After a long family day (football in the snow with Ollie, bringing India to a friend’s concert in Aurora) I got out around sunset. I went looking for a manny pad as I thought maybe I could do a kickflip nose manual for the game. The main Valmont pads were snowy, but this mini one was clear. It became clear pretty quick that I wouldn’t get it. I messed around a little, did some switch 180s off a curb, posed flip tricks then left for something a little warmer.

Got to skate a little after a fun filled family day. It was great. #stoprockssuck

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 19, 2016 at 7:09pm PDT

Ended up in this garage and on my first few pushes hit the rock. I didn’t let it get me down. I probably skated for about 30 minutes. Hucked a lot of flippers, curb stalls then kind of settled on trying a line of 360 flip on flat, kickflip over a parking block, nollie treflip (never landed it), f/s flip (if i never got the nollie treflip why even say I was trying this? Because it makes me sound cooler obviously). I hucked some tricks like fakie flip front tail on the tiny curb. It was chill. I went home to hang out with the girls, but they didn’t seem do care. I should have kept skating.

(setup: 8.125 chocolate mj, venture 5.25 lows with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

I really needed a new deck and I was out of 8.125 Nulls so I picked up an MJ board at MRKT. It’s a horrible graphic in my opinion, but it’s the right size and MJ is one of my favorite pros so I got it. There was a foot of snow on the ground and it was still dropping. After working from home I went out in the garage wanting to land a new trick. I started in a zone of trying to get a perfect backside flip going down the garage, nollie flip going up. Never got the nollie flip and the b/s flips I got were anything but perfect. Then I went with my 5 treflip minimum down the garage and rotated between switch flip (close), switch heel and nollie inward heel up. That took awhile. I got a nollie varial flip at least, a crappy nollie bigflip (I was still hyped on it!), and an over 40 varial heel. I hucked switch front heel for awhile and came so insanely close on one of them. That trick somehow feels possible. Fun night, I was motivated. Skating flat and listening to old cassette tapes (Daisy Chainsaw!) and new ones (Bilge Rat) is fun.

(setup: 8.125 chocolate mj, venture 5.25 lows with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

Old man night at @launchskate. Aka single file through the walkway to slow flipper.

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 17, 2016 at 7:47pm PDT

Went up to Fort Collins after work with Dave for “Over 30 Night” at Launch. The ramps were kind of heated so I started on the parking block. Brian and I joked that I drove an hour to skate a parking block. I argued that it was heated so it was worth it. Ha ha. I had a few slappy crooks. Jake and Dave too. Dave might have done a switch one as well. I was trying to 270 out, but never got it. Brian did a slappy crooks after I had a very embarrassing slam where I ended up on the flat of the ramp. I have no idea what happened. Then I skated the smaller miniramp for awhile. It was a weird vibe, but fun. I did one of the better front feebles I’ve done in awhile as well as a fakie pivot to fakie. Then I saw Jake doing kickflips on flat and did the ol’ ro sham bo look to him to see if he wanted to play SKATE. He did. I was hyped. Until I ended up not landing basically anything. The tight space got to me. I got a letter on 360 flip and two letters on fakie flip. Unbelievable. I only got him with halfcab flip, no comply finger flip and varial flip. Marcus and Donnie were skating with us too. It was rad seeing Marcus skate for the first time in years. He was on a 7.75. So sick! I might have skated the ramp a bit more, but I think I mostly just chilled in the lounge and tried to learn carpet hardflips with John. He was ripping the carpet! Ha, kickflip followed right by switch flip. Alright night, I wish I would have skated the big ramp more, but I think I would have just iced the heated session.

(setup: 8.125 null, venture 5.25 lows with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

Had the day off work. In my perfect dream world I would start every day off skating flatground for awhile. I had the say off work so I went for it. The Louisville rink is the best so I went there (yes I drove 10 minutes to skate flatground). The start was really rough. I was so sore and still dealing with the change in setup. After about 30 minutes I thought I might only be able to land kickflip, fakie flip and halfcab flip. But after awhile they started coming together. I got heelflip, 360 flip, b/s flip, f/s flip, f/s halfcab flip, fakie big flip. I got really close to nollie flip, nollie 360 flip, nollie big flip, nollie inward heel. It was fun.

@boredzinejp challenged me to a blunt to back disaster revert for #theglenandjosholdfartlongdistanceinstagramtricksuperchallenge. When I first saw the challenge I thought it would be a letter for sure as I've never even tried blunt to back disaster before. But it ended up being a really fun one and I got a bonus trick too. Three new tricks in one day! Rad. @fullertrron added it to his bag too. New challenge soon Josh..

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 16, 2016 at 8:20pm PDT

Then I met up with Dave and we went to Northglenn park. Josh had given me a new challenge. I hadn’t really thought about trying it at Northglenn, but when we got there I saw this tiny little qp option and thought it might work out perfect. I had never tried blunt to back disaster before. I got one 3rd try. I was super hyped. And about 10 more tries I got the revert as well. Dave filmed it and then got one himself. It set the tone for a fun session.

@fullertrron shredding with some #extremeparkour in the background

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 16, 2016 at 4:13pm PDT

Dave did the line above pretty quickly. It’s really gnarly. That silly jersey barrier thing is the worst. He tried to feeble in as well, but never got it. The front 50 transfer came much later and was the first time he did it. It’s so gnarly. I was mostly skating slow and trying to do lines on the ledges. The closest I got to a line was kickflip into the top “bank”, crooks the ledge, turn around front 5-0 shove out. Didn’t ride out of it. Most of my attempts were pretty lame as I was pretty sore from skating flatground earlier and ollieing kind of hurt. At one point I slammed and lightly hit my ribs on the corner of the ledge. It was close to being a bad one. Whew. Dave started doing switch front crooks on a bank. They were really good. I tried noseslide 270 shove for awhile. Never got it, but landed on one. We skated the bowl a bit. Dave had some good runs, lofty ollies. I lost interest after an axle stall. Ha. I tried to b/s flip the small hip for awhile while Dave did crooks to fakies on steeper bank. Then the wind picked up and we called it a day. Fun one! I like my little trucks!

(setup: 8.125 null, venture 5.25 lows with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

Off to Broomfield park attempting to skate a ton so I would actually sleep. I had setup an old 8.125 Null deck since I don’t have any in stock right now. At first it felt weird being on the low trucks. I just went back and forth on the quartapotty and bank for awhile. It was fun. I had to weave through a bunch of people walking through the park with baseball bats to the batting cages a couple times. There was only a couple people when I got there. They would leave shortly. That’s the effect my lame skating has on others. I felt good on the quartapotty. I felt a little weird ollieing onto the ledges as low trucks feel quite different. But it worked out. I had one really fun line of rock ‘n roll on the steep bank at the top of the park, front tail the mound, front 180 into the mellow bank then halfcab noseslide the black ledge. Also the same run mostly, but with a nollie into the bank and a crooks on the ledge. Crooks are so much easier with low trucks. I haven’t had much confidence on my board in awhile and that was still the case. I had troubles manualling the blue box and even more trouble back 50’ing it. No idea why. I had a line where I finally got back 50 on it then I followed it by kickflipping over the red Crisis parking block. I tried halfcab crooks on the blue ledge for awhile and got somewhat close before running out of energy and calling it a night. Oh yeah, my flatground game was not really on point either.

(setup: 8.125 null, venture 5.25 lows with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

The madness finally got me and I hit the boiling point of needing to change my setup. I went to Meta and got some new Venture Lows. They are the regular raw lows, not the forged baseplate. Hyped. I set them up with an old 8″ board which I quickly realized is too small, but oh well. I went to research ledge with no energy in the cold wind. I had some great feeling crooks (lows rule like that), but that was it on the ledge. I couldn’t back 50. But I was really lacking on energy. Kickflips felt ok, didn’t really try much more. Hit a rock and focused the board. It was old and cracked anyway and I knew I was gonna put a bigger board on.

(setup: 8 null, venture 5.25 lows with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

I had a slight hangover which is very rare for me these days. I was tired and lazy because of it so I went to Valmont for a lazy ledge/flatground session. It was ok. I didn’t get very far on the ledge or flatground tricks.

(setup: 8.25 null control room deck, venture v-hollows 5.2 hi with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

#stubbornsaturdays

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 12, 2016 at 1:15pm PST

Jake and I met up with Dave at the 287 ditch on a super beautiful day. My skate madness was immediately gone as I knew that spot would suck with low trucks. Whew! That ditch is harder to skate then it looks. I had some front tails stalls. The one on the parking block took a long time. There was a couple parking blocks on the flat of the ditch. Dave was doing feebles across both parking blocks. I think he 50’d them too. Jake did front tailslide to fakie right away on the waxed part. He came close to nosebunts and back blunts. Got a line of him doing an ollie into the bank then a no comply tailslide. Dave was ripping as hard as ever. He was doing all kinds of lines with stalls on parking blocks, slides, everything. Front tailside, front pivot, ollie nose bash, fs halfcab. So good. Jake slammed so hard catching on a crack on a roll in. Can’t believe he survived. I tried a line of back 50 on a parking block then no comply to tail on the next parking block. Never got it. I just couldn’t get it right. So annoying, that trick is supposed to be easy. It wasn’t a line I was that excited about anyway. Dave ended with a crazy line jumping over the parking blocks in the middle of the ditch. Total Stubborns opening line material. Get hyped.

Then after a stop at Emage and Vitamin Cottage we went to this ledge school. After a fun chat wit a couple of homeless dudes we tried to warm up again. It was extremely hard for Dave and I. Jake was doing 50s before I could even ollie. But about the time I got warmed up he had moved on to sitting. Ha ha. Not quite, he got close to a few other tricks. Fakie nosegrind, fakie back tail. Dave got going with some good front 50s. Then one of the best tricks ever. Front 50 to eggplant out. You’ll have to wait to see it. It might be my favorite trick we’ve filmed of Dave. He had some good back 50s too. I didn’t land anything for a really long time. My board felt squirly, my legs felt weird, etc. I had a couple awkward falls trying to ollie off this little kicker over a gap. It was annoying. I finally started having fun when we settled in on this ledge area along the building. I tried a bunch of front nosegrinds off the end, never got close. Dave was doing the same on the opposite and got closer. I had some great feeling crooks, some slow back 50s, chinese nollie front tails. Got somewhat close to kick back tail. Dave got a really good nollie back tail to fakie. We ended with me trying switch crooks for awhile until I eventually kind of landed one. It stoked me out. Even though I didn’t land much all day it was one of those really fun days.

(setup: 8.25 null control room deck, venture v-hollows 5.2 hi with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

Had a really long day of work. A lot of my time at work was spent obsessing about low trucks again. So when I finally got home I took my old setup and put low hangers on it. Then I skated both boards in my garage. Back to back comparing tricks and how they feel. The lows sure to flip fast and feel better in a lot of ways. But I know that judging this on a 15 minute session in the garage is not good.

Had to bring boards to 303. As usual I was slightly late. I wanted to skate a little before heading back. I started at this area just because I know it’s a good area for warming up and it’s close to free parking. I did a few lines to begin. Ollie off the ledge in the background, kickflip, front 180 the first stair, switch 180 the second. Switch 180 on flat, ollie up the first stair, back 180 the second, nosestall the ledge. Front 180 off the ledge, switch 180 off the first stair, back 180 off the second. I felt somewhat warmed up so I moved on.

Went a block over to this secret little gem. Well, not so secret, but if you skate it just right you can remain a secret from security. Just don’t go past the window and you can have a one push session at this ledge for awhile. I did a few crooks. They felt great, it just glides. I was working on crooks to fakie when a security guy nicely gave me the boot. Guess my plan didn’t work for all that long.

So I went across the street to this spot. Got a couple long front 50s that felt so fun and fun powerslides after. Bones wheels slide so much better then Spits. Then I got the boot from a security lady that was extremely upset. I told her to chill out and be nice next time. She didn’t like that. Oh well.

Then I hit this ledge for awhile. I had full range from the backside, but frontside I was limited by avoiding a window that security could see through. I did noseslide, noseslide to fakie and a couple horrible crooks. The worst frontside noseslide ever. Couldn’t get enough speed for front 50 and was too scared to do back 50. Partially because of the crack, partly because of the ash tray, but mostly because it’s tall. I was pretty beat at this point and started heading back to the car.

But then I found the ol’ Wells Fargo area had been totally redone! I thought security would be on my like flies on a rib roast, but no. I had 30 minutes before nicely getting the boot. On the curved ledge I did slow noseslide and noseslide to fakie. The curb was so good for slappy crooks. And somehow I struggled to ollie the little bush. I mostly just ended up trying to front 50 the ledge. It’s tall. I got into one grind, that was it, before getting the boot. Bummed at how hard taller front 50s are, but I’ve never been able to get on this ledge. It felt like I was making some progress before I had to leave. Not the most fun night, but as normal with street skating, the little I landed felt rewarding.

(setup: 8.25 null control room deck, venture v-hollows 5.2 hi with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)