Seriously love skating random spots just cruising around a downtown area. On a hot day Neil and I started at a kind of random curb spot with some skate stopped ledges and a ride on curb that neither of us could quite get. We quickly went over to the downhill curb slalom that was super fun. We pretty much documented what we did. I wanted to add a fakie bigflip after the back 180, but couldn’t get it. I also couldn’t get a halfcab flip to start the line. I had some fun 5-0s on the first curb too. Neil was charging. His lines were FAST. He almost almost tried 50 gap over the curb at one point too. Paul met up with us and somehow struggled with the front 50 on the first curb. But he ollied the 4 stair first try as well as almost doing the 50 gap over the curb.

Next we hit the little downhill section and 2 stairs. Pauls ollie up and into the bank was so good. My jibs were fun. Behind that was a fun little bank to curb that was for real incredibly fun even if the cracks denied me.

Somehow then we got to skate the downtown plaza for a good minute. Neil was first with the no comply then one foot down the 3. Paul did the manual pretty quick followed by all the ollies which was trick of the day. I played around with the 2 stair then noseslide and could never quite get all the way up on the ledge. We got the boot, walked around some then called it a day. Man it was fun.

(setup 3/10 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55 hollows, 53mm bones pj v1, new balance numeric 288S w/b size 12)
(pain level 3/10)

After a long day in the heat doing some swimming, hiking and the art museum Liz and I met Neil at Ala Moana. I was super disoriented and had to wear glasses because of a huge stye on my eye. I had also changed my setup to 8.5 with ace highs hoping that a whole trip on this setup would convince me I liked it. Neil was charging out the gate. he is built for lines here. He got the phone out pretty quickly and I think did this line first try. It took me a bit to get used to the wavy ledge. It was a fun session. I didn’t get any lines really, but managed to finally land a treflip in Hawaii going 1mph between peds. After this fun session we had some food and went to see Dinosaur Jr!!!!!!! Epic start to the trip.

(setup 3/10 8.5 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55 hollows, 53mm bones pj v1, new balance numeric 288S w/b size 12)
(pain level 2/10)

On a super nice day after some exercises and a nice walk with Liz I was picked up by Jack B and we met some other older dudes at Zuni including Cass. Cass and I joined Salty, Michael and another guy on the little bank and tiny qp until we each did new tricks. Cass had done one front 50 to fakie already, but got my back when I finally got the sugarcane. We were hyped. Sugarcane has been a dream trick of mine for years. Hoping to get them better and maybe on an actual qp ha ha. We hit the long little qp for a while. We had a bump to ledge session almost everyone got boardslides. Jack and I got noseslides, Cass with the front noses and front nose shove. Hype man Michael had floaty nollie bonks out of the qp. I did a lot of flippers on flat in between tries. Had halfcab flip followed by backside flip. My treflips were not good, but I did get one. I ended the session with a fun line of halfcab flip on flat, bump to boardslide, ollie the 4 stair. It’s been a long time since I ollied a 4 stair.

Then we went to the Rino spot near Cass’ house. We met Chad there, but his back was mostly hurting. We started slow. I was pretty stiff at this point. The curbs teased us again and didn’t grind well. Barrier rides were the highlight for a while. I had a fun line of frontside barrier ride, tiny manual to quick front 180 out of a curb cut. It sounds way better than it was. At the end I was tossing around a line of something on the ledge then 180 up the curb and Jack suggested I go to the barrier. I had started with nollie back tails, but they were sucking and moved on to halfcab noseslide. Thanks for filming Cass. I got a line I’m hoarding for Stubborns 2 or a 50th bday part or something. Super fun day.

(setup 8/10 null 8.5 vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast plate titanium hanger royal bushings no big washer flat small washer, 51mm bones pj stf v1 103a washers outside, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Nice winter day I picked up Jack B and Jesse and we met up with Dave and Rob at Rocky Mountain. Things started slow it seemed, but everyone got going and it was a really fun one. I’ll start with Rob since he bounced first. Nice manuals, no complys on the bank, back 50 to back lip, nollie front lip shove. Jesse casually did some surprising moves like first try halfcab noseslide, fastplants, varial flips. Jack mostly attacked the curb and was kind enough to film quite a bit. Nollie front lip to 50, switch boardslides up to 50, slappy crooks, slappies. Oh yeah he also kickflipped off the curb which spawned a little kickflip session. I think most people got them first try, Rob on flat, Dave, Jack did them first try off the curb. Jesse got a couple. I got it up and down. My flip tricks were working really well which is kind of ironic since I had upped my board size to 8.5. I got 4 treflips. The most in one day in forever. Granted, they were not very good, but I was still hyped. Also 4/4 on fs halfcab flips. Got a few halfcab flips, fakie bigflip, sketch fakie front heels, backside flips, varial flips, several kickflips up the curb, no regular heelflips though and I couldn’t get a kickflip on the bank. I didn’t really do anything other than flatground and a few slappies. I couldn’t get a front 50 on the ledge although I did almost get a Glen 50 (5-0). As usual Dave was the last man skating. He had done a lot of nollies and shoves to fakie on the bank, manuals on the medians and some crazy curb tricks like switch back 180 5-0 180 out, varial flips, and tried to end on a crazy nollie 270 up onto the kinked brick median. Fun day fellas!

(setup 8/10 null 8.5 vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast plate titanium hanger royal bushings no big washer flat small washer, 51mm bones pj stf v1 103a washers outside, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Was able to get out of work for a bit to enjoy a session with the boys. I had only though it would be Jake, Rob, Dave and me, but it turned into a rad collection of homies. Dan, Colin, long haired Jake, Will, even Saul was there walking a cute new dog. I had put wide ventures on the 8.25. It was way better than the aces. It was a fun session. Some highlights. Dan first try treflip on his new 8.75, back nosegrind over the step, front blunt the metal bench, manual no comply, this dude is a shredder. Colin first try nollie tre, almost manual kickflip out. Rob nollie front lip all quick, manual drop down to manual through the crowd to boardslide was epic. Jake front tails, manuals, back 50s. Dave was charging back 50s on the curb, then around the C ledge, manuals and got several nosegrinds then ended with a front nosegrind 180. It hyped me up to try nosegrinds too which I would eventually get a couple with some tail taps. I got a really sloppy front nosegrind 180 in way less tries. Before that I had skated alright for me with a lot of accidental front 5-0s on the curb, crooks, a few flippers and came close to a super sloppy line that would have made me so hyped. Fakie flip, font halfcab heel, nollie tre. After Dave and I had shut down the curb with our nosegrind dominance we went over to the barrier where Rob and Jake were talking. I hyped up Jake with a first try front rock, but he never got the follow up front blunt and owes me a huge horchata now. Dan and Collin joined. I think everyone did front rocks except Dan who did it switch. I would get a front slash which was a great ender. The wind was getting super annoying. Fun session, rad crew.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null esher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium bones medium bushings, 51mm bones pj stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Nice day out. I rolled down to Dayton to meet Cass and Jake. There were some other older guys there, solid session, great vibe. Jake was quick to shred the “spine” and quarterpipe. Cass was dealing with some back issues. We all seemed to skate alright. My flippers weren’t working as easy as hoped. Oh, it’s actually funny I had 3 setups in the car and chose an older deck with Thunders on it. At first I didn’t like it, but ended up liking it. Got a few of the ledge basics. Jake did front 50 on the tallish ledge and I made myself get one too before we left for the bank to ledge. Except that I did a Glen 50 which is a 5-0.

Then to the nearby bank to ledge Cass had Stefan to join us so we had a good crew of 4 of us. It took most of us a bit to get used to it. Maybe not Stefan or Cass so much. Cass was doing video part tricks quickly. Aka front nose shove. Stefan front 50s and tails quick. I would get some questionable slappy crooks, noseslides, first try noseslide to fakie and a front pivot/smith stall, super close to kickflip back 50. Jake would get close to crooks, front 50, front 3. Cass got some front 50s and front nose variations before he had to leave. Stefan did the most buttery nollie front crooks. At the end I became obsessed with a 3 trick line. Crooks, kickflip, kickflip fakie. As you can see the crooks where terrible, but it was a fun way to end a really fun day.

(setup 8/10 null 8.25 spanbauer night spots, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 hollows venom 88a bushings, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic shape, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10)

On a cool night I had some juice. I drove around for a bit and ended up at a new parking garage in north Boulder that was super well lit. I did a few basic tricks before realizing I just couldn’t do flatground only in a parking garage. On I went and I ended up at a newish building with a few tall ledges and a normal sized one that had snow around it. I had a setup change once again – 8.25 ace lows and I really liked it. This new spot had some decent flatground, some okay manny pads and then a few smooth and tall ledges in weird locations. Initially I tried to quick up to crooks, but wasn’t ready for that. Then I lined out a flip trick, noseslide to fakie, flip trick. But noseslide to fakie got hard. Had a few varial flips, couldn’t put down a heelflip or crooks. I was trying lots of flippers, hucking away, not landing much. After a while of trying to line out the taller benches I saw the shorter one with the snow. It’s hard to see but the gap in was a little scary (to me) because of the snow and it took a while for me to commit. In between tries I got backside flips, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, fakie varial flip and close to a lot more. The noseslide was hard, I was hyped that i did it. Hyped on the session in general, I skated really hard and felt good.

(setup null 8.25 mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 44 lows hard bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 2/10 really some of the best i’ve felt in a while)

Trying not to disappoint here as everyone was joking about this entry while we were there. Maybe because I actually landed a few tricks for once. Anyway, shortly before sunset Kevin, Rob, Sean, Paul, Jack and I gathered at Broomfield park for Kevin’s final session before moving. Jack just chilled since his foot is broke. There were quite a few younger skaters getting at it and the place had a lot of energy. So it was kind of tough to get going. I saw Rob trying a bunch of no comply front boards. The man of the hour Kevin forgot to put his contact in, but still managed to rip in his glasses. Switch front 5-0 first try, fakie 5-0 halfcab out, switch nosegrind 180 and kick back tail. Paul worked on fakie back tails. I saw Sean nollie the double set which I hadn’t seen before. He went through his bag on the ledges and ended with nosegrind back 180 on the happy ledge. I didn’t land a lot of flippers, but for once the ledge didn’t totally defeat me. I was really hyped to get noseslide 270 shove, halfcab noseslide, crooks took a while adjusting to the Ace pinch, fakie 50 and fakie 50 switch 180 flop out, and finally a front 50 or two and even the old accidental 5-0 that I followed with a kickflip out of the curb cut. Darin had shown and I tried nollie tre while he tried fakie tre, but neither of us got them. Oh well, fun night. Really gonna miss Kevin being around.

(setup 8.5 null vhs deck, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, 52mm snot pink/yellow swirl 101a, new balance numeric 440 white/red size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 2/10 only!!!!)

On a hot morning Jack, Garrett and I rolled up to Laramie where we met up with Mike, Eric, Joe, Kevin, Rob and Neil at the skatepark. It had been 14 years since I skated there and there has been some new additions. They had painted some of it blue and the reflection was insane. I have no idea how others skated without sunglasses. Jack showed up and immediately went in on kickflip on the extension. Eric shot photos. Joe and I mostly played in the newest area figuring out the slappies. The others showed up. The newest area was pretty crowded at times as everything good was in one area. I got a line of nollie back tail a curb, crooks a bench, slappy the curved bank to curb, carve around kickflip to fakie. Kevin and I played off the little drop near the front for a bit. He switch flipped it. I kickflipped up it which hyped me up. Eric and I skated the bowl for a bit which was pretty weird and hard to skate and we didn’t carve the full pipe very well. Garrett got to 9 first try. Later on Jack would get to 10 on the top of it ha ha. The wallride was sick. Back in the newest area I witnessed boardslides from Eric (can’t believe he was able to skate after yesterdays slam), nollie front lips from Rob, boardslides on the bench lined out with fakie flips on the bank from Joe, Kevin had halfcab bluntslide transfer to back tail then back smith the qp, I managed to boardslide the bench and get a little crook jib on it as well as some front slappies on the bank to curb, Mike was front nose to fakie and a bunch of good slappies.

After some lunch we hit campus. Garrett, Jack and I hit an old area near some dorms I skated a very long time ago. I didn’t really do anything. Jack tried some front nose 270 shoves and some manuals down a 5 stair.

Then we met everyone at a really fun bank to curb where I proceeded to slam on my first axle stall, but then go on to have a lot of fun. Mike had great back 50s. Jack’s acid drops into the bank as setups were highlights on their own as was the grind to grind. Garrett smoothly did slashes, hurricanes, blunts, kickflip fakie, etc. Rob had steezy front tails and slappies. Neil with the fire beanplants, no complies. Joe kickflip rock ‘n roll. Kevin kickflip willies and kickflip axle stall. I got a couple front slashes, hurricane and a rock up to feeble to axle that was surprisingly fun.

Then we went over to this crazy loading dock with wide round flatbars. Pretty epic spot. Epic stuff went down. Fun was had. Highlights were of course Jack’s epic grind to boardslide, but Kevin’s crooks was incredible too as was Garrett’s back 180 nosegrind. Joe got boardslide pop out and off the end. Neil’s knee didn’t let him land the noseslide even though he got into it perfectly. I had some little noseslide jibs and maybe something that resembles switch front nose. Jack also did some crazy hippy jumps and bluntslides. Garrett wallied up the darn loading dock too. What a great day.

(setup 8.25 null stumpy burnout, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium hanger, bones 52mm stf 99a v3, new balance numeric 440h b/w size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Had some time away from the family in the morning so I took advantage on a nice and warm morning. I had the park mostly to myself except for a few minutes between a couple of beginner skaters and scooter kids. I started really slow feeling coffee jitters and disdain for the park. I had wanted to do a bunch of flippers on the bank, but b/s flip took too long. I would get a line to kickflip fakie of front tail off the tiny qp to weird ledge, rock ‘n roll the qp, kickflip fakie on the bank. Then I wussed out on rock fakies for a while and rather than getting mad I just started skating how I want to skate. I did flip tricks around the park and lined out the wood ledges which are better than most of the concrete mounds in the park. I started with b/s flip then halfcab flip, go around and front 50 the ledge. Also tried crooks the other way then drop in and try treflip to fakie. Which then turned into the most ridiculously long line which I did actually come close to. Two flippers, front 50, kickflip flyout front rock, axle stall the qp, treflip fakie the bank. Never got it, but I was close. A couple of the two flippers I got were halfcab heel then heelflip, halfcab flip then treflip, b/s flip then fakie bigflip, I was having so much fun with it. I was 3/4 on heelflips which hasn’t happened in what feels like forever. I got the treflip 2nd try, but was so close on all of them. I was so close to going 3/3 on flat. I didn’t get much on the ledge, aluminum coping isn’t the best, but it was more fun than the weird transition and huge coping. I kept thinking my brother and his kids would show up so I skated hard thinking my session could be over any moment. They never did and I ended up just leaving on my own. Flip tricks make me happy.

(8.25 null spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 lows bones medium bushings, spitfire 51mm 101a classic shape with 2 washers inside, new balance numeric 288S b/w size 11.5 440 insoles)
(pain level 4/10)