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)

Rainy night. Setup a new deck and started some new shoes. I did some warming up that didn’t go anywhere so I just started hucking nollie flips. I got super close to getting both feet on a few, but that was it. Hucked a few nollie back heels and there was one that almost felt like I was going to do it. Tried to end it with a couple quick treflips, but could only land 270 and shoot out so I called it a night.

(setup 8.38 null atomic cowboy deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, bones medium bushings, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, new balance numeric 255 size 12 with footprints gamechanger orthotic insoles)

Most years I challenge myself to my age in flatground tricks. It’s kind of torture and gets harder each year both physically and having to add another trick. Last year I wasn’t up for it, but here’s the one from two years ago. It was a beautiful morning, no high winds. The 45 clip isn’t exactly in order. I didn’t skate to warm up at all. I just filmed everything starting with the nose/tail no pop shove, moved into shoves, did some flippers, some no complies, finished the flippers, then finished with the easy part of 180s and some bonelesses and stuff. The trick I was most worried about was treflip as it’s given me lots of problems lately. When it came in a few tries I felt stoked, relieved and encouraged. Dave showed up when I had done most of the flippers and was finishing up on fakie tre which took the longest. I did sex change after that, but no more flippers. I was so exhausted. Dave had a couple cameos, Matt with the first try treflip while out with his dog. Going through the clips later in the night I had actually done 46 tricks. So I deleted the ugliest one which was a creepy spin where I didn’t fully rotate at all. Calling it my ugliest trick with all of the ugly tricks above is saying a lot. Ha ha. I was very hyped on the nollie varial flip and nollie treflip. The fakie tre took the longest, but felt amazing when I landed it. Getting both halfcab heelflips felt rad too. I really need to learn some switch tricks to make next years a little more interesting. I must say the Thunder trucks flip great, but the weird turning sure makes for some weird tic tacs.

Then Dave and I met Jake at Boulder park. They skated the mini while I ate. Then I joined them in the combi bowl. I thought we would just be carving around, but they were really skating it. Jake was grinding the deeps, trying sweepers. Dave was doing front pivots on the crazy steep narrow corner, manualling the deck, airing the little bumps. Hopefully I’ll post a clip of it at some point. I got in on it and tried a line of roll in, tiny grind, back 50 into the bigger bowl. I was so content with the flatground session that my brain couldn’t get me to roll into the little 3 foot section. I did eventually though and got the line with some good tic tacs on the back 50.

Then we went to Saul’s. Jake and I were already beat. The only thing I really did was a few carve grinds. Jake had a killer run. Ed joined and ripped it. Saul gets more coping in one run than anyone. It was a fun ender for a great day.

(setup 8.25 null monico deck, thunder 148s with old forged baseplate, venom 88a bushings, 51mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11, footprints gamechanger orthotic insole)

Brief curb session with @fullertrron while the ❄️ melts.

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 27, 2018 at 12:14pm PDT

So I went with 8.25 and the wide trucks, got new wheels and it felt great. I had the day off work with some time before my flight to Seattle. Dave stopped by for a lunch skate and we went to the curb across the street. I felt good right out of the gate. It was kind of surprising. We were both trying a lot of lines. Up curbs, down curbs, grinds, slides, flippers. It was cool. Dave had kickflip, manual front 180 out, 50s, back 50 nollie shove out, no ollie tailslides and some good back 5-0s when I wasn’t taking a photo. I tried front 180 a puddle, fakie flip on flat, fakie 50 a curb, but never got the fakie 50. Had 50s, intentional front 5-0s, hucked a bunch of tricks I haven’t done in awhile like kickflip front 50, switch crook, front nosegrind. I got a line of switch front 180 a puddle, kickflip back 50 then almost back 50 (ha ha, got the flip in, but not the easier version) and ended by landing a new trick in the slowest way possible. Front 5-0 no comply shove out.

Straight off the ✈️ to #cloggingyourfeedwithstokepartdeux @boredzinejp @joerhamilton

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 28, 2018 at 8:39am PDT

Then after a bus ride and a flight #cloggingyourfeedwithstokepartdeux was on!   We went right to Jefferson skatepark.  Half of it was lit well, the other half was not.  There was also several youth hanging out tagging the park or vibing.  It was pretty cold, but it’s a different cold then CO.  It’s in the 50s, but humidity makes it cold.  Once you get warmed up it’s good.  We did our thing warming up.  Joe had done a few ledge tricks as had Josh.  Josh tried a couple fakie 50s and then Joe comes and shows him up with a first try fakie 50 shove out.  Take that Josh!  I took a few tries to get a back 50 on the qp over the ledge which was very fun. Even though the lower area wasn’t lit very well Josh was ollieing the kicker, doing lipslide transfers over the qp hip, beanplants, a lot more. I had a fun line of front 50 the lurb then noseslide the ledge into the bank. Joe did the fakie 50 into the bank so good. Josh took a break for a bit, I battled the front 50 over the qp which was scary at first and took quite a few tries. Thanks for filming it Josh! Then Josh and I did the doubles routine and Joe and I finished the night off with a frontside ledge into the bank session. And by that I mean Joe rattling off tricks like front 50 180, front lip to 50 while I took too long to do front 50. But the front 50 felt awesome. Fun first night.

(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)

Tired from a busy day at work I went out to skate with some new and old stuff. I had a new deck (8.1 this time) and had put some old STFs on. The board and wheels felt great. But the shoe/insole game is a constant struggle for me. Orthotics or not? Cupsoles or vulc? Argh. This night I went with the thinnest shoes in my quiver and some flat insoles. NB 212 with FP 5mm insoles. They felt good, but very thin. I didn’t feel good out of the gate. And it didn’t really get better. The ledge had sand all around it so that didn’t help. I got some noseslides and noseslide to fakie to get started. Then I wanted to do back 50. Bad choice. Just like Sunday I wasn’t able to do one. I tried for awhile too. The worst part is I wasn’t even getting close. I eventually gave up and cheered myself up a little with a couple crooks. I randomly tried nollie back 360s which I got close to and cabs which I didn’t get as close to. I did manage a quick jib front 50, posted up on some front noseslides that stuck, got a couple bad halfcab noseslides, a switch front nose. Hucked a few flippers. My legs felt good for awhile, then got really tired. At the end I hucked noseslide back 270 out and noseslide front 270 shove out. I got remotely close to the 270 shove out. Depressing night.

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm bones stf v5, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 212 green size 11, fp 5mm flat insoles)

Saturday fun day. After breakfast and some site seeing we met up with Neil’s crew at this school. Spot looks amazing. There are some ill placed cracks and there were a lot of debris from the rain, but it was awesome. Jake wasn’t skating this spot. I was feeling very out of my element. Everything felt wrong. I had a first try back 50, but for the most part just flailed around and was just starting to get warmed up when we got the boot. At least I got a front 50 when we left. Neil was ripping. Manuals, nose manuals across the stage, front 50s the ledges, shoves, lines. First time meeting Paul and he rips. I think he was trying fakie back nosegrinds and doing fast front 50 and then nose manual on the stage. It may have been Eric doing the fakie back nosegrinds. Or they both were. They were both ripping though. Bummed we got kicked out, I could have skated there a long time.

One dude that can’t ollie or push fast and another that can. #stubbornwithaloha #sunburntandstubborn #thestubborns @neilsoffire

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Feb 18, 2018 at 12:19pm PST

But I guess that’s what this spot was for. We lasted here until our hearts were content. Which as you know with me, is a good solid couple hours. I was determined to get warmed up. I still felt disoriented, but I did manage to skate the ledges okay for me. Got some noseslides, crooks, nothing over the stairs, never quite a front 50, almost a slow kick back 5-0, the Rob trick on the second level which was fun even though I’m going slow. Paul was doing fast 50s, a really cool wallie out of a hard angle, almost fakie flips off the ledge. Jeff is a technician, and handled quite a few tricks over the stairs. Front tail easy and almost back tail. Eric skated fast too and had some cool combos. It’s been too long since the session that I’m writing this because I don’t remember all he was doing, I just remember it was stylee and fun. Neil was shredding. His first time nosesliding over the stairs, long front 50s, lines starting with front shoves, lots of tricks on the second level. At one point a lot of people were sitting, but Jeff was still getting it so I decided to skate flat. I actually got through a lot of tricks and it cheered me up and got my body feeling better. Kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, varial flip, almost nollie tre, almost tre, almost f/s halfcab heel. We attempted to hit some more spots, but ended up at the beach instead and it was awesome.

#paradise

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Feb 17, 2018 at 9:57pm PST

(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)

Stairs and gaps all day with @_f_u_z_z and @fullertrron and working on my base tan for Hawaii (or trying to be @iceman_hof ) #thestubborns. . . Okay the real reason I wasn’t wearing my shirt is because Fuzz said I was mixing a @lakailtd beanie with @esskateboarding shoes. And then we realized I had an @independenttrucks crew with @venturetrucks. Then we laughed even more when I revealed a @nbnumeric shirt. Fuzz said I had to shed it too. Thankfully my pants didn’t cause any conflicts.

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jan 27, 2018 at 4:57pm PST

Dave picked me up and we went to Southern Hills looking for dry. One side of the benches were dry and there was a lot of flatground so we went for it. Warming up was not easy. Three days off for me is a lifetime. Ha. Oh, I had another new sample board. This one was 8.25. It felt really good. Southern Hills is hard to skate. The ground is rough, there are lots of cracks, the ledges don’t grind. Dave was trying boardslides to fakie on one bench then halfcab noseslide the next one. Amazing line, but I don’t think he got it like he wanted it. I got a couple crooks. I was trying a line of front tail stall shove on the one stair, fakie flip on flat, halfcab noseslide a bench. Never got it. I think I chickened out and just tried switch front noseslides instead. Saul and Fuzz showed up at the same time. Saul cruised around for a bit , did a couple front 50s on the one stair and bounced. Fuzz warmed up with some solid pushes, boardslides and noseslides (I think). Then randomly I ollied this little snow gap and it turned into a session. My first ollie was the only clean ollie I had. Dave and Fuzz were able to do 180s pretty quickly. I couldn’t. So I hucked kickflips instead. I wasn’t committing though. Fuzz said “It’s because you’re wearing a Lakai beanie with Es shoes. You can’t mix brands like that.” I laughed and threw my beanie on the ground. Then we realized I was wearing an Independent crew, but skating Ventures. So I took that off. Then we both cracked up upon realizing I was wearing a NB# shirt. I hesitated, but knew I had to shed it too. We were laughing. I think I got the next kickflip, but it was pretty bad and Fuzz didn’t film it. Then I got the slightly better one. I was pretty hyped and put my clothes back on. Then we dorked around on the stairs. Fuzz had several drop down combos. They were so sick. Dave and I tried to hang, but Fuzz had the moves.

Then we went to Saul’s. There was a decent sized crew of awesome. Saul, Eric, Jake, Josh, Will. I was impressed with Fuzz’s first few runs. He kept his speed and flew around the bowl. Everyone skated well it seemed. Saul had the quick lines, stand up grinds and it was funny when he bailed the grab to tail he has been trying. Will rips. His front 5-0s are so good and he took awhile to get a fakie nose pick. Dave flowed like water as always. He did a lot of tricks including a super long boardslide. Eric did his first back 50 all good, then proceeded to struggle with the next few. Ha. He ripped too. I didn’t skate so good and was getting really sore quick. So I mostly took it easy. Jake was the first of Josh, Will and him to land a front blunt. He also got a nosepick. Josh is one heck of a nice dude and fun to skate with. Oh and he rips. I think that’s everyone. It was fun. Thanks for having us Saul.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es swift 1.5 grey size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

I had setup a new sample board and was excited to skate. It was warmer out than it’s been, but I wasn’t feeling too good so I opted for a short garage session. Warming up felt alright. I ended up trying nollie flips first. Got close. One of these days I’ll be able to hover a little longer and land them. Got close to switch flips again. Hucked a few more things before taking a song to land a treflip and then another song to land a sketchy varial heelflip. I was hyped on that! Also hyped that the sample board held up to some poorly landed heelflips that could sometimes result in a broken tail.

(setup 8.1″ clutch sample 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)

Went out to the garage on a cold and snowy night. I had set up a new board since my tail had chipped so bad. This time I went with an 8” board seeing as how I’ve only been into flip tricks lately. It went okay. I started by doing all 4 of the fakie/nollie bigspins. It’s hard to swing them around in such a little space. Then I went through a lot of my tricks. Most were not landed well. Kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, varial flip, bs flip, fs flip, halfcab flips, 360 flip and nollie varial flip. Whew! Came close to nollie tre and nollie flip. Then tried dave’s switch no comply shove and got a few. Fun trick. Then I went inside.

(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 533v2 black/gold size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)