Went to Blue Skies on a cooler day. Started out struggling big time again. Argh, my board was in the cold car so the bushings were even stiffer then normal. I did my standard warm ups of ollies on the bank and cab kickturns on the big crack bank. Next thing I remember was a decent front board on a flatbar which is really rare for me. Then I started trying a line where I ride up the qp onto the main ledge and front 180 off, then fakie flip on the main bank then front board the flatbar. I was hyped on how it came together. Hitting the ledge that way feels way better then just climbing up on it and doing a trick off. I got the fakie flip every try. And the front board came again after a few tries. Had a flatground trefip. Some ok feeling heelflips. Ollied the flatbars, did a couple front 50s and crooks. Then I decided I needed to ollie the low part of the escalator ledge again. Ugh. It took me forever. Like 50 tries. I suck at ollies. I landed on it so many times, but it was a depressing struggle. I think I’ve only ollied it once before so I shouldn’t expect much, but still. I finally “landed” one. Basically I landed on my board and rode to the grass that’s 4 feet away. Not sure I would have rode any further had the grass not been there. Oh well.

(setup 8″ venture lows bones med bushing ricta crap wheels)

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jan 28, 2015 at 8:14pm PST

After dinner I headed out skating after making no phone calls or having any intention of where I was gonna go. I thought campus, but somehow remembered this spot and decided to go to this ledge spot. There are a few of these in a row, two of which are waxed. Warming up was brutal. And to make it worse the brick sections were wet so I couldn’t do the slappy part. I kept at it and eventually did a few decent things for me. Did a noseslide to fakie followed by a John Brandow (switch “slappy” front noseslide). The Brandow wasn’t all the way over the brick section. Then got a crooks over one. Felt so good. Struggled with front 50s, but would eventually get a few. Over the “gap” I did front 50, front 5-0, front 50 front 180 out, front 50 shove. Did runs of crooks then back 50 over the bricks a few times. The back 50s were bad. But man it was fun. I thought of a dream line at the end. Crooks, go around kickflip up the little curb, front 50 front 180 out, switch 180 on flat, b/s flip off a curb cut. Never got close, but it seems possible. I really don’t like how my setup feels right now. The trucks are so tight. Well, the bushings. They need to break in already. The Ricta wheels are reminding me why I don’t like cored wheels. And worst of all, the 8″ board feels small. At least the tail. And my new shoes feel kind of stiff. Argh. Then I went across the street to Whole Foods and got the best dessert snack ever:

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jan 28, 2015 at 8:57pm PST

Yum.

(setup 8″ venture lows bones med bushing ricta crap wheels)