On a beautiful day I headed up to Fort Collins around noon. I went to Fossil and was the only one there for awhile. My legs were feeling pretty bad. I’m guessing the drastic weather change that was coming was responsible. I started with some little noseslide jibs and 50s on the curb. Then got a line on the bottom of ollie up the curb, back 180 off, halfcab noseslide the ledge. Next thing I remember I was up top for revenge on a line I was trying with Rob over the summer. Kickflip up the 1, ollie up the tallish ledge, back 180 the 3 stair. It took a long time. The good is that I was able to to ollie up the ledge pretty often. I struggled on the kickflip the most. When I bailed the kickflip I would try front 50s on the out ledge off the 1. I got one, but it was slow and terrible. One thing I did I liked was ollie over the little ledge off the 1 first try. I would eventually get the line and it worked out with all 3 tricks feeling good. I chilled for a minute and it was right when John showed up. The break cost my legs and I was so sore. John rattled off some of his patented ledge tricks. No ollie noseslides over the ‘gap’, switch front nose, front 50s, front 50 down the mini ledge. It was rad. I forced myself to skate a little. Did some noseslides, a random first try switch noseslide shove going very slow, and took way too many tries to get a little crook.

(setup null rabethica 8.5″ deck, venture 5.8 v-light, 1/16″ riser, bones medium bushings no washers, 52mm spitfire f4 radial slim green/black, new balance numeric 212 burgundy size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, footprints 5mm insole)

Slept in late on a breezy Saturday. Had a few chores and ran boards to Crisis. Time seemed to fly by and before I knew it the afternoon had almost gone by. I biked over to meet Saul at Souther Hills. It’s been awhile since I’ve been there. The bike ride had my legs warmed up, but feeling weird. Started out mostly n the lower stair. Saul got some front 50s. It was sick! I think he also got back 50 and got up on a boardslide on a bench. I also saw him get into a front axle stall on the upper stair. Dang pop! I kind of got in a groove. Had a few noseslides, boardslides, but struggled with crooks. Had some 50s on the stair, ollied up the 2. Then we skated this parking block area for awhile which was fun. The curb didn’t grind too well. Saul would eventually get a few solid slappies on it, almost a feeble. I only got slappy crooks. There was also a fun manual pad there. I got manual and a few tries for nose manual which was really fun feeling. Saul worked on his ollies up the curb and even put a few into manual. My flip tricks were working okay. No treflips, but halfcab flips and b/s flip I think. Oh yeah, I had messed with my setup even though I’m not supposed to. I put an old Jason 8.5″ deck, swapped out baseplates for the forged/hollow axle, added a tiny riser. It felt good.

(setup null rabethica 8.5″ deck, venture 5.8 v-light, 1/16″ riser, bones medium bushings no washers, 52mm spitfire f4 radial slim green/black, new balance numeric 212 burgundy size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, footprints 5mm insole)

Went out to the garage feeling tired after a week of work. It was pretty windy at times and I didn’t want to deal with the wind. I ended up having fun. I skated the little ledge thing. Did a few front 50s and front 5-0s to start with. I tried them near the end of the ledge so that maybe it would make me feel slightly more comfortable coming off the end of ledges. Then I did a couple nosegrinds. The second one is shown above. It made me laugh, but it felt cool. Then I skated the ledge backside. Back 50s and 5-0s were fun. That side of the ledge hasn’t been skated as much so it felt a little more raw to grind it. I tried back 5-0 front 180s out for awhile. Never got a proper one, but had some ones that were more like jibs to powerslide. Kind of got a stationary treflip. Tried a few fakie 5-0s, but never got close. Went in and made dinner.

(setup null monico 8.38″ deck, venture 5.8, bones medium bushings no washers, 3 speed washers on the outside of each axle, 52mm spitfire f4 radial slim green/black, new balance numeric 212 burgundy size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, footprints 5mm insole)

Feeling warn out after work I went over to the school to do some stalls on the curb. I wasn’t sure how it would go. Maybe it would hype me up to skate flat, maybe that would be it. I did a couple stall then got jockish and said I had to do 20 stall tricks. Basically do 10 tricks backside and frontside. It ended up being a blast. It went axle stalls, pivots, smiths, axle stalls to fakie, pivot 180 out (the backside pivot front 180 out was incredibly fun feeling), nosepicks to fakie, fakie axle stall (fakie ollie back 50 was hard!), nosepicks to fakie, crook stall to forward and ended with hurricanes (the frontside one was incredibly fun). 20 tricks done! I did another back pivot front 180 out because the first one was so darn fun and a front tail then I went home to get some food with the kids.

(setup null monico 8.38″ deck, venture 5.8, bones medium bushings no washers, 3 speed washers on the outside of each axle, 52mm spitfire f4 radial slim green/black, new balance numeric 212 burgundy size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, footprints 5mm insole)

After work on a beautiful day I went to Saul’s. Everyone showed at the same time. The crew was Saul, Eric, Tucker, Dave and me. It was a fun session. Everyone seem to skate well, push themselves and have fun. Saul was skating his “smaller” board which is 8.5 and it looked good. He seemed to have a little more control maybe? He did his patented fast slashes, more stand up 50s than normal, a layback front rock in the deep (totally counts!), frontside hops over the hip, roll ins, ripping. Tucker is coming back from a knee injury. He had some rad roll ins, grinds, kickflip, crazy ride on grind transfer into the bowl. Eric was shredding right away.
Front slashes, back disasters, looking good on the board. He got juiced on the hip and came super close to back 50 over the hip. I love them carve grinds now. One of my favorite tricks and I did quite a few of them. I skated alright, didn’t get the 50 over the hip, took awhile to get a back 50 in the deep. Had my fun little run of 50/50 in the shallow then front rock. Dave seemed to struggle a little, but that’s not saying much. He did so many tricks. One standout trick was a front board to fakie that was done so well. I missed his front smith, but Eric assured me it was sick. Fun session. Grinding pool coping is fun.

(setup null monico 8.38″ deck, venture 5.8, bones medium bushings no washers, 3 speed washers on the outside of each axle, 52mm spitfire f4 radial slim green/black, new balance numeric 212 burgundy size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, footprints 5mm insole)

Was tired, but tried to skate right after work since Liz has a class later on. I went to Blue Skies, took a little nap in the car then attempted the warm up process. There was a few dudes trying to learn kickflips and 180s. Dave showed and then Aki showed shortly after. It was so cool seeing him. I was incredibly frustrated. Borderline focusing my board for most of the session. I couldn’t get 50 on the little ledge. The puddle at the bottom of the bank messed with me bad. I even bailed an ollie to fakie. The cracks in front of the rest of the banks are so bad. Dave and I did kind of get it going. He had some lines starting with front 180 over a flat bar, fakie flip on the bank, front 50s on the low ledge all good. I was trying a line of ollie over a flatbar, kickflip on flat, kickflip to fakie on the bank, halfcab noseslide. Never got it or even close really. Aki showed around the time a few rollerbladers arrived. I guess we call it ‘rollerblade park’ for a reason. It was weird though. They were older and filming. It messed with the lines. Dave started skating the tall ledge and front 50’d it! Not the main ledge in the middle, but the one on the edge which is crazy. Aki and I got noseslides on it. Dave had troubles with kickflips after that and it took away from another 50. At the end we skated the “quarter pipe”. Aka the tranny bank with a rounded top. Aki did a bunch of tricks. Back tail, blunt to rock, blunt to fakie, nose stall revert. A bunch. I took a long time to do a bad b/s flip on it. It made me feel a little better though. Dave was trying a line. Fakie noseblunt to disaster, nollie back 180, fakie flip on the bank then feeble on the flat bar. I had to leave and he hadn’t gotten the feeble. Doh. Maybe he would have had he not parked on my bumper. Ha ha. I hate this skatepark.

(setup null monico 8.38″ deck, venture 5.8, bones medium bushings no washers, 3 speed washers on the outside of each axle, 52mm spitfire f4 radial slim green/black, new balance numeric 212 burgundy size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, footprints 5mm insole)

Fun session with @fullertrron and @iamnotacreepyjake today. They should put handicap drop in’s on all ledges so I don’t have to fail at ollies up. #thestubborns #gottasayitwasagoodday

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Oct 1, 2017 at 6:19pm PDT

On a perfect cool fall day Jake and I met Dave at Rocky Mtn Elem. We started with slappies on the curb. My first few minutes felt so terrible I was wondering if I would actually be able to skate. Luckily I stuck with it because it was a super fun session. All 3 of us seemed to skate hard. Dave was hitting the banks in lines right away. The banks there are so much harder to skate than they look. He hauls ass on the asphalt and ollies up the curb at speed to do tricks on them. It’s impressive. He got pop shove to fakie, pivots on the sideways curb, front and back 180 nose manuals on the brick medians. I kind of b/s ollied over a median, manualled a median. The cracks there are big and just getting from one side of the school to another is hard. Jake was working on a line that he would eventually get. Twice. Front tail on the ledge, boneless a median, turn around and slappy the curb then ollie a cone off the speed bump. So sick. I never really stuck with one thing. I took a bunch of tries to ollie up onto the ledge (that I kickflipped off above). I got a couple, but only got a front 180 off once. Then trying to get in a quick switch push to the ledge failed. I had a bunch of awkward feeling pushes and hands flailing around when trying lines there. Dave was the only one to get back 50 on the ledge. I was close. I think Jake and I got crooks. Dave and Jake did halfcab noseslide easy. I had some fun back 180’s off the speed bump, but couldn’t switch noseslide after to save my life. Dave did boardslides to fakie and 270 both ways. Jake and I tried to kickflip off the ledge for awhile. At that point I was too sore to ollie up so I cheated by dropping in. Jake got the ollie up almost every time. I was hyped to finally land it. It felt great. Jake did his line again for the camera. Dave almost got a crazy boardslide to back lip. Then it started raining which was fine by me since I was tired. Fun day. It feels great to skate hard again and even though I didn’t land a whole lot, it was rewarding when I did. Oh yeah, forgot a line I got. Slow front 50 the ledge, kickflip off the curb then a treflip with a brief hand touch. Doh. Also tried a few cab flips which felt very doable.

(setup null monico 8.38″ deck, venture 5.8, bones medium bushings no washers, 3 speed washers on the outside of each axle, 52mm spitfire f4 radial slim green/black, new balance numeric 212 burgundy size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, footprints 5mm insole)