Met up with some old dudes and young dudes at dog park on a really nice Saturday. I mostly talked with people, did a few slappy crooks, one switch front nose. Then went over to the skatepark and did a couple grinds on the bank as well as a couple no pop nollie bigspins on the bank. Jack and Jesse were ripping. As were Sean and Andrew and Paul.

(setup 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, bones stf v1 pj 103a, es swift b/w size 12 left foot with a spenco orthotic insole)
(pain level 3/10 but I didn’t pop)

It’s been way too long since I’ve seen Dave. He’s been out with serious back pain for a while, I’ve been dealing with my knee issues. We met up at Glenn Close. I had got there first and was pleasantly surprised to do the manual from the curb cut to the little broken bank second try. Dave would go in on the manual too and we would both get it. Dave was skating really well. Nollie front 180 into a curb cut, f/s halfcab tail stall the next. I took too long to do the little axle stall 270 thing on the broken bank. Dave went in on f/s halfcab flip tail and would of course mostly get it. Then we went to the side of the school. Dave had a cool line of grind the low part of a bike rack, wallie nollie, ride between some sketchy close poles, nollie 180, switch slappy crooks, kickflip, varial flip. The insanity! I had some cab kickturns on the shed bank, slappy crooks, frontside slappies, front slappy crooks. Dave did switch slappy then fakie flip and nollie back tail. I took way too long to eek out some tiny switch slappy crooks which seem so hard to me. Fun session. We skated. I managed to resist popping and didn’t hurt my knee I think.

(setup 6/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, bones stf v1 pj 103a, es swift b/w size 12 left foot with a spenco orthotic insole)
(pain level 3/10 but I didn’t pop)

In the afternoon went over and did a few slappy crooks, manual attempts from the curb cut to bank, front slappies. First with my 8.5 setup, then with my 8.25 which felt better.

On a really nice day I went to campus with high anxiety about my body holding up to skating. I parked in the meet up lot and vetted which setup I would skate. 8.25 with royal vs 8.25 with ace lows. The Royal setup won and I went on to have a session where I liked my setup the whole time (I know this comment will jinx me, but I did really enjoy it). I did a slappy crooks then went down and ended up at the empty basketball courts. I skated flatground around goose turds and some stalls on the curb. I would get 5 very slow sketchy flippers. Kickflip, fakie flip, varial flip, halfcab flip, fakie bigfilp. Curb stalls weren’t really hurting me which was encouraging. My fav was probably a couple from smith stalls. Then I ollied a couple 2 stairs. Then the little line above of the deck check to fakie the f/s halfcab flip which would be my highlight of the day. Cruised around for a while, ended up behind the stadium and tried noseslide on the Ralphie scuplture but it wasn’t working for me. Then ended up at the fitness center ledge where noseslides were way harder than I hoped for and kind of hurt my knee. Last thing was a couple slow front 50s on the tiny downhill curb near baker. That was it. Really a fun session because although I still didn’t skate very well I did a few tricks and popped a lot and didn’t seem to make my knee worse (but I wont really know until tomorrow).

(setup 7/10 8.25 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, 51mm bones stf 103a pj v1, new balance numeric 440 white size 12 left foot current run pro insole right shoe stock insole)
(pain 4/10 knee didn’t really hurt too much, but still feels so weird)

On a nice morning I met up with Bratcher and crew and then quite a few Nullers too. And then a lot of others as well. It was pretty awesome actually, except that I wasn’t feeling so hot on my board. Cass went in on front boards quick and did the shove out in a few tries. He would do it to fakie too before slamming his but onto the edge of a parking block later one. Jack and Salty skated the small qp and had some fun. I slammed pretty hard trying to ollie up the curb. It was a depressing slam that took a lot out of me. Hayden and Peyton were killing it. Peyton made the obstacles all seem so small and easy. Fast plant on the top of the weird banked qp? Yep. Hayden had slappy crooks off the qp to curb, ollied into boardslide, manual boardslide fakie manual. Garrett’s kickflips over the bench were so easy and the stylee nose manual bonks the little a-frame. I did have fun with the tiny little grind to layback front rock and some front slashes. The legend Jeff Hulslegend showed, kinda chilled and did a lot of flippers first try. His friend Kyle was shredding as were several others that showed up. It was a fun session even though I didn’t skate very well.

(setup 2/10 8.25 null glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 148 with royal bushings, spitfire 51mm 101a classic shape, new balance numeric 600 knox black/gum size 12 left shoe currex insole right shoe half insole)
(pain level 6/10 knee wasn’t in incredible pain, but felt quite weird)

On a crisp morning with a heavy frost I went to Boulder park at sunrise after already haven worked for an hour. My knee seemed up for it so I jumped and tried some flippers. I started on 8.5 with Ace and after a couple of ghost pops remembered I had an 8.25/Thunder in the car and grabbed it. My first ollie felt way. better and I I could actually land kickflips so I stuck with it. I haven’t ollied anything beyond a curb in a while. I had a funny ollie attempt onto the triangle ledge where I shot out and quickly realized it was covered in slippery frost. Doh. I had a fun run at one point with some ultra basics but it felt cool to cruise around. Then I tried the kickflips on the hump which took way longer than I want to admit. But the good news is it didn’t hurt my knee while I was trying them. The funny fall I can’t explain. I left somewhat optimistic that I’ll be able to skate on regs again. Thank you modern medicine.

(setups 8.5 with ace then 8.25 with thunder, new balance 600s)
(pain level 4/10 knee still feels weird, not super painful, just weird)

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)