Went in front of the house feeling very sore and arthritic. Pushing hurt. I almost went right in after a couple of slide around 180s. But after a couple of shove its off the nose I started hucking a few no pop bigspins. Got both fakie ones, both nollie ones and a backside one. All were horrible, slow, tic tac’d and what not. Arthritis sucks.

(setup 8.25 null awkward vectors deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, New Balance Numeric PJ 533 burgundy)

Went to campus feeling very arthritic, exhausted and not expecting much. I went to the little two stair area hoping to wax it up and get it to grind. It kind of grinded, but not really. Oh, this photo was taken on my way back to the car, when I got there it was still light out. After some horribly uncomfortably warm up tricks like back 50 and kickflips my body started to warm up and I could skate. I tried a couple of lines. Kickflip up the 2, front 180 off, halfcab flip on flat, front crooks the curb. I got to the front crooks, but it just didn’t grind. Doh. I would get a pivoty switch crooks in between attempts that hyped me a little. Going the other way I was trying halfcab crooks, heelflip, kick back tail shove. The only trick I got was heelflip. I tried a few back heels, didn’t get close. Oh yeah, since the Swifts died I was wearing some old PJ 533s. Even completely bald it’s surprising how solid the shoe still feels. Almost too solid. Kickflips up the 2 stair hurt so I stopped trying. I tried a few more flippers and moved on.

Ended up here. Haven’t skated it since they added the skate stoppers. I didn’t expect to keep skating it, but for some reason even though it hurt more then normal to ollie I just kept skating it. I didn’t skate fast or good, but I got front board pop out, front 5-0 (trying for 50 ha), back 5-0 (kind of and again going for 50), noseslide, crooks, some terrible halfcab noseslides, terrible front noseslides, Another dude was skating for a little bit, kind of a weird vibe. I tried some lines with manual back 180s or nose manual 180s and didn’t get them. My board is feeling very old. Tried some front heels, couldn’t get them around, almost got a nollie varial flip.

I eventually got tired of the ledge and remembered I’m supposed to try and learn how to ollie over this rock. I gave myself 5 tries. I was so sore and tired and stiff. It took everything I had on the 5th try, but I got over it. It wasn’t pretty, but it was enough to make me happy. Then I walked most of the way back to the car, tried to bomb a little hill, but slid out on leaves and walked the rest of the day.

(setup 8.25 null awkward vectors deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, New Balance Numeric PJ 533 burgundy)

Sometimes it’s the little things that get me through a day of work.

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

This shoe almost completely rules. It’s got one of the best soles for a skate shoe that I’ve ever skated. This is the most important part of a skate shoe to me. Unfortunately the suede wears away really quickly and requires constant shoe goo attention. The little sprayed on coating around the toes does nothing. The shoe is comfortable and skates great.

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

The OG Accel is such an iconic skate shoe. This slimmed down version is pretty awesome. It’s a little too slim for me though. It’s basically a cupsole that skates like a vulcanized shoe because it’s so thin and flexible. I would have preferred that they put some newer technology into the sole instead of just a thin sole, but that’s me. It’s a good steezy shoe, decent durability, but too thin of a sole for me.

Feeling very sore and arthritic I just pushed out the door, over to the school and did a few dork tricks on the curb that did not involve ollieing.

Met Dave and Rob at 303 shortly after noon. We wanted to try Cheeseman park, but it was mobbed with a wedding party. Tried the North High fountain, but it was full of water. Ended up at the little park off of Dayton. I was really sore to start. Not sure why. It was very warm and sunny. There was only a couple of others at the park. Rob had some rad back 50s on the curb to get things going. We worked up to some lines and whatnot. Dave was doing front 5-0s on the quarterpipe over the ledge so easy and fast. You could tell it was his birthday, he had some extra pep. He had some manuals, nose manuals and 50s on the curb in his runs with big transfers over the qp hips. Rob had manuals, nose manuals, back 50s, noseslides, crooks, front boards, maybe halfcab boardslides too. I had some crooks, couldn’t back 50 the taller ledge or nosegrind the curb, skated slow and awkard, but ended up getting a fun line like Dave did above, except I kickflipped off.

Then we went to this gnarly ditch. It is so much gnarlier then it looks. We met Dave’s friend Dave. We’ll call him Other Dave. Other Dave has skated this a lot and it showed, he was flying down it and would eventually ollie into the deep hip which is so gnarly. Dave cruised it fast too, lots of backside ollies, a sick early grab into the deep hip. As usual I tried some kickflips. Took a long time to get a kickflip to fakie on the mellow part where Dave starts above, but got a frontside flip in a few tries. Rob had a bunch of steezy tail block spins, backside ollies and ended with a nice backside kickflip.

We tried to hit a bowl, but got the boot before getting a carve. Ended up at the Police Bank. It was hot. Really hot and sunny. Rob and I just did a few kickturns. I blew out a bearing so had an added excuse to not skate it. Dave had front rock and the alley oop pivots above. Other Dave did rocks and a front slash that was pretty incredible. A friend of Other Dave’s showed and skated around too. He had an old board from mid-2000s. It was a blast from the past. Advocate board with Venture gold PJ trucks. So sick.

(setup 8.25 null awkward vectors deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, Es Swifts grey/white)

Went to Safeway ledge on a lazy Saturday around noon with the sole intention of doing one of two tricks for the game of OLDFART. I was thinking front crooks or kick back 50 shove out. I tried kick back 50 more. Landed quite a few sketchy ones without the shove and a 5-0 or two. But never got it clean enough to challenge with. The front crooks took awhile too. I was nowhere close then all of a sudden landed the one above. It made me pretty happy.

(setup 8.25 null awkward vectors deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, Es Swifts grey/white)

After skating well into the morning Dave talked me into an afternoon flatground session at the dog park. Neither of us had high expectations, but after a couple of quick ollies I had a long line of basic tricks that got me really hyped. Just fakie shoves, 180s, kickflip or something. Dave was having some good lines too. He had cabs, nollie cabs, shoves, fakie shoves, switch shoves, kickflips and remotely close to switch tres again. I rattled off quite a few of my normal flippers quickly, several first try. Heelflip, varial flip, fakie varial flip, halfcab flips, frontside flip, fakie bigflip, kind of nollie cab, took awhile to get halfcab heel and 360 flip, couldn’t quite get nollie treflip or varial heel or fakie tre. Way more fun then I was expecting to have.

(setup 8.25 null awkward vectors deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, Es Swifts grey/white)

Got out of work early, chilled, then ran to Meta and Crisis and had an hour to kill before leaving for Denver. I went to Safeway ledge. I was hoping to start the night off strong, but I didn’t. Everything was hard. I messed around with some nollie cab back tails. Never got it, but it seems possible. Did 50s both ways, got a kickflip back 50, another not-dipped-enough front smith or two, front 50 yank out. Jake showed, but it was time to meet at Crisis so we rolled over there.

Jake and I played on a parking block in front of the shop while we waited. It ended up being pretty fun. We did some basic pivots at first, some blunt pivots, etc. Rob and Dave showed as Jake and I put down our parking block enders. Jake did front nosepick and I got his back with front pivot kickflip out. That one hyped me up. Then we all tried some lines going down the parking lot. Rob ollied over a manhole to manual the whole parking lot. Jake was doing ollie over the manhole, powerslide then kickflip into a steeper section. I was trying switch front 180 over the manhole, powerslide the steeper section, kickflip up a curb, ride off a 2 stair, ollie up a curb to front rock. Did it all except for ride away from the front rock. Managed to flat spot my new wheels really bad too. Doh. Dave was going switch ollie over the manhole and some manuals around the sidewalk. Fuzz finished setting up his board and we left for Denver.

We parked by the pedestrian bridge and walked over it arriving at our first spot. Most were skating the round banked bases to the bridge. I was kind of stuck in a zone of trying to ollie a 3 stair then noseslide off a one stair so I didn’t really see what everyone did. I saw Dave do a front pivot. Fuzz joined me with some manuals then noseslide attempts. I couldn’t do the manual. I started doing a different line. Wallride the jersey barrier, ollie up a curb then crooks the ledge off the curb. I got it second try. The crooks made me happy, even though I couldn’t do it again. Jake was trying front tails. Dave was doing fast wallride/wallies. We moved on to the cheese wedge spot. Fuzz did front 50 down one. Dave did boardlide to fakie. Rob had front boards and a pretty gnarly slam on a boardslide (or maybe it was a halfcab boardslide?). Jake manualed up one. I posed back 50s. More pushing. I think next was a ledge spot against a fence with a lot of strop rocks. Everyone else skated a red curb near it for a bit. I posed on the ledge, got a back 50. Jake did front tail, front 50, noseslide. Fuzz did front 50. Then we crossed the street and found a really fun new spot. I saw Rob get a boardslide on a really fun looking granite ledge and we got the boot.

We went along the bikepath for awhile. But not before Dave slammed super hard on some gravel on one of the most painful looking slams I’ve seen in awhile. Doh. Ended up at a weird spot that only I skated. I tried a line of wallie nollie, kickflip up a crack and then ollie a weird 3 stair. I tried it for awhile and realized everyone had left. Took a minute to find them. Got some snacks and a 7-11.

#thestubborns out past bed time.

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jun 23, 2016 at 10:58pm PDT

Ended up here for awhile. Dave killed it with the 4 stair ollie then 4 stair firecracker. Also he ollied over the little skate stopper into the bank. I did the little back 90 tail drop into the double bank. Everyone skated the bank to skate stopper for a bit. With hands on the rails for assist. I tried to get a good photo, but nothing good came up. Lots and lots of pushing later we ended up at the skyline park granite ledge. I was too tired and sore to skate it. That says a lot. Jake put down a lot of tricks. Back 50, front 50, front 5-0, I don’t remember anymore, it was a blur. Dave did another fast boardslide to fakie, tried front crooks for awhile.

@_f_u_z_z #profilepic

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jun 24, 2016 at 12:03am PDT

~ this is the first time that I have ever seen @corpoglenny tired of/from skateboarding. #heshumaunafterall #profilepic

A photo posted by Jeremy Frankovis (@_f_u_z_z) on Jun 24, 2016 at 1:38am PDT

Then we went down into the old parking garage. Again, I was too sore and tired to skate it. Look at me pouting above. Rob had some halfcab boardslides and noseslides. Fuzz had some front 50s. Dave did boardslide to fakie again, front 50 nollie 180 out, back 50 nollie 180 out and I think switch crooks. Jake did too many tricks to name. 50s, front 5-0, front tail, front lip, crooks, crooks shove, 180 nosegrind, fakie nosegrind, fakie 50 halfcab out. Wowzers. That was it, we skated well past midnight.

(setup 8.25 null awkward vectors deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, Es Swifts grey/white)