View this post on Instagram

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny)

On a very hot day Joe and I rolled to Lincoln with no definite plans. We went to Precision first and ended up getting an invite to Phil’s ramp a couple hours later. Sweet! We went to Peter Pan park to pass the time. There was a basketball short wearing local hero really going for it and slamming hard. It was almost inspiring. We started on the miniramp which was really good. I didn’t do much, Joe did his normal tricks. Then we skated the bank, bank to ledge. I went in on the nosestall to tail stall right away and it took awhile. Joe put together a few tricks. Front axle, smith, kickflip fakie. I finally got the nose/tail stall and it felt really cool. Then I went right to kick back axle. The heat was super intense, I thought I would pass out at times. My shirt felt like it grew 2 sizes from the sweat. Joe did the fakie flip and halfcab flip. The approach for those is gnarlier than it looks.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny)

Then we went to Phil’s and were pleasantly surprised to see the ramp was in the shade. Phils’ friend Chad was visiting so it was the four of us. It was still hot, but more bearable in the shade for sure. Everyone except Phil started slowly. He started with a long run with a ton of tricks. This would be a trend as you can see by the 1 minute run. Phil killed it. So many different tricks. Super fun dude to skate with. The dump truck was pretty cool, most of his plant tricks were first try, he had some really long front 5-0s. Chad had some poppy frontside ollies, back 50s. Joe was doing all of his tricks and called the ramp the best ramp ever (it might be). I was kind of struggling and sore, but still having a blast. Took a few tries to get front 50. Got front disaster, kind of front smith, back 50 to fakie, kind of a texas plant and could not do a fakie pivot fakie. At the end the 3 of us tried kickflip rock fakies. I was too sore to really commit. Joe ended up getting it and that was that.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Eric J. Eckert (@ericjeckert)

Then it was straight to more skating. This time York park with Eric. There was another dude there ripping which is rare to see in York. I was very sore. Joe pretended to be sore, but it didn’t seem to effect him at all. He was ripping through frontside grinds no problem. Notice I just say frontside. Ha ha. Eric was still hobbling some, but man those frontside finger flips are so sick. He has some cool speed lines, but you can tell the knee is still bothering him. Joe showed me up on a fakie flip, laughed at me and said he ‘sent it’. Ha ha. Well played. I could not front 50 the mellow bank to ledge. I couldn’t really ollie at all actually. I did have some crooks on the ledge, kickflip to fakie, boneless. Joe had a lot of front 50/smith/lip combos on the bank to ledge. Some solid fast front 50s on the ledge. Eric said he wanted to wallie the parking block and I told him it was easy. I went to show him and 8 tries later I kind of eeked one out. Ha. Those slams were not fun.

(setup 8.25 Null Lazer deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow trucks , venom 91a bushings, bones stf v1 53mm wheels, 2 washers on the inside of each axle, new balance numeric 212 maroon size 12, currex runpro medium arch insole )
(pain level 4/10)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny)

On a very hot afternoon I met Matt and a very non-crowded Omaha park. I had new insoles and man they felt good. Currex. We’ll see if they pass the test of time. Anyway, we started no the ledge area, but I couldn’t really do much of anything. Matt had rattled off quite a few “basics” like fakie nosegrinds both ways and b/s nosegrind. Also a halfcab backfoot flip. Then we started playing in the snake run. I wanted to do a nollie front shove rock fakie after doing it on a bank the previous week with Dave. It took a bit, but then I got one. Matt wanted to film it so I took several tries to get another one. Both were super fun, as were the setup grinds. Then Matt got in on the action and did what he says is his first “Joe Hamiltons”. He had some funny bails on back 50s. Then we went to the flat bank and did our tricks. No surprise, but I took the longest. Matt said we both had to do kickflip to fakies. It took me less tries than the b/s flip surprisingly. We were doing the “puff puff pass” game with the phone to get all the tricks. It was motivating. Then to the ledge where Matt did the gnarly nosegrind shove and I was too lame to try anything with an ollie in it. Last was flip tricks into the snake run. Matt did the nollie lazer first try, then took a few tries to get the cleaner version above. I took awhile to get fakie bigflip. It’s been too long since I’ve even tried it. Stupid big setups. Matt gave up on the b/s late flip. I tried a couple treflips. Then this young basketball short wearing kid came and did the treflip in the same spot first try. To add insult to injury he looked back and snickered. Matt said “Welcome to Omaha Glen, worst scene ever”. Ha ha. The kid had no idea whatsoever. I got the really slow one a few tries later and felt good about the smaller setup (except how I couldn’t front 50 earlier). Also really liked the new insoles.

(setup 8.25 Null Lazer deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow trucks , venom 91a bushings, bones stf v1 53mm wheels, 2 washers on the inside of each axle, new balance numeric 212 maroon size 12, currex runpro medium arch insole )
(pain level 2/10)

After some basketball and hanging with my brothers family Ollie and I hit the skatepark. No one else was there.  The park is mostly terrible, but it’s surrounded by ledges. This makes it better than most parks. I was feeling somewhat hungover from partying with my brother and I had a new smaller setup. A new 8.25 board and old small ventures. Yes, I brought extra stuff with me on vacation because I anticipated this change. I couldn’t halfcab noseslide the long ledge. Settled on a line of kickflip to fakie, halfcab flip, noseslide, sweeper. Took a bit. Ollie filmed it. I was very happy with how easily the board was flipping. I had messed around with other stuff too, but not much. Did the ol’ boneless rail transfer too. Ollie did the fakie shove. That was about all he did.

(setup 8.25 Null Lazer deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow trucks , venom 91a bushings, bones stf v1 53mm wheels, 2 washers on the inside of each axle, new balance numeric 212 maroon size 12, footprint gamechanger orthotic insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a hot afternoon I went out for a quick skate. I started a lame alley. Couldn’t do any flip tricks. Was hating the big setup. Had some fun front smith stalls. Then I went into campus. Checked out a waxed ledge, but it was dry and surrounded by stop rocks. Ended up at a granite ledge that doesn’t have much room. I took way too many tries to do a line of crook, flatground kickflip, firecracker the 3 stair. I had also tried to ollie up the 3. Then I cruised home.  There was a fun little 5 stair hubba to roll down on the way.

(setup 8.5″ abstract 6 deck, venture titanium 5.8s with regular cast baseplate, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, new balance numeric 212 maroon size 12, footprint gamechanger orthotic insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

Had a few minutes right after driving to Iowa City. Grabbed my board and went for a cruise. Rode down a bunch of long stairs then ended up at this cool little spot. The ledge had a huge crack preventing it from being grinded. At least for me. I took a couple tries to get a crooks jib on the narrow side of the far ledge then ollie down the slight gap. Then I got the text to head back so I did.

(setup 8.5″ abstract 6 deck, venture titanium 5.8s with regular cast baseplate, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, new balance numeric 212 maroon size 12, footprint gamechanger orthotic insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a long day of preparing for vacation and resting I went in front of the house.  I had asked Nate for a 10×10 list then ended up with the following list.  I did a few warm ups first then tried switch front bigspin for awhile.  Made me want a smaller board.  I’ll just add comments to each trick. 

front shove – got a few 

sw front shove – couldn’t get it

shove revert – struggled with this, but when I finally got it.  Made me want a smaller board.  

bs fakie bigspin – easy and fun

fakie flip – got a few with no pop

heelflip – got one 3rd try but couldn’t get another.  Made me want a smaller board.  

halfcab flip – only got one

Fs halfcab heel – got a really bad one 11th try

Rick flip – not even close. Made me want a smaller board.  

nollie back cab – got one shortly before the 10 try limit. 

Nollie front cab – maybe got one that would count on defense in an over 70 game of SKATE

tre flip – got a super bad one 10th try.  Made me want a smaller board.  

Nollie varial flip – I tried but it didn’t come around.  Made me want a smaller board.  

Switch varial flip – not very close

Nollie big heel – not close. Made me want a smaller board.  

Fakie hardflip – was tired and didn’t really try.  

So clearly you can sense I wanted a smaller board.  We’ll see if I make any changes. 

(setup 8.5″ abstract 6 deck, venture titanium 5.8s with regular cast baseplate, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, new balance numeric 212 maroon size 12, footprint gamechanger orthotic insoles)

(pain level 3/10)

On a warm morning Neil and I went to Dog Park to meet Eric, Dave and Rob. To our delight Collin and Dan were there too. There were a ton of puddles still and we did some sweeping to thin them out and dry quicker. Dan and Collin were going for ollies over a tall cone. Well, Dan was going switch and he did it. Wow. Dave and I warmed up on the kicker ramp. I was once again feeling a bit out of it and not as motivated as I would think. But we had fun. We did windshield wipers and all kinds of tricks like that, some fakie flips on flat, etc. Dave did nollie shove to rock fakie and I had to try it too. I got it a few tries and it was quiet fun. Dave did halfcab to rock transfer into the bank. After that we were all over the park. Neil was filming everyone as he had quickly worn himself out enjoying the spot so much. He got some good lines from Eric, Dan, Collin, Rob, Dave. Eric had crooks the butter bench, 50 the picnic bench, wallie 180 the barrier. Rob crooks the butter bench, boardslide the tall metal bench, 180 the barrier, back 50 shove the little metal ledge. Dave front board the kinked rail, quick up hippy jump the manny pad, no comply wallie the barrier, boardslide fakie the tall round bar. Dan quick up to boardslide the manny pad, back 50 the round ledge, nollie front 180 the barrier, switch backside flip the manhole. Watching Dan skate in person rules. He has the best east coast powerhouse style. Collin switch wallie the barrier and halfcab flip on flat. I was kind of hiding is a very depressed state struggling to land anything. Seriously though, I took like 10 tries to get a slow 50 on the picnic bench. I had one brief moment of skating okay with a first try front 50 shove then a halfcab flip. Neil get banging line or two. One foot off the kicker, nosegrind the ledge, quick up to nose manual the double manual pad, ollie the barrier like it’s absolutely nothing. He asked me to film a line and it was looking good at first. Crooks the picnic bench, kickflip over the parking block then ollie the little kinked rail, but I messed up the rail. Then I couldn’t do the kickflip again and lost it. Threw my board hoping it would stay in the rafters. Luckily it didn’t so I just went and sat down. After some chilling I joined Dave as he casually boardslid across and up the double parking block combo. I was only able to boardslide up it though, not the flat part too.

After some food and chilling we went to Glenn Close feeling totally exhausted. It was pretty fun actually. Neil just chilled. Saul joined after a bit. Rob had some good back 50s with the no comply shove out (I think), slappy crooks. Saul had his great slappys. I struggled with regular slappys, but had some fun crooks one and somehow managed a line for Neil of slappy front crooks then front shove off the curb cut. After that we had a nice dinner at Southern Sun and I said goodbye to Neil for awhile. Doh. Man it rules skating with him, such a skate rat, such great energy.

(setup 8.5″ abstract 6 deck, venture titanium 5.8s with regular cast baseplate, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, new balance numeric 212 maroon size 12, footprint gamechanger orthotic insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a fun wedding I had some time in the early morning before the big family breakfast so I went to this park. I didn’t think I would like it so I will say I liked it more than I thought I would, but that doesn’t say much. The fact that the weird china bank lines up the entire side is whack. It’s not very functional. But some of the other stuff is cool. The weird halfpipe at the bottom was weirding me out until I finally realized one side is a foot taller than the other side. How whack is that? I got to a point where I tried a line. Back 50 the halfpipe, noseslide down a hubba, step up onto the platform, front slash the top qp, then try to wallie into back 50 on one of the china banks. Never got the wallie 50. Then I had to go. I probably wont ever skate there again.

After a nice family breakfast then a drive to Evergreen I showed up at the park 30 minutes before Rob, Fuzz and Neil. I thought I was really excited to skate, but things felt off and warming up did not got well. I remembered I needed to do a nollie back 180 over a hip (challenge from Dave) so I did that. Came really easy, but it was scarier than I thought it would be. I did a warm up line that took awhile. Switch 180 the hip, rock fakie the qp, halfcab noseslide the little ledge near the fence. Then the dudes showed up as I was trying the next line. Nollie back 180 the hip, fakie rock, crooks the ledge. Took awhile to get the crooks and I was feeling the new truck no grooves blues. Fuzz chilled for a bit to get the vibes going. Neil’s of Fire was in full effect though. I was blown away. He was so quick to land so many tricks, had so much energy, was popping up / down / over so many things like it was nothing. It was inspiring. Rob had the juice too. Manuals, bean plants, 50s on the curb. I went in on another line, front 50 the little ledge by the fence, front slash the qp, kickflip the hip. When it took my ~7 tries to get a crappy kickflip I wanted to focus my board. Fuzz had joined and was shredding so hard. Switch boardslide the parking block, back d revert the qp, fast manuals, 50s, huge ollies over the hip. Neil was continuing his ripping. Huge ollies over the hip, tried front tail to nose manual, casual ollie over the parking block ledge. There was another old dude there charging and bringing some hype. Rob ollied the parking block ledge pretty easily. I took a couple tries and didn’t manage a clean ollie over. Neil had back 180s out of the little kicker, cabs, one foots. Rob had nose manual shove, back 50 no comply shove, halfcab noseslide. I got a line of front 180 the kicker, switch front nose, switch front 180 off the curb. Then we all went in on backside flips on the hip. Fuzz got several of them, but they weren’t to his satisfaction and he ended up kind of losing it, sat down for awhile, then got up and tried again until he got a perfect one. Rob had a line going into it and this annoying kid kept going and I think he can be blamed for Rob not getting the b/s flip. Neil was the 2nd to get one. No surprise here, but I was last. I had hucked nollie tres and varial heels over the hip going the other way and didn’t get close to either. After getting the b/s flip I just kept skating. I think finally not having incredible knee pain makes it hard to stop. I had a couple terrible ollies up the euro. Then I did a few tricks on the spine behind the hip. Back nose to fakie, switch nose to forward, front 50, back 50. Couldn’t get kickflip back 50 or front smith. Then we left and those guys ate gluten while I sipped water like Jason would. Ha ha. We had fun, but man skateboarding is hard these days.

(setup 8.5″ abstract 6 deck, venture titanium 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, new balance numeric 212 maroon size 12, footprint gamechanger orthotic insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

On a very hot Saturday Neil, Fuzz, Rob, Kevin and I met Jack at a bank spot Fuzz has been wanting to stubborn at for awhile. I can’t believe I didn’t take a photo, but it’s basically a bank on each side. One side is mellow with curbs up top (but set back a little) and a hubba to do stalls on from the bank. The other side a steeper bank with a flat gap and chain for the kids. Jack of course ollied into a small part of it right away. The rest of us took a minute to adjust to the spot. Kevin wallied into the bank, Fuzz with the front axle yank to fakie on the hubba. Neil with cool ollies. I was enjoying my new setup and started with a little front pivot on a parking block. Jack did front pivot kickflip to fakie on the side hubba. Rob had some cool lines with kickflips on the bank, front tails, backside ollies. Fuzz was trying smith stall on side hubba and did a funny sequence of yank ins and other stalls. Kevin had some cool stalls on the side hubba. Front tail fakie, front tail back 270 in was so sick. Fuzz had switch nose stall 270 shove. I was trying no comply flips into the bank and got close then made the mistake of asking Jack to film it thinking i could land it. What a good friend for sticking with me as I kind of eeked out a heel drag version in about 120 tries before nearly puking because of the heat. Regardless, I’ve never done that trick into a bank and I was hyped to try hard. Kevin had also done a kickflip nose stall, but for the most part it was a sit in the shade and watch Glen struggle session for an hour. Sorry dudes.

Then we went to this spot. Super sick spot with so many different options. The heat wave was in full effect. Especially after Jack did a kickflip axle stall on the dumpster right away. I attempted to ollie, but was in so much pain from jumping into that little bank so many times. Rob and Kevin got the manuals quick. Rob’s was sick as he ollied the little crack gap in the middle. Jack did nose manual nollie heel, kickflip manual kickflip out. Fuzz started a 3 trick wave. He started with 180 up, 180 the crack, 180 off. Ha. The fakie ollie up, fakie ollie the crack, fakie ollie off was so sick. Rob had no comply up, kickflip the crack, his patented steezy back 180 off. Neil got a super sick line. Nose manual shove out from bank by the dumpster, front shove out of the bank, wallie the corner of the building. He also played the 3 trick game on the loading dock. nollie up, back 180 the crack, switch front 180 the drop. I had gotten my legs to kind of work, came remotely close to nose manual. Got a crappy backside flip over the hip. Jack went in on kickflip manual treflip out. He had one hilarious airwalk out, but was getting super frustrated. Luckily he knew to call it before the heat got him too bad. Fun day. Best crew. I would have liked to land that no comply flip better though. Argh.

(setup 8.5″ abstract 6 deck, venture titanium 5.8s, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel boardside one, yellow 92a roadside), bones stf v2 51mm wheels, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, new balance numeric 212 maroon size 12, footprint gamechanger orthotic insoles)
(pain level 3/10)