Went to Broomfield park on a night where I mentally felt motivated to skate. After a quick stop at Crisis I arrived at the park and it was empty. I was pretty excited to skate it in ways that I would normally be too embarrassed to skate. But it became apparently quickly that my legs were toast. I had several squaty landings where my legs refused to stand back up and I fell over. Argh. I had some pop initially. Oh yeah, everything felt weird because I had new wheels. My previous wheels had worn down to mid 40mms so the new 50mms felt pretty large. I really tried to skate through it, but man I struggled. I was all over the place, trying tiny ollies 1/3 of the way up the brick qp, ollies on ledges instead of grinds, etc. I was hyped on an early line of front 50, boardslide the flat bar, turn around, 180 into the bank, switch front nose the ledge. Got a super slow fakie 50 f/s halfcab out. Wanted to do b/s halfcab out, but didn’t get close. Carleigh showed up after I had been skating for an hour or so. She had to setup a board. I was trying slow kickflips to fakie on the euro kicker and failing and noseslide 270 shoves where I didn’t get close either. I tried at least, it’s been awhile. Carleigh didn’t have much time to skate. But she got some. Kickflip, close to no comply flip, boardslide the black ledge, a good fall on a boardslide on the parking block. We ended on a couple basic tricks on the dark brick qp. Axle stalls. I took 3 tries to get a front slash.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)

After a cold morning I slacked around for awhile trying to warm up. I joined the tail end of a session at Saul’s. There were some younger rippers, Roth, Dave, Saul. I mostly just stood in the sun at first and watched the ripping. One dude Brian was absolutely destroying. He was so natural. Roth did his cool 50 around the hip which is crazy. Fuller did a bunch of different tricks. The lipslide into it was cool as was the sweeper in. Saul did the perfect 5-0 above. Ha ha okay, so he didn’t land that one, but it looks good. His runs are so fun to watch with all the quick grinds and he’s adding in more stand up 50s. I skated more when the young ones left, but not a lot. Somehow I managed to do most of what I’ve done there. The back smith stall felt cool as did the front slashes. Riding the Saul setup was fun.

Then I wanted to get another look at this new spot I checked out on the way home from Red Hawk. It’s even better than it looks. Although the main benches are all on the tall side. But one of my few 2018 skate goals is to be able to skate taller ledges again so I don’t want to use it as an excuse. I did some flatground for a bit. I love my little 8″ board. It flips so easy. I did way more tricks than I was expecting. I did a 360 flip that felt so easy. I did a front 50 on the low ledge, a slappy front tail, wallie nollie, posed an ollie over a ledge, did one of the best heelflips I’ve done in awhile then mostly skated the taller benches. There was some ice preventing me from skating them backside like I wanted to. I took forever to get a front 50. Shortly before that I ollied onto one which felt pretty cool, but getting the 50 felt great and I left.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)

Skate wise I celebrated 366 days in a row of skating last year. This year I celebrate NOT having skated every day. Ha. But really I celebrate how I’ve learned to take better care of myself so I can get shown up by @fullertrron trying to learn switch crooks in 15 degree weather. #over40skateboarding #thestubborns #iusecoldweatherasanexcusetoskateevenslower

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 31, 2017 at 4:36pm PST

It was literally only 15 degrees when I met Dave at Red Hawk. I got there first and it needed some sweeping as the tiny bit of flurries had settled in next to the ledge. Since it was so cold a simple swipe of the broom would make the snow disappear without a wet spot. Warming up was obviously a challenge, but we were both smart enough to wear lots of layers and we weren’t cold. We ended up getting some tricks. My list was better than expected. Front 50, front 5-0, front 50 front 180 out, front 50 front shove out, almost front 50 kickflip out, back 50, crooks, crooks to fakie, crooks shove, halfcab noseslide, switch noseslides. I couldn’t get front 50 back 180 out or front 5-0 back shove out. Dave had 50s, back 5-0, back 50 nollie shove, front 50 back 180 out, halfcab noseslide, such a good switch crook, almost front 50 back big out, probably more I’m forgetting. We didn’t do a lot of flip tricks as it was kind of cold for that. My bushings had froze up and it made some things pretty weird. Super fun session though. It was nice not struggling as much on front 50s as I have lately. And that’s a wrap on 2017!

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)

On a cold day I met Jack and Carleigh at Safeway. It was so sunny out and seemed like it would be warm. It wasn’t. Especially in the shade. But we skated and it was fun. Jack was ripping. Back 180 nosegrinds, bluntslides, back tails, back 270 tailslides, pop shove back 50s, wallrides above the ledge and he learned 360 flip noseslide in like 3 tries. Man. Carleigh did a bunch of noseslides and got front 50, kickflips and bought a house. Ha. I skated decent other than the front 5-0s that were supposed to be 50s. Made myself do a tiny front tailslide, got the slowest and worst fakie nosegrind, fakie 50, did some crooks on the lower fence ledge, flip tricks were whatever and I couldn’t learn 360 flips like Jack. Way to steal my dream trick bro.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)

On a really warm day I met Dave at Westy park. I arrived first and there was puddles and ice making most of the park unskateable. So I took out the broom and started spreading out the puddles and sliding the ice out of the park. Dave showed up and shoveled some of the deeper stuff and a couple other dudes showed up with towels and within a few minutes the park was good. Starting out I felt super awkward again. It sucked, I couldn’t do anything. But it ended up working out and I would start to feel better. Dave seemed pretty on it right away. The two other dudes there were good, but they both had headphones on and would take one earbud out after each trick. It was kind of weird and annoying. Dave had some moves on the steep bank. Fakie shove, back tail. He got the boardslide transfer on the A frame. Couldn’t get nosegrind the bump to ledge, but got front 50s with both 180s out. Also tried back nosegrind. And of course a bunch of transition tricks first try like sweeper, grinds over the hip, etc. One of the other dudes looked like Chris Jones. He did a ton of tricks on the bank like nollie bs flip, switch flip, he made it look so easy. I got a front 50 shove out, kickflip up the curb, couldn’t do front 5-0. I had a fun line of tiny ollie on the b/s qp hip, back 50 the qp, then a 360 flip out of the kicker like Dave’s photo above. Also a line of kickflip up the curb, front disaster on the qp then tried crooks the ledge, but never got the crooks. Then Dave went in on trefilps. He tried for over an hour, landed on 4-5 of them, but never rode away. So close.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)

After a long drive from the frigid midwest and some dinner I went to the research ledge to skate and break in some new shoes (NB# Arto 358). Nothing felt right. It’s probably from so much sitting lately and the new shoes, but man I couldn’t hardly ollie at all. And I struggled badly with kickflips. I tried to do a slow kickflip then back 50 and I could not do the back 50 to save my life. Also, a bearing broke so my back heel wheel was dancing all over and locking up sometimes. After awhile I gave up on back 50 and did a lame crooks and then a better crooks to cheer me up a little. Then a halfcab noseslide. I’m really trying to get on top of those like a regular noseslide and it seems to finally be clicking a little. Then I tried switch crooks for a bit and although I didn’t get close, it felt possible.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric arto 358 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insole)

My 📱 footage from a fun night with @mattrief @buffalogums @ericjeckert @chrboi and the RIPPING @hoot_ride which I can’t believe I didn’t film. @thebay_

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 27, 2017 at 9:16pm PST

So freakin’ cold. Got picked up from a tea shop in Omaha by Matt in single digit temps and headed to Lincoln to skate the Bay and meet up with a stellar crew. Dan, Eric and Drew were there when we got there. We chilled at the shop briefly and requested Phil skate with us. Drew did his thing in the main area of the park while the rest of us warmed up on a 3′ qp in the corner. It was fun. We basically just rotated tricks and if you wanted to take more than a few tries to land it you did. After a bit Phil joined us. It was good fun. Everyone falling, trying, landing, etc. I think my fav trick was Dan doing a cab tough guy. Well, I’m not sure the name, but like a fakie willy to 270 out. It felt really cool. The ollie to fakie was cool too. Matt did his really high. Last trick was a fakie river dance type of trick. Matt and Phil went in the hard way. So sick.

Then we hit the middle of the park which was pretty chaotic and crowded. I tried to get in the groove, but the legs weren’t having it. I managed some slow crooks, noseslides, flip tricks, but nothing special. Dan got a nice front 50 heelflip out and other Dan tricks. Matt has ledge skills. I can’t remember exact tricks now, but like nollie crooks I think, etc. Drew was flying around. The back tails were so fast and stylee. He also had a fakie back nosegrind so perfect. Eric did a gnarly rock to fakie (not the one on the bench ha ha). Phil was totally shredding. He learned no comply shove, I tried to teach him no comply finger flip, he was doing long front 5’0s on the qps, got a front 50 on the ledge and ollied the double set!!!

We did some group skating after that. The weakest link in the ledge section was me and the nose manual, I kept bailing. Doh. But we got it and it was fun. We had done the qp boardslides before that which was also fun. I started to get too sore to skate. I guess I was out of shape after 3 days off. Ha. Anyway, super fun day with the nebraska crew.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 533v2 black/gold size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

While I stay warm and comfortable indoors, @corpoglenny is skating in a blizzard. Some, including myself, think he’s crazy. He prefers the term “stubborn”. Either way, I’m proud to have him on the team. #firsttracks #sweatcicles #teamsweatstain #jpskatecrap

A post shared by Joshua Pluger (@boredzinejp) on Dec 23, 2017 at 4:50pm PST

On a cold morning I saw the forecast said snow and even colder temperatures on my first day in Omaha. So I went to the park hoping the ledge was dry at least. It was 19 degrees. I was layered up well and had the park all to myself for the most part. One other person joined for about 15 minutes. The snowfall started pretty much right away, but it was lighter and not sticking for awhile. I did some basic little ollies and turns to start getting warmed up. I actually felt pretty good and shed a layer. I went for a line of halfcab boardslide the parking block, kickflip to fakie on the narrow bank, then halfcab noseslide. I only got the full line twice, but I had a few halfcab noseslides that actually felt good rather than the sloppy fall off one in the clip. I also had a few slow front 50s, a couple crooks. I attempted halfcab crook and might have done a brief one. The snow started accumulating and the other dude left. I had a first try fakie varial flip that made me happy with the smaller setup. Then I tried to film the two clips above fast because my grip started getting icy and it made skating scary. The bs flip took too many tries. I tried to end it on a treflip, but the slippery grip was sketchy so I left. Walking to my car I slammed on some hidden ice way harder than I did skating. Ha. I had fun, I was surprised how little the cold bothered me.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 533v2 black/gold size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

Went out to the garage on a cold and snowy night. I had set up a new board since my tail had chipped so bad. This time I went with an 8” board seeing as how I’ve only been into flip tricks lately. It went okay. I started by doing all 4 of the fakie/nollie bigspins. It’s hard to swing them around in such a little space. Then I went through a lot of my tricks. Most were not landed well. Kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, varial flip, bs flip, fs flip, halfcab flips, 360 flip and nollie varial flip. Whew! Came close to nollie tre and nollie flip. Then tried dave’s switch no comply shove and got a few. Fun trick. Then I went inside.

(setup 8″ null Monico deck, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 533v2 black/gold size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)

After a chill day at work I went to the dog park on a beautiful afternoon, but a little breezy at times. Cold weather was supposed to be moving in and I think it was messing with me. Because a couple minutes in I slammed on a front shove so bad I almost hit my head bad on the ground. What the heck. It scared me and I felt like leaving. But I was chatting with JP and he gave me some trick ideas. He suggested fs halfcab heel so I started trying it. About 15 tries later I got that one above. Dave showed up around now. Next trick for me was the kickflip version which took a bit and all I got was that tic tac’d one. Oh well. Dave was on his putter and started with shoves in all directions, nollie 180s, etc. He went in on fakie hippy flips, but didn’t quite get one. Also f/s halfcab flip which he was also close on, varial flip which I think he got, bigspin which looked great and came super incredibly close to 360 flip. Man. I had done a really awkward f/s flip and Josh’s next suggestion was b/s flip. Got the crappy one above first try and moved on. Tried Rick flips and back heels. Got remotely close to Rick flip, but not the back heel. That’s a weird one for me, I’ve never really done it, but it does seem doable. Can’t wait to see Dave land a treflip, he’s so close.

(setup 8.25″ null atomic cowboy, venture 5.25 awake lows, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, venom 91a bushings, new balance numeric 533v2 black/gold size 11.5, custom orthotic insole)