Up to Fort Collins on a cold Sunday with the Nullers. Jack, Joe, Garrett, Sean and I met up with Hayden, Peyton and Noè. Jack is smartly not skating yet and letting his body heal. Sean was ripping back nosegrinds and nollie back nosegrinds, manuals, quick footed pop. Noè did switch nose manual fakie flip then turned around and did switch nose manual fakie varial flip, 100 nollie flips, every other flip trick, varial heel to fakie on the weird bank. Hayden nollie lip up a potato chip, smooth manual combos, looked good on the football deck. Joe was popping high out of the gates, showed up Noè with a first try nollie hard, front smith the bench, had some steezy Reeboks. Garrett came in second in the game of SKATE which is basically like winning when you’re playing Noè. Peyton was going for varial mute over the channel and got really close. He pushed full speed for like two hours and didn’t quite get it. Doh. I skated absolutely terribly. I had done a few stationary ollies on various setups and definitely ollied the 8.5 with aces the highest so I brought it. And I hated it. I would get a couple of very slow 50s, halfcab noseslides on the low ledge. Managed a few noseslides on the bench. Couldn’t get flip tricks to save my life and was like 0-50 on super slow treflips.

(setup 8.5 null vhs, null grip, ace 55 af1 hollows, 51mm spitfire 99a classic f4, es swift b/w size 12 with spenco orthotic insoles)
(pain level 4/10 not bad for all of a sudden skating and popping three days in a row)

Took a lunch break and did some flatground at the school across the street. It was okay in that I skated and tried for real and didn’t hold back and the knee held up. But it was humbling in that I had zero confidence or skill. I landed a few slow kickflips, halfcab flip, b/s flip, but couldn’t get a trefilp. Had some fun slappy crooks, front slappys, front slappy crooks and a couple switch slappy crooks.

(setup 4/10 pmg 8.25, jessup ultragrip, venture v-cast 5.6 royal bushings, 51mm bones v1 stf 103a pj, es swift b/w size 12 with spenco 3/4 orthotic insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a really nice day I went to campus with high anxiety about my body holding up to skating. I parked in the meet up lot and vetted which setup I would skate. 8.25 with royal vs 8.25 with ace lows. The Royal setup won and I went on to have a session where I liked my setup the whole time (I know this comment will jinx me, but I did really enjoy it). I did a slappy crooks then went down and ended up at the empty basketball courts. I skated flatground around goose turds and some stalls on the curb. I would get 5 very slow sketchy flippers. Kickflip, fakie flip, varial flip, halfcab flip, fakie bigfilp. Curb stalls weren’t really hurting me which was encouraging. My fav was probably a couple from smith stalls. Then I ollied a couple 2 stairs. Then the little line above of the deck check to fakie the f/s halfcab flip which would be my highlight of the day. Cruised around for a while, ended up behind the stadium and tried noseslide on the Ralphie scuplture but it wasn’t working for me. Then ended up at the fitness center ledge where noseslides were way harder than I hoped for and kind of hurt my knee. Last thing was a couple slow front 50s on the tiny downhill curb near baker. That was it. Really a fun session because although I still didn’t skate very well I did a few tricks and popped a lot and didn’t seem to make my knee worse (but I wont really know until tomorrow).

(setup 7/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, 51mm bones stf 103a pj v1, new balance numeric 440 white size 12 left foot current run pro insole right shoe stock insole)
(pain 4/10 knee didn’t really hurt too much, but still feels so weird)

On a crisp morning with a heavy frost I went to Boulder park at sunrise after already haven worked for an hour. My knee seemed up for it so I jumped and tried some flippers. I started on 8.5 with Ace and after a couple of ghost pops remembered I had an 8.25/Thunder in the car and grabbed it. My first ollie felt way. better and I I could actually land kickflips so I stuck with it. I haven’t ollied anything beyond a curb in a while. I had a funny ollie attempt onto the triangle ledge where I shot out and quickly realized it was covered in slippery frost. Doh. I had a fun run at one point with some ultra basics but it felt cool to cruise around. Then I tried the kickflips on the hump which took way longer than I want to admit. But the good news is it didn’t hurt my knee while I was trying them. The funny fall I can’t explain. I left somewhat optimistic that I’ll be able to skate on regs again. Thank you modern medicine.

(setups 8.5 with ace then 8.25 with thunder, new balance 600s)
(pain level 4/10 knee still feels weird, not super painful, just weird)

Feeling nervous about skating around people I went to Square State for a Silver Session armed with a quiver of boards. I chose 8.5 with Ace and liked it. The place was bumping. Lots of people there, several well under 30. Whatevs though, it was a great scene and the skate rock tunes were great. I started on the tiny qp and did a couple basics that felt good, then hit the crowded miniramp for a bit and then back to the tiny qp for a while. My favorites were front 50s and a front 5-0 on the tiny qp and then a sugarcane. There were like 50 people there, most of which I know and call friends so writing up what everyone else did would be impossible. Brian killed it the hardest by front boarding the little rail. I missed Ashton kickflip into the china bank. Garret big flipped a mini board. Donnie broke a set of Indy Titaniums because that’s what Indy Titaniums do. Paul ripped the mini. Nick and Jake are always fun to roll with. The real Jake ripped the mini and learned sugarcanes. Raul almost got back sugarcane. Man I don’t even know so many more friends and rippers. It felt great to be in that environment with music playing, people skating and lots of cheering. I didn’t really try to pop at all. I did one noseslide at the end that was fun.

(setup null 8.5 sample 14.25, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, bones stf v1 103a 52mm, new balance numeric 600 size 12 left currex insole right half insole)
(pain level 4/10 and somehow felt good the next day!)

Went to the same parking lot as the day before as most stuff was still snowy. My knee didn’t feel as good after all the skating before. I had a new setup. 8.5 with ace lows. For some reason in my head I thought I must relearn skating with an 8.5 and I pretty much absolutely hated it. I had some fun boardslides, slappy crooks, but once I got to kickflip and it was too painful I basically stopped. Man, I hope the next HA injections help my knee more because this pain is not worth it.

(setup null vhs 8.5, null grip, ace low af1 55, bones stf v1 52mm, new balance numeric 600 size 12 left currex insole right half insole)
(pain level 7/10)

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)

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)

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)

Went to Broomfield on a Sunday around noon after a morning filled with chores. It was quite warm and sunny. Rob and I would get there way before Garrett and way way there before Jack. The scene was a weird mixture of people and mostly annoying. But we skated. Oh yeah David was there, he is rad and was ripping doing switch back 180 nosegrind. I saw Rob manual around, shove lipslide, crooks, steezy front noseslides, halfcab noseslides, front tails the bank to curb. I had a new board that I was super excited about. 8.5 with shorter than normal wheelbase for Null – 14.25. It felt good. I would skate okay. I would get like 5 noseslide 270 shoves, 2 of which were pretty good, the others were garbage. Still felt cool. Couldn’t get a fakie bigflip out of the bank, got pretty sore and didn’t ollie much. Had a fun switch noseslide line of backside on the black ledge then frontside on the bump to ledge. Garrett had some great back tails into the bank, treflips into the bank, back 180 nosegrinds, switch crooks, struggled with nollie heels. Jack showed as I was pretty beat and did his wallie noseslide after some funny brick qp bails then broke his board on the hurricane.

(setup 6/10 null sample 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast/ti royal bushings no big washer flat top washer, spitfire f4 52mm classic shape, es swift 1.5 black/blue/white size 12)
(pain level 6/10)