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)

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)