pad to nollie 3 shove off. Goodbye Berlin, I hope to see you again some day and still be able to skate.

(setup 8.25 flower, mob grip, venture 5.6 shake junt v-hollows, spitfire 51mm f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288 b/w no insoles size 11.5)
(pain level 4/10)

After work rolled up into a heated dog park session. I kind of just played on the barrier for a bit and did a few lame basics to get the legs flowing. Luckily things died down pretty quickly and we had a pretty normal session. Paul was getting Verso on us with lines including nollie nosegrind 180s and ending in fakie 5-0 180s. He’s been working on skating faster and it showed. He even did a back nosegrind which I haven’t seen him do before. Rob was shredding nose manuals, manuals, back 50 no comply shove, crooks, front boards, did his lightwork demo, a lot more I’m probably confusing with the previous session. I went on to have an above average session for me and did a few things I was hyped on like first try kickflip up the c pad, front 50 and accidental 5-0 the bench, a really fun ollie the metal grate a-frame, crooks, front halfcab heel. Struggled to do intentional 5-0s and treflips though. I left feeling really good even though it doesn’t seem like it on paper.

(setup 6/10 8.1 null all you need, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 147, 51mm spitfire f4 classic 101a, vans wayve white size 12 nb# 272 insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a really hot afternoon I met Dave after work at the good ol’ shady Wilville. I had started on my 8.3 with Ace lows, but quickly swapped out for my 8.25 with 5.8 ventures. Anyway, pretty quickly we got into some difficult physical/mental challenges. Riding off the levels of the ledges was way harder than I imagined. I cannot believe Dave did all 3, that was bonkers. Backside no less. We also did some ollies onto the ledge. Dave more frontside coming from the manny pad side and then went into nose manual. I think in a long line with a nollie back 180 off the curb and then a halfcab flip. He did like 5 halfcab flips! I sketchily ollied straight on a few times. I had a few flippers. Then we really settled in to tricks off the curb to start lines. It’s hard with little setup and the fallen debris from the tree. I had done a few pop shoves before settling in on starting with kickflips. Dave had to leave but managed to manual and nose manual into the bank first. I setup my phone and went in on kickflip then treflip then hopefully 180 onto the ledge but I never got a treflip. They were close, but never got one. Doh. Really fun session though, we skated hard.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer dead spots, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium/v-cast plate royal bushings flat top washer, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 288s green/gum size 11.5 440 insole)
(pain level 4/10)

After a rain delay I met Joe at the 20th street DIY.  It had gone from pouring rain to sunny and super hot/humid in no time.  It took me a while to get going.  Partly because there is so much greatness that I couldn’t figure out where to start.   The line I worked up to was really fun.  Grind over the love seat, crooks, kickflip to fakie.  I had some way better feeling crooks than I did in the clip.  Joe rattled off his ledge maneuvers and got some legit crooks.   The rock and roll I did on the double qp was so fun.  That’s why I love this park so much.   There is some weird fun stuff but also some perfect ledges.  I would get a line of front slash the little qp then slow front 50 shove the red ledge.  Hyped me up to ollie that high.  Joe’s boardslide around the bar was gnar as was the halfcab flip ender.  Super fun session.  I’m missing a lot.   Man I wish DIYs were as good in CO.  Maybe I should do something about that. 

(setup 5/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushings flat top washer, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insole)
(pain level 2/10 but pain in my left knee)

On a hot and breezy day Cass, Rob and I pulled into a mostly empty Spring Canyon. Hayden would join, but couldn’t skate because of foot pain. Cass put on DJR radio to begin and it did hype me up and got me going a little faster than normal even though I couldn’t manual to save my life. Rob had done manuals and nose manuals while the rest of us multiple decade skaters couldn’t do one. Okay, well Cass did get a manual and then a back 50 or two before hurting his back again and chilling. Jake had done some fun hips to tail on the little mount that were fun and Cass and I played copycat. I may have recorded the slowest back 50 on record. I took a while to get the ollie up then boardslide the little rail. It’s a bummer it’s not as easy as it once way, but I am happy I didn’t give up. Jake had a few tricks on the steep qp like feeble to fakie, pivot to fakie and a meaty front d. Rob may have gotten his manual around the potato chip, some noeslides on the bench, steezy barrier rides. I had some accidental 5-0s, front 50 180, front 50 shove on the lurb. As everyone was sitting I battled a line of crooks the bench then kickflip on the lumpy qp (it was like 1/3 up the transition). Oh yeah, I had gotten really close to a Rick flip or two.

After MRKT and a snack we ended up at Northside. It was pretty chill. Rob joined Cass in the shade having an adult beverage after a few laps around the park. Jake was shredding the mini. I was dorking around trying to overcome my new fear of rolling into the bank which Jake did first try. I called out 3 tricks on the barrier, but we ended up doing more. I slammed on a rock ‘n roll and my board hit my arm and it hurt way more than it should. I would get rock ‘n roll, way too many tries for axle stall, front rock, front slash. Jake would add back pivot and feeble fakie. Then we played down below. Jake was trying no comply pole jams. I did a few noseslides on the ledge and some of the better feeling crooks I’ve done. I couldn’t get a f/s halfcab flip. Ended by trying slappy crook the china bank ledge followed by an ultra slow treflip. I would get the line but the treflip was quite questionable.

(setup 6/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushings flat top washer, bones 51mm stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Rob and I pulled up at the same time then rolled into campus and started at the two stair with the slight bank up to it. It’s a good warm up spot and we would get some tricks. Rob back pivot to back tail, then back 180 out and front nosepick to fakie. I had some crook stalls to fakie, front tail shove, kind of a kickflip axle stall and kind of a front smith front 180 out. Next up Baker ledge that continues to get taller each time I go there ha ha. Rob had first try halfcab noseslide, front board pop out, boardslide pop out, halfcab boardslide. I would get some little crooks, noseslides, couldn’t get a slow front 50 but did get a slow fakie front 50 flop out. Next we hit the little manny pad which I haven’t skate in a long time. Rob manualled it right away, nose manual, first try halfcab manual back 180, no comply manual, manual followed by flatground kickflip. I took like 10 tries to get a manual and then ended with one of my fav lines in a while. Heelflip, nose manual, treflip. All done slow, but I was still hyped. Fun day!

(setup 6/10 null abstract33 8.3, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55 hard bushings, 52mm pink snot, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half nsoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a nice and sunny day we went to the TAXI skateable structure spot.  The crew was Rob, Neil, Joe, Damon, Cass, Jake and me.  I spent the whole session getting one of the most fun lines I’ve done in a while.  Drop in, front disaster an upper deck then go into the ditch and eventually b/s flip the hip.  Damon had a bangin kickflip to fakie.  Cass almost had front shove to fakie.  Jake would eventually get a front tail to fakie to pivot fakie.  And then he would have to do it again because I didn’t hit record in time.  Luckily he did it better anyway.  

Then we went to the river front area across the street.  We started at the tall metal ledges.  Neil and I would get noseslides, but Neil’s was in a good line.  Damon back 50s and fakie nosegrinds.  Joe got a front 50.  Jake almost nollie back tail.  Next we ended up at the new wood area.  It took some getting used to, but it ended up being a really fun session.  It was cool because you could start a line with a barrier ride which Neil and I both did to start lines along with a pop shove.  Neil would hop up onto the lower level then did a wallride then b/s 180 out.  I would do a crook and then a kickflip.  Neil also got a nose manual to front lip followed by a front 50.  Damon slammed bad on a fakie 50.  Joe got some 50 combos.  Jake did some barrier rides too.  Rob with a killer nose manual.  That was basically the session.  One of my fav sessions in a while, best I’ve skated, didn’t get hurt, epic crew, some new spots, man it was great.

(setup 2/10 null 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 no big washer, 51mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half nsoles)
(pain level 2/10 !!!)

Took the day off work for obvious reasons and met up with Dave at an empty Frederick park at 10am. I got there first and felt great as soon as I put my board down and did a few warm up laps. Dave showed a few minutes later and we kept our warm ups going. I felt snappy pretty quickly and even got a manual on the little pad first try I think. I man have popped up onto the taller ledge first try too, but I did it a few times. Dave and I settled into some lines on the manny pad area. I couldn’t get a nose manual to start it. Dave got his line way quicker than me. Back 50, manual, quick up front 50, nose manual. Wow! I ended up doing ollie up, kickflip off, noseslide (I had done a few crooks that felt good but when I finally got the kickflip I just wanted to keep it going), 180 onto the pad then switch front nose off it. Normally if I pop up that ledge once I’m pretty hyped, I must have done it 20 times! After that we went to the bank to curb area. Dave had the nice boardslide to tailslide. I got a questionable treflip flyout after struggling to do axle stalls. Dave front pivot to front rock then kickflip flyout was so sick. My phone missed some of the action after this. I had some slappy crooks and nollie front 180s out of the bank. Dave did a halfcab rock up to feeble. He had to get to work. I ended it on front slappy then rolled out to celebrate with the family. Really fun session.

(setup 8/10 null 8.3 abstract33, jessup ultragrip, royal ultralight 149, 51mm bones pj, es melange black size 12)
(pain level 4/10)

After a follow up with Mitchell (best sports doc in Denver) about my calf I met up with Jake at Cushing park. It’s my first time being there since the redo. I’m not sure if I even went before the redo or not. It was 60 degrees out and beautiful, the park wasn’t too crowded. Took me a bit to get a feel of things. That may have been made worse after a setup change and wearing 440s again. But I really liked the setup. I played fakie flip with Jake and his friend Max in the parking lot. Jake tried some fakie bigspins over the hip. I got a little ollie on the a-frame then back around to a cruddy noseslide. We did a few basics on the ledge then Jake skated the miniramp for a while and kept skating the ledge. I was kind of blown away by a really slow front 50 3rd try. I haven’t popped onto a “taller” one in a while and that setup snapped right to it. Like I thought I was bailing and went right into it. Then Jake and I played a game of SKATE in the parking lot. I had a streak of 3 flippers in a row that made me happy. Kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip. I would go on to win with a very slow, but rewarding treflip. Back to the park we lined out ollies up the euro, qp trick, ollie the little set. Jake did it quicker with a back blunt on the qp. I flailed on the qp for reasons I don’t understand so gave up and just did a back 50. Ollieing the little gap was painful, but fun. Was also hyped to see Ft Collins Jake there. No, not Creepy Jake, but Airbud Jake.

(setup 11/10 8/3 null abstract33, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 149, 51mm bones pj washers outside, new balance numeric 440 white size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Not feeling very motivated on a cool night I ended up at Square House for the “Silver Session”. To my surprise only a few people were there and they had moved things around a little making things seem new and exciting. I hid in the back area for awhile and took a bit to get a 5-0 from the little qp to the bank. I was hyped Nick was there and he was hitting that area too doing little shoves on the banks. After a while some dudes had put a parking block on the bank and it looked really enticing. I would go on to get a run of slappy crook, then come back to the bank and kickflip. Felt really cool. I couldn’t get a bigflip on the bank though. The only person there I hadn’t met before was “Steezy” who made me jealous with his tiny setup and flip tricks. At one point he did a fakie flip front tail on the little ledge going ultra slow. Dennis is still one of my favs to skate with, he got a heelflip up the euro. Damian, Pat and Aiten ripped it. Jesse didn’t have his best session but was still in good spirits. I went in on kickflip axle stall on the parking block. It took a good 35 minutes, but was ultra rewarding. Thanks to everyone for the sympathy cheers! It really did make me happy.

(setup 3/10 null 8.3 abstract33, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow with royal bushings no big washer flat small washer, 51mm bones pj v1 with 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 288s w/b size 12)
(pain 3/10)