Keeping with my new tradition of skating flat for at least an hour on days I have off work I headed to dog park at 9am on a cool, but nice morning. Except the dog park had some stupid bike clinic or something. A bunch of adults (from what I could tell) weaving in and out of cones at very slow speeds. But definitely not as slow as my flatground skating would be as I crossed the street and posted up in the Valmont parking lot. There were cars near the manny pads so I couldn’t really hit them even. I didn’t skate well at all. I had a few heelflips, a rare b/s halfcab heelflip, the basic kickflip variations, but couldn’t treflip to save my life. Argh! Couldn’t f/s haflcab heel or kickflip either. So it was a struggle, but my legs seemed to enjoy flatground as a warm up.

An hour or so later Jack and Carleigh showed up at my house. Well, they showed up at my street and ate and skated until I came out. Ha. Jack had some great nollie heels amongst many other tricks I dream of. Cab flip, impossible back 180, switch heel, bigflip. I don’t remember them all, but he was killing it. I had only done a couple tricks when Fuzz showed up. Carleigh had put down a kickflip too.

Then we went to Fort Collins. First stop was Spring Canyon. Jack and Carleigh went to the dog park to look at a dog. Fuzz and I looked at a skatepark full of little kids playing. Literally just playing, no scooters even. I told Fuzz I’d scare them off before he got his shoes on. Well, I wasn’t that quick, but I did skate right at them until they got the hint to get out of there. Then we skated and had fun (other than me taking several ties to get a back 50 on the tiny ledge). We mostly skated the little ledge. Jack did a bunch of tricks like polejam late shove, boardslide up the tiny rail 270 shove to manual, then was trying a dream trick of fakie 5-0 shove out the hard way. He got really close! Fuzz had a sick back 50 front 180 out, front 50s, fakie front 50s. I got a back 50 finally, front 50 no comply shove out, front 50 kickflop out, some fakie front 50s where I wanted to exit with a switch front 180, but were just the normal f/s halfcab and a fakie nosegrind that actually felt really cool. Carleigh was ripping everything. Long lines with boardslides, feeble the silly steep qp, noseslide shove the ledge off the pad. I ended by doing a crooks on the bench. It was a fun session.

Then we went to this spot. Oh this spot. Its been years since I’ve been there. Before my journal started. Jack and I started with the grinds near the bikepath. Jack did 5-0 to fakie and got bored and moved on and about 5 minutes later I finally landed a 50. We somehow skated the banks. It took awhile for tricks to get landed. Well, maybe not for Jack, but everything about this place is more of a struggle than you would think. Carleigh was going for no comply over a skate stopper. We setup hosercam. I had tried bean planting over one, but gave up and sat down and filmed. Jack did a no comply flip, crazy shove nosepick shove and like 20 more tricks. Fuzz did a couple sick ones too. Halfcab board transfer to fakie, ollie over to tail to fakie. Carleigh was still going on the no comply and getting closer and closer to landing it how she wanted. I messed around with a turn on grind off the new concrete. It was dumb, scary and really fun when I landed it. Carleigh followed shortly with a solid no comply.

Then we went to the bank to curb where only Jack skated. He wanted to one foot tailgrab into it, but he only one footed it. So lame. Ha ha, fun day with good friends with lots of laughs and great weather. It doesn’t get much better then that.

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm bones stf v5, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 255 blue size 12, custom orthotic insoles)

Been wanting to get on this program for months now. On days I have off work I want to wake up early, skate flatground for an hour then do some yoga and chill for awhile before skating again. Today was the day to make it happen. Around 9am I went in front of the house. It was sunny and nice out. I started super basic with shoves then eased into the flippers. I was hyped on a first try heelflip. Struggled with halfcab flip for a bit. Got a first try nollie varial flip followed by a fakie varial flip. I couldn’t get a 360 flip though. I was close and committing, but maybe I can blame still having new shoes. Got sloppy fakie bigflip and b/s flip. Other tricks I tried, but didn’t land are nollie tre, nollie flip, switch heel, switch flip, halfcab heels, bs 360 kickflips, nollie inward heels. One of these days I hope to land some of these. Hucking the bs 360 flip felt doable.

After lunch I went to Lafayette to meet Dave and Phil after the wind had kicked in. My motivation was lacking (thanks Liz). Dave and Phil had been there for awhile. Phil’s boys were there too. They were cool. They reminded me of Ollie in that they were ready to leave whenever, but Phil kept wanting to skate. Ha. Phil was doing Ollie flyouts with his boys. Dave was shredding the way he does flowing around the park. I don’t remember doing much other than a kickflip on the mountain bank before a fun session ensued on the tiny steep qp by the entrance. Dave and Phil did front 5-0s. Dave did a bunch of tricks. Boardslide, back tail, feeble fakie, tailblock, showed Phil how easy rock fakies are, switch feeble fakie. Phil did back 50, front axle, rocks, and took awhile to get the scary rock fakie, fakie disaster, ollied off the qp. I did rocks, front/back axle stalls, feeble and took awhile to get a hurricane. I was happy to get it though. I did some flyout kickflips for a bit and intended to line them out with ledge tricks on the little black pad, but the wind was messing with me. Dave ‘had to go’. I chatted with Phil for awhile and the wind kept getting worse so I took off. Fun skating with those dudes.

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm bones stf v5, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 255 blue size 12, custom orthotic insoles)

One of my favorite dudes out right now.

Another lunch break session at Blue Skies with Dave and Aki. They were both there when I arrived in some bright new blue shoes (NB# 255). They immediately felt better than the crappy slippery Busentiz Vulc. But they were still new, so it took some getting used to. Dave had a heck of a firing line right when I got there. Back 180 into the “qp”, switch hippy jump 180, front shove fakie on the bank. I think I’m even missing part of what he did in that line. Aki was rattling off tricks on the flat bar as starts to lines again. He had nollie front 50 on the low ledge and almost backed it up with switch front 50. Whoa. He did a back 50 to back tail. Dave was doing stylee front boards to fakie on the flat bar and getting close to fakie varial flip on the bank. I started with a basic line I stuck to for a bit. Boardslide on the flatbar, no comply 180, switch nose jib, kickflip to fakie on the bank, halfcab noseslide. Never got the halfcab noseslide. Tried for boardslide to fakie on the flatbar for awhile which is so hard for me, kinda got one. I was 2-2 on slow front 50s on the low ledge. Dave was trying front board 270 out and getting kinda close. Aki kept on the lines. His front tails on the low ledge are good. Dave had to leave and Aki and I skated the up ledge. Neither of us had noseslid up it. It was harder than I would have imagined. We both got a couple that weren’t to the top, but still fun. Aki also did crooks, front and back 50. I got a crooks jib and a slow front 50. then we ended by playing a game of SKATE. It started off bad with bailed kickflips and pop shoves, and then I got a double or nothing letter on fakie flip. Argh. He won. He also got me with treflip, switch flip and nollie flip. I had gotten him with halfcab flips and heelflip. New shoes feel okay, still need some breaking in though.

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm bones stf v5, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 255 blue size 12, custom orthotic insoles)

Went to the research ledge around 8pm after a long day of work and some food. I was feeling pretty sore. Warm up didn’t go so hot, but I did get through a couple ledge tricks to get me going. Noseslide to fakie was fun. Crooks took a bit, but the one I got was really fun. I was attempting lots of flip tricks, but not landing much of anything. I mostly wanted to skate flat so I had told myself I needed to get a back 50 first. Well we know how this goes. I got a grind pretty quick, but it wasn’t back 50 as I tic tac’d in and out of feeble. I tried to clean it up, but I never got one. I had gotten frustrated and said if I land a first try halfcab noseslide I could move away from the ledge. I got it first try. It was really bad, but I was going faster than normal so I’ll take that as a positive. I went to the new back area that has perfect flatground. This is when the frustration really set in. I was really trying flippers, but they weren’t flipping. These Busenitz have no grip. You need grip to cause friction to flip your board. I have no idea how this shoe is a top selling shoe. I tried to at least try some flippers, but I ended up just giving up. The back area is cool There is a 2 stair. You can line out tricks up/off a curb too. Unless of course you can’t land anything like me. Bye bye Busenitz Vulc, aka the worst shoe I’ve had in a long time.

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, bones medium bushings, adidas busenitz vulc burgundy size 11.5, custom orthotic insoles)

Skipped out on my lunch break for an hour at Blue Skies. Dave and Aki were there when I got there chatting in the rink, but we moved into the park right away. I thought I’d still be super sore from Sunday, but things actually worked and felt decent. We all did our various things to warm up. Dave did a first try switch no comply shove on the bank that was out of this world good. Trick of the day in the first minute. Dave was starting most of his lines with boardslides or boardslides to fakie on the snake bar. Aki was starting on the flatbar and going through lots of tricks. I was trying either soft rock or front tail stall on a bank then noseslides on the taller ledge. Dave was messing around with ollies to deck check on the weird pyramid thing. I took a few tries to get a front 50 on the low ledge, but nowhere near the struggle I went through last time. That part of the session alone made me feel better. But on top of that I skated decent for me. I had a few lines. Noseslide to fakie the tall corner ledge, halfcab boardslide the end of the flat bar, terrible front 5-0 (which was supposed to be a 50 shove). I would eventually also get 50 shove, 50 front 180. The ledge was too slick for crooks and me. I had a few basic flippers, still couldn’t get 360 flip. Aki had some really good lines. Nollie front lip the flat bar, kickflip on flat, front tail the low ledge, kickflip to fakie the bank, turn around and maybe he got crooks on the ledge. He also had nollie back lip on the flat bar. Aki couldn’t get a 360 flip either. Dave was trying boardslide shoves and never quite got it. We ended trying tricks on the bank. I posed a few fakie hardflips which felt doable. Apologies Dave, but I forget what you were trying on the bank. I know after I left he was doing a line of hippy flip on the bank and then boardslide shove attempts on the flat bar. Never got the shove. Doh! On the way out of the park I did a fly out kickflip. It was a nice topper on a fun session.

After work I stopped at Saul’s for a short one. My board felt so slow. I guess the bearings are still shot from the river at the hip session. I didn’t skate very well, but it was fun to skate with Saul. He was locking into long back 50s. Can’t wait to see him get those. I posed some lien to disasters. I probably shouldn’t be trying the, but they seem doable so I probably will again.

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm bones stf v5, bones medium bushings, adidas busenitz vulc burgundy size 11.5, custom orthotic insoles)

After a crisp morning the sun warmed things up and without a breeze it was pretty lovely out. I met Jack and Carleigh at a ditch off Pearl that Jack wanted to skate. It was gnarly. So gnarly that Carleigh and I didn’t even attempt to skate it. Jack had an idea to ollie in and transfer to the next one. Without a photo this doesn’t make much sense, but lets just say the second and third walls were STEEP. It took him awhile, but he got it. Gnarly.

Then I showed Carleigh this tiny little gap around the corner. Well, Jack too, but after a first try late shove he decided to film the gnar. Aka Carleigh and I taking forever to land a couple basic tricks. The narrow and short approach makes setting up so hard. Carleigh couldn’t ollie it at first, but a short 50 tries later stomped a kickflip so good. I had been trying backside flip, but whenever I’d put it down it was only 90 degrees and I couldn’t get past that so I gave up and tried front shoves. And a short 50 tries later I got one. Ha. It was so hard, but it did feel rather good. Thanks so much for filming it so good Jack.

Fun time with the homies yesterday @gnarlycarleigh @jackspanbauer We only skate the gnarliest spots. #thestubborns

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 12, 2018 at 10:34am PDT

Then we went to this tiny bank to curb that is way harder to skate than it looks. Oh yeah I was wearing my big orthotics again and it contributed to things feeling weird. Carleigh kicked things off with a first try axle stall. Jack went right in on the nosepick spin out the hard way. As you can see, he got it. I got a couple flip ins to something. The one filmed happened to fall into back smith and I lunchbreaked it for a good 4 course meal. Carleigh added pivot. Jack also did the nosepick shove pivot. He good. I’m gonna miss these two not living in Boulder!

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm bones stf v5, bones medium bushings, adidas busenitz vulc burgundy size 11.5, custom orthotic insoles)

On a breezy day I went to Broomfield park on a whim after lounging around on a breezy day. I got there around 2pm and was the only person with a skateboard for quite some time. There were a bunch of scooter kids and several bikers. Why don’t kids ride skateboards anymore? Anyway, I was wearing new shoes, another pair of Busenitz vulc. They felt good surprisingly and I warmed up quickly having more pop than I figured I would. I had front 50s on the black box consistently, got front shove out first try, front 180 out first try. Had some lines. That park is fun with the lines. After awhile another skater showed at least. He wore headphones. And then a few more skaters. Two of which were incredibly annoying and wore headphones and never stopped or rotated or cared about anyone else. I just kind of avoided what they were skating. I had a couple terrible back 50s on the blue box, halfcab nose the black box, basic quartapotty tricks, crooks the black box, tried front nosegrind on the blue box for a bit, but never fully committed, did okay with the basic flips, boardslid the flatbar a bunch, actually skated the flow bowl for awhile and was scared dropping in (guess it’s been a long time since I’ve skated tranny other than Saul’s). I ended with a fun line attempt of switch front 180 into the mellow bank then noseslide 270 shove the black box. Never go the 270 shove, but I was close. I left in quite a bit of pain, I don’t think those Gamechangers is cutting it.

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm bones stf v5, bones medium bushings, adidas busenitz vulc burgundy size 11.5, fp gamechanger insoles)

#flatgroundfriday

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 9, 2018 at 12:34pm PST

I got to Blue Skies first. I was so sore I didn’t think I’d be able to skate. But I flailed around and around the time Ed showed up I was trying tricks. Jake showed up next, grabbed Ed and they went down to the park for a bit. Then Dave and Aki showed up. I was feeling better. I was trying some three trick lines and I had a few starting with basics. Front shove, kickflip, pop shove. No comply 180, fakie flip, halfcab flip. And around the time Ed and Jake joined I pieced together 4 tricks and it felt awesome. Halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip, fakie varial flip. That would be enough to hype me up for the rest of the session. Which is good because I don’t think I really landed anything else, I got close to f/s halfcab heel and flip. Aki had some good lines too with kickflips, shoves, nollie flip, he got a 360 flip. Jake struggled with 360 flips, but would get one. He had f/s flips, halfcab flip. Ed was cruising around with steezy ollies, got a couple kickflips, 180s and smiling a lot. Dave was struggling with kickflips at first, but had lines with varial flip and a first try fakie varial flip. I had to leave when they all started playing a game of SKATE. Man I wanted in on that. Dave gave me the scoop, it appears he won it with some switch no complys. You get it Dave!

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm bones stf v5, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 212 green size 11, fp gamechanger insoles)

Finally not so busy at work and got out for a lunch break to see the sun. I got there first. Today I went with the old 212s again, but with the Gamechanger insoles. They felt good. That shoe is so wide I love it. I wish the sole had a bit more cushion though. Anyway, warming up felt okay. I had some good pushes, ollie/nollies on the bank, kickflip first try on flat. Dave got there shortly after me and then to our delight Aki showed up. I started trying boardslide shoves which I’ve never done. I thought I’d get it, but then it seemed harder to obtain, then close for one or two, then gone. Dave was doing cool combos boardsliding the snake rail then hitting the flat bar. Boardslide to fakie then switch boardslide back to switch! Nice front 50s on the little ledge, fakie 3 shove on the bank, kcifklip fakie on the bank. The boardslide on the snake then front 50 on the flatbar got away from him, but he got it without the line. Lots of kickflips too. Aki gets better everytime he skates. I’m jealous. I need to get better at pushing myself. Anyway, Aki, ripping. Did front board shove on the flat bar, had a really long line of front lip the flat bar, front 50 the ledge, crooks the ledge, front 50 transfer the snake rail. Whoa! He also front 50’d the tall main ledge, front 50 the flat bar, crooks the flat bar. I was probably pretty depressing to be around because once again I mentally could not commit to front 50s on the low ledge. I would eventually get one, and it took a line to do it. Slow noseslide the flat bar, heelflip on flat (had a couple that felt good), then front 50. I got on a couple more front 50s, but it was time for me to go, almost got a shove out of one. I dropped in on the hubba, had a couple slow noseslides on taller ledges, great feeling halfcab flip, close to treflip, ollied the flatbar, it wasn’t a total loss. Thanks for staying positive Dave when I’m struggling like this. You were ripping. I should mention that I was very happy with my setup.

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm bones stf v5, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 212 green size 11, fp gamechanger insoles)