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 very nice night I met up with Carleigh, Will, Darin and Cass. My achilles is still swollen and painful, but I could do some slappies and stalls on the bank to curb. At least for a while. I did some hurricanes, front tail on the bank to curb. Slappy crooks and boardslides, noseslides on the black ledge. Carleigh had front d and back d on the brick qp. Will and Darin tried front crooks on the blue lurb. Cass had back tails on the bank to curb. I filmed for a while. Those guys did flippers at the end which I would really have liked to join, but my achilles was hurting and I didn’t want to push it.

(setups 8.5/14.25 venture titanium 5.8, spitfire 51mm classic 99a f4, nb# 440 high b/w size 12)
(pain level 7/10 left achilles)

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)

After work went to Berthoud on an absolutely gorgeous day. Somehow both Cass and Dave worked in Berthoud. I was also meeting Hayden to give him boards for MRKT. Dave and Cass were there before me but I’m not sure how much they had skated. Hayden got there at the same time. I felt slightly less sore, but it didn’t translate to better skating. Warm ups were kind of random for a bit then some hucking when we tried front heels over the hip for a while. Hayden got a good one and was close to switch front heel after. Then he had to bounce. Oh yeah, his warm up pivot to fakie was solid gold. Cass was close to f/s halfcab flip over the hip. Dave did kickflip back tail on the hip, back tail 360 out, backside 90 body varial??? Him and Cass bounced too. Leaving me with suicidal egg board guy who almost broke my phone and showed me up on every trick. Seriously, I tried to crook around the C ledge, he came and did it. I bailed a front 50, he did it. The highlight would be going over the to flat bar, getting a terrible switch front board then he did fakie back lip. It gets better. I tried halfcab boardslide, he did it. Then he tops it with halfcab feeble. I had been trying b/s flips and of course he got one over the hip. He also did varial heel, f/s halfcab flip and fakie flip really well. I took like 30 tries to do a heel drag back heel over the hip. I stretched and left after that. I should say that suicidal shirt egg board guy just seemed completely clueless, but it still sucked. Not as bad as my skating though. I have a goal of not skating for a while and letting my body heal up, but who knows.

(setup 1/10 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 6/10)

After work and a stop at Satellite I went to dog park and met up with Paul and then later on Dave. I felt bad initially and would not really feel better. Like, at all. I know at one point I almost couldn’t get over a parking block or handle the landing. Geez. Paul nollied over a parking block, was close to nose manual shove, was real close to switch front heel. I very much struggled with flip tricks, didn’t really land anything. My one saving grace was crooks were working. I did a sketchy crooks to fakie and then went in on crooks shove. About 25 tries later I got a crook shove that felt quite great. After that I went to go over to Valmont to see Dave, but he came over and we skated the bank to curb. Which was Dave landing tricks like back tail, front pivot shove to fakie. So sick! And me getting hit on my swollen achilles by my board. Argh.

(setup 2/10 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 7/10 knee/achilles)

On a day in which I have very little skate motivation I got out of the house in the afternoon to sell some boards and meet up with Cass. After Bluecar we went to the nearby long ledge as the shade started to settle in on it. Cass had a nice first try noseslide shove. I struggled to get one really slow front 50 and couldn’t get a crooks again at this spot. However Cass and I started hucking tricks we wanted to film. He was doing front noseslide hop to front tail. I was trying switch front nose shove. I landed on it second try. Then we setup our phones to selfie film and around then a dude called Loner showed up. He was fun, positive, hyped to see others skating his neighborhood spot. Cass would win the battle of getting his trick first. Well, I guess I “landed” mine first, but not well enough to count. I would keep going and get it though and was really hyped. After that we chilled and went out to eat and that was it for skating.

(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 6/10 my knee is sooo swollen)

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)