Had troubles sleeping the night before. Basically didn’t sleep. I knew I would want to be lazy later so I went to Blue Skies during my gym break. It was nice out, the park was vacant, but man I was beat. I started with a few basic tricks on the sorry excuse for a qp. Did a beanplant to tail. Then did all 4 variations shoves off the front of the board. Nollie back, nollie front, fakie back, fakie front. For the fakie ones I tried to throw down and push switch fast. I can’t believe how hard that still is. Ugh. Then I did a few f/s nollies and ollies to fakie. Struggled to do a few f/s cab kickturns. Last thing was f/s ollie on the main bank, back tail stall on the little wedge, then f/s 360 kickturn off the nose. Day 100! Back to work.

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

It’s my bday! Normally I get stoked, but I guess I had a bit of that old feeling depression for the first half of the day. I skated flatground in front of my house for awhile. Well, kind of. I mostly just hecked nollie heels and other slow moving tricks I can’t do. I feel like Riley’s recent nollie heel trick tip session helped, but I have yet to make the board flip right. Maybe, just maybe I’ll get one by the time I’m 50.

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Apr 12, 2015 at 6:14pm PDT

Liz had asked what else I wanted for my Bday and I said she could maybe film the stupid trick above. I know I could do it. But it’s a lot of luck and not just my awesome skill. Ha. I was quite depressed while trying it. I think it was because I could tell Ollie did not want to be there which was a bummer. The slam above was the closest I got. It was not an intentional Glen fall. It was an honest to goodness desperate attempt at riding away. After seeing this footage I’m not sure I’ll try it again. Rob and Dave showed. They both did sick no comply bean plants over the rock into the path. Rob’s was super lofty.

A photo posted by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on Apr 12, 2015 at 2:55pm PDT

Then we skated this which was about 20 feet away. Ollie had some ollies and front 180s off. Dave was nollieing down the 2 stair with speed. Rob was shredding! Manualed it (which is tough because it’s really rough on top), back 180 up and one incredibly steezy no comply shove down the 2, there was more, but I’m not remembering right now. I messed around with a few things, then put together a line that made my whole day better. Kickflip up the two stair, no comply finger flip on flat, olllie down the 2 then ollie the 4. It was rad because I almost slammed down the 2 and just barely pulled off whatever little ollie it took to clear the 4. It really cheered me up. Ollie and Liz left then Dave, Rob and I moved on. We went around the corner to the double set that Ishod halfcab boardslid. Dave still wanted to boardslide it. He felt it out a little, but didn’t get down it. Then we started trying tricks into the grass. First it was ollies. Dave managed to not stick and got down the hill a couple times. I never did, but I did land on a bunch of kickflips over the curb that were totally committed to. It was fun rolling down the hill. Dave somehow also managed to back 180 into the grass and ride down switch. Wow. Dave and I did this little rock wallie thing for a bit. I tried on the first go and slammed pretty hard. Dave got it in a couple and I was a few behind. I did manage to front 180 the 4 stair which felt really cool. Then Dave and I skated this cool gap to manny that Dave found. He mannied it real quick. I took a few tries. Then he went for nose manual, but never got it. Doh. We hit the long ledge for awhile. There was some dude in headphones cruising around making sure to never make eye contact or say hi. It was weird. Rob continued his shredding. I saw crooks, front tail, halfcab noseslide, front noseslide, front board pop out, and a sick 1-2 punch of noseslide to fakie then halfcab noseslide. I’m kind of blanking on Dave, but I remember front 50, crooks, boardslide pop out, noseslides I think. I didn’t get much more then crooks and front 50 on the ledge, but I did have a treflip and a couple great feeling nollie tres. All in all a fun day, thanks Rob and Dave!

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

Drank a couple glasses of wine Friday night and kind of felt like crap on a day I was supposed to skate a lot. Ugh I hate having no tolerance anymore. Anyways, I met Bernie, Riley and Rob at Safeway ledge for an early bird session (11 am ha). It was a struggle. For all of us. I was there first and did the various “slappy” noseslide variation drill to get warmed up. 50s weren’t too much later. Rob was next and was going for front board 270 pop out. Crazy. Riley did a bunch of good basics and a few long suski grinds which was cool to see. Bernie had some funny early morning bails and came out with a front tail 270 I think.

Then we went to Broomfield park. Steve V joined. Riley, Steve and I skated the bowl for a bit. I actually dropped into it. Just in the mellow side section, but had some runs where I almost got tile in the deep side. Steve dropped in on the vert side I think. Riley was cruising lines with back 50s over the love seat. I’m never going to remember all that went on, but we mostly had the park to ourselves and it was pretty rad. Riley rips that park so hard. Rob and I were hyped watching the lines he would put together. Ollie up the ledge then ollie into the kicker, nose manual 180 the black box, fakie noseblunt the brick qp, front 180 nose manual the euro. Basically anything he wanted. Rob had good no comply tailslides on the hump. Bernie was doing manuals on the blue bank and just stopping in manual position and holding it forever. I skated ok, nothing really stands out. Got a line I’ve done before of f/s flip on the hump, front 180 into the bank, halfcab noseslide the black ledge. Then tried to do fakie flip on the hump then kickflip into the bank for a long time. I eventually got it. Then Rob and I went to get food.

Got back to the park and Jack and Carleigh had shown. I was in a food coma and felt more like sleeping then skating. Riley and Jack started skating the double set rail doing tricks back to back. Front smith then back smith. Front nosegrind then back nosegrind. It was getting gnar. They got to tricks like bluntslide front shove and bigspin front board. Man they were ripping. Bernie, Rob and I were skating the blue bank manny pad again. Bernie almost did manual front 180 fakie noseman down. I did a rock kickflip to fakie. After awhile a manny pad session started on the blue box. Bernie owned it. Front 180 fakie manual f/s halfcab flip out. Halfcab flip manual back 180 out. Riley had switch heel nose manny. Rob was doing switch boardslides. I was trying kickflip manuals, but mostly not landing the kickflip. Carleigh had tried back disasters for a long time then got a couple within a few tries of each other.

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

Feeling old and arthritic.  Stopped at Valmont after work.  The east side of the building is closed, has good ground and a couple manny pads. I had a new 8.38 Null deck.  Nothing came easy. I got a few of my staples. Added a rare and bad bs halfcab heel.  Put my hands down on treflips.  Almost did manual back 180 out.  Tried a line of fs hc flip, nollie tre, fs flip and came close.  Tried a lot of nollie heels and flips. Even hucked switch bs flips for awhile.  Not my fav flatground Friday.

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