Yeah so here I am in one of those setup OCD cycles. One thing I’ve come to learn is proportions are very important. The board should be as wide or wider than the trucks. Skating the 8.25 in Seattle with 8.5″ trucks doesn’t work well, it does’t flip as fast and it just feels weird. So after work I grabbed a barely used 8.5 from a previous setup spat and put the 8.5″ Ventures on it. After dinner I went out front of the house thinking if flatground goes terrible then I’m over it and I’ll go back to the 8.25 with small trucks. Only it didn’t go bad, it actually went very good. My halfcab flips felt better than they have in awhile, I did like 8/10 heelflips, one in a line with a bad treflip. But the fact that I landed a treflip at all made me happy. I had hucked a bunch of flippers. All of them felt fine. Then I wen across the street to the curb area and had a grand ol’ time. I landed a switch front 50! It felt cool. Which led to me doing a fakie front 50 without turning out. It felt cool. And I almost got one with a switch 180 out. Couldn’t do front tails, but most everything else was going well. Kickflip up the curb, fakie ollies up, kickflip off, b/s shove off, back 50 front 180, front 50 back 180, intentional front 5-0s. Even got a sketchy bs flip up the curb. After awhile I was sitting and posting the vert clip on the gram and Ollie came out of nowhere and scared me so good. Ha. Then he skated for about 20 minutes. He had a few clean ollies up the curb, a back 180 up the curb! Manuals into 5-0s, kind of a front hurricane trying to back 180 up, then he actually tried a hurricane and got one. He also did his first ever nollie shove. Fun night.

(setup 8.5″ null rabethica deck, venture black icon 5.8″ trucks, venom 88a bushings, old 52mm bones stf v5 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, lakai ellis black/white size 11.5, spenco 3/4 orthotic thinsole and thin adidas insole)

Coffee, DIY and plenty of all-over body pain. With @the_neviathan, @corpoglenny and @chipbaker #ibuprofenpatrol #cloggingyourfeedwithstokepartdeux #jpskatecrap

A post shared by Joshua Pluger (@boredzinejp) on Mar 31, 2018 at 10:36am PDT

Great weekend skating hanging (and eating) with a great crew of people @nolancormier @boredzinejp @the_neviathan @corpoglenny #mattspears #sam

A post shared by Seattle Skate Rock (@shopdeckcollisioncrew) on Apr 2, 2018 at 2:12am PDT

After skating til almost midnight we were up by 7:30 to get Joe to the airport. After a breakfast we were back to knowing the only thing we know how to do besides eat. Skate. We ended up at Long Acres DIY. At first it was just Josh, Nate and I. Chip joined for awhile. Then later on it was also Nolan, John, Matt, Sam and a couple locals. It was good seeing Chip. He tries a lot of flip tricks and I love seeing it. He wasn’t able to stay too long. Josh, Nate and I skated surprisingly well considering how beat our bodies felt. Having little wallie options to get going is fun. Transferring over the keg spine was so fun. Josh had disasters on the qp right away, ollies over the hips, pole jam, sweepers on the mellow bank. Nate got going on the granite ledge with front smiths, front nosegrind (I think), and I think back 5-0. I was skating the best I had all trip. Doing lines with basic tricks. Had a line with comply shove on the mellow bank, front 50 the coping ledge, turn around on the qp, kickflip fakie on the mellow bank, switch noseslide the granite ledge, transfer the keg, kickflip on the bank. I had some other fun tricks like no comply flip on the bank, front rock on the qp, switch front nose the granite ledge. It was fun. I started to get sore so Nate was kind enough to film a line of me. It was okay, I kind of wish I had tried something else in retrospect. Oh well. I filmed Josh get a line first try. Polejam, back 50 transfer the qp, keg transfer, sweepr. So good. Nate was up next and got a banger of a line. Front smith the granite ledge, frontside ollie the qp hip, keg transfer, nollie 270 flip on the mellow bank. Whoa what! After that Josh and I didn’t skate a whole lot. Nate did nollie inward heel on the bank and another crazy trick. I filmed Nolan destroy it. Dude rips so hard, especially stuff like this. Matt and Sam ripped it. John ripped it. What a fun crew.

@nolancormier #pivotfakie #cloggingyourfeedwithstokepartdeux

A post shared by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Apr 1, 2018 at 11:35am PDT

#skateboardingrules @the_neviathan #cloggingyourfeedwithstokepartdeux #skatetourist

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 31, 2018 at 4:07pm PDT

Then we went to Garfield school to see it in person. When we showed filmer Jon was there who was so rad to see. The dude he was filming wasn’t stoked on people watching him though. Ha ha. We dorked around with some wallrides at the top. We had miniramp lines with a drop in then wallride. Matt had really high wallrides. Nolan had a gnarly pivot to fakie. Ha. Then we found this fun little bank ride hand plant around the corner that is amazingly fun. Nate went frontside, Matt did a push up, Nolan went up and down the whole bank. It was an epic ender for the trip. Then we had tacos at a nearby taco truck and I went to the airport. What a fun trip. I can’t believe how great the weather was. Thanks to everyone for such a great time, especially Josh for hosting us in such an excellent way.

(setup 8.25 null atomic cowboy deck, black venture 5.8 v-light, 3 washers outside each axle, 88a venom bushings, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels, old swiss bearings, new balance numeric 255 baby blue size 12, spenco 3/4 thinsole with 5mm footprints insole)

Epic spot ✔️ Epic crew ✔️ Epic tricks ✔️ @baffoos switch backside flip

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 3, 2018 at 4:55pm PST

On another gorgeous day Jack and Carleigh picked me up, we met up with Fuzz and Kevin and we went to this spot in Denver. Apparently it’s normally covered in dirt and the city just came through and cleaned it out. Jack’s board went into the water first try. That would happen to everyone’s board at some point. It took some getting used to. My ollies were so pathetic, they were just like little tail scrapes, but I did get a kickflip pretty quick. Jack too. It was surprising to see flip trick master Kevin struggle with kickflips. Fuzz got front 360 quick. After I took too long to do a front shove I filmed Fuzz and everyone else for awhile. Carleigh put down a few pop shoves. Chelsea almost put down some crazy popped kickflips. Kevin had a sick hardflips. Jack did a bunch of tricks like 360 flip, varial flip, impossible and the coveted kickflip late shove. Then I started skating again and eventually I started trying varial flips which seemed like it would be easy. I’ve never done it over a backside hip before. It wasn’t easy. Carleigh was throwing backside flips. It was crazy because she didn’t look close for awhile and then put her feet on it once or twice and then she did it a few tries later. So sick. She did another one too. Both were perfect. Kevin was going in on nollie f/s flips and it took awhile. It was just Carleigh, Kevin and I still trying tricks. Oh yeah, Billy was there earlier. He was mostly chilling, but would take his cruiser for some casual crushing and almost did f/s flip over the hip. Carleigh tried straight kickflips for awhile. Kevin and I were so close so many times. He got a perfect one. Then it was just me skating feeling lame for taking so long and wanting to quit, but thankfully Jack kept encouraging me to try so I did. I finally landed it and it felt really cool. Lots of times when you finally land a newish trick (done plenty of varial flips, but not ever a backside hip and definitely not over a somewhat gnarly street hip) the first make feels weird, but this one just felt great. I was hyped. Kevin had started skating again and worked on switch backside flip for a minute before doing such a good one. Then we went on a journey around the corner to a mexican restaurant and enjoyed some good food and margs. Awesome day. I was incredibly sore after which is the only negative. Not sure I should be without orthotics while skating.

(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, stock insoles)

Ollie, Gabe and I showed up at Louisville park around 6, but the lights wouldn’t turn on so we went to Lafayette. The park was pretty chill, some people and some snow, but mostly skatable. Ollie and Gabe mostly hung out near the entrance at first. Doing stationary shoves and hitting the bank. Gabriel hasn’t skated a park so it was all new to him and he was scared just rolling down some of the banks initially. I had a pretty good slam on a nollie back 180 on a bank to start my session. Not sure where that came from, but it hurt. Ollie was doing fakie shoves and f/s halfcabs on the bank. Gabe did an ollie to fakie which kind of blew me away having not skated a bank before. I had fun with the rock corner wallie. I was trying to skate the black ledge, but people kept hanging out by the landing so it was kind of annoying. I struggled with the angle for front 50s, but would get front 50, front 50 shove, front 50 front 180 out and then a manual which was the hardest of the lot for me. Gabe got a clean ollie onto it. What the heck? Kid is gonna be a ripper. Ollie got on it too with a quick jib, but had some nice 180s off. We hit the toilet bowl for awhile. Gabe managed the easy roll in entry and got a few kickturns. Ollie kind of did some grinds. I didn’t get much, the coping there is weird. Some dudes came and put the parking block after the little bank and had a fun session going. I tried to no comply flip into the bank. Got close a few times, but was struggling with the flip. I got halfcab flip on the easy bank. I tried front shoves to fakie on the narrow bank by the snake run for awhile. Ollie came in and did a few tricks to hype me up. Then moved on to skate with Gabriel before I landed the front shove. We ended by ollieing off the tight qp by the entrance. Then Ollie front 180’d it in a few tries. Man it was cool seeing Ollie skate so hard. Him having a buddy to shred with is great.

(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)

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)

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)

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 very nice Friday afternoon I met Rob and Dave at the dog park. We got there at 4pm and the sun was already setting. Argh. It made for a hectic warmup. I was hyped to see Rob going in on varial heels right away. Dave was trying treflips right away too. I was trying my normal warmup routine and it was kind of a battle. I got really mad when I missed my few halfcab flips, but once I got a couple I went on to have a really good flatground day for me. Kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, b/s flip, varial flip, fakie varial flip, fakie bigflip, halfcab flips both ways, 360 flip. Near the end I added a couple rare ones. Frontside halfcab heelflip and fakie treflip. Both felt incredibly awesome. I couldn’t get nollie varial flip or nollie treflip, but oh well. Rob was on fire for awhile doing lines with halfcab flip, b/s flip, heelflip, back 360. He came super close to 360 flip and had a pretty good slam on a back bigspin attempt. Dave looked good on his putter (7.75). He did varial flip and fakie varial flip pretty quick, popped his kickflips, came incredibly close to treflip and did his first ever frontside halfcab flip. It was cool to see, he was super hyped. This was one of my favorite flatground sessions in a long time. The fakie 360 flip felt so good. I’m so happy my legs have been mostly working lately and I can get past my basics.

(setup 8.25″ null atomic cowboy, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 345 black size 11, custom orthotic insole)

Just a dork, a skateboard, a phone, some self deprecation and finally a few hours without getting called into work. A chronological clip of my fun solo day yesterday including two new tricks for me at the end. Well, kind of. #skateboardingrules #oldmanskateboarding #teamsweatstain #slowskatinginslowmotion

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Nov 25, 2017 at 6:34am PST

Figured I’d be working most of the day considering the first call came in at 5am. But that was it. After some breakfast and shopping with my mom I took advantage of no work and bolted to campus. I parked up near the kill and crossed under Broadway. I started out at UMC bailing a 3 stair ollie then went into the nosepick. I’m not sure whey I decided to film everything but I guess it helped the solo motivation. The nosepick took a really long time. Mainly because it took me forever to get the front axle stall first. That crack in the setup is a killer. Also, somehow in my pocket I had activated some voice reading on my work phone so I kept thinking I was getting called for work. Took me awhile to figure out how to disable that. I haven’t done a nosepick in awhile, it felt cool. Then I went up to the drama building (I think?) bank. The rock kickfilp out is fun, took awhile, but less than the nosepick. The walllie/nollie was great fun. Then I skated that flagstone ledge which is pretty tall. Boardslides are easy, but crooks are weird because it king of sticks. I took me awhile to get a crooks that felt good. I was bummed to see how it looked though. Oh well. The slappy crooks was alright. That new curb is fun. I saw the guy that waxed it up , Blake hitting the curved hill ledge. But I wasn’t wanting to jump that high so I rolled back down into campus kind of looking for something new, but ended up at the rec center. The noseslide and noseslide to fakie were fun. I also did what I thought was a crooks, but when I saw the clip I quickly hit delete. I wanted to hit the bank, but decided I would first try to ollie a rock. Man what a battle. I know it doesn’t look tall and it isn’t tall, but it was a serious battle for me. I would do flip tricks on the way back to the starting point to hopefully hype me up. Had a couple heelflips that felt fun, but not much else worked. I was very relieved when I finally landed the ollie. Then I went down to the bank where I quickly learned backside fastplant then tried front heels for like 20 minutes. Some elderly lady asked me why I skate when I could get hurt. Ugh. I was happy when she left. I have never done a front heel on a bank. One could argue that I still haven’t, but I felt happy to get that close at least. This was one of my favorite skate days. I’m not sure where the motivation came from, but it felt great.

(setup 8.25″ null maze deck, venture 5.8 lights black, 51mm spitfire f4 classic 99a, 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)