Having kind of a weird day after insomnia and Iphone frustrations I met up with Jack and Carleigh at the 3 up 3 down on the hill which I haven’t been to in forever. When I got there they were already taking turns filming each other. Jack was going for pop shove manual and Carleigh was trying no comply up kickflip down. I messed around for a bit trying to get warmed up. Some kickflips, axle stalls on the stairs, etc. Then I tried to get in the mix with ollie up no comply shove down, but man ollieing up that 3 stair was not easy at all for me. Jack was either getting close, getting served or doing a perfect shove up, but not landing in manual. Carleigh was struggling most with the no comply up and would try kickflips off once in awhile. I finally got to a point where I could ollie up the stairs. I thought I would only be able to do it a few times so I went with it, but I was scared to try the no comply shove. I tried a couple b/s flips which I could have maybe done instead, but I’m sure it would have had some terrible tic tacs or something. Then Carleigh did her line. Perfect. It was so good. So that left Jack and I to skate. Jack was battling anger. I was kind of just happy that I was ollieing up the 3 somewhat frequently. I stuck with the no comply shove and finally got one. It felt pretty awesome. As I rolled away Jack gave me a high 5 and got his trick a few tries later. We killed it! Jack went on to get some really good Stubborns tricks and that was that. It’s kind of funny to have skated for over two hours, but only try like 3 tricks. I’m hyped though (and very sore). Stubborns!

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)

Was hyped to be having a Null day, but wanted to get some skating in so I could enjoy just being a filmer more. I got to Southern Hills around 9:30 and the first few minutes felt rough. I thought I’d skip out and go to the slappy curb session in awhile, but I ended up getting it together enough to keep at it. I was bummed the bottom stair was covered in ice so not skateable. That’s such a good warm up. I tried to warm up on flatground, but that wasn’t working so I started with some really slow noseslides and boardslides and somehow that started working. Started trying a line of pop shove, noseslide to fakie, halfcab flip, crooks. But the halfcab flip wasn’t working so I changed it up. Front board the bench of a picnic table, noseslide to fakie, switch 180, crooks. That came pretty easy. Then I mostly skated the best of the ledges. It took awhile to get a slow front 50, but I ended up getting a few of them and it felt cool. Hadn’t done that there in awhile. I couldn’t get back 50 though, I committed, but just never got on it. I got a really bad front nose or two and took awhile to get a halfcab noseslide. I hucked some flip tricks in between tries. It’s hard to imagine I have actually landed a nollie flip because I couldn’t even get it close. Landed on a treflip, posed nollie inward heels, switch heels. Sometimes when I’m sucking I just huck tricks I can’t ever do and it feels better than not landing tricks I should land.

Then I went and picked up Jack and after some business at Loco we went to Rocky Mountain Elementary. We were there first. We played a game of SKATE that lasted awhile. I got a letter on 360 flip as I always seem to these days. I got him on a couple of random tricks, but basically I wasn’t landing tricks when I should and I ended up losing on a frontside flip. Then Hayden and Peyton showed up and I played Hayden in SKATE. Once again I got a letter on 360 flip and even front shove. Argh. I got pink slipped. The last trick was nollie front heel and somehow it felt close enough that I would like to try it again. Filing went alright. Filming lines isn’t easy. Jack and Hayden got some good lines. Riley could have. Sean and Garrett were there too. Garrett looked smooth on the ledge. Then we checked out this crazy bump to rail that Peyton front noseslid. Then a quick peep at a weird bank spot, but it was getting cold so we called it a day. Null days are fun.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)

Had the day off work. Did some family stuff, went swimming then eventually got Ollie to go skate for a bit at Creekside. All he really tried was kickflips and he seemed upset. Doh. I did a couple back 50s and then Jake showed. We went to Douglass and Dave pulled in at the same time. We started off with some tic tac races around a little track. It was funny. Dave won and we found out he had been training for this for years. Then we played a game of SKATE that Jake won. It was another game where I got letters on tricks I can do. Dave got me with switch no comply and that’s fine, but I think I got a letter on front shove. Then we hit the ledges. I was the last to get a front 50 and I’m sure mine was the slowest. But it felt cool regardless. I got a lucky first try crooks, noseslide, noseslide to fakie and boardslide. Dave also did front noseslides to fakie, maybe halfcab noseslide. Jake also did back 50, back crooks, several accidental noseslides instead of crooks. Then he started trying a line of ollie over a ledge then front 50 shove out. We filmed it for awhile, he got it once, but it had some sketch. Then it was my turn to skate, but I felt this crazy pressure because I knew Jake would want to leave soon and it turned into anger at my skateboard. I got so mad. I’m happy I didn’t focus my board because I ended up having fun, but man it was close. We were skated the back area mostly now. Dave had been doing lines while I was filming Jake. Something on the little ledge, switch and regular wallrides, kickflips, etc. I was really struggling just doing a basic 50 and it drove me nuts. There was this very mini hip there and it took me awhile to kicklfip it and that was nearly the end of me. I eventually settled down and got some, tried to line it out with nollie tailsides then front 50 a taller part of the ledge, but kept failing at that. Dave was doing really good front 5-0s, trying front 50 nollie shove off the end, did the switch crooks pictured above, boardslides, almost fakie varial flip over the little hip. Jake and I tried f/s halfcab flips over the hip. I got a lame one. I also got a fakie flip over it which would be a first on a hip for me, but I guess calling that mini bump an actual hip is a stretch. I tried some nosegrinds on the little ledge too, but I stuck every time. Jake was trying fakie bigspin boardslide or noseslide. He kind of got into it. I failed fakie nosegrinds. All in all a weird session for me. Sorry for getting so angry dudes. It was fun in the end though.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)

Lunch hour flatground on a beautiful day. We got @matthouse to skate! Continuing with @fullertrron slow motion posts. #teamsweatstain

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jan 4, 2018 at 1:15pm PST

Feeling down after skating bad the night before and having to be at work I went to meet Dave and Matt at the dog park. I initially thought I wouldn’t be able to skate I was so sore. Not in a painful way, just sore like my legs were stiff. Luckily Matt and Dave started slow too so I didn’t feel so bad. Matt hadn’t really skated in a couple months. But whatever, he still has it. The treflip wasn’t first try though. He did some nollie back 180s as a setup for a switch flip which he did eventually get. Kickflips, halfcabs, 180s, and a few treflips. I was struggling with my basics, but got a first try treflip so that always cheers me up (even when I miss the next two). Other tricks I did poorly were halfcab flips both ways, fakie flip, heelflip and eventually the frontside halfcab heelflip. I ended hucking a frontside cab heelflip. Note the lack of “half”. I wold be hyped beyond belief to get that one, it felt quite doable even though I was not actually very close. Dave had a sketchy slam on a pop shove, some good front shoves, a couple fakie varial flips, varial flip, nollie bigspin, remotely close to cab bigspin. When I left to go back to work he was trying treflips. Hope he got one.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)

Went to Broomfield park on a night where I mentally felt motivated to skate. After a quick stop at Crisis I arrived at the park and it was empty. I was pretty excited to skate it in ways that I would normally be too embarrassed to skate. But it became apparently quickly that my legs were toast. I had several squaty landings where my legs refused to stand back up and I fell over. Argh. I had some pop initially. Oh yeah, everything felt weird because I had new wheels. My previous wheels had worn down to mid 40mms so the new 50mms felt pretty large. I really tried to skate through it, but man I struggled. I was all over the place, trying tiny ollies 1/3 of the way up the brick qp, ollies on ledges instead of grinds, etc. I was hyped on an early line of front 50, boardslide the flat bar, turn around, 180 into the bank, switch front nose the ledge. Got a super slow fakie 50 f/s halfcab out. Wanted to do b/s halfcab out, but didn’t get close. Carleigh showed up after I had been skating for an hour or so. She had to setup a board. I was trying slow kickflips to fakie on the euro kicker and failing and noseslide 270 shoves where I didn’t get close either. I tried at least, it’s been awhile. Carleigh didn’t have much time to skate. But she got some. Kickflip, close to no comply flip, boardslide the black ledge, a good fall on a boardslide on the parking block. We ended on a couple basic tricks on the dark brick qp. Axle stalls. I took 3 tries to get a front slash.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)

After a cold morning I slacked around for awhile trying to warm up. I joined the tail end of a session at Saul’s. There were some younger rippers, Roth, Dave, Saul. I mostly just stood in the sun at first and watched the ripping. One dude Brian was absolutely destroying. He was so natural. Roth did his cool 50 around the hip which is crazy. Fuller did a bunch of different tricks. The lipslide into it was cool as was the sweeper in. Saul did the perfect 5-0 above. Ha ha okay, so he didn’t land that one, but it looks good. His runs are so fun to watch with all the quick grinds and he’s adding in more stand up 50s. I skated more when the young ones left, but not a lot. Somehow I managed to do most of what I’ve done there. The back smith stall felt cool as did the front slashes. Riding the Saul setup was fun.

Then I wanted to get another look at this new spot I checked out on the way home from Red Hawk. It’s even better than it looks. Although the main benches are all on the tall side. But one of my few 2018 skate goals is to be able to skate taller ledges again so I don’t want to use it as an excuse. I did some flatground for a bit. I love my little 8″ board. It flips so easy. I did way more tricks than I was expecting. I did a 360 flip that felt so easy. I did a front 50 on the low ledge, a slappy front tail, wallie nollie, posed an ollie over a ledge, did one of the best heelflips I’ve done in awhile then mostly skated the taller benches. There was some ice preventing me from skating them backside like I wanted to. I took forever to get a front 50. Shortly before that I ollied onto one which felt pretty cool, but getting the 50 felt great and I left.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)

Skate wise I celebrated 366 days in a row of skating last year. This year I celebrate NOT having skated every day. Ha. But really I celebrate how I’ve learned to take better care of myself so I can get shown up by @fullertrron trying to learn switch crooks in 15 degree weather. #over40skateboarding #thestubborns #iusecoldweatherasanexcusetoskateevenslower

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 31, 2017 at 4:36pm PST

It was literally only 15 degrees when I met Dave at Red Hawk. I got there first and it needed some sweeping as the tiny bit of flurries had settled in next to the ledge. Since it was so cold a simple swipe of the broom would make the snow disappear without a wet spot. Warming up was obviously a challenge, but we were both smart enough to wear lots of layers and we weren’t cold. We ended up getting some tricks. My list was better than expected. Front 50, front 5-0, front 50 front 180 out, front 50 front shove out, almost front 50 kickflip out, back 50, crooks, crooks to fakie, crooks shove, halfcab noseslide, switch noseslides. I couldn’t get front 50 back 180 out or front 5-0 back shove out. Dave had 50s, back 5-0, back 50 nollie shove, front 50 back 180 out, halfcab noseslide, such a good switch crook, almost front 50 back big out, probably more I’m forgetting. We didn’t do a lot of flip tricks as it was kind of cold for that. My bushings had froze up and it made some things pretty weird. Super fun session though. It was nice not struggling as much on front 50s as I have lately. And that’s a wrap on 2017!

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)

On a cold day I met Jack and Carleigh at Safeway. It was so sunny out and seemed like it would be warm. It wasn’t. Especially in the shade. But we skated and it was fun. Jack was ripping. Back 180 nosegrinds, bluntslides, back tails, back 270 tailslides, pop shove back 50s, wallrides above the ledge and he learned 360 flip noseslide in like 3 tries. Man. Carleigh did a bunch of noseslides and got front 50, kickflips and bought a house. Ha. I skated decent other than the front 5-0s that were supposed to be 50s. Made myself do a tiny front tailslide, got the slowest and worst fakie nosegrind, fakie 50, did some crooks on the lower fence ledge, flip tricks were whatever and I couldn’t learn 360 flips like Jack. Way to steal my dream trick bro.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)

On a really warm day I met Dave at Westy park. I arrived first and there was puddles and ice making most of the park unskateable. So I took out the broom and started spreading out the puddles and sliding the ice out of the park. Dave showed up and shoveled some of the deeper stuff and a couple other dudes showed up with towels and within a few minutes the park was good. Starting out I felt super awkward again. It sucked, I couldn’t do anything. But it ended up working out and I would start to feel better. Dave seemed pretty on it right away. The two other dudes there were good, but they both had headphones on and would take one earbud out after each trick. It was kind of weird and annoying. Dave had some moves on the steep bank. Fakie shove, back tail. He got the boardslide transfer on the A frame. Couldn’t get nosegrind the bump to ledge, but got front 50s with both 180s out. Also tried back nosegrind. And of course a bunch of transition tricks first try like sweeper, grinds over the hip, etc. One of the other dudes looked like Chris Jones. He did a ton of tricks on the bank like nollie bs flip, switch flip, he made it look so easy. I got a front 50 shove out, kickflip up the curb, couldn’t do front 5-0. I had a fun line of tiny ollie on the b/s qp hip, back 50 the qp, then a 360 flip out of the kicker like Dave’s photo above. Also a line of kickflip up the curb, front disaster on the qp then tried crooks the ledge, but never got the crooks. Then Dave went in on trefilps. He tried for over an hour, landed on 4-5 of them, but never rode away. So close.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)