Took a lunch break to Blue Skies and it was sooo nice out. I went with the Strikes again and this time felt like they have some potential. I took a bit to get a warm up line of boardslide a flat bar, kickflip on flat, noseslide down an escalator ledge, b/s nollie on the bank, crooks the ledge. I mostly lined things out the whole time. Had a couple front board jibs, a few halfcab flips, a heelflip, ollies over the lowest part of the dragon rail. Ended doing a crook jib on the escalator ledge followed by front 50 attempt on the lowest ledge which I kind of did but also rode along the top slowly.

After work I met Dave at Valmont park. He was battling back bigspin over the hip and would get a really smooth one. Then he went on to line out several b/s flips over the hip too with back d on the little qp, back tail on the volcano, front ride the barrier. I got quite a few kickflips quickly. To fakie on the mellow bank, b/s on a hump. Went on to do a line of f/s flip on the mellow bank then kickflip to fakie on the shark fin. I was pretty hyped on that. Then I failed at treflips to fakie on the bank for a while and Dave had to leave.

So I went over to dog park. Was hyped that Jamison and Robbie were there ripping. I thought I would do basically nothing, but I ended up doing a few basics. Crooks on the bench was fun, front 50 the lurb was hard because the Strikes are so cushiony they absorb pop, slappies, couldn’t get kick back 50.

Lotta skating. Really sore a day later writing this. I was hoping these strike shoes would avoid that, but alas it doesn’t appear there will ever be a perfect skate shoe.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow light 148 royal bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, strike mvmnt transit street trainer black/gum size 12 currex run pro insole)
(pain level 3/10 felt good until the end)

Met Nullers at Broomfield park with the purpose of filming a little skit for the new shirts. We skated for a while at the park. I was trying to break in some Strike MVMNT “Transit Street Trainer” shoes. Wow they are thick and stiff. I skated pretty bad. I don’t know if I can even remember a trick I did. I know I was switching between my 8.5 and 8.25 setups because of how the shoes felt, but ultimately stuck with the 8.25. Garrett had some great back tails on the ledge into the bank. Bo somehow couldn’t treflip. Joe’s front crooks on the ledge into the bank were great. Sean being Sean was awesome. Then we went to the nearby school and had fun shooting hoops and dunking. Then to another school with a low wall rail that everyone got denied on.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow light 148 royal bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, strike mvmnt transit street trainer black/gum size 12 currex run pro insole)
(pain level 6/10 from the day before)

On a warm morning I went to dog park. Bratcher, Jesse and Tim were there. Tim was shredding extra hard doing some really long slappies. I was skating alright. Tried a line of crooks the back of the tall ledge then really close to kick back 50 the lurb. Jesse, Jack and I played a game of SKATE. I managed some very defensive takes on a lot of non-flip tricks and managed to win it at the end with a few flippers in a row fakie flip, halfcab flip, heelflip. Finally got a really slow fakie 50 on the bench. Then I had to go meet Nullers.

Later on we ended up at Fort Collins HS which I haven’t been to in like 20 years. Maybe like 18, but either way, crazy. Last time I was there I was filming Metal Matt pop over a huge bar. Jack was struggling early then hit a tree branch with his head. But he managed to go on and do some tricks including a crazy nose bonk. Garrett flowed around and went in on a gnarly manual. I filmed Bo get a cool line where he popped up the 3 and over the rail. Joe did some high speed hard flips on flat but couldn’t get it over the rail. I ended up not filming much so I skated a lot. I basically tried two flip tricks then front 180 a 3 stair for an hour. I only got to the 3 stair like 4 times. I did get a front halfcab heel for the first time in a while. Ultimately the line I got was fakie flip, halfcab flip, front 180. After that Garrett got his manual and I took a few tries to ollie a slightly taller 3 stair then noseslide 180 a tall bench. I had fun ollieing down the 3, but the noseslide was a struggle. I kind of got it. It was a fun skate. Was hyped to street skate and then spend $500 on a marg (not really but it felt like it).

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow light 148 royal bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 half insole and currex run pro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

On a nice morning I met Cass at Frederick. We had the park to ourselves for a long time before Bo and then Brian would arrive. I had eaten before skating which is rare and was messing with me getting going. But I had some kickflips on various things and got a couple up onto the smaller pad. We played a game of SKATE that I won kind of quickly somehow. I had first try fakie flip, halfcab flip and heelflip. Cass hit me with a hardflip because he didn’t want to get pink slipped. Forgot to mention I had a different setup. 8.25 with Thunder and I loved it. After the game of SKATE I had a few manuals in a row then ollie up onto the pad and nearly kickflip off. I asked Cass to film it but missed the manual (or nose manual). I was happy to get the ollie up and kickflip off pretty quickly through, maybe around 10 tries. The crooks after was a nice bonus. Cass did the fornt noses then we skated the hump for a bit. Cass got kickflip and kind of a hardflip 180. I got some pivoted varial flips both ways. Then I needed to do a treflip before I got too tried. We skated the fly out area. Cass did a couple of perfect ones. Brian and Bo showed. Cass went on to do several tricks. I would get a couple bad treflips and was really close to several decent treflips. Brian was trying kickflips but the knee and hip wouldn’t let him get it. Bo hadn’t skated in a couple week then just skated the ledge the tall way like it was nothing. Brian did the blunt real quick. Pretty great session. Then Brian, Cass and I went out to lunch which was also pretty great.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow light 148 royal bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 half insole and currex run pro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Got home from work super tired and was sitting eating chips thinking I would not skate, but then Dave said he was at the school. So I rallied and met him. He was doing amazing slappy switch front crooks in a fast line down the little hill. I tried some switch front slappies. But then Dave had to leave.

While stuck in traffic on the way home from work earlier I saw this spot and was reminded that I should try and skate it. And I needed the motivation of a new spot to generate a little hype. I’m not sure why I’m dragging so bad this week. Anyway, as expected the spot was way harder than I imagined. I started with a little warm up line of switch 180 a tiny flat gap, pop shove on flat, front 180 a two stair after rolling up the handicap ramp. Then I basically tried to do ollie up the corner of the 2, noseslide the bench which I did a few times. A couple were okay but I still landed with no speed and had to do a quick little push before ollieing the next two. I also did some backside axle stalls and nose stall up to crooks the ledge on the right side. I wish it was waxed up because it’s good.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, slappy 8.5, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 half thin insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Been really tired this week. Went over to the school wearing xero’s because I was sick of the pain that skate shoes cause me. I went over to the school on a weird setup of 8.25 with 8.5 slappy trucks. And I would really like it. Because you know, I like everything the first time. I was lazy, was interrupted by people often. Went home and regrouped and actually tried a few ollies and flippers. Nothing really of note though. It’s crazy the difference in shoes. Like some of the movements I made to avoid pain were no longer necessary in the Xeros. But that doesn’t mean they are great for skating.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, slappy 8.5, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, xero kelso with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Somehow the brutal wind had died down so I raced off to dog park and met Bratcher, Jesse and eventually Cass. I’m writing this too many days after the fact to remember very well. I know at dog park I played a game of SKATE with Ted and Jesse that I did okay on, but lost again on a Jesse fakie tre. I was struggling to motivate and ended up at the park. I had a run of 3 flippers on the bank in a row. B/s kickflip, kickflip fakie, bigflip. Then took too long to get a halfcab flip. Mostly because the approach sucks or kids on striders. Then I got a line I liked of boardslide transfer into the bank then kickflip to fakie on the shark fin. Cass got some bigflips on the bank too and kickflip over the hip. Bratcher had hurt his back. We went back to dog park and the 303 dudes showed up and they are so good we just watched.

Later on in the afternoon I met up with Dave at this little ditch at a church in Longmont. Talk about hard spots to skate! I think I only did the nose stall and a bad kickflip. As you can see Dave was ripping. He didn’t get the trick he wanted, but he did get a front pivot we’re holding onto and a line with a kickflip and back 50 to fakie. Sounds nuts right?!

Then Dave pointed out the crazy bump in the parking lot and I took way too long to do a b/s flip on it. But man it felt amazing! One of my happier moments on a board in quiet some time. Dave added some 360s and we called it a night.

(setup 8.5 null 20 year 14.25 wb, null grip, royal ultralight 149, 52mm bones v1 stf, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 2/10 early, 6/10 later)

Set my alarm early to go skate Boulder park before work. I sat there for a while debating if I should get up, but forced myself to get up. Got to the park shortly after sunrise although it was cloudy. Would go on to skate for about an hour and a half and had the park to myself the whole time and skated pretty hard (but not good) for me. I went the line route for the most part starting very basic and getting a little harder. An early one I was happy with was crooks the bench then kickflip going frontside over the hump. Also fakie ollie the deck hump, slow front 50 the triangle ledge, kickflip the main hip bank, then noseslide the bump to triangle. Noselide the bench, up around to roll in the little qp then ollie onto the triangle. Then one that took way too long, but was pretty rewarding. Kickflip to fakie the deck bank up top, halfcab noseslide the triangle ledge, turn around then a little b/s nollie on the hip and a front 50 on the bench which was so hard. Then I hucked some. Remotely close to cab flip the hump, noseslide 270 shove. Made myself get a few front 50s on the bench at the end. Wanted to do a 180 out but wasn’t close and I was gassed at that point. Fun session, skated hard.

(setup 8.5 null 20 year 14.25 wb, null grip, royal ultralight 149, 52mm bones v1 stf, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Got sick after the weekend so hadn’t skated in a few days. After the last session I had made a couple setup changes to try and dial in a non-woke setup. 8.25 with ace, 8.5 with slappy. I had a much better warm up ollie on the 8.25 so I started with it and went to the oval curb area and went through some basic stalls. Then went over to the curb cut area and tried a line of switch 180 into one then kickflip out of the next. But I couldn’t get the kickflip to work to save my life. So I went home and got the 8.5 with Slappys and would get the line in a few tries. I didn’t go on to really like that setup, but I liked it more. Tried some stalls on the bigger rock in the back, got a couple halfcab flips and noseslides on the table. Then went home. I guess I was still feeling kind of run down.

(setup 8.25/ace and 8.5/14.25/slappy with nb 600 and currex insoles)
(pain level 4/10 but had no energy or drive)

Nice day. Went to dog park and met Garrett and Joe after some slacking. Paul would show after a while too. I was there first and the crowd was kind of a weird mix of beginners and 303 dudes. I had changed setup to 8.5/14.25/aces and it felt big, but okay. I had some success popping up things, crooks. I was skating pretty mid though. Especially after it felt like I hyperextended my toes. Garrett and Joe showed. I switched from vulcs to cups in hope of less pain which worked. Joe wasn’t really feeling it, but still managed some quick bangers as he does. Garrett kickflipped off the kicker over the barrier and flowed around the park really well. Paul showed and eventually some flatground ensued. Garrett and Paul rattled off treflip after treflip and I kind of got one. Then Garrett said he’d get me a marg if I landed one. I kept trying and trying going so slow and eventually got two in a row. They felt so great. Paul also landed a few nollie frontside flips which he’s been working on lately. I would go on to get my first heelflip in forever too which also felt cool. Then we went and celebrated.

(setup 7/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55 hollow, spitfire f4 99a 51mm classic, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles after the 272s)
(pain level 5/10 toes from the hyper extension)