The madness finally got me and I hit the boiling point of needing to change my setup. I went to Meta and got some new Venture Lows. They are the regular raw lows, not the forged baseplate. Hyped. I set them up with an old 8″ board which I quickly realized is too small, but oh well. I went to research ledge with no energy in the cold wind. I had some great feeling crooks (lows rule like that), but that was it on the ledge. I couldn’t back 50. But I was really lacking on energy. Kickflips felt ok, didn’t really try much more. Hit a rock and focused the board. It was old and cracked anyway and I knew I was gonna put a bigger board on.

(setup: 8 null, venture 5.25 lows with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

I had a slight hangover which is very rare for me these days. I was tired and lazy because of it so I went to Valmont for a lazy ledge/flatground session. It was ok. I didn’t get very far on the ledge or flatground tricks.

(setup: 8.25 null control room deck, venture v-hollows 5.2 hi with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

#stubbornsaturdays

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 12, 2016 at 1:15pm PST

Jake and I met up with Dave at the 287 ditch on a super beautiful day. My skate madness was immediately gone as I knew that spot would suck with low trucks. Whew! That ditch is harder to skate then it looks. I had some front tails stalls. The one on the parking block took a long time. There was a couple parking blocks on the flat of the ditch. Dave was doing feebles across both parking blocks. I think he 50’d them too. Jake did front tailslide to fakie right away on the waxed part. He came close to nosebunts and back blunts. Got a line of him doing an ollie into the bank then a no comply tailslide. Dave was ripping as hard as ever. He was doing all kinds of lines with stalls on parking blocks, slides, everything. Front tailside, front pivot, ollie nose bash, fs halfcab. So good. Jake slammed so hard catching on a crack on a roll in. Can’t believe he survived. I tried a line of back 50 on a parking block then no comply to tail on the next parking block. Never got it. I just couldn’t get it right. So annoying, that trick is supposed to be easy. It wasn’t a line I was that excited about anyway. Dave ended with a crazy line jumping over the parking blocks in the middle of the ditch. Total Stubborns opening line material. Get hyped.

Then after a stop at Emage and Vitamin Cottage we went to this ledge school. After a fun chat wit a couple of homeless dudes we tried to warm up again. It was extremely hard for Dave and I. Jake was doing 50s before I could even ollie. But about the time I got warmed up he had moved on to sitting. Ha ha. Not quite, he got close to a few other tricks. Fakie nosegrind, fakie back tail. Dave got going with some good front 50s. Then one of the best tricks ever. Front 50 to eggplant out. You’ll have to wait to see it. It might be my favorite trick we’ve filmed of Dave. He had some good back 50s too. I didn’t land anything for a really long time. My board felt squirly, my legs felt weird, etc. I had a couple awkward falls trying to ollie off this little kicker over a gap. It was annoying. I finally started having fun when we settled in on this ledge area along the building. I tried a bunch of front nosegrinds off the end, never got close. Dave was doing the same on the opposite and got closer. I had some great feeling crooks, some slow back 50s, chinese nollie front tails. Got somewhat close to kick back tail. Dave got a really good nollie back tail to fakie. We ended with me trying switch crooks for awhile until I eventually kind of landed one. It stoked me out. Even though I didn’t land much all day it was one of those really fun days.

(setup: 8.25 null control room deck, venture v-hollows 5.2 hi with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

Had a really long day of work. A lot of my time at work was spent obsessing about low trucks again. So when I finally got home I took my old setup and put low hangers on it. Then I skated both boards in my garage. Back to back comparing tricks and how they feel. The lows sure to flip fast and feel better in a lot of ways. But I know that judging this on a 15 minute session in the garage is not good.

Had to bring boards to 303. As usual I was slightly late. I wanted to skate a little before heading back. I started at this area just because I know it’s a good area for warming up and it’s close to free parking. I did a few lines to begin. Ollie off the ledge in the background, kickflip, front 180 the first stair, switch 180 the second. Switch 180 on flat, ollie up the first stair, back 180 the second, nosestall the ledge. Front 180 off the ledge, switch 180 off the first stair, back 180 off the second. I felt somewhat warmed up so I moved on.

Went a block over to this secret little gem. Well, not so secret, but if you skate it just right you can remain a secret from security. Just don’t go past the window and you can have a one push session at this ledge for awhile. I did a few crooks. They felt great, it just glides. I was working on crooks to fakie when a security guy nicely gave me the boot. Guess my plan didn’t work for all that long.

So I went across the street to this spot. Got a couple long front 50s that felt so fun and fun powerslides after. Bones wheels slide so much better then Spits. Then I got the boot from a security lady that was extremely upset. I told her to chill out and be nice next time. She didn’t like that. Oh well.

Then I hit this ledge for awhile. I had full range from the backside, but frontside I was limited by avoiding a window that security could see through. I did noseslide, noseslide to fakie and a couple horrible crooks. The worst frontside noseslide ever. Couldn’t get enough speed for front 50 and was too scared to do back 50. Partially because of the crack, partly because of the ash tray, but mostly because it’s tall. I was pretty beat at this point and started heading back to the car.

But then I found the ol’ Wells Fargo area had been totally redone! I thought security would be on my like flies on a rib roast, but no. I had 30 minutes before nicely getting the boot. On the curved ledge I did slow noseslide and noseslide to fakie. The curb was so good for slappy crooks. And somehow I struggled to ollie the little bush. I mostly just ended up trying to front 50 the ledge. It’s tall. I got into one grind, that was it, before getting the boot. Bummed at how hard taller front 50s are, but I’ve never been able to get on this ledge. It felt like I was making some progress before I had to leave. Not the most fun night, but as normal with street skating, the little I landed felt rewarding.

(setup: 8.25 null control room deck, venture v-hollows 5.2 hi with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

Went to the Research Center again with a bit more energy. This time I just went to the ledge. I started with noseslide, noseslide fakie, boardslide flop out. Crooks took awhile. Back 50s still suck, but I got a couple horrible ones. When I was going up the hill I mostly tried switch heels and I got pretty darn close often. Dream trick! Hopefully some day. I had some success with other flip tricks in the street below the ledge. No heelflips, but one horrible 360 flip. It’s been awhile since I’ve landed that one. The most frustrating part of the night was not being able to do a front 50. They felt like they would be easy, but they weren’t. Got a bad halfcab noseslide, tried to do one to fakie. Got a really bad crooks to fakie, some more crooks, not close to halfcab crooks or kick back 50. I left in a decent mood.

(setup: 8.25 null control room deck, venture v-hollows 5.2 hi with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

Went to the Research Center not feeling very energetic. I just wanted to skate flatground as it’s been a long time. I went to the back area that is lit really well and has some smooth concrete. I started trying some slappies on a parking block and didn’t get close at all. That was the beginning of the horribleness. I would get a few kickflips, halfcab flips, etc and the harder wheels generated more pop, but man, I didn’t not land anything somewhat hard for me. It was so frustrating. I left before focusing my board.

(setup: 8.25 null control room deck, venture v-hollows 5.2 hi with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

Forced myself to get off the couch after my first day of work in awhile. Went to Louisville park. When I arrived there were a couple other skaters there. One of which was completely destroying with super fast 360 flip, monster frontside airs, fast ledge tricks, etc. It was crazy. I bailed axle stalls to warm up, got a kickflip on the bank, failed to do a front pivot on the bank to curb. The other dudes left. I then mostly skated the ledge. I took awhile and I skated slower then I like to, but I finally got in the groove a little. I got a few tricks (all of which took a long time). Back noseslide, back noseslide to fakie, back crooks, front 50, front 50 front 180 out, front 50 shove out, a really slow front tail, front 5-0, back 50, halfcab noseslide almost halfcab noseslide to fakie. I left shortly before the lights shut off. It was cold. But I was happy to start kind of feeling like myself again. And I’m still amazed how much more pop the STFs have then the Formula 4s.

(setup: 8.25 null control room deck, venture v-hollows 5.2 hi with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

And now back to my regularly scheduled activity. @boredzinejp challenged me to a whirlybird and I counter with this melon grab street plant thing (two tricks in a row we didn't know the name initially – gave up on the 50 big). #theglenandjosholdfartlongdistanceinstagramtricksuperchallenge

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 6, 2016 at 6:55pm PST

Went out to Valmont after some morning hiking/snowboarding at Berthoud. I was super beat since we hiked so much, but I was feeling healthier at least. I started with the ol’ no ollie noseslide routine, graduated to noseslides, 50s and back crooks on the low part of the ledge. Mostly did kickflips on flat and didn’t have the energy for more. I was going to try something kind of hard for the game, but decided to do the ol’ bomb drop instead. Man that trick is fun. I know Josh will get it easy, but oh well.

(setup: 8.25 null control room deck, venture v-hollows 5.2 hi with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)

Went out to the garage for a quick kickflip before heading up to the mountains to go snowboarding.

(setup: 8.25 null control room deck, venture v-hollows 5.2 hi with 3 washers inside, venom 91a bushings, 50mm bones stf V1 wheels, nbnumeric pj stratford 533 black/gum)