On another warm night I went to Lafayette park solo right after dinner. The park wasn’t too crowded and most people there were skaters. I had felt good and energetic on the way there, but as soon as I pulled in I lost all energy. Ugh. I also slammed rolling over a little hump right away. Ugh. I should also mention with the wind we’ve been having my arthritis was bad and I was extremely sore and stiff. I probably should not have been skating, but that is why I went to a park. It’s amazing how much pain I was in at times. I didn’t do anything special. I’ve been skating parks more because I with how much pain I’ve been in lately not having to ollie for everything helps. Is it because I switched to vulcanized shoes? Maybe. But I am sure liking the board feel. I skated through the pain. I didn’t land anything to be proud of, but got close to several things I would have been hyped on like halfcab flip on the bank, front 5-0 shove on the little ledge, back d on the noping qp by the mountains, feeble fakie on the tiny qp, bean plant on the bank. I did manual the black box second try though, that was kind of surprising. Also kickflip to fakie on the bank first try. Every ollie or flipper hurt so bad.

(setup 8.25 null logo board, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 50mm spitfire F4 99a classic wheels, bronson bearings, Lakai Manchesters black/white 11)

Went to Louisville on a somewhat warm evening. I pulled in to an empty park with no lights on. As I sat in my car waiting for the lights to turn on another car pulled in. I had started my warm up process. Basically avoiding ollies for as long as possible. This dude puts his camera on the flat bar to film a back 180 nose manual on the bank to ledge. And that was all he tried for an hour. Some of the slams were horrendous. Sometimes he was close, mostly he just did back 180s up. He would eventually get it and sat watching it for a solid 10 minutes. Dude was rad. I kept it basic. Ollies hurt. Had a few lines. One was a terrible crooks on the ledge then rolled into the little snake run and bailed a front disaster. Did some basic ledge 50s for a bit. Then tried frontside halfcab flips for awhile. Took a long time to get any, but then got several in a row. Tried to line it out with back 50 on the ledge then noseslide to fakie on the bank to ledge. But my back 50s were all so bad I lost motivation. I dropped into the deep end of the bowl (scary for me) as punishment for not landing a f/s halfcab flip once. Dropped into a b/s flip on the bank. Then went for a dumb line that took way too long. Cali back 50 the far left part of the ledge, axle stall the qp by the hubba (weird qp as it goes flat for awhile), then kickflip to fakie on the bank. The kickflip to fakie took way too long. Last thing of the night was a terrible ollie over a hip followed by a little slash on the qp. It felt cool though. Oh yeah, so the other dude was trying something I have never seen before. He was standing by the big bowl. Just standing there. He said he was thinking about transferring from the snake run into the big bowl but he wanted to try parkouring it first. He had put his pads on and was trying to work the courage up to knee slide down the bowl.

(setup 8.25 null logo board, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 50mm spitfire F4 99a classic wheels, bronson bearings, Lakai Manchesters black/white 11)

Happy Birthday @brianfrancisball ! Hope you can walk today! 😂👴🏼

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Feb 6, 2017 at 12:45pm PST

Not feeling all that great I headed to Lafayette for Brian’s birthday session. The park was the most crowded I have ever seen it ( I wasn’t there on opening day). There was an old man bowl session, a bunch of friends for Brian and then like 30 scooter kids. I blame Trump for the dumbing down of America and for kids riding scooters instead of skateboards. It’s annoying. I said whaddup to people then hit the toilet bowl with Collin and Brian. Oh yeah, I had put wider trucks on since I can no longer lie to myself that low trucks are a good idea for someone as tall as me. So starting off in the little bowl was kind of weird. But it was a good excuse for bailing back 50s. Brian and Collin were ripping. And some kid with pizza grip, hipster pants and checkered Vans was ripping too. Ha, skateboarding is awesome right now. Well, until someone turns on Offspring and we leave the area. It’s all a blur for awhile. I kind of just posed kickflips on the bank or manhole bank. After my bad luck trying kickflips to fakie yesterday with low trucks I was happy to get a second try kickflip to fakie that felt solid. Then we skated the rock for awhile. I did the lowest rockride possible and it was even lower than I had hoped. Ha. Brian had blunt and front feeble to fakie. Nolan ripped the flow bowl as did Donnie. Jack did a cool rock ride kickflip out. Then Brian started a fun little dropin while holding on session. I managed to only hold one once about half way down the 3 foot transition. Brian went for crail grab to crailslide. So sick. The slam looked so bad. After that the park pretty much cleared out as people were going to get tattoos or watch the game. I ended up staying and finally actually tried tricks. I was struggling. It was Mike, Donnie and I. We played a game of SKATE. I don’t know how, but both Mike and I beat Donnie. I think he was just being nice, but he was slamming on tricks so maybe it just wasn’t working for him. I would go on to win it with a frontside no comply 360. Then Donnie tried to ollie up the tall part of the pier 7 ledge. So gnar. He would get one. Mike had switch cali grind down the 3 stair which was nuts. I kind of noseslid the little hubba. Then I joined Donnie except I did it the easy way. Ha, it was tough for me though. I need to ollie more because I seem to be losing it. Fun day. Skating with friends is rad.

(setup 8.25 null logo board, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 50mm spitfire F4 99a classic wheels, bronson bearings, Lakai Manchesters black/white 11)

Simon and Dave were shredding today! #simonlovelace @fullertrron

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Feb 4, 2017 at 2:07pm PST

Tried to get out early before the winds hit, but they started up right away. Well actually, they had calmed down a little from overnight, but they were still pretty intense. I met Jake, Dave and Simon there. Jake and I warmed up by running into the steep bank and did a few bank rides to get warmed up. Then just kind of cruised around doing some stuff. Then we hit the blue box and quartapotty area for awhile. Jake was trying back 5-0s. I wanted to do a back 50. We were lining things out. He was doing good qp tricks like front blunt. I got a basic line of noseslide on the brown ledge, hurricane the qp, then back 5-0 the blue box. Ha, I was trying 50. Took awhile. Jake would not end up getting a back 5-0. He was close, but never got one. Simon was cruising through the park casually crushing. The ollies to fakie on the steep bank were too easy. Dave was struggling early on. I did a bunch of slappy crooks. I struggled with ollies. After awhile Jake left. Simon was doing hurricanes on the flatbar, kickflips on the hump, fast 5-0s off the pier 7 ledge and learned back bonelesses on the brick qp. Dave was learning new tricks too. Bluntslide shove to fakie. So sick. He did a really good back boneless too. I spent a long time trying the most basic kickflip to fakie on the hump. It bummed me out. We all left. I went to the auto store near the Safeway ledge and saw the ledge was dry, so I did a couple back 50s and a front 50 before heading home.

(setup 8.25 null logo board, venture 5.25 AWAKE lows, 1/16″ riser, 3 washers inside each axle, Venom 90a bushings with no bottom washer, 50mm spitfire F4 99a classic wheels, bronson bearings, Lakai Manchesters black/white 11)

On a Friday afternoon I went out into the garage feeling a little better. I did some tricks on my normal setup, then just started hucking on the putter. I got pretty close to nollie inward heel. Switch front heel felt doable too. I had hosercam running, I don’t know if the clips above are the closest attempts. Got kind of close to nollie flip, not close to switch flip or hardflip. The putter is fun in the garage. Makes more sense to skate a small board in the small space.

(setup 7.5 303 board, small Thunders, 42mm OJ wheels, Lakai Manchester shoes)

On a cold, icy, snowy night I went into the garage. I did some manuals for a bit then started trying flippers. To my surprise Ollie came out and wanted to hit the ‘manual pad’ with me. He did some of the regular manuals he always does, then the random 20 tricks in one move in the clip above. I tried nose manual bigspin out even after he left for awhile. I got close, real close, but the slams made me want to move on to flippers. But I didn’t land much for slippers. Couldn’t get a treflip to save my life. That is the worst. I tried some of my 2017 flip tricks, but never got close. I went in depressed and missing Rampy.

(setup 8.25 null logo board, venture 5.25 AWAKE lows, 1/16″ riser, 3 washers inside each axle, Venom 90a bushings with no bottom washer, 50mm spitfire F4 99a classic wheels, bronson bearings, Lakai Manchesters black/white 11)