On a nice morning Jake and I biked towards Saul’s with the intention of skating flat at Wilville for a bit first. We were over by the back entrance which had some good concrete. I was starting slow, Jake was starting faster and then boom, he bailed a varial flip and went down in back pain. Yikes. It wasn’t an awkward bail, but man he wan in pain. It sucked to see. Anyone who has experienced back pain knows the feeling. It’s terrible. He laid in pain, tried to sit up, etc. As he chilled I skated. Flippers weren’t working, I had fun doing various 180s up/down a curb, bailed a 4 stair a few times. Jake was able to get on his bike and took off. I started going to Saul’s then saw another section of flat that seemed better so I told myself 10 flippers before I could go to Saul’s. Took a bit, but I got there. Fakie varial flip took awhile, got f/s halfcab heel. Everything was slow and cautious.

#saulside

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Nov 18, 2017 at 11:58am PST

Then I got to Saul’s. Josh, Saul, Eric and Dave was the crew. Dave wasn’t skating up to his standards. I saw him almost fall pushing a couple times! Ha. It was weird to see. He still killed it though. The backside fastplant to tail (I think?) was so sick. Eric was ripping. Getting his long back 50s right away, back disaster (above), almost back tail, rock ‘n rolls. I didn’t skate it very well. The tighter trucks aren’t so good there. I got a couple front disasters, front slashes, front rocks, but other then that I kind of chilled as the pumping seemed to hurt my legs. Josh was skating mellow for most of it and then towards the end was doing some crazy trick. Front feeble, front pivot to front rock, etc. Saul had his quick grind lines, frontside pop over the hip to quick alley oop axle stall, looking more fluid each time he skates. Must be nice. Ha.

Then Eric, Dave and I met Rob and Fuzz at the banked ledge spot. The bike ride there loosened up my legs again and I was able to start trying tricks even though I started really slow with some little wallrides below the “coping”. Dave was doing front 5-0s and back 50’s right away. He owns this spot. Rob was pretty distracted by some house sale news, but still pushed one getting used to kickflips with wider trucks, did some cool bean tails. Eric was hitting the heelflips hard. He had a few really good ones and started trying them over the manhole. Fuzz started with shoves and noseslides and kept doing them over and over getting faster each time. It was rad. Dave was doing noseslides to fakie on the tall ledge, switch crooks on the banked ledge. Fuzz started doing 180 over the hydrant than halfcab noseslide the ledge, b/s flip on flat. I went to film him and Dave, but Hosercam wasn’t charged up. Doh. I had a couple fun lines doing little front 180 off the ledge, halfcab flip on flat and bail something on the ledge. I was getting close to kickflip off the ledge when I got called for work. Argh. Right then Fuzz did a sick line of back 180 the manhole, halfcab flip on flat, ollie up the ledge, front 180 off and then fakie front shove. It was sick. I wish I could have kept skating with them, but instead I was on a work call for several hours. Doh. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

(setup 8.25″ null rabethica deck, venture wides, bones stf v5 52mm, 3 washers on the outside, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 212 green size 11, powerfeet pinnacle orthotic insole)

Skipped out of a busy day of work for a flatground friday with Dave at the Blue Skies hockey rink. It was warm enough out, but pretty windy at times and rain was blowing in from somewhere. It was hard to find the motivation to begin with. I brought my quiver. Dave brought his putter. So I basically started on my putter too. I didn’t really like it so I went to my 8.25″ setup with venture wides. It felt great. Really great actually, I went on to have a great day for me. I mean I struggled with kickflips, but most other tricks felt good. I had some heelflips right away and in a couple tries got a really sketchy varial heel. It hyped me up. Halfcab flips felt good too, got a first try fakie bigflip. Got a nollie varial flip out of nowhere (thanks for trying Dave and reminding me) and a first try fakie varial flip. Keep in mind I was going so slow for all of these tricks. I couldn’t quite get trefilp, halfcab heel or fakie heel. I ended on a backside flip that took way too many tries. The smaller board with tighter trucks felt great for flip tricks. Dave had a really good fakie 360 shove, a bunch of lines with no comply 180, switch no comply 180, switch no comply shove all casual, cabs, front shoves, lots of kickflips, No treflips unfortunately. That trick is hard when it’s windy. I left back for work feeling hyped. It’s been awhile since I’ve landed so many tricks.

(setup 8.25″ null rabethica deck, venture wides, bones stf v5 52mm, 3 washers on the outside, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 212 green size 11, powerfeet pinnacle orthotic insole)

Good stuff from good people.

Got a decent night of sleep. Saw it was nice out and supposed to be windy later so I got ready for work quickly and hit Boulder park for a little over an hour. It was still cold out when I started, but warmed up quickly. Warming up wasn’t all that bad. Did a few tiny ollies, some pumping around the park and started trying a few things. I like skating parks all by myself. I try basic tricks that I suck at and am normally too embarrassed to try around people. I mean I’m almost too embarrassed to write about them even. Ha. Tried a lot of lines. Maybe that makes them sound better. First one was a front shove to fakie on the little wedge up top, switch noseslide the ledge into the bank, front 50 the bump to ledge then roll into the mini. I hadn’t rolled in in awhile so it felt cool. I sucked it up in the mini, couldn’t even do a front disaster. I’ve lost all my transition “skills”. Did a bunch of ollies to fakie on the medium steep bank and they were scary. Then I took awhile to get a noseslide on the pyramid ledge. I am terrible at bump to ledge stuff. I got a few where I only slid a little. I would like to get them fast and come off the end. Maybe 270 shove out into the bank. That would be really good for me. The last line I tried was just a little manual across the pyramid, tiny f/s ollie on the east wall then a b/s flip on the medium steep bank. It took me a long time, when I got it I tried a back 180 over the little hip and had more speed than I thought and slammed. It was one of those slams that doesn’t hurt and made me laugh. It was a good ender. Then I went to work. I had done more tricks, was kind of all over the park, but lots of one hit tricks. Can’t believe how scared of the 6′ tall coping I am.

(setup null rabethica 8.5″ deck, venture 5.8, venom 88a bushings, spitfire f4 99a 53mm classics, bones swiss, nbnumeric 212 navy size 11, powerfeet pinnacle orthotic)

I went out later into the garage and skated with Ollie. I was wearing some new green 212s. We started out on the “manny” pad. Ollie tried copying a lot of my tricks. He We did front 180 nose manual 180s. Some other ones. He was the first one to ollie. He also pretty much did a nose manual. Rad. Then we just skated flat. Ollie tried so many kickflips. He just can’t get his front foot on it, but he’s close. He tried a few other tricks like shoves. He did some weird spin around to tail at one point that was awesome. I gave up on my big sled and skated the putter. It was fun. I did a few heelflips really easy, got incredibly close to nollie flip and landed 3 270 flips in a row. Felt cool and immediately triggered my brain to want a smaller setup for regular skating. What was funny was Ollie seemed mad that I landed 360 flips. He had some fire, he really wants to land a kickflip. I hope I’m there to see it!

Met Jack and Carleigh after work on a cold night at Louisville park. As I pulled up two carloads of scooter kids were leaving and Carleigh did noseslide shove. Jack had already broken a kingpin (Indys! ha ha) so he was chilling. Well, until he grabbed a cruiser board from his car. Carleigh’s next first try trick was to ollie up the bank to ledge. A few tries later she got a manual on it which she said “would take all night”. Ha. Ripping. Jack beat me to manual out of the qp around the flat bar, then totally showed me up by manualling the rest of the park. Ha. He almost died rolling in on his cruiser board. I took a few tries to get some front 50s on the lower part of the ledge, had some fun boardslides on the flat bar and trying to line it out with kickflips on the main bank. Got a bad b/s one then had a great primo slam on a kickfilp to fakie. After that Carleigh was going for noseslide and I joined her. For some reason it felt incredibly sketchy. The cold weather made the wax hard and fast. We both had some sketchy slams. I managed to get a few noseslides, but Carleigh took a bad slam that tweaked her knee. Yikes. We left after that.

(setup null rabethica 8.5″ deck, venture 5.8, venom 88a bushings, spitfire f4 99a 53mm classics, bones swiss, nbnumeric 212 navy size 11, powerfeet pinnacle orthotic)

Feeling exhausted from a long night/morning at work I rolled over to the school on a breezy night. I played on the curb for a few minutes doing different stalls then went behind the school to the rock section above. I just did stalls back and forth then started trying to ride across the closer ledge the narrow way. It’s scary for me to ollie onto something that ends quickly. Landing it felt really cool. Then I tried a longer line of halfcab flip, ollie onto the further one the long way, then the closer one the short way. Never got it, and got too tired and the wind was getting me so I pushed home. I really like having these rocks there, I feel like it’s helping my ollies.

(setup null rabethica 8.5″ deck, venture 5.8, venom 88a bushings, spitfire f4 99a 53mm classics, bones swiss, nbnumeric 212 navy size 11, powerfeet pinnacle orthotic)

After driving down from my moms I went to Southern Hills. Driving down from the mountains always messes with me. I’m not sure why, but my body doesn’t seem to like it very much. So I went to one of the hardest places to skate. Argh. I had done a few grinds on the step and was slowly warming up, got a couple kickflips which didn’t feel good. Tried a line for awhile that I kind of got, but it was terrible. Boardslide a picnic table bench, noseslide to fakie a bench, halfcab flip on flat, crooks a bench. The halfcab flip was beyond terrible and the crooks was a tiny jib that fell into noseslide right away. Not being able to do crooks and struggling with kickflips had me desperately wanting my ventures back. I played around a bit longer then got a text from Riley asking to meet up.

The @metaskateboards video is coming real soon! @siouxer666 being filmed by @assport.renewal.expired

A post shared by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Nov 12, 2017 at 6:29pm PST

So I went to this school. I played a game of no comply skate with Jack. I’m not sure if we really finished it or not, but he got me with no comply back 360 and/or no comply lazer. It was fun and I was happy to get another no comply back shove revert. We played a regular game of SKATE after that which wasn’t as fun because we both struggled and Jack loves flatground (sarcasm). He beat and I think the last trick was fakie tre. I want my Ventures back.

(setup 8.5″ null rabethica, indy black titanium 144s, spitfire f4 classic 53mm yellow/orange swirl, 4 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings, bones swiss, lakai manchester grey size 11.5, spenco thinsole, adidas majerus insole)

Ollie and I got dropped off at the Buena Vista park on a nice, but breezy day (when is it not windy up there?). There was a couple scooter kids and that was it when we got there. I really do hate that park. The coping is big, the flow is weird and there are no basic ledges. But whatever, I’ve been trying to skate more variety. Shortly after we got there biker after biker showed. Little kids on striders, parents coaching their kids and several high school kids that mostly just sat there smoking. Ugh. Even though I have two high school kids of my own it’s amazing how annoyed I get with other high school kids. Ollie wasn’t feeling it either. He mostly just tried the line above for awhile. He did some fakie shoves, but couldn’t get the regular pop shove to fakie. I bailed a lot of back 50s. The classic shape wheels get on the coping quick, but for some reason I was going over the deck a lot. I got a couple slow front 50s on the weird ledge to ride into the tranny/bank. Got a line with front 50 on the ledge, front slash the coping then kickflip to fakie on a bank similar to the one above. Nothing came easy, couldn’t hardly wallie up the little ledge, couldn’t boardslide the flat bar, everything on the quarterpipes was hard. I kind of blame the Indys. The ollie off the ledge into the bank took way too long, but getting a kickflip after felt pretty cool. Then we got picked up and headed out for dinner. Hyped that Ollie wanted to skate.

(setup 8.5″ null rabethica, indy black titanium 144s, spitfire f4 classic 53mm yellow/orange swirl, 4 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings, bones swiss, lakai manchester grey size 11.5, spenco thinsole, adidas majerus insole)

Had the day off work, but off to a slow start. Ollie wanted to skate too and I told him to invite his friend Gabriel aka Gabo. We went to the bikepath ledge/hip spot. I started off real slow and i’m not really sure why. I battled with slappy crooks, back 50s and anything involving ollies. I did get a b/s flip over the hip first try though. Ollie did rocks both ways on the curb, they both did shoves on the little bank. Gabes was his first moving shove and it’s on film (above). He just started skating a few weeks ago. I did try a bunch of lines either starting with back 50 or slappy crook. Got front pivot to fakie, kckflip to fakie, f/s flip over the hip, nollie 270 over the hip, some stuff. Ollie got close to kickflip on flat. Then we went to eat which took the rest of our time and we needed to head to my mom’s.

(setup 8.5″ null rabethica, indy black titanium 144s, spitfire f4 classic 53mm yellow/orange swirl, 4 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings, bones swiss, lakai manchester grey size 11.5, spenco thinsole, adidas majerus insole)

Went to Longmont park after work and met Dave. There was just a scooter kid and one other skater when I got there. It felt very cold. It was in the low 30s, but it felt even colder than that. We started with some flat ground. After a no comply back shove I started trying no comply back shove revert. Kind of like a 43 shifty, but with a shove before it. I would get a few of them and they were really fun. It must be kind of hard because Dave wasn’t able to do it. I forget what else Dave was trying. Oh yeah, we were doing shove revert style tricks. Those are fun. Then we went into the park. We were doing our own things for a bit. Dave got a back big over the back hip first try. Sick. I was hyped on a cab bigspin on the mellow bank (aka the Joe Hamilton) followed by a front shove to fakie on the next bank. The front shove was probably my favorite trick of the day because it was spontaneous and I actually landed it. I had a terrible slam on a front board attempt on the little ledge. One of those slams where you lie there for a second to see if everything is alright. Luckily i was. Dave and I tried noseslides on the tall ledge. Well, Dave was. I couldn’t get it. This would be the start of the downfall of Indys. Then this high school kid (who called a bailed flyo-out of his “fire”) challenged us to SKATE. After some interesting decision making it turned out I would start the game. I went pop shove and kickflip and the kids didn’t have either. This kid did have a mean double flip though. It was fun, although kind of weird hanging out at the high school hangout. After the kids were eliminated Dave and I played for one last trick. I tried 360 flips, but Dave beat me with a switch no comply front shove. Whoa! I almost had it with some beginners luck first try, but was nowhere near close the next try. After that we skated the crappy little ledge for a bit. I started off great getting my basics first try. Front 50, front 50 180, front 50 shove, crooks, halfcab noseslide, but it went downhill quick and I couldn’t land halfcab crook or get close to anything really. But that’s when Dave started landing tricks. He got back 50s, boardslides to fakie, and a super sick boardslide 270 out. Oh yeah, forgot how hard I slammed trying a switch noseslide 270 out. That’s not fun when it’s super cold out.

(setup 8.5″ null rabethica, indy black titanium 144s, spitfire f4 classic 53mm yellow/orange swirl, 4 washers inside each axle, venom 91a bushings, bones swiss, lakai manchester grey size 11.5, spenco thinsole, adidas majerus insole)