Met Nullers at Broomfield park with the purpose of filming a little skit for the new shirts. We skated for a while at the park. I was trying to break in some Strike MVMNT “Transit Street Trainer” shoes. Wow they are thick and stiff. I skated pretty bad. I don’t know if I can even remember a trick I did. I know I was switching between my 8.5 and 8.25 setups because of how the shoes felt, but ultimately stuck with the 8.25. Garrett had some great back tails on the ledge into the bank. Bo somehow couldn’t treflip. Joe’s front crooks on the ledge into the bank were great. Sean being Sean was awesome. Then we went to the nearby school and had fun shooting hoops and dunking. Then to another school with a low wall rail that everyone got denied on.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow light 148 royal bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, strike mvmnt transit street trainer black/gum size 12 currex run pro insole)
(pain level 6/10 from the day before)

I was sitting around feeling sorry for myself over my swollen painful knee and somehow got a spark to get out and skate a little. I had new shoes that I had taken a couple of walk in, some Tom Knox NBs. They are a bit stiffer/thicker than I normally like but we’ll see. Maybe they were the inspiration to skate a totally crusty crappy spot. I started the evening by backing into a pole in the van. Ugh. Luckily it wasn’t too bad but I’m bummed for sure. Warming up was super hard, mostly because my left knee is very stiff and can barely bend. First warm up line was slappy crook the terrible yellow curb, ollie to fakie the bank, fakie bigspin on flat. Then I got distracted by the curved bench for a while. It was really hard to skate. I managed a few noseslide jibs going slow, but couldn’t get crooks. I tried a very long line of noseslide, ollie a tiny flat gap, slappy crooks, kickflip to fakie. There were so many rock and cracks I was flailing all over the place and cracked my board on the tiny flat gap ollie. Doh. Not bad at least. Then I tried to film a slappy crook again and it took like 5 minutes and it took that whole time to get a fakie flip in the alley which was weird and slightly downhill. Last up was the kickflip to fakie which took way too long and my knee was killing me. Fun night though, street skating is so much more rewarding than parks. I wish it was easier to get speed for the little bank.

(setup 4/10 null sample 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast/ti royal bushings flat top washer, spitfire f4 52mm classic shape, new balance numeric 600 tom knox black/gum size 12 thin es insoles)
(pain level 7/10 feel like this is my norm now)

Actually went to the doctor for the knee pain I have in my left knee. The good news is the swelling doesn’t seem to be caused by an injury. The bad news it’s probably an arthritis flare up which is kind of annoying since I’m already gluten free, mostly dairy free and almost never drink anymore. Oh well, at least skating shouldn’t make my arthritis worse. So yeah I went across the street shortly before sunset with no real plans. Had a fun warm up line of backside nollie on the little bank, slappy crook, nollie back 180. Then kind of went in on a long line of front 180 a manhole, switch f/s ollie the bank, switch front 180, slappy crook which was really fun and I think I may have done a b/s flip after. I posed some treflips over the manhole which seemed more doable than ever, but I didn’t put my feet on it. I had a wider board and new shoes so felt a little off. On the way out I made myself do switch front 180 into one of the curb cuts and kickflip out. Took way more tries than it should, but whatever.

(setup 3/10 null 8.3 abstract33, jessup ultra, venture v-cast/ti 5.8 royal bushings no big washer flat top washer, spitfire 51mm classic f4 101a, es swift 1.5 black/blue size 12 no insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

Somehow slept really well and after a banging breakfast at our hotel we went out to see some sights. Swiss Air had lost my luggage so one of the first things on the agenda was to get me a new board and shoes because I didn’t want to delay and then not have a board. So we went to the big mall store Titus and I walked out with a an 8.25 of some Flower brand, some hollow ventures and the smallest wheels they had. The family and I were walking nearby at a city park that has a fountain dedicated to the Grimm fairy tales. I did a quick search in maps and it turned out there was a skatepark like 500 feet away so I of course had to go check it out. I had it all to myself so after a couple of laps around and trying to figure out my new setup I kind of just filmed everything. It was quite a fun session surprisingly except how I couldn’t lock into crooks. I thought I’d only have like 5 minutes, but the family ended up being gone for like 40 minutes so I got a decent little session in. Especially considering my complete and shoes were like 1 hour old. The kickflip flyouts were pretty fun as were the back 50s down the steep little escalator qp.

(setup 8.25 flower, mob grip, venture 5.6 shake junt v-hollows, spitfire 51mm f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288 b/w no insoles size 11.5 (they didn’t have 12s))
(pain level 3/10)

On a nice cool afternoon I went to Douglass after bring Ollie to the airport. I was not expecting much. I brought three setups. All 8.25 with different trucks. It was funny set them all down so I could only see the top and did an initial ollie on the setup I thought had the Royals and had no pop whatsoever. Turned out it was the one with Venture lows. Doh! Of the 3 the Ace lows had the best feeling ollie so I went with it for most of the session. I really struggled. My knee was hurting bad at times so I put some gamechangers in some new 288s and my knee started hurting less. I did a couple basic lines like ollie up the curb, kickflip, noseslide. Couldn’t get crooks and my boardslides were really weak as I would hit the front wheels on the way up. I tried front 50s for a bit and maybe about 10% close. Got a couple other flippers, but then left after an hour hoping my knee wouldn’t react negatively to a little skating again.

(setup 4/10 8.25 null, jessup ultragrip, ace lows 44 hard bushing, 53mm spitfire f4 classic 99, new balance numeric 288 sport white/grey size 12 stock / footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10 left knee at times was quite bad)

After a day of laying around and going to see Mission Impossible to avoid the heat I made myself get out shortly before sunset. I went to campus. I wore some new 272s instead of 440s and my body was not happy about that. Especially after a failed kickflip where the tail took out my arch. Argh. I made myself do 5 flip tricks near the tunnel to get warmed up. But it didn’t go well at all. Breaking in new shoes is tough. I would get slow kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip, halfcab flip and f/s halfcab flip. Also had a pretty good slam on a stop rock and somehow again it didn’t bother me, but instead happily reminded me I wasn’t at a skatepark. I went to the yellow lurb but they messed it up even more now. Doh I was hoping to trick kf crooks there. I went to the hallway, but it was dark so I ended up at the tall engineering ledge of all places. I had thought I could try a line of halfcab flip, noseslide, treflip. Except that the noseslide was basically impossible to me. Argh. Then I went to the rec center to hit another tallish ledge. They had added a portapotty and it smelled terrible. I did one line of tail drop off a tallish ledge then noseslide before I left due to the terrible smell of the portapotty. Then I just kept on going and went home.

(setup 4/10 8.25 null spanbauer dead spots, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, 53mm bones v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After a couple days of laziness I was still feeling lazy, but forced myself over to the school in some new shoes. I intended to skate flatground, but after I couldn’t land a backside flip or fakie bigflip I kind of started just doing random stuff. Tried to do a line of ollie onto a narrow curb then front shove off, pop shove a manhole cover, ollie onto a rock. Never got it all. I had new shoes. Vans Wayvees. Wow they suck. I skated pretty hard, breaking in different shoes is rough.

(setup 3/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, snot 52 pink swirls, vans wayvee white size 12 nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain level 5/10 heel bruise from saturday)

Had a late meeting so took off in the afternoon and had an hour and a half to skate.  I went to Wilville as rain was threatening.  And holy smokes I felt off.  I had new shoes, but they were the same as my previous shoes 272s so I don’t think that was it.  I literally almost hung up on a one foot flat gap in a warm up line.  I skated the top part for a bit because there was a police truck parked down under the pad.  After my pathetic showing I went down below realizing the truck was just parked there.  I skated the ledge.  Took way too many tries for some slow front 50s.  Kind of did one little switch crook jib as the only remote highlight for the session.  Oh some slappy crooks.  Could barely ollie onto the ledge and I couldn’t kickflip.  Luckily it started to rain.

(setup 3/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal ultralight 149, 51mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10 some weird knee pain)

After breakfast I left my mom’s and stopped at the Fairplay park on the way home. I had the park by myself up until the minute the calf pain shot up again. The park was a little wet when I got there and they had done a couple of things to it like make a little euro gap, put in a rail, a couple wood ledges with angle iron. I was incredibly cautious to begin and didn’t feel good on my board. Man I hate how Thunders turn. I had some slow kickflips, some little pops on things, axle stalls on the brick coping qp. I had no confidence though, couldn’t even make myself roll in on the brick coping that I’ve done many times before. I would get one run I was kind of happy with. Ollie onto the ledge then a kickflip to fakie on bank near the hip. Man, after writing that it should have been something I do first try. I had tried a few noseslides to crooks but never got too close. Got a few flow flip tricks like halfcab flip, fakie flip, b/s flip, varial flip. Was trying to front 50 the ledge and got into a couple stalls before pain shot through the calf on one. ARGH. I’m really sick of this pain and recurring injuries with my pushing/ollie leg. It’s quite depressing, like maybe I’ve finally worn my body out.

(setup 4/10 null 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 no big washer, 53mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 7/10 calf)

Thought a day off and some new shoes would help my calf which seemed to hold true initially. It was incredibly nice out as I got there around 5 after work. The park was mostly dead except a group of kids that would constantly be in the way. I had 288 Sports and they were super slippery on the older griptape. But man my kickflips felt good. I skated about 40 minutes. Came really close to a slow kickflip 50 on the lurb and ended with an accidental 5-0 on the bench which made me happy, but hurt enough I knew to stop.

(setup 5/10 null 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 no big washer, 53mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 288S green/gum size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 7/10 calf)