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)

Met up with Rob, Dave and Mike at Frederick pack after dinner. The drive went quicker than normal, but Rob and Dave were already warmed up and charging it. I saw Rob halfcab boardslide the ledge and front tail the bank to curb right away. Dave doing ride on grinds around most of the curb like it was nothing. I had some drive, but it didn’t translate to good skateboarding. I struggled with kickflips. The only thing I was happy with was a manual on the weird pad under the tall ledge followed by a kickflip up onto the little manny pad. Mike had some nice boardslides around the curb, front noses, maybe front shove fakie. Much to our surprise Donnie showed up and slayed the park. Like for real. Front slash the wallride bank, kickflip back d the bank to curb, all kinds of crazy lines, dude was on fire. There was even a couple of other adult skaters that were fun to skate with too. At one point Rob did a line of back 180 onto the manny pad and halfcab boardslide off, turn around and boardslide transfer onto the pad and back 180 off. Also bigspins and no complies on the steeper bank. I managed one really bad treflip, some noseslides the bump to ledge and couldn’t b/s flip the hip even when I was totally committing. Also couldn’t ollie up the tall ledge. My knees didn’t necessarily hurt too bad, but man they are swollen. Ugh. I somehow didn’t really see Dave much. I saw lots of casual ollies up the euro, boardslide 270s, crazy lines around the bank to curb area. I really do like this park, hope to skate it again soon with knees that work better.

(setup 3/10 null 8.1 all you need, jessup ultragrip, venture v-cast 5.2 royal bushings, spitfire 52mm f4 classic 99a, es melange black size 12)
(pain 6/10 knees, feet)

Rob and I rolled to Parker early on a Saturday morning. It was cold when we left, but by the time we got there the sun was out and it was warm. It’s a big park, everyone seemed to warm up differently. I was feeling better than expected, probably because I had actually taken an ibuprofen the night before. There was a while where we were all mostly skating the long ledge or manny pad. Rob was the only one I saw successfully manual and nose manual it. And kind of close to nose manual to front tail. He also popped up onto front 50 on the long ledge. Venture Dave was doing shoves, impossibles, switch 180s but not getting the nose manual. Jake had a really sick crooks shove right away. Maybe even first try? Also back and front 50s, maybe front tail then nollie back tail and f/s halfcab nose. My flippers were working better than they have and I came quite close to a line of fakie bigflip, front 50, treflip. Didn’t quite get the treflip. Kind of got front 50 shove, did get accidental front 5-0s, crooks, fakie 50. Jake did an amazing line of ollie up a tall ledge, ollie up the bank to ledge, front blunt the volcano up top. Cass had really good front noses on all ledges, some kickflips, worked on halfcab noseslides. He had also invited Brekon who was absolutely destroying the ledges. Nollie Suciu grind was nuts! I had some fun noseslides to fakie on the bank to ledge and followed them with a little front grind over the hip in the mellow bowl below. I filmed the bank to ledge session for a while. Max did fakie front shove. Rob noseslide and front board. Dave with the sick fakie impossible. Dave and I were last men standing and he did the impossible on the bank and I took too long to do b/s kickflip and kickflip to fakie. Super fun session, good dudes, weather and park.

(setup 5/10 null glenosaur 8.25, jessup ultragrip, venture v-cast 5.6 royal bushings flat top washer, spitfire f4 52mm classic shape, es melange size 12)
(pain 4/10)

Feeling tired after a day in the office I met Rob at a cool dog park. Alton arrived shortly after us. I had nothing all session and my knee didn’t feel great. Some okay noseslides maybe. 1/4 on kickflips. Rob knocked out some bangers near the end. A run of back 50 back 180 out, fakie bigspin, shove lipslide. Also a really good nollie lip. Alton did a fakie flip nosegrind. Whoa!

(setup 2/10 null glenosaur 8.25, jessup ultragrip, royal 144s, spitfire f4 52mm classic shape, es melange size 12)
(pain 6/10)

Feeling a little better I went over to the school to test out my knee and a new board. I mostly just did slappies, but I was feeling better than I thought. I took a while to get the helipop and was kind of bummed that was the one I landed because the others felt way better. Slappy front crooks was fun. Was happy to get a very mediocre treflip.

(setup null glenosaur 8.25, jessup ultragrip, royal 144s, spitfire f4 52mm classic shape, es melange size 12 nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain 5/10)

On a surprisingly warm afternoon Rob, Sean and I met up at a chill Broomfield park. It’s been a few days since the session so hard to remember a whole lot. I had a warm up run that took a while which was fun. Axle stall the quartapotty, nose jib 270, nollie front 180 out of the bank. I didn’t have much energy and my knee was hurting pretty bad. Also a run with an ollie onto the black ledge, kickflip out of the bank, front slash the bank to curb, noseslide the ledge. Rob had some no comply shoves out of the bank, front tails the bank to curb, crooks, back 50s, back 50 no comply out, and a rare case of not being able to manual. Sean so effortlessly rattled off his basics which would be after black enders for me. We played a game of SKATE and I was the first one out. I know I got a letter on cab and was out on no comply 360. Rob left, I filmed Sean for a bit. Then Sean and I played another game of SKATE where I got pink slipped and I think the only trick I landed was randomly a first try f/s halfcab flip. I took 4 tries to get a kickflip. I had a smaller setup this day, I mostly liked it but the board was too small. Gonna finally setup a new board next time I skate if and when that is as my knee pain was just too much to deal with.

(setup 5/10 null 8.1 all you need, jessup ultragrip, royal 144s hollow kingpin, spitfire f4 99a 52mm classic, new balance numeric 288 sport b/w size 11.5)
(pain level 8/10 left knee is toast)

After my first day of work in nearly 2 weeks I met up with Rob and Dave at dog park on a beautiful afternoon. The park was pretty chill and had some new obstacles left over from the GB games. The bank to coping was pretty cool and fun to carve on. I was feeling very out of it and jet lagged. Immediately saw Rob pull a nice nose manual. Dave seemed to have a lot of energy and spring and was lining out everything. Boardslides around the c ledge, back 50 around it, front and back slashes on the bank to coping. Rob had halfcab back 50s, nollie front 50 back 180 out, no comply up the pad to front board off. I had a bad noseslide to fakie onto the pad then switch nose jib off. A fun run of noseslide the bench, back slash the bank to coping, little ollie off the grate kicker then front 180 off the new green kicker. Lastly a fun line of slappy crooks then front shove off the new green kicker that took way too long. I had skated an 8.3 with ace lows and didn’t like it. Not really counting it as a setup change though because I had left my board in Germany and didn’t have time to setup what I wanted.

(setup 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 low 55 hard bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 288 sport b/w size 11.5)
(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 warm sunny day Rob and I rolled to Fossil and met up with Noè and Hayden. There was another kid there skating really close to us, but he meant well. Just made warming up kind of weird. No surprise, but I had changed things again to a setup I had once happily rocked for a long time. 8.25 with venture 5.8 and 51mm. It felt pretty poppy. We started on the top. Noè doing flippers down the 3, down the 6. It was awesome seeing him jump so much. It’s crazy how casually he can treflip the 3 stair. Hayden makes manuals look so easy. Even fakie ones. Rob was locking into nose manuals and took a pretty good slam on one. I had some front 50s on the curb, some intentional 5-0s, kickflip up the curb and made myself front 50 a tallish (for me) ledge before I could go down to the lower area. Saw Rob get a pretty speedy manual and Hayden get a back tail. Noè was trying switch back nose manuals with a backside curve that seemed impossible. I had a couple crooks, accidental 5-0s and front 50s on the low part of the main ledge, halfcab flip and b/s flip and ended with a sketchy ollie up the ledge.

(setup 7/10 8.25 pmg, venture v-cast/titanium 5.8 with royal bushings no bottom washer, 51mm bones stf pj v1 washers outside, new balance numeric 288 sport size 12 with nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Paul and I rolled to Golden park pretty early on a sunny Saturday. Near the park we honked at Bratcher and it was hilarious. He had no idea it was us. The park was mostly the various old guy crews. Bratcher, Jesse, Paul, Jake, Venture Dave, young Mike, Salty. It was sick. Some of us started in the little plaza area. Jake and I did boardslide the first bench then crooks the second. I was on round 2 of Mindys, this time forged, and hated every minute of it. I couldn’t get a treflip after. Paul rattled off lots of ledge tricks on the curb high ledge. Dave did his casual shoves and maybe a nose manual. Then Dave, Mike and I skated the mellow bank for a while which was really fun. Dave did some impossibles, got a couple switch front 3s, switch shove, fakie impossible. Mike did several heelflip variations while I did kickflips. I was hyped to get a frontside flip and b/s flip first try. I couldn’t get a varial or bigflip to save my life though. Was happy on the kickflip body varial even though it actually took me several tries. Nose slides the qp to ledge was way fun. Jesse did pop shove tail grab and varial flip on the kicker. Jake lived up to his end of the bargain of doing his line quickly by doing it first try. Didn’t see others skating much. Was hyped to get a quick Salty clip.

After a trip to Bluecar I met Sean at Brady. I was incredibly sore and decided I need to give up on the Dunks. I could barely skate. Managed a very slow uphill line of noseslide then boardslide. Also got noseslide to fakie and then on Sean’s woke board I managed a crooks in two tries. Sean rattled off some fun casual lines and 50’d the whole ledge. We filmed something else too, it was cool. Not sure I will ever be back there as the ledge is really tall but who knows.

(setup 2/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, forged mindy 144s, spitfire 52mm f4 99a classic, nike sb sad dunks then 272s)
(pain level 5/10 at the park then 8/10 at brady)