Taking two days off of skating seems to do the trick for my arthritis. I felt pretty good in the morning and was getting really excited to go skate. I’ve been thinking about downsizing from 8.25 to 8″ again since I’ve lost so much strength/coordination and the 8.25 feels big and clunky. Not so much the board, but the bigger trucks. So I found an old 8″ board that was in decent shape, some old 8″ trucks and rolled around on Rampy with it for a bit. Felt good. Went outside and tried a few ollies and stuff and yeap, that felt better too. Even got a fakie flip which I haven’t landed since the “injury”. So my mind was made up, time to go back to 8″. Now my OCD was kicking in and I didn’t want to skate the old 8″ deck I setup mainly because it has a different shape than the new Null 8″ shapes. I didn’t want to get used to it then have to change to the new shape. I also didn’t want to skate the old trucks as they were almost down to the axle and the kingpin was in the way for grinds. So it was a quick trip to Meta to get some new trucks and setup a new board. I got some Thunder hollow lights just so Brian can make fun of me for thinking that lighter trucks are indeed lighter than regular trucks.

Brian and Neil were headed to Northglenn, but I had Ollie and he didn’t want to go to a crowded park. Good kid. We went to Southern Hills instead where there was some puddles/snow, but for the most part you could skate everything. The arthritis gel I put on started burning like crazy once my feet got sweaty. It’s so funny to think that a burning sensation is desired over the normal pain, but it seems to work. I started trying a long line consisting of ollieing onto the ledge by the bike racks at the top, ollieing off over a little puddle, chinese nollie, no comply 180 into the bank, halfcab flip on flat, front noseslide for Jason. The halfcab flip was the toughest part of that one, but I got one and managed to land a bad front nose on that run. I was super duper hyped on that line. Big smile, laughing and so happy that I was actually skating. After that I waxed up the lower step and did another line of front tailslide (I actually slid several!) then crooks on a bench, kickflip on flat then boardslide another ledge. That one hyped me up too. Ollie was cruising around doing back 180s everywhere. He slammed pretty hard off the two stair once and after that just kinda started playing around throwing snowballs. I started trying another line of front slappy on the yellow curb at the top of the parking lot, front 180 onto the sidewalk then f/s halfcab into the bank, but it just kinda fell apart after I started struggling with the slappy. Carleigh showed up and was doing her skate rehab of switch and nollie tricks. I did a few more tailslides on the curb and some noseslides on the bench. Sure is fun to dork at a street spot instead of a crowded skate park.

Carleigh and I left to meet up with Derek and skate downtown Denver. We picked Derek up at D park without even getting out of the car then headed downtown and parked on top of the hill on 12th. That hill bomb is soooo fun and a great way to start off the session. I was already pretty beat from more ollies then I’ve done in months, but it worked out surprisingly. We started off at the art building that is insanely fun. Derek killed some manuals out da gates. I was trying a little line of a boardslide on one bench then a manual on the low to high ledge. Almost got it, but we got the boot. Next we went to the fountain area at civic park. We were all just kinda messing around. I was struggling to ollie up the two stair ledge. All of this ollieing is tough. Ha. I was trying a line of ollie up the two, push, roll off the two then ollie into the fountain. I bailed the ollie several times as it was just so foreign to be trying any type of a gap. But then Carleigh did her first kickflip since breaking her foot and I had to get her back and I got the line. Stoked!

We went to this area for a bit. Not much went down. Carleigh wallied out of it on the low side. Derek tried to front 180 nose manual with a pop out. Didn’t get close but wow. I was just happy to ollie the little flat gap on top of the ledge around the corner. We randomly found a marble ledge nearby and skated it for awhile. Derek did some sick gap over to 50s and I did some slow front board to fakie transfer attempts. Derek also manualled it somehow. We pushed on. I did a lot of switch pushing. We headed toward Petes for dinner. I don’t think we skated anything else really. Just pushed and had fun. After Petes we took the bus back to the top of the hill and I snapped a couple phone photos near the capital.

But the skating wasn’t done, then we went to the ollie north glen park and met up with the fort collins and sunny daze crews for a super fun session. Derek killed it. Ripping, laughing and hyping and so many tricks it’s impossible to list. The back smiths in the bowl, ollie the whole pyramid, handrail lines were crazy. Carleigh was looking comfy on her board and did pole jam rock fakie, front tails on the hip, dropin on vert, and some noseslides. Mike was ripping so hard. He’s only 35 though so I guess he still can. Tanner and Jess were ripping too. They can shred the street and the bowls. Daryl skates so fast and has the best style. Chad pops his tricks so high. The f/s flip on the bank was crazy. I kinda just rolled around for the most part. Slammed the hardest I’ve slammed in a long time trying to boardslide the ledge. It still hurts more than normal to fall and it takes awhile for the arthritis pains to calm down after a bad one. At the end I was hyped to get a grind on the rainbow qp then a little pivot revert on the tiny bank. Had so much fun. Best day of skating in so long. So much fun. Sorry this entry is so long and boring. Seeing as how it’s so long there is no way I’m proofreading it. Ha.

Met up with Dan, Matt and Joe at Dan’s place and had some yummy christmas cookies before heading out to the Omaha park on a pretty nice day. When we got there the park was pretty empty. It filled up quickly though. Joe and I warmed up on the little qp. We didn’t get too jiggy, but Joe had a nice f/s ollie and his patented fakie smith to rock fakie. Dan and Matt were already doing crazy lines on the ledges. Dan busted a front board 3 shove out that was ridiculous. Man can nollie into tricks way too easy. Joe did a bunch of combos. I had no pop in my legs, but they didn’t hurt. In fact my ankles were burning from some new arthritis cream I was trying out. I guess burning is better then normal arthritis pain because I lasted all day. I managed a few very basics going really slow. Then it got crowded and I lost motivation. Joe and I skated the bank to curb a bit. I got a back pivot, Joe got a front tail. A lot more tricks went down from the Fremont crew and they upheld their reputation of being super positive and it seemed to rub off a little on the typically quiet emo crowd.

After some burritos we headed to a park in Iowa (right outside of Omaha) that was make of a bunch of plastic pieces. Seems lame to go to a metal/plastic park after a concrete one, but it was actually really fun. My legs were lacking any pop so it was mostly tranny for me, but the others ripped it. I struggled at a basic front rock on a little qp for awhile, but was hyped to get it. Zack and Cory had joined us. Zack has some moves and Cory straight up rips. They all killed it. I don’t remember everything that went down. Cory back 5-0d the entire ledge on the top, did all the basics on the hubba, set the world record for the shortest run up for a front bigspin over a hip and ripped everything. Joe did a front smith on a bank to ledge, front 50 to drop, boardslide the kinked flatbar. Dan did a 50 up a ledge to manual down a box. Matt had long front 5-0s on the ledge at the top. So much more that I am forgetting right now. I had a couple tricks I was hyped on. Manny the top of the box to cali grind down and a crooks on the bank to ledge.

That is the first time I skated a whole day in months. Felt great. Seems like the arthritis cream helps. That and skating with a super fun crew. Nullbraska!

I was feeling pretty achy on a cold morning as I headed to fremont to meet up with one of the best crews ever.  Hugs were had as the skate mafia video played.  Then we went to the infamous ledge at linden elementary.  Unfortunately the school is starting construction so it might be my last time skating there.  Which kinda sucks because my arthritis prevented me from doing much.   Dan, Matt and Joe ripped it out the gates though.  They have so many crazy combos.  Matt did tricks like nollie crooks shove, nosegrinds both ways, nollie heel fifty.  Joe had nollie fifty shove, front lip to fifty to front board, lip fifty shove, back 50 around the 90 corner.  Dan had crazy manual combos.  Manny to blunt slide, manny to back feeble, manny back tail, nose grinds, so much more.  I didn’t do much more than front fifties, but I had fun because those dudes are so positive and fun to be around.  Its nice knowing that if I ever move to omaha I’ll be rolling with a tight crew.

It was really cold out, but Ollie and I bundled up and went for it.  When we got to the park there was only a couple flyout kids there.  We skated the little mini ramp section.  It was pretty fun.  The wind seemed to die down so that was nice, but lots of people started showing up.  Some were even smiling and nice which is an improvement on the typical Omaha crowd.  Ollie is fun to watch skate.  He landed a few legit back 50s and celebrated by doing some early grab cannonballs to fakie. 

  We went over to the street area as I wanted to do some tricks on the ledge.  My knee was feeling ok.  After a few boardslides I went for crooks which I haven’t done in months.  Got almost everyone I tried.  Awesome.  The ledge isnt short so I was hyped to also get front 50s.  Then I had a blast ollieing up the little ledge and doing front pivots on a weird bank to curb.  Ollieing into the bank was fun too and I followed it up by going into the snake run and doing a long back 50 then a front smith. 

So fun.  I also did a really slow back 50 on the little ledge followed by a bad front nose on the main ledge.  I got a ways to go before I’ll feel like I’m doing Jason any justice.   Fun day.  Best I’ve skated since the arthritis started.

Had to get all packed up for our trip to Obamaha, Nullbraska. I went out to Rampy for a bit for the first time in forever. I was nervous about how quick Rampy is and how slow my reactions are currently. It worked out though. It took me awhile to get some tricks back and my back foot kept sliding all over the board as it was swelled up and kind of numb. The trick I had been thinking about the most was front disasters and I got a few of those. They felt weird though since my back foot was all over the place. Hyped I could skate it though and it doesn’t hurt my knee.

So for whatever reason while I was under the influence of pain killers and kickflip withdrawal I gripped a new board and wrote on it “Skateparks are the new gym”. The more I think about it the more it seems accurate. Luckily I’m kind of a jock so it works out. Carreigh picked me up around 11 and we thought we were gonna be late to meet up with the rest of the Gym Factory. We even stopped by Crisis to pickup little Keenan. I guess they were still eating which I should have known. It was really nice out, but unfortunately it was little kid hour. Carreigh ate in the car for awhile while Keenan and I rolled around. He ripped it out of the gates. I was feeling better then I have in months and even got a kickflip in a couple tries. I managed to get like 7 or 8 in a row. Some of them even felt ok. Cruising around the park was fun. I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary for awhile. After quite some time I managed to finally boardslide the little ledge. That felt great. TF eventually showed up and started flexing their pexs. Most were in the bowl which I’ve been avoiding so far because I cant run fast enough if I had to run out of a bail (and you know I would). I skated the flat bank in front of the hubba for a bit and decided I should at least do all the tricks that Ollie did last time. Rock fakie first t. back rock first t. front rock first t. Whew. Then I went on to get a few more like front slash and front feeble. I took a few slams in there which hurt worse than they used to. After that I managed my favorite run in awhile which was a boardslide on the ledge, axle stall on the steep bank in front of the hubba then a flatground kickflip. Unfortunately that kickflip hurt my knee in the same way that hurt months ago. UGH. Shortly after Fuzz rolled his ankle pretty bad on a front rock bail in the bowl. Doh. Another TF down. I chilled for awhile hoping the knee pain would go away. Brian had some awesome attempts at a bluntslide transfer into a bank. Hard to describe but he flies along on the top of the deck of a bank and starts booger sliding into a bluntslide on top of the bank. He slammed a lot and even took out a game of SKATE. Careligh was cruising around and got some tailslides across the hip. Travis did a sick backside ollie transfer from the little bank up on to the hubba. Jake crooksied the ledge and did more than just kickturn on the kinked wannabe jersey barrier wall. Neil yelled at bikers, kids and did some good lipslides on the ledge. After my knee started hurting I didn’t do so much. I could cruise around fine, but not squat for ollies. Ugh. Most of us just sat and watched the good skating that was going on. At one point we tried holding our breath until someone lands a trick. Man, skaters never land anything. Brian probably won that game. Fun day. Glad I felt good for at least an hour or so. I hope the knee pain goes away like it did before.

And this one comes out of nowhere to possibly claim part of the year. Slappies, raw streets, creativity and so much more. Wow.

A bunch more here. Some of them are so bad.

I’ve been feeling a little better lately. Doing some jumping exercises and range of motion stuff. That and loading up on Turmeric which is supposed to be awesome for arthritis. I think the turmeric is helping. Anyways, it was really cold and my injury partner ditched me, but a solo session seemed in order anyways to mess around and get the skate feet going. When I got to northGLENn there was about 5 people skating in a train over and over. It was pretty funny. I was way more bundled up then them. It was only about 25 degrees so I don’t know how a t-shirt and a hoodie is enough. I started slow. I did manage to do a bad kickflip 3rd try. I got a few more, but they were all really bad with no pop. It’s a start. I managed a few noseslides on the main ledge. After awhile the train left and a couple other older dudes arrived (Tud and Mark) and we just kinda did whatever. Mostly skating the little mellow pyramid thing. I did some back 5-0s on it, lots of back 50s on the little qp by the kicker, some front slashes on the mini bank, took a long time to get front tail on the pyramid, some bad ollies into the mellow banks, mannies across the middle thing and a line I was hyped on of ride over the rainbow thing, back 50 the qp, back slash the bank with the big coping, manual the middle thing then front feeble on the pyramid. Neat. I did a few slow flatground pop shoves, fakie bigspin, back 180. It felt good to be skating but it’s crazy having to relearn everything. For awhile there was some intense throbbing pain in both feet/ankles. I thought I would have to stop, but it kind of went away. I got an axle stall on the bank in front of the hubba. At the end of the night I did a run where I mannied the pyramid into the bigger bank, went up the the qp turned around then mannied the pyramid the other way. Fun. Hyped to skate. Hope I can get back to my normal self at some point.

This is amazing.