On a beautiful day I rolled to Indian Peaks with Dave L. We arrived at the same time as Dave F (hereby referred to as Dave – Dave L is Dave L). Rob was the first to start doing tricks. No comply bigspin, crails, kickflip. Dave had the fakie shoves. Dave L was cruising around checking out the line possibilities. I was kinda doing nothing, but managed a first try kickflip to fakie to cheer me up some. Rob had some wallride nollies, front shove fakie, front big, kickflip, one foots. Man its great to have his style and energy back in the mix. Dave L working on nollie cabs and did lots of cool little manuals on the brick medians. I tried the little nollie shove then wallride nollie on the lower wall, but couldn’t get the wallie nollie. Dave was doing beautiful wallie nollies, did his first ever Hale spin (nose stall tailgrab 360) which was so sick. He also had a crazy switch shove revert thing. Two Dave NBDs within a few minutes of each other. Crazy. I started hucking backside flips and several tries later I got one, then a really great feeling one, then another one shown in the clip above. I was hyped as that’s a trick I’ve wanted to do there for awhile. I failed at 360 flips to fakie for awhile. Dave had a sick 360 over the hip. Dave L had a nice 360 no comply over it. I finished with a tiny boneless over the hip then the little kickflip. The hip is much harder than it looks since it’s so rounded. Super fun session. Then Dave L and I looked at a ledge spot that I skated with Jason forever ago. It still looks good, gotta wax it up and get it going!

(setup 8.25″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s v-lights, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Went to Saul’s on the warmest evening of the year so far. Which really isn’t saying much, but 60 something felt absolutely great. I went to Saul’s after a quick nap/bite at home. Dave and Saul were skating. Saul had a few of his patented quick grind runs that rule. Dave seemed a bit off. I bailed some axle stalls. Tyler and Veronica came and did a few runs when it was decided we would go to the EBCC slappy spot. We arrived to a very crowded parking lot, but we still skated and it would slowly clear out. We ended up in the yellow curb area for awhile as it had the least amount of cars. I had put an old 8.5″ deck on that was in way better shape than my 8.3″ deck so I felt a little off, but I didn’t let it get to me. Everyone was kind of on their own avoiding cars. I saw Saul do some of his amazing long slappies. Dave hit a rock and slammed super hard. Tyler and Dave swept the yellow bank and waxed it. Dave had a nice front tail. Tyler a nice back tail. I may have slid a front tail. Veronica had just done her first slappy a few days ago and was trying, but these curbs were less forgiving. Tyler made the tiny gap look easy. I had a sketchy ollie down it. Then I started trying a line near where Dave was doing front crook slappies. The line was back slappy, treflip, kickflip up a curb, front 180 the little gap. I was mostly alone for this as people had moved on to the better area of the curb that had cleared out. I got to the kickflip a couple times quickly, but hit stop rocks right before the kickflip and fell. Argh. I would eventually link the whole line and landing the 180 felt absolutely great. Glad I stuck with that line. Tyler and Saul had been doing really long slappies and doubling it up around a corner, then they split. I joined Dave as he tried switch slappy crook shoves. He didn’t get it, but he did get some super good switch slappy crooks. I tried another line. Slappy crooks to fakie, halfcab flip, ollie the quick euro gap. I never got the ollie up the euro, but was close. Fun night. Felt good to be warm and push and be with a crew. Oh yeah, at one point I had ran and jumped off a fire hydrant onto my board since I’ve been inspired by the Vallely 9 club.

(setup 8.5″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 379 all black size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 5/10 kinda sharp knee pain)

Rob, Carliegh and I showed up at a mostly empty park around 1 under cloudy skies. Carleigh went off to the dog park with Ella and I had the pleasure of skating with Rob for the first time in a few months. He looked good as always. Seeing that perfect back 180 again was awesome. I felt better than I have in awhile. Got a first try manual which is surprisingly rare. Carleigh joined. We were all having fun. Rob got into his groove with manuals, no comply up the curb, back 180s, manual and nose manual the main pad. Carleigh did a flatground ollie as a warm up and it reminded me of how I never just do flatground ollies. It feels so weird. I should more. She boardslid the little rail easily, axle stall the steep qp. I had done a few ledge tricks. Was hyped back 50 didn’t take me forever. Couldn’t get front nosegrind though. Dave showed around when I was trying a line. Ollie onto a potato chip, front 180 off, fakie 50 the ledge. I think I got it, but came out f/s halfcab instead of to fakie. I tried a few noseslide back 270s out (after that amazing Bobby Worrest part!), but wasn’t close. Couldn’t front 50 it to save my life. Crooks worked at least. I started trying a line that would take me forever. Crooks the bench, kickflip up the curb of the wave, push up the hump because I didn’t do the kickflip fast enough, axle stall. The axle stall took forever. But at least when I finally did it I added a first try kickflip off which felt extra great. Dave had been trying a line too. Back tailslide over the tiny hump thing, front 50 the ledge, fakie nosegrind the ledge. The back tails over the hump hip were incredible though. The best I’ve sen him do. Rob got a sick manual up and round a hump. Carleigh was slamming on frontside wallrides then got a super solid one. Dave was trying halfcab manuals on the top of the volcano near the bowl. I don’t think he got one, but it was super crazy. It inspired me to try a transition line. Frontside ollie the qp, axle stall the steep qp, kickflip on the qp. It took me a long time, but I got it and it was a blast. I almost got a treflip to end it. Dave did a crazy back tail 270 on the hump hip. Then we did some front crooks on the slappy curb and called it a day. So fun! One of the best days I’ve had in awhile.

(setup 8.38 null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside) no boardside washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 379 all black size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

On a Thursday night we motivated to go somewhere new and different. I picked up Carleigh then met Kevin and Dave at Curbside Skatepark. It was crazy crowded when we got there. Or at least we thought it was super crowded. We kinda started in the corner with the two weird humps and steep tall qp. Oh I had already tried to wallie a parking block, bailed and knocked someones filming phone down. Doh. For about the first 15 minutes I thought there was no chance I’d be able to get warmed up and have fun. Kevin had already kickflipped up the euro, Carleigh ollied up it, Dave did a back tail on the steep bank. Then we migrated to the miniramp which was way more fun than I imagined. It’s perfect, mellow, small. That doesn’t mean I didn’t struggle with back 50s and other basics though. Kevin had the pivots to fakie. Carleigh did a first try back disaster and that’s when I knew this would be a special session. Dave was skating on the other side of the park. I got a couple basics on the mini for me. Was happy to do front 50s pretty easily. Then me and Carleigh started trying noseslides on the A-frame ledge. It took us about the same amount of tries. It was so fun once you committed to it, the kick threw you right into the noseslide. Carleigh lined it out with pop shove over the bump too. I lined it out with kickflip to fakie. I did the first kickflip to fakie I tried which was also a sign that this was a better than average session. Kevin front 50 and 5-0’d down it, then front 50’d up. He was doing nollies and fakie ollies over the bump too. Kevin was also killing the ledge. I started trying crooks while he was trying kick back tails. That ledge is so slick it was insane. On crooks you gain speed. 303 Luke was there destroying 360 flips over the bump and crooks to almost nollie flip out. Denver legends Isiah and Trevor were there destroying as they do. Dave was doing long boardslides to fakie on the ledge, bigspins on the bank, nose stalls to fakie, and much more that I’m missed because I was skating non-stop having more fun than I have all winter. I got a few crook grinds that I stood up on and man they felt so great. Carleigh, Dave and I were trying kickflips over the bump for awhile. Dave gave up and did halfcab flip instead. Yes, tech Dave! He also did kind of an accidental cab flip over it. The halfcab flip was so sick though. I got a sketchy kickflip over it. Carleigh did shortly after me. We were at our 2 hour limit basically, but kept skating it was just so fun. Carleigh and Kevin were skating the mini. I was posing 360 flips to fakie on the bank. I committed a couple times, but never landed on it. We were doing some flip tricks on flat. I got first try halfcab flip and a few tries for a 360 flip which helped make my day. The park was clearing out. I spent awhile trying halfcab flips over the bump and would one. It felt awesome. Dave was lining out boardslide to fakie on the flat bar, switch noses jib the bank to ledge then crooks. The photo above was a crooks I thought until I saw the photo. Ha. I did a few other tricks than crooks on the ledge finally. Front 50, front 50 shove, halfcab noseslide, switch front nose. I ended with another fun crooks. Carleigh had done back blunt on the mini. Kevin convinced Dave to try and manual around the deck of the mini which he did pretty quickly. Such a banger to end the session with. Incredibly fun session. Oh and they were even playing great music.

(setup 8.38 null atomic cowboy deck, venture ftc 5.8s, venom 91a bushings with no bottom washer, bones stf v1 pj 53mm wheels with all washers on the outside, new balance numeric 379 tan size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10 knees were sore from climbing onto ramps)

After getting hyped on some Vics Market videos at Jack’s I felt like doing some real street skating for once.  Just pull up to an area of town and skate.  I had to bring boards to Fedex so I just went there and skated around.  I was immediately stoked to see the very well lit alley behind the old Whole Foods being totally skateable now.  I played around for awhile warming up then settled on some lines to get going.  I would do a variation of a side rock, then ollie a little square cement chunk and then try to tailslide a little yellow curb.  I had setup a new board, 8.25.  It felt small, but fine.  I had the City Cups going again and they felt tine too.  I took a long time to get a kickflip to fakie, the approach was hard.  I tried to back tail the tiny yellow curb, but that didn’t work.  Pop shove to fakie was fun too.  That area is cool.  Then I rolled around for awhile and ended up at the weird wood bench in the photo.  There is a slight bank up to it.  i did a nose stall to fakie then took a very long time to get a front axle stall.  But it felt good when I did it.  I had tried a few flippers, but didn’t land much.  My board/shoes felt weird for that.  But yeah, super fun night, felt great to really street skate.  I need to do this more.

(setup null 8.25 lazer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, bones  bushings (medium big bottom one, hard top one), no washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 radial blue/yellow swirl 52mm 99a wheels, adidas city cup size 11, stock insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Late on a cold Sunday afternoon I brought the master DVD in to Mike’s got get duplicated then felt like hitting my favorite slappy crooks curb. Jack and Carleigh were gonna meet me in awhile. I started with slappy crooks of course. So fun. Although I couldn’t get slappy front crooks. I was having fun lining out things, then got side tracked for a bit trying to ollie over the parking block onto the median and then over the next parking block. It was an embarrassing display of no ollie skills, but I stuck with it and did it. I’m trying not to shy away from ollies I should be able to do anymore. Then I stated trying a line for awhile. Manual the median, slappy crook, no comply 180, switch front nose the curbba. It took awhile and Jack and Carleigh had arrived, but I did it. Jack no complied then no comply flipped the median. Carleigh no complied it too, then did a little ride on back tail on the median curb cut. Jack went on a rampage. Kickflips over the median, pop shoves over it, sketchy rideaways. Then we moved into the campus a little. We looked at the parking block to 2 stair, but it had a car. We looked at a couple other spots. Ended up at a new loading dock thing. Jack nose manual shoved it quick. Carleigh and I ollied up. Well, Carleigh did and made it off. I kept hanging up. Jack did a crazy hop to boardjib hippy hop. We hit a dorky ledge for a minute. Carleigh and I ollied the 3 stair by it. Then we hit the ledge in the photo/clip. Jack did front 5-0 somehow (that doesn’t grind) then front tail fs flip out. Whoa! Carleigh had some steezy boardslides. I got into 50, but blame the ledge for not landing it, then did the switch nose jib shove in a few tries. Fun day cruising with no plans to film anything.

(setup null 8.5 perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, doh doh bushings (yellow top, blue bottom) bushings, 2 washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 radial blue/yellow swirl 52mm 99a wheels, new balance numeric 212 black/white size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10 hard to get lower than 3/10 when it’s that cold)

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Thanksgiving warm up with @corpoglenny and the best back drop ever

A post shared by Sean Flaherty (@slaherty) on Nov 22, 2018 at 1:26pm PST

On a nice morning I met Sean at the Dog Park. He had signed up to film me try the front shove down the dentist 5. Poor guy, but man, what an awfully nice guy. We got there about the same time. He went right in on kickflips and heelflips while I slowly worked on no pop shove its. I had gotten my slow kickflip, no comply 180, fakie flip line when I noticed Eric’s ledge sitting in the distance. Rad, we brought it out. Dang that thing is tall. Well, as you can see, not for Sean. He destroyed that thing so casually. I was hyped to get a line of halfcab flip, crooks, backside flip (although the bs flip was terrible). I tried another line of heelflip, front board, 360 flip, but never got the 360 flip. Sean was mostly just skating the ledge. He had a couple more at the end like fakie nosegrind or fakie 5-0. I also tried a bunch of front shoves and they were kinda working. Sean said we each had to do a good backside flip before leaving. Oh man how little does he know me? Ha ha. But he suggested a tip which is to stare at your back foot and it worked pretty well for me actually. As in I landed one backside flip without a huge tic tac. He got a few, but it had to be totally perfect.

Then we were at Dentist 5 with a truck right in front of the sidewalk. Argh. I figured I’d have to find a different way to line it out, but wanted to ollie the stairs a few times before trying the shove anyway. Sean ollied it first try. I tried to get his back, but bailed. he front 180’d first try, I still bailed. Even after he back 180’d it I bailed. But I did get it. Then he kickflipped it a couple times and I got his back before feeling out how to get up the curb. The no comply shove wasn’t an option as I couldn’t do it at the 45 degree angle to get around the truck. I settled on kickflip up which wasn’t easy. I hucked a couple front shoves that felt more doable then last time then Sean started filming. What a nice dude. The kickflip was hard, that angle was killing me. I went through a few waves of close to getting the line and not close at all. Then I was in the zone and SNAP, broke my nose real bad. Noooooo! I looked at Sean’s board and told him I’d give him another one if I broke it. Ha ha. But only a few tries later I rode away and it felt incredible. Like up there with the top best feeling tricks I’ve landed. I’ve never done a front shove down more than 4, so this is pretty cool at 45 to get it down 5. We called it a day after that. I was very happy.

setup null 8.38 dream machine deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 90a bushings, 3 washers outside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, new balance numeric 212 cream size 11.5, vans ultracush insoles)
(pain level 2/10 felt great before the jumping started, but I would expect to hurt after as I have no tolerance for drops anymore)

Went to Safeway on a warm Saturday to meet Rob, Fuzz, Kevin and Sean. Kevin and Rob were there when I arrived. Kevin was already doing nollie flips and tailslides or something. I was feeling pretty good as I warmed up with the ol’ no-pop noseslides and went into some of my basics. Fuzz and Sean showed around the same time. Sean went on to totally destroy. He landed pretty much everything first try for awhile. Rob was in the zone for awhile. Cab front nose fakie, bigspint front nose to forward (Rob NBD), back smiths, nollie lips. Totally shredding. Fuzz came life and threw down a sick little line for the Stubborns. I couldn’t do kick back 50, but I did get a first try front 50 front shove out that felt really good. Kevin did a back tail shove. Sean learned fakie flip front tail and did it buttery ( that might be the first time I’ve used buttery on this blog). Oh yeah my 255s tore on the sole so I changed over to some old 212s.

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@baffoos fighting the good fight. Good times at La Raza yesterday

A post shared by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on Sep 23, 2018 at 9:47am PDT

Then we went to La Raza. I was starting slow and Rob was feeling a trick so I filmed him get a line for the Stubborns. Back 180, halfcab board shove, no comply shove. The tricks alone sound great, but then remember that style king Rob did them and you can get even more excited for the video. Rob was also kind enough to film Fuzz after this go for a tech hammer while I warmed back up. Less than 20 tries later Fuzz put down a banger. Switch board to front board. Powerful as all get out. Dang, we stacking clips! Kevin and I skated for awhile. Kevin was trying a line of fakie bigspin over the weird crack then nollie nosegrind shove. He was getting close. I took a long time to get a regular shove over the crack then tried to follow it with front 50 or 5-0 shove out. I didn’t get it and started filming Kevin who eventually had to call it.

All day I had been thinking of a trick I wanted to try into this bank. Sean had said he thought it was possible. Having never been to this spot it was hard to say, but I wanted to no comply finger flip into it. When we got there the bank looked intense. I couldn’t even drop in from the top initially. But I stayed calm and played with it for awhile. Dropping in a couple feet further each time until I felt comfortable with the roll in. Kevin rolled in a couple times too. I started playing with the trick just to feel it out. It kinda seemed doable. The runway is absolutely terrible. It was super hot. There were ants everywhere. There was gum right where I wanted to push. But I kept at it inching closer and closer before getting a lame one. Thankfully Fuzz knew I could do better and told me to give it another try. I went for it that try, but the board didn’t flip right. Did I mention my fingers were bloody from flipping the board? A good slam and a dozen more bails then I rode away from a better one. It felt pretty amazing. What’s also amazing is the camera died on the roll away. Luckily there is enough roll away that it looks fine. But man I was happy as it comes. Everyone was. We stacked some good clips and had fun. On the way to the car Kevin did nolle flip and nollie treflip while holding onto a bottle. Ha. We went out to dinner and had some margs and it was a blast.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric 255 cream/gum size 12 then brown 212s size 11.5, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 3/10 general soreness)

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Impromptu park session with @fullertrron after a long day of work. #accidentalwallie

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Sep 17, 2018 at 9:07pm PDT

After a long day of work and impromptu session at this little Longmont park went down. We were alone when we got there, but we had to deal with waves of scooter kids, one young one in particular that would not ever shut up. I went in pretty quick on the flippers. Had a fun line of front tail over the hip, b/s flip on a bank, kickflip fakie on a bank then fakie shove on a bank. Dave was doing long tailslides over the hip, bluntslides. Then we worked into the lines above which were fun for both of us. We took turns filming each other. It’s a lot easier to film when there’s just two people. Dave’s back 180s were gnar. Loved the switch hippy jump. I didn’t land many of the fs flips clean, but they were fun. I was also hyped to get the ollie up the taller ledge. After we got our lines first try (ha) we kept at it. I had a fun line of frontside tiny ollie the hip, front 180 off the curved ledge then a little switch nose jib. Dave was doing solid front 50s on all of the bump to ledges. We did some kickflip flyouts. I tried treflip flyout, didn’t get so close. I did a few front 50s around the C ledge that were super fun. Then we messed around with the silly ollie to fakie 50 well past the sunset and when we were supposed to be home. This park is really fun.

(setup 8.25 null perception deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, stock white bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric 255 cream/gum size 12, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 2/10 a little knee pain built up over the session)

Got to Broomfield park around 8pm. Garrett, Rob and Carleigh showed up around the same time. Things started slow. Well, maybe not for Garrett, he was ripping out of the gates. Such good style. I had started with the PJ shoes, but they hurt so I put an old pair of Es Switfts on and they felt great. I was swearing off the big board too. I’m not sure how it happened, but all of a sudden it seemed like everyone was in the zone trying hard stuff for them. We were mostly skating the blue ledge. For me it was a fakie 50 switch 180 out first try and I’ve only done that trick once before. I followed it with a first try Joe Hamilton. Rob did a few kickflip front boards and then him and Carleigh were trying front 50 shove out. Carleigh cracked her board really bad, but was still able to skate. She would get a solid one shortly before the lights shut off. Rob did it as well and then got nollie 50 front shove out. I also saw front 50 back 180. Garrett was trying lots of front 180 fakie manuals. He got one with a little love tap at the end. His front blunts on the quartapotty were sick looking. I ended up stacking quite a few tricks for me. Front 5-0 front 180 out, front 50 back 180 out, fakie nosegrind (I’m not actually sure the truck really grinded), a front nosegrind with a love tap, back 50 shove (so slow). I remembered to try and ollie the 6 stair. I committed the first two tries, but splatted for reasons I don’t understand. I bailed the third try and then the lights shut off. Such a fun night.

(setup null perception 8.5 deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings bones v1 stf 51mm wheels, es swift 1.5 grey size 11.5, footprint gamechanger low profile insole)
(knee pain 2/10)