Still feeling kinda sick, but thought I was beating it I went out kinda early to skate flatground for an hour or so. I started with the City Cups again and had put a suede patch under hoping it would hold up. I had done a few tricks, gotten the typical close to some rare ones, but then the suede patch gave out. One trick I tried and still feel like I can do is frontside cab heel. Anyway, I grabbed my next pair of shoes from the car. Adidas 3st.003. We’ll see if that rubber patch helps. Switching to new shoes mid session didn’t feel good. Espcially because the 003s are a lot bigger. I managed a few tricks. Nothing fancy. I was feeling pretty lethargic and skated slow.

A few hours later I met Sean at Broomfield park. There was one other crew of dudes there and they were skating hard the whole time. So even though the park was pretty dead, the other 4 dudes skating were all over the place. Sean and I played a game of SKATE. It didn’t go well for me. I even missed a kickflip. New / big shoes aren’t great for SKATE. Then we mostly skated the quartapotty and blue ledge. Once again I couldn’t nose manual it. Or really back 50. I was struggling hard, hating my setup and how I felt. Sean worked on his nollie and switch game. Nollie front 5-0 shove, nollie nosegrind. He slammed hard on a switch back 50, but would come back and get it. My slight big of happiness came on my first fakie 50 switch front 180 out in awhile, also a fakie nosegrind jib that came pretty easy. I hucked some front shove crooks. They line up perfectly, but I didn’t commit. Why don’t I ever commit to anything anymore? Argh. I like how I get mad at myself even when I’m sick.

(setup 8″ null dream machine deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, 51mm bones stf pj v1, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle to make it feel a little wider, bones medium bushings, adidas 3st.003 navy size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

On a cold night I went into the garage with the intention of trying some different tricks. I warmed up on my normal board, but then just kind of lost interest and grabbed the putter. I had some new shoes on. Adidas Busenitz vulc. Last time I had this shoe I disliked it a lot, but I don’t wear orthotic insoles anymore so maybe it will work this time. I tried nollie flips for a bit, but they didn’t work. The pop shove body varial came pretty quick. The varial flip revert took a bit and probably doesn’t even really count. The double flip took a solid 10 minutes. Long enough that I had no desire to clean it up. I tried varial heels for awhile, but then decided to go inside and have a beer.

(setup garage putter – 7.5 303 deck, venture 5.0 hollow light lows, 42mm oj wheels, adidas busenitz vulc b/w size 12, stock insoles)

In a crisp morning I went to the dog park before work. I had some new shoes on. Lakai Protos. Aka Tony Hawk’s shoe. I feel like I should try them because he is tall, old and kind of awkward too. I was skeptical of how bulky they felt, but on my warm up process they felt really good. Even got my first few kickflips. But then I started to fail at kickflips and I thought I’d be switching shoes back. But I stuck with it and they actually felt really good. Got the kickflip, no comply 180, fakie flip warm up line. First try b/s flip. Struggled with halfcab flip. Tried to line out pop shove then treflip, but kept not landing on the treflip. Tried to land on heelflip then nollie tre, but never got the nollie tre. The heelflips felt sketch, but they kinda worked. I hucked a few other flippers like switch f/s flip, nollie flip and nollie front heel. I committed to nollie flip, but none of them were close. At the end I was losing motivation and took a few tries to get a fakie bigflip then a treflip. The new shoes pass the first test .. flatground.

(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, lakai proto white/black 11.5, thin rubbery adidas insoles)
(pain level 1/10 felt great didn’t get sore)

After another exhausting day at work I left for MRKT with no plans. I drove along the foothills which may have taken longer, but it was pretty nice and relaxing. Turns out I would have some sunlight left in FOCO so I went to Fossil. The same crew of dudes was there as last night, just no bikers with flat bars. It was super nice out. I briefly warmed up on the top are of the park doing a couple 50s and stuff on the curb then went down to the ledge below. I struggled with front 50s and crooks. Only landed one crook, but almost got a crook shove the next try. I managed to front 50 the taller part for the first time in awhile. Did a few basic flippers and was somewhat happy with my new Lakais.

(setup 8.5 null perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, bones 51mm stf pj v1 wheels, lakai griffin b/w vlk size 11.5, stock insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

Got to Broomfield on a nice night. I had put 5.8 trucks on again, but kept my 8.25″ board. Well, it was kind of funny because I had setup a complete from old stuff and it turned out the deck I chose was totally cracked. Doh. So I swapped that out after a short warm up while Kevin went to work on the ledge. He had a goal of 33 tricks since he’s turning 33 in a couple days. I think he was at 20 when I got back into the park. Wowzers. My skateboard was feeling foreign under my feet. Partly the bigger trucks, partly because I had new shoes. NB+ 345. They seemed a little thin for me, but weren’t the cause of the frustrations I would have all night. Kevin and Mike were slaying the black ledge. Darin and Justin were on the quartapotty/manny pad tip. Garrett showed up and showed his smoothness quickly. I gave up on the big ledge and played on the little one. Darin and I were working on 3 trick lines. My first one was front 50, some trick, back 50. My back 50s were bad, but I liked the wider trucks for it. Darin’s line was good. Front tail, back tail the qp, back tail fakie the ledge. So sick. Garrett was trying to manual down the tall blue bank. That is some serious pop. My next line was front 5-0, axle stall to fakie, fakie nosegrind. It was bad. Darin was trying front 5-0 shove. I mixed in some front 50 variations, both 180s out, front shove out. We were all trying the ironman line and as is typically the case I was the last. I couldnt heelflip with the bigger board. At some point I kind of rolled my ankle and didn’t think it was bad, but as I write this two days later it’s pretty sore. Garrett, Kevin and I played a game of SKATE to end it. I got out first and did a double or nothing on fakie flip and bailed both. Ugh. Those two did a bunch of crazy tricks. Pretty blah night for me. Everyone else was ripping. I don’t think I’ll stick with the bigger setup.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture 5.8 black icon, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers outside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric black 345 size 12, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 3/10 general weirdness)

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)

Work late this week.  After dinner and some soccer with Ollie it was dark.  I went to the research area wanting to skate flat in the newer concrete areas.  I started in the area that has the little 2 stair.  Oh yeah, seeing as how the vulcs ended up hurting bad last time and the 868s are just too bulky I tried some new shoes.  PJ 533v2s.  They felt very different when I started and impossible to skate.  It bummed me out.  I would kind of get things going a little bit.  I suck so bad at flatground lately.  Changing shoes almost every time I skate and the bigger setup are not helping.  I got a couple lines with 180s down the stairs and basic kickflip variations.  I got annoyed with the lights shutting off/on and went to the other new area with the wood benches.  After a slam on a fakie flip I went up to the ledge and finally had a little fun.  Noseslides, noseslide to fakie.  I slammed hard on a noseslide to fakie and screamed.  Got up and tried it again and landed it.  It was refreshing to be so upset about not landing a trick. Because lately I seem to not get upset and also not really try hard.  I got several crooks, but they were just little quick jibs. One bad back axle stall. I tried switch varial flip on the way up the hill and kickflips down the hill. It sucked dodging all of the roly polys. I got a decent feeling halfcab noseslide then a better crooks and called it a night.

(setup null perception 8.5 deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings bones v1 stf 51mm wheels, new balance numeric 533v2 brown/gum size 12, footprint gamechanger low profile insole)
(knee pain 2/10)

Shortly before sun down I went to the research ledge on a nice night. I had some new shoes. NB# 420 runner shoes. They are very stiff so I was kinda doubting I’d have much luck on the skateboard. Oh yeah, speaking of skateboard, I had a different setup. You can thanks Max Garson for getting on my case about changing and not sticking with a bigger setup. I like how 8.5s skate more than 8.3s so I put an old Rabethica deck together. My first noseslide felt sketchy as my foot shot right off the nose. Oh great, do these shoes not have any grip? But after that they felt grippy. I got a fun feeling noseslide to fakie when Saul biked by on his way home from yoga. We chatted for a bit, then it was back to me not landing much. This ledge gets rougher and higher each time I skate it. Ha, okay the higher part isn’t accurate, but I get older and it feels taller. I had an alright session. Got a few crooks, got a terrible back 50, a halfcab noseslide that felt good. The sprinklers had come on making the line potential hard with puddles. I hucked a few flippers, the shoes seem to have good flick. I got into a few front 50s, but never grinded and land one. Maybe by the time I’m 50 I’ll just ollie and throw the board at the ledge and count it.

(setup null rabethica 8.5 deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, oj 52mm ez edge wheels, new balance numeric 420 black/white size 11, low profile footprint gamechanger insoles)

New shoes which take awhile to get the flick. But I got an early treflip which relaxed me some. Heelflip took awhile. My board felt small. Got backside flip, halfcab flip, fakie varial flip, fakie flip, a couple treflips and an easy feeling halfcab flip. Didn’t get nollie flip, Nollie varial flip or nollie tre. No fs halfcab flip either. All things considered it was still fun.

(setup 8.25 null perception deck, venture 5.8 lights black icon trucks, bones medium bushings, bones 51mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 212 sea foam/salmon size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsole and stock NB insole)

Fun times with @fullertrron on his 50th last night. @skeleton_canal @gnarlycarleigh @43shifty #over50make

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jun 27, 2018 at 10:27am PDT

On a hot night we gathered at Broomfield park. I got there around 7:30. Rob and Carleigh were already there. Will and Dave would arrive shortly. I had new shoes again. This time Vans Walkers to try the wafflecup. I was 1/10 on my first kickflips. That isn’t good. Rob was on fire. Back 50 body varial out, back 50 back 180, front 50 to front lip, halfcab noseslide to fakie, first try front nosegrind and apparently a front 50 back 180 which I didn’t see so I’m not sure it counts. Ha. Carleigh did front d quick, back d pretty quick too. Lots of boardslides, kickflips. I had a brief period of skating alright. I had rock ‘n roll on the steep bank up top, kickflip on the hump, crooks, close to noseslide 270 shove. But for the most part I skated like complete garbage. Will got on the grinds and manuals quick. The switch front tail is nuts. Dave came out with a lot of energy, but quickly used it up since he’s old now (hee hee). But really he was ripping. Nose manuals, lots of quick feet stuff, front slash down the hubba bank, axle to fakie on the brick qp. It was cool how few people were at the park. We mostly just did our thing. Near the end we filmed a little. I had fun with the front board transfer thing. I had never done it with the switch 180 off before. Will tried to clean up the back 5-0, but it ended up being a battle. Dave’s quick foot line was way harder than it looks. There was much more skating than described here, but it was a fun one.

(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, vans kyle walker black/gold size 11.5 ,low profile gamechanger insoles)