Nate and I met Matt, Rob and Fuzz at good ol’ Safeway ledge. The goal was to skate early enough to get some fun in with Fuzz. We started up around 10:30. It was a little chilly in the shade. Nate clearly had the road trip hype and young guy energy and was popping tricks quickly. Matt wasn’t really skating since ankle surgery, but he would push form side to side and maybe do a manual or two. It was great seeing him. Rob still has the best back 50s of anyone and rattled off a bunch of tricks. Almost had nollie lip body varial. Fuzz fulfilled Neil’s front tail to fakie request first try without even knowing he was supposed to do it. I skated somewhat ok. I don’t remember anything special. I did land on a nollie inward heel, but after showing Nate he did one in a few tries. He good! Speaking of good he did back 5-0s and ended things with a nollie back 180 to fakie grind half cab out. It was gnar!

After some time at Crisis we went to Broomfield park. It was pretty fun. Rob won a game of skate with Nate and I. Nate tried a bunch of back 180’s to fakie manual. I don’t think he ever got one. Rob manualed the blue slant very casually. I cannot remember a single trick I did.

😀

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Nov 11, 2016 at 4:07pm PST

Then Nate and I met Dave and Mike at the 287 ditch. It should be renamed the Fuller Ditch though, because he destroys that spot. It was cleaned out all good. Nate and I skated a “hip” for awhile. Nate had some boosty ollies. I had a not-boosted kickflip. Dave was doing feebles across two parking blocks, or feeble to boardslide, or boardslide both. Mike 50’d one. Me too. Nate front tailed it. Dave did a bunch of nose bashes, front tailslides, ollies, bonelesses, etc etc etc. Fun day!

(setup 8.125 null message deck, venture 5.2 low custom hollow trucks with 3 washers inside each axle, stock thunder bushings, 50mm bones stf v1 wheels, swiss bearings, new balance numeric pj stratford 533 navy shoes 12)

Met Dave at Meta shortly before closing time. I started so incredibly slow. We skated from Meta to the spot and I don’t think I even cracked an ollie. There were people smoking weed in the alley, cars parked in front of fun obstacles and it was not lit very well. Eventually we started doing tricks. I had a few frontside whirlybirds over the pad. I shot out in the wax once. I forget what Dave started with, but he got close to some crazy ones like cab manual, nollie shove manual. I hate when I get so far behind on my journal entries. We skated the ledge for awhile. Dave had some good back noseslides and 50s. I struggled to get a couple bad front 50s and not close to back 50s. We ollied the 4 stair. Dave first try. Me like 5th try. At one point I had a really long run of badly done tricks like slappy 50 the electric box curb, whirlybird the pad, no comply 180, halfcab flip (i think?) then a terrible back 50. We did more, it was fun. Dave was ripping. He ollied a trash can out of the bump. So sick.

(setup 8.125 null message deck, venture 5.2 low custom hollow trucks with 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, stock thunder bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 classic 101a wheels, bronson bearings, new balance numeric pj stratford 533 navy shoes 12)

Yesterday was a new low but ended at one of my favorite places with two of my favorite people 🙏❤️ And today is a new day…and it's time to skate again.

A photo posted by carleigh samson (@gnarlycarleigh) on Nov 10, 2016 at 10:45am PST

After a really emotional day dealing with the election results and some tough news about Jason’s situation I went to Crisis then Broomfield with Jack and Carleigh. The No Love crew was there shredding and are always a fun crew to be around. There was a lot of people skating all over the park so it was pretty chaotic. I just kind of did my thing on the quartapotty and avoided ollieing for awhile. I had some fun slappy crooks on the parking block. Jack did a few no comply flips over it easily. Carleigh rattled off a few tricks on the brick qp before taking awhile to land back disaster. But when she did it was in a line with boardslide down the little rail. She had some black ledge boardslides too and some other tricks I remember commenting to Jack at how good they looked. Jack was trying backside flip nosegrinds on the black ledge. He got a couple. Crazy! I had a few crooks and mostly just did switch noseslide tricks because I didn’t want to ollie. I came close to switch noseslide shove. I was trying lines of back 180 into the bank then halfcab noseslide. If you could see the two hc noseslides I landed you would laugh. We ended as Jack was trying cab nosegrinds and I was trying 360 flips on flat. Neither of us got them. At least Jack’s trick would be a new one. Skating really helped the day. I am really happy I am friends with Jack and Carleigh.

(setup 8.125 null message deck, venture 5.2 low custom hollow trucks with 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, stock thunder bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 classic 101a wheels, bronson bearings, new balance numeric pj stratford 533 navy shoes 12)

Went into the garage, did a few nollie shoves and a few manual tricks on the sheet of wood.

After working early I went to the bikepath ledge spot again. I felt somewhat decent. I had some fun, some struggles and then some more struggles. At first I was doing ok with front 50s on a somewhat taller part of the ledge, but then my pop went away. I had one really slow 360 flip, several fun feeling slappy crooks, a few back 50s that weren’t tic tacky, a crooks, a couple back 50s on the lower escalator ledge, a few front 50s going uphill. Man, that’s not much at all.

(setup 8.125 null message deck, venture 5.2 low custom hollow trucks with 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, stock thunder bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 classic 101a wheels, bronson bearings, new balance numeric pj stratford 533 navy shoes 12)

Woke up early and felt like hitting up this park. I was hoping when I arrived at 8:30 am that I would have some time before the scooter tools showed up. Nope. Families of them. Remote control cars, parents sitting on ledges, GoPros strapped to chests, kids on Strider bikes. Man I miss when skateparks were for skateboarders. I started off feeling ok though and though I would skate well. Wrong. I was able to turn it up a little at times though. I got a pretty long line of ollie up the euro, front slash the qp, boardslide the bump to bar, kickflip into the slight bank, back 5-0 the little ledge. I tried a bunch of front 50s on the bump to ledge or the regular tall ledge and came up short. It was very depressing. As were kickflips over the hip. I was able to ollie the 3 stair most tries at least. Did a few bank ride to manuals. Also a little frontside nosegrind. There was a brief period where I had the park to myself. It was under 5 minutes. In fact I remember being stoked, but looking down the road saw two scooter kids headed toward the park. The remote control bike kid was almost too much. At least he kept it in the bowl. Dave showed. I was trying a long line of ollie the 3 stair, noseslide the hubba, 360 flip on flat and something else, but I never got the 360 flip and I kind of lost all motivation to skate. Dave had a nice feeble stall on the round bar. Simon with some good boardslides and manuals off the 3 stair ledge. Dave might have gotten a backside bigspin over the hip. I got a crappy backside flip over one.

Then we skated this in the round about entrance to the skatepark. It’s really hard to skate with the curb right in front of it. Simon was ollieing up the curb, it was sick. He did a nice back blunt. I got a little boardslide. Simon also got a boardslide fakie, some back 50s and front slash. Dave did front 5-0 quick, front tail, front board to fakie and eventually a front board 270 after I had left. As hard as that was to skate at least we hit some street for a bit.

(setup 8.125 null message deck, venture 5.2 low custom hollow trucks with 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, stock thunder bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 classic 101a wheels, bronson bearings, new balance numeric pj stratford 533 navy shoes 12)

Carleigh and I headed to Lafayette after a day where I had watched Jason for a long time. It was beautiful out. I’m not sure if I remember an autumn this full of great weather in CO. We arrived to a park full of scooter kids. Ugh. We kind of each did our thing for a bit. My favorite thing about Lafayette is there are some easy grinds that feel great. Front 50s on the little granite pad are incredibly fun. Garrett and Nolan showed pretty much right after we got there. After awhile we had a stair session. Well, everyone else did. Garrett and Nolan kickflipped the 3. Carleigh got the line of ollie the 3 then noseslide the hubba. That’s what I wanted to do as well, but I couldn’t get the 3 stair ollie. Ugh. It took me getting pissed about all of the scooter kids and venting about how much I hate skateparks before I could do it, but when I landed the line it felt really fun. I also took awhile to get the fun line of back 180 into the first bank, switch 180 into the second then kickflip to fakie on the bank. Also fun. Those three tried pop shoves down the 3 stair for a bit, I don’t think anyone got one, but Nolan was doing them poppy everywhere else. Carleigh also got one into the bank. Oh yeah, I forgot how bad I slammed at one point. I rolled down the bank with speed for the bump to ledge and hit a rock and went down hard. Ugh, that definitely took me out for awhile. Felt good to get outside and skate with homies.

(setup 8.125 null message deck, venture 5.2 low custom hollow trucks with 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, stock thunder bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 classic 101a wheels, bronson bearings, new balance numeric pj stratford 533 navy shoes 12)

After work on a beautiful Friday I met up with Rob at the dog park. Well, I was first. I had attempted to start the warm up process, but man I was feeling like crap. I got somewhat into my normal list of warm up tricks. Rob and I played a game of SKATE that went pretty long with a lot tricks landed on both sides that could normally be letters. It eventually got to SKAT-SKAT. I don’t remember the winning trick, but I squeeked it out. Fun game. Rob left shortly after that. Dave laid into the switch tre attempts and got his closest yet. He landed with both feet on one of them. So close! I had a couple nollie heels that seemed close, but weren’t and one clean 360 flip to make it feel worthwhile. Couldn’t get a nollie tre though.

(setup 8.125 null message deck, venture 5.2 low custom hollow trucks with 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, stock thunder bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 classic 101a wheels, bronson bearings, new balance numeric pj stratford 533 navy shoes 12)

Feeling very sore and lacking energy I went to the Louisville park pretty much right after work to meet up with Nullers. The park was crowded with scooter kids. I was not stoked. Riley was slaying the ledge. Jack seemed a little bummed until a game of ledge SKATE with Nolan. I’m not sure who won. Garrett was doing what he do. I had nothing in me. It took like 10 minutes to crack an ollie high enough to 50-50 the low ledge. I was struggling to say the least. Nolan is really fun to be around though, he laughs a lot and it’s contagious. The ledge was the only thing skated for awhile. The Nullers are really good. Riley did switch back 5-0. Jack nollie heel noseslide and almost crook. Garret halfcab noseslide 270 shove. Nolan back 50. Ha ha. Nah he did some good stuff too. Well, back 50s are good for me and I managed to get a tiny and slow one. We hit the hip area for a bit. I did some filming and a kickflip, then a lot more filming. Clips will be posted when I can. It was great being around the dudes again, although I wish I could have skated better.

(setup 8.125 null message deck, venture 5.2 low custom hollow trucks with 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, stock thunder bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 classic 101a wheels, bronson bearings, new balance numeric pj stratford 533 navy shoes 12)

Met Dave at Blue Skies right after work still not feeling great. Dave showed up at the same time. The skatepark was overrun with scooter kids and parents so we just hit the hockey rink. We both started out so slowly. We talked about how impossible skating feels when we first start. But we stuck with it as we always do and had a fun session. Dave did a few of the basics then mostly spent the rest of the time trying switch treflips. He got really close a few times. He was doing runs with a kickflip, front shove and nollie 180 to set him up for it. I was not very consistent, but got most of my normal bag including a 360 flip that I finally didn’t touch my hands on at all. I failed at halfcab heels, came remotely close to nollie heel, landed on a fakie tre. Tried a line of fakie flip, fakie heelflip, fakie treflip, but never got the fakie heelflip. Tried to do backside flips like I do my back 180s with pivot. But I don’t seem to have that much control.

(setup 8.125 null message deck, venture 5.2 low custom hollow trucks with 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, stock thunder bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 classic 101a wheels, bronson bearings, new balance numeric pj stratford 533 navy shoes 12)