After a long day with lots of chilling and family time I went into the garage around 9pm after putting an old 8.25″ deck on.  It felt good.  I did a few basics, took awhile to get a treflip, called it a night.  Oh yeah, I mixed up a few shoes to see if they helped and some old City Cups worked out after I tightened them up.

(setup null 8.25 spanbauer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, bones  bushings (medium big bottom one, hard top one), no washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 radial blue/yellow swirl 52mm 99a wheels, adidas city cup size 11, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10 ankle loosened up a bit)

After hanging with the family most of the day I went to go skating at the Valmont area. I just wanted to do a couple ledge tricks then try to hosercam film a cab flip on the mellow bank for stubborns. It started misting as I pulled in. I got a first try front tail stall, a couple halfcab noseslides and bailed front 50s. I was on a big board. 8.5 with Venture 5.8s. It felt lovely. I was craving a big board yesterday so I put together a complete from used stuff. The deck was in pretty good shape. But the mist quickly turned to rain so instead of going to the bank I went to redder curbs. They had put in some new parking blocks and freshly painted the curbs. I felt a little bad digging in, but not too bad. I mostly tried some lines. First one started wear the little bumps are. Front 180 in, switch back 180 out (all of them were terrible), front tail stall a curb, kickflip on flat, slappy crook. Then I mixed up a couple lines. Ollie the little median, curve around then back 50 the median, manual the corner of a curb, no comply the parking block. Never quite got it, the short manual weirded me out. Other line was switch front 180 the parking block then something, but the switch 180 proved to be hard and I never got past it. I got tired and played flatground for a bit. Got a first try halfcab flip, but didn’t commit to much and left feeling pretty tired.

(setup 8.5 null perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, old bones 51mm stf v1 wheels, new balance numeric 345 black/white size 12, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 3/10 them shoes don’t have much protection)

Had a half day to take at work. I wasn’t sure how my ankle would take it so I didn’t really make any arrangements and went to Sandstone. I arrived to a big family basically having a picnic in the skatepark. Doritos on the ground, coke spilling down the banks, toddlers sliding down the qp. At least they had a few skatebaords with them and kids would take turns riding them. My first push hurt pretty bad and I thought I’d have to quit, but I’m stubborn so I kept pushing around. It took awhile before I did much of anything. I did some nollie shoves and stuff on the mellow bank. Then the first somewhat real warm up line. Ollie over the b/s hip, ollie to fakie the flat bank, fakie shove on a bank. At this point I should mention I was on Thunder trucks again. 148s. I found out Venture will not be doing the 8.25″ anytime soon. Thunders are perfect on paper so I have some soft bushings in there and hope to just get used to them. The lowness felt good on the fakie shove. I slammed pretty hard on an ollie over the hip which kind of freaked me out about changing trucks. I cruised around the park more then after awhile stuck to the little ledge. I didn’t think I would be able to ollie into front 50, but my ankle had loosened up a lot and I was able to. I did mostly halfcab noseslides though and definitely did the best one I’ve ever done. I was up on it and slid for a couple feet. It felt great. Then I did it in a line of front 50, ollie to fakie the bank, halfcab noseslide. Then I did an even longer line. Crook the ledge up top, go into the bank and ollie the hip, kickturn the bank then noseslide the ledge, turn around front 50 the ledge, ollie to fakie on the bank then halfcab noseslide. For whatever reason the front 50 all of a sudden got super hard and it took me several tries, but when I did I got the whole line and it was fun. Last thing I tries was posing from front 270s over the hip in the back, but then it started pouring. Right as Dave got there. Doh!

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, thunder 148 lights, venom 88a bushings, 2 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric black 345 size 12, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 5/10 right ankle and general pain)

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)

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)

Slept in til 9. Sleeping in that late really throws me off. After a day of not landing much I needed a setup change! Ha ha, I debated Thunder 148s and Venture 5.2 lo/hi for quite some time before settling on 5.2 hi. I went over to the school to play around and see how it felt. I did a few really slow flippers. Nothing special, one hands down treflip. Kickflips and heelflips felt better, treflips felt worse. I got close to a nollie flip or two, the smaller board felt way better for that. Then I went home to eat and was totally gonna take a nap when Jack called and suggested the Mikes Camera manny pad. It didn’t take much to get me there. There was a bunch of cars parked in the lot, but at least one spot was open. When I arrived Jack was doing back 180 fakie manuals. He mostly tried that the whole time. I couldn’t do a basic manual and I took like 10 tries to nose manual it. Argh. Rob joined us. He got in some no comply manuals right away and nose manual right after that. Jack would end up doing some epic manuals. Back 180 fakie manual to forward to fakie to forward. Ha, I can’t really describe it in words, but it was hilarious. He also did fakie bigspin out which was so sick. He got some fakie tres up the curb and a bunch of flippers on the rough ground. Nollie heel, nollie flip, switch heel, switch varial flip, impossible, etc. I had a couple flippers, heelflip felt good, close to nollie flip. I got a nose manual shove that felt really good even if it took a long time. Rob did nose manual 180 to switch manual then topped himself with a 180 out as well. So sick.

Great seeing you on your board again @jackspanbauer !

A post shared by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Aug 5, 2018 at 6:51pm PDT

Then we went to nearby rainbow ledge. Rob did boardslide pop out right away, I took like 10 tries. Rob also played with with boardslides to feeble, but didn’t lock into the grind. I did noseslide to fakie and a tiny front 50 on the curb high part and tried to line out to 180 the gap, but I bailed the gap. It was bigger than I remembered. I filmed Jack try bigspin hurricane for awhile, but he didn’t get it. Big Mike showed up. Jack got back nosegrind shove out a few times just messing around going slow. So we filmed a faster one, slams included. Mike got a front noseslide and an elderly lady passing by said “You’ll get it”. Ha ha.

@cookiegrinder13 🔥

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 5, 2018 at 6:25pm PDT

Today, Glen found the optimal weight distribution for nollie flips.

A post shared by Jack Spanbauer (@jackspanbauer) on Aug 5, 2018 at 11:50pm PDT

Then we went to this wallride spot. I wasn’t into it at first and I don’t think Jack was either, but Mike was super into it and we found some wood and signs and made it more fun. Or at least I thought until I slammed on the sign twice and messed up my wrist pretty good. Jack did the backside wallride first try. Mike got it next. I was close and after the two slams in a row had a setback. But I got it and it was pretty fun. Jack came close to touching a grind on it. Then Mike and I went for frontside. It took me about 20 tries longer. Then I slammed super hard and broke a phone trying to film Mike (ha). Then Mike and Jack skated the longer wallride. Jack tried it without a landing and slammed so hard. It was brutal. Mike put some wood for a landing and did while holding onto the tree and then without holding onto the tree. It was rad.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, bones 51mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 212 sea foam/salmon size 11, custom orthotic insole)
(knee pain 3/10 )

After packing for a fun filled family road trip and setting up a new board after yesterdays board focus I intended to drive to Douglas. But then I saw Wilville and went with it. I had a new 8.25 deck and new wheels. Also forged baseplates instead of regular. I had done some research throughout the day in my journal and I’ve had come good days on this setup. But as expected starting out was not easy. I dropped into the middle bank a couple times then worked my way towards the ledge. A few BMXers showed up too which was kind of annoying watching the ledge get destroyed. Although maybe their pegs were plastic. Either way they weren’t overly nice so I’m glad they left quickly. I slammed on some noseslide and boardslide attempts. You know, really tech tricks. But things would come together at times. I did a line of halfcab flip, crook jib on the ledge then ride down the narrow bank. It was scary because my heel scraped the wall. Had a few boardslide pop outs on the narrow side, switch noseslides. Tried noseslide shove for awhile and got a sketchy one. Then I tried front 50s forever. They were so scary for me. Not only was the ledge tall, but it was dark and there are cracks everywhere. I would try a slow 360 flip on the way back. Normally I would bail it, but I landed on a few sketchy ones. At first I tried to front 50 the first part which meant ollieing from the bricks which was wavy and weird. Then I started coming in with a big angle and 50 the second part. It only took like 50 tries, but I started getting into it. I landed a really slow and bad one, but it made me happy. That is a tall ledge I’ve never 50’d before.

(setup 8.25 null perception deck, venture 5.8 lights black icon trucks, bones medium bushings, bones 51mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 212 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insoles)

Working on some finishing touches on this one then gonna bring it to #eltoro for my Stubborns ender. 📹 @baffoos

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 14, 2018 at 7:01pm PDT

On a hot and sunny day Dave and I were brainstorming covered spots and agreed on Red Hawk. The session was set and even though Dave would be later it all still worked out. Kevin and Rob were there before me. The 3 of us started in the sunny curb section which was quite fun. You can ride on to grinds without even slappies and it’s fun. Rob was the first to get past the kink. That’s a long back 50 grind. I think both Kevin and I did frontside too. I don’t quite remember, but we both grinded far and it was fun. I had some backside ones that were really fun too. Kevin did a nollie flip super easy then gave some of the best advice I’ve heard. Jump back. I’m writing it down in hopes that I will remember to do it. We started messing around down below in the shade. The north ledge was so slick it was insane. It felt like you would accelerate as you grinded. Kevin is a young pup and was up on the front and back 50s and 5-0s before I had even ollied. Rob had crooks and front boards and a funny front 50 where you could see the amount of wax surprised him. I had gotten a couple front 50s, maybe a super slow back 50 and a couple crooks. Fuzz showed up, chilled for a bit then got in the mix. Then another car of skaters pulled up. Turned out to be dudes we know. Chris and Zack. Pretty cool. They were on a different program skating faster and stuff, but they were nice and it made for a fun session. Fuzz had some good back 50s and then did them with both 180s out. He would go on to piece a rad line together of ollie onto a rock then real quick nollie front lip then the Joe Hamilton ledge trick. Solid. What’s also cool is that Kevin filmed it. And he did a good job. Dave had shown up and looked a little more frustrated than normal. The front 50 back 180 took him a bit, but man when he landed it it sure looked good. Then he left for work. Only to come back a few minutes later realizing he had more time. Ha ha So funny. Then he did back and front boardslide 270s and then went to work. I filmed Kevin get a banger line. Nollie flip, front tail to fakie, switch crook. And he did it perfectly. I had started messing around with kickflip front board. And while it’s debatable that it’s actually a ‘front board’ I did land something. A few times. And I even did it on two setups. Ha. I was struggling to ollie the board I had been skating and remembered I had my bigger board in the car. The first front 50 on it felt great. I stuck with it. I had a few ledge tricks. Switch front noseslide, halfcab noseslide jib, switch noseslide 270 shove, front 50 shove, front 50 180, front 5-0. Couldn’t get fakie nosegrind though. Kevin got a front blunt and front noseblunt that was so good. He does hard tricks. After awhile we called it and debated where to eat before trekking into the insane heat. It was great seeing Fuzz, it’s been way too long.

(setup 8.38 null perception deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, 52mm oj ez edge wheels, venom 91a bushings, es asta accel slims, powefeet pinnacle insoles)
(knee pain 4/10)

After dinner I threw a complete together from old stuff. Basically my Indy setup, but I put Venture 5.8s on there. Then Saul showed up and we rolled to Broomfield park where we arrived to a big crew of BMXers. Kevin was there too. Turns out there was a fire at a recycling center nearby and after awhile the smoke from it got pretty intense. It was pretty terrible and I can still taste it as I write this a day later. Kevin got on grinds right away. My board felt huge and made for some weird bails. Especially when we all skated the flow bowl. I haven’t carved around in it for awhile. It was fun. Kevin had some backside ollies over the channel, back disaster, back smith the deep. He was killing. Saul was too when he managed to stay in the bowl. Ha. He does the opposite of me and gets fully out on the deck on his tricks. He did the cool pump over a hip and a few solid grinds on the pool coping. He also almost did a crazy transfer while holding the coping and riding on the deck near the 3′ sections. I didn’t do much more than a couple axle stalls.

Then we went back to the “street” section. Saul beat up the curb with endless slappies. Frontside, backside, almost to back smith. He also did a front 50 on the black ledge. Kevin did some crazy easy looking switch front nosegrind 180s, nollie front nosegrind, switch front 5-0, fakie front nosegrinds, nollie tre on flat, almost back 5-0 front shove and totally died on a front blunt on the bump to bar. I did front 50 shove, the Joe Hamilton, intentional 5-0 and almost intentional 5-0 shove, crooks and one weak fakie nosegrind, but it felt cool. Flip tricks were way off. After skating Kevin gave me some normal Thunder baseplates. So look for yet another setup change. Neat.

(setup 8.38 null perception deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, 52mm oj ez edge wheels, bones medium bushings, vans kyle walker black/gold size 11.5, custom orthotic insoles)

The biggest #dork on #teamsweatstain. 📹 @slaherty

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 8, 2018 at 6:06pm PDT

I do still skate… but don’t actually land tricks 😂 📷: @corpoglenny

A post shared by carleigh samson (@gnarlycarleigh) on Jul 8, 2018 at 3:48pm PDT

On a very hot day I met up with Jack, Carleigh and Sean during the hottest part of the day. It was 95 degrees. We started off at the dry slappy ledge. I had a new board. A new 8″ board. And I hated it immediately. But I tried some lines to get warmed up. Nothing much, but wallie axle stalls were harder than normal. Carleigh did some kickflips. Sean did some noseslides on the tall ledge. Jack can’t skate so he cruised off spot lurking. He came back calling out the rock to fakie for Carleigh so we went over there. It was really hard to skate. I did ollie onto it which took awhile. Carleigh and Sean did that right away. Sean went on to do a sick front disaster up to front disaster thing. I did the dork trick along with posed some flatground. I hated my board being so small. That might turn into a garage board. Carleigh never got the rock fakie, but man she tried and she took a beating. The hang ups were so bad. Good effort though.

(setup 8″ null midnight rider 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, custom orthotic insoles)