Met up with Carleigh after work at Valmont. Yes, Carleigh! She was there with Zack and Marg. We hung for a bit. Rob showed. We skated Valmont briefly. I think Carleigh kickflipped the hip, I posed a few flippers. Zack did a cool ride on grind into the deep end of the bowl.

Over to the ledges I saw Carleigh piece together a quick up onto the manny pad then boardslide off followed by a front 50 on the lurb. Rob didn’t get a first try kickflip for the first time in a while, but I think got it second try. Also some nice manuals some of which he dropped down and kept manualling. Back 50 back 180 out followed by halfcab noseslide. Paul had shown and was quickly rattling off Sean tricks like back 5-0 front 180 out and nosegrinds. But he also had some mean switch slappy crooks. I tried like a million kickflip back 50s and didn’t get a single one. I also tried several front nosegrind 180s and dragged my back wheels along the ledge on the 180 every time. Argh. Other than that I had some okay crooks on the back of the two step and one slow treflip that felt decent. Dave had shown up after Carleigh had left. He was flipping his board more than normal, somewhat close on several treflips. He took a long time to get a nose manual, was kind of losing his mind, but once he did he got a nosegrind in a few tries. Eric showed up as we were leaving and they had a little barrier session. I was too sore to keep skating. They both did boardslides to fakie which they hadn’t done before. They also did barrier firsts of feeble to fakie and lien to tail. Rippers! Also ripping were Austin, Eric and Jason. Eric’s nollie flip over the parking block then treflip was so good.

(setup 5/10 8.25 null all you need, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 hollow lights with royal bushings, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic shape yellow, new balance numeric 574 blue size 11.5 half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a day with rain forecasted all day I met Cass at a very bright, sunny and warm Broomfield park. I was really sore and didn’t feel like wearing the same shoes so I switched them up for some 574 vulcs. I did feel less sore in them, but they made my setup feel huge and heavy. For some reason I had very little juice. After a while Cass was doing such good fakie back tails on the lurb that I setup the camera. I couldn’t get a back 50 to save my life. I did get another fakie 50 switch front shove though and it felt cool. Cass went on to do kickflip 50 and front shove 50. So sick. We played a game of SKATE that had some good tricks .. by Cass. He got me on fakie flip, halfcab flip, treflip, hardflip and won with backside bigspin. I did at least get him on heelflip and f/s halfcab flip though. Darin showed after this and we skated a little, but mostly just watched and listened to him. Not sure why I had so little energy.

(setup 2/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, thunder 149 team hollows with royal bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 574 vulc blue size 11.5 with half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Up earlyish because we’d be celebrating Liz’s birthday later on. Met up with Bratcher, Tim, Salty and even Fuller at the library spot. I haven’t been there in like a year. It was pretty hectic at first with the homeless cleaning up their spots from the night before. I would get kind of frustrated at first by the cracks and craziness of the spot, but calmed down and had fun. I skated whatever, would do okay as far as getting most tricks I wanted, but didn’t get as far into the bag as I would have liked. Got a few front 50s on the taller ledge, struggled with crooks, took a long time to get a sketchy fakie front 50 switch front shove out, couldn’t get kick back 50 or front nosegrind 180 or many flippers. Bratcher did a few tricks down the ledge. I liked the switch boardslide to 50 the most. He almost got a nosegrind on the little ledge. Tim got from noseslides and 50s on the low ledge. Salty wasn’t too into the spot but still skated and worked on some things like switch crooks and fakie bigspins. Dave was the last one there, but he packed in some good tricks. Front 50s the tall ledge, back 50 and back 50 back 180 the low one, almost switch slappy crooks transfer. At the Dave and I started trying ollie up then trick down the ledge. It was so hard to get the ollie up and setup in time. No surprise, but Dave did his way quicker (and better). When I finally got the noseslide though it felt really cool. Fun session, weird and fun spot, crazy environment. Then I went on to play tennis and go for a long walk with Liz and was so tired.

(setup 4/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, thunder 149 team hollows with royal bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 440v2 wide 11.5 white with half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Was slacking after work, but decided a 10×10 list would be good motivation to skate a little. My list:

kickflip
bs flip
fakie bigflip
heelflip
bs halfcab heel
treflip
nollie treflip
fakie treflip
switch flip
nollie back heel

Rain was threatening and I tried to warm up quickly even though I had yet another setup change. 8.5/14.25/thunders. I thought I would do real bad, but was happy I was able to get 6/6 before the rain hit at nollie tre. I was happy to get a first try fakie bigflip and my first halfcab heel in forever. Other tricks were whatever. Treflip was a little over 10 tries.

(setup 5/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, thunder 149 team hollows with royal bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic yellow, new balance numeric 440v2 wide 11.5 white with half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Really tired after work I met Rob at dog park. Eric would show too but right when the rain started. I hadn’t really done much, was struggling to get going. I had a front 50 shove on the lurb that I liked, but I think that was about it. Saw Rob get some manuals and close to nose manuals. Then a sprinkle turned into actual rain and we bounced.

(setup 2/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, null grip, slace 8.5, spitfire f4 tablet 52mm 99a, new balance numeric 440v2 wide 11.5 half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10 )

After a day in the office, a nap and then dinner I mustered some courage to go skate campus. Had a fun ride down through campus and ended at the bank to curb. I should warm up before I come to this spot since it is way harder than it looks. At least for me. I had a setup change. 8.5/14.25, Slaces, tablets. It was alright. I did a couple noseslides to start with without the ollie up. Then started slowly popping and getting on the bank. A simple warm up ollie onto the bank then nollie to fakie is quite fun. Then noseslide to fakie. Took a while to do an axle stall. Then randomly thought about front shove 50 and went in on it. I had done a few flippers in between tries, but nothing beyond the first few normal ones. I got somewhat close to the shove 50. I decided to move on and skate some other stuff.

I ended up at this spot and spent way too long trying a really dumb line. From the top level in the back middle ollie onto the ledge then transfer off the other side, roll around then kickflip to fakie the little bank to the left of the 3 stair, then switch front 180 off the curb cut by the tree. See the bright red light in the background? That’s a new gift from the stadium. I hope it’s not on all the time because it was intense and would change colors every few seconds. Anyway it was embarrassing how long the first ollie on the bench would take. It would be cool to do it with a manual instead. The kickflip was hard in the dark and I struggled with the larger setup. When I finally got the kickflip the switch 180 was easy. I was walking back to my car and noticed the downhill hallway had working lights so I had to do a couple noseslides. I was really tired, didn’t skate great, but street skating is always so rewarding.

(setup 3/10 null 20 year 8.5/14.25, null grip, slace 8.5, spitfire f4 tablet 52mm 99a, new balance numeric 440v2 wide 11.5 half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10 )

After working for the first time in almost two weeks and still recovering from a late travel day I went across the street to the side of the school to do some slappies. I had put hollow ventures on my 8.5/14.25 and it was pretty blah. I did a couple front slappies, a few slappy crooks, a kickflip and some nollie shoves. On the way out I went to ollie into/out of the curb cut and ghost popped so goodbye Ventures.

(setup 2/10 8.5/14.25 null and hollow ventures)
(pain level 5/10)

On a very muggy morning after a bit too much wine I drove to a nearby town to check out their skatepark.  It looked kind of weird and janky in the photos.  It didn’t disappoint in the janky department lol.  Anything with wax was wet when I arrived so I brushed off everything then skated.   The bowl are was way weirder than anticipated and I spent very little time in it.  The only thing I really did was an axle stall then back tail transfer the hip.  I tried to do halfcab flip on flat then kickflip on the bank but for some reason the kickflip took me like 20 tries.   I was pretty over it at that point.  But I made myself do some crooks on the counter top ledge.  Around then another skater showed.  He was cool, had a deformed arm and a poppy kickflip.  He had some good 50s and manuals but took a wicked slam on a front 50.  He left after that.   I was really struggling so I decided on a nollie tre ender which I kind of got.   My clothes were basically liquid from sweat.  I’m not going to miss that much humidity.  Not the most fun session, but whatever, it was fun the get out and see a weird park.  

(setup 2/10 8.25 null is all you need, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, 52mm spitfire f4 99a yellow classic shape, new balance numeric 440v2 white size 11.5 half 440v1 insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

Another warm muggy day in the NE.  Met up with dave at the Burlington park.   My fam walked to a beach on the lake and dave showed me a nearby DIY. We ended up staying there for the near two hour session.  It was rough, janky and fun.  Took me a while to get used to it. Dave was cruising doing lots of bonks off angle iron, manuals the little wedges, slashes on qps, riding through bushes.  I settled in on a little line with a slash, noseslide, bs flip a hump.  Took a few tries but it was fun.   I also had some little crooks but that was about it.   Dave had some cool grinds on the angle iron, kickflip over it.  It was a fun session.   Great to see Dave.  

(setup 3/10 8.25 null is all you need, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, 52mm spitfire f4 99a yellow classic shape, new balance numeric 440v2 white size 11.5 half 440v1 insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 4/10)

After meeting Dave’s kids we went to the skatepark on a very and muggy afternoon.  Dave didn’t have much time but we made the most of it. He’s still really casual looking on the board. Manuals, 50s on the ledges with ease.  The grinds on the little banks were cool.   He tried to 180 off the last step but couldn’t get it.   I was feeling pretty out of it. I hadn’t really gotten the feel of it before dave needed to leave so I skated another hour or so.  I mostly just tried a couple lines over and over.  Halfcab noseslide, quick up, 50 above the pad.   Then basically the same but crooks to start and front shove out of the 50.  I would eventually get a bad 50 shove and was a sweaty mess.  Messed around with a fun ride on grind , rock fakie, fakie 50.  Then a few runs in a small bowl that was fun before bouncing.  Until near the end I had the park all to myself.  People started showing up and it was so weird how much effort was made to not say a simple hello as they rolled by.  Weird scene.  

(setup 3/10 8.25 null is all you need, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, 52mm spitfire f4 99a yellow classic shape, new balance numeric 440v2 white size 11.5 pinnacle powerstep orthotic insole which left no board feel)
(pain level 4/10)