Me jumping on the #HandsDown movement and @gnarlycarleigh totally shredding.

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Nov 21, 2016 at 5:43am PST

Around 9:30 am I went over to the school and played around on the curb while I waited for Carleigh to show. I didn’t do much. Just the basic slappy crook stalls, pivot shove attempts. A few front crook or switch crook attempts. Then Carleigh showed and we went to Broomfield park. It was not crowded. It was warm. It was pretty awesome. We started by running into the steep bank and doing some bank rides. Then Carleigh shredded the bowl. I took a few runs from the bottom in it. Man I suck at transition anymore. I don’t have much drive for it these days. Then we hit the ‘street’ section. There was a period where I felt really good and was skating hard. I almost had a line of carve the bank/hubba,noseslide, rock ‘n roll on the brick qp then front 50 shove the black ledge. Never quite got it. Varied it up with some boardslides down the tiny rail. But then normal Glen kicked in and I stopped landing anything. Carleigh though had a sick run. Boardslide the tiny rail, back d the brick qp, boardslide the black ledge, front shove out of the mellow bank. She had some good front 50s on the ledge too. I posed a few frontside airs which was fun. My last trick I had to do was an over the top back 50 on the little ledge. Carleigh filmed it. I finally got one and ended with another really bad treflip with both hands down.

Some days are more special then others. Today was incredible. Thanks to everyone.

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Nov 20, 2016 at 5:58pm PST

@nolancormier boosting at the ramp jam for Jason today

A photo posted by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Nov 20, 2016 at 7:04pm PST

Then we went to the nursing home and skated with Jason to the ramp jam. It was rad. I basically held on for the two miles or whatever. I didn’t skate on the crowded ramp. But it was fun to watch and seeing Jason smile was awesome.

(setup 8.125 null message deck, venture 5.2 low custom hollow trucks with 3 washers inside each axle, stock thunder bushings, 50mm bones stf v1 wheels, swiss bearings, new balance numeric pj stratford 533 maple/black shoes 12)

After a very difficult day of watching Jason and working I finally set up the garage putter. A 7.5″ 303 board and 42mm wheels. I had some new PJ shoes too. I took a few tries to get a kickflip then mostly just tried nollie flips. I quickly ran out of energy and was getting so many texts about Jason that I called it a night.

(setup garage putter 7.5″ with 42mm wheels, new balance numeric pj stratford 533 navy shoes 12)

Went to campus on a beautiful fall day. My favorite weather, lower 60s. I had spent mostly an all nighter with Jason so to say I was tired is an understatement. I didn’t want to be around anyone so I went to this area that is somewhat hidden. I had new shoes. Lakai Griffin XLK. They are too big. Ugh. I wish there was consistent sizing between brands. The sole has good flex and feel, but it’s not even remotely grippy compared to the PJ shoes I have been skating. Anyways, I attempted skateboarding. I started with a line of quick noseslide, kickflip on flat, front 180 off the curb cut, then back up the curb and up the ramp to switch nose jib. Next line was noseslide to fakie, fakie flip on flat, front shove off the curb cut. The fakie flip took awhile. Ugh. Next line took forever. Crook, heelflip on flat, kickflip off the curb cut. Seriously, took so long. Coming back the other way I did a front 50 stall while holding onto the bar, did a little shove out, then front shove into the curb cut then ollie up the lowest ledge. The ollie up wasn’t easy at all, but I had at least messed around with it earlier on.

Got in a couple of grinds today to maintain a tiny bit of sanity.

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Oct 23, 2016 at 2:22pm PDT

Then I hit this ledge for a bit and did a few front 50s. Nothing hard, just wanted to grind and feel that rush of grinding concrete. It felt good even though I struggled.

(setup 8.125 null message deck, venture 5.2 low custom hollow trucks with 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, stock thunder bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 classic wheels, bronson bearings, lakai griffin xlk grey/white shoes 12)

These photos sum up today's post-work attempt at skateboarding. #strugglefest

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 22, 2016 at 6:10pm PDT

New shoes again. Hopefully for the last time in awhile. New PJs, size 11.5 this time. The park had a collection of total beginners and scooters when I arrived, but it quickly cleared out, then quickly populated again with a younger crew. I was just kind of cruising around trying to warm up for ollies with kickflips. I tried ollieing onto the lower C ledge a few times, but I was really tired and skating so slow. Then I mostly just tried lines between the mellow bank and the long crappy ledge. Never got one spanning the whole area, actually I probably never landed more then one trick in a row at all. I had tried a few switch back 3s as they are my next challenge and they felt doable. Dave showed and cheered me up as I was feeling so much older then everyone else there. Around the same time another older dude showed up and skated the bowls though. We spent most of our time between the long crappy ledge and the knob. We both would get switch back 3s. We were hyped. We didn’t film yet though as they need some work. Dave actually did several. I only did one and when I rode away my butt was mighty high in the air. I took the photo of my board sitting in the bottom of the bowl after a failed attempt at a switch back 3 where I turned about 45 degrees and shot my board into the bowl. This was shortly after several failed front 50 attempts that resulted in some angry yelling. I also went primo and slammed hard on a fakie flip. The struggle was real. Dave was skating alright though, bunch of tricks on the knob, nose manual the ledge, halfcab boardslides, halfcab noseslides. I started trying switch noseslides. On one of them I came to a halt, my front foot came off, I put it back on the board and hucked a 360 shove. Totally landed it. Things felt better. Then I tried to land one actually sliding with it. Got pretty close once. Going the other way I was trying a line of a little scratch grind on the knob, crooks the ledge, kickflip to fakie the little bank. That was a lot of exercise though and it got me tired. I ended by finally doing a halfcab noseslide. Dave ended by slamming really hard twice before getting a sick bluntslide on the knob then bailing the boardslide above and almost getting hit with his board. Somehow I left in a great mood. I think it was because I had Dave to skate with and share the struggles of being older. Sure it was rough, but there were a couple of fun moments in there and those are what we skate for.

(setup: 8.5 null message deck, venture 5.8s, thunder bushings, 52mm reed wheels, steele/gum new balance numeric pj 533)

@fullertrron #thestubborns Got his trick in less tries then his age.

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 20, 2016 at 12:23pm PDT

On a beautiful day Jake and I rolled to Longmont and met Dave at Twin Peaks. I had new shoes. Well, some super old PJs that are too small and the heels are all tore up inside. They felt pretty good. My first care over the bank resulted in a stop rock that sent me scrambling. Awesome. It got way better though. We all kind of did our own tricks. Dave and Jake worked on Creepy Spins. Jake got one. Dave couldn’t get it. I got a new trick right away. some nollie shove around thing. Pretty dumb, but kind of fun to start with something new. Dave also did a bunch of shove variations. Jake hates the crack in the middle. I got kickflip, kickflip fakie, varial flip to fakie and an over 40 treflip to fakie, a bunch of kickflips on flat over the crack. Jake and I tried to ollie the hip. Well, Jake didn’t have to try because he popped is good. Mine were bad. And I barely got the ollie over the median down the way. Dave did a bunch of graceful ollies over the hip before putting down a couple of wallies. So sick.

Old people doing old tricks. Except for Jake, he's always doing new tricks. Like fakie front crooks. What a jerk. #akineedstogetoninstagram

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 20, 2016 at 3:19pm PDT

Then we went to RME where we met up with Aki too. We were all rudely reminded of how hard that place is to skate. It was pretty warm out so the wax was melted off the ledge and we all struggled to land tricks on it. It was mostly a ledge session except for Dave who was all over the place ollieing the little medians, manualling them, etc. Jake had some good front tails on the ledge pretty quickly. Aki probably struggled the most as he has never really skated many street spots, just parks. But he got a nice back 50 to end the session. I had crooks, a weak back 50, front 50s but no shove out, switch noseslides. I started to get really sore though as size 11 is just too small for me now and had to sit the rest out. Dave did boardslides to fakie, back 50 180 out (off the front truck), front 50s. Jake was trying fakie back tails and ended up getting into fakie front crooks. So he stuck with it and got one! Hammer. Fun day, I need bigger shoes, or at least thinner socks.

(setup: 8.5 null message deck, venture 5.8s, thunder bushings, 52mm reed wheels, old black/white NB# PJ NM533s)

#empty

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 14, 2016 at 5:41pm PDT

Feeling a little bit better I rolled to Fort Collins ahead of schedule so that I could skate some before filming Hayden. I had taken some ibuprofen the night before so maybe that’s why I felt better. Or maybe because I finally had some meat again. Either way, I didn’t completely suck and it was refreshing. There was only one other skater for awhile before another dude showed. I didn’t do anything special, but cruised some basics. Had a line of a wallie off the flag, heelflip on flat and then back 50 on the glorified curb. I also had front 50s on it, “nollie” front tails and a manual. Couldn’t get nose manual. Had a crooks or two on the “legit ledge”, noseslides too. Then Justin and Wittman showed up at the park as I was trying over and over to front 50 the ledge. It took me a long time and when I finally got it it was very slow and I only grinded an inch or so. Oh well, I finally forced myself to skate it. My shoes were killing me. The Flacos were also purchased before I stopped wearing my orthotics. Argh. So I stopped at MRKT and got some new shoes, some Lakai VAII. They seem wider and a bigger size so not as tight on my foot. We then went to Northside that was totally empty when we got there. I pumped around while Hayden warmed up. Didn’t do much, but had fun. That park is rad.

(setup: 8.5 null message deck, venture 5.8s, thunder bushings, 52mm reed wheels, 2 washers inside each axle, cream lakai flacos / lakai VAII no orthotics)

Feeling really weird and out of it I tried to warm up for a bit on the crappy curb across the street. I had new shoes on (Lakai Flaco) as they were a little longer, but at the same time narrower. I didn’t get much going before Nolan showed up and we ended up at Red Hawk meeting Fuzz, Rob, Kevin and eventually Dave. Upon arriving I felt terrible. Kevin went right to ripping. He had way too much energy. Ha ha. I tried to get things going, but it didn’t happen. Got a line of kickflip up the curb, front 50 front 180 out, switch noseslide on the ledge and a crooks or two on the ledge. But then I basically resigned to filmer Glen. Rob got a couple cool lines with no complys, manuals, wallie nollies, boardslides and crooks. Fuzz got a rad one with fakie ollie, switch board and front 50 back 180 out. Dave got a good one with manual and front 50 body varial. Nolan almost got a crooks nollie varial flip out or however he decided to try and flip it out at the moment. Kevin was shredding some tech moves and got a line of switch flip up the curb, halfcab manual, front 5-0 and nollie front nosegrind. So good. He also did tricks like kick back tail, front noseblunt, front blunt, back 5-0 front shove out. We set Hosercam up and skated the longer ledge for awhile. Fuzz got a new trick of fakie 50 f/s bigspin out. I did a very slow kick back 50 tic tac. I was hurting so bad. Kind of a bummer of a day because I was skating one of my favorite spots with some of my favorite people and skated like complete dookie.

(setup: 8.5 null message deck, venture 5.8s, thunder bushings, 52mm reed wheels, 2 washers inside each axle, cream lakai flacos no orthotics)

So excited to set up a Riley deck that I went for a full new complete!

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 27, 2016 at 6:01pm PDT

It seems like every single post I start by saying how tired I am. Well after an 8 hour drive, a short bike ride and some food I went out on a totally new complete for a brief session. I felt better then I thought I would though. I hate having a brand new complete so wanted to skate it initially on a ledge and not show up at a park with a brand new complete. A few noseslides in a huge mob of people went by following Pokemon or something. It was weird. I got a couple of crooks, a couple bad back 50s, couldn’t halfcab noseslide or front crook. Did a few real basic flippers and hucked some nollie and switch flips that felt close. Did a line of front 180 up the curb, fake flip on flat, switch front nose. Got tired and left. Not bad considering how tired I was and everything was new, even my insoles.

(setup 8.1 Null Riley deck, venture low v-hollows, stock thunder bushings, 1/16″ riser, 3 washers inside each axle, 52mm Reed wheels, New Balance Numeric Quincy denim/gum)

Met Riley, Garrett and Bernie at Broomfield park on a warm afternoon. I was dealing with some serious heel pain and was too scared to really skate. I had increasing pain while wearing the PJ shoes the previous week and then wearing vulcanized shoes for one day sent it over the edge. So I wore my last pair of Es Swifts I had waiting. I didn’t do much other then some axle stalls and slappy noseslides. Riley was destroying. Bernie beat Garrett in SKATE. Then we went off to the DIA rail where Riley ended up getting a pretty unique and crazy trick. Rad.

(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)

I am out of Null decks and really wanted a new board. So I went to Meta and got me a pro deck from one of my favs pros and companies – Habitat Mark Suciu. A little later I went over to the school not feeling much like skating. I started by putting my tail down on the curb and trying to jump to front nose since it’s my new challenge. I didn’t get close at all. After awhile I tried them while moving and it was much easier. Too bad that asphalt is the worst asphalt ever and not fun to skate. I would do a kickflip between each try as I was breaking in some old Es Sal 20s I had in my closet. I think I may have only skated them once. For whatever reason I thought they were too thin, but they seem good now. I ended up technically getting a switch nose to front nose, but it was just a jib. Oh well, not a bad start to the challenge.

(setup 8.1 Habitat Suciu deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, Es Sal black/gum)