On a super nice night Mike picked me up and we went to Broomfield park. We arrived to very few people and it was super nice out. The crew was Kevin, Mike, Matt, Rob and me. Justin was there shredding super hard too. Actually, Chase was there initially and he’s always a treat to watch as well. Kevin started things off with a full horizontal slam trying to 5-0 the parking block. I talked with Liz on the phone for awhile as the Honda was having car problems. Rob was still fighting a sickness and ended up breaking out pretty quick. You could tell he wasn’t feeling well. He had a good slam on a manual that probably was the final straw. Mike and Kevin switch manualled the blue pad before I even ollied. Matt showed up and did basic grinds that I dream of immediately too. Then we mostly hit the blue pad are for awhile. Mike did nose manual nollie flip out. Kevin hit nollie shove manaual, switch nose manual. I did my first nollie back tail on it. It actually slid a little which hyped me up. I was able to ollie onto the blue box without much pain which I was excited about. I was wearing the stiff spenco orthotics under my insoles and it felt really weird on the coping. I got a fakie nosegrind. Matt got a fakie nosegrind and fakie 5-0. I think he might have given up on back tail on the brown ledge. I had a couple scary ollies onto the downhill ledge. Really I’m just hyped I was actually trying to really ollie again. Mike and Kevin had been going on the black ledge doing a bunch of tricks. I sat down and watched Kevin take awhile to get kick back tail and Mike ended up giving up on back nosegrind shove.

(setup 8.38″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels, new balance numeric 379 b/w size 12, spenco 3/4 orthotics under thin adidas insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knees)

On a super nice day after work I went to the dog park (avoiding a nap which is so hard). I wore the 379s again with orthotics. It felt okay. I struggled like crazy. I had no confidence, skated super slow and landed almost nothing. But somehow it felt like I was kicking the pain a little. I only got kickflips, fakie flips, a couple halfcab flips and that’s it. I hucked a few nollie back heel, switch front heels and treflips.

(setup 8.38″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels, new balance numeric 379 b/w size 12, footprint gamechanger low profile insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knees)

After driving down from BV and some food/chill time I brought India downtown and hit the streets. Pushing immediately felt worse than I had hoped. The shoes too, wasn’t feeling them. I started at Wells Fargo. After a bit I did a new trick, front axle to fakie. But it wasn’t good enough to post on the gram. Then I went around a bit and ended up at St Julien. I can’t believe how hard it was to ollie the 3″ tall median. Ugh. I tried a line of ollie down the median, manual the median, crooks the other ledge down by the dumpsters. The ollies started hurting so I stopped. Then basically I just stopped altogether and walked back to my car.

(setup 8.38″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels, new balance numeric 868 black/gum, westgate insoles)
(pain level 6/10 right knee mang)

Still feeling incredibly arthritic I went across the street around 7 not expecting much of anything. I wore my beefiest shoes (868). My first couple of slappies were painful enough I almost turned around, but man I’m stubborn. I ended up having some fun. I worked into a line going north of slappy, no comply 180, fakie nosegrind. Got into some fakie nosegrinds better, but never landed all 3 at once. Going the other way I tried switch crook, but never landed it so I would huck switch front heel and nollie back heel. Both seemed doable. I committed to the nollie back heel, but didn’t make if flip enough. Then things hurt again and I went back home.

(setup 8.38″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels, new balance numeric 868 black/gum, westgate insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knees still bad)

On a super nice night I met up with Rob and Kevin at Broomfield park. I was feeling slightly better and would able to do some ollies, but the knee pain did kick in and kind of ruin everything again for me. Kevin tried to skate switch the whole time and had some good slams in the warm up process. Rob got it going pretty quick. Halfcab boardslides, crooks, front 50s. There were a few other friends there too. Justin, Kyler, Chase. The park was not busy, it was pretty great. I didn’t do much of anything, but did try several noseslide back 270s out. Didn’t get close, but did have a couple that felt possible. Kevin got a full pull. Switch nosegrind 180, nollie back neil on the brick qp, nollie nosegrind, nollie tre out of the bank. Dang! Rob had some good flippers going. Justin was locking into 6′ long front crooks on the happy ledge. Rob had to take off. Kevin and I played on the quartapotty. He learned switch feebles, I didn’t. Then he learned switch front pivot while I learned front axle to rock fakie. I tried to do more, but the knee pain became way too much. I must say I really did enjoy the hard and responsive Bones wheels again.

(setup 8.38″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels, new balance numeric 379 b/w size 12, custom orthotic insoles)
(pain level 7/10 knees still bad)

With my knee feeling slightly better I snuck out in between thunderstorms to huck a new trick. I knew I couldn’t really do ollies so I figured I’d just huck no comply flip body varial until I landed it. I went back to vulcanized shoes and put in the crazy stiff custom orthotics I have. They are terrible for board feel, but seemed to help reduce some pain. I started at a spot off Valmont. It didn’t seem perfect, but I landed the first no comply flip I tried so I figured it should work. 1 hour later I kinda landed it. I tried some more, but couldn’t get it. I drove around lazily looking for a perfect parking block and found one nearby. Got the first no comply flip on that one too and then landed with the body varial a few tries later. I was hyped! Then I did some spot lurking as the rain settled in again.

Later on before dinner I thought my legs might be up for skating more so I went in front of the house. I had no confidence even though my knee pain wasn’t as severe. I got through kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip, halfcab flip before giving up on treflip and going inside. Oh yeah, I had put some old Bones STF v2s on since I was feeling the slow and sluggish Spitfires. Now there is a responsive wheel.

(setup 8.38″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels, new balance numeric 379 b/w size 12, custom insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knees still bad)

Skipped out of work on a nice Friday at lunch and met up with Aki, Rob, Dave and Dave L. Aki was already snapping over the parking block and doing kickflips. My knees were killing me and not even cupsoles with orthotics could help. I would try a few no comply flips, but never get one with the flip, some switch spracks, one halfcab flip, kinda close to some fakie tres and posed some switch tricks since they hurt less. Rob had gotten some lines going to kickflip over the parking block, halfcab flips, no comply shove over the parking block. Dave L had some cool manual bonks on the cinder blocks, steezy ollies, nollie over the parking block. Dave had a few no comply variations over the parking block, lots of shoves, varial flip, kickflips, maybe fakie varial flip? Aki did back 180 over the parking block to switch flip, he also had a nice treflip and nollie flip. I’m sure I’m missing a lot of tricks from people. When I’m in a lot of pain or sucking I kind of go into my shell and ignore everything.

(setup 8.38″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), spitfire f4 classics 52mm green/yellow swirl wheels, adidas 3st.003 navy size 12, footprint gamechanger low profile insoles)
(pain level 8/10 mostly the right knee)

After a tough day at work I met up with Rob, Dave, Dave L and eventually Saul at Glenn Close. It was a super nice day. My first slappy attempt was a pretty violent fail. Wearing cupsoles and orthotics again is so tough, especially at the start of a session. Dave L was already doing long manuals and digging the new spot for him. Dave was trying to slappy crook the entire school. Rob was stacking back 50 variations quickly. Back 180 out, shove out, no comply out. My knee pain was still pretty severe, but finally showing some signs of letting up enough to let me skate. I still mostly avoided flip tricks though. I really didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. Oh, yeah, I had put an old 8.38 deck on. It felt alright. Dave L has super good slappies both ways and makes ollies up a curb look so easy. Rob did an amazing line. Back 180 into the curb cut, front shove out of the next kicker to street, front tailside then b/s flip. Definitely line of the day. He also had fakie nosegrinds and I tried to get one at the end of the session and kinda got one. Dave got a couple f/s halfcab flips, lots of kickflips, varial flip too I think? He is becoming a tech wizard. Saul can slappy so far. I think he did a full two sections. He also did layback slappy, hands on the hips, front slappies, front 50, alley oop slappy. OH yeah, I kind of got a slappy hurricane. Fun times. I hope my knee allows me to skate harder again soon.

(setup 8.38″ null lazer deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), spitfire f4 classics 52mm green/yellow swirl wheels with 3 washers on the inside, adidas 3st.003 navy size 12, footprint gamechanger low profile insoles)
(pain level 7/10 mostly the right knee)

Feeling slightly better I reluctantly went over to the curbs wearing some cupsoles with orthotic insoles. I haven’t worn orthotic insoles in a long time. It felt incredibly weird at first, but ended up okay. I did some slappys, slappy crooks, slappy front crooks, front 50s, back 50. Tries a new nollie front tail front shove which seemed super hard. Then I went to skate flat for a bit in front of my house. I did the 3x thing that Sean started. I started with fakie flip. Then halfcab flip which took a bit. Tried a few f/s halfcab flips, but my right knee started hurting too much and I was totally over the huge board too.

(setup 8.75″ null event horizon deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), spitfire f4 classics 52mm green/yellow swirl wheels with 3 washers on the inside, adidas 3st.003 navy size 12, footprint gamechanger low profile insoles)
(pain level 7/10 mostly the right knee)

Kevin, Damon, Dan, Joe, Eric, Matt, Ollie and I got to a very crowded Frisco park around 11:30. The park was very overwhelming at first. The moonscape bowl section was even more ridiculous than I had imagined. Saul and Ed were there too. They were mostly in the moonscape section, the rest of us mostly kept it to the street section. At least the street section is nice and open. It was even harder than normal to notice what other people were doing since it’s such a large park. Jack and Carleigh showed shortly after us. It felt like ollies might work for me, but after going 1/20 on front 50s on the main ledge I was ready to quit skateboarding. At least Joe and I had a fun doubles line with kickflip (me)/front shove (Joe) off the kicker and boardslide down the tiny rail. This was right after Jack had bailed a boardslide down it. It was kind of funny. Jack went on to back nosegrind it and maybe even back nosegrind shove it. Dan did a front 50 to manual to casper flip out. Wow! Joe did a lip to 50 to shove out. Eric was in the moonscape getting his pump on. Ollie was just kinda cruising the street section not trying much. He was hyped to hang with Ella. I think Carleigh was in the moonscape for awhile too. She may have done a noseslide shove on the ledge or try to manual the pier 7 ledge. Kevin was doing tricks up it. Then a few of us skated the A frame kicker for awhile. Jack kickflipped over the rail, then kickflip manual bonked the rail. So nuts. Ed had done some poppy ollies over it. Matt did a nollie lazer! I couldn’t even backside flip it. I was in so much pain at this point. Every ollie, every flipper, everything. I even tried the Westgates for a bit. Jack had nollie heel and impossible over it too. Kevin might have nollie flipped off it. I followed Saul through the moonscape a couple times. It’s weird, it’s just pumping and hoping you don’t collide with anyone. At the end I had a line of beanplant to tail over the hip, boardslide the flat bar and at least left on a somewhat good note.

After lunch we hit Breck. It was almost empty so that was cool. We played a game of SKATE to try and get warmed up. I was happy to get a first try heelflip. Kevin went on to win although he was given a good run by casperholic Dan. Then we messed around between flyouts and ledge tricks. I didn’t get the treflip out and I was 1/20 on front 50s on the granite ledge. It felt good to get one, but so depressing to not be able to do it every time. Joe had some nice front 50s to front board. Kevin did a bunch of tricks as did Matt. Matt had never done a nollie backside flip flyout, but he got one. Before Kevin even. Then I think I pretty much sat out the rest of it in pain. Ollie had done a few basic fakie shoves and manuals. Kevin showed off with a back smith on the crazy steep qp. Damon was actually tired, didn’t see him skate a whole lot. Then we went to the continental divide and hung out for a bit. It was cold up there, but pretty awesome to see. Still so much snow.

(setup 8.75″ null event horizon deck, venture ftc 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), spitfire f4 classics 52mm green/yellow swirl wheels with 3 washers on the inside, new balance numeric 379 b/w size 12, nike zoom air insoles)
(pain level 9/10 in the knees)