On a nice afternoon after working from home I met Saul over at the school. We talked about the state of things for awhile then went in on the slappies. Saul was grinding them longer than normal. Especially his frontside ones. He had a pretty good slam too. We tried back smith slappies. Maybe we kinda got them. I was feeling better on my board than I had in weeks. Maybe it was the new PT, maybe wearing vulcs again, but it felt great to skate. Until I missed a front slappy and kinda tweaked my knee. But the pain didn’t stay intense for very long and I was back to skating. I tried a line of f/s halfcab flip, slappy, kick back tail. Never got the first or last trick, but did land no them. My slappies felt better than normal. Going the other way I was trying front slappy, back 180 onto the downhill curb cut then fakie tre the curb cut. Never committed to the fakie tre, but it felt doable. Fun session.

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 Foy blue/white size 12, footprint gamechanger orthotic insoles)
(pain level 3/10 except for awhile when the knee was hurting like 7/10)

After a cold and cloudy start to the day I hit the curbs for awhile while Jack and Sean figured out where to skate. I had some good fun. Got the basic slappies and started piecing together some harder lines. Was trying slappy front crook, front slappy, front shove off curb cut to the street. Somehow I kept not rolling away from the front shove though. I blame cupsoles. Oh, I had tried the stock insoles again. Also going the other way I was doing kickflip then slappy then trying kick back tails. I got close, but no cigar. Then I went to Wilville and we skated some flat and the manny pad for awhile. Sean may have gotten fakie flip then halfcab manual. Jack did some frontside flips, nollie flips, maybe switch heel? He was trying front shove nose manual. I didn’t do much. Had gotten a few super slow fakie flips, almost a halfcab flip, almost a nose manual before we left.

Then we went to this building. I posed some back 50s. Sean ollied a fun bump over a bush. Jack battled and stomped a gnarly wallride.

Then we walked for a bit and ended up at Southern Hills. Jack had first try fakie nosegrind. Man I need to learn that. My legs were shot though. I struggled to get 50s on the first step, noseslides and a couple crook jibs on the bench. Jack would get some more tricks, but was pretty beat after the wallride battle. It was rad seeing Sean’s warmup process to get through the basics. Front 50, front 5-0, front tail, front nosegrind, front lip. All so perfect. Then I filmed him get a rad manual trick. Front 180 nose manual 180 out. Dude rips. I got cold from sitting and filming at the end and felt sick after. Winter sucks to film. Actually, just filming so much sucks too.

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 913 westgates black/yellow size 12, footprint gamechanger low profile orthotic insoles, incrediwear knee sleeve)
(pain level 6/10)

After some fun PT at the Denver Facility Kevin and I ended up at the Denver museum of nature and science. We skated for awhile feeling the place out. I was able to ollie with no pain, but it felt so weird. I didn’t land much. I had some halfcab noseslides on the little ledge, boardslides, noseslides, got close to fakie nosegrind, a few switch noseslides. Had some fakie flips. Got a few crooks on the taller one. Kevin had been itching to film a line so I starting filming. That would turn into the end of my skating :(. Oh yeah, Dave L, Jack and Carleigh had shown. Jack had a crazy slam initially that sounded bad. He would go on to do some crazy tricks like 180 switch crooks both ways, fakie nosegrind to show me up, pop shove crooks, almost kick back noseblunt?!?!?! Carleigh mostly skated flatground. I saw a nice halfcab flip and she got front 50 on the ledge. Dave L had some nice fast front boards, front 50s, hurricanes and some flippers like treflip I saw. I filmed for a really long time. I was happy Kevin got a really good line. Kick back 5-0, Janoski flip, halfcab blunt. Then we went to Pete’s and enjoyed one of the last few nights of restaurants being open.

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 913 westgates black/yellow size 12, footprint gamechanger low profile orthotic insoles, incrediwear knee sleeve)
(pain level 3/10)

After my first full day of working from home thanks to Coronavirus I met Dave at Louisville park. It had been snowing lightly off and on all day, but it was dry when we started. And boy was it a rough start for me. I should probably warm up at skatepark more though, because pumping around and stuff felt good. Dave was doing cool pole jam bonks off the side of the rainbow rail and front noseslides. I started hucking the trick Dave challenged me to, nollie front bigs over the hip. Dave was ollieing onto the pad to get into the bank so I started trying too. It was embarrassing how many tries it took me to get onto it. And when I started to commit they were sketchy. Oh well, it felt good to ollie again. Dave had some cool feebles, nose stalls, axle stalls on the bank to curb. I had settled in on a line of switch nose jib, ollie onto the pad then nollie front big over the hip. I was super hyped to get it. Thanks for filming Dave! He got a really cool line too of pole jam, nollie into the weird bank, then back 180 fakie 50. Tech Dave. I took a long time to get super slow front 50s on the lowest part of the ledge, but managed to get a fun line of front 50, boardslide the flat bar, then go around and noseslide to fakie the bank to curb. Dave did another line which I am spacing on right now. Then the snow kicked in again, but it didn’t stop Dave from doing a sick tailslide then pop shove fakie. Fun day in that I felt like I got a little confidence back finally.

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 913 westgates black/yellow size 12, footprint gamechanger low profile orthotic insoles, incrediwear knee sleeve)
(pain level 5/10)

Carleigh talked me into going to the dog park on a nice and breezy day. After a short power nap in my car I rolled into a very crowded park excited to be there for the first time in quite a while. I took it very easy for awhile, just doing some boardslides, but they felt good. Up/down the escalator curb, on the butter bench, the flat bar, the cinder block ledges. I was happy to get a couple slow front 50s on the low step, noseslides on the top part, a couple crook on the cinder block benches. Took awhile to get a line of front 180 the manhole then halfcab noseslide the bench. Carleigh had shown. She may have manualled the little pad, some boardslide, noseslide, landed on halfcab flip! Veronica charges. Street Saul was in effect. He had a better ollie onto the little pad than me and a bunch of excellent slappies. Josh was there with some nice front boards and I saw a close 360 flip attempt. I was happy to go back there and hope my knees continue to improve enough to really try again.

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 913 westgates black/yellow size 12, footprint gamechanger low profile orthotic insoles, incrediwear knee sleeve)
(pain level 5/10)

After work I chilled for a bit then met the Dave’s and Saul across the street for some much needed curb therapy. I felt no confidence at the start and was scared bashing into/out of slappies, but it would come. Saul was quick on the great slappies. He had some good ollies up curbs too. He said he had knee pain too. That’s my excuse Saul. Ha. I really like how Fuller warms up and feels out hard tricks on the escalator parts of he curbs. Tricks like switch crooks, switch 50s to tail, etc. He would get some really good slappy crooks, slappy crooks shove, noseslides. He tried slappy crooks to switch 5-0, seemed doable. Also got into front blunts, had nollie front 180s off the curb cut. Luzius had broken his board earlier so was on a cruiser. He still had some nice manuals, back 5-0’s, front tails, back bigspins. He can do anything. I had fun with slappies both ways, slappy crooks both ways. Didn’t ollie much until the end which is a good sign since I was able to skate for a couple hours. I’m not sure if it’s the cupsoles with orthotics or the new Incrediwear knee sleeve I’m wearing, but my knees felt better at the session went on. There is hope for my knees! I got really mad that I couldn’t ollie into a front 50 at one point, then did back 50 and front 50. It felt great to ollie in even if it’s just a curb. Dave did a line of slappy crooks then nollie front 180 off the curb cut. I took a few tries to get his back with slappy front crook then nollie back 180 off the curb cut. I could only do the nollie back 180 going slow, not over the crack. Oh well. It was a fun session and I feel optimistic about skating again. Grinding concrete is such a great feeling.

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 913 westgates black/yellow size 12, footprint gamechanger low profile orthotic insoles, incrediwear knee sleeve)
(pain level 6/10 my knees kind of allowed me to skate now I just have to get some confidence back)

On a nice day Ollie and I went to campus to skate whatever. We started in on the meet up curb. I had a fun few slappy crooks. Ollie had that nice manual. We hit the narrow downhill path for a bit. The rock isn’t there anymore. Ollie did his trick from The Stubborns (manual). I came close to nose manual. We did some grass rises then ended up at the mellow flagstone bank. Ollie came close to ollieing into it which mostly resembled a manual which would have been even sicker. He also got up to rock ‘n roll a couple times. I was able to ollie onto it without too much knee pain and did boneless, bean plant, ollie to fakie, almost nollie shove to fakie. We moved on and ended up on the main road through campus messing around with a little gap and 2 stair area. I had zero confidence in my ollies and took longer than Ollie to get the two foot flat gap. Ollie almost got it to manual. He had some front 180s down the two. I tried a line of ollie the flat gap, front 50 a stair, nollie back 180 off the two. Never got the nollie back 180, but it felt doable if I had some confidence. Then I watched Ollie battle kickflips. It took him ~90 tries to get it. It was cool to see him so motivated to do one and even cooler to see him land it so good. That was pretty much the end of the skating.

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 913 westgates black/yellow size 12, footprint gamechanger low profile orthotic insoles)
(pain level 6/10 my knees kind of allowed me to skate now I just have to get some confidence back)

Out to punish myself I went to a basketball court with Dave after work. It was quite nice out. He had his girls with him and since the hockey rink had people in it we started on a smooth, but small basketball court. I was kind of more interested in playing basketball with his daughters than trying to skate. I guess I was afraid of how bad my knees would hurt. We kinda skated awhile. Some other dads had started playing basketball too so we had very limited space. We were both hurting and it showed, not much went down. I was wearing Westgates with orthotic insoles and it seemed to reduce the pain somewhat. After awhile the hockey rink cleared out and we went over there. I had hucked a few tricks. I think I only landed kickflip, halfcab flip and fakie flip as far as flippers. I was going to leave, but Dave challenged me to SK8. It ended up being a fun game. He got me with switch back 180 and something else. I got him with fakie flip, something else and won it on halfcab flip.

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 913 westgates black/yellow size 12, footprint gamechanger low profile orthotic insoles)
(pain level 7/10 my knees suck)

My last day in Hawaii :(.  I was quite sad as I packed my things.  After another nice swim we ended up at the ledge spot from yesterday because I really wanted to skate it.  I started feeling okay again.  Managed some ollies up the curb and boardslides, but the knee went twang again and I was done.  Argh.  I filmed Neil with my camera get the same line and it was good.  Fakie ollie up the curb all steezy, halfcab noseslide, crooks shove.  Nate took a bit longer, but also got a good line of back 180, switch boardslide pop out, front board pop out.  We didn’t skate anymore that day.  It was super nice out, we went snorkeling and saw some lovely sights on the beach.  I miss Hawaii a ton already, but looking forward to getting my legs working again.  

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 foy blue/white size 12, sole orthotic insoles)
(pain level 9/10 knee pain argh)

On a rainy morning we were up early and did our swim.  We were up because we wanted to enjoy our last day with Josh as he had an afternoon flight.  We struck out at the 3 pipes spot because it was wet, then killed some time as it rained buying tourist things for out families.  Then we ended up at some target manny pads.  I had gone searching for other stuff while those guys skated the pads.  My legs were seemingly kind of working.  They got kicked out of the manny pads and I described a nearby hip/curb spot I found and we cruised it for a bit.  Nate had some ollies up to ride on grinds.  Josh some 180s and switch noseslide down the curb.  My legs worked enough for me to do a line of shove it, slappy crook, powerslide.  I was stoked though.  

Next we went to the DIY spot called Zones.  We did some sweeping and it was in good shape.  I almost died on the weird drop in.  Neil and Josh did double rock ‘n rolls.  Nate felt some things out.  I was feeling pretty sore already, but started going in on a weird/slippery part of the bank trying kickflip to fakie.  We were running late and luckily we were right by the airport because I took a long time to get one.  But man it felt cool to finally try a trick I was happy with on this trip.  

After dropping off Josh we ended up at a cool little ledge spot.  It was kind of a dream spot for me.  Good asphalt, low curb to do tricks up and two lowish ledges that looked good for crooks.  But my body did not get beyond the warm up phase.  I managed a couple boardslides and a very slow line of noseslide to fakie then switch front noseslide.  I filmed Neil and Nate get some lines but unfortunately I wasn’t used to Neil’s lens and I cut both of their feet off.  Argh.  Sorry guys.  

(setup 8.38 null curby deck, venture 5.8 cast baseplate with titanium hanger, 51mm bones stf v1 with all speed washers on the outside of the axle, bones medium bushings, jessup ultra grip, new balance numeric 306 foy blue/white size 12, sole orthotic insoles)
(pain level 8/10 knee pain argh)