Most years I challenge myself to my age in flatground tricks. It’s kind of torture and gets harder each year both physically and having to add another trick. Last year I wasn’t up for it, but here’s the one from two years ago. It was a beautiful morning, no high winds. The 45 clip isn’t exactly in order. I didn’t skate to warm up at all. I just filmed everything starting with the nose/tail no pop shove, moved into shoves, did some flippers, some no complies, finished the flippers, then finished with the easy part of 180s and some bonelesses and stuff. The trick I was most worried about was treflip as it’s given me lots of problems lately. When it came in a few tries I felt stoked, relieved and encouraged. Dave showed up when I had done most of the flippers and was finishing up on fakie tre which took the longest. I did sex change after that, but no more flippers. I was so exhausted. Dave had a couple cameos, Matt with the first try treflip while out with his dog. Going through the clips later in the night I had actually done 46 tricks. So I deleted the ugliest one which was a creepy spin where I didn’t fully rotate at all. Calling it my ugliest trick with all of the ugly tricks above is saying a lot. Ha ha. I was very hyped on the nollie varial flip and nollie treflip. The fakie tre took the longest, but felt amazing when I landed it. Getting both halfcab heelflips felt rad too. I really need to learn some switch tricks to make next years a little more interesting. I must say the Thunder trucks flip great, but the weird turning sure makes for some weird tic tacs.

Then Dave and I met Jake at Boulder park. They skated the mini while I ate. Then I joined them in the combi bowl. I thought we would just be carving around, but they were really skating it. Jake was grinding the deeps, trying sweepers. Dave was doing front pivots on the crazy steep narrow corner, manualling the deck, airing the little bumps. Hopefully I’ll post a clip of it at some point. I got in on it and tried a line of roll in, tiny grind, back 50 into the bigger bowl. I was so content with the flatground session that my brain couldn’t get me to roll into the little 3 foot section. I did eventually though and got the line with some good tic tacs on the back 50.

Then we went to Saul’s. Jake and I were already beat. The only thing I really did was a few carve grinds. Jake had a killer run. Ed joined and ripped it. Saul gets more coping in one run than anyone. It was a fun ender for a great day.

(setup 8.25 null monico deck, thunder 148s with old forged baseplate, venom 88a bushings, 51mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11, footprints gamechanger orthotic insole)

Went to Blue Skies trying to beat the forecasted wind. It was nice out when I left IBM. I was sore, but really wanted to skate a ledge. The minute I arrived at Blue Skies the wind hit. That place is a wind tunnel anyway, so it was extra bad. I managed a couple switch noseslides and a front 50 shove before focusing my old warped board after slamming ollieing the low part of the snake rail.

(setup 8.25 null atomic cowboy deck, thunder 148s with old forged baseplate, venom 88a bushings, 51mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11, footprints gamechanger orthotic insole)

Feeling kinda sick and antisocial, but still wanting to enjoy a warm evening I went to campus with little or no expectations (or motivation). I started with some slappy crooks on the meet up curb. They felt alright, but I was definitely noticing some weird turning from the Thunders. Actually they were bumming me out quite a bit. I moved into the campus though and after snapping an ollie or two I felt better about the trucks. I went by an escalator ledge I’ve only skated once, but there were little pebbles everywhere and it wasn’t waxed up anymore. After some pushing I ended up at the little ledge off the stair. Did a couple front 50s then moved on. Went to the taller curved ledge. Noseslides felt good right away. I’ll give these trucks credit for having that quick snap. I couldn’t get a front 50. Not that I would ever expect to. I tried a line where I rolled down the weird narrow 3 stairs and front 180’d off, fakie flip on flat, halfcab noseslide the ledge. I gave up after awhile. Moved on to the tiny ledge. There were no cars near it so it’s probably gonna be destroyed soon. Front and back 50s were fun. I tried front nosegrinds for awhile and failed. Then I hucked front nosegrind front 180 out and got about as close. I definitely want to try that one again. Couldn’t back nosegrind or switch front crook. Started to feel pretty run down so I went home.

(setup 8.25 null atomic cowboy deck, thunder 148s with old forged baseplate, venom 88a bushings, 51mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11, footprints gamechanger orthotic insole)

It was snowing like crazy when I went to work, but it was sunny and gorgeous out at 4pm. Went to Blue Skies feeling pretty tired. I got there first and did a quick power nap in the car, then Dave and Rob arrived pretty much when I got there. After the pain I felt Sunday I felt like a shoe/insole change up was in order. I have been wearing some Es Swift 1.5s to work and they are comfy so I tried them without an orthotic insole. Felt great initially and I warmed up quicker than normal. Actually tried the ironman line pretty quick and came close. But then I had a heelflip gone bad where I almost put my foot in front of the board and I got scared of wearing a cupsole. So I switched back to the 212s, but without an orthotic. That didn’t work either, ended up in 212 with footprints gamechanger insole and it worked the best. Enough about my feet. Rob finally appeared to have a little rust and went down on a few kickflips. But he redeemed himself with some long lines with steezy halfcabs, back 180s, kickflips, b/s flips, close to halfcab flips and bought a house! Ha ha, his offer went through. So sick. Dave forgot he focused his board so he was forced to skate his putter. It was pretty funny at first, but he got used to it. I like that he’s gotten to the point where he’s unhappy when he doesn’t land a varial flip perfectly. He had fakie flips too. After starting off decently, I kind of just fell apart. I did have a terrible treflip, came close to switch flip, had some good feeling halfcab flips. But I ended up mostly hucking new or rare tricks like fakie/nollie varial heel, switch flip/heel. Rob had taken off. Dave and I were just hucking and then boom Dave landed a switch flip! Soooo sick! I tried to get his back with something rare, but I just fizzled out.

(setup 8.25 null atomic cowboy deck, thunder 148s with old forged baseplate, venom 88a bushings, 50mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11, footprints gamechanger orthotic insole)

It was windy in Boulder. The kind of wind that makes you not want to skate. Dave had called me and said we should do a quick Broomfield session then go to explore in Denver. I got there first, Rob second, Dave third and Jake last. There were a few other older guys at the park initially that were ripping and fun to skate with. But one of their kids following them ran into the happy ledge and messed up his mouth. Then we mostly had the park to ourselves except for a few scooters. For quite awhile we all did our thing. Rob had a bunch of front boards on the black ledge, some funny front noseslides where the ran into the end of the ledge after the make, manuals up and around the blue bank, back 50s the blue ledge, I think a crooks or two the black ledge, kickflips. Dave was struggling. I mean he was still ripping, but you could sense the struggle with his reactions. Things like touching down on manuals, bailing grinds, etc. I was skating decently for me. I landed a lot of flip tricks first try cruising around, had some pop for me, had some lines. After awhile I randomly decided to try nollie back lip on the parking block. I was going super slow, but it felt cool. We played a game of SKATE. It went pretty well for me. In fact the only letter I got was on varial flip which I landed, but Jake was just bummed on getting pink slipped so made me redo it and I bailed. Ha. First time in awhile I got the 360 flip on defense against Jake (even though I had to put a hand down), heelflip. Dave and Rob were out first, I took Jake out with f/s halfcab flip. It was cool because after that Rob, Dave and Jake tried a few of the missed tricks. We just kept skating flat for awhile (Dave was also doing nollie back lips on the curb). Dave got a f/s halfcab flip or two, varial flip. Rob came close to f/s halfcab flip, got the b/s flip. Oh yeah, Rob got halfcab flip in the game too which was rad to see him get. I got a nollie tre which really hyped me up, been awhile. I was loving the Thunders. Jake and Rob took off. The wind picked up. Dave was trying lines starting with kickflip then nollie back lip the parking block. I was trying fakie 50 tricks on the blue ledge. I was hyped to get a fakie 50 where I came out switch. Progress! Then I tried fakie 50 switch front shove out. I kind of landed one, but I turned f/s halfway so it was kind of more like a body varial out. Still felt cool. I tried to keep it going, but got really sore. Tried a few ollies and gave up. Dave finished with a quick little parking block sprack then nose manual the blue box. Took him a bit, but he got it. Fun day until the end when I got way too sore.

(setup 8.25 null atomic cowboy deck, thunder 148s with old forged baseplate, venom 88a bushings, 50mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsole orthotic and footprints 5mm insole)

@ollie.gillingham first front 50. ❤️

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Apr 7, 2018 at 2:11pm PDT

Woke up to cold temps and snow and lost motivation to skate. In the middle of the day I started watching the Nuggets game and decided to throw together a complete with the Thunder 148s I skated twice. During halftime Ollie and I went across the street and hit the curbs for a bit. My setup felt great. The muscle memory from years of 8″ setups with Thunder’s kicked in and I was doing back 50s like I haven’t in years. Had some fun intentional front 5-0s, manuals, 180s then saw Ollie try to copy a front 50 of mine. A few tries later he did one. So rad. That was the trick that sold me on skateboarding some 30 years ago. So then I had to film one and it took a few more tries, but he got it. I had some fun slappy crooks too, then we went in.

The rest of the basketball game was me changing my setup so that my better deck had the Thunders and I went to the research ledge after. I’m not sure why I was so tired. Oh yeah, while riding my stationary bike as a warm up I was wearing the Lakais and they hurt so bad. The pointed show was killing my toes, so I busted out some NB# 212s I had on deck. Man that shoe has a wide toebox and I love them. So I had new trucks basically and new shoes. It showed initially with some bad noseslide attempts, but I got some. Then I kept missing on crooks because the trucks are set back a little. But once I got used to it crooks felt great. I got several sketchy back 50s, a front 50. Tried a line of 180 up the curb, fakie flip, halfcab noseslide which I didn’t quite get. Flip tricks were kinda weird, but mostly because I had no juice. I also noticed that my deck was warped. Huh. I went home within an hour. Was hyped on the trucks though. I might put in a harder bushing or something, but I think I’ll stick with them for awhile (unlike the two days I gave them before). I mean it makes sense I would like them since they are lower trucks.

(setup 8.25 null atomic cowboy deck, thunder 148s with old forged baseplate, venom 88a bushings, 50mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsole orthotic and footprints 5mm insole)

On a snowy night the rest of the family was doing stuff so I watched skate videos (Ramblin’ and Riddles in Mathmatics) and messed with my setup. I left the 8.5″ setup alone. I replaced Ace 44s for my Venture lows on the 8.25″ setup. I went into the garage to try it out and wow it was terrible. The trucks are really old, the kingpin wobbles and the pivot cups are tore out. I say the trucks are old only because they are like 6 years old, but in fact they were only skated a handful of times. What crappy trucks to blow out like that. So yeah, I tried to like that setup, but I didn’t. Kickflips were hard, 180s were weird, etc. So I went back inside and put some high 8″ Ventures on. I had debated some 8.25″ Thunders, but couldn’t pull the trigger. I went back to the garage with the Ventures and it was crazy how much better they felt. Whew.

After work I swooped up Rob which was the first time I’ve seen him since his annual trip to Ireland. We hit MRKT then met Andy and Chris at a crowded Spring Canyon. I felt sore all day and it was apparent right from the gate that I would struggle. Add the fact I was on the big 8.5″ setup again and it was kind of a disaster. Rob looked great. Manuals, nollie lipslides, bean plants, 180s. Andy and Chris were ripping. I did the worst back 50 imaginable on the little ledge. Front 50s were fun though. Some dude had made a flat bar and brought it there. I saw Andy got on a front board so I decided to try a regular boardslide. Well my pop sucks and I knocked it over and the leg broke off. Talk about embarrassing. The guy who built it admitted he expected that, but it was still embarrassing. Especially because there was a dude there totally destorying it. front board 270 shove, back 360 lipslide, kick front board, crazy tricks. Then we played a game of SKATE. I was hating the big setup. Chris destroyed did some damage on everyone with nollie flip, heelflip, varial heel, something else and Rob ended me with a cab. I went over to the ledge and continued to not skate it well. Rob and Chris went quite awhile longer. I tried to skate the bench which feels so tall. Barely got a crooks and couldn’t front 50 it to save my life which bummed me out even more on the bigger setup. What’s the point if It doesn’t actually help my ollies? There was a dude named Dustin there totally ripping. Crazy board control. It was fun to watch. Looks like I’ll be clicking ‘setup change’ again for the next entry. Maybe I’ll try those 8.25″ Thunders I got awhile ago after all.

(setup 8.5″ null rabethica deck, venture black icon 5.8″ trucks, venom 88a bushings, old 52mm bones stf v5 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, lakai ellis black/white size 11.5, spenco 3/4 orthotic thinsole and thin adidas insole)

Yeah so here I am in one of those setup OCD cycles. One thing I’ve come to learn is proportions are very important. The board should be as wide or wider than the trucks. Skating the 8.25 in Seattle with 8.5″ trucks doesn’t work well, it does’t flip as fast and it just feels weird. So after work I grabbed a barely used 8.5 from a previous setup spat and put the 8.5″ Ventures on it. After dinner I went out front of the house thinking if flatground goes terrible then I’m over it and I’ll go back to the 8.25 with small trucks. Only it didn’t go bad, it actually went very good. My halfcab flips felt better than they have in awhile, I did like 8/10 heelflips, one in a line with a bad treflip. But the fact that I landed a treflip at all made me happy. I had hucked a bunch of flippers. All of them felt fine. Then I wen across the street to the curb area and had a grand ol’ time. I landed a switch front 50! It felt cool. Which led to me doing a fakie front 50 without turning out. It felt cool. And I almost got one with a switch 180 out. Couldn’t do front tails, but most everything else was going well. Kickflip up the curb, fakie ollies up, kickflip off, b/s shove off, back 50 front 180, front 50 back 180, intentional front 5-0s. Even got a sketchy bs flip up the curb. After awhile I was sitting and posting the vert clip on the gram and Ollie came out of nowhere and scared me so good. Ha. Then he skated for about 20 minutes. He had a few clean ollies up the curb, a back 180 up the curb! Manuals into 5-0s, kind of a front hurricane trying to back 180 up, then he actually tried a hurricane and got one. He also did his first ever nollie shove. Fun night.

(setup 8.5″ null rabethica deck, venture black icon 5.8″ trucks, venom 88a bushings, old 52mm bones stf v5 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, lakai ellis black/white size 11.5, spenco 3/4 orthotic thinsole and thin adidas insole)

After a couple recovery days from #cloggingyourfeedwithstokepartdeux I went over to the school. I had put my smaller trucks back on. I thought it would be this glorious return to a setup I loved. It wasn’t. I had really enjoyed the wide trucks in Seattle, but hey dont’ work with 8.25 so well. But it took me awhile to realize that. Low trucks make me kind of clumsy. You have to land everything so perfectly (which is normally easy for me, but I was tired ha ha). I don’t think I even got a clean back 50. I hucked a lot. Got a switch crook jib or two. Didn’t get flip tricks, but man them kickflips rotated fast. I had new shoes. Some Lakais. They felt good, a little narrow in the foot, but good. Had a couple front tailslides, couldn’t do fakie 50.

(setup 8.25 null atomic cowboy deck, venture awake 5.2 lows, bones medium bushings, 51mm bones stf v1 wheels, old swiss bearings, lakai ellis black/white size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)