Went into the garage feeling pretty lazy. Was on my regular board, but ended up hating it. I did get a bit into my normal list. Kickflips, fakie flip, halfcab flip, b/s flip. But then I grabbed my putter and things got way more fun. Got a frontside flip right away. And a quick heelflip. I’ve only landed a couple since moving up in board size so that was a treat. Then I got into a groove of nollie flip or treflip. Never got a nollie flip, but the last of three treflips felt great. I haven’t done one like that in a long time. It’s been huck and pray. Needless to say I will most likely be switching back to a smaller setup.

(setup normal 8.25 setup with 5.8s then the putter 7.5″ for the goods)

Met up with Dave around 10am at the Wells Fargo bank. Well, I was there first, but only briefly. I physically felt pretty good, but when I tried to skate it was all wrong. I slammed super hard on a frontside pivot and was 0-4 on kickflips. I came very close to going home. Instead I stuck it out and Dave and I warmed up. It would get better. A lot better. I messed around with blunt tricks (blunt to axle to fakie, blunt to disaster transfer, backside blunt). Dave was doing back tail and back lip transfers. Sometimes were were lining things out. It took me awhile to get a line of kickflip up the curb, backside blunt, then wallie nollie on the big brick wall. I couldn’t do a flip trick there. Had a fun no comply 360 though. Dave’s transfers are so good. Blunt to back d first t. I kind of had another line with a manual next to the ATM machine, ‘slappy’ tailslide the brick curb, front tail transfer the hip. It felt good to street skate again. The brick area is pretty weird for flip tricks though. Dave and I filmed a little. I was happy that my work phone hadn’t gone off. Dave boardslid the big yellow bar. I did the silly grinds on the pole. Dave did the fakie wallride. We had been there a couple (maybe even a few?) hours. It was a blast. Then we pushed over to the red ledge. We normally only last a few minutes there, but I guess since there was a Broncos game we lasted basically as long as we wanted. Dave has the wide trucks and could grind over the skate stoppers. Pretty funny. We were having fun. Dave did a back 50 and I joked that I was going to show him up. I tried kick back 50, but ended up doing 5-0. First try. It felt awesome. I would go on to do 5 of them total, the last one being my favorite. I was in a great mood. I also had front 50 shove, noseslide 270, switch nose shove, the worst front tail attempts ever, couldn’t get front crooks. Dave rattled off tricks too. Front 5-0, back crooks, back 50, back 50 to back tail and super close to front 50 nollie shove out. We kind of good booted. We headed to the teahouse ledge, but on the way we hit a 4 stair. Dave ollied it 2nd try. I bailed a few times and my board went in to the road timed perfect for a car to focus it. NOOOO! Kind of a bummer on such a great day. Or maybe it just prevented me from getting frustrated on such a good day. We went to the ledge though and I watched Dave get his trick. It was rad. Great day.

First time getting my board run over. 😢

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Sep 25, 2016 at 1:01pm PDT

(setup null message 8.125 deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow lows, 1/16″ riser, thunder bushings, 3 washers inside each wheel, 50mm STF V1, new balance numeric pj 533 steel/gum)

Had the day off work to skate with Chief and whoever else could make it. It ended up being Chief, Jack, Rob, Fuller and I. While we waited Jack and I played no comply SKATE. We went on for awhile, landing the few tricks each of us did. We had a couple of letters when it was time to go to Evergreen. Jack got me on no comply lazerflip. I don’t remember what I got him on.

@jackspanbauer at the wonderful little Evergreen, CO skatepark. #skatingintherain

A video posted by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Sep 23, 2016 at 5:00am PDT

Evergreen was empty when we arrived and the temperature was amazing. Jack proved himself the youngest by landing flip tricks over the hip before anyone else had even touched their tail to the concrete. After awhile a couple of other guys joined that were pretty chill and nice. One dude had crazy good flippers over the hip. It’s impossible to remember what all went down. It seemed like everyone was having fun and skating well. Rob had those steezy boneless complys early. Chief and Rob with the back 180s. Jack had done kickflip, impossible, b/s flip and more I can’t remember (because it was totally boring Jack (ha, joking. but i hope you read this)). Dave and Chief worked on switch back 180s over it. I got a crappy b/s flip then a good feeling one. That trick is incredibly fun. I mostly skated the hip. I went on to also land halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, fakie f/s flip and tried nollie treflip for a long time, but never got one. Chief with the long nose manuals. Rob with the lines, manuals and close to halfcab noseslide to manual. Jack kickflip late shove the hip, the gap stuff above first tries. Dave technically landing switch back 3 and cab big spins. So sick. I had trouble getting on the little ledges, but noseslide to fakie off the “big” one was fun. It started to rain as I was getting closer to the nollie tre. Jack and Dave did backside airs.

A few clips from Wednesday's awesome adventure. Should have probably filmed more, but it was too fun skating. @43shifty @fullertrron @jackspanbauer #chiefstillneedsinstagram #twostepfuller

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Sep 23, 2016 at 11:49am PDT

Then we ate and drove down to Lakewood to his this ramp which was super hard to skate, but super fun. It took everyone awhile to get backside grinds and flow. Well, everyone except for Dave. But he skates there all of the time (or maybe just once). We skated it for a long time. The trick list isn’t very long, but who cares, it’s fun and hard to skate. Chief had lots of front disasters, fakie pops, front tail, close to front disaster revert. Rob had the magic carves through the speed sucking corner and flowed grinds everywhere. Dave “The Dave” Fuller shredded. Grind bonk transfers over the hip, speed lines around the corner, sweepers, 5-0s, etc. I bailed a lot of back 50s and tried to slash frontside over the hip for a really long time. I would eventually get one. It felt awesome. It took Rob doing a run with two of his magical corner carves in it to get me hyped enough. Jack did front 50 over the hip first try, 5-0s, disasters, a lot. We eventually left. Everyone hyped.

@jackspanbauer rips

A photo posted by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on Sep 21, 2016 at 6:36pm PDT

We checked out this nearby DIY spot. We felt weird rolling up when they were working on it, but Bochi ended up being really nice and told us what was up. Rob and I were too sore to skate, but everyone else did. Chief had a nice bump out to manny. Jack back lip and front tail transfers. Dave did a backside sweeper. What more do you need to say? Bochi ripped the place. All of the qps are pretty gnarly. Then we went to the Emerica premiere and had even more fun. Great day. Great dudes. Great skating. Dream day.

(setup null message 8.125 deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow lows, thunder bushings, 3 washers inside each wheel, 51mm STF V1, new balance numeric pj 533 steel/gum)

Slept good on a road trip what? It ruled. Woke up a little later then we wanted and after being baptized at the grocery store we went to York park. We all started on the mini. As you can see, the boys killed it. They were on fire. I skated ok. Didn’t get to far on my list, but managed to do more then axle stalls. While Eric filmed them rip it I kind of messed around trying to get it going. I don’t remember landing anything so it must not have been so good. Then we filmed for awhile. Hayden and Riley got some bangers then we headed to Lincoln. We went to the Bay for what was supposed to be a short session, BUT THEY WERE PLAYING DINOSAUR JR RADIO!!! Ha ha ha, I was so hyped. Plus, we got to skate it for free and there was only a couple of other people there. It was almost too much for me, I was too excited. Garrett and Hayden were shredding. I didn’t see much of Jack and Riley dipped out pretty quickly too as we were supposed to leave for the contest. But I kept skating. I started with back 50 on the slanted ledge, then back 50 on the long qp (so fun) and then bailed ledge tricks on the long ledge. I did a bunch of crooks on the center ledge and took a long time to do a front 50 (which I shoved out of once I got in it). We met Joe there and he was ripping. Front 50s every try with some twist. 50 shove, 50 to front board, lip to 50, lip to 50 to shove, etc. He was one sweaty stoked mess. After awhile I started trying my current dream trick, nollie tre over a hip. I tried it over and over and amazing tunes were playing. I added a back disaster on the little qp in the background. It was bad, but probably my first one on something other then Wells Fargo or Zuni park. I did not get the nollie tre, but there were a couple that were close. It just felt great to try so hard, have such great music playing and skate with such awesome people. The contest was a blast too. So fun to watch and rad seeing Jack and Riley do so well.

(setup old null bottom of the well 8.38 deck, venture 5.2 hi, thunder bushings, 3 washers inside each wheel, 52mm spitfire f4 101a, new balance numeric pj 533 steel/gum)

I woke up with a lot of plantar fasciitis pain, did a bunch of exercises for it, did some other stuff around the house then met Rob at Safeway ledge at 2. It was a cloudy morning that looked like rain, but right when I showed up the rain cleared and it was rather hot. Rob was already sweating and ripping. His patented long back 50s, back 180 fakie 50, really sick nollie front lips, was trying halfcab noseslide shoves and got close a couple of times, kickflips, cabs and more. For all of the pain in my feet earlier, it all went away when I started skating. I hucked a lot, but didn’t seem to land much, although I had a rare back 5-0.

A @nolancormier trick and a few @siouxer666 tricks from the @andalebearings #wheeliedope contest yesterday put on by the fine folks at @metaskateboards and @crisis_skateboards

A video posted by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Aug 7, 2016 at 8:07am PDT

Then we went to Broomfield and watched the fun little manual contest they had going. It was mostly Meta and Crisis dudes, so it was awesome. I skated around for some of it, but not very seriously. Riley and Nolan ripped it as did everyone else. After the contest I chilled for awhile, then started skating the quartapotty with Riley and Nolan. We played a game of SKATE. No surprise, but I was the first one out. At least I lasted longer then 5 tricks. I even ended up landing a couple of the tricks Nolan got me with. Front pivot to front rock, and front pivot to back rock. I was hyped to land a new trick even if it’s just a dork trick for Nolan. I skated flatground pretty good. Halfcab flip, fakie bigfilp, first try 360 flip, heelflip, etc.

Then I decided to try Josh’s trick on the only real bank at the park. I got one! Then I got Riley to film me do it again and I got another. Both were terrible compared to Josh’s. I definitely “revert” rather then pivot all the way around. Oh well, I was hyped. Fun day, fun people.

(setup: 8.38 old bottom of the well null deck, venture 5.8s, thunder bushings, 52mm reed wheels, 2 washers inside each axle, nb# quincy 254 blue/gum, spenco orthotic thinsoles with footprints heel pad)

Finally! #thestubborns

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 17, 2016 at 9:15am PDT

I met Dave on campus at 7am with a lot less heel pain then I had the day before. It was still messing with me though. We skated our little median that we warm up on. It starts with little nose stalls, to nose stall 270s, to axle stalls, manuals, etc. We moved into campus about 50 feet and I noticed a boardslide to manual option for Dave. He did it, then with feeble too. It was the hotness. After that I went to battle with the rock again. Front tail stall 270 shove into the narrow pathway. I got it and it only took 175 tries! Ha ha. I would go through waves of getting close, not being close, etc. The one I landed had a good toe drag, but I have to accept it. The board did a perfect 270. I was hyped. So hyped I asked someone to take a photo of Dave and I. Dave ollied the rock while I sat around on instagram then we went to the flagstone manny pad where he did a nice lipslide 270 or 2. Lastly we dorked around on some long stairs doing 180’s or manuals down them. Dave had a couple epic assists from the rail.

(setup 8.1 Krooked Manderson deck, venture low lights, standard thunder bushings, 1/16″ riser, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm STF V1, eS Swift black/white)

Tall guy selfie flip.

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 7, 2016 at 7:16pm PDT

Feeling extra inspired after chatting with my homie PJ (not quite as big of an exaggeration as it sounds) I went to the dog park to skate flatground. I was pushing a little faster then normal to warm up. Did some ollies over a little crack gap, got a few kickflips going then started rattling off my small list of basic flippers. Most of them came pretty quickly, including treflip which has been such a pain lately. I hucked like crazy. I got close to a lot of rare or new flippers like nollie f/s flip, nollie flip, switch flip, nollie heel, hardflip. The highlight was trying cab flips and getting one! It wasn’t pretty, and I was so excited when I started rolling away that I bailed, but it still stoked me out so much. Jack came and we played a game of SKATE. He wasn’t warmed up at all, I had skated flat for almost two hours. I smoked him. Ha, even had a treflip first try.

Then we went to campus. First spot was the tall ledges with the little gap in the middle. We both got “gap” to manuals with a couple tilts in them. Then we skated the sloped ledge. Another dude joined us for awhile. It was cool. Jake did a really good bluntslide and a front tail. I kind of got a slappy crooks, a terrible front tail and almost a front crook jib to fakie.

@iamnotacreepyjake doing something creepy at a creepy spot. 👌

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 7, 2016 at 9:16pm PDT

Then we went to the bank to curb area. Jake did front 180 fakie pivot to forward along with this creepiness above. Ha. I did a slow kick back 50 which was new ground for me having to be quick after the curb ollie. I also came remotely close to some switch flips at the starting gate.

(setup 8.12 Habitat Suciu deck, venture low lights, standard thunder bushings, 1/16″ riser, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm STF V1, Es Sal black/gum)

Warm ups and almosts. 6 months down, 6 to go. Arthritis is sucking. Fighting through it. Grinding concrete is the cure.

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jun 30, 2016 at 8:57pm PDT

With my arthritis and soreness still at a high level I went off to campus in search of chin. Ended up starting at the little one stair ledge that has no runway. I felt like filming for some reason so I set my phone down. Those were basically all my moves at the first spot. I thought the front nose jib 270 out would look a little better then that. Oh well. I was hyped on the front tail though, that one is rare for me. Then I went to the second spot and was surprised by how waxed up and good it looked. Got a few front 50 combos, accidental 5-0s. Tried the 50 kickflip for about 10 minutes, should have tried more, but I started feeling like trying lines so I picked up the phone. I was 2-2 on heelflips and 1-1 on treflips (if I land the first treflip I don’t dare touch another one! ha). So one of the only actual lines I did was front 5-0, 360 flip on flat, ollie up the little curb, turn around and eventually ollie the curb drop (only 2nd try which is my record there). I would also get a couple front tails without slide and a front crooks. Tried a few front nosegrinds, but didn’t get close. I was kind of thinking of some kind of shove pop out, but I think that’s pretty unlikely. Another line I got was front 50, b/s flip on flat, f/s halfcab up the little curb. I tried to nose manual the little pad followed by ollie onto the taller one to quick drop, but I didn’t get it. I tried to do ollie up a tall part of the ledge and drop, but I was scared. Had a good session though. Can’t believe how much pain I can skate through sometimes.

(setup 8.25 null awkward vectors deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, New Balance Numeric PJ 533 burgundy)

This one is for you @boredzinejp #weekendatglennys

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on May 29, 2016 at 11:49am PDT

The Fremonsters and I hit Memorial Park in CO Springs to start a nice day. Chris was there! After a brief run or two through the park dodging kids we quickly decided to get out of there and skate the vert ramp! Ha. It was a blast though. We all pumped it. Chris did a mini demo and showed us some inverts that were gnarly! I was super hyped on early grab airs that I just learned a few days prior. Great warm up.

Just got rained out, classic CO trip #weekendatglennys

A photo posted by Eric J Eckert (@ericjeckert) on May 29, 2016 at 1:48pm PDT

Then we went to the bank school with steps to grind. Most of us skated the mellow steps for awhile. Some of us, like me, stayed on the beginner section the entire time. My list of tricks I landed is so expansive. Front 50, sketchy back 5-0. Yeap, that is it. Got close to crooks at least, but it started to rain. Everyone struggled with the smaller section though. Even Nolan couldn’t back tail it first try. Fuzz had some nice front 50 back 180s. Matt did a bunch of tricks including front tail, front 5-0. Nolan had crooks and front nosegrind. Rob, Fuzz, Dan, Joe, Nolan had a bank session going. I didn’t see them land a whole lot. Ha. Rob did a crazy no comply bigspin grab. Fuzz did Sal flips. I think Nolan did 360 flip to fakie. Dan got close to fakie inward heels. It started to rain and Joe did a front 5-0 on the bigger set of steps. Sick!

@mattrief gettin dem angles #weekendatglennys

A photo posted by Eric J Eckert (@ericjeckert) on May 29, 2016 at 5:36pm PDT

After some lunch we ended up at Harrison, one of the best spots ever. Everyone had fun carving around to get things started. That spot is so awesome. People settled into tricks. Nolan took awhile to do back tail which was kind of surprising, but he had so many amazing tricks. Rob had some rad lines. Joe did a fakie 50 amongst many more tricks. Matt filmed. Eric did transfer to tail and a long back 5-0. Fuzz had a rad Sal flip transfer. I took a long time to get a kickflip, did a GleNBD of early grab back 5-0 and came close to noseslide 270 shove out. Dan kind of had fakie crook.

Then it was the last spot of the trip. The OG park. I was so excited to skate the little ledge. Joe challenged me to a game of SKATE which he eventually won. It was a good warm up. Most people were done skating. Fuzz was rolling fast around the park with an old homie that was there. Joe and I kept skating the ledge avoiding the dumbest group of beginner bikers I’ve ever seen. They were biking around trying to clap their hands. Anyways, I can’t remember all that Joe did, but it had tricks like fakie 50 back halfcab out (thats what he beat me with), front lip to 5-0, front 5-0 to front board. I was skating pretty slow and without confidence, but I managed to get some back 50s, back 5-0, front 5-0 shove, front nosegrind, got into front crooks, close to kick back 50. The session ended with me doing a b/s flip over the mellow hip and Joe doing a Creepy spin over the hip. My favorite day of the trip.

(setup 8.25 null awkward vectors deck, thunder 147 lights stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 50mm bones stf v1, Es Swifts black/white)

Went under the Engineering Bld on a cool and wet night. I arrived before Dave and Rob and warmed up pretty good and was actually feeling motivated and skating ok. I had sone a few slappy tailslides in the narrow area by the rail, back 50s off the 3 stair curb, kickflip variations were working well, etc. Rob and Dave showed up as I was trying to get the courage to slappy crook the 3 stair curb. But it was too straight and I couldn’t. I was bummed to hear that Rob and Dave didn’t like the spot. It’s got good flatground, curbs, ledges, 3 stairs, benches, etc. Oh well. We still skated it for awhile while it dried up outside. Dave had a banger line of slappy noseslide the narrow curb, front 180 into a bank, turn around, ollie up a 3 stair then front 180 the next. Hammers! I had a great line for me of front 50 the narrow curb, kickflip into the bank and then ollie up the 3 stair. The front 50s felt so cool there as the ledge is chunky.

Then we went to this bank to curb. Rob had a front tail right away. The worst part about this spot is you can’t really see what your friends are doing. I think Dave got a back tail, Rob a back 180 fakie 50. I took awhile to get a front 180 fakie 50 to cab out. The one I rode away from had a nice lunchbreak in the middle.

@fullertrron wallie nollie on a rainy night.

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on May 15, 2016 at 10:29pm PDT

Art director @43shifty wallie nollie. #skaterownedandoperated #gate8

A photo posted by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on May 15, 2016 at 10:31pm PDT

It started raining. We were walking back and saw this hallway. Wallie nollies were done by all. Then we all learned wallie nollies to fakie. Well, I say we “all”, but I’m not sure what mine technically was. Then we hit the ‘kicker’ for awhile. Dave had some good ollies and back 180s over it. Rob had no comply shoves, bean plants, front shoves. Dave took awhile to get a kickflip. I took awhile to do backside flip and then even longer to do 360 flip. Dave was close to 360 flip. I offered him a free board if he beat me. He was close. This was the most fun I’ve had skating in awhile. 🙂

(setup 8.25 null abstract 5 deck, venture lows, venom 91a bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 50mm bones stf v1, New Balance Numeric PJ Stratford 533 burgandy/gum)