Another hot and sunny day. Went to dog park a little later than normal but it was good timing for the Greenblock games. Cass and I played on the new bank to curb for about an hour as it wasn’t too crowded and it’s really fun. We felt out some basics and it’s a great warm up. For me first try front smith stall and no comply to tail were fun and then several crooks to fakie were extra fun. Cass took out someones selfie cam, had backside and front 50s and then multiple front tail shoves. Even a front shove off the barrier kicker after one of them. Paul joined after a while. Sean had too and was playing on the combo obstacle. Then we played a game of SKATE in which I was out immediately on 5 tricks I normally land first try. UGH. After that I mostly filmed Sean and posed treflip noseslides on a wood bench that were not remotely close. Paul did too and his were close.

After the event wrapped up I was depressed about my flatground so I went and found a shady parking lot and skated flat for another hour or so. I got 10 flippers. Kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, heelflip, f/s halfcab flip, f/s halfcab heelflip, varial flip and f/s flip. I went like 0-100 on treflips and was about to lose my mind. Also 0-50 on nollie tres but at least they were close. Was happy to get a few of these tricks, but not even getting my feet on a treflip was maddening and thrust me into setup madness.

(setup 3/10 null beatles 8.25 deck, null grip, slappy low profile 8.25 trucks with royal bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape yellow, new balance numeric 440v2 black size 11.5 with half 574 and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After a night of not sleeping very well and then talking 5 hours straight at the CSU career fair I debated going home and resting. Instead I stopped at Fossil on another hot Sept day. I attempted some warmups up top, but felt soooo off on my skateboard. Did manage to ollie and 180 the 3 stair first tries so that’s kind of cool. Then I did some crooks on the main ledge below and that was about it. Watched Bo and Hayden play a game of SKATE with another dude then watched them rip the ledges and some filming.

(setup 4/10 (mostly because I was so tired I think) null beatles 8.25 deck, null grip, slappy low profile 8.25 trucks, 51mm bones stf pj 103a wheels, new balance numeric 440v2 black size 11.5 with half 574 and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10 left knee and achilles)

After work met up with the dudes on another hot September day. Warming up seemed okay for us all. I had new 440v2s and they felt much better than the 1010s. We all seemed to get close to tricks, but not get them. Paul almost had nose manual shove and he was quite obsessed with sticking to it. Rob was popping lofty ollies off the grate to start a line, manual around the lurb then try nosegrind the curb. He had a slam, many close ones, but never quite got it. I had a couple of kickflips up the lurb, one nose manual, some crooks. But I couldn’t get nose manual shove, kickflip 50, nollie varial flip, treflip, so close to rick flip. After Rob left Paul and I played a game of SKATE that he won again on a treflip. Argh I hate getting letters on treflips these days! At least I did have a string of 4 tricks in a row that felt pretty good: Backside flip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, heelflip. Probably shouldn’t have done so many flippers, my achilles is hurt.

(setup 6/10 null beatles 8.25 deck, null grip, slappy low profile 8.25 trucks, 51mm bones stf pj 103a wheels, new balance numeric 440v2 black size 11.5 with half 574 and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10 left knee and achilles no bueno)

Sean was eager for a session. I was kind of tired but the clouds had come out and it seemed perfect out so I went. Funny thing I kind of wanted to start at the skatepark, but I think there was literally a record number scooters and bikers. Literally at least 25 scooter, 10 bikers including parents on mountain bikes. Note to Evergreen Skateparks, if you build it for them, they will come. Luckily the main attraction wasn’t too crowded. I had a smaller version of the same setup I had over the weekend. I posed a treflip before even trying any other trick and almost landed it. Paul was kind of tired, didn’t go too hard initially. Sean was doing a couple of his dog park staples. I didn’t skate very well, was wearing the 1010s and I think I hurt my achilles again in them. Argh. I had some good feeling crooks, kickflips, slow but solid feeling front 50s. We all went in on nose manual shoves. Sean had never done one and landed it in a few tries. Paul got one about 50 tries in. I had gotten close but had a little touch. Probably did the day before too. Can’t really say how beautiful the weather and sunset were. Robbie had shown and was trying to manual the picnic table and pop out over the hydrant. So gnarly.

(setup 7/10 null beatles 8.25 deck, null grip, slappy low profile 8.25 trucks, 51mm bones stf pj 103a wheels, new balance numeric 1010 black size 12 with currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10 but after skating my achilles flared up)

The sun came out after a rainy morning and it seemed everyone got out of their house at the same time. I was wanting some mellow skatepark qp and hip action so I started at Valmont. There were a lot of parents dropping off or mountain biking through the park with their toddlers on striders or packs of scooter kids. It was brutal. I started in the top little bowl section and did some basic axle stalls. Got a really floppy first try bigflip on the mellow bank, a f/s flip on it, a kickflip on the shark fin. Had to leave when a pack of striders came in with zero awareness of etiquette or awareness of the dangers of a skatepark. Went over to dog park. Skated a wood ledge against the barrier. Did a couple of basics then went in hard on halfcab crooks. Got into several, landed none. Probably tried 100 of them as I had gotten really obsessed. Struggled with flippers in between tries. Then skated the smaller manny pad and got a nose manual pretty quickly and went in hard on nose manual shove out. I was like 100 tries deep when this dude did it first try and came back to me and said it was hard. I asked if he wanted to take a shit on my board too. Luckily I got one a couple tries later. I left after that and chatting with Radley for a bit.

(setup 4/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25 deck, null grip, slappy low profile 8.5 trucks, 53mm bones stf pj 103a wheels, new balance numeric 440v2 white size 11.5 half 574 insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

On a bright and somewhat cooler morning met up with quite a few people at Broomfield. Salty, Bratcher, Rob, Sean, Eric, Paul, Will. On top of that quite a few others showed and it was quite busy at times. I had a new setup based on some new trucks I’ve been waiting on a long time – Slappy Lows. I would like them and they skated pretty well out of the gates. Rob bounced first so I’ll start there. He wasn’t feeling too good, but tried to get it going with some manuals and I saw a really long g turn that was pretty amazing. Sean was the next to bounce. He had a good amount of excuses lined up, but still ripped. High speed grinds on the black ledge including a line of crooks followed by fakie back 50 180 out. Sean, Paul and I played a game of SKATE. I was the first out, but it was fun. Salty learned boardslides to fakie on the mini bank to curb and almost got blunts on the “bigger” bank to curb. Bratcher took his multitude of boardslides to various obstacles. Switch front board up to back 50 on the bank to ledge was cool as was nollie back lip on the blue ledge. Eric good tailslides, heelflips over the parking block, crooks, charging. Paul did back 50 to front 180 on the bank to ledge, back 5-0 180s on the black ledge, landed a lot of flippers in the game of SKATE. Pretty early on I had a line I liked of halfcab noseslide, noseslide to fakie the bank to ledge then fakie bigfilp. My board was popping really well, I got several front 50s on the ledge into the bank that felt great. Close to noseslide 270 shove, close to kickflip 50 on the bank to ledge. Was happy to get a crooks on the bank to ledge finally. Will showed around the time we were winding down. He had some really good nollie noseslides on the black ledge.

After chilling and talking to India I picked up Cass and met up with the 98% dudes at York St Skatepark. There are even more little qps now and they are fun. Jack filmed a couple of amazing clips for Scotty with a trefip and a noseblunt. Cass and I messed around with an easy roll in to small qp. I got my first front pivot to fakie in a long time. I might have even grinded a little. Joe came along and made it not so easy by ollieing onto the ledge before the roll in. I struggled a bit and kind of hurt my shoulder trying to ollie up as well. Donnie and Cass had no problem with it.

Then we went to the nearby bank to ledge. My accidental training at Broomfield payed off and I would get noseslide to fakie and crooks. The crooks felt really cool, but I’m sure it only grinded an inch or so. Jack rattled off some tricks that were so fun to watch. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him just skating and it was great. I didn’t know Jason and John very well but they skated a long time and Jason’s front tail kickflip out was so good. Donnie came close to a banger, but had to give up and it started raining. It was really fun being in the streets with a crew.

(setup 7/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25 deck, null grip, slappy low profile 8.5 trucks, 53mm bones stf pj 103a wheels, new balance numeric 440v2 white size 11.5 half 574 insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

After work went to dog park around 5. It was kind of hot out. I started with Will at the skatepark, but wasn’t really into it and went over to the plaza. But it turns out I wasn’t really feeling that either. Partly because I hadn’t had a chance to put together a new setup I really liked, partly because I was exhausted from a busy day at work, also from sitting so much and not getting exercises done at work. Rob was ripping though, he did a really good front nosegrind on the curb. Paul, Rob and I played a game of SKATE that was pretty fun and had some weird tricks in it like Flamingo. I couldn’t get a no comply finger flip. Ha. Paul ultimately won the game. I think that was about it.

(setup 2/10 null 8.5/14.25 20 year, null grip, thunder 149 team hollow with royal bushings, 51mm bones stf v1 pj 103a, new balance numeric 1010 black size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Wasn’t feeling to motivated to skate but needed to bring boards to Square State. Brian had already left and there was no Silver Session so I had it all to myself. As soon as I started skating I felt off and hated my setup. I had a couple of warm up lines I liked though with some axle stalls the bank to curb followed by nollie tails on the little ledge. Then I went for a second warm up line which wasn’t supposed to take long, but it did. The one above. The kickflip took forever for reasons I do not understand. I would get about 4-5 kickflips before completing the line. I had done a couple flippers in between tries, but no where near as many as I had hoped. I struggled with halfcab flips which really bothered me. After that I tried to front 50 the upper part of a new little ledge. It took me a while to even get into it, then I got really close to grinding over the lower one before not being able to do it again. I had also gotten a cut on my shin from my razor/chipped tail so I put an end to that board and left frurstrated.

(setup 1/10 null 8.25 beatles, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 148 royal bushings, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape yellow, new balance numeric 440v2 white size 11.5 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

I lounged away the hot part of the day and when the clouds rolled in I headed out to Louisville intending to go do the metal curb spot. But when I arrived there was a family playing basketball and sitting on the curbs and I didn’t feel like rolling into that. After some driving around looking for a school I ended up at Louisville park since there were only a couple of scooter kids there. I was skating a smaller board in hopes of easier flip tricks. It seemed to help but I didn’t do much. I had done a few basics around the park and settled in on the line of crooks the ledge then noseslide to fakie the bump to ledge. But it started pouring.

It dried up before I got all the way back to Boulder so I went to Platte with no real intentions but ended up going in on crooks shove. Took a while, but I got two and I was hyped. Although I wanted to do shove off the curb after and missed it both times. Doh. Hucked a little more, but crooks were basically it. Considering how tired I was it felt good to go in on one trick.

(setup 5/10 null 8.25 beatles, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 148 royal bushings, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic shape yellow, new balance numeric 440v2 white size 11.5 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Around noon Paul, Rob, Dave and me rolled up to Estes Skatepark. We arrived to a park filled with a toddler birthday party. Ugh! We saw Bratcher, Jesse and Tyler (I think?) over at the old park so some of us started over there. There was a little ride on grind bar across some dirt where we ruined our bearings. Brian had joined us. Him and Rob had gone over to the new park. Dave was trying to manual the deck of the middle extended qp which was nuts. I had done a few basics and on the ledge and was trying a line to switch front board the mangled flatbar when we decided we should just go to the new park.

Over at the new park. I really struggled. Didn’t sleep well the night before after such a rad night so I didn’t have much energy. But I had fun with the dudes, laughed a lot and had a couple of things I liked. Gapping to front 50 the tiny euro to curb was fun. Rob had them backside too. I missed a lot of flip tricks. At the end at least I had one line I liked with the noseslide to fakie then halfcab flip. The noseslides were really fun. Dave was doing lines with manuals in to the bank and ending with manuals out of the bank with a lot in between. Paul was killing the bank to ledge. Rob was easily doing back 50s on the curbs and got Brian hyped to do some. We skated the minramp section a bit. The highlight being Brian falling backwards having a conversation as he slammed. Well, maybe it was more his blunt to fakie or crazy blindside pivots. Rob handled axle stalls as did Brian. Dave went in on the bank crooks. Eric showed up, had some good lines in the mini, good front 50 the bump to ledge, high speed manual attempts. Brian’s boardslide around the kink on the bank to ledge was great. I’m not remembering much more even though I know a lot happened. The Dave f/s flip attempt was funny. The bs flip was perfect. All session we had to deal with an abundance of kids on scooters or bikes with zero awareness of the dangers of a skatepark. Two times in a row kids rolled under Dave as he was doing tricks on the quarterpipe. The overly positive kid was tough to take after a while. But all in all we had a fun session. That park is fun and it would be way more fun if the youth would have some sense of skatepark etiquette.

(setup 3/10 8.5 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55 hard bushings, 53mm bones stf v1 pj wheels, new balance numeric 440v2 wide white size 11.5 with half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)