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)

👑 @fullertrron #thestubborns

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Oct 29, 2017 at 6:30pm PDT

Woke up and my knee was feeling good so I knew I would try to skate. I brought boards to 303 and Emage then met Dave at this schoolyard in Denver which is kind of known as the TF. Dave was doing crazy boardslides when I got there dropping down a parking block. Shortly after he wanted to do it with a bench in front as well. As he worked up to that I tried to skate. It felt good. I was pretty timid at first for sure and didn’t do much, mostly just wallrides on the sheet of wood against the wall and some parking block slappy crooks or boardslides. Then I filmed Dave for awhile and some Emage heads showed up. Tino, Brendan and Owen. It was rad seeing them. They mostly skated flat and wow Tino was popping some good ones. Dave got his trick, a car moved away from the bench and everyone skated lines. Brendan was doing lines with front 50, nollie flips and front tail to fakie. So good. Tino got some nosegrinds, fakie ollie over the bench. Owen had back tail over the bench. I got a weak sauce line of switch nosejib, no comply finger flip, slappy crooks. Felt cool. Then I filmed Dave do this crazy front 5-0 for awhile. The Emage dudes left and Dave’s friend “Deep Rock” Dave showed up. Dave got the 5-0 and it was so sick. After that I tried to get a line to get myself going. Bean plant off the narrow ledge, bankride hand touch, boardslide the parking blocks, noseslide the bench. Pretty fun. After that we all skated the wood for awhile. DR Dave was doing wallrides and had some rad frontside ollies. We moved the trash can into the middle of the wood and did some fun carves over it while putting your hand on the trash can. It felt really cool. Then DR Dave started doing frontside ollies, I was trying bonelesses with my hand on the trash can and Dave was doing wallrides with his hand on the trash can. Dave got a couple easy ones of his. DR Dave and I struggled, but ended up getting some. That was one of the most fun tricks I’ve done in awhile. It felt so cool to put weight on the hand and kind of float a little. I got a few of them, but it took awhile to get all 4 down. What a fun trick.

Then we went to this little ditch. I got there first and kind of posed noseslide attempts, but never came close. DR Dave and Dave showed up. We ollied some hips, carved around and things were flowing. Both Daves tried some crazy roll ins. Dave’s was extra crazy and I thought he was gonna get wrecked Luckily he gave up and instead started doing this crazy halfcab grass ride carve into a wallie/nollie that would sometimes get some grind. DR Dave had some rad hip ollies, tailblocks in the grass and bank ollies. I had a fun little line of kickflip on the bank then front 180 over the hip. Then I took way too long to do a no comply finger flip over the frontside hip and even way longer to do a backside flip over it. But man it felt good. I followed that with a kickflip over the frontside hip in a few tries. I may have struggled to get the first couple tricks, but man they felt great when I got them. The metal grate really messed with the angle and flow of things along with not much of a runway. Man it felt good to skate, I had almost no knee pain. I was wearing some old cupsoles that didn’t skate great, but maybe helped my knee.

(setup null machine 8.5″ deck, venture 5.8, venom 88a bushings, 52mm bones stf v5, new balance numeric 598 black/white size 12, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, lakai insole)

Fun session with @fullertrron and @iamnotacreepyjake today. They should put handicap drop in’s on all ledges so I don’t have to fail at ollies up. #thestubborns #gottasayitwasagoodday

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Oct 1, 2017 at 6:19pm PDT

On a perfect cool fall day Jake and I met Dave at Rocky Mtn Elem. We started with slappies on the curb. My first few minutes felt so terrible I was wondering if I would actually be able to skate. Luckily I stuck with it because it was a super fun session. All 3 of us seemed to skate hard. Dave was hitting the banks in lines right away. The banks there are so much harder to skate than they look. He hauls ass on the asphalt and ollies up the curb at speed to do tricks on them. It’s impressive. He got pop shove to fakie, pivots on the sideways curb, front and back 180 nose manuals on the brick medians. I kind of b/s ollied over a median, manualled a median. The cracks there are big and just getting from one side of the school to another is hard. Jake was working on a line that he would eventually get. Twice. Front tail on the ledge, boneless a median, turn around and slappy the curb then ollie a cone off the speed bump. So sick. I never really stuck with one thing. I took a bunch of tries to ollie up onto the ledge (that I kickflipped off above). I got a couple, but only got a front 180 off once. Then trying to get in a quick switch push to the ledge failed. I had a bunch of awkward feeling pushes and hands flailing around when trying lines there. Dave was the only one to get back 50 on the ledge. I was close. I think Jake and I got crooks. Dave and Jake did halfcab noseslide easy. I had some fun back 180’s off the speed bump, but couldn’t switch noseslide after to save my life. Dave did boardslides to fakie and 270 both ways. Jake and I tried to kickflip off the ledge for awhile. At that point I was too sore to ollie up so I cheated by dropping in. Jake got the ollie up almost every time. I was hyped to finally land it. It felt great. Jake did his line again for the camera. Dave almost got a crazy boardslide to back lip. Then it started raining which was fine by me since I was tired. Fun day. It feels great to skate hard again and even though I didn’t land a whole lot, it was rewarding when I did. Oh yeah, forgot a line I got. Slow front 50 the ledge, kickflip off the curb then a treflip with a brief hand touch. Doh. Also tried a few cab flips which felt very doable.

(setup null monico 8.38″ deck, venture 5.8, bones medium bushings no washers, 3 speed washers on the outside of each axle, 52mm spitfire f4 radial slim green/black, new balance numeric 212 burgundy size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, footprints 5mm insole)

Great times in the garages tonight with an awesome crew. @cookiegrinder13 @fullertrron @skellyfortcollins

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Sep 24, 2017 at 7:42pm PDT

On a rainy day I had bailed on meeting Fuzz at Yellow curbs because I was being so lazy. Dave had wanted to do Redder curbs later in the day and that seemed to work better. Then as I was about to leave Mike hit me up and said Skelly was in town and wanted to skate. Sick! We met up at Redder curbs. Skelly is working on a new park in Fort Morgan and had a buddy named Ali with him. He’s younger and wasted no time in doing super long frontside slappys on even the square curbs. Dang! It was cool seeing people skate the spot differently. After awhile the main session was on the double parking blocks. I saw Dave wallie to manual to 4 wheel drive the next one. He was also trying to no comply over both of them. Whoa! Skelly did a quick bluntslide transfer to no comply the next. Mike was doing slappys towards the median and trying to ride over it. I kind of got in my own world trying a super long line which I came super close to. Well, at first I was doing back 180 then trying halfcab flip, but I never got the halfcab flip. So the line became front shove out of the little bump then sometimes a flatground trick. The line I came closest to was front shove, no compmly finger flip, slappy crook then landed on b/s flip over the doorway “hip”. Dave did some rad shoves off the doorway kicker. But we got the boot as I kind of landed a couple b/s flips over it.

A one minute and one angle chronological summary of the fun had last night. @skellyfortcollins @fullertrron @cookiegrinder13

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Sep 25, 2017 at 5:36am PDT

So we got the boot, walked to the next garage, but the same security guard kicked us out of that one too. Then we drove to to the next building. Ha ha. Basically all that’s there is this parking block and an IT dude that runs his remote control car when he isn’t busy. He’s cool though. This session went off. We mostly did grinds initially. Slappys, crooks, feebles, etc. I was kind of in my own world again trying flip tricks in the corner. Got a couple terrible hands down 360 flips and kind of a f/s halfcab heel. Then I set my phone down to film and 50 some minutes later we had landed a bunch of tricks to go through! Skelly’s first try fakie ollie was tight, the no comply shifty, 180. Mike has such a good slappy and the back 180 out was great. Dave couldn’t get the no comply flip which was a bit frustrating, but he killed it with switch no comply, slappy feeble 270 out. I had a blast. Got the no comply flip in a few tries, tried to clean it up, but never got a cleaner one. The kickflip took a long time, I couldn’t get a slappy feeble, the b/s flip is sketchy, but maybe a first for me. Ali’s noseslide transfer was so good as all of his slappys were. Super fun night.

(setup null monico 8.38″ deck, venture 5.8, bones medium bushings, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, 52mm spitfire f4 radial slim green/black, new balance numeric 212 sand 11, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, footprints 5mm insole)

Two tricks that predate color. 📷 @_f_u_z_z #cali4niahotstubborns

A post shared by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on Sep 9, 2017 at 12:35pm PDT

So stoked we waited a few days for the downtown push day, because it was the coolest day of the trip and it was bearable to go without water for awhile. We left from our apartment and ended up at the spot above pretty quickly. Dave and I spotted it first. It had a bunch of 2 stairs in a row that were really fun to ollie down. I think Dave had some 180s thrown in. I tried too, but never linked multiple ones together. Jack ollied up all of them. Carleigh either ollied or firecrackered (maybe both) all of them. Did I mention this was a police station? So cool that they didn’t care. The only thing they cared about was Fuzz standing on the ledge when he filmed. I had told Rob if he landed the back 180 I’d get his back which I did with a kickflip off the bump then front 180 the stairs. I tried another line of halfcab flip then front shove, but never committed to the front shove. Jack had a rad ollie off the bump over the grass.

@jackspanbauer getting nostalgic. Photo by @43shifty #cali4niahotstubborns

A post shared by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Sep 4, 2017 at 8:09pm PDT

Then we hit this spot which was one of the main destinations. It was of course way harder to skate than we imagined. Dave reigned king and put down a lot of tricks. The pivots both ways on the edges were sick, front disaster kind of. Jack had the lofty ollie shown above and a one foot or two as well. I had back and front rock, but they were more like under rocks since I didn’t deck them at all. Fuzz had big goals and was disappointed with himself, but still put down rock fakies, rock, fakie rock and maybe another trick or two. Carleigh was decking her front rocks so good, but didn’t quite get it before we got the boot.

Some of us skated a little brick bank briefly. Just some stalls. Nate was going off trying a boardslide transfer on a legit flat rail. He would get it. Kind of hyped that when Nate lands tricks he might even look more bummed than me. It was so sick though. Off we went. Jack did a gnarly hippy jump while I found a fun ledge for people to sit on. Then some Glen shenanigans where I took way too long to land a kickflip, but slammed into a sign rather well. Definitely my favorite clip of the trip. While I was doing that Fuzz had some steezy pops onto a curb cut and front 180 off. Dave was trying to manual into a bums house. We stopped by the Kirchart hydrant for Jack. He wanted ollie over to manual which he would have done had his bushing not blown out.

~ @_f_u_z_z on a wall 📸 @43shifty . . #cali4niahotstubborns #thestubborns #unitgs

A post shared by crisis skateshop ~ since 2010 (@crisis_skateboards) on Sep 8, 2017 at 6:52pm PDT

Then some wallride time here. Fuzz had a couple unreal wallrides. I had a couple insanely fun wallie nollies with some fun powerslides down the hill after. Dave went for front wallride. Not sure if he got it. It’s kind of a blur after this, but we saw so many cool spots. Dave and Fuzz 50’d a little marble ledge. Rob ruined a curb while security swooped in. We found this super rad black granite ledge that could have become a full session. Rob had done halfcab noseslide and front noseslide. Carleigh was doing noseslides, Dave boardslides, Nate boardslides, I was almost getting crooks. But there was a weird scene with some cops pulling over a lady and some security guards lurking by the ledge. I tried to crooks while they were there and apparently got really close to their bike (I must be completely unaware of space because I didn’t know I was close) and we got the boot. Such a bummer, we could have posted up there for a long time I bet. Next up was a sick hill bomb that Rob wallie/nollied into first try. Dave got it too. I think all of us bombed the hill and it felt awesome. I don’t recall any more skating after this. What a blast, skating downtown with friends rolling from spot to spot is my favorite thing. Especially with this crew, downtown LA and nice weather.

(setup 8.38 null spanbauer deck, venture 5.8 trucks, venom 91a bushings, no bottom washer, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, nbnumeric 212 burgundy, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)

#thestubborns

A post shared by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on Jul 30, 2017 at 1:43pm PDT

Rob, Dave and I rolled to Fort Collins. On the way I remembered a little weird bank spot in Loveland and we stopped there. I was so sore when we first got there. I couldn’t even ollie at all. I didn’t think it would go well, but we kept at it and it ended up being a really fun session. John joined us around the time I put down a b/s 45 degree flip over the “gap” into the bank. It wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, but it was harder than I remember. Dave had already done a line with an ollie over the curb and then a front shove into the bank. Rob had done a solid front tail from the bank. Then we opened the gate and treated it like a two hit spot. My legs were feeling sore again so even kickflips were hard. I got a kickflip over the hip. Also a line of no comply 270 then front 180 into the bank. John did a bean plant over the hip and back 180 into the bank. Dave did backside bigspin then fakie ollie into the bank. Then topped himself by doing back big followed by fakie big. Two lines in one day for Dave! All of this took much longer than you would think. Rob was kind enough to patiently film.

Best day I've had in awhile. #thankyouskateboarding #thestubborns Photo by @43shifty

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 30, 2017 at 7:40pm PDT

Dave and John fun on the ledges. @fullertrron @hellagnarbrosevelt #thestubborns

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 31, 2017 at 6:52am PDT

After some Chipotle and a MRKT run we ended up at this ledge I had seen on the gram awhile ago. I wanted to noseslide it. Hayden had said it’s really hard to skate so I didn’t get my hopes up, but when I saw it I knew I could do it. John, Rob and Dave skated the smaller ledges for awhile. I started in on the noseslide attempts. Seeing as how perfect they are I thought for sure we’d get the boot right away. But nope, we had the place for a couple of hours. For the most part my noseslide attempts got closer and less scary, but I was still not getting much past halfway. Then out of nowhere one locked in perfect and I landed it. I can’t describe how happy I felt when I landed it. It felt so amazing. It just kept sliding and sliding. I know it’s just a noseslide on a ledge, but for me this felt like so much more. I felt like I had finally come out of the funk I’ve been in for so many months. And I gotta give props to Rob, Dave and John for being so positive and encouraging me. Dave had done a few caveman front 50s, then did a real front 50 first try. We went to film it and he couldn’t get it until he tried my board and got it first try. He’ll be getting Venture Lows before you know it! Ha ha, just playing. That 50 was so sick though. Then Dave filmed John try a line for a long time. Rob and I mostly just chilled. I was in such a happy place I didn’t feel like skating anymore. John ended up getting his line (twice! – blame the camera). Then him and Dave messed around on the smaller ledge for awhile. John did the easy front 50 and Dave amazed us all with a crooked grind for the ages. Or for the aged. As in The Stubborns. Coming sometime. Awesome day.

(setup 8.25″ null rabethica deck, venture 5.2 AWAKE lows, venom 90a bushings, 1/16″ riser, spitfire 101a 51mm F4 wheels, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, nbnumeric PJ 533 black/gum with spenco 3/4 thinsole and old sole tech insoles)

Worked from home on a warm Friday. Had it set in my mind that I would do a flatground friday, but Saul sent out an invite and the way my body was feeling it seemed more fun. I biked over there. At first it was just Saul and I and it was really fun. Again my first few runs had me doing different lines and then I settled into my normal lines. I had put high trucks back on. Being able to roll around the whole bowl is cool. Saul had hurt his should a couple days before, but I didn’t notice. He was ripping. Still rolling in, those really quick grind lines. Longer 50s. We both worked on feeble grinds at one point. I think his were better. I tried a back smith stall and got it first try (and a few more times) which felt neat. Dave showed. He flowed around for awhile and got another one of his incredibly long boardslides, manuals. Dave and I might have started a ‘gotta land a kickflip before you can roll in’ goal. At least when it isn’t crowded. I had a couple more runs I was really hyped on. Got the little 50 near the hip then front rock on the big coping. Tried a front disaster and did the weird smith thing, got a few front slashes in the deep. This was my favorite time skating there. Carve grinds too, the funnest trick. Saul can do lines with so many in a row. Looks so fun. We called it around 8pm and Dave and I watched BATB. So fun.

(setup 8.25″ null spanbauer deck, venture 5.2 highs, venom 88a bushings, bones stf v3 52mm, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, nbnumeric pj 533 black/gum/hyperfeel with footprint gamechanger insoles)