Had a hyaluronic acid injection in my knee a couple days ago and my knee felt better than it has in weeks. It had snowed several inches overnight though and almost everything was wet except the old faithful Valmont lot near dog park. I felt so incredibly rusty, but had some fun popping my board. Found that ultra micro hip which is basically a crack. But I had a fun line of axle stall a parking block, pop shove the hip, front smith stall a curb, nollie front 180 the hip, fakie bigspin. I had done a few kickflips, but they got increasingly harder each time. Went in on backside flips, but that started to hurt my knee so I decided to stop.

(setup null 8.25 glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture v-cast 5.6 bones medium bushings, bones 51mm pj stf v1, new balance numeric 600 size 12 left currex insole right half insole)
(pain level 5/10 still some sharp pain at times)

I got word from the Dr that I had a minor meniscus tear, but it didn’t warrant surgery and that most of my issue is arthritis. But this is osteoarthritis, not my normal rhematoid flavor. I am going to NYC in a couple days and would love to skate there so I went out to test the knee. I was able to skate without much pain for 20-30 minutes, but it was so bad. I had zero confidence, pop, skill. I did one line of tail drop shove off a rock, pop shove on flat, kickflip on flat. One axle stall on a rock. Another kickflip that took like 20 tries. Went home thinking I didn’t push it much. Woke up the next day and the knee pain is totally back. Needless to say I’m super bummed. Hoping some hyaluronic acid shots in a few weeks help, but for now real skating for a while. Maybe some slappies or very low transition, but that’s it. 🙁

(setup 3/10 8.5 null sample 14.25, jessup ultragrip, royal ultralite 149, spitfire f4 99a tablet 52mm, es swift b/w size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10 felt weird since I haven’t jumped in a month)

On a cloudy and cool morning I drove by scott carpenter on the way to howard heuston and saw it was empty so I stopped in for some carves. The plan was to again not pop, but maybe do a few little grinds. I had some fun, but it was mostly pretty boring not being able to pop. The main area of the park is so slow now it’s weird, even with bigger wheels the concrete is slow. I had a few fun back 50s on the new little straight wall, one front slash, an awkward bail on the tiny escalator qp that my have tweaked my knee a little, one switch front nose on the bench. At the end I did a pretty dumb line of roll into the steep bank, roll out the steeper qp then ride onto the bench via the qp next to it. Yippee. Then I went by HH and left after a few minutes kind of disgusted by how bad Evergreen skateparks are. They aren’t even fun when you can’t do tricks. Guess I need to bust out a scooter or strider bike since that is what they are designed for.

(setup 8.5 null sample 14.25, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149 royal bushings, bones 53mm v1 103a stf pj, new balance numeric 868 grey/blue size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10 wasn’t feeling as good)

On a gorgeous day I couldn’t resist a couple afternoon slappies. Knee felt okay when doing so and I definitely had to fight off the itch to try real tricks. The front slappy took me a while. I also felt more off than ever on my board. Maybe because i changed trucks again, maybe because my lack of time on the board is adding up. Anyway, it was fun and Thunders have a great pinch. But still a terrible turn.

(setup 8.5 null sample 14.25, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149s with Royal bushings, bones 53mm v1 103a stf pj, new balance numeric 868 grey/blue size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 1/10)

Went to the dog park to meet Nullers before filming. Jack and Jesse were there and then Simon and crew came too. I had done my quote of slappy crooks, a switch front nose or two, one boardslide. It was fun, but again frustrating not trying real tricks. It was fun watching the Nullers rip it and then we went on to have a good filming day.

(setup 8.5 null sample 14.25, jessup ultragrip, royal ultralite 149s, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classics, new balance numeric 868 grey/blue size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 2/10 I mean it didn’t hurt because I didn’t do anything)

Around 11 I went to the Valmont pump track. Literally, the pump track, not the Valmont skatepark ‘pump track’. I did a few laps. Enjoyed the fast part of the track, but hated how slow and rough most of the track is now. I saw Paul bike by and he convinced me to go to the strider pump track (aka the Evergreen built ‘skatepark’ that attracts kids on bikes). We didn’t last long because the kids were out of control. I went to say hi to Bratcher at the ledges and some other old dudes. Ended up having some fun slappy crooks and some fun rides over the A-frame but couldn’t quite do the chinese nollie. It did feel good to get out on my board and I managed to not jump at all and I think I avoided doing any additional damage to my knee.

(setup 8.5 null sample 14.25, jessup ultragrip, royal ultralite 149s, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classics, new balance numeric 868 grey/blue size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 2/10 I mean it didn’t hurt because I didn’t do anything)

Pretty sure I have a torn meniscus so it’s going to be months before I really skate. I did a few slappy crooks which didn’t seem to hurt at all. But it also didn’t really satisfy the itch to skate so I’m not sure I’ll even bother until I can really skate again.

After work felt motivated to skate on a cool and cloudy day. My left knee didn’t feel good, but I thought it would loosen up again, nope. Basically hucked a few f/s halfcab boardslides on the skelly concrete tall curb and then tried to do f/s halfcab noseslides on the little ledge followed by nollie back tail on the bench. Never got the nollie back tail after. Doh. Hucked a few random tricks like fakie lazer that I need to try more because for some reason it seems doable. Anyway, the left knee pain was too much and luckily it started misting so I had no choice but to stop. Hopefully it’s not too long, but I’m not skating again until my knee pain and swelling goes down.

(setup 2/10 null sample 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushings no big washer, spitfire f4 52mm classic shape, new balance numeric 600 tom knox black/gum size 12 thin es insoles)
(pain level 9/10 left knee done for)

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)

Took the morning off work so I could skate with one of my favorite skate homies Josh. My knee was hurting bad and I was pretty grouchy before arriving to pick up Josh and get some coffee. We chose Commerce City park and had it all to ourselves for a couple of hours. We did our little warm ups then some casual warming up. Well, not so casual for Josh. He was doing grinds on the big qps pretty easily, tricks on the steeper banks like no comply, back big, kickflip fakie. I hadn’t really popped much before we started a game of SKATE. Josh went right in on creepy spin and something else to get me a letter before we went a while without landing anything. So we decided against playing the game anymore. Josh has a heelflip a session requirement so we went in on that for a bit each getting one. I almost got treflip too but decided to slam instead. Then we mostly hit the two ledges for a while. Both of us had some alright lines, Josh some pretty good slams. He was doing the basics really well. I took a while to even do a slow front 50, but had a few that worked okay. Somehow I was 3-3 on halfcab noseslides after really struggling with that trick as of late. I managed a front 50 180 too that felt good. Josh had one that hours ago ha ha. I setup the phone and we did a lot of our tricks again. Unfortunately the phone overheated before capture Josh’s solid front nosegrind. We ended the session trying tricks on the bank. Josh almost got front noseblunt, but compromised and did a super steezy beanplant. I had a few front tails and did a wallie nollie after that felt really good. Also managed a back tail that took way too long. I tried to end it on a treflip, but again chose to slam instead. Doh. Anyway, super fun session, great to see Josh. He’s still shredding so hard and it was inspiring. Now if my knee would just stop hurting so bad.

(setup 7/10 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 440 white size 12 some thin es insoles)
(pain level 7/10 would never have skated had it not been for Josh visiting at least it loosened up a little)