Around 7 I went across the street to play around on the rock area. Yet again I had a new set of bushings. This time Bones mediums in hopes they don’t freeze up when it’s cold or turn to jello when it’s warm. They felt a little stiff, but not as stiff as the Doh Dohs. I started slow and it took a bit before I could even do an axle stall on one of the rocks. But I would eventually get to a point where I was flailing around trying hard. Didn’t get close to nollie flips. Could barely noseslide the bench of the picnic table (it’s really tall). Took a couple tries to ollie up on the longer rock. Didn’t get the manual on it. Didn’t get far on the flip trick list. I hucked a lot, trying different stalls like back axle heelflip out, front pivot kickflip out, switch noseslide shove, front nose shove, etc. Didn’t land any, but it was fun hucking. Got a sketchy line of front tail a rock then ollie up onto the short rock. That’s so scary to me to ollie on and have to get off immediately. Some day I hope to manual or nose manual the tall short one (tall short ha ha. tall rock that isn’t long).

(setup 8.25″ null monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm spitfire F4 101a classic shape, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, bones medium bushings, adidas busenitz vulc white/blue size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

Woke up way too early and was off all day. Got to Broomfield park on a windy and not warm day with Ollie to meet Dave who had probably already been there for an hour. There was some snow and runoff dividing the park a little, but for the most part you could hit what you want. We mostly skated the blue box. The quartapotty wasn’t skateable. I was mostly determined to get some back 50s and I did. I still approached with a huge angle, but after 30 years of doing it that way it’s not gonna change. Dave was shredding. Nose manual, front 50 180, front 5-0 180. Ollie said he wanted to skate, but sure didn’t seem too motivated. He did some boardslides, a bunch of stationary shove its, kind of ollie up the blue box and front 180 off. Later on Dave was trying front 5-0 shove and I was trying back 50 shove. We got them back to back! Even Ollie might have smiled for us briefly. I suggested halfcab boardslides to Ollie and he did a couple. Not much of a slide, but it was still cool. One time he technically did halfcab noseslide. My last trick was fakie nosegrind which took way too many tries. Dave did a regular front nosegrind and we bounced. The whole time I was annoyed with how stiff my bushings were. Goodbye doh dohs. Oh yeah, this dude showed up that was so smooth. He was just doing nose manual front 180 out, then the same things switch and some little grinds. But he was easily one of the smoothest skaters I’ve seen in awhile and it was sick.

(setup 8.25″ null monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm spitfire F4 101a classic shape, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, doh dohs 92a bushings, adidas busenitz vulc white/blue size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

Well, I guess wind is good for something, because even though there was a couple inches of fresh snow in the morning a lot of it was gone in the afternoon. After a nice hike with Liz I ended up at the research ledge. It was dry and even most of the hill and sidewalk were dry. It was really surprising. But sometimes crazy gusts would pick up and blow snow by the ledge making everything temporarily wet. I had to sit a couple times, but for the most part it was fine. I wanted to learn noselide back 270 out so I tried it to get warmed up. I’m not sure why I’ve never tried that trick before, but it felt close. I got a few that definitely don’t count, but seem like a baby step in the right direction. I had some fun lines trying pop shoves on the sidewalk then either noseslide, back 50 or crooks. I had a few crooks that felt really good, a couple back 50s. Frontside was kind of messed up, but I had one really fun line where I ollied a little snow pile then got a little front 5-0 jib. That was my fav part of the session. I had some okay flatground. Fakie varial flip, heelflip, close to 360 flip, tried a bunch of nollie and switch flips getting close. The bushing seemed to have loosed up a little, but I would still like to try a little softer.

(setup 8.25″ null monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm spitfire F4 101a classic shape, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, doh dohs 92a bushings, adidas busenitz vulc white/blue size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

After work I went to the Steel Yards since it was snowing out. I had some motivation to skate flat, but man it ended up being a battle. My new bushings felt wayyy too stiff to skate. I had them so loose by the end the bolts were almost off. But I tried. Started with a few 3 trick lines of basic tricks. Can’t believe how hard I struggled with front shoves. Even halfcab flips weren’t working. But the curb was grinding and fun. I was hyped to get a few intentional back 5-0s. Also tried switch crooks and didn’t really get any. Also back 5-0 front 180 out but didn’t get very close to that.

(setup 8.25″ null monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm spitfire F4 101a classic shape, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, doh dohs 92a bushings, adidas busenitz vulc white/blue size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

After my first day back at work and dealing with the reality that I am no longer in paradise I went out to the garage to try nollie flips. Jake, Neil and I had talked about how we need to learn them. I tried, but I didn’t try that hard. I probably tried some other stuff too. Oh yeah, I had new bushings in hopes that they don’t freeze in the cold and melt in heat (not that I’ll see warm weather anytime soon). Doh Dohs 92a. To end the session I forced myself to do the one push ollie over something. It’s so hard with such little setup in the garage, but I got a couple.

(setup 8.25″ null monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm spitfire F4 101a classic shape, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, doh dohs 92a bushings, adidas busenitz vulc white/blue size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

Oahu rules, I miss surfing. Thx @corpoglenny @neilsoffire

A post shared by @ iamnotacreepyjake on Feb 21, 2018 at 8:42am PST

Last day of the trip. Argh. Neil took us to Kailua via a beautiful scenic route. We hit the skatepark. After so many days of skating it gets hard. Some things feel great, others (like motivation) do not. But we skated. Neil didn’t last too long since he’s been to that park a bunch and I get it. I started off okay linking some fun lines with kickflips on the mellower banks. Actually skated the little ledge okay too. But then I would struggle on b/s flips on the steeper bank it was kind of downhill from there. Jake was struggling with f/s flips on the mellow bank too. I had a fun boneless then b/s flip over the super mellow hip. Neil had rad front 50s through this awkward corner, crazy bank rides in a pocket, style ollies everywhere. Jake pieced together the rad line above which also has a tailblock in the awkward corner. I ended with a fun line of crooks on the ledge, then switch noseslide 270 shove out. I did it pretty good once then we tried to film it, but I gave up after a few. That park is fun.

Last spot of the trip. #stubbornwithaloha #sunburntandstubborn @neilsoffire @iamnotacreepyjake

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Feb 20, 2018 at 7:43pm PST

After a stop at 808 skateshop we went to this epic little ditch spot. I could do those back 5-0s all day. The parking block triangle is harder than it looks. Jake’s pivot fakie on it is crazy. I only managed rock, front rock and axle stall. Neil had some sick lines to rock on it. He’s like the energizer bunny when he skates, his lines just keep going and going. Wallies over the hip were fun, Neil’s front 50s on the pipe were sick, starting lines with front tail on the far parking block was a blast. Epic mellow spot to end the trip. Thanks for hosting us Neil, we had a blast!

(setup 8.25″ null monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm spitfire F4 101a classic shape, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, adidas busenitz vulc white/blue size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

After a lazy/hangover/rainy/surf day off we got back to it on Presidents day where schools were off. We started at this spot. It’s so beautiful. This palm tree lined sidewalk, a nice bench that wasn’t too tall then a two stair. There were some other things at the school, but this was where we spent most of our time. To my surprise Jake front 50’d the ledge before I had even ollied up the two stair. Guess he was feeling better! He went on to rip. Front 50, front tail, a line of front 180 up the two stair then fakie nosegrind the ledge then nollie bigspin on flat. Paul was shredding. Super fast front 50s and back 50d the awkward 2 stair ledge, manuals from the two stair. Neil was in shred mode too. Noseslide up the two, crooks shove the bench, lots of shoves, another line with front shove, switch boardslide, shove the two and hung in with me to film a line since I take forever. I had another shaky start, but eventually was ollieing up the 2 easy, front board jib down it, got a couple 50s and crooks on the bench. Then spent a long time trying a line of no comply 180, fakie flip, switch noseslide, back 50 the ledge. I eventually scrapped the no comply as it wasn’t working, but I’m still happy with the fakie flip along the palm trees. The back 50 came out of nowhere. This spot forces you to come in at a right angle so I guess it worked for me. I was really hyped.

@neilsoffire in paradise. #stubbornwithaloha #sunburntandstubborn

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Feb 19, 2018 at 8:20pm PST

Then we went to this school. On the 15 minute car ride there my body got so stiff. I never really recovered, but I did stubbornly skate through it. The spot had so much to offer. Trick into bank, crazy ledge, wallrides, stairs, more ledges and even more ledges. Paul started with a couple tricks into the bank, but nailed some crazy back 50s threading the needle through a pole. He backed it up with a high speed kickflip and some ollies down the 4 – 5. Neil did a sick line and I filmed him. At first he did 100 shove it’s into the bank to get started, but then he did kickflip in and that line was the one. Kickflip, powerslide, wallride, powerslide, crooks shove, shove on flat, hill bomb. Man, so epic. Jake and I took awhile to get tricks into the bank. I had done a bunch of switch front 180s and a couple halfcab flips, but when it came time to filming I just settled with switch front 180 in. It was a cool feeling line even though I look slow and the filming was from a mile behind me. Switch 180, powerslide, wallride nollie, cali grind, noseslide. I was hyped on how it felt. Jake had tried a bunch of f/s flips and 360 flips in, but came up empty handed. I started skating the lower triangle ledge with Neil and Paul while Jake tried f/s flips to start out a switch hill bomb the whole hill. Gnarly! I filmed Neil get a sick line of nose manual, no comply 360 then front tail on the far ledge. He did it so good. I took awhile to get the hang of the downhill approach, but had some fun front 50s, accidental front 5-0s and front 50 shove. I had some visions of a line to the other ledge and had some fun nollie back 180s and halfcab flips, but I couldn’t seem to land anything on it. The whole trip my bushings felt like jello. I guess that makes sense considering how much the freeze up in cold weather. Anyways, I got a couple halfcab noseslides on the far ledge, tried fakie nosegrind. I could have skated it longer, but everyone was done and I was probably too sore to be skating anyway. I loved these spots and it makes me want to skate ledges more. Thanks for bringing us to these spots Neil!

(setup 8.25″ null monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm spitfire F4 101a classic shape, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, adidas busenitz vulc white/blue size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

Saturday fun day. After breakfast and some site seeing we met up with Neil’s crew at this school. Spot looks amazing. There are some ill placed cracks and there were a lot of debris from the rain, but it was awesome. Jake wasn’t skating this spot. I was feeling very out of my element. Everything felt wrong. I had a first try back 50, but for the most part just flailed around and was just starting to get warmed up when we got the boot. At least I got a front 50 when we left. Neil was ripping. Manuals, nose manuals across the stage, front 50s the ledges, shoves, lines. First time meeting Paul and he rips. I think he was trying fakie back nosegrinds and doing fast front 50 and then nose manual on the stage. It may have been Eric doing the fakie back nosegrinds. Or they both were. They were both ripping though. Bummed we got kicked out, I could have skated there a long time.

One dude that can’t ollie or push fast and another that can. #stubbornwithaloha #sunburntandstubborn #thestubborns @neilsoffire

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Feb 18, 2018 at 12:19pm PST

But I guess that’s what this spot was for. We lasted here until our hearts were content. Which as you know with me, is a good solid couple hours. I was determined to get warmed up. I still felt disoriented, but I did manage to skate the ledges okay for me. Got some noseslides, crooks, nothing over the stairs, never quite a front 50, almost a slow kick back 5-0, the Rob trick on the second level which was fun even though I’m going slow. Paul was doing fast 50s, a really cool wallie out of a hard angle, almost fakie flips off the ledge. Jeff is a technician, and handled quite a few tricks over the stairs. Front tail easy and almost back tail. Eric skated fast too and had some cool combos. It’s been too long since the session that I’m writing this because I don’t remember all he was doing, I just remember it was stylee and fun. Neil was shredding. His first time nosesliding over the stairs, long front 50s, lines starting with front shoves, lots of tricks on the second level. At one point a lot of people were sitting, but Jeff was still getting it so I decided to skate flat. I actually got through a lot of tricks and it cheered me up and got my body feeling better. Kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, varial flip, almost nollie tre, almost tre, almost f/s halfcab heel. We attempted to hit some more spots, but ended up at the beach instead and it was awesome.

#paradise

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Feb 17, 2018 at 9:57pm PST

(setup 8.25″ null monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm spitfire F4 101a classic shape, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, adidas busenitz vulc white/blue size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

So day one brought in a lot of knee pain which I partially blame on the Swifts being too small. An emergency trip to a shoe store and I came away with some Buz vulcs. They felt good out of the gate, but not too grippy. We went to a spot that had a few ledges and a lot of flatground and it looked great. But we got the boot right away. I had to try at least one noseslide first. Well, one turned into 3 or 4 and I got a really bad one. I would have liked to skate that ledge and try more stuff on it. Oh well.

Goofing around. @neilsoffire @tattoodvo #sunburntandstubborn #stubbornwithaloha

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Feb 17, 2018 at 8:43am PST

So we went to campus. Neil and I started out on a two stair area. It was rad. I was struggling, but getting hyped watching Neil line out so much. There were 3 stairs nearby too. Neil had shove up, shove down, back 180 up/down, ollied the 3, manuals, funny nose manual bail. I had switch ollie down, back 180 down, front 180 up, tried to line some stuff out, but it didn’t really work much. Then we went to look at the red curb which was stickier than it looks and crowded with people. When I do the dropin then boardslide line you can see the Japanese student filming me. So funny. Then Neil did the triple ollie to wallride. Then Neil’s friends Debo and Eric showed up. We hit the bank area for awhile. It was fun. Going up the 3 stair was way harder than I thought it would be. Neil and Debo did double wallrides. Eric broke his board ollieing a 5 stair. Doh.

Road trips get harder every year. #thestruggleisreal #stubbornwithaloha #sunburntandstubborn #cannottrefliptosavemylife

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Feb 16, 2018 at 7:16pm PST

Then we went to a spot called Courts. I was wrecked again. Argh. I really tried to get it going, but my legs were just not working. Go all the way to Hawaii and have to just look at amazing spots like this. I had some switch noseslides, a few slow basic flippers, but had to call it. Neil was trying to piece lines together too, but like me he ended up sitting. Quite a few people shoed up and it was fun watching game of SKATE, Eric rip nollie tailslides and halfcab noseslides (I think). We had a couple drinks and watched. It was fun.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm spitfire F4 101a classic shape, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, adidas busenitz vulc white/blue size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

Friends visit an smiles happen!! #stubbornwithaloha #sunburntandstubborn #neilsdailyvid jake totally had it but got hurt… 🌴🤙🏻😎😎

A post shared by Neil Thurman (@neilsoffire) on Feb 16, 2018 at 8:56pm PST

And we’re off! #sunburntandstubborn / #stubbornwithaloha day 1. Jake, Neil and I showed up at this skatepark called AMR (I think) on an absolutely gorgeous day. We had the park to ourselves. We warmed up in our own ways. Some group attempts at treflips (only Jake got one), but mostly doing our thing. Jake ollied onto the table. Neil bonked a bench so easy. I had a crooks on the bench, slam on front 50. Neil had some sick lipslides on the lower ledge with long lines including nollie back neil’s, hip ollies, kickflip fakie. After awhile we all kind of settled into stuff. I was trying various lines into the kicklfip to fakie from high to low. Noseslides on the pyramid were fun, but I was doing them terribly. Neil got the kickflip to fakie from high to low first. Jake was trying the disaster 360 transfer and getting close and had some pain shoot through his calf. The pain was too much to keep skating. Seriously? First spot of the trip!?!?! No!!! Jake chilled as I struggled to get my line. Dropping in on the metal edge was scary at first, but ended up being the catalyst to get me hyped enough to commit to the kickflip fakie. What a fun line.

Then we went to this spot. Jake was still hurting. We weren’t sure if it was a really bad cramp or a torn muscle or something else. So he chilled. Neil and I played around a little. I knew this would be the only time I skated this spot so I settled on trying kickflip onto the barrier. I got really close, but never got it. I was a sweaty mess and my knees were killing me. There are cracks and rough sections all over that spot making it so hard to get to where you want to go.

Then we went to this spot. My legs were toast. Jake was hurting. But it was fun filming Neil and watching him shred it. Then we went swimming in the ocean as the sun set. Wow.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm spitfire F4 101a classic shape, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es swift 1.5 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)