On a warmish morning I left the house for the first time in a week and felt up to try some mellow flatground. I started with a little warm up line of kickflip, weird nollie disaster revert a parking block then switch 180 a puddle. It was fun. I had reassembled my 8″ setup, but with high trucks this time. It felt great. At one point I was 4/5 on halfcab flips. Made me wonder why the heck I make my fav part of skateboarding so hard with larger boards sometimes. I’m sure I’ll soon be obsessing over a larger setup, but man I enjoyed 8″ today. I would go on to get several flippers. Fakie flip, f/s halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip, varial flip, fakie bigflip and f/s heel. The front heel made me so happy. It was like 3rd try. After a while I tried a line of halfcab flip, heelflip, treflip and did it. I was so hyped. The treflip was a typical Glen 270 flip, but the first two tricks felt good. The heelflips especially. Felt like the first one I actually popped in a long time. I skated more after that, but couldn’t get the other tricks i wanted like halfcab heels, switch flip or nollie tre.

(setup null burnout stumpy 8″, pj jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 high cast plate hollow hanger venom 91a bushings both washers, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic shape, new balance numeric 288S grey size 11.5)
(pain level 1/10 I guess not skating a bunch does reduce soreness. who would have thought)

Up early to skate with the good life homies it was all foggy and wet. Argh.  We drove by a new park in hopes it would randomly be dry, but it wasn’t.  Then a parking garage where we got the boot immediately.  After some breakfast a small patch of flatground had dried up.  3 dudes skating a small 10×20’ section with puddles.  We all started slow but would get into our bags. Joe kickflip, fakie flip, cab, halfcab flip, bs flip, fakie varial flip, fakie bigflip.  I got some tricks that I haven’t done in months and had a blast. Kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, halfcab flips both ways, fakie bigflip, bs flip, halfcab heels both ways, treflip, and so close to nollie tre.  Matt did a million tricks.  All the basic flippers, nollie varial flip, nollie big heel, nollie varial heel, switch varial heel, halfcab late flip.  

We skated the park briefly as some of it was dry.  I slammed on a puddle kicking a qp really hard.  Got a front 5-0 the little ledge. Joe killed the front 50 shoves and front smith.  Matt rattled off so many tricks. 5/0s, nosegrinds, bluntslide, crooks, so much.  Heck of a fun day.  

(setup 8.25 null vhs , jessup pj ultragrip, royal 144, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic, new balance numeric 440H b/w size 12)
(pain level 2/10)

Up early on my last day in Berlin I had made plans to skate this spot across from the hotel if the rain held out. It did. Initially it was way harder than I imagined. We rolled down the stairs a few times to get warmed up. Ben was getting on 50s right away. I would take forever to get some super slow ones and accidental 5-0s. We would get some lines too. I had boardslide then turn around and crooks. Switch front nose then switch 180 a 2 stair. Ben commits to everything. Makes me jealous. Almost learned crooks first try. I took a while to do front 50 then front shove down the 2 stair. After some more skating and selfie filming I asked Ben if he could film the front shove. I did it with nollie tail instead but it was first try filming which is ultra rare to me. Then I messed around with various lines to try and motivate to ollie over the curb drop at then. I had done a few opening tricks like nollie back tail or front 50. Then I settled on the nose jib 270, kickflip, ollie. To my delight I landed the kickflip first try (didn’t care about the toe drag) then got a sketchy ollie where I dragged my tail across the curb. I didn’t care. It was cold, my arthritis was raging and I needed to get back to hang with the family. It was an incredibly fun session. Ben took some good slams getting that line of boardslide then back 180. Skateboarding rules. It’s fun skating new spots and meeting new people.

(setup 8.38 null mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hangers, bones medium bushings, 53mm spitfire f4 classic shape 99a, splay freestyle grey size 12 with custom nb# abzorb and naboso activation insoles)
(Pain level 4/10 arthritis)

After some work that put me in a foul mood I went to Longmont to meet Rob and Dave at Rocky Mountain. It’s the first time I’ve been there since they paved it an it’s oh so good. It was sunny and beautiful and a perfect temperature. Dave and I arrived at the same time. Rob was there already along with another dude. It was Rob’s first time on the board after a trip to Ireland. He looked great. Things seemed to start pretty good. I had some nervous work energy to burn and it felt great to push on some fresh asphalt. Flip tricks started working and would keep working. I had more energy than normal and wearing cupsoles gave me a bit more confidence. Rob had manuals, back 50s, back 180 fakie 50, boardslides to fakie, boardslide 270 I think, them famous back 180s, much more. He looked great for not being on the board for a couple months. I skated the best I have since hurting my achilles. Well, actually even before considering how long it was hurting. I had a lot of flippers, sometimes even doing them several times in a row like heelflip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, some bad b/s flips, f/s halfcab flips, one terrible treflip. I hucked a lot more. Got on front pivot on the ledge, an accidental back 5-0 that was supposed to be 50, crooks, noseslides, halfcab noseslide. Got a sketchy kick back 50 on the curb, switch front 50, slappies. At one point got a sketchy f/s halfcab noseslide on the ledge. Dave is the energizer bunny. He took awhile to get going, but really put some stuff down once he did. Lots of switch front noses on the ledge and curb, nollie 50, nollie 5-0, switch back 50, front 180 nose manual 180 the median on the bank. I was beat so sat and filmed him almost get a nollie front 180 switch 50, but he gave up and settled for the long noseslide through the grate and the back 180 fakie 50 shove. He got a cleaner one too. At that point I got up and skated too, mostly just slappies. We did the run up to switch ride down the median, Dave got the halfcab out. Then we was beat. Such a fun day. I needed it so bad after a tough week of work.

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer night skate, jessup ultra grip, venture 5.8 titaniums, venom 91a bushings no big washer, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 288S maroon size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 1/10)

Woke up early after a good night of sleep and went right to getting ready to skate. I got there just as the sun was starting to peak out. I had the parks all to myself basically except for a mountain biker, tweaker and a fully padded skater just riding on the sidewalk. I did a few pumps, grinded the rainbow, carved the barrier. Then hit the bank for a bit. First try kickflip to fakie, kickflip took a few tries, couldn’t get a bigflip or treflip in 5 tries. Then I tried the noseslide followed by kickflip fakie. At first it seemed so impossible and I couldn’t get my feet setup for kickflip. After about 10 tries it started to feel possible though and I got it. Made me happy. I went over to the dog park after that. Everything felt harder there. I skated around for a bit then didn’t really feel like pushing and risking my achilles so I just did single tricks I could throw down instead of pushing. The manual took at least 10 tries, the nose manual about 5. Did halfcab flip and b/s flip. Then mostly skated the little ledge. Front 50 came easy, front 5-0 was hard, front 50 shove was hard, back 50 was hard. The fakie 50 felt cool. I tried kickflip 50 took like 10 minutes straight and as you can see I didn’t really lock in. It still felt cool. I was skating hard, trying hard, that’s all I can ask.

(setup null 8.25 glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 awake lows with 3 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings both washers, 1/16 riser, spitfire f4 99a 53mm classic shape, new balance numeric 272 black size 12 with custom split insoles)
(pain level 1/10! didn’t push much though to risk the achilles pain)

I arrived at 20th St at 8am and Joe arrived shortly after.  Warming up didn’t really go well so we played a game of SKATE.  Other than Joe winning it was a fun warm up. Ha.  I was unhappy to get a letter on a halfcab flip, but other than that it went alright for me. Then we mostly skated the main ledge.  Joe was popping into grinds before me but when I got his back on a front 50 shove I knew it was a good day.  Joe went on to get a bunch of his tricks. I got some accidental 5-0s, something that resembled a back 50 and other basics.  I kind of ollied a cone. Joe 50d all the rails.  I had a fun line of switch front nose, fakie flip, fakie smith fakie the qp.   I tried treflips for awhile and got a bad one, then followed it up with crooks to fakie on the ledge.  That was a highlight for me.  Joe and I ended the session by doing (almost) back to back front 50 shoves.  Heck of a session!

(setup 8.5 null smoke valley, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, venom 88a big 91a small bushings, 53 mm orange/yellow swirl spitfire 99a f4 classic shape, es swift 1.5 b/w size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10!!!)

On a hot day Rob and I rolled towards Fort Collins and met Hayden and Bo at Spring Canyon.  First time carpooling with Rob in a long time! It was rad. It felt incredibly hot when we got there.  But the park was mostly dead so our warm up process went pretty well.  I had made some subtle setup changes – 8.25 hangers and larger old 54mm wheels.  Felt alright, not great.  Rob was on mannies and back 50s quickly then got into nose manuals, crooks the tall bench, alley oop manuals on the hump, some no complies and more.  I had tried to do a decent back 50, but did an accidental back 5-0 where I locked in and came to a halt so did a shove out.  I was unable to manual or nose manual and the larger wheels did not help me get up the ledges any easier.  Bo and Hayden joined.  Hayden did the most casual manuals right out of the gate, like even back 180 fakie manuals.  Bo brought the energy and was popping up/off everything.  I tried a line for a bit of crooks the bench then nollie tre on flat and got it!  The nollie tre felt pretty amazing.  Hayden and I played a game of SKATE in which I got smoked.  I think I only got him with a halfcab flip.  Then I had the dumb idea of trying front 180 up then fakie flip off the curb.  Neither Hayden nor Bo had done it either.  Hayden did it real quick.  Bo pretty quick too.  I thought I would have Bo’s back, but instead as you can see in the clip above I decided to not land it in near 100 tries.  I had tried about 20 before I asked Hayden to film me for “3 tries”.  As you can see it turned into an hour of Hayden getting sunburnt filming me in the heat.  I tried it in the line as hype for awhile and then gave up just trying the 180/flip.  It was fun trying so hard.  I probably would have kept going, but the heat was too much.  Thanks for filming me for so long Hayden.  

(setup 8.38 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hanger, bones hard bushings, bones 54mm stf v5, new balance numeric b/w/blue 212 size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Up early before working later again so I went skating. I felt like something totally different so I ended up at Big Arvada. It’s been a couple years I think since I’ve been there. I was surprised when I pulled in around 7:45 by how few people there were. Only 2 other skaters. And one of them even seemed much older than me. The park would have a steady stream of other people joining, but never got crowded when I left shortly after 9. My legs felt rested after a two day break and my ankle seemed fine. After a bit of putzing around I got the first warm up line. Ollie onto the manny pad, ollie up the little euro, kickflip to fakie the mellow blue bank. Then I did front 50 the little manny pad (very slowly I hate how little confidence I have on that trick now), b/s flip on a bank, kickflip to fakie on the next bank. That felt cool. Then I did halfcab noseslide then 360 flip to fakie on the mellow blue bank. I struggled with halfcab noseslides and it was more of a 270 flip when I got it, but I was still happy. Then I settled in on the fakie bigflip on the bank. It came pretty quickly and made me happy even if it wasn’t rotated all the way around. Next I did the noseslide which a bit. I only had a few minutes left so I just kinda did some bank to curb axle stalls/front rock and a couple basics on the tiny qp up top. Oh and I took a couple scary runs in the snake run. Really fun session, mixing it up is good for me. Landing new tricks feels pretty magical too.

(setup 8.38 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast plate titanium hanger no big washer, bones 52mm stf v1, new balance numeric b/w/blue 212 size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 2/10 !! first time in a long time)

On a cold morning I woke up at 6am with the plan of getting to the dog park to do 48 tricks before work. I had made a list and everything. Mostly as a reference in case I blanked out and forgot what tricks to try. I would obviously have to stick to easier ones since I was on a time limit. I arrived shortly after 7am and it was 30 degrees. It didn’t feel too cold though. There was a rollerblader dude there. After posting up my phone immediately to film the slappy crooks I explained what I was doing. He offered to film me, but I would never put a stranger through that. Ha. He was cool. So yeah the video is mostly in order. I started with slappies to get the legs going. Most tricks went pretty well until the front 50. I just couldn’t commit with any speed. I was about to nix them when an accidental 5-0 worked out so I stuck with it until getting the shove out. The nollie front tail to fakie was also a total fluke, but I was happy. I had also done a switch front nose 270 out, but missed it when making the video. I was skating really hard, I was exhausted, breathing heavily and having fun. Flip tricks went okay. The treflip came in about 15 tries. I had to give up on nollie tre even though I was super close to a bunch of them. The halfcab heel took a bit. I wanted to ollie the barrier from the kicker as my ender, but I was tired and a bmxer had shown up and was hitting the kicker. I did about 53 tricks total so I’d have some to weed out. I got rid of a super slow front 50 and back 50, front 180 over the parking block, pathetic front board the new bench. I left feeling very happy, fortunate to be able to skate even if it’s not as good as I wish. This session was more quantity of tricks over quality though. I was very happy to have landed a treflip. 48!

(setup 8.5 null jack pro deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger no big washer, 52mm spitfire f4 101a radial slim, new balance numeric 288s size 11.5 maroon no insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Had more time before we left for my mom’s than I thought I would so hit up Jake and Rob for an early dog park session.  It was cold at first, but warmed up quite a bit by the end.  Especially when the strong breeze wasn’t blowing.  I was there first and quickly realized I was feeling alright for me.  Warm up line was switch front nose cinder block ledge, halfcab nose black ledge, crooks new bigger ledge.  Got back 50 on the a-frame, first try heelflip, front 50s weren’t as hard as normal.  The small board was kind of awesome at everything, perhaps because I kept the high trucks on it.  Rob and Jake got to ripping pretty quickly.  Rob halfcab noseslide the street bench, halfcab boardslides, crooks, back 50s, noseslides, kickflip, front nose 270 the new big ledge, almost backside flip, super steezy no comply back 360.  Jake had some solid front tailslides, 5-0s, did 2 or 3 varial flips in a row, joined me on crooks shove/bigspin attempts on the new ledge.  Neither of us got close, but we had some fun crooks.  Jake broke his board on a frontside flilp.  Doh.  Those guys were wrapping things up, but I had 3 tricks left on my list.  Somehow I would get them all.  Nosegrind 180 the little ledge.  Ollie the barrier off the kicker (after a switch nose 270 shove).  Then a sloppy treflip that took too long, but they all felt good.  Fun send off for the holiday weekend.

(setup 8″ null archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 high red cast baseplate v-hollow hanger, venom 91a bushings flat roadside washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, 3 washers inside each axle, new balance numeric 212 black/pink size 11.5, footprint elite mid insoles)
(pain level 3/10)