Met Dave at Broomfield park kind of early, around 9am. He was already warmed up and shredding. I was feeling alright and tried to catch up quick. I ended up skating the best I have in awhile, even being somewhat happy about my skating. Dave was doing lines of nollie into the bank, front 50 the ledge, turn around and trying to feeble or 50 the bump to bar. He also had some really good back 50s, slappy feebles, I forget what else. I had some lines with front 50 variations, bonelesses over the down rail, and horrible attempts at back 50. I got a lot of crooks though, a halfcab noseslide. Had better luck on the blue box with back 50s, one little slow scratch fakie nosegrind, did ok with flippers, got closer to learning slappy feeble grinds on the parking block, couldn’t get a front nosegrind on the blue ledge. I still had fun though.

Then we went to this bank to curb. I did some basics, filmed Dave get a few non-basics (feeble transfer, lipslide 270 transfer, front board transfer). I started trying front pivot kickflip out on a smaller section of the small bank to curb. I probably tried 100 of them. Technically landed it twice, but neither were usable.

One awesome day. #thestubborns

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 27, 2016 at 3:51pm PDT

Then we went to this spot. I was so drained. Dave straight killed it and was the least one skating. I don’t know how he can go so long. He got back pivot, front boardslide, front lipslide. This spot is gnar. Rob had some rad boneless variations and was kind enough to film for awhile. Fuzz got a cool line and a fakie flip. My feet were sore so I mostly just dorked around and learned an alley oop fakie 50. It felt really cool.

Spot tourists at a spot that @_f_u_z_z destroyed years ago. #respect #legend

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 27, 2016 at 6:39pm PDT

Then we ate, laughed and played skate tourist for awhile.

(setup: 8.5 null message deck, venture 5.8s, thunder bushings, 52mm reed wheels, steele/gum new balance numeric pj 533)

Feeling slightly better I went to the dog park right after work. I drove through a rain storm, but somehow it was dry. I had started the warm up process when Rob joined. We played a couple games of SKATE that he won. I felt like I should be skating pretty good, but I didn’t land much. And when I did Rob normally did too. He won the 2nd game on fakie 360 shove. It’s hard to remember now what all Rob got me with. I know there were some 360 variations, but he didn’t get too dirty with cab or back 180 one foot. Oh yeah, I had landed all 3 halfcab flips I tried before playing Rob and got double or nothin’d on that trick. Doh. Dave joined as we finished up. We tried a few switch back 360s. Now that I thought I could do them I didn’t get close at all. Dave did a bunch. I did ok on flippers, got a halfcab heel that felt good, some hands down 3 flips. We went over to the manual pads. Rob did the long manual easy. Dave almost died trying switch nose manual. I tried switch 360s and didn’t get close.

(setup: 8.5 null message deck, venture 5.8s, thunder bushings, 52mm reed wheels, steele/gum new balance numeric pj 533)

Feeling totally down and burnt out I went in front of the house on the 3 iron (8.1) and dorked around long enough to slam once. Went back inside.

#fuck

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 24, 2016 at 4:06pm PDT

Drove to Erie on a cool day right after work. I was feeling totally exhausted. When I pulled into the parking lot the park looked empty, but I ended up taking a little nap in the car. I rolled over to the park to a crowd of ~20 young scooter/biker kids. It was terrible. They seemed to be wherever I wanted to be and they would conglomerate and wax everything. I have almost no patience for this. I’m too old to be sucking on my skateboard surrounded by young kids that have no interest in skateboarding. This is more proof that this skatepark should never have been built in Erie. It’s a waste. It should be in a city with a skate scene, not wasted on scooters. And Erie should have a certified piece of suck. Anyway, I tried to skate. After awhile I stretched and it helped a little, but the constant kids playing weighed on me heavy. I only did a few kickflips, noseslides and 50s on the tiny ledge. Couldn’t do crooks. I resorted to just doing flippers on the top area then going into the park when I landed something. I did get a few at least. Garrett showed around then and I felt a little better. He was bummed on the scene too. But at least he can do 50s all over the place easily. Then he tried to teach me nollie heels for awihle and had some good pointers actually. Doesn’t mean I got close though. Riley showed, did a bunch of perfect nollie/switch heels and about one line before the rain came in. What a horrible session for me. Super depressing. Skating right after work is really hard for me. I need a break. Might have to stop doing this. Although it’s super convenient as I can still be home to help with homework.

(setup: 8.5 null message deck, venture 5.8s, thunder bushings, 52mm reed wheels, steele/gum new balance numeric pj 533)

After a long nap, dinner, slacking I went out to the street in front of my house for a ‘minimum’ session. I basically just started by doing switch 360 attempts and stuck there. Got a couple bad ones. Also tried a few regular back 360s. Stayed out a little longer then I expected and felt alright.

(setup: 8.5 null message deck, venture 5.8s, thunder bushings, 52mm reed wheels, steele/gum new balance numeric pj 533)

These photos sum up today's post-work attempt at skateboarding. #strugglefest

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 22, 2016 at 6:10pm PDT

New shoes again. Hopefully for the last time in awhile. New PJs, size 11.5 this time. The park had a collection of total beginners and scooters when I arrived, but it quickly cleared out, then quickly populated again with a younger crew. I was just kind of cruising around trying to warm up for ollies with kickflips. I tried ollieing onto the lower C ledge a few times, but I was really tired and skating so slow. Then I mostly just tried lines between the mellow bank and the long crappy ledge. Never got one spanning the whole area, actually I probably never landed more then one trick in a row at all. I had tried a few switch back 3s as they are my next challenge and they felt doable. Dave showed and cheered me up as I was feeling so much older then everyone else there. Around the same time another older dude showed up and skated the bowls though. We spent most of our time between the long crappy ledge and the knob. We both would get switch back 3s. We were hyped. We didn’t film yet though as they need some work. Dave actually did several. I only did one and when I rode away my butt was mighty high in the air. I took the photo of my board sitting in the bottom of the bowl after a failed attempt at a switch back 3 where I turned about 45 degrees and shot my board into the bowl. This was shortly after several failed front 50 attempts that resulted in some angry yelling. I also went primo and slammed hard on a fakie flip. The struggle was real. Dave was skating alright though, bunch of tricks on the knob, nose manual the ledge, halfcab boardslides, halfcab noseslides. I started trying switch noseslides. On one of them I came to a halt, my front foot came off, I put it back on the board and hucked a 360 shove. Totally landed it. Things felt better. Then I tried to land one actually sliding with it. Got pretty close once. Going the other way I was trying a line of a little scratch grind on the knob, crooks the ledge, kickflip to fakie the little bank. That was a lot of exercise though and it got me tired. I ended by finally doing a halfcab noseslide. Dave ended by slamming really hard twice before getting a sick bluntslide on the knob then bailing the boardslide above and almost getting hit with his board. Somehow I left in a great mood. I think it was because I had Dave to skate with and share the struggles of being older. Sure it was rough, but there were a couple of fun moments in there and those are what we skate for.

(setup: 8.5 null message deck, venture 5.8s, thunder bushings, 52mm reed wheels, steele/gum new balance numeric pj 533)

Up kind of early on a warm Sunday. I headed to Denver with the desire to skate some ledges. I went to the 38th Ave spot, but felt bad waking people up in the morning so I headed to the far away Dayton park. I arrived having to piss badly to a crowded park with people fully padded. Whoa. They referred me to a needle riddled disgusting porta potty that I barely survived. Then it was skate time. The little qp is so fun. I was getting going, trying to ollie onto the ledges, grinds etc. Had some fun going. I wore thin socks in hopes that my shoes wouldn’t feel too small. It almost worked, but by the end I was as sore as the day before. Doh. I had fun though. Another older dude named Chad showed up and we had fun chatting and skating. He had taller front 50s even on the up – up ledge and nosegrinded the bench. So sick. He got me to try front 50s on the qp over the ledge and I got a few. So fun! My ledge game wasn’t great. I got a really bad back 50, a few crooks, front 50 shove, close to switch noseslide shove, a few other basics. Flatground went alright. Did one of the most casual heelflips I’ve done which was surprising considering I’m still on 8.5. Also had a 360 flip pretty quick. I wish that park was closer.

(setup: 8.5 null message deck, venture 5.8s, thunder bushings, 52mm reed wheels, old black/white NB# PJ NM533s)

@fullertrron #thestubborns Got his trick in less tries then his age.

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 20, 2016 at 12:23pm PDT

On a beautiful day Jake and I rolled to Longmont and met Dave at Twin Peaks. I had new shoes. Well, some super old PJs that are too small and the heels are all tore up inside. They felt pretty good. My first care over the bank resulted in a stop rock that sent me scrambling. Awesome. It got way better though. We all kind of did our own tricks. Dave and Jake worked on Creepy Spins. Jake got one. Dave couldn’t get it. I got a new trick right away. some nollie shove around thing. Pretty dumb, but kind of fun to start with something new. Dave also did a bunch of shove variations. Jake hates the crack in the middle. I got kickflip, kickflip fakie, varial flip to fakie and an over 40 treflip to fakie, a bunch of kickflips on flat over the crack. Jake and I tried to ollie the hip. Well, Jake didn’t have to try because he popped is good. Mine were bad. And I barely got the ollie over the median down the way. Dave did a bunch of graceful ollies over the hip before putting down a couple of wallies. So sick.

Old people doing old tricks. Except for Jake, he's always doing new tricks. Like fakie front crooks. What a jerk. #akineedstogetoninstagram

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 20, 2016 at 3:19pm PDT

Then we went to RME where we met up with Aki too. We were all rudely reminded of how hard that place is to skate. It was pretty warm out so the wax was melted off the ledge and we all struggled to land tricks on it. It was mostly a ledge session except for Dave who was all over the place ollieing the little medians, manualling them, etc. Jake had some good front tails on the ledge pretty quickly. Aki probably struggled the most as he has never really skated many street spots, just parks. But he got a nice back 50 to end the session. I had crooks, a weak back 50, front 50s but no shove out, switch noseslides. I started to get really sore though as size 11 is just too small for me now and had to sit the rest out. Dave did boardslides to fakie, back 50 180 out (off the front truck), front 50s. Jake was trying fakie back tails and ended up getting into fakie front crooks. So he stuck with it and got one! Hammer. Fun day, I need bigger shoes, or at least thinner socks.

(setup: 8.5 null message deck, venture 5.8s, thunder bushings, 52mm reed wheels, old black/white NB# PJ NM533s)

Not having much energy I went home after work on a rainy day and slept for awhile. I awoke and it was still wet and I was still tired. I just kind of rolled around the house for awhile as the garage was a mess before I moved a couple things in the garage and did a few nollie shoves, fakie manuals and stuff.

Right after a boring work day I went to Broomfield park which was mostly dry and the rain was holding off. The park was not crowded, but the crew that was there was sitting on the sad ledge or playing skate near the little blue ledge. I went through my embarrassing warm ups. “Slappy” noseslides, boardslides, basic quartapotty tricks and struggled for awhile to get a back 50. There was a parent that brought his young toddlers to play skateboards at the skatepark. I literally mean push the skateboard with his hands. So I went over to the flow bowl area for awhile and carved a bit. They left and I skated the blue ledge some more. Got a few basic tricks like front 50 180s out, fakie front 50 front halfcab out, couldn’t get a front nosegrind. I did a backside flip on flat at one point and this dude was like “Wow, that was sick, HOW OLD ARE YOU?”. Geez. Guess I look that old now. I skated the black ledge for awhile. Got front 50s, front 5-0, almost first try front 50 front board and front 50 kickflip. Had a few crooks. Was trying lines with a flipper at the top of the park, front or back 180 into the bank then halfcab noseslide the ledge. It took awhile. I suck so badly at that trick. There was another dude skating the black ledge that was super nice and we were having a good time quietly cheering for each other. Finished up on the blue ledge with some failed tailslide attempts, switch front noseslide 270 shove attempts, got into a kick back tail, failed at the switch nosegrind 180 I had been chatting with Josh about. I had tried a bunch of fakie 50s attempting to do a b/s halfcab out, but didn’t get close.

(setup: 8.5 null message deck, venture 5.8s, thunder bushings, 52mm reed wheels, old NB# PJ NM533s)