Got out of work pretty early and went to the Dog Park. It was hot. I had about 20-30 minutes before Dave showed and believe it or not, skating was working. I don’t remember my first warm up run, but I got to a point quickly where I was trying halfcab flip, heelflip, kickflip, nollie treflip. I never got the nollie treflip, but I did land a nollie 3 shove on accident. Ha ha. Also got some bad f/s halfcab flips, struggled with fakie flips. Didn’t really try treflips. Dave had a cab, front shoves (we both struggled with), a bunch of fakie shoves as his warm up, bigspins galore, tried a lot of different tricks. Then we kind of hung in the painted area and did slow attempts at harder tricks for us. I tried varial heel for awhile and got really close. They were flipping nice. Dave was trying treflips and getting close then varial heels and got close and then treflips again and got close. He had a line I can’t remember now. Started with kickflip and had a back big in it. He tried on my board for a bit and got super close to a treflip. One of these days it’ll happen Dave!

(setup 8.25 null jack spanbauer deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, venom 88a bushings, spitfire 101a 51mm F4 wheels, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, nbnumeric 212 sand, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)

Been feeling really down because my legs feel terrible. I was too scared to go anywhere so I went in front of the house and gave up after two painful ollies and shoves. I sat inside for awhile pouting and chatting with a couple people. Dave told me I couldn’t quit and somehow it was motivation to try again. I was wearing some old toddler shoes I had purchased awhile ago and felt like trying (NB# 212 with rubber toe caps). I went straight to posing kickflips and they didn’t hurt too bad. So I kept at it and got a few kickflips which felt good. I probably skated for about 30 minutes. Only got a couple tricks (fakie flip, halfcab flip, half cabs, fakie shoves), but more importantly I felt both mentally and physically better.

(setup 8.25 null jack spanbauer deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, venom 88a bushings, spitfire 101a 51mm F4 wheels, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, nbnumeric 212 sand, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)

Ah yes, the highly anticipated NB video Tricolor with the PJ part came out. It was good. I was pretty hyped and wanted to start ledge training. I went to the research ledge. I was pretty tired and out of it even though I was trying to feel hyped. I had put smaller axle’s back on. 8″ highs. They felt great. I landed my first 15 kickflips or so. Actually got first try heelflip too, was 5/5 on halfcab flips, got a few f/s halfcab flips. I had started with lines. Ollie up the curb, nollie on flat, noseslide. Shove on flat, ollie up the curb, noseslide to fakie. Then halfcab flip on flat, ollie up the curb, back 50. Got the worst back 50 ever. Tried f/s halfcab flip on flat, front 180 up the curb, halfcab noseslide on the ledge. Got into a few, but never got the hc noseslide. I need to learn to put the board a little in front of me. I had done a front board pop out, front noseslide first try, but couldn’t do another front nose at all. Argh. I told myself I was gonna stick with my old rule of having to land a back 50 and a 360 flip before doing a crook, but I never got a 360 flip and my knees started hurting. Tried a couple crooks, but the knees were just too sore so I went home feeling defeated. At least I had the first hour feeling pretty good. And hell yeah PJ!

(setup 8.25 null jack spanbauer deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, venom 88a bushings, spitfire 101a 51mm F4 wheels, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, nbnumeric PJ 533v2 black/white/gold 11.5, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and stock insoles)

La Alma-Lincoln skatepark Denver

Made a run to Emage and they suggested I check out this little park. It was sunny and hot out, no one was there except a couple kids on bikes briefly. The little ledge is pretty good, but on more of a hill than it looks. Easy backside, hard frontside for me. The quarterpipes are a little weird too. I couldn’t really figure out the flow, but I didn’t skate them too much. I skated slow and had very little confidence and shortly the pain took over. Ugh. Tricks I got, noseslide fakie, front board, back board, front 50, intentional front 5-0, switch noseslides, halfcab noseslide. One crooks was fun as I was trying to go to fakie, but ended up doing a shifty out. Couldn’t manual it. Left not feeling very happy.

(setup 8.25 null jack spanbauer deck, venture 5.8 trucks, venom 88a bushings, spitfire 101a 51mm F4 wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, nbnumeric PJ 533v2 black/white/gold 11.5, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and stock insoles)

~ it was super fun putting this little line together for the #bftriple challenge ~ thanks for 📹 @corpoglenny ~ yeeeee #thestubborns #shopownersthatskate

A post shared by Jeremy Frankovis (@_f_u_z_z) on Aug 12, 2017 at 7:02pm PDT

This was all I could muster. #bftriple #bakermaker #kindof #switchstance #slow #reallyslow #selfdeprecation #handsdown #bolts #nofilter #hashtag #thestubborns

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 12, 2017 at 7:01pm PDT

After a morning of working on my mom’s garage then driving down from Buena Vista I eventually went to Broomfield park to meet Fuzz and Rob. It was dry in Boulder, but really wet in Broomfield. Apparently it had just hailed. I got to the park and one dude was skating through the puddles like it was nothing. I avoided the wet area below and just skated flat and the little hump which was dry. My body was feeling okay. I tried kickflip, nollie to fakie, switch front shove. Never got the switch front shove. Then I started to think about a line I would want to do for the #bftriple contest. So I mostly started doing halfcab flips and no comply shoves. I got a few then noticed the bottom area had dried up enough to skate. Oh yeah, I had put Venture wides on because I absolutely hated those Thunders. I can’t say I was 100% hyped on them because they are so big, but I can say they felt infinitely better than the Thunders. I started trying my line. Ollie up the blue bank, no comply front shove to fakie, halfcab flip on flat, no comply flip on the parking block. I got close a few times. Rob and Fuzz finally showed and unfortunately so did the loud weirdo beginner that was there last time. It took me down for a bit and I could not longer do no comply front shoves it seemed. As Rob and Fuzz were cruising the park I did manage to get the line. The halfcab flip was terrible, but oh well. So Rob started filming .. and filming .. and filming as I flailed around. I got to a point when halfcab flips stopped working (I should say I was hyped on how many I did though – they were feeling good) so I switched to the Brandow (switch front nose). 100 tries later I gave up and settled for the one above. Thanks so much for filming Rob! I went on to film Fuzz after that. He got a line 2nd try, but then improved it to what you see above. It was good seeing him work for it. Rob had some nice front noseslides, front 50s, front tail, halfcab noseslide, crooks, nose manual the blue bank. Yeah, shredding. After Fuzz got his line we called it. Kind of bummed I didn’t really other than trying that line, but hyped to get something for it.

(setup 8.25 null jack spanbauer deck, venture 5.8 trucks, venom 88a bushings, spitfire 101a 51mm F4 wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, nbnumeric PJ 533v2 black/white/gold 11.5, pinnacle powerstep orthotic insoles (which wasn’t enough as my plantar fasciitis pain came roaring back))

Sweating to the oldies #bftriple

A post shared by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on Aug 10, 2017 at 8:33pm PDT

It was raining in Boulder when Rob texted about a Broomfield session. I was in disbelief it was dry, but I knew Rob did his research so I went. Rob and Eric were already ripping. Eric was getting into lipslides on the sad ledge and Rob was getting into nosegrinds on the blue ledge. I might not remember this exactly, but Eric went something like this. “I got a 5th try crooks on the ledge (actually he got two of them), boardslide down the little rail, heelflips, front tail”. Ha. He was ripping. Rob was too, front tail nose, front 50, front tail the black ledge, crooks. I was in pain. Trying to warm up failed. I had some slappy crooks, maybe a no comply flip. I was hating the Thunder trucks. Rob asked me to film this line for the #bftriple contest. It didn’t take him long, but I had locked up by the time he got it. Fuzz had showed, but I was super bummed on how much pain I was in and my setup. So I went home. Oh yeah, there was this really loud and annoying dude there that basically ruined the park for awhile. Rob and I couldn’t tell what drugs he was on, but whatever it was he should stop. He’s excited to learn how to skate and that’s cool, but man yelling non-stop is annoying.

(setup 8.25 null jack spanbauer deck, thunder 148 raw trucks, stock bushings, spitfire 101a 51mm F4 wheels, nbnumeric PJ 533v2 black/white/gold 11.5, spenco 3/4 thinsoles with stock insoles)

I’ve been wanting 8.25″ trucks for a long time. I keep switching between 8 and 8.5 inch trucks. Found out it will be awhile longer before Venture releases 8.25s so I got some Thunders. I’m not a huge Thunder fan anymore, but they skate somewhat similar to Venture as compared to Indy. So I went to Saul’s with new trucks knowing it would be a struggle. Especially with the pain I was in. The first few runs were good though, the trucks turn tighter than Ventures. Carve grinds felt good. Eventually I would start to flail like someone should with new trucks and I started to get sore so I mostly slacked. Saul was ripping some carve grinds, back 50s in spots he didn’t use to stand up on, front slashes on the bricks, getting in to front 50s. Eric had some fire since it’s been a long time since he’s skated and was doing some really good back 50s and front slashes, but couldn’t quite get the back tail. Doh.

Then I went to research for a brief one. I was so sore. Did a few noseslides. Couldn’t switch front nose. Tried a line for awhile of ollie up the curb, little cali grind then crook. Got a couple crook bonks before getting a decent crook and went home. The Thunders felt really good ollieing up the curb so I’ll keep them for another day at least.

(setup 8.25 null jack spanbauer deck, thunder 148 raw trucks, stock bushings, spitfire 101a 51mm F4 wheels, nbnumeric PJ 533v2 black/white/gold 11.5, spenco 3/4 thinsoles with stock insoles)

It was raining hard and I was feeling kind of lazy, but not so lazy to avoid skating. I went into the garage. Did a few manual warm ups then went into flip trick mode. The goal in the garage is to try tricks I can’t normally do because I have to go so slow. But instead I tried basic ones and got stuck on them. Kickflip and fakie flip were quick. Heelflip took forever. B/s flip and f/s flip weren’t too bad, but the ones I “landed” were terrible. Varial flip took too long, Tried fakie tre for awhile and got remotely close. Hucked nollie back heel for awhile, not close at all. Went in sore and wondering why I made flip tricks so much harder with the wide trucks (hint hint you know a change is coming).

(setup 8.25 null jack spanbauer deck, venture 5.8 trucks, venom 90a bushings, spitfire 101a 51mm F4 wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, nbnumeric PJ 533v2 black/white/gold 11.5, spenco 3/4 thinsoles with stock insoles)

Met Rob and then Dave at Steelyards. I had played football with Ollie and was pretty sore doing that for some reason. But I still went skating. Or at least tried to go skating. The parking lot was pretty happening. I had put the tall/wide Venture axles on because I was hoping it would help my lack of pop. But as it would turn out I wouldn’t really get to the point of popping. I did manage to manual the pad the long way and a couple of kickflips, but the pain got the best of me and I would end up giving up on skating. Oh yeah Rob and I each did wallie/nollies into the parking garage. It was really fun and a little scary going into the dark. I watched Rob and Dave for awhile. Donnie randomly showed up for the furniture store and skated with us for awhile. Everyone was skating in their own unique way. Rob was doing nose manuals easy, manuals, nose manual 180, some type of caveman manual thing, kickflips, back 180s, ripping. Dave was trying front 180 nose manual, got fakie shove up the curb, was doing bigspins on flat. Donnie rips, tried manuals to wallride, was popping up to axle stall on the light post, trying halfcab flip manuals.

We got the boot after awhile. Rob and I tried to coordinate a quick double wallie/nollie for a photo. It didn’t work so well. My knee had totally locked up. We did get a “make” which I’ll post on the nullogram, but this grab is actually my favorite.

Then we looked at google and went to this bank to curb. I did a few scary rock ‘n rolls and decided to sit and watch Rob and Dave. Rob was going for back tail, but kept going Suski. The angles at this spot are weirder than it looks. Dave did a couple nosepick to fakie tricks, maybe a front crunt before realizing he was late for a radio program and ran off. Ha, good ol’ Dave.

setup 8.25 null jack spanbauer deck, venture 5.8 trucks, venom 90a bushings, spitfire 101a 51mm F4 wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, nbnumeric PJ 533v2 black/white/gold 11.5, spenco 3/4 thinsoles with stock insoles)

Started slower in the morning than I wanted to. Met Rob and Jake at Broomfield on a warm day. Those guys were already there and warming up. Jake was trying real tricks already. But he’s only 30 something so that makes sense. Not too long in to the session I suggested a game of ledge trick/flip trick on the mellow bank/ledge trick. It ended up being hard. I think Rob was the first to come through with something like front board, b/s flip, crooks. He would get another line or two. The front big on the bank was sick. Halfcab noseslide to fakie. Jake was doing the best front 5-0s to start his lines, then kickflip to fakie then fakie nosegrind. He never got the fakie nosegrind in the line and he was really trying. I don’t think I ever got the line I was trying. I was mixing it up, but I know I would do noseslide instead of crooks when it mattered. Doh. Popping up onto that black ledge was not easy for me. After that we played another game that was my idea – SKATE. A few tricks in Rob’s knee acted up so he was out. Then a few tricks later Jake bailed a halfcab flip and it almost hit him in the face so he bounced too. Kind of a weird day, but it was fun skating with those dudes.

setup 8.25 null jack spanbauer deck, venture 5.2 AWAKE lows, venom 90a bushings, 1/16″ riser, spitfire 101a 51mm F4 wheels, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, nbnumeric PJ 533v2 black/white/gold 11.5, spenco 3/4 thinsoles with stock insoles)