On a nice cool afternoon I went to Douglass after bring Ollie to the airport. I was not expecting much. I brought three setups. All 8.25 with different trucks. It was funny set them all down so I could only see the top and did an initial ollie on the setup I thought had the Royals and had no pop whatsoever. Turned out it was the one with Venture lows. Doh! Of the 3 the Ace lows had the best feeling ollie so I went with it for most of the session. I really struggled. My knee was hurting bad at times so I put some gamechangers in some new 288s and my knee started hurting less. I did a couple basic lines like ollie up the curb, kickflip, noseslide. Couldn’t get crooks and my boardslides were really weak as I would hit the front wheels on the way up. I tried front 50s for a bit and maybe about 10% close. Got a couple other flippers, but then left after an hour hoping my knee wouldn’t react negatively to a little skating again.

(setup 4/10 8.25 null, jessup ultragrip, ace lows 44 hard bushing, 53mm spitfire f4 classic 99, new balance numeric 288 sport white/grey size 12 stock / footprint gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 6/10 left knee at times was quite bad)

After a day of laying around and going to see Mission Impossible to avoid the heat I made myself get out shortly before sunset. I went to campus. I wore some new 272s instead of 440s and my body was not happy about that. Especially after a failed kickflip where the tail took out my arch. Argh. I made myself do 5 flip tricks near the tunnel to get warmed up. But it didn’t go well at all. Breaking in new shoes is tough. I would get slow kickflip, fakie flip, b/s flip, halfcab flip and f/s halfcab flip. Also had a pretty good slam on a stop rock and somehow again it didn’t bother me, but instead happily reminded me I wasn’t at a skatepark. I went to the yellow lurb but they messed it up even more now. Doh I was hoping to trick kf crooks there. I went to the hallway, but it was dark so I ended up at the tall engineering ledge of all places. I had thought I could try a line of halfcab flip, noseslide, treflip. Except that the noseslide was basically impossible to me. Argh. Then I went to the rec center to hit another tallish ledge. They had added a portapotty and it smelled terrible. I did one line of tail drop off a tallish ledge then noseslide before I left due to the terrible smell of the portapotty. Then I just kept on going and went home.

(setup 4/10 8.25 null spanbauer dead spots, jessup ultragrip, royal 144 hollow kingpin, 53mm bones v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 teal size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

After a couple days of laziness I was still feeling lazy, but forced myself over to the school in some new shoes. I intended to skate flatground, but after I couldn’t land a backside flip or fakie bigflip I kind of started just doing random stuff. Tried to do a line of ollie onto a narrow curb then front shove off, pop shove a manhole cover, ollie onto a rock. Never got it all. I had new shoes. Vans Wayvees. Wow they suck. I skated pretty hard, breaking in different shoes is rough.

(setup 3/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, ace af1 55, snot 52 pink swirls, vans wayvee white size 12 nike sb dunk insoles)
(pain level 5/10 heel bruise from saturday)

Had a late meeting so took off in the afternoon and had an hour and a half to skate.  I went to Wilville as rain was threatening.  And holy smokes I felt off.  I had new shoes, but they were the same as my previous shoes 272s so I don’t think that was it.  I literally almost hung up on a one foot flat gap in a warm up line.  I skated the top part for a bit because there was a police truck parked down under the pad.  After my pathetic showing I went down below realizing the truck was just parked there.  I skated the ledge.  Took way too many tries for some slow front 50s.  Kind of did one little switch crook jib as the only remote highlight for the session.  Oh some slappy crooks.  Could barely ollie onto the ledge and I couldn’t kickflip.  Luckily it started to rain.

(setup 3/10 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, royal ultralight 149, 51mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 blue size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 4/10 some weird knee pain)

After breakfast I left my mom’s and stopped at the Fairplay park on the way home. I had the park by myself up until the minute the calf pain shot up again. The park was a little wet when I got there and they had done a couple of things to it like make a little euro gap, put in a rail, a couple wood ledges with angle iron. I was incredibly cautious to begin and didn’t feel good on my board. Man I hate how Thunders turn. I had some slow kickflips, some little pops on things, axle stalls on the brick coping qp. I had no confidence though, couldn’t even make myself roll in on the brick coping that I’ve done many times before. I would get one run I was kind of happy with. Ollie onto the ledge then a kickflip to fakie on bank near the hip. Man, after writing that it should have been something I do first try. I had tried a few noseslides to crooks but never got too close. Got a few flow flip tricks like halfcab flip, fakie flip, b/s flip, varial flip. Was trying to front 50 the ledge and got into a couple stalls before pain shot through the calf on one. ARGH. I’m really sick of this pain and recurring injuries with my pushing/ollie leg. It’s quite depressing, like maybe I’ve finally worn my body out.

(setup 4/10 null 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 no big washer, 53mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 272 green/black size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 7/10 calf)

Thought a day off and some new shoes would help my calf which seemed to hold true initially. It was incredibly nice out as I got there around 5 after work. The park was mostly dead except a group of kids that would constantly be in the way. I had 288 Sports and they were super slippery on the older griptape. But man my kickflips felt good. I skated about 40 minutes. Came really close to a slow kickflip 50 on the lurb and ended with an accidental 5-0 on the bench which made me happy, but hurt enough I knew to stop.

(setup 5/10 null 8.3 pmg, jessup ultragrip, thunder team hollow 149 no big washer, 53mm bones stf v1 pj, new balance numeric 288S green/gum size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 7/10 calf)

On a nice Tuesday evening I went to Square State knowing that Garrett would show, but that was it. The crew would end up being Dennis, Jesse, Garrett and Nick. Solid crew. Dennis and I were there first and warming up was tough. I had new shoes. Es Swifts. They felt mostly great though and I landed my first 3 kickflips. I went on to skate alright, but didn’t have a whole lot to show for it. Had some fun wallie nollies on the pyramid wall, fun roll in to axle stall the bank to curb, a few kickflips in a row up the euro, but couldn’t get b/s flip the hip. Nick had a sick rock ‘n roll powerslide, nollie disaster revers the bank to curb, shove it’s everywhere. Jesse has such good ollies and did first try varial flip and I think treflip up the euro. Garrett was ripping so hard. He was the only one skating the big qp doing smiths, disasters. Ollie up the 3 stair, switch heel, kickflip, treflip, fakie treflip down the 3. Back 3 the hip. It was sick. Dennis shut the session down though with nollie down the 3, nollie front 180 up the euro and then nollie up the euro.

(setup 7/10 8/3 null abstract33, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 148, 51mm bones pj 2 washers inside, es swift 1.5 maroon thin nb insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knee was slightly better)

After a bad night of sleep I met up with some mostly older folks at dog park. It was supposed to be super nice, but instead it was pretty windy which sucked the warmth out. Bratcher and Jesse were there shredding, working on crooked grinds when I first showed. Jesse was popping over flat bars like it was nothing. Jack apparently switch 50d the curb and had some nice back 5-0s that I saw. Paul was there shredding like he does. Back 5-0s easy, switch slappy crooks, nollie 180 switch crooks on the curb. Will showed up and casually front 50’d everything. Sean worked up to a line of ollie the hydrant, nose manual up the table, back nosegrind the bench, front 180 nose manual, fakie flip on flat. Wow! I had new skate shoes. I had given up on the Xeros. I had the one shoe closest resembling the fit I want. The New Balance 288 Sport. They felt decent. I wasn’t sure how they would feel after six weeks of Xeros so I paired it with an 8.5 with venture 5.8s that I immediately hated. I have no recollection of anything noteworthy that I did.

(setup 1/10 null vhs 8.5, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast/titanium, 51mm bones stf pj 103a v1, new balance numeric 288S size 12 w/b 425 insoles)
(pain level 4/10 body still adjusting to skating again)

On a cold night I went to campus and had lost my gloves in CO Springs. Doh! Also, new shoes, 440s aka my fav. I had just watched the new Kai Kishi part and was excited to try and get tech. But on my first couple of pushes some intense pain shot through through my upper calf right below my pushing knee. Ugh. It had started hurting at the end of the CO spring session but I didn’t think much of it at the time. I thought it might loosen up and did a few slappy crooks then walked a bit and cruised down a hill. Ended up at the new wood bench spot. Started out with some curb stalls and couple stall poses on the ledge under the 3 stair. Then went up to the bench area that had the table off the bench. I really wanted to turn it on, but my calf prevented it. Pushing hurt and I was fearful of really hurting myself. So I posed some slow flippers mostly pushing mongo or switch. Really wanted to do a line of kickflip, nollie tre, treflip but never got the nollie tre. Posed some switch/nollie flips too. Argh. Darn injuries.

(setup 4/10 null 8.3 vhs, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 148 venom 88a bushings, 51mm bones v1 pj stf 103a washers inside, new balance 440 white/maroon size 12 half insole)
(pain level 8/10 right upper calf argh)

Was hyped to head out to Square House on a cold night and skate with some older dudes. But I had new shoe blues for most of the session and felt quite off and sore. Dave and I started on the flatground of the miniramp doing multiple trick challenges. Starting with 2 then 3 and then 4. Christian joined us for a bit. I think I got a pathetic 4 tricker of shove, both nollie shoves, stationary kickflip. The dunks felt weird, but they did kickflip well. I skated the mini very briefly with Brian and Christian, but it was making me sore. Off to the main park to struggle. I would get a couple kickflips up the euro, one okay crooks on the bump to ledge, kind of a front tail back 180 out on the pyramid, but that was about it. Tried a bunch of treflips on flat and while being very close never got one. Kyle battled switch heel up the euro. Dave was struggling too, I want to see the nollie front 180 up the euro. He had some smooth front 50s on the bump to ledge, halfcab bluntslide the pyramid. Brian had solid front 5-0s over the corner of the little qp, crazy slappy feeble attempts dropping in right into the curb basically. Ashton was the token young kid for the session learning back 180 nosegrind shoves. Christian flew all over the place. At the end I got smoked by Kyle in a game of SKATE that included him doing a first try switch heel body varial. Thanks again Brian for hosting us! Hope I skate better the next time.

(setup null 8.5 vhs, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 v-cast plate titanium hanger royal bushings no big washer flat small washer, 51mm bones pj stf v1 103a washers outside, nike sb sad dunks size 12 half nb 425 insoles)
(pain level 5/10 knees)