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)

After how sore I was I got some new shoes. Some Es Swifts. They seem comfy, but still an adjustment to get used to. I went to Southern Hills again because I didn’t want to go far. I was just supposed to skate flat for about an hour. But flatground wasn’t working. I mean I got through a few tricks, but couldn’t get 360 flip and I got frustrated. These shoes have that weird coating on them and it’s slippery initially. I blame that. Not my total lack of drive or focus. Ha. I tried for a long line. Halfcab flip, heelflip, front tail shove on the one stair, fakie flip, halfcab noseslide. As you would expect I didn’t get it. But what you might not expect is that I never got past the heelflip. I was so mad. Then the wind kicked in and I left.

Later on I went out in front of the house and Ollie joined me. He worked on shoves and kickflips with his hands in his pocket. I did one, it was weird feeling. Ollie has good pop shoves, they smack his feet when he does them. I ended up landing a lot of tricks. I skated slow, but that’s normal. I got a b/s halfcab heelflip which I haven’t done in awhile. Also heelflip, f/s halfcab heelflip, halfcab flips, a sketchy 360 flip, fakie varial flip, fakie flip, an over 50 rick flip! Came close to nollie tre and nollie varial flip. Glad skating went okay and I cheered up some.

(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)

Stairs and gaps all day with @_f_u_z_z and @fullertrron and working on my base tan for Hawaii (or trying to be @iceman_hof ) #thestubborns. . . Okay the real reason I wasn’t wearing my shirt is because Fuzz said I was mixing a @lakailtd beanie with @esskateboarding shoes. And then we realized I had an @independenttrucks crew with @venturetrucks. Then we laughed even more when I revealed a @nbnumeric shirt. Fuzz said I had to shed it too. Thankfully my pants didn’t cause any conflicts.

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jan 27, 2018 at 4:57pm PST

Dave picked me up and we went to Southern Hills looking for dry. One side of the benches were dry and there was a lot of flatground so we went for it. Warming up was not easy. Three days off for me is a lifetime. Ha. Oh, I had another new sample board. This one was 8.25. It felt really good. Southern Hills is hard to skate. The ground is rough, there are lots of cracks, the ledges don’t grind. Dave was trying boardslides to fakie on one bench then halfcab noseslide the next one. Amazing line, but I don’t think he got it like he wanted it. I got a couple crooks. I was trying a line of front tail stall shove on the one stair, fakie flip on flat, halfcab noseslide a bench. Never got it. I think I chickened out and just tried switch front noseslides instead. Saul and Fuzz showed up at the same time. Saul cruised around for a bit , did a couple front 50s on the one stair and bounced. Fuzz warmed up with some solid pushes, boardslides and noseslides (I think). Then randomly I ollied this little snow gap and it turned into a session. My first ollie was the only clean ollie I had. Dave and Fuzz were able to do 180s pretty quickly. I couldn’t. So I hucked kickflips instead. I wasn’t committing though. Fuzz said “It’s because you’re wearing a Lakai beanie with Es shoes. You can’t mix brands like that.” I laughed and threw my beanie on the ground. Then we realized I was wearing an Independent crew, but skating Ventures. So I took that off. Then we both cracked up upon realizing I was wearing a NB# shirt. I hesitated, but knew I had to shed it too. We were laughing. I think I got the next kickflip, but it was pretty bad and Fuzz didn’t film it. Then I got the slightly better one. I was pretty hyped and put my clothes back on. Then we dorked around on the stairs. Fuzz had several drop down combos. They were so sick. Dave and I tried to hang, but Fuzz had the moves.

Then we went to Saul’s. There was a decent sized crew of awesome. Saul, Eric, Jake, Josh, Will. I was impressed with Fuzz’s first few runs. He kept his speed and flew around the bowl. Everyone skated well it seemed. Saul had the quick lines, stand up grinds and it was funny when he bailed the grab to tail he has been trying. Will rips. His front 5-0s are so good and he took awhile to get a fakie nose pick. Dave flowed like water as always. He did a lot of tricks including a super long boardslide. Eric did his first back 50 all good, then proceeded to struggle with the next few. Ha. He ripped too. I didn’t skate so good and was getting really sore quick. So I mostly took it easy. Jake was the first of Josh, Will and him to land a front blunt. He also got a nosepick. Josh is one heck of a nice dude and fun to skate with. Oh and he rips. I think that’s everyone. It was fun. Thanks for having us Saul.

(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)

Got angry and inspired by this clip of a blind skater doing flip tricks I can’t. I went into the garage and tried nollie and switch flips for about 30 minutes. I was so close so many times to both. Then they kind of went away so I tried other tricks. Got a 360 flip second try. Hucked a bunch of flip tricks I can’t do and didn’t get anything. Ollie came out and joined me as I was about to head inside so I ended up skating for another hour or so. It was fun. I got a few flippers like heelfilp. b/s flip, an over 60 varial heel, couldn’t get another 360 flip, couldn’t get double flip. Ollie tried kickflips for a long time and just can’t get that front foot on there. He’s got a good flick though. Then he did shove its. These aren’t the best ones, we didn’t turn the camera on for awhile. It was cool though, he was having fun.

(setup 8.1″ 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 out in the garage on a cold/snowy night craving something other than flatground. So I started with a sheet of wood propped up on Ledgy. It’s scary having so little room and doing stuff. I started with ollies to fakie, pivots, etc. The clip above basically summarizes the whole night. What’s not shown is how many tries the stupid kickflip to fakie took. Or how many b/s flips I landed in a stall before the one I landed coming in. I couldn’t get a decent f/s flip. I was thinking of trying 360 flip to fakie, but instead started trying nose stall 270 shove out. I got close for awhile. I was also trying a few flip tricks. I couldn’t get a clean 360 flip. After the funny slam I lost motivation and went inside.

(setup 8.1″ 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)