Went out to the garage after dinner because I was too tired to motivate and skate outside in the colder weather. I skated an 8.5. And I liked it. After some warm up 180s and stuff it took me a few tries to get a kickflilp, but then I did like 6 in a row. Which didn’t happen on the smaller 8.25 last time. Did a fakie flip. Hucked some nollie flips that only had one close one. Went in on treflips. They felt weird at first, but eventually started to feel like every one of them would be a make. But only two of them were makes. At one point I slipped out on my slipper concrete floor and it kind of spooked me. Did a heeflip. Hucked a few switch front heels that felt like a 2% chance of success. So you’re saying there’s a chance. Turns out I was so tired because I was once again getting sick. Ugh, I get sick way too often these days.

(setup 7/10 8.5/14.25 null 20 year, null grip, venture v8 baseplate titanium 5.8 hanger bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 99a classic 52mm yellow, new balance numeric 440v2 wide black size 11.5 with half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a cool day I stopped by the parks after work. Dave was there when I got there, we started at the park. I had made a setup change, basically forged v8 5.6s on an 8.25. I loved it. Early on I had some fun in the top bowl area, then a first try kickflip on the shark fin. Paul and Will showed. Dave had a first t f/s kickflip on the bank and a gorgeous 5-0 over the rainbow. I did a line of f/s kickflip on the bank then kickflip to fakie on the shark fin. Will and Paul had some good ollies over the euro. Will good wallies. I started trying treflips to fakie in the little bank. They were all so close. Then I landed a few! I know they weren’t perfect, but actually landing them and doing more than one felt so great. Paul joined the treflip game and did 8 in a row at one point, then a couple more after. Dave added fakie flip and varial flip to fakie. Then a really nice ollie into the bank.

We went over to the plaza. Will proved us wrong by doing first try front nosegrind on the bench that we said wasn’t lit well enough. He had some nice manuals and nose manuals too. I struggled with front 50s on the lurb, but I think I got a line I was trying of front 50, noseslide to fakie the bench, fakie 50 halfcab out the curb. Dave did a similar line starting with back 50 on the lurb, front nose to fakie, then fakie back 50 halfcab out. He would try more to fakie, but didn’t get one I don’t think. I tried some switch front tails and may have technically met the minimum requirements of one.

(setup 8/10 null abstract 8.25, jessup ultragrip, venture redrilled v8 5.6 v-hollows with royal bushings, 53mm bones v1 stf 103a, new balance numeric 440v2 wide black size 11.5 half 574 vulc insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Feeling a little better I went over to the school on such an incredibly gorgeous day. I would skate for about 30 minutes and actually did some tricks. I mean I didn’t go in that hard, but I would get a few flippers like kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip, heelflip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip. Did the basic slappies, couldn’t get a switch front slappy. Ended on a line of slappy crook, b/s flip, fakie flip.

(setup 5/10 null smoke valley 8.3, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-cast royal bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 440v2 high black size 12 half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 2/10)

After a long day of sitting at work I stopped by the parks on the way home. I started at the skatepark and was having fun in the little bowl area until some clueless kid in headphones dropped in the middle of my run and we barely avoided colliding. “Sorry I didn’t see you coming back”. It’s like 8 feet away dude. And maybe if you didn’t have earphones in you would have heard my board rolling towards you. Argh. There was a period when I had the park all to myself, but it was very short lived. I don’t remember much else before heading over to the plaza. Did a couple basics. Went in on pop shove nose stall to fakie on the bank to curb, but never got one. I blame work for leaving me with no motivation. And I rode my big board because I was annoyed how badly the 8.25 with aces wouldn’t flip.

(setup 8.5/14.25 venture 5.8 hollows 51s new balance 440v2 highs 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

First day I woke up in a couple of weeks and didn’t feel pain in my left achilles on my first steps. I lounged around, did some exercises. Around 1pm I went to dog park for an hour. Spencer was there so that was cool. Valmont was completely overrun with striders and mountain bikers, which is what I guess Evergreen built the park for. I started really slow and was happy that I didn’t feel much achilles pain. I did a few kickflips, front 50s on the curb, crooks on the bench, boardslides, noseslides, switch front noseslides. After a while it started to hurt a little and I didn’t want to push it. Did a couple ultra basics on the tiny part of the barrier and called it a sesh.

(setup 4/10 8.25 null abstract, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 44, spitfire f4 99a classic yellow 52mm, new balance numeric 440v2 wide high black size 12 half 574 insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 3/10)

On a Friday after work met up with Paul, Rob and Will. It was beautiful out. The dog park was heated when I first arrived so I went over to the skatepark which was chill initially. I started in the back little bowl area and did some little grinds. Then in the main area became obsessed with trying halfcab flips on the shark fin. I would do kickflips to fakie on the mellow bank and curve over to the shark fin. I had started committing, but it wasn’t working. Also tried some with 180 off the flat bank kicker and was getting closer, but the park got overrun with mountain bikers. Riley from LOCO was there, he’s cool and was fun to skate with. Rob had popped in, but mostly did the dog park.

I went over there after a while. The youth were ripping, pretty heated. I don’t remember doing much. Rob suggested a game of SKATE which had some weird ones in it like powerslide shoves. I somehow won it on a heelflip which marks the first time I’ve beat Paul I think. Will had shown up, he was shredding. We finished on the bank to curb. Paul took a while to get crooks to fakie. Will did back tail then back tail to fakie and almost back tail shove. I lost my mind on a no comply to tail. Seriously no idea how I couldn’t do it right. What a freakin’ crybaby.

(setups 8.25/8.5/14.25 venture hollows both of which I liked more than the 8.25 with slappy lows unfortunately, nb# 440v2 wide)
(pain level 6/10 but man I felt some tenderness in my achilles at the time and a few days later as I write this it’s totally hosed)

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)

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)

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)

So yeah, this really happened. I don’t really know how to write this entry. Everyone hear knows he’s been my fav skater since WHL. I have been DM’ing a little with PJ for years. He’s always been super nice and when I saw he was in Omaha I reached out and asked if he was coming through CO. He said yes and I told him about dog park, but it didn’t seem he’d be coming through Boulder. I had plans to meet up with Rob, Paul, Ed on what initially seemed like would be a normal mellow Friday session. But pretty quick into the session PJ said he’d be coming by. After an initial excitement freak out I was able to settle down and we skated.

PJ and Paul showed up around the same time. It was actually kind of funny because PJ slammed on his first kickflip. Like just a little look around at the park, stand on the board, slam on a kickflip. He then did some warm up flatground just going slow in a little section in the back of the park. Then we were all skating just doing our things. Rob had a nice manual around the lurb, back smith the curb (got a cheer from PJ). I’m sure this comes as a surprise to know one, but this session is a blur for me and I don’t remember much. Paul had some nice switch slappy crooks, back 5-0s. PJ had some really casual kickflip manual, 50’d everything, first try front shove back 50. We thought he left, but turns out he was just chilling a bit. Ed had shown and was cruising around getting manuals and ollies and everything. I had some crooks, slow 50s, switch front noseslides.

After a while we noticed PJ skating the actual skatepark so Paul and I went over there. I may have gotten a little line of boardslide transfer into the bank followed by b/s flip the hip but I honestly can’t remember if I did the bs flip. PJ was mostly skating the bump to ledge. PJ did front shove back 50, back tail, nollie crooks, kickflip noseslide pretty quickly. He also took a few tries to ollie the pyramid, but then did 180 and kickflip first try. Varial heel the euro hip first try. A funny kickflip over the hip where he readjusted and landed where most mortals would have bailed. I knew it was now or never to get a clip of him showing me up and he thought the idea was funny. Thanks Paul for filming. PJ had initially tried to show me up with treflip noseslide, but settled for kickflip noseslide. At this point things were pretty normal and it was super fun. I did noseslide then kickflip to fakie on the bank after and PJ did nollie crook (I think) followed by such a casual treflip to fakie. After this I offered to film his his treflip noseslide which took him several tries. It was cool to see his process and that he doesn’t in fact always land everything. When trying the frontside flips Paul was trying the noseblunts. It was cool and both dudes got their tricks. Paul and I chatted with PJ for a bit after skating and it was awesome. I really can’t believe it happened and how normal and fun it felt once it was done. Epic day for me. Thanks for coming to Boulder PJ!

(setup 5/10 8.5 nullosaur, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55 hard bushings, 53mm bones stf v1 pj (ha) wheels, new balance numeric 440v2 wide white size 11.5 with half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)