On a snowy day I went into the garage in the middle of the afternoon. I started with the “bank” to curb option which is harder than it looks. I started with some nose/tail stalls and worked up to front axle which took for freaking ever. Something about the quick pop right after getting on the wood weirded me out. And the fact that it requires pop which aint easy for me. The 50 shove fakie thing came pretty quick though. Don’t think I’ve ever done that before. I tried front 50 kickflip out for awhile and got pretty close. I gave up and tried backside stuff for awhile, but ended up giving up. I would do a few flip tricks in between tries. I was wearing the cupsole Es again and it felt better. I got kickflips, heelflips, treflip. Tried a few nollie and switch flips. My shoes felt so huge I was slipping around. Then I took the ledge out and just skated flat. I got quite a few tricks. I didn’t start filming until the nollie varial flip which felt cool even though it was so bad. Getting another treflip took awhile. The halfcab heel hyped me up. Not sure if I’ll ever land another nollie flip. I skated hard though and I’m happy about that.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es swift 1.5 grey size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

Went to Blue Skies after work still feeling incredibly sore. I was gonna meet Josh! I was so hyped. But the temperature had dropped a ton and it was frigid out. I got there first and messed around not doing much. Nollie shoves, boardslides on the flat bar, no complies on the bank and some side rocks on the other banks. Josh showed and we bro’d down and it was awesome seeing him. He tried a few things for the gram, but my phone was so cold it shut down. Josh rules, he’s so naturally good at skateboarding.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es swift 1.5 grey size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

Doubles after work in the cold with @fullertrron. 📹 @matthouse and Teddy.

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Feb 7, 2018 at 6:03pm PST

Right after work I went and met Dave at the dog park. I got there first and immediately knew it would be a struggle. I didn’t think it would be as bad as it was though. I was struggling with kickflips. I knew I needed some extra entertainment so I grabbed one of the plastic parking blocks. It helped with motivation. Spracking off it is so much fun. Dave showed around when I was trying switch spracks then fakie flips. It took awhile. Then every trick took awhile. Dave was struggling too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him fall so many times in one session. I got a few random tricks going slow. Dave was doing switch and regular no complys over the block. So sick. I ended up getting a line of heelflip, kickflip over the parking block, then a hands down treflip. Right after that I got a no comply flip. Dave was doing 50s and 5-0s across the ledge so good. He also did fakie and nollie shoves over the parking block. I took awhile to get a fakie bigspin. Matt was at the dog park with Teddy for awhile and hung out with us. I got a few more no comply flips and one of them felt like the best one I’ve done. Then I started to get so sore (I think because the little vulc shoes are too thin for my frail old arthritic body) so the only thing I did was no comply flips. Matt agreed to film Dave and I go for doubles. It took a few tries, but we did it. Dave kept ripping after that though. 5-0 back 180 out. So good. It was a really tough day, but there were some highlights to make the stubborness not seem so crazy.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es accel sq burgundy/gum size 11, custom orthotic insole)

After dinner Ollie and I went over to the curb area across the street. It felt much colder than it said (44) it was. Ollie was complaining the whole time. He couldn’t do a shove it and it was bumming him out. He said it was too hard. Ha. He skated for awhile though. I suggested he try front 180 up the curb and after awhile he got a couple. It was cool. He did manage several shove its and fakie shoves. He did some manuals and stuff too. I mostly tried curb tricks. Back 50s, nollie back tails, got a couple switch crooks jibs. There were a lot of rocks making it not as fun as normal. Ollie left and I tried a few kick back tail which I got close to. Then I went behind the school, did a few axle stalls, ollied onto the easier rock once or twice and then bounced.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es accel sq burgundy/gum size 11, custom orthotic insole)

After a long and sketchy drive from Buena Vista and an amazing welcome home greeting from Liz I went to meet Dave at the dog park. But he bailed before I got there. My motivation was hurting, my body felt okay, and somehow the mid 30 weather didn’t bother me. I was wearing the Es vulcs again because I felt like skating vulcs. It’s crazy how much better the board feel is. These are a little too thin though. Anyways, I skated for about an hour. I didn’t skate fast or good, but I landed some tricks. I tried a line of fakie flip, halfcab flip, 360 flip for awhile. Couldn’t get the treflip and got a text from Matt requesting a treflip. Turns out he was with his dog at the park. He wasn’t looking, but I did land a treflip that try. I was hyped. Thanks for the motivation Matt. I landed a lot of heelflips, f/s halfcab flip, b/s flip randomly I did a few nollie back bigspins (okay “nollie” is a stretch). Came close to halfcab heels both ways, nollie inward heel, nollie tre, some more. Got tired so I left.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es accel sq burgundy/gum size 11, custom orthotic insole)

Went for a brief spin at sunset. This time I tried behind our casino. There were some decent red curbs, some regular parking blocks, decent flat, some manny pads and a five stair. I didn’t have much energy and didn’t try to hard. Some of the ride on grinds were fun on the red curbs. I slid out pretty bad trying to boardslide a parking block. Had some fun blunt transfers on parking blocks. Didn’t try the five stair. Struggled to ollie up curbs. The warmth had my bushings feeling really loose.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es swift 1.5 grey size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

Had some free time and went to skate flat for a bit. I tried a few areas, but settled on a patch of decent asphalt across from the hotel/casino we were at. The temperature was in the low 70s and if felt amazing. My legs felt really good, but my shoes felt huge. My feet were slipping around in them. I managed quite a few slow flippers. Heelflip was more of a struggle than it should have been. I got a few treflips that weren’t clean. Halfcab flips, b/s flip, close to nollie varial flip and nollie treflip.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es swift 1.5 grey size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

All packed up and ready to head to my mom’s and then Vegas to visit some family. Golden park would be right on the way, but I decided Broomfield is worth a bit of extra drive. The park was mostly empty. There was another older dude at one point and then a couple younger dudes. But I mostly skated in ways that I like to when the park is empty. I was trying to manual the blue box then ollie onto the down slant ledge, but the older dude was working on front 50s and I didn’t want to barge his session. So I tried to manual the black ledge instead and got just as close. I was determined to get back 50s back. I snuck a few attempts on the blue ledge, never got one, but did get a back 5-0 shove out. Ha. Hadn’t done that in awhile. Had a fu line of tiny ollie to fakie on the brick qp, switch front 180 the parking block, front 50 down the slanted ledge, axle to fakie the quartapotty, switch front nose the blue ledge. Hyped on that line. Also tried for awhile to do a bank ride on the top, kickflip to fakie on the hump and then switch 180 into the bank, but I was ever ready for the bank. God a couple terrible halfcab noseslides that were not posted up at all. Got front 50 shove, front 50 front 180 out, front 50 to front board (first try and it’s been awhile for that one). Couldn’t get close to noseslide 270 shove. Crooks were bad. I was really sore, but said I couldn’t leave until I got a clean back 50 on the blue ledge. So basic, but I seem to have totally lost that trick unless there is a wall behind me. I added a few flip tricks and quartapotty tricks to the mix. I did get a back 50 and I called it quits and drove to BV.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es swift 1.5 grey size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

After work then a Crisis run I went to Broomfield park. It was pretty warm out, but the wind at times was intense. There was a crew of rippers there that I’ve never seen before. They were pretty quiet and all skating. So it made for an awkward warm up for me just totally sucking while they were ripping. They were doing tricks like back tail front 270 shove out on the tall brown ledge, kickflip back nosegrind, crooks shove the bigger hubba, switch manual fakie tre out. And here I was bailing ollies up the little blue ledge. I tried to skate though. It’s weird, it was a pretty lame session, but some things went alright. I pretty much did every trick I wanted to on the quartapotty first try. Just basics like disaster, front feeble, fakie pivot fakie, hurricane, but it was fun. Slappy crooks on the curb are always fun too. Flip tricks weren’t working, but I like to blame the wind for that. Ledge tricks weren’t really working either. I tried to do front 180 into the bank then halfcab noseslide, but the wind made it so awkward. Sometimes I’d be going too fast, other times the wind would stop me. I did a random backside ollie on the brick qp and it felt really cool. Boardslides on the bump to bar were fun. The wind kicked in even more and I left.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es swift 1.5 grey size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

Right after work I went to Blue Skies. The park was mostly wet. The bank completely unskateable, the rails, not many paths threw the park. I messed around trying to get warmed up before Dave showed. I was not feeling well at all. I managed to ollie off the tall ledge, ollie a tiny puddle, boardslide the end of the down ledge and then a slow kickflip. Dave showed up around then. We each did our thing. He got on front 50 on the small ledge before me. I was having a great fear of it for some reason. I had to try a long line to it and it didn’t even work. Front 180 off the tall ledge, fakie flip on flat, ollie a puddle, kickflip on flat, front 50. Dave was doing these long boardslides that looked so good until one landed weird and he shot the board into his nuts. Hard enough he laid on the ground for like 10 minutes. You know it’s bad if Dave isn’t skating. I finally got onto the ledge. It was such a terrible line. Cali grind off the tall ledge, super slow heelflip on flat, the slowest front 50 jib that’s ever been done. But getting on it was a break through. I got another slow front 50 and front 50 shove. The front 50 shove at least had some redeeming quality of fun even if I did it incredibly slow. Dave was doing front 50 no comply 180 out, front 50 180 out and near the end did front 50 front shove a couple times. Sick! I added a few additional slow switch noseslides, crooks and came close to noseslide shove. Oh yeah, also a sketchy 360 flip where I turned around. Dave did back 50 on the ledge! Scary. Then it got dark and we went home.

(setup 8.25″ clutch sample deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, white venture bushings, es swift 1.5 grey size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)