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)

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)

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)

Another lunch break session at Blue Skies with Dave and Aki. They were both there when I arrived in some bright new blue shoes (NB# 255). They immediately felt better than the crappy slippery Busentiz Vulc. But they were still new, so it took some getting used to. Dave had a heck of a firing line right when I got there. Back 180 into the “qp”, switch hippy jump 180, front shove fakie on the bank. I think I’m even missing part of what he did in that line. Aki was rattling off tricks on the flat bar as starts to lines again. He had nollie front 50 on the low ledge and almost backed it up with switch front 50. Whoa. He did a back 50 to back tail. Dave was doing stylee front boards to fakie on the flat bar and getting close to fakie varial flip on the bank. I started with a basic line I stuck to for a bit. Boardslide on the flatbar, no comply 180, switch nose jib, kickflip to fakie on the bank, halfcab noseslide. Never got the halfcab noseslide. Tried for boardslide to fakie on the flatbar for awhile which is so hard for me, kinda got one. I was 2-2 on slow front 50s on the low ledge. Dave was trying front board 270 out and getting kinda close. Aki kept on the lines. His front tails on the low ledge are good. Dave had to leave and Aki and I skated the up ledge. Neither of us had noseslid up it. It was harder than I would have imagined. We both got a couple that weren’t to the top, but still fun. Aki also did crooks, front and back 50. I got a crooks jib and a slow front 50. then we ended by playing a game of SKATE. It started off bad with bailed kickflips and pop shoves, and then I got a double or nothing letter on fakie flip. Argh. He won. He also got me with treflip, switch flip and nollie flip. I had gotten him with halfcab flips and heelflip. New shoes feel okay, still need some breaking in though.

(setup 8.125″ null maze deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 52mm bones stf v5, bones medium bushings, new balance numeric 255 blue size 12, custom orthotic insoles)