It was supposed to be windy and rainy, but it was nice out. We met up at Red Hawk. Dave and I got there at the same time. Sean and Rob shortly later. We had warmed up on the slappy curb for a bit. I was feeling okay on my skateboard, but still with some sore heels from the Dentist 5 session. Dave had done a good 50 I think before Sean got on the ledges and immediately 50’d, 5-0d, nosegrinded, etc with ease. Rob mostly sat out the session to save his legs for later (it worked!). I started hucking my dream trick (kick front board) and it seemed doable. Oh yeah, I had a new board since I had broke mine at the dentist, this time back to 8.5. It felt good. Dave signed up to film me. Poor guy. I ended up trying a line of halfcab flip, nollie front tail, kickflip front board. I struggled with halfcab flips, but somehow the nollie tail worked. The kick front board landed in darkslide more times then not. Then the wind really kicked in and the clouds came in. Argh. I got my line. I had a few decent halfcab flips, but the one I landed in the line was beyond terrible. The kick front board was a quick jib. Still, it was cool to do all of them in a row, but I don’t think it’ll make the Stubborns cut. Sorry Dave. Sean had been trying a line he wanted. Fakie 50, fakie tail 270 shove. I flimed him do it in a few tries. Dave was maybe gonna try a trick, but the wind was beyond insane and rain had started.

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#thestubborns

A post shared by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on Nov 24, 2018 at 2:21pm PST

Off to yellow curbs we went. There was another crew there when we arrived. One older dude Jason that we knew, good seeing him still ripping. We all did our thing. That garage has a tiny curb that’s so fun to slappy. I had a fun front 50 back 180 out, several slappy crooks, front slappy on the little part, back 50s and a no comply flip. Rob was getting it and Dave filmed him. He nailed like 3 lines with tricks I’ve rarely seen him do or never do at all. It was sick, you’ll have to wait for the vid. I tried a line of no comply flip then slappy front crook for a bit, but ended up giving up and filming Rob and Dave. Dave was doing some incredibly long front 5-0s and followed one up with a banger you will be seeing on December 7th.

setup null 8.5 perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 90a bushings, 3 washers outside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, new balance numeric 212 cream size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 5/10 felt okay early but after the drive my body could not recover)

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Snowy day curbs a couple days ago. @damon1819 @joerhamilton @43shifty @baffoos

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Nov 19, 2018 at 8:28pm PST

Joe was still here, but it was snowing. I didn’t sleep well. Damon showed up at like 9:30 am on a snowy day to skate garages. Ha ha. Joe, Damon, Kevin and I went to Redder curbs around 10:30. I had a new board as the cracked tail had gotten worse the day before. I went 8.38 this time instead of 8.5. It seemed quite a bit smaller surprisingly. That garage might be small, but it sure offers a lot of variety. It’s kind of hard to see what everyone is doing though since it’s kind of a circle. So maybe that will be my excuse for not documenting a lot that happened. The curbs didn’t grind so great initially. It’s that weird new paint they used. But we threw some wax on and grinding started happening. We played a game of SKATE pretty early on. I had to do triple or nothing on kickflip, but other then that it went alright for me. I even got a defensive cab which normally gets me a letter. I do feel like I made it onto the front trucks before pivoting. I think Kevin won the game on something like switch frontside flip. The game helped the warm up for sure. Everyone was starting to get in the groove of a line and we started filming each other. Rob showed up and got in the mix quickly. The slam on the back 50 was so bad. I skated better than the previous day, but still had some struggles and fear trying to front 50 a curb. Argh. Jack and Carleigh showed around the time we got booted. Doh. That still gave Jack some time to do a crazy wallie manual thing off the pillar.

Then we hit 303 and had some tacos before going to St Julien. I was wanting a nap so that’s what I did. I watched the tail end of the session which looked fun. Jack kickflipped the whole parking block, Carleigh and Joe did lipslides, Damon was trying heelflip front blunts, when Kevin wasn’t waking me up he did nollie noseblunt. Whoa. Then it was off to J Mascis!

(setup null 8.38 dream machine deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 90a bushings, 3 washers outside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, lakai proto white/black 11.5, thin rubbery adidas insoles)
(pain level 3/10 probably from the cold)

After my disappointing outing yesterday I went to sleep angry and wanting to skate. Since I work the late shift and it was super nice out I left early for work with the plan of going to dog park to skate flat. Instead I saw no one was at Boulder park so I pulled in. I pumped around a couple times. Then had a fun warm up line of back tail stall on the mellow bank then front tailslide the little hip. A couple other people showed up, but mostly stuck in the bowl. I had started a line that got longer with each bail until I finally settled on it. Front 50 across and down the little ledge, go around, come out of the qp, noseslide down the ledge, tail stall drop in thing on the weird hump, manual the pyramid, kickflip over the b/s hip. I would often deviate from the line or do other tricks (kickflip tricks on the little bank up top, ollies on the hips). The line took a long time, but was pretty rewarding when I got it. I tried to add b/s flip to the end, but didn’t quite get it. Then it was off to work. Can’t believe how nice and warm it was. I should mention that the Es Swifts were annoying me. Sure they are comfy and flexible, but somehow they have no board feel. I sense a change coming.

(setup 8.5 null lazer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 90a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, es swift 1.5 navy/clear size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After work I met up with Rob on a really nice afternoon. I had a new deck so that my Lakai’s would have better grip. It worked. There was little leaves all over the painted section. Rob had cleared them out a little, then we had an official Huf rug that was folded up for doing tricks over. Rob was doing no comply shove and straight no comply in no time. I was trying 180s and switch ollies over it and trying to back them with fakie flip, but couldn’t seem to land a fakie flip. After awhile I gave up and did fakie varial flip first try. Halfcab flips were working too, landed on several treflips, but never rode away from one. I struggled with front shoves too. Argh. Rob had some long lines going. Switch front 180, back 180 the rug, elusive fakie flip, b/s flip revert (ha), probably more I am forgetting right now. Then we played a game of SKATE. It wasn’t our finest. Rob had gotten a couple on me. Front shove (argh) and 43 shifty. I had gotten a couple on him, fakie flip and halfcab flip (I think). We both had some questionable b/s flips. I did a one foot never thinking it would give Rob a letter. But Rob did double or nothing and still didn’t get it. Doh. Varial flop was the last trick. Matt House stopped by with his dog and was 0-3 on treflips. Unheard of. I should have skated longer, but I was tired and hungry and went home.

(setup 8.5 null lazer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, lakai griffin vlk b/w size 11.5, footprint 5mm insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After work and a very long drive Rob and I ended up at Fossil. The whole point of going was really because I just wanted to do crooks on the main ledge. So to say I was disappointed when we noticed a flatbar sitting in front of it and bikers/skaters doing ledge to rail combos is an understatement. I had a new deck. Back to my norm of 8.25. It felt weird. I kept missing the tail initially. We were at the top area. Rob was hitting manuals and nose manuals right away. I did have a good feeling 2nd try nollie back tail on the curb. Chadman showed up. Hugs were had. He immediately went to work trying to earn his spot back on the team. Ha ha. He did kill it though. Ollies over the little ledge off the curb like it was nothing. The ollie over to nose manual was extra sick. He almost got it back 180 to fakie nose manual too. Rob was going in on nose manual shove to manual and getting super close. I had a few kickflips up the curb, but they didn’t come easy. Had some ollies up the 3 stair ledge, but never really landed the stairs. Rob got up the ledge too and managed to get down the stairs. Chadman switch heeled up the ledge! He was flying up/down the 3 stair. Okay, mostly just up it, he didn’t really do anything down it. Another dude joined us for awhile. Then we went down to the main area and asked if we could skate the ledge without the flatbar. It was moved and I got a great feeling crooks pretty quick to make the drive feel somewhat worth it. Rob kept with the nose manual shove manual attempts. Chad 50’s all of it, first try fakie 5-0, first try hardflip up the ledge, front 5-0, manuals, kickflips up, etc. He was shredding and it was fun to watch. I struggled even with front 50s on the lower part. The accidental 5-0 felt fun. Rob and I had a good laugh since he was the only other one there that knew it was an accident. I got a couple more crooks, but struggled with them more than I wanted to. I first try halfcab noseside cheered me up a little even it wasn’t posted up (since when have I ever posted up on the trick though?). It got dark. Chad switch pole jammed a deck that was placed in a crack. Good seeing Chad, but not sure the drive through Friday traffic was worth it.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, bones medium bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric 255 cream/gum size 12, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 3/10 ingrown toenail hurt and I just felt weird in general)

Kevin and I rolled in at the same time to this spot. Jack and Carleigh were already there. They were still shoveling and sweeping though. We pitched in a bit too and then skating started. I had new shoes. I couldn’t stand those 288s so I had some new Swifts I’ve been wearing to work to break in. I warmed up with kickflips on the flat bank. Jack was going right to front smith. He did a lot of accidental lipslides, but man he stomped a few so good. Carleigh did a couple ollies over the hip before going in on back heels. She tried the whole session, had a few close ones. Kevin started by trying to front tail the rail, but never committed. I had moved on to 270 kickflips which felt doable at first, but got further and further away. Sean and Dave joined us. Sean had some steezy ollies, then kickflip, then b/s flip, then nollie back heel. Kevin had moved on to nollie b/s flip. He wasn’t committing for awhile and then did one of the most perfect nollie b/s flips. Dave warmed up with ollie, back 180s. Jack was still trying to get more comfy with front smith to maybe get something out. He did such a sick front smith to front tail. Dave did a fakie bigspin. Sean couldn’t commit to front tail. Kevin couldn’t put down switch f/s flip. I couldn’t do a cab. Dave got a creepy spin as I maybe stood in front of Hosercam. I couldn’t treflip the hip. Dave ended it with front shove and then back big over the hip.

On the way home I stopped at Safeway ledge for a brief one. I wanted to change insoles and see if it reduced soreness in my feet. They did. With the added bonus of reduced board feel. Ha. I did a few switch noseslide jibs, then front and back 50s, front 50 180 out, front 5-0, a terrible excuse for a front tailslide and a very sloppy and slow kick back 50. I was hyped though.

(setup 8.25 null perception deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, stock white bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, es swift 1.5 navy/clear size 11.5, footprint gamechanger low profile orthotic insoles and then stock insoles with 3/4 spenco thinsoles under them)
(pain level 5/10 my feet were killing me at the ditch spot)

Fun times yesterday at the gnarliest spots on campus. @43shifty @_f_u_z_z @fullertrron #thestubborns

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 19, 2018 at 6:42pm PDT

After setting up a new board at 303 I went to the meetup curb on a Saturday with rain threatening. Rob pulled in about the same time as me and we were both surprised when the sun came out and the clouds disappeared. We had lots of people watching entertainment as parents would pull in with no clue if they were supposed to pay for parking or where to park. I was wearing the 868s again in hopes of less sore feet. They weren’t feeling great. Anyways, we skated and skated and it was fun. We both were on slappy crooks as that curb is great for it. Rob had some cool crooks popped 180 out and some that were close to 270 out. I tried a bunch of kickflip back tail stalls and got close, but never put it down. Then I started hucking slappy front crooks and they were working! Eventually I would ride out of them and man it felt cool. Dave showed. Fuzz shortly after. Lines were had a bit more. Dave did fakie ollie into the curb cut, switch front 180 off the next curb cut then front tail or front 5-0 the curb. Fuzz mirrored it with nollie into the curb cut, back 180 out the next one, switch front tail the curb. Rob did some kickflip fastplants and then pop shove noseslide to fakie.

Then we attempted to move into campus and hit something different than the normal spots. We succeeded. Rob had left. We found this perfect parking block gap to two stair. I immediately started trying no comply flips over it. Dave was on no comply to manual, spracks over the parking block, ollie up the two stair. Fuzz was chilling. I eventually started getting kinda close. Dave was kind enough to film. But I eventually gave up on the flip and just went with no comply. I got a really sloppy one and then a less sloppy one. I was too tired/sore to keep trying.

Then we looked at some other spots and Dave found this funny little angle iron ledge. My legs were so sore I could barely ollie onto it. I only managed front 50. Fuzz and Dave had more fun. Dave Did front 50, back 50, ollie the 3 then the nosestall 270, the front 50 spin 270 was epic. Fuzz had some solid back 50s, the front 50s and manualled down the block. Pretty fun day.

(setup null perception 8.5 deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings bones v1 stf 51mm wheels, new balance numeric 868 black/gum size 12, footprint gamechanger low profile insoles)
(knee pain 3/10)

After packing for a fun filled family road trip and setting up a new board after yesterdays board focus I intended to drive to Douglas. But then I saw Wilville and went with it. I had a new 8.25 deck and new wheels. Also forged baseplates instead of regular. I had done some research throughout the day in my journal and I’ve had come good days on this setup. But as expected starting out was not easy. I dropped into the middle bank a couple times then worked my way towards the ledge. A few BMXers showed up too which was kind of annoying watching the ledge get destroyed. Although maybe their pegs were plastic. Either way they weren’t overly nice so I’m glad they left quickly. I slammed on some noseslide and boardslide attempts. You know, really tech tricks. But things would come together at times. I did a line of halfcab flip, crook jib on the ledge then ride down the narrow bank. It was scary because my heel scraped the wall. Had a few boardslide pop outs on the narrow side, switch noseslides. Tried noseslide shove for awhile and got a sketchy one. Then I tried front 50s forever. They were so scary for me. Not only was the ledge tall, but it was dark and there are cracks everywhere. I would try a slow 360 flip on the way back. Normally I would bail it, but I landed on a few sketchy ones. At first I tried to front 50 the first part which meant ollieing from the bricks which was wavy and weird. Then I started coming in with a big angle and 50 the second part. It only took like 50 tries, but I started getting into it. I landed a really slow and bad one, but it made me happy. That is a tall ledge I’ve never 50’d before.

(setup 8.25 null perception deck, venture 5.8 lights black icon trucks, bones medium bushings, bones 51mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 212 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insoles)

Happy 50th @fullertrron !!!! Now that you are 50 you can get away with #over50makes like this. 😂 #rippingestripper #kingstubborn #myphonewasblurryfromfilmingsomuchripping

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jun 26, 2018 at 4:32pm PDT

On Dave’s last day in his 40s we met on a hot afternoon at the rink at Blue Skies. I arrived first. I had a new deck and new shoes. Adidas City Cups. They felt great walking in them. And then I pushed and my heel came out. Tightened them up, same problem. Ugh. But man, they have a great flick. I was like 10/10 on my first kickflip tricks. I had a line pretty early on that felt good. Something like halfcab flip, b/s flip, fakie flip. My foot almost came out of the shoe on the b/s flip. Aki showed a little later and was quickly on the flip game. Dave started slow, but started coming through with several varial flips in a row and lining them out with kickflips, nollie front 180s and getting close to halfcab flip. It took my board for him to land the halfcab flip. That’s a sign Dave. Ha ha. Aki got the Ironman. Heelflip, treflip, kickflip. He had a bunch of treflips that were so solid. I basically didn’t land anything else and started to get really sore. I couldn’t land a heelflip or treflip to save my life and it was annoying. I blame the shoes. We were at it for a couple hours. I felt close to nollie flips at one point.

Then we went down to the skatepark so Dave could feeble the rail. He did it better than this too. Aki had some killer lines with some really locked in crooks. I tried switch no complys on the bank. Dave also did layback boardslide down the hubba, handplant thing, front 50 no comply 180 out, back 50s. He was shredding.

(setup 8.25 null dream machine deck, venture 5.2 awake lows, 1/16 riser, old 51mm bones stf v1, 3 washers inside each axle, white venture bushings, adidas city cup black/white size 11,low profile gamechanger insoles)

Joe, Chad, Ollie and I met Kevin after a nice drive at the Evergreen park. It was looking like rain, but it had held off for now. As if being sore from several days of skating wasn’t enough of an excuse I added a new complete to the mix. Indys again. Yup. The reasoning. First, the Ray Barbee graphic seriously spoke to me. Second, I’ve been enjoying the bigger boards lately, but wanted to try Indys because of the smaller wheelbase than Ventures. This comes the day after I called Indy’s useless. Ha ha I suck. It felt stiff and made for some awkwardness throughout the day, but it wasn’t too bad and I liked it. As soon as we got to the park Chad threw some lofty cabs that looked so darn good. Kevin had beaten us there, but was still battling the warm up kickflip which he got. He might have even gone on to do it switch. We skated for quite awhile with just one other dude. My highlight was a kickflip onto the hip from the red kicker, front disaster on the qp, kickflip over the hip. Also a b/s flip that took way too many tries. Ollie was having fun and staying in the mix. Fakie shoves, regular shoves, f/s halfcab the hard way over the hip. Kevin killed the little ledge too. Switch nosegrind front 180, kick back tail. Him, Joe and Chad were getting at the taller ledges off the stair. Joe with the front 50 to front board, Kevin crooks, Chad feeble. Some other dudes showed up right before Fuzz, Rob, Neil. They weren’t shrimpin’ like the rest of us. Fuzz did a few ollies then fully committed to shrimpin. Rob went for it though. Starting with the bean plants, kickflips, manuals on the curb, boardslides, back smith the curb. Neils of Fire had them one foots, nose manuals, front 50s, lots of tricks going. Joe and I battled halfcab flips and both got them eventually. I saw Joe do back 50 front 180 out on the sharp ledge. I had some crooks on it, switch front noses.

I wrote the section above a few days ago and didn’t finish. Now I have no recollection of how it ended. I know I was sitting for awhile. I guess most of us where and Bobby was going for the fence ollie. Joe was still going. Front 50 to manual. Chad was trying bigspin tailgrabs over the hip. Chad had also nosegrinded up the ledge. Kevin nosegrinded down it at some point. I know I am missing a whole lot. It was a fun session. I was still feeling pretty sick and after the drive home went to sleep for a couple hours. It was tough being sick and skate guide at the same time.

(setup 8.38 null perception deck, indy 149 ray barbee trucks, oj 52mm ez edge insane-a-thane wheels, venom 94a bushings, es accel slim all black size 11.5, footprint gamechanger low profile insole)