On a hot afternoon still not feeling very agile I biked around looking for something fun to skate. I found nothing, literally nothing. Their asphalt is super rough. There was tennis courts everywhere, but I didn’t feel like dealing with that. So I ended up at a little space of concrete that wasn’t terrible although it was quite small. I felt so awkward and old when I stepped on my board. Like it would be impossible to do any tricks. I did one slappy axle stall on a curb that was kind of fun. Then some really slow 180s, fakie ollies, etc. I had put 5.2 high trucks on. I took a bit to get a kickflip, but it felt good when I got one. I would go on to do a few tricks. All incredibly slow. Shoves, fakie flip, b/s flip, halfcab flip, varial flip, fakie bigflip. The b/s flip, halfcab flip and fakie bigflip all felt super cool even if I was barely moving. This was all the skating I did while in NC for a week. I worked my legs good for a week. Swimming, running, exercises, walking on sand so I hope my knee starts working again.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.2 high cast plate v-hollow hanger royal bushings flat top washer, 52mm spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric 440 black 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Did so much to be ready to skate. About an hour of exercises and an ice bath. Got to dog park to a crew of radness with a lot of older skaters. Within minutes of skating excruciating pain shot throw my knee and I was done, completely depressed and done. It was pain I couldn’t even remotely attempt to skate through and the worst part is I have no idea why. But I chilled and watched my friends. Jack B was shredding I saw some fakie nosegrinds and other tricks on the curb. Fuller was totally shredding. No comply a parking block gap, manuals, nose manuals, and an incredible boardslide 270 on the upper deck almost to manual on the pad. That would have been too much. Another older dude did a slappy noseslide to crook transfer on the long green curb that was incredible. Kevin was rad and since I couldn’t skate he asked to call out some lines for him, and he did all of them. They were a mixture of his tricks and my tricks. Like fakie bigflip and treflip which he doesn’t normally do. Nollie front crook first try was crazy good. I’m going to the beach in NC for a week, I really hope my body heals up and I can actually skate when I get back. The last couple weeks has been brutal on my skate well being.

(setup who cares)
(pain level 9/10 unbearable to skate but I was able to walk and sit and watch my friends shred)

I bet Dave on a hot night after dinner at Rocky Mountain. I had new shoes and they felt super weird at first. I slammed dropping in and on a fakie shove during warm ups. Dave arrived right about the time I got the warm up line of drop in on the kink, slappy crook, front 180 up the curb, switch front nose. I felt really off pushing throughout the night and had some moments where I felt very uncoordinated and awkward. I was able to get kickflip, but struggled for anything else even fakie flips. Couldn’t get crooks on the ledge or halfcab noseslide. I did not skate well, but I tried hard and the new shoes seemed to help resist some of the pains I’ve had recently. At the end I got a fakie nose jib on the curb. Dave had some nice boardslides to fakie, nollie fakie on the bank, 50s on the curb, switch slappy crook, slappy crooks, manual the bank median, back 50 nollie front 180 out then ended it with the back 50 to back lip. It was funny I was filming it and seeing the weird reflection and could not figure out where it came from. It took us a good 5 minutes to figure out it was from my phone reflecting off the street lights across the way. Fun night even though my skating was pretty bad.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder 148 hollow lights venom 88a bushings, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 440 black 11.5 half insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After a couple of days away from skating I had hoped my knee pain would be non-existent. Nope. The first ollie hurt as did each trick after. Satellite Nick had joined and was quick to boardslide everything. I may have done a variation of a switch crook, but other then that struggled with everything. We went over to the skatepark. Had some manuals on the deck and volcano, some ollies. Nick had some cool powerslides and shoves.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder 148 hollow lights venom 88a bushings, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12 272 insole)
(pain level 7/10 starting to not be worth it)

Went to campus solo before a filming mission. Started near the hill area with the flagstone bench and slight bank to curb. Ended up skating like I don’t believe I have before which was fun. Do a stall trick on the bank to curb above the death stairs then a ledge trick then something. I think the first was a front pivot then a boardslide then back 180. Then front tail, noseslide, kickflip. I don’t really remember the sequence, but I was having fun and skating with some motivation. I got a couple crooks and went down into the drama building loading dock and turned around and tried to ollie up the 3 stair, but wasn’t close at all. I tried to film a couple crooks and could no longer do them which was the start of my frustrations. So I cruised down the hill aimlessly for a while and eventually ended up at a really hard 1 up 2 up 4 down which was not what I needed. I went to an old amazing spot that is knobbed, slammed on a manual and walked home with my tail between my legs ultra bummed.

After filming Garrett and Joe do some amazing stuff we ended up at Indian Peaks where we haven’t been in a long time. I somehow didn’t feel super terrible so I did a couple kickflips to make my day feel somewhat better. Garrett did some good wallies, but wasn’t feeling the trick he really wanted to try.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder 148 hollow lights venom 88a bushings, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 425 black/gum size 11.5 half 440 insole then some 212s later)
(pain level 7/10)

Somehow I have no clips of it, but we went to a new spot Cass had found on a hot and sunny morning. The crew was Cass, Kevin, Nick, Venture Dave, Jake. The spot is epic. Slappy curbs, 2 stairs, ledges, good flatground. I was the last one there, had some sock and shoe issues and ended up changing things around. Mostly started with some flatground that didn’t work too well. Although Jake challenged us to do all the 180s in a row which we did. I had a fun 180 a tiny grate then halfcab flip into a slight bank. Also close to a line of fakie flip, halfcab flip, b/s flip into the slight bank. Dave was doing shoves, impossibles, 5-0s on the curb and then later on fakie front noseslides. Jake kind of hurt himself on a kickflip which was a bummer. Cass had a great hardflip on flat and almost another off the two stair, front board pop out the slappy curb. Kevin was shredding as always and worked hard for a line of heelflip into the slight bank, nollie flip on flat then nosegrind pop up the 2 stair. He had also tried for quite some time to crook bonk down the a sign. Nick made some things look pretty effortless like b/s flipping up a two stair. Not sure if he actually got it or not. I was kind of on my own over at the slappy area for a while. Did two lines that were quite fun. Slappy crook, front 180 off a curb, switch 180 up the curb, noseslide a ledge, front 180 up a two stair. Then nollie back tail a curb, slappy crook a curb, kickflip off a curb, back 180 up a curb, switch front nose a ledge, turn around, front 180 up the two. It’s just a bunch of basics, but it was quite fun.

Then we went to the nearby rino art installation spot which I had never actually skated. Kevin and Jake battled pivot fakie on the main little steep qp, Kevin won. Cass had some nice rock fakies. I kind of did some rock ‘n rolls. Also a version of a layback front rock first try in which Jake said he’d get me a car if I did it first try. I hope he gets me a minivan. I had some more fun doing some basic axle stalls and drop ins in weird places that funneled into the ditch where I did some rock ‘n rolls and slappy crooks.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder 148 hollow lights venom 88a bushings, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 272 maroon 11.5 half insole)
(pain level 5/10)

On a Friday after work I was feeling sore and sorry for myself. Liz kind of made me go at least try to skate. So I went to dog park which was totally dead when I got there and pretty wet. I had another setup change – 8.25 again and Thunders again. It felt great. I didn’t do a whole lot at dog park. Some slappies, crooks on the bench, front 50 the lower ledge and front 50 180 out, manual the little pad. Dave showed and the scooter kids had left the park so we went over there and it was pretty chill for a while. That park has so many options and we both seem to skate it differently every time. I had two new lines that were super fun. Ollie the euro, ollie to fakie the steeper mound, fakie flip on the bank (never got a clean one). Ollie the euro, manual the volcano, little grind the high to low qp. The manual was super fun. Dave had manualled it too. He was doing runs starting with flyouts and did a nollie shove on the steep mound. Tailslides over the hip, kickflip on the flat bank and got 5-0 over the rainbow which was so sick. Roth came as I was basically too sore to keep skating and speed lined it around the park. It was a fun session, although I could go without getting so sore.

(setup null 8.25 vhs, jessup pj ultragrip, thunder 148 hollow lights venom 88a bushings, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 425 black/gum size 11.5 half 440 insole)
(pain level 6/10)

Josh made me a 10×10 list. I went over to the school, warmed up with some slappies and tried to get the flatground going even though my body wasn’t feeling very good.

Kickflip – first try, but couldn’t get the 5 in a row I like to do to warm up
Halfcab flip was over 10 tries and quite upsetting.
Backside flip got the tic tac version in a few tries.
Fs halfcab flip felt much better than it looks
Fs flip not close
Heelflip the bail really hurt and the make barely got around.
Fs halfcab heelflip not so close which was a bummer.
Treflip man that was tough I was really committing and it just wouldn’t happen
Varial flop
Front heel was too tired and never really committed.

Almost all of these tricks used to be automatic for me. Getting older is really difficult, but it’s probably not even just that. I’m going to blame bigger boards a bit. I mean, why not right?

(setup null vhs 8.3, jessup ultragrip, royal 149 ultralights, 52mm bones 103a stf v1, new balance numeric 288sport green/gum 11.5 with half 440 insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After work and a quick dinner I picked up Dave and we went to the small Stephen Day park. After a brush with fame (ha ha) we got to skating. It’s been a few days, but I think we started off alright without too long of a warm up period. Dave waxed the hip and tailslides were quick on the agenda as were manuals on the decks. Turned into a pretty fun session when we weren’t too interrupted by kids playing scooters. I did a lot of noseslides and kickflips. I thought I was close to the ollie over bar at one point, but then got sore and lost it. The line of noseslide the rounded ledge, kickflip fakie on the bank then switch front nose was fun even if it’s the same tricks I always do. Had a fun halfcab noseslide and crook on the straight part of the C ledge. Had a fun line of noseslide the bigger bump to ledge then b/s flip flyout. As the lightning settled I was trying a line of front 180 fly out, switch nose jib into the bank, front 50 the C. But I could never get the front 50 and I got so mad. Hard to leave on such a bad note after a really fun session. Dave killed it. He had done the halfcab blunt to back tail earlier on too. He had lots of good ollies and nollies over the hip, bluntslides, 50 the bump to ledge, hippy jump the down bar, front noseslides. The halfcab bluntslide to back tail was the hammer of the day for sure.

(setup null vhs 8.3, jessup ultragrip, royal 149 ultralights, 52mm bones 103a stf v1, new balance numeric 288sport green/gum 11.5 with half 440 insoles)
(pain level 5/10 been so sore lately and no idea why)

On much cooler day with rain in the forecast I went to campus. Setup was 8.25 with ace 55s. I disliked it. I tried to skate through it at a weird little ledge spot that is rarely vacant enough to skate. I had a fun warm up line of dropin on the little hubba near the 4 stair, some 180s, switch nose jib. Tried to start a line with an ollie off a tall ledge, but got scared. Did kickflip, noseslide to fakie, fakie flip. Then the frustration really set in when I tried halfcab flip then front 50. I barely got a couple halfcab flips and rather than get frustrating I went home and put the 8.3 deck on.

Back to campus I ended up at the ledge near the rec center. Had a really fun line of chinese ollie, back 180 a 2 stair, switch 180, noseslide, kickflip. Then another run that started the same then went noseslide to fakie then fakie flip.

Rain started so I went to the covered hallway at the UMC. I was pretty motivated and started okay getting tricks two times before moving on. Kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, but could not get a heelflip. Resorted to a line to try and motivate me to treflip. Pop shove, kickflip, treflip. Never committed to the treflip and decided to stop forcing it and walked through the rain to my car and called it a day.

Done with Aces. At least until they have a lighter version.

(setup 8.25 then 8.3 vhs null, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, bones 52mm v1 103a washers outside, new balance numeric 288sport green/gum size 11.5 half 440 insole)
(pain level 3/10 that’s the best it’s been a while. I credit working out more again and wearing cupsoles even if I mostly hate them)