After work then the chiropractor I went to Saul’s. I was hyped on the crew. Saul, Jake, josh, Ed, Jake. The environment at Saul’s rules. It’s just fun. Saul was ripping and trying new stuff. I saw him get into back smith, front slash the shallow and almost the deep. Ed got tail blocks on lock, back disasters, front slashes. Josh was riding a board with a longer wheelbase and it was throwing off his back d’s. He still got ‘em though. Jake was trying feebles to fakie in the deep. I skated alright. Had some fun grinds in the shallow corner. My knees were really hurting though and it messed with me. I had little front slashes in the shallow then deep that were fun. Good little session before Hawaii.

(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)

Fav part of last week was Flo Mirtain for Habitat. Dude has some serious style.

OCD kicked in a bit and knew I needed some new wheels and shoes before Hawaii in a few days. So I hit 303 since they had the Es Swift. I added in some 52mm Spitfire F4s. I drove around Denver for a bit looking for something dry, but it was still pretty wet. I drove back to Boulder, parked at research center, changed my wheels out and twisted the new shoes around. I started on a new two stair area (not above), but it was pretty wet and boring. I went up near the Max G rail and was hyped to see they redid the concrete so the long two was skateable. I started slow, but ended up trying some hard runs for me. I could tell that the bigger wheels helped me ollie up the 2 stair (my old wheels were probably down to 47 or 48). I didn’t do many flip tricks, I just tried lines. I would start at the crappy ledge, go around a couple corners, ollie up the 2, then turn around and do a trick down them. I did boardslide, front 180 up, front 180 down. Then halfcab noseslide, ollie up, back 180 down. The back 180 down took a few tries so it took awhile. Then I tried halfcab boardslide, back 180 up, switch front 180 down. Man. The back 180 was killing me. I haven’t done a back 180 up anything in awhile and a long two was hard. But I’m stubborn and I stuck with it. Even when the sun went behind the mountains I kept at it. It got cold quick and my bushings froze up making for some funny and awkard switch pushes up the hill to the ledge. I finally got a back 180 up and of course missed the switch 180 due to some awkward pushing. About 10 tries later i got the back 180 again and the switch front 180 came easy. I was quite hyped on that line. Exhausted with sweat freezing I headed home.

(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)

On a snowy day I went into the garage in the middle of the afternoon. I started with the “bank” to curb option which is harder than it looks. I started with some nose/tail stalls and worked up to front axle which took for freaking ever. Something about the quick pop right after getting on the wood weirded me out. And the fact that it requires pop which aint easy for me. The 50 shove fakie thing came pretty quick though. Don’t think I’ve ever done that before. I tried front 50 kickflip out for awhile and got pretty close. I gave up and tried backside stuff for awhile, but ended up giving up. I would do a few flip tricks in between tries. I was wearing the cupsole Es again and it felt better. I got kickflips, heelflips, treflip. Tried a few nollie and switch flips. My shoes felt so huge I was slipping around. Then I took the ledge out and just skated flat. I got quite a few tricks. I didn’t start filming until the nollie varial flip which felt cool even though it was so bad. Getting another treflip took awhile. The halfcab heel hyped me up. Not sure if I’ll ever land another nollie flip. I skated hard though and I’m happy about that.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es swift 1.5 grey size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

Went to Blue Skies after work still feeling incredibly sore. I was gonna meet Josh! I was so hyped. But the temperature had dropped a ton and it was frigid out. I got there first and messed around not doing much. Nollie shoves, boardslides on the flat bar, no complies on the bank and some side rocks on the other banks. Josh showed and we bro’d down and it was awesome seeing him. He tried a few things for the gram, but my phone was so cold it shut down. Josh rules, he’s so naturally good at skateboarding.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es swift 1.5 grey size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

Doubles after work in the cold with @fullertrron. 📹 @matthouse and Teddy.

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Feb 7, 2018 at 6:03pm PST

Right after work I went and met Dave at the dog park. I got there first and immediately knew it would be a struggle. I didn’t think it would be as bad as it was though. I was struggling with kickflips. I knew I needed some extra entertainment so I grabbed one of the plastic parking blocks. It helped with motivation. Spracking off it is so much fun. Dave showed around when I was trying switch spracks then fakie flips. It took awhile. Then every trick took awhile. Dave was struggling too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him fall so many times in one session. I got a few random tricks going slow. Dave was doing switch and regular no complys over the block. So sick. I ended up getting a line of heelflip, kickflip over the parking block, then a hands down treflip. Right after that I got a no comply flip. Dave was doing 50s and 5-0s across the ledge so good. He also did fakie and nollie shoves over the parking block. I took awhile to get a fakie bigspin. Matt was at the dog park with Teddy for awhile and hung out with us. I got a few more no comply flips and one of them felt like the best one I’ve done. Then I started to get so sore (I think because the little vulc shoes are too thin for my frail old arthritic body) so the only thing I did was no comply flips. Matt agreed to film Dave and I go for doubles. It took a few tries, but we did it. Dave kept ripping after that though. 5-0 back 180 out. So good. It was a really tough day, but there were some highlights to make the stubborness not seem so crazy.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es accel sq burgundy/gum size 11, custom orthotic insole)

IDrawMazes aka Eric Eckert made this video featuring 60 second parts from the homies. Somehow I have a part in this too (starting at 7:15). Good stuff Eckert!

After dinner Ollie and I went over to the curb area across the street. It felt much colder than it said (44) it was. Ollie was complaining the whole time. He couldn’t do a shove it and it was bumming him out. He said it was too hard. Ha. He skated for awhile though. I suggested he try front 180 up the curb and after awhile he got a couple. It was cool. He did manage several shove its and fakie shoves. He did some manuals and stuff too. I mostly tried curb tricks. Back 50s, nollie back tails, got a couple switch crooks jibs. There were a lot of rocks making it not as fun as normal. Ollie left and I tried a few kick back tail which I got close to. Then I went behind the school, did a few axle stalls, ollied onto the easier rock once or twice and then bounced.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es accel sq burgundy/gum size 11, custom orthotic insole)

One of the best skaters of all time and winner of last week’s best video part.

After a long and sketchy drive from Buena Vista and an amazing welcome home greeting from Liz I went to meet Dave at the dog park. But he bailed before I got there. My motivation was hurting, my body felt okay, and somehow the mid 30 weather didn’t bother me. I was wearing the Es vulcs again because I felt like skating vulcs. It’s crazy how much better the board feel is. These are a little too thin though. Anyways, I skated for about an hour. I didn’t skate fast or good, but I landed some tricks. I tried a line of fakie flip, halfcab flip, 360 flip for awhile. Couldn’t get the treflip and got a text from Matt requesting a treflip. Turns out he was with his dog at the park. He wasn’t looking, but I did land a treflip that try. I was hyped. Thanks for the motivation Matt. I landed a lot of heelflips, f/s halfcab flip, b/s flip randomly I did a few nollie back bigspins (okay “nollie” is a stretch). Came close to halfcab heels both ways, nollie inward heel, nollie tre, some more. Got tired so I left.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es accel sq burgundy/gum size 11, custom orthotic insole)