Went to the dog park to meet Nullers before filming. Jack and Jesse were there and then Simon and crew came too. I had done my quote of slappy crooks, a switch front nose or two, one boardslide. It was fun, but again frustrating not trying real tricks. It was fun watching the Nullers rip it and then we went on to have a good filming day.

(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)

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)

Pretty sure I have a torn meniscus so it’s going to be months before I really skate. I did a few slappy crooks which didn’t seem to hurt at all. But it also didn’t really satisfy the itch to skate so I’m not sure I’ll even bother until I can really skate again.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a Psycho Unity comic, but I’m super hyped to say my Uncle Frank is working with a publisher in Chicago to get these online. Click the link for Psycho Unity’s First Notebook of Head Injury. Also, go to their main site here to see more great Pyscho Unity strips and other great Frank Zirbel art. Good work Frank!

This part got me really hyped to skate. Cool bank skating, total natural ripping, mature trick selection, great filming, editing and an epic song.

After work felt motivated to skate on a cool and cloudy day. My left knee didn’t feel good, but I thought it would loosen up again, nope. Basically hucked a few f/s halfcab boardslides on the skelly concrete tall curb and then tried to do f/s halfcab noseslides on the little ledge followed by nollie back tail on the bench. Never got the nollie back tail after. Doh. Hucked a few random tricks like fakie lazer that I need to try more because for some reason it seems doable. Anyway, the left knee pain was too much and luckily it started misting so I had no choice but to stop. Hopefully it’s not too long, but I’m not skating again until my knee pain and swelling goes down.

(setup 2/10 null sample 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium royal bushings no big washer, spitfire f4 52mm classic shape, new balance numeric 600 tom knox black/gum size 12 thin es insoles)
(pain level 9/10 left knee done for)

I was sitting around feeling sorry for myself over my swollen painful knee and somehow got a spark to get out and skate a little. I had new shoes that I had taken a couple of walk in, some Tom Knox NBs. They are a bit stiffer/thicker than I normally like but we’ll see. Maybe they were the inspiration to skate a totally crusty crappy spot. I started the evening by backing into a pole in the van. Ugh. Luckily it wasn’t too bad but I’m bummed for sure. Warming up was super hard, mostly because my left knee is very stiff and can barely bend. First warm up line was slappy crook the terrible yellow curb, ollie to fakie the bank, fakie bigspin on flat. Then I got distracted by the curved bench for a while. It was really hard to skate. I managed a few noseslide jibs going slow, but couldn’t get crooks. I tried a very long line of noseslide, ollie a tiny flat gap, slappy crooks, kickflip to fakie. There were so many rock and cracks I was flailing all over the place and cracked my board on the tiny flat gap ollie. Doh. Not bad at least. Then I tried to film a slappy crook again and it took like 5 minutes and it took that whole time to get a fakie flip in the alley which was weird and slightly downhill. Last up was the kickflip to fakie which took way too long and my knee was killing me. Fun night though, street skating is so much more rewarding than parks. I wish it was easier to get speed for the little bank.

(setup 4/10 null sample 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast/ti royal bushings flat top washer, spitfire f4 52mm classic shape, new balance numeric 600 tom knox black/gum size 12 thin es insoles)
(pain level 7/10 feel like this is my norm now)

My friend Joe turned 40 and we share an interest in similar music so I made this mix for him. 40 songs by 40 of my fav artists for his 40th.

Took the morning off work so I could skate with one of my favorite skate homies Josh. My knee was hurting bad and I was pretty grouchy before arriving to pick up Josh and get some coffee. We chose Commerce City park and had it all to ourselves for a couple of hours. We did our little warm ups then some casual warming up. Well, not so casual for Josh. He was doing grinds on the big qps pretty easily, tricks on the steeper banks like no comply, back big, kickflip fakie. I hadn’t really popped much before we started a game of SKATE. Josh went right in on creepy spin and something else to get me a letter before we went a while without landing anything. So we decided against playing the game anymore. Josh has a heelflip a session requirement so we went in on that for a bit each getting one. I almost got treflip too but decided to slam instead. Then we mostly hit the two ledges for a while. Both of us had some alright lines, Josh some pretty good slams. He was doing the basics really well. I took a while to even do a slow front 50, but had a few that worked okay. Somehow I was 3-3 on halfcab noseslides after really struggling with that trick as of late. I managed a front 50 180 too that felt good. Josh had one that hours ago ha ha. I setup the phone and we did a lot of our tricks again. Unfortunately the phone overheated before capture Josh’s solid front nosegrind. We ended the session trying tricks on the bank. Josh almost got front noseblunt, but compromised and did a super steezy beanplant. I had a few front tails and did a wallie nollie after that felt really good. Also managed a back tail that took way too long. I tried to end it on a treflip, but again chose to slam instead. Doh. Anyway, super fun session, great to see Josh. He’s still shredding so hard and it was inspiring. Now if my knee would just stop hurting so bad.

(setup 7/10 null sample 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast/ti royal bushings flat top washer, spitfire f4 52mm classic shape, new balance numeric 440 white size 12 some thin es insoles)
(pain level 7/10 would never have skated had it not been for Josh visiting at least it loosened up a little)

On a warm morning Rob, Paul, Dave and I drove up to Evergreen park where we met up with Jake, Cass, Sean, Garrett and Kevin. Yes, Kevin! Although he was hurt and couldn’t really do much beyond some kickturns and pivots. I felt pretty nauseous from too much coffee and eating earlier than normal and it took a while to overcome it. I also went through waves of extreme anger and disappointment with my skating even though overall I skated okay. There were a lot of us and we skated for over four hours so it’s impossible for me to have seen everything and remember it. So I think I’ll just kind of list some highlights from everyone.

Paul had some nice grinds on the ledges. Back 5-0 180, back 5-0 then quick front 50 the hubba, some poppy ollies on the hip. Cass did his thing where he lands tricks real quick again then chills. Back big the hip, b/s flip the hip and kind of followed it with b/s flip the hard way over the hip. Also some good crooks and back 50s. Rob graces us with a bean plant over the hip so the day was made. Also back 180s up the curb then halfcab boardslide pop out, front tail and halfcab noseslide the bank to curb. Him and Jake chatted for quite a while. Jake did make some quick work of his moves though. Nollie back tail, halfcab noseslide shove, crooks, front smith the vert qp.

Sean’s warm up first ollie over the hip had everyone of us jealous. He also did one of the funniest back 180 heels over the hip (and a couple perfect ones of course). The nosegrinds on the out ledge and grinds up the hubba were fire too. Garrett has a broken wrist and took some bad slams on it, but still ripped some nollie heels over the hip, back 3s, back ds, nollie flips, nollie nose manual.

My skating was all over the place and I didn’t really stop at all over 4.5 hours which is crazy and explains the amount of pain my knee is in right now as I write this. Early on I took a while to kickflip up the curb, then later on would punch the flat bar on accident kickflipping up and thought I broke a knuckle. Luckily it’s okay. Had a line of a slow halfcab flip, crooks, terrible b/s flip. Took a long time to get b/s flip over the hip. Would get one then spend a lot of time to get one then did another in a doubles with a Garrett nollie heel which was my highlight of the day. Would also get fakie bigflip over the hip and a sketchy little f/s halfcab flip. tried to line out some slow flatground treflips. Got one followed by 180 up the curb then switch noseslide shove. Then struggled soooo hard to do a front 50 shove after and never got it which made me super angy. Not being able to pop into front 50s anymore bums me out more than anything I think. And I wonder why my knee is swollen? Ha ha. At the end I had some noseslide 270s, kickflips over the hip, but could not kickflip off the curb.

Dave won the demo for sure. He was the last one skating and hadn’t taken a break either. Pivot shoves, switch pivot shoves, gap to tails, slappy crooks, back tail shove all on the bank to curb. Kickflips, switch ollies, varial flips and multiple f/s flips over the hip! Most of which were in long lines with tricks on both qps as well. I’m forgetting a lot, Dave was shredding.

(setup 6/10 null sample 8.5/14.25, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast/ti royal bushings flat top washer, spitfire f4 52mm classic shape, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 half insole)
(pain level 7/10 serious left knee pain at times)