skate journal: brief campus outing with ollie (april 20, 2015 day 107)

Posted in Skate Journal on April 21st, 2015 by corpo

Was super tired all day so got home from work and took a little nap. Ah. Ate dinner then had about 45 minutes before having to pick up India from ballet. I asked Ollie if he wanted to skate during that time and he said yes. Sweet! We hit campus. I had one of those very disoriented starts where it felt like I hadn’t stepped on a skateboard in years. I don’t know why that’s happening so much lately. It felt pretty cold at first, maybe that contributed. We cruised around the basketball courts, looked at some new stairs. Cruised around some more, ended up at the ledge thing above which is kinda silly. It’s just a little gap to manual. The drop off is kind of high. It took Ollie less tries to get it then me, but I think he tilted a little. We headed back to the car, but on the way hit this weird little ledge drop thing that Ollie manualled first try. I was pretty blown away so instead of getting shown up by Ollie once again I decided to ollie the it. It only took me like 10 tries, but take that Ollie! Ha. Ollie had a blast which is cool, maybe he’ll want to skate more again.

(setup 8.38 null venture wides bones med bushings spitfire f4 99 52mm NB+ stratford 479)

skate journal: brief crooks shove research center (april 19, 2015 day 106)

Posted in Skate Journal on April 20th, 2015 by corpo

Had about an hour before India’s ballet performance to get some skating in. Went to the research center and after a few warm up nose slides I pretty much went stright to trying crooks shove. On the way back up the hill I would try nollie heels. I never got close, but I feel like the advice Riley game me is getting me closer. The crooks shove took basically the whole session. Glad I got it at least though so I didn’t have to dedicate another session to trying to film one trick.

(setup 8.38 null venture wides bones med bushings spitfire f4 99 52mm NB+ Stratford 479)

skate journal: broomfield bank spot with rob and carleigh (april 18, 2015 day 105)

Posted in New Wheels, Skate Journal on April 19th, 2015 by corpo

rob got ups

After a busy morning then doing bidness at Crisis, Rob, Carleigh and I went to this bank spot. I had new bigger wheels. Spitfire F4 99 52mms. They felt huge since my last pair of 50s had shrunken into the mid 40s. I felt sore warming up which I don’t really understand why it’s happening lately. Anyways we all did some stuff. I had a fun run of boneless, front tail (no slide), then kickflip on the low part of the bank. Carleigh did front tails, bluntslide and back tail. Rob pops a mean b/s ollie, the bean plant of course, kickflip and tailslide. Carleigh had to leave. I tried kickflips to fakie for a long time before finally getting one. I filmed Rob get a rad line of manual, bean plant, b/s ollie and then a tailslide. I did a fun run of halfcab flip on flat then roll into a bank and kickflip to fakie the other side. And then took a long time to get a sketchy fakie flip. Rolling into the bank switch was a little scary, but kind of fun. Fun session.

(setup 8.38 null venture wides bones med bushings spitfire 52mm F4 99 wheels NB+ 479s)

skate journal: struggle fest at fossil creek (april 17, 2015 day 104)

Posted in Skate Journal on April 18th, 2015 by corpo

It was raining almost all day until I got off work and started heading to Ft Collins. I stopped at Fossil and to my surprise it was dry so I hit up Chad. My skating started off so bad. I couldn’t pop to save my life. Then I started to feel better for a bit and thought things would start working out. Wrong. Chad got there and started ripping immediately. His first trick was a long manual to 5-0. I had done a few of the basics like noseslides, boardslides and took awhile to get crooks. 50s were hard. Chad was trying lines starting at the bottom of the park and going up the 3 stair then hitting the ledge. He had switch front 180 up every try, switch heel up first try, front 180s easy. I tried to ollie up the 3 and did the funniest weirdest ollie ever. Somehow I kind of fire crackered up the stairs. It made me even more depressed about my skating. I tried to clean it up, but couldn’t. I ended up giving up and trying crooks shove for awhile. Got close. At least crooks are fun. Chad was trying a line of f/s 180 up the 3, halfcab heel up the ledge, f/s flip the Carrol gap. He never quite got it. Then I left for MRKT. I was really bummed on how my legs shut down. It was really cold. Maybe that was it, because when I got to my car my fingers could barely grasp my key to unlock the door.

skate journal: “Night off” mannies in the house (april 16, 2015 day 103)

Posted in Skate Journal on April 17th, 2015 by corpo

Almost forgot to skate on a rainy/snowy night of doing laundry, loading footage and watching Dexter. I went to hit Rampy for a few minutes, but it has so much stuff piled on top of it that I opted to just do some manuals in the house. I tried setting up for kickflips and even hucked a few of them. My board flew into a wall once. Not so good. Luckily it somehow didn’t do any damage.

skate journal: back 5-0 180s at louisville park (april 15, 2015 day 102)

Posted in Skate Journal on April 16th, 2015 by corpo

Went to Louisville for the little ledge to try and do back 5-0 back 180 out which is my latest challenge for #theglenandjosholdfartlongdistanceinstagramtricksuperchallenge. There was one kid there with his attractive mom sitting and watching. I carved around a little and did some warming up before laying into the back 5-0 back 180 out. I got one before I setup the camera. I got a couple more, but man they are bad. I was trying it on the little ledge. That trick is so hard for me. After awhile I decided to skate more of the park. Did a couple tricks in the flow bowl like front d and called it a night. Not sure if I’ll try to do a better back 5-0 180 or not.

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

skate journal: blue skies with dave early, then watching matt rip downtown boulder later (april 14, 2015 day 101)

Posted in New Shoes, Skate Journal on April 15th, 2015 by corpo

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.

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.

now you know

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)

Thanksgiving dinner with Psycho

Posted in Artsyness, Psycho Unity comic strip on April 14th, 2015 by corpo

thanksgiving dinner with psycho unity

The Psycho Unity comic is the work of my uncle Frank Zirbel. To see more of his work click here.

Tags: , , , ,

skate journal: lazy blue skies session (april 13, 2015 day 100!)

Posted in Skate Journal on April 13th, 2015 by corpo

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)

skate journal: campus fun with dave, rob and a bit of liz and ollie (april 12, 2015 day 99)

Posted in Favorite, Skate Journal on April 13th, 2015 by corpo

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.

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

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)