Up early on a Sunday I got swooped up by Bratcher and picked up Salty on the way to the little York St park. Much to our delight quite a few of the 98% dudes were there too. Cass would join too. I was pretty sore, lacking motivation. Most started with a few basic qp tricks before it seemed everyone could easily grind across the gap like it was nothing. Jack’s boardslide to fakie was sick. Cass almost did front 50 nollie shove across it. Kyle’s ollie across it was amazing. I kind of hit on the side for a while skating the sidewalk and ledges. Had some fakie flips and halfcab flips to start lines, was hyped to ollie up onto the ledge pretty well. Salty was ripping grinds on the little bank to curbs. A bunch of us skated the long double curb for a while. Jack boardslid the drop down a few times, Donnie got it, Dan switch front board the taller part, Cass front blunt the lower part. I really struggled with the boardslide drop down boardslide and needed a line to get it. It was fun though, I thought I was going to break my board when I went down the drop, but it was fine.

Then Cass, Salty, Jack and I went to the warehouse. It was a little hectic initially, but ended up being pretty mellow for the most part. Everyone was kind of all over the place. Salty went in on the fakie grind halfcab out of the tiny qp which he would get super good. Jack doing ride on grinds to back lip and skating the really good qp. Cass was all over too, popping some good kickflips, making the front 50 ride off the tiny qp seem absurdly easy. I had fun once I finally settled on a few things, the line was fun even if I did almost break the wood wallie thing and not land the front noseslide. The 5-0s off the end of the tiny qp were fun. Then I mostly skated the metal ledge, struggled with crooks and front 50s. Spent some time on the good qp doing a few basics then ended trying to do the switch noseslide kickflip out. I was close to a lunch break’d one. Not sure I will ever get it while moving. Fun day of skating, was nice to be in the shade of the warehouse on such a hot day.

(setup 6/10 8.5 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, indy 149 forged hollow knox royal bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, 440v2 wide white size 11.5 with half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10 was pretty sore and the left knee is not happy either)

Met up with Paul, Rob, Cass, Will, Darin at a way too hot Broomfield park. Seriously though it was only 10 am and it was just so sunny and hot. I’m not sure if anyone really got it going. I know I didn’t, although had a fun bank to curb session with Paul even if my phone overheated before we landed anything. He had noseblunt yank out then noseblunt, also an axle stall 270. I couldn’t get a front feeble, but ended up with a fun hurricane then blunt to axle stall and a front tail. Got a few slow front 50 and one with a shove out on the black ledge, an easy feeling heelflip. Got Paul’s back on noseslide to fakie on the bank to ledge. Rob got ollie over the parking block to manual to boardslide the blurb. Will had some good ledge tricks. Darin did his thing, almost added back tail shove. Paul did a nosegrind 180 which he hadn’t before. Cass kickflipped over the parking block, halfcab over it, back 180 fakie 50 the blue ledge. I’m not remembering much, no one seemed to have an epic session, but people still skated hard before they overheated. I stopped by the Birch school after to look at it. The hip was okay, but less great than I had hoped, the little metal ledges were kinda cool. I basically just did a few nollie tails and bounced.

(setup 5/10 8.5 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, indy 149 forged hollow knox royal bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, 440v2 wide white size 11.5 with half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10 knee was really swollen)

After some axe throwing with coworkers I was driving down Dillion Rd near the old TF stomping ground so I pulled in and drove around. Saw some new spots that look fun but had cars, old bank spots that are not really skateable anymore, and a new empty parking lot in the shade. The shady spot was kind of perfect since it was in the mid 90s. I started really slow just kind of doing some no pop shoves, 180s, etc. Oh yeah, I had a little setup change. Indys instead of Aces. Board still felt big, but easier to manuever with the slightly lighter trucks. After the first 30 minutes I think I had only landed kickflip. But I kept hucking and eventually added fakie flip, halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip, fakie bigflip, f/s halfcab flip, f/s halfcab heelflip and really struggled to get the tenth trick which was fakie varial flip. I had hucked quite a few other tricks that were close. Gotta keep trying back heels because they were really close. Glad I skated. Bummed it takes me an hour and a half to barely get 10 flip tricks going slow these days.

(setup 5/10 8.5 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, indy 149 forged hollow knox royal bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, 440v2 wide white size 11.5 with half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Met Paul and Rob after work at dog park. It was very nice out. Rob seemed to have some extra juice right out of the gates. Saw halfcab nose on the tall bench, front 50 the lurb, noseslides, first try nose manual, back smiths the curb, manuals, no comply shove off the lurb. Paul couldn’t quite get the 180 into the grate bank which was twice as steep as normal. He was trying nose manual shoves, but didn’t get too close. I tried some harder stuff for me, but didn’t land much of it. Somewhat close to nollie tre, noseslide 270 shove, kickflip 50 and noseslide over the manny pad, but nope, got none of those. I also couldn’t get a halfcab flip still. I just can’t figure out to do them on aces. Then out of nowhere it started to rain, like to the point of saturation and getting soaked so we left.

(setup 5/10 8.5 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 hollow 55, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, 440v2 wide white size 11.5 with half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

It had rained while I was at work and dog park was clearly out, but I drove north and it was dry at Blue Skies. Dave would come meet up. My warm up was pretty brutal, I was really sore. But it turned into a pretty good session, we tried some new stuff. I struggled with flippers though, like really bad. Tried to line out halfcab flips and could not get one to save my life either way. I would get a heelflip, but couldn’t get treflip or really any other trick. We did some switch front noses on the flat bar. Dave boardslid the dragon rail. We both got two switch front boards on the flat bar. Daves were better. Dave had quite a few long lines starting with solid front 50 180s on the ledge, halfcab boardslide the flatbar, but took a long time to get the varial flip to fakie. Which is odd after he did kickflip and fakie flip both first try. I had a few slow front 50s on the the ledge, struggled with kickflip to fakie after on the bank. But did manage a line of switch noseslide down the little escalator on the ledge, kickflip to fakie the bank, switch front nose the ledge. Got one switch noseslide 270 shove, but missed the kickflip after. I got quite sore so I gave Dave some kodak courage and he got the varial flip to fakie. And he did it really good.

(setup 5/10 8.5 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 hollow 55, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, 440v2 wide white size 11.5 with half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

On a really nice night I had thought of slacking, but decided to take advantage of students still being gone and went to campus. I had no intention of ending up at the flagstone ledge to warm up, but the way traffic and bikes were I just stuck on the fun downhill bike path and it spit me out at the ledge. I had a new board/ setup change that I hope to stick to. 8.5 with the bigger 14.5 wheelbase and aces. Anyone reading this knows the chances of me sticking with a setup are zero. But I did have a fun first session at least. I mostly skated the ledge and didn’t try a lot of flippers. I couldn’t get crooks. Front axle took a while to get. I was happy to get a front 50 and an accidental 5-0. Seemed like I gained a little confidence and could maybe do them moving next time. Then I went nearby and did a line of ollie up a 2 stair, kickflip, front 180 down the two stair. Then over to the business building as it was getting dark. Got a couple lines I liked. Boardslide the tall ledge, kickflip, noseslide to fakie the wood bench, fakie flip. Then noseslide the tall ledge followed by a crooks on the wood ledge, then a bailed backside flip. Lastly I tried to ollie up the 3 stair. I got myself to commit mentally, but my back leg wasn’t having it and I hung up. Then I walked back to the car. Fun session, tried hard.

(setup 5/10 8.5 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 hollow 55, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, 440v2 wide white size 11.5 with half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Not feeling too well I met up with Cass, Jeff, Joe, Garrett and Kyle at York St skatepark. I kind of chilled and talked to Jeff for most of the session. Cass and Kyle were skating the curb and Cass did his first every front blunt shove that was so amazing. Kyle did some bluntslide to back lips. Joe did some good back tails. I did some bad rock ‘n rolls. Then we went to the nearby bank to ledge. I tried to ollie it and couldn’t commit or even really pose it, also posed some front smiths. Then I filmed Cass do a front board transfer, Jeff do kickflip, cab, boardslide 270 shove, Kyle do b/s flip and no comply after bashing his shin and Joe try switch front crooks or fakie hardflip. I should have skated more, but I really wasn’t feeling good.

(setup 3/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, thunder hollow light 149 royal bushings, 52mm spifire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Earlyish Saturday a large contingent of the old dude crew showed up. And one younger dude that didn’t get the memo and was totally charging haha. The crew was Bratcher, Rob, Paul, Tim, Eric. I had Thunders this time around, like them more the Ventures, but not a whole lot. I was still feeling somewhat run down and didn’t have a lot of energy. There was a lot going on so it was hard to pay attention to others. Like Rob’s front 50 back 180 I missed which I wish I would have seen. Also saw him nose manual around the blue bank, some front noseslides, manuals after some frustrations. Paul’s back 5-0s front 180s are great. He also did some front nosegrinds on the black ledge and back 50s on the bank to ledge. Eric and I eventually mustered the courage to front 50 the ledge into the bank. I only got it once, but it was rewarding. I took way too long to get a line of crooks the black ledge then noseslide to fakie the bank to ledge. Jack was stacking clips. Switch boardslide to 50 is one of my fav moves of his. Eric added some front tails and quartapotty moves. Paul and I finished with a game of SKATE that took a while because he was being nice. He got me on nollie flip to end it.

(setup 4/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, thunder hollow light 149 royal bushings, 52mm spifire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a cool afternoon I met Dave at the meet up curb. The session started off alright with some good dorking and hucking. Dave had done a pop shove front 50 on the curb, gotten into switch crook stalls and was trying back tailslides off the uphill curb cut. Then we kind of settled in on trying kickflip tails. Mine was f/s, Dave’s b/s. I had set the phone down, but it ran out of space before capturing anything. Not that it really had much to capture. Dave did a few like the video above. I didn’t get any f/s ones but was close. We moved one building to the north and ollied up a curb to 3 stair ollie which was fun. Then to the ride on ledge / ledge area where the real struggled started to mount. The ride on grind is not as smooth as it used to be, we both hung up the first few times. I had put Ventures on and disliked almost every second of it. I would get a couple front axle stalls that I tried kickflips out of since I was just standing there. Might have gotten one little grind. Managed an alright fakie 50, some noseslides, couldn’t flip my board. Dave had some good ride on front 50s some with front 180 out, switch front nose the ledge. Then went in on the front 50 up to switch crook down which he kind of did, but mostly would stick or fall off. My eyes had been weird because of some sickness (my eyes get messed up when my body fights something and I also get arthritis it’s really fun) and I had a setup change making everything so hard. Oh well, we skated, we ollied a 3 stair, we did some grinds. It was frustrating, but we did it.

(setup 1/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, venture v-cast 5.8 royal bushings, 52mm spifire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

After work, a viewing of Off the Couch with Brian and Gabe and then dinner with them I went out to skate. I went to Douglass. I set my board down and felt off. Tried to do my normal warm up routine, but my body wasn’t having it. I started on the side of the school. My initial attempts at tricks were perhaps some of the most awkward and terrible feelings I’ve had on my board in quite some time. I would eventually get to where I could do super slow front 50s on the downhill part of the ledge and took way too long to get a bad b/s flip out of the kicker after. After that I did a couple of noseslides out front then left. It was party due to too much sitting throughout the day, but it turns out I was getting sick too. So I hope that played into how badly I skated, because of that became my new norm I’m not sure I can handle that.

(setup 4/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, royal 149 ultralights, 52mm spifire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 600 black/gum size 12 with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10 just felt terrible)