After a cold and snowy morning the sun came out and it was quite nice out. My left knee is still swollen and painful, but starting to feel better thanks to PT and not jumping. So I set out in the afternoon for some more no-pop skating. I started at basemar and half piped it at the kicker. I didn’t even know what I would do when I got there, but then started messing around with nollie shove then fakie side rock. I would end up getting all 4 of the no pop shoves combined with various side rocks. It was pretty fun even if I was hating my setup (do I ever like it?). Then I drove around until I found the bank with the side curb which was fun too. Tail to fakie and shove was really fun. I came close to a nose stall manual, but the crack got me. My knee started to hurt a bit so I called it a day after driving around and looking at a few other spots.

(setup 1/10 8.5 14.25 sample, jessup ultragrip, slace low 8.5s, snot pink 52mm, emerica og-1 black size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a nice afternoon I couldn’t resist the urge to skate a little. I was sore from PT exercises, but in a good way and the knee felt better than it has in months. But I’m trying to still be patient. Just because it’s feeling better doesn’t mean it’s healed up. My knee is still quite swollen. I went behind Safeway hoping the super mini bank to curb was dry and it was! Took a couple tries to do some axle stalls then went in on the pivots. The f/s one took a big I kept putting the front wheels down in the crack. It was fun though and some of the attempts grinded which felt cool on my new Slappy trucks. Then I went to the ride on grind off Pearl parkway. I also did a couple ollies that felt good and popped pretty well. But I kept it to literally only two ollies. Then lastly over to the arapahoe bank with the holes thinking maybe I could carve over a hole or two but there was a lot of snow. So I just did some no pop noseslides on the ledge and called it a day. It was incredibly fun to get out and street skate even if I didn’t pop.

(setup generator 8.5/14.25 sample, jessup upltragrip, slappy 8.5 hollow, 52mm snot pink wheels, new balance 212 b/w sized 12 spenco 3/4 orthotic insoles and 272 insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

After my last session my knee felt totally done and I knew I had to take some time off. I almost made it 3 weeks before needing to get out for a brief slappy fix. I may have done a couple tiny ollies too, but mostly just slappy crooks and a couple attempts at front slappys. Knee is feeling a little better, but definitely planning on giving it a while longer before really skating.

(setup generator sample 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, ace 55 af1 lows hard bushings, 52mm stf bones v1, vans wayvee white size 12 custom orthotic insoles)
(pain 3/10)

Was in the office, but took a lunch break and met Dave on a cold and windy day. I got there first and struggled through some warming up. I had a goal of a line of boardslide, kickflip, ollie to fakie on the bank, switch front nose, fakie flip. But I only got to the fakie flip once and didn’t land it. I was really struggling with flippers because of the wind and my confidence. Dave showed and it got more fun. He started in on hippy jump then boardslide to fakie the flatbars. I skated really slow with some other tricks, got a couple noseslides, one really bad crooks, a couple kickflips, remotely close to some random hucks, one nollie shove to fakie on the bank that was scary. Oh yeah, Dave was trying nollie back tail on the flat bar and I was trying switch front nose. A couple of tech rail skaters here. We got them. Dave would go on to get a line of front board to fakie, fakie flip, halfcab noseslide, front 50. Pretty sick! I didn’t land much, but it felt like progress and it was fun reliving the Blue Skies era with Dave again.

(setup 6/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, bones stf v1 pj 103a, es swift b/w size 12 with spenco 3/4 orthotic insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

On a cold and windy night I struggled with motivation to go to square state’s silver session. Much to my delight there were only a few people there. I started out on the little kid area getting used to my dumb setup change then went to the ramp with Nick and Gray. I was somehow rustier than last time with almost no confidence at all. Gray got distracted then Nick and I skated flatground for a bit. I haven’t landed a treflip in months so I went in. My knee was hurting pretty bad and it was hard to do treflip since you have to put a lot of pressure on the front foot. I would kind of get one and didn’t feel like cleaning it up. Nick did some f/s cabs and shove reverts. Then off the the main area that was just a line of people doing tricks up the euro. Jason did nollie tre which was pretty epic. There were also nollie inward heels, nollie front heels, treflips and back heels. I would get a kickflip up it pretty quickly which made me somewhat happy. But not before I decided to dive down the euro bank to flat on my side. It was a crowd silencing slam and I almost left, but in some weird way it was fun to slam again. Although my knee would totally disagree. Then I spent the session trying to do kickflip and b/s flip on the mellow bank and really really struggled. Kind of got them. Kind of hate thunders. was trying to line the kf to fakie out with a fakie nosegrind on the little baby ledge but I couldn’t get the kf so it never worked. Steeze was there doing lots of flippers. Jesse was ripping. Fun night, wish my knee would be happy with me.

(setup generator 2/10 8.5 14.25 blank, jessup ultragrip, thunder 149 hollow with royal bushings, 51mm bones stf v1 pj 103a, es swift b/w size 12 with spenco orthotic 3/4 insoles)
(pain level 7/10 that f’ing left knee)

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!)