After work I met Dave at Valmont park on a cool, but nice afternoon. The park wasn’t too crowded. Dave was already there finding new ways to skate it. I had worn different shoes, vans wayvees with custom orthotic insoles. They actually felt really good and I think the heel lift in the NB 600s was contributing to my pain. I tried to do some manuals across the pyramid but got scared of the speed, ghost popped a lot of ollies over the hip and the new hip. Dave had some really good ollies over the hips. He did a line of ride off the wedge then come around and a super solid f/s halfcab over the hip. I did kickflip to fakie and the crappy b/s flip shown above. But man it felt good actually and I was happy to be able to try them. Dave had a banger line of f/s ollie the hip, kickflip over the hip. Also the amazing grind off the wedge to wallie into the bank. Some f/s grinds on the volcano then nose manual on the pyramid. He had to leave. I did a couple grinds in the pond then called it a day after almost dying on one.

(setup 7/10 generator 8.5 14.25, jessup ultra, venture 5.8 titanium bones medium bushings, bones 52mm v1 stf, vans wayvee white size 12 custom orthotics)
(pain level 5/10)

Feeling very depressed about how swollen my knee is I decided to go to Silver Session at Square House. I was kind of going insane and felt like being around skateboarding would at least feel good even if I wasn’t able to skate much. Nick was there and we hit the new small section that is really fun. I had some fun nollie tails on the bank to curb. We hit the ramp for a bit. Man I had zero confidence and even my axle stalls felt scary. I would go on to get some okay longer back 50s, some rock ‘n rolls and front slashes. Nick had a rad line with rock ‘n roll and shove to fakie. Then in the main area I tried a line of wallride nollie out of the bump, rock ‘n roll the tiny qp and then noseslide down the hubba. Never got the noseslide, but I was close and I didn’t want to push the knee to much. Austin was there ripping everything. Jason with some good tech. Gray had a sick slappy to feeble the bump to china bank. I ended with a front smith and a front tail on the small bank to curb. Really glad I went skating, fun spot, crew, etc.

(setup 6/10 generator 8.5 14.25, jessup ultra, venture 5.8 titanium bones medium bushings, bones 52mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 600 knox black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 7/10)

With the wind starting to pick up and the forecast calling for high winds I got out kind of early on a beautiful morning. I had wanted to go to a really dumb little hip spot, but there was a car parked on it so I ended up at the ledge/bank spot. It’s way harder to skate than it looks. I just wasn’t feeling like going to a skatepark at all and wanted to hide away and get some confidence back. Setting my board down and the first couple of pushes felt better even though I was sore from skating a couple days in a row already. My warm up was a boardslide flop out, frontside carve over a hole (which I was seriously scared of) and then a nollie front 180. Then noseslide followed by rock ‘n roll which scared the heck out of me. I kind of lost some momentum after that but did manage my first fakie flip attempt. I did a couple of ledge tricks. Couldn’t get crooks. Did a terribly slow fakie flip followed by a switch nose shove.

Then I drove for a while looking for something new and found this random smooth parking lot with a couple of small gaps. I had sized up a larger one that would normally be a first try ollie, but decided to start with the “small one”. Low and behold it was actually scary for me and it totally bummed me out. I would ollie it in a line of pop shove, ollie up a curb (which kind of hurt), then ollie the tiny gap (which did hurt). I had come close to a couple of flippers in the parking lot, but didn’t land them. As I write this a day later my knee is once again a swollen painful balloon. UGH. I was happy I skated, will probably need to continue jumping much.

(setup 6/10 generator 8.5 14.25, jessup ultra, venture 5.8 titanium bones medium bushings, bones 52mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 600 knox black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10)

On a breezy spring day I met Sean, Monico, Matt, Chris at Broomfield park. At the start I mostly just filmed Monico since he had to leave shortly. He ollied up the six in no time and did a couple of combos with his bro. Chris and Sean rattled off flippers. Monico and Matt also skated the deadly 6 stair rail and survived. I was tentative, but felt way better than the day before. I would do a few tricks that involved pop which felt alright. Noseslides, one crooks on the black ledge, fakie 50 the blue ledge, some boardslides and a first try kickflip that made me really happy. Came close to first try fakie bigflip too. Sean rattled off a banging line. I felt like I didn’t overdo it, but I got home and was so exhausted I crashed.

(setup 8/10 generator 8.5 14.25, jessup ultra, venture 5.8 titanium bones medium bushings, bones 52mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 600 knox black/gum size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10 really felt pretty good for the most part)

After a very long work week I went over to the school. I had gone to PT and she said it would be okay if I started jumping a little. I started at the oval curb area and really struggled to even axle stall. Yikes. Ended up on the side of the school and took about 20 tries to do a slappy crook then kickflip. Yikes. I was happy to kickflip, but unhappy about how hard it was. I went home feeling very saddened by how hard skateboarding was and wondering if I’ll get anything back.

(setup 5/10 8.5 generator 14.25, jessup ultra, venture 5.8 titanium with bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 600 knox black/gum size 12 spenco orthotic thinsole)
(pain level 6/10 of course my knee seemed to hurt more now that I was cleared to skate)

After working in the office I went to Valmont park after and met Dave. Well, he was at dog park initially and needed very little convincing to go over to Valmont. It wasn’t crowded. I had a big board that felt ridiculous, but was kind of fun to cruise on. Dave was shredding. Front tail the volcano, manuals, front rock the weird rainbow qp, grinds over it, nollie back 180 over the hip, blunt to pivot the volcano, so much more. I randomly found a hip on a mound we had never hit before. I disobeyed doctors orders and popped the worlds smallest ollie over it. Like literally nothing happened when I ollied. Man it’s gonna be a tough road to recovery. Dave had a nice ollie or two on it. We’re gonna stack some tricks on it! I had some fun riding grinds off the edge of the wedge, a slow grind over the rainbow, some nollie shoves although I couldn’t get the little nollie bigspin on the bank. Dave left and tested my knee with a line of axle stall the pond then noseslide the bump to ledge. Felt good to try a couple of actual tricks and the really good news is I don’t think my knee was upset about it. I can’t wait to really skate again.

(setup 1/10 null vhs 8.5, jessup ultragrip, slace 8.5 trucks, 53mm orange spitfire f4 99a classic, new balance numeric knox 600 black/gum size 12 with spenco thinsole orthotic insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a long day of work there was a little sunlight so I went across the street to get some slappy crooks in. I have been changing my setup basically every day because why not. I’m only doing slappys so maybe I’ll have some luck figuring out a setup I really like. And I very quickly reminded myself that I absolutely hate Thunders. I somehow could barely even push. Even worse I couldn’t slappy crook. What the heck!

(setup 0/10 8.5 sample 14.25, thunder 149 hl, bones v1 52mm 103a, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 half insoles with spenco 3/4 orthotic insoles)
(pain level 6/10 I guess even just pushing in vulcs hurts these days)

On a nice Sunday I picked up Jesse and we left snowy Boulder for an almost entirely dry Longmont. Jesse and I got there first and started the warm up process which is basically all I have now since I shouldn’t be ollieing yet. Jesse had some good flippers, fast plants, noseslides and slappies right away. I dropped in and did some slappies. Might have even ollied into grind a couple of times. I did have one fun dumb line of front slappy, slide around 180, switch noeslide, slappy front crook. Rob hasn’t skated this winter, but came and did some really long manuals. Dave’s back hurt so he kept it “mellow”. Nose stalls on the bank to sideways curb, crazy switch roll in to the brick median with a drop, ride on slides, switch slappy crook. It was a fun day with a good crew, but man I’m really looking forward to my knee feeling better and trying flippers again.

(3/10 setup 8.5 14.25 sample, jessup ultragrip, royal 149 ultralights, snot 52mm pink, emerica og-1 with currex run-pro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a cold and snowy morning the sun came out and it was quite nice out. My left knee is still swollen and painful, but starting to feel better thanks to PT and not jumping. So I set out in the afternoon for some more no-pop skating. I started at basemar and half piped it at the kicker. I didn’t even know what I would do when I got there, but then started messing around with nollie shove then fakie side rock. I would end up getting all 4 of the no pop shoves combined with various side rocks. It was pretty fun even if I was hating my setup (do I ever like it?). Then I drove around until I found the bank with the side curb which was fun too. Tail to fakie and shove was really fun. I came close to a nose stall manual, but the crack got me. My knee started to hurt a bit so I called it a day after driving around and looking at a few other spots.

(setup 1/10 8.5 14.25 sample, jessup ultragrip, slace low 8.5s, snot pink 52mm, emerica og-1 black size 12 currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Going crazy not skating. Had to get out on my board. Went across the street and did a couple of slappy crooks through some puddles. Maybe an ollie and nollie or two.