Was challenged by @boredzinejp to learn airwalk to fakie for #theglenandjosholdfartlongdistanceinstagramtricksuperchallenge. So I kind of learned them on flat and then spent several hours trying to fakie on a bank. So much harder! At least there was a curb I could do kickflip back tails on over and over until I landed the worst airwalk ever that somehow meets the minimum requirement of an airwalk. Good luck @the_neviathan, this one is hard! #isuck #airwalksarehard #andnate

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 19, 2015 at 6:25pm PDT

Another day of working from home leaving me feeling tired and run down. Ollie didn’t want to skate or let me go anywhere. It was super nice out so I skated flat in front of the house. I felt horrible initially and the first ollie felt like it almost pulled a muscle in my groin. Ugh. I almost quit immediately, but instead I went on to skate flatground for 2.5 hours and have one of my favorite flatground sessions ever. Kickflips came, then halfcab flips, fakie bigflip and a few more basics before I started with 360 flips. I wanted 5 before I moved on. I got them, took awhile, and they weren’t close, but I would eventually get to 5. Tried a line of f/s halfcab flip then f/s flip. Got it quick. The f/s flip wasn’t great, lots of pivot, but whatever. Then I really started hucking. Lots of nollie inward heel attempts, got a horrible varial heel. Well, it wasn’t all that bad, just slow and I landed it sideways. But it was bolts of course. Ha. I started trying fakie treflips and like 3rd or 4th try rolled away. Whoa. So I turned around, did a front shove, hucked a nollie treflip and landed it. Feeling pretty hyped I went for treflip next (I had to avoid cars for a bit so I was pushing along the sidewalk so I could still count it as one line) and put down one of my best tres ever. I felt so great. I landed all 3 of them good. I wasn’t skating fast, but that’s me. I had put the 3 3flip challenge on my list of things to do by age 40 before the reactive arthritis hit me. Since I would have to wait between cars often I was giving JP the play by play over gchat and he told me I had to do a switch 3 flip too. So I tried. I got really close. Never both feet on, but it seems doable. Also hucked front heels, Rick flips, got a b/s halfcab heel first try, switch varial flip first try, several heelfips, landed both feet on a nollie flip for the first time in a few years, b/s flips. Watched a biker run into my neighbors car. Hucked f/s cab kickfips for awhile and landed 3 that would count on defense because of too much pivoting and not a fluid motion. But I think it could come! I finished after hucking a few flatground airwalks so I could spice up my airwalk post. I am loving the low trucks. Oh yeah, I had new NB# PJ shoes. The brown/gum ones. Clearly they skated awesome and man it’s a good feeling having a PJ Ladd pro model shoe.

(setup 8.1 null venture lows thunder bushings 52mm stf v3 nb# pj stratford 533 brown/gum)

Slightly before Ollie got really sick of me dragging him out skating once again. #over40switch @fullertrron

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 19, 2015 at 2:07pm PDT

Met Dave on campus on a day where Ollie didn’t want to skate much. We parked and Dave was skating this hammer spot. Ha. Trick, manual trick, wallie the curb trick. I started off really really slow and missed my first 5 kickflips. Yikes. Ollie did the wallie manual above and was pretty much over skating at that point. Dave and I tried some lines. I had two that I was really hyped on although everything else I did seemed like crap. One was ollie an orange cone, front 180 nose manual across the median, turn around, wallie the parking block, then a really fun powerslide down the hill (brand new asphalt). The other line was f/s haflcab flip, 180 nose manual, switch 180 wallie, then another fun powerslide. Dave had back 180 nose manual I think. Fast ollies up the curb with back 180 off, nollies off the curb, way better ollies over the cone then me and ended with the switch no comply. Gnar!

Then we went across the street and ended up being there awhile too. Dave was no complying from the parking block up onto the sidewalk. I was riding off the sidewalk then wallieing the parking block. They are really close together so it was kind of hard. We both tried to manual off the 3 stair, but failed. I ended up getting a line of the wallie thing, kickflip up the curb, front 180 down the 3, switch 180 off the curb. Felt cool. Ollie sat and played games on my phone.

We skated this area for awhile. Dave and I got the gap to manny (the other way from the photo) pretty quick. Dave got gap to nose manny first try which he normally works on for awhile. Sick! Ollie tried a few gap to mannies then started throwing his board around in protest that we were still skating. Dave worked on front 180 nose manuals for awhile. I got a line of kickflip off a curb, ollie up the curb (to where Dave is in the photo) then back 180 the little gap. It felt neat.

I hucked front shoves down the monstrous 3 stair for awhile and would eventually get a bad one. But I lined it out with a kickflip off the curb then a gap to manual. Dave got my back by landing the front 180 nose manual perfectly. We were both hyped. Ollie wanted to leave. Ted and a friend were skating the ledge so we went over there. Ollie was really bumming on the spot and just sat in the grass or tossed his board around bummed. Ha. I skated the ledge spot pretty bad anyway. Didn’t really do anything other then a front 5-0 when I was trying 50. Dave had some nice ride on front tails, front 50s and back noseslides. Ted got pop and flippers. Dan showed up and has so much pop it’s crazy. Good to see those dudes. I figured I better stop before I completely bummed out Ollie.

After some lunch and a run to 303 we got home. I told Ollie I was gonna try back lips at the school across the street and he actually wanted to go and skate. Whoa. I failed at back lips for awhile. For the record the asphalt there is horrible and made judging speed almost impossible. Ollie tried more front shoves, back shoves. Then did the raddest line. He did his patented board drop hop down the 2 stair, front 180’d the first stair, halfcab’d off the second, then a little gap to manual over the corner of the sidewalk. I gave up on back lips, but ollied the 5 stair which took awhile and I didn’t even land it very well. Ollie said “over 40 make”. That hyped me up. Then we went home. Oh yeah, I started skating a new pair of PJ’s that I bought forever ago. They felt great. They are the weird cream ones. It really makes me happy to buy his pro shoe. Like little kid giddy when I get a new pair. I can’t believe I questioned them. Never doubt PJ.

(setup 8.5 null, venture wide lights, thunder bushings, some old bones wheels that really small, NB+ PJ stratfords 533 cream)

Went out to Rampy after sitting around a lot in pain. I had some new shoes. I went with Es Accel Slim because it seems like a nice thin cupsole (still wish the new PJs skated like the old ones). I dropped in, but ended up chickening out of the axle stall due to fear of slamming and it hurt my side a bunch. So I just did some weird halfcab rock to fakie manuals things on the flat. I can’t wait for these pains in my side to be gone.

(setup 8.5 null venture wide lights thunder bushings 54mm (are you proud jack?) es accel slims black/white comed)

Cold and rainy night and I was tired anyway. I went out to Rampy to break in some new shoes and hopefully have some fun. But I struggled pretty hard initially. I ended up just trying front sugarcanes for awhile. I never got close, but it seems doable. I did a few kickflips on flat too. The new shoes seem alright.

(setup 8.5 null venture light wides thunder bushings 51mm stfs lakai fura white)

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jun 21, 2015 at 11:21am PDT

Put the wider hangers back on my setup on the way up to Leadville. Ollie and I arrived to a mostly empty park with the exception of a group of BMXers. They were mostly in the bowl except this one lady who was just doing laps in the street section not doing a single trick, just pumping, carving, over and over and over. My initial response was that I remembered not liking this park very much. But luckily I ended up having a blast. This was mostly because I saw the tiny quarter pipe and thought it would be a good place for the switch bean plant to tail challenge. It took me like 20 minutes to work up to a switch dropin though. So scary. Once I did that I managed a few switch bean plants to tail and I was super hyped. Then I asked Ollie to film it and it ended up taking me another 10 minutes or so. Oh well, so stoked to land that and get it out of the way. Not sure I have any desire to try that one again, but it was fun. Ollie cruised around pushing mongo. He’s got a pretty creative eye and it’s cool what he chooses to try. The f/s halfcab was every try for him. He also had some cool ride on grinds and stuff. At one point I was trying to manual up the A-ledge thing and I bailed out and my board shot right into my sack. It hurt so bad I thought I was going to puke. Luckily the pain subsided and I was able to keep skating. I had that fun line above. Unfortunately Rob and I had some texting issues and he showed up right as we were leaving. Doh. Fun session though. Oh yeah, I had some new NB+ Quincy 254s. These shoes are really good.

(setup 8.25 null venture wide lights bones med bushings 51mm stfs quincy 254s)

Super tired after a long day of work. Almost didn’t skate, but it was nice out and I felt like I should for a little bit. I went to the research center and wow the view of the craziness in Longmont was pretty awesome. The bright spot in the photo above is actually lightning. Anyways I did a couple noseslide tricks to start. Oh yeah, had some new shoes. NB+ Quincys. I was liking the temp tryout of vulcs with the Es Accents, but they are just too slim and hurt my feet too much. This will be a true test if I can handle going back to vulcs. The board feel compared to the PJs is night and day better. I really didn’t skate long though. I would try a ledge trick and on the way back up try a switch flip. I never got close to the switch flips. On the ledge I good back noseslide, back noseslide fakie, front noseslide, back board pop out, crooks, a few tic tac’y back 50s and a really bad halfcab noseslide.

(setup 8.25 null venture light wides bones medium bushings 51mm stfs nb+ quincy 254)

A photo posted by @newbalancenumeric on May 7, 2015 at 1:39pm PDT

A video posted by @newbalancenumeric on May 7, 2015 at 10:01pm PDT

Yeap, you knew I would get them official PJ Ladd pro shoes as soon as I could. We all knew the dude hypes me up more then any other pro skater and I’m stoked to be able to support the dude in some way. It meant I didn’t have a chance to break them in yet so things were rough initially. The new shoes have a much stiffer sole, are a bit thicker and don’t fit quite as well as the old ones. But with that said the new ones are much grippier and seem more durable. Only time will tell if that’s the case and they seem like they will probably break in pretty nice. Either way I’ve been running the 479s for several months so it was a big change. After a couple noseslides I started trying a run of halfcab flip, ollie up the curb then crooks. But I was really struggling with the crooks. Argh. Got fakie bigflip, varial flip, ollie up the curb, no crooks. Ha. On the way up the hill I started hucking switch heels. For the first time ever I was somewhat consistently flipping the board. Man I would be sooo hyped to get that one. None were real close, but I was getting one foot on so it’s a start. Had a run with no comply 180, fakie flip, the worst f/s halfcab flip in history, 180 up the curb, halfcab noseslide bail. Had some slow and hands down treflips, tried halfcab heelflips. I guess in all my flatground game did ok in the new shoes. I did a back 5-0 first try which was intended to be a back 50. Ha. Tried kickflip front noseslides and got pretty close. Hucked halfcab crooks for awhile and never got close. All things considered it was a decent day for a first go in new shoes.

(setup 8.25 null venture wides bones med bushings stf 51mm nb+ pj startford 533)

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Apr 14, 2015 at 10:27am PDT

Wasn’t planning on Blue Skies, but Dave hit me up saying he was going so I went for it. It was super nice out. I got there after Dave. I tried to warm up quickly, but it just didn’t happen. I had a lot of bails or tricks I didn’t try because I was tired. Doh. Dave was charging the main bank and the dragon bar. He got boardslide and boardslide to fakie on it. Oh yeah, I had new shoes. Another pair of the Stratford 479s in the Broncos colorway. My last pair. So that might be why I was a bit off. I don’t really remember doing much noteworthy until the end when I was trying front 50s on the taller part of the ledge and b/s flips over the low part of the dragon bar. Got a couple front 50s. Both were slow, one had a front 180 out. Never got the b/s flip. Dave was getting into front crooks which is crazy considering how slick that ledge is. Dave did a judo tailblock on the bank and I wanted to learn it. I got a couple, but I think I early grabbed. Either way it was fun. Then we did it fakie. Dave also nollied into the bank.

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Apr 14, 2015 at 7:33pm PDT

After work I met Matt at Meta. We went to roll downtown and as soon as I put my feet on the board I knew I didn’t have much for the night. Ugh. Matt did the crazy ollie within minutes of starting. So sick. We goofed around for awhile nearby. Tried some tall noseslides in a nearby alley. Got kicked out of my little warm up spot.

Then ended up here where I skated like complete crap and Matt continued the game of doing any trick I suggested. Nosegrind was first try! He also got front 5-0, front 50 and did some boardslides on the metal bumpy flatbar. I did a weak ass front noseslide. That was it. Oh and posed some kickflip noseslides. Checked out some other stuff, but by then Matt was tired too and we mostly walked back.

(setup 8.38 null venture wides bones med bushings spitfire 50mm f4 101s)

Our macbook died. Well, the hard drive became corrupted and I spent lots of the morning working on it. What a pain. I’m disappointed in Apple for the stupid upgrade path that renders a computer useless. Then Dave and Rob bailed. Carleigh and Jack went to skate parks. I was hoping my body would feel better. As much as I tried to convince myself it was, it wasn’t. I met my old college friend Steve at a bank off Pecos. Upon arriving there I noticed a trailer right in front of the bank. Ugh. You could still skate the mellow part of it so I warmed up with some basics. Oh yeah, I had new Stratfords. Well, not totally new as I’ve skated them before, but I thought 11.5 was too big for me. They felt ok this time around. I did a few variations of kickflips, struggled with varial flips. Steve showed and I was trying 360 flips. I would try them on the steepest part I could fit under the trailer on the approach to. It was pretty fun. I got a couple with my hands down before stomping one that felt amazing. Steve did pop shove to fakie, fakie pop shove and ollies. I added a halfcab flip and we both tried heelflips to fakie. I’ve never done one on a bank. While trying these my legs got stiff and I stopped skating. Then I went to Denver to film Derek. Just pushing to meet him was a chore. He didn’t get his trick. I went home super exhausted and depressed, ate a salad then went to sleep.

(setup 8.25 null venture wides bones medium bushings no washers 52mm null wheels)

So tired from being woken up the night before at work. I forced myself to go skating after making the kids dinner. I ended up at Red Curbs. I did a slappy crook which felt great then bailed trying to ollie into a front 50 on a curb. Yeah. I knew it was bad at that point. So I tried to huck back tails since I have to learn that trick now or get a letter in O-L-D-F-A-R-T. I cannot comprehend that trick. I can rarely do it when I kickflip in which seem so much easier to me. I left after awhile feeling very frustrated. Oh yeah, I had new shoes. The lovely NB+ Stratfords.

(setup 8.25 venture wides bones med bushings no washers 52mm null wheels)