After driving down from the mountains and chilling a bit I met up with Jack B at Wilville. It was nice out, but there was a lot of snow and puddles. My calf still hurt, pushing was not fun. I wore some old 212s in hopes of reducing calf pain and I think it worked. Well, at least the lack of any heel lift seemed to not make the calf strain worse. We met in the manual pad area which was pretty wet then went to the rock area. Had some rock rides to fakie to get warmed up. I struggled to do kickflip, rock ride to fakie, fakie flip. Hit a little curb and did a few stalls but Jack wasn’t feeling that. Ended back at the main area. Tried a line of manual 180 the grate, fakie flip, switch 180 manual into the bank. Didn’t get close. That was it for the skating, I didn’t want to skate long as the calf felt pretty weird. We went and looked at the big wilville bank, that thing is crazy.

(setup 2/10 null 8.1 all you need, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 v-cast royal bushings flat washer, 51mm bones stf v1 103a 3 washers inside, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12 nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain level 7/10 right calf pain)

Needed to bring boards to Mountainside in CO Springs. Nullers weren’t in so it was just Jake and I which was totally great. I had a setup change, 8.3 with venture/thunder trucks. Don’t ask, it wont happen again. We started at the OG park but there was some snow. We tried to warm up on the ledge there. I was hating my setup, but more so the shoes. I spotted a ledge across the street and we went over there. I couldn’t get a good crooks and struggled a lot but did have a great feeling halfcab flip. Jake was ripping and had some good ones.

After the skateshop run we ended up at a DIY neither of us had heard of or been to before. It looks like a dream spot and we were super hyped to skate it. As with any spot it took a while to figure out what to do. I had changed into some NB 306s and was much more comfortable. We rattled off some tricks on the parking block qp. Jake did front tail, front d and pivot fakie on the big qp. I had fun lining out some basics. Then battled the stupid little front 50. I made myself do 5 of them, it was not easy and they were all slow and bad. We ended on some more parking block qp tricks. Jake beat me to front feeble, I beat him to hurricane.

(setup 8.3 null vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture v-cast baseplate thunder hollow 149 hanger royal bushings, 51mm pj bones v1 103a, nike sb sad dunks/nb# 306 with dunk insoles)
(pain level 6/10 those dunks seriously hurt more than most vulcs why do people like them)

Nice winter day I picked up Jack B and Jesse and we met up with Dave and Rob at Rocky Mountain. Things started slow it seemed, but everyone got going and it was a really fun one. I’ll start with Rob since he bounced first. Nice manuals, no complys on the bank, back 50 to back lip, nollie front lip shove. Jesse casually did some surprising moves like first try halfcab noseslide, fastplants, varial flips. Jack mostly attacked the curb and was kind enough to film quite a bit. Nollie front lip to 50, switch boardslides up to 50, slappy crooks, slappies. Oh yeah he also kickflipped off the curb which spawned a little kickflip session. I think most people got them first try, Rob on flat, Dave, Jack did them first try off the curb. Jesse got a couple. I got it up and down. My flip tricks were working really well which is kind of ironic since I had upped my board size to 8.5. I got 4 treflips. The most in one day in forever. Granted, they were not very good, but I was still hyped. Also 4/4 on fs halfcab flips. Got a few halfcab flips, fakie bigflip, sketch fakie front heels, backside flips, varial flips, several kickflips up the curb, no regular heelflips though and I couldn’t get a kickflip on the bank. I didn’t really do anything other than flatground and a few slappies. I couldn’t get a front 50 on the ledge although I did almost get a Glen 50 (5-0). As usual Dave was the last man skating. He had done a lot of nollies and shoves to fakie on the bank, manuals on the medians and some crazy curb tricks like switch back 180 5-0 180 out, varial flips, and tried to end on a crazy nollie 270 up onto the kinked brick median. Fun day fellas!

(setup 8/10 null 8.5 vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast plate titanium hanger royal bushings no big washer flat small washer, 51mm bones pj stf v1 103a washers outside, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Was able to get out of work for a bit to enjoy a session with the boys. I had only though it would be Jake, Rob, Dave and me, but it turned into a rad collection of homies. Dan, Colin, long haired Jake, Will, even Saul was there walking a cute new dog. I had put wide ventures on the 8.25. It was way better than the aces. It was a fun session. Some highlights. Dan first try treflip on his new 8.75, back nosegrind over the step, front blunt the metal bench, manual no comply, this dude is a shredder. Colin first try nollie tre, almost manual kickflip out. Rob nollie front lip all quick, manual drop down to manual through the crowd to boardslide was epic. Jake front tails, manuals, back 50s. Dave was charging back 50s on the curb, then around the C ledge, manuals and got several nosegrinds then ended with a front nosegrind 180. It hyped me up to try nosegrinds too which I would eventually get a couple with some tail taps. I got a really sloppy front nosegrind 180 in way less tries. Before that I had skated alright for me with a lot of accidental front 5-0s on the curb, crooks, a few flippers and came close to a super sloppy line that would have made me so hyped. Fakie flip, font halfcab heel, nollie tre. After Dave and I had shut down the curb with our nosegrind dominance we went over to the barrier where Rob and Jake were talking. I hyped up Jake with a first try front rock, but he never got the follow up front blunt and owes me a huge horchata now. Dan and Collin joined. I think everyone did front rocks except Dan who did it switch. I would get a front slash which was a great ender. The wind was getting super annoying. Fun session, rad crew.

(setup 6/10 8.25 null esher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium bones medium bushings, 51mm bones pj stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insole)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cold night I drove downtown in my new minivan after selling my beloved wagon. I had a setup change. 8.25 with aces and boy did it suck. I started near St Julian and did a little line of nollie front tail the long low curb, crooks the ledge by the fence, kickflip on flat. Also tried some fakie bigspins then front 50 the fence ledge but was not close at all. Then I moved around. Hit the alley behind the main parking garage and did a couple pivots and came close to front heels. More cruising around and didn’t really find anything in particular that interested me until I was back near my car. But I was really cold at that point and hating my board. Aces eliminated from potential 2023 goal of not changing setups.

(setup 1/10 8.25 null esher, jessup ultragrip, ace 44, bones 51mm pj stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insole)
(pain 3/10)

Got out on a nice night. Rolled down the sidewalk to the underpass on a new setup that was fun. Did a couple brief ollies. Was wearing the 1010s really trying to make them work, but I hated them. Ended up at the covered downhill ledge and got in a few noseslides and a fun noseslide to fakie before the wind went nuts and I went home.

(setup null 8.3 vhs, jessup ultragrip, royal 149 ultralights, bones stf pj 51mm v1, new balance numeric 1010 white size 11.5 half 272 insole)
(pain level 4/10 knee pain from the 1010s kicked in pretty quick)

Nice day out. I rolled down to Dayton to meet Cass and Jake. There were some other older guys there, solid session, great vibe. Jake was quick to shred the “spine” and quarterpipe. Cass was dealing with some back issues. We all seemed to skate alright. My flippers weren’t working as easy as hoped. Oh, it’s actually funny I had 3 setups in the car and chose an older deck with Thunders on it. At first I didn’t like it, but ended up liking it. Got a few of the ledge basics. Jake did front 50 on the tallish ledge and I made myself get one too before we left for the bank to ledge. Except that I did a Glen 50 which is a 5-0.

Then to the nearby bank to ledge Cass had Stefan to join us so we had a good crew of 4 of us. It took most of us a bit to get used to it. Maybe not Stefan or Cass so much. Cass was doing video part tricks quickly. Aka front nose shove. Stefan front 50s and tails quick. I would get some questionable slappy crooks, noseslides, first try noseslide to fakie and a front pivot/smith stall, super close to kickflip back 50. Jake would get close to crooks, front 50, front 3. Cass got some front 50s and front nose variations before he had to leave. Stefan did the most buttery nollie front crooks. At the end I became obsessed with a 3 trick line. Crooks, kickflip, kickflip fakie. As you can see the crooks where terrible, but it was a fun way to end a really fun day.

(setup 8/10 null 8.25 spanbauer night spots, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 hollows venom 88a bushings, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic shape, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Went over behind the school feeling like doing a few flippers. I had put 5.6 v-hollow on and wore my Tiago shoes. Those shoes are so sturdy it’s crazy, but not great feel. Anyway I only did a few kickflips, fakie flip, halfcab flip and backside flip. Posed a few others, but not really.

(setup 4/10: null 8.25 esher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow royal bushings no big washer, 51mm pj bones v1 103a stf, new balance numeric 1010 white size 11.5 with half 272 insole)
(pain level 4/10)

On a sunny Saturday I let things dry up some then went in search of rad. It took a while, but I ended up at a newly redone parking lot off Valmont. I had brought two setups. The 8.25 with ace lows and my 8.1 with venture lows. The aces felt much better to just cruise on, but my first try magical feeling kickflip on the venture setup sold me. I would go on to skate really hard and land a few things. I skated about an hour before trying to film anything and it was fun. I would try some lines with little ollies over parking blocks and stuff that were harder than they should be. And this one little gap over a curb down a little grass gap felt absolutely huge, but it was less than a 3 stair and I couldn’t get myself to commit at all. I came the closest I’ve come to the Reynolds line I’ve been trying for a while. Backside flip, fakie flip, halfcab flip. I got to the halfcab flip 3 or 4 times and couldn’t get it even though I had several outside of the line. Got one bad treflip, heelflip, almost first try nollie varial flip. After a while I saw the sun would be setting soon and wanted to get the nollie varial flip on tape so I could give it to Dave. Nope. I tried for like 30 minutes along with halfcab heels and couldn’t get either. I gave up and went over and tried back heels on the ‘almost a bank’ bank and got denied there too. Kind of a bummer ending to a session where I was really skating hard.

(setup null beatles 8.1, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 low v-cast plate v-hollow hanger 4 washers inside each axle royal bushings, 51mm pj bones v1 103a, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a cool night I had some juice. I drove around for a bit and ended up at a new parking garage in north Boulder that was super well lit. I did a few basic tricks before realizing I just couldn’t do flatground only in a parking garage. On I went and I ended up at a newish building with a few tall ledges and a normal sized one that had snow around it. I had a setup change once again – 8.25 ace lows and I really liked it. This new spot had some decent flatground, some okay manny pads and then a few smooth and tall ledges in weird locations. Initially I tried to quick up to crooks, but wasn’t ready for that. Then I lined out a flip trick, noseslide to fakie, flip trick. But noseslide to fakie got hard. Had a few varial flips, couldn’t put down a heelflip or crooks. I was trying lots of flippers, hucking away, not landing much. After a while of trying to line out the taller benches I saw the shorter one with the snow. It’s hard to see but the gap in was a little scary (to me) because of the snow and it took a while for me to commit. In between tries I got backside flips, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, fakie varial flip and close to a lot more. The noseslide was hard, I was hyped that i did it. Hyped on the session in general, I skated really hard and felt good.

(setup null 8.25 mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 44 lows hard bushings, 51mm spitfire f4 101a classic, new balance numeric 440 brown size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 2/10 really some of the best i’ve felt in a while)