After a long drive from the frigid midwest and some dinner I went to the research ledge to skate and break in some new shoes (NB# Arto 358). Nothing felt right. It’s probably from so much sitting lately and the new shoes, but man I couldn’t hardly ollie at all. And I struggled badly with kickflips. I tried to do a slow kickflip then back 50 and I could not do the back 50 to save my life. Also, a bearing broke so my back heel wheel was dancing all over and locking up sometimes. After awhile I gave up on back 50 and did a lame crooks and then a better crooks to cheer me up a little. Then a halfcab noseslide. I’m really trying to get on top of those like a regular noseslide and it seems to finally be clicking a little. Then I tried switch crooks for a bit and although I didn’t get close, it felt possible.

(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)

It’s great having @nolancormier in town for a few days. Check his part in the @metaskateboards video!

A post shared by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Nov 29, 2017 at 7:22pm PST

After a late morning of trying to sleep in after the Meta premiere I met Nolan at the shop. Then we went to this pond spot that I have somehow never been to. I had new shoes in hopes that a more supportive sole would help my heel feel better. It seemed to help. I basically only did axle stall, front tail and bean plant. The bean plant felt cool. I filmed Nolan get a rad line involving a switch flip, rock ride and pivot to fakie. Filming the line wasn’t easy, lots of swerving and quick pushes.

Then we went to Honey’s Hole in Louisville. I figured Nolan would like it. He did. We both kind of messed around for a bit. I was really tired at the time and didn’t really try much. Nolan started figuring out a line so we started filming. It took him quite awhile to get it, but man it was sick. Filming it was also a lot of work basically because it involved having to push really hard to catch up with him coming in from the sidewalk. Sick line. After he did that I skated a bit more. Got a weak sauce switch boardslide on the parking block, a few axle stalls on the tighter bank and a really weak front slash.

(setup 8.25″ null maze deck, venture 5.8 lights black, 52mm spitfire f4 radial slim green/black swirl 101a, 3 washers on the outside, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 345 black size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsole with lakai insole)

Got a decent night of sleep. Saw it was nice out and supposed to be windy later so I got ready for work quickly and hit Boulder park for a little over an hour. It was still cold out when I started, but warmed up quickly. Warming up wasn’t all that bad. Did a few tiny ollies, some pumping around the park and started trying a few things. I like skating parks all by myself. I try basic tricks that I suck at and am normally too embarrassed to try around people. I mean I’m almost too embarrassed to write about them even. Ha. Tried a lot of lines. Maybe that makes them sound better. First one was a front shove to fakie on the little wedge up top, switch noseslide the ledge into the bank, front 50 the bump to ledge then roll into the mini. I hadn’t rolled in in awhile so it felt cool. I sucked it up in the mini, couldn’t even do a front disaster. I’ve lost all my transition “skills”. Did a bunch of ollies to fakie on the medium steep bank and they were scary. Then I took awhile to get a noseslide on the pyramid ledge. I am terrible at bump to ledge stuff. I got a few where I only slid a little. I would like to get them fast and come off the end. Maybe 270 shove out into the bank. That would be really good for me. The last line I tried was just a little manual across the pyramid, tiny f/s ollie on the east wall then a b/s flip on the medium steep bank. It took me a long time, when I got it I tried a back 180 over the little hip and had more speed than I thought and slammed. It was one of those slams that doesn’t hurt and made me laugh. It was a good ender. Then I went to work. I had done more tricks, was kind of all over the park, but lots of one hit tricks. Can’t believe how scared of the 6′ tall coping I am.

(setup null rabethica 8.5″ deck, venture 5.8, venom 88a bushings, spitfire f4 99a 53mm classics, bones swiss, nbnumeric 212 navy size 11, powerfeet pinnacle orthotic)

I went out later into the garage and skated with Ollie. I was wearing some new green 212s. We started out on the “manny” pad. Ollie tried copying a lot of my tricks. He We did front 180 nose manual 180s. Some other ones. He was the first one to ollie. He also pretty much did a nose manual. Rad. Then we just skated flat. Ollie tried so many kickflips. He just can’t get his front foot on it, but he’s close. He tried a few other tricks like shoves. He did some weird spin around to tail at one point that was awesome. I gave up on my big sled and skated the putter. It was fun. I did a few heelflips really easy, got incredibly close to nollie flip and landed 3 270 flips in a row. Felt cool and immediately triggered my brain to want a smaller setup for regular skating. What was funny was Ollie seemed mad that I landed 360 flips. He had some fire, he really wants to land a kickflip. I hope I’m there to see it!

After some morning mountain biking with Ollie I jumped in with NASCARleigh and Jack and we went to the Lville industrial area without a certain spot in mind. We ended up at this spot. At first there was not much energy and we all seemed king of bummed. It started to get better though and Positive Fuzz showed up and it was on. Carleigh was bumming on a backside 50 on a tall curb, but man, that’s why she rules. She kept trying and she got it. I get hyped when people aren’t too afraid to struggle with a basics. Probably because I feel like I struggle with the basics all of the time too. She also has some front tailslides on the waxed part of the bank, 2nd try kickflip and more of them. Jack did bluntslides, some to 5-0, manuals to pivot fakie or to nosepick, ollieing onto narrow ledges, ollieing up the loading dock easy, and encouraging me to slam. Ha, I basically got into a rut of trying front shoves off the shorter loading dock, but to get hyped for it I had to kickflip off the bump first. It was super fun. I was trying hard, it felt great and I was landing on a bunch of front shoves going slow. I broke my tail around the time Rob showed, but it was still mostly skateable backwards until it totally snapped on a kickflip making for a really funny clip. Fuzz was motivated to try a new trick he saw in Hockey III. Backside axle stall to front 5-0. He did a few super good. Rob was taking it easy because of a gnarly shinner that’s still healing up. It was rad seeing him cruise around on his christmas complete though.

(setup null machine 8.5″ deck, venture 5.8, venom 88a bushings, 52mm bones stf v5, lakai manchester grey size 11.5, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, lakai insole)

Went to the dog park on a crisp, but beautiful Sunday. At the dog park there was a dude with one of those big rings spinning around and listening to Modest Mouse. He took up the grey part of the flat we normally skate, but whatevs. I started extra slow. I think Jake had already landed a treflip before I had moved past kickflip. Jake was ripping. No surprise there. He had a bunch of tricks first try. I was not having the same luck, but I ended up getting a few of my basics. The ring man joined us for a bit, he was cross training. Ha, he was cool. After awhile Jake and I played a game of SKATE. It started cool going through a bunch of basics. Things went south for me when I missed a fakie flip and then the double or nothing. SK on fakie flip. Ugh. Jake would get me on treflip too and I was down big. Carleigh showed up around now and worked on ollies, kickflips and shoves. I started getting back at Jake with tricks like halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip (best one I’ve done in awhile). I couldn’t get a fakie bigflip to save my life though. So frustrating. It was SKAT to SKAT for awhile until Jake landed a fakie treflip. I landed on three in a row, but didn’t ride away. Doh. We left for campus.

We hit a jersey barrier for awhile near the bank and Saul joined us. Another dude that Jake knew was randomly skating and joined us too. It was cool. jake was doing some really good b/s wallrides on it. Saul was getting on it too. Carleigh is still weary of bashing her leg into something so she worked on flat. I saw a couple few trick lines of various shoves and kickflips. Aaron was hip on the current trends and was doing a bunch of quick 180s and some crazy wallrides on the barrier. I tried a line of wallie nollie on a dumpster, wallride on the barrier and then b/s flip over a manhole, but never came close to the b/s flip.

Weekend leftovers with @gnarlycarleigh and close to a dream trick. #thestubborns

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Oct 15, 2017 at 6:56pm PDT

Then we hit the bank for awhile. Okay, for a long while. Well Saul didn’t for too long as he was getting sore and had been skating earlier too. Everyone did a few warm up tricks. Carleigh set the session off with a textbook backside flip. It was seriously so well done. She went on to also do kickflip to fakie, fakie flip and a sick frontside flip (stubborns alert). Jake rattled off new tricks for him. 360 flip going backside, 360 flip to fakie and backside boneless wallride (stubborns alert). Those are just the new tricks for him. I did alright. Took too long to get a halfcab flip, but at least got fakie flip first try. I tried 360 flip to fakie for awhile and couldn’t quite get it so I just did a few no comply tricks instead. They were fun. Aaron was fun to skate with. He had some crazy moves. Body varial manual, casper, no comply 540. He was rad. Then Jake and I took the fun hill down towards the car and bounced after a quick peek at the Ralphy ledge.

(setup null rabethica 8.5″ deck, venture 5.8 v-light, 1/16″ riser, venom 88a bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 radial slim green/black, new balance numeric 212 navy/grey size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, footprints 5mm insole)

After a busy day at work, a nap and some dinner I finally got to Saul’s with a new deck and new wheels (Monico 8.3 and Spitfire 52 radials). I was hyped when I arrived and Jake was there too. The bowl looked so fun, it’s been too long. Jake was going for a long run when I got there that involved a blunt to fakie at the end. It had feeble grind, front 5-0, tailblock, etc before it. Saul had already skated earlier in the day and was still getting it. Hell yeah. His runs with the quick carve grinds are amazing to watch. So fast. I took a few tries to get a carve grind again, but when I did I had it and it felt sooooo fun. A few years ago I learned slappy crooks which have become one of my favorite tricks ever. I would put carve grinds up there too. Somehow with my new setup I kept ending up doing rock fakies in the shallow and after a tail stall I would be setup perfectly for the hip. So I went with it and several tries later got a very sketchy/slow shallow to deep 50 over the hip. I definitely lifted onto my front truck and stuff, but whatever, it felt so rad. A bit later Saul did a sitting kickflip. It was rad. Jake has a tendency to bet me a ‘cider’ to land a trick. He often ends up owing me a cider, but I never take him up on it. Anyways, I told him he would have a clean slate if he landed the blunt to fakie. 4 tries later he did it. So sick! And then he was out. Saul went at the hip for a bit too. We did it after rolling in then axle stalls, it’s the perfect angle. Things got a little sketchy as it got dark so we called it. Fun night, I want to skate there more. I wish life wouldn’t get in the way all the time.

I was supposed to do some errands, but I wanted to grind more. I went to the default of the research ledge. I was happy leaving Saul’s, but the hype would quickly fade. They have these buses running all of the time there now. So every 5 minutes a bus leaves and a new one pulls up. It’s annoying and it added to my frustrations. In fact my first noseslide attempt was terrible and my board shot under a bus. I had to climb under it and get my board. I should have known to leave right then, but I’m stubborn. Never got a boardslide pop out. Got noseslide and noseslide to fakie. Got a couple terrible back 50s with lots of tic tacs, first try crooks, but then couldn’t do it again. The worst halfcab noseslides. A front board pop out first try. But could never get a front 50. The ledge is getting chunky. It’s not fun anymore, every trick is a battle and the buses make it even worse. I think I’m going to say RIP to this ledge. I need to go to start driving to parks when I want to skate a ledge. Boulder doesn’t have any ledges. Ugh. I went home bummed on the ledge, but hyped on Saul’s. Maybe I am finally starting to like transition skating.

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

Dave and I skated the curb on the newly repaved driveway at the school across the street while we waited for Jack to show up. I had a new deck and new shoes and they felt kinda weird. We didn’t really do much, some pivots, pivot shoves, no comply tails, etc. Jack showed and messed around long enough to do a bigspin pivot. Then we was off to LA!

(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)

Went out in front of the house for a bit on a really nice night and totally struggled in new stuff. I had the new 533v2 shoes (thanks Tytus!) and a new 8.25 Jack deck. The shoes are more comfy for sure, but different. I didn’t get much chance to break them in so they were extra stiff. Got some kickflips, shoves, halfcab flip, but it took awhile. Landed on a couple treflips, but didn’t get one. Then just hucked one of every trick for a bit. Got close to a few, but never got any more tricks.

(setup 8.25 null jack spanbauer 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 533v2 black/white/gold 11.5, spenco 3/4 thinsoles with stock insoles)

A small sample of yesterday @boredzinejp @ericjeckert #coloradicalsabbatical2017 @idrawmazes @ditchlife

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jun 9, 2017 at 6:04am PDT

After being in so much pain just skating a little the night before I tried something new. NB# 868s with old stock NB insoles. At first the crew was Joe, Damon, Rob, Neil and me. We played a game of SKATE. My new shoes were feeling great and I actually got first try heelflip and halfcab flip. I ended up losing to Damon, but it was a good warm up. Then I went to get Josh and when I got back the rest of the Nebraskans where there. Eric, Matt and Dan. After a quick hello the shredding commenced. Josh, Eric and I hit the steep bank for a bit. Josh’s front disasters were sick. I took a lot of tries for the front rock. Jack showed. Carleigh showed. Remembering what everyone did is impossible. Especially several days later. I will say I was impressed with how hard Rob was ripping (back lip the parking block!). Jack too. I guess it’s more expected with Jack, but it’s always kind of mind blowing.

First spot #coloradicalsabbatical2017 #weekendatgrennys2tokyodrift #momsspaghetti

A post shared by Eric J Eckert (@ericjeckert) on Jun 8, 2017 at 8:50pm PDT

Then we went to Stonehenge. I was incredibly sore. Too sore to kickturn on the barrier. I hucked some pivots and stalls on the bank to curb, but not much worked. Josh, Dan and Eric were hitting the barrier. Josh did a feeble on it. Dan fakie tail and fakie disaster. Eric rock to fakie. It rained for awhile. Eventually it dried up and we hit things again. I got a terrible no comply to tail on the bank to curb. Josh did nose picks. Joe had some moves too. Nolan showed and after a few warm up bank to curb tricks went nuts on the barrier. “Hey Glen, should I do the blunt bigspin again?” Dan also did fakie tail revert. Eric decked his boardslide fakie. Richard showed and did front tail revert. Damon did frontside feeble. Nolan did everything.

(setup 8.25″ null spanbauer deck, venture 5.2 high v-hollows, venom 88a bushings, bones sft v3 52mm wheels, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, bronson raw bearings, nbnumeric 868 12 black/gum with old stock NB# insoles)

After work it was raining. I chilled at home for a bit and it dried up and was super nice out. I biked over to Willville and started the slow warm up process. I had new shoes. My legs were sore, the plantar fasciitis pretty bad. I tried pretty hard though. I just felt like trying lines. It took a bit, but I got a couple while. Boardslide pop out the double sided ledge, ollie onto the skate stopped ledge and ride off, flatground ollie (tech!) then nose manual into the bank. Going the other way I struggled a bit more, but would eventually get a line I liked. Curb jib, no comply 180, halfcab flip, noseslide the wider ledge then ride down the narrow path along the wall. Other tricks I got were a tiny crook jib on the double sided ledge, boardslide the wide ledge, tiny front board and tinier front noseslide on the wider ledge, fakie flip. Tried some treflips, nollie flips, switch flips. The first two were close. Also tried switch 180 manual into the bank and switch ollie up the curb then switch 180 into the bank but the switch ollie up was harder than I wanted it to be.

(setup 8.25″ null spanbauer deck, venture 5.8 lights, venom 88a bushings, bones sft v1 50mm wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, old bad bearings, nbnumeric quincy 254 12 gum/cream, remind cush insoles)