I really wanted to skate a parking garage or something, but the wind was howling and it was cold so I opted for another garage session. I had just played indoor hoops with Ollie so my legs were pretty warmed up. I rattled off quite a few of the basics quickly. Kickflip, shoves, fakie flip, varial flip, heelflip, halfcab flip, b/s flip, f/s flip and even 360 flip. I started trying switch flips again, but wasn’t feeling it so tried 360 and fakie 360 shoves. I landed on a bunch of both, but never rode out. That’s what I like about the garage sessions at least, just trying random tricks.

(setup 8.25 null venture 5.2 hi’s 3 washers inside 52mm spitfire 99a F4 bones med bushings nb# pj stratford 533 burgundy)

Lunch time at Blue Snows with Dave and extra obstacles ❄️. Can't believe how warm 40 feels! @fullertrron #day13

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jan 13, 2016 at 12:25pm PST

Feeling more sore then normal I went to Blue Skies to meet Dave. It felt cool when we first started skating, but a few minutes in it felt quite nice. Warm ups were a pain especially with most of the bank covered. We got at it though. Dave brought the heat and it got me hyped. The ollie/180 quick feet is way harder then it looks. The ollie into the bank is sick. He also had fast front 50s on the ledge and made it up onto the next level (didn’t fit in 15second clip). Kickflips, almost feebles on the flat bar, noseslides. He was ripping. We both did the kickflip to fakie in the narrow with the snow. I got fakie flip at the end too. I was trying a line of ollie the first flat bar then heelflip on flat (never got it) or hippy jump (only got it once) and then a slow front tail on the ledge as a baby step toward not getting a letter. My flip trick game was ok. I got a bad treflip or two, came close to nollie inward heel, nowhere close to rick flip or fakie varial heel. At the very end we did these little front truck wallrides only holding on to the tallest ledge. It was rad. New trick! Gotta keep at that one. These sessions go by way too quick.

In trying to maintain “30 minutes of flatground a day” I went out to the garage on a decently warm night. It’s just so convenient to not have to drive and all that. I was so incredibly sore. I thought it was a stupid idea, but I tried anyway. Kickflips came. Treflips didn’t. Then I tried switch kickflips for like 30 minutes straight. I wasn’t close at all initially, but after a few tries I was committing. However the board normally only flipped half way. I kept at it, got insanely close to one. THEN LANDED ONE! That is my second switch flip ever and my first in over 10 years. I would go on to kind of land another one, but it had landed primo for a second then fell into the make. Ha. Either way I was hyped. When I landed the switch flip I ran into the house and gave Ollie a bunch of high fives as he was trying to get his homework done. I went on to also land a frontside flip, heelflip and eventually a nollie varial flip. Maybe the first time ever that I’ve landed at least one nollie, switch, heel and regular flip trick. Hyped! The flip tricking seemed to make the pain go away. It makes no sense to me, but it’s normally the case that this happens. Maybe all the movement breaks up my arthritis. I don’t know. But I’m glad it didn’t make me even more sore.

(setup 8.25 null venture 5.2 hi’s 3 washers inside 52mm spitfire 99a F4 bones med bushings nb# pj stratford 533 burgundy)

After work I picked up Dave and we rolled to Fort Colllins. We stopped at MRKT so I could sell boards. We ate and went to Launch around 6. Luckily there was only a few people there. We started on the main ramp. I like it, it’s fun to carve around on. But man, I have not been skating ramp lately and it showed. I was bailing axle stalls and kickturns. Dave said he was struggling too, but his tricks are way beyond my pay grade. John joined after awhile and you can tell he skates there a lot. He was ripping! Fakie ollies above coping, front slash 360, fakie front smith fakie, backside ollies, blunt to back d, so many tricks. There were a couple other kids skating and ripping. They were fun to skate with. One young kid that needed a lot of attention, but other then that the scene was rad. I would get a few of my basic tricks. Front d, fakie back smith to fakie, front rock, front smith jib, that’s about it. Dave had some lofty f/s ollies, fakie ollies, the chillest rock fakies around, lots of tricks I don’t know the name of, front smiths, a bunch more I’m forgetting.

The younger dudes had setup a ledge off the smaller ramp and it looked fun. So we waited for some of them to leave then skate it. It was so fun. At first it was flat off the ramp. Crooksing it was oh so fun. Dave had front 50 back 180 off all good, back 50s, almost back and front nosegrinds, crooks. John had front 50, almost back 180 out, switch front nose, front shove off the ramp. I had a back 50 or two, a bad slam on a back 50, front 50, almost front 50 shove, then tried a million crooks to bigspin out. Landed on it, kind of landed one with a lot of the spin being on the ground. Was still hyped though and it was really fun to try. John left. Then we put the ledge off the ramp so it was slightly downhill. I was hyped to crooks down it as I haven’t really crook’d down much of anything. I struggled with front 50, but got a couple, one with front 180 out. Dave back 50’d it easy and crook’d it too. Crooking downhill is fun! I hope some day to do it at Lafayette park.

(setup 8.25 null venture 5.2 hi’s 52mm spitfire 99a F4 3 washers inside bones med bushings nb# pj stratford 533 burgundy)

Went out to the garage feeling sore and not motivated. Did some “manuals” to begin, then kickflips. Then a fakie flip or two before trying switch heels. I wasn’t really committing. Went for a nollie flip and the pain crouching was too much so I went inside.

(setup 8.25 null venture 5.2 hi’s 52mm spitfire 99a F4 3 washers inside bones med bushings nb# pj stratford 533 burgundy)

Water bottle froze up while skating little Arvada. Brr. ⛄️

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jan 10, 2016 at 4:26pm PST

Went out around 1pm to skate flat in front of the house while I wait for Jack and Carleigh to show up. It was colder then I thought. Ugh. I got through a few of the basics and felt alright. I got to 360 flip and hit a wall though. I could not land it to save my life. I was about 0-50 when Jack and Carleigh arrived. Argh. I had tried nollie big flips in between most treflip attempts and got close to a few.

Then we went to the very crowded Little Arvada park aka Triple Nipple. Jake was there, Nolan, Ladd and like 25 other people. That’s crazy for such a little park. I guess it was one of the few dry spots. A big thank you to whoever shoveled. I lose motivation when I skate around a crowd. Anyways, a few of us skated the little quarterpipe near the top as a warm up. Carleigh did back d and back blunt. Jake did back blunt, blunt to fakie band and front blunt. I got front feeble and back hurricane. Jack did bigspin pivot, pivot to rock ‘n roll, and several more unique looking tricks. Then it was kind of a free for all for awhile. The park cleared out a little so the main area wasn’t so bad. I saw some ripping going on. Ladd had a bunch of sick ollies over a boob. Nolan was trying to break in new tricks and doing longer basic grinds (for him). Carleigh was doing like 20 back d’s on the taller quarterpipe. Jack and Nolan messed around on Jack’s “hoverboard”. Jack can actually ollie up ledges on it. So crazy. Then it was back to the qp up top. I messed around with some tricks while Jack and Nolan tried dark stalls. So nuts. Jack would eventually get one. Nolan got really close. I took awhile to get a fakie hurricane and my first front tail in a long time. Then a few more people left and the park was basically just Jack, Carliegh and I and two other dudes. It was fun. Well, kind of. I finally landed a 360 flip, but struggled hard to get a front 50 on the ledge. I guess the snow/ice made it harder then normal so I shouldn’t be too upset. I managed a one clean front 50, a couple with tic tacs and a bunch of bails that bummed me out. Argh. Carleigh had done a front disaster over the hip was was pretty gnar. Jack did a late shove off the ledge on his hoverboard. It was nuts. It was getting pretty dark out so we took off. The lid on my water bottle had frozen shut. Brr.

(setup 8.25 null venture 5.2 hi’s 52mm spitfire 99a F4 3 washers inside bones med bushings nb# pj stratford 533 burgundy)

@fullertrron and I playing in the cold. Sorry for yet another slappy crook. Dave has them switch now! #slappyseason

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jan 9, 2016 at 6:00pm PST

Had a lovely case of food poisoning or something overnight. It’s not exactly food poisoning, it’s like a combination of spicy food and a couple drinks that seems to cause it. Anyway, it sucks. I was up most of the night shivering violently so I had slept in real late and taken a nap before I even considered going skating. So late in the afternoon Dave got me to this Valmont garage for what turned into a surprisingly awesome session. A lot went down. We both skated pretty well and we didn’t start documenting clips until near the end. On the yellow parking block I had slappy crooks and regular slappy. Dave had front blunt, slappy crooks, slappy feeble, back 5-0 and of course the switch slappy crooks above. Flatground went really well for me. I had kickflip, fakie flip, heelflip, treflip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, b/s flip, f/s flip, nollie treflip and kinda close to fakie hardflip. The kinked red curb was fun. Dave had an amazing long back 50 through the rough part. I did a bunch of slappy crooks because it was so fun. I got a few back 50s and close to a back 50 shove. Dave also had some noseslides through the kink and some front tails. I was trying front tails on the median red curb. Got a couple ok ones, baby steps towards the front tail shove. I had a few switch noseslides on the downhill part of the red curb, some with shove out. We ended by trying to do the long 50s (backside for him, frontside for me) on the kinked curb. It was fun. Dave had a few good ones, I had one long one. Really fun session.

(setup 8.25 null venture 5.2 hi’s 52mm spitfire 99a F4 3 washers inside bones med bushings nb# pj stratford 533 burgundy)

On another snowy cold winter evening I went into the garage for some flatground before dinner. In typical fashion I thought I would be out there for just a few minutes, but it was more like an hour. Tricks went alright. 3 flip and heelflip came faster then they have lately. Still no nollie or switch flips or switch heels. Tried nollie inward heels for awhile too and didn’t get close. I’ve been telling myself I need to do at least one rare trick a garage session and front heel was the one for this session. I love some flatground.

(setup 8.25 null venture 5.2 hi’s 52mm spitfire 99a F4 3 washers inside bones med bushings nb# pj stratford 533 burgundy)

@fullertrron and Aki were ripping snow skies today. 📶

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jan 7, 2016 at 12:35pm PST

Lunch break at “Blue Skies”, but it was overcast with snow forecasted. I arrived last. Aki, Dave and a kid named Austin were there. I wasn’t feeling very energetic and it showed. 4 people is a lot for that park, especially when everyone just wants to do their thing on lunch break. Aki can do good back 50s on the ledge now. Even to back tail. I did some kickflips after a few rolls around the park to try and get warmed up. I would actually feel physically fine after a bit, but was mentally struggling. I couldn’t even stall a front tail going super slow on the ledge. Never got a crooks up the escalator ledge. Came close to kickflip over the low part of the dragon bar. Aki had front 50 up the ledge. Dave did back 50 (I think?) and boardslide up it all good. Then it was time to get back to work.

After helping Ollie with homework I went out to the garage to skate some flatground. I had wanted to do a b/s flip all day. Somehow even though I had already skated I came out swinging with energy. I warmed up with ollies, 180s, shoves, etc then started flipping and went right into b/s flip and heelflip attempts which took forever! I would get several b/s flips, but none I was totally happy with. I was sweating and happy to be skating in the warm garage with some tunes playing. I did a lot more hucking (sw heel, nollie flip, nollie var flip, nollie treflip, switch flip), but only landed treflip and a sketchy varial heel (or two). It was fun though. I guess I did more tricks then that. Oh yeah, I got super close to fakie hardflip. I think if I had more room I would have done it. Flatground is so much fun.

(setup 8.25 null venture 5.2 hi’s 52mm spitfire 99a F4 3 washers inside bones med bushings nb# pj stratford 533 burgundy)

@iamnotacreepyjake @matthouse and I had Arvada to ourselves for awhile this morning. Fun!

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jan 6, 2016 at 12:02pm PST

On a nice day I picked up Jake and we rolled to Arvada where we met Matt. We had the whole place to ourselves for awhile. I was a bit sore from skating so much the night before. We warmed up in the flat bar area. Lines starting on the flat bar, do a trick on the little bank, then one on the blue bank, or something something. Matt had a bunch of tricks on the flat bar. Back lip, nollie back lip, back tail, front tail, etc. Jake had a line with noseslide on the flat bar, 5-0 to fakie the bank, fakie flip on the blue bank, blunt to fakie on the narrow noping. I tried a line of crooks on the flatbar (just the last second of it), 5-0 to fakie the bank, halfcab flip on the blue bank. Never quite got the hc flip until I went from a different angle. Jake was trying another long line starting with a pole jam and some ollies. Then we were at the pier 7 area for awhile. I took half an hour to back 50 it, Matt back nosegrinded it super good, Jake did fakie back tail. We all had some flippers. Everyong got treflip. Matt had nollie and swith flips. I got a rare (and bad) halfcab heel. Then Jake and Matt left. I skated a bit longer. Tried a line of front 50 or 5-0 the pier 7 ledge, manual the euro pad, 360 flip to fakie on the blue bank. Never got it. Got really close though. I skated the smaller bowl for awhile which was fun, but the pumping made my sore legs ever more sore. Had some fun back 50s, f/s rock and lip in the small section first try felt cool. I posed a bit more, then ended up leaving.

(setup 8.25 null venture 5.2 hi’s 52mm spitfire 99a F4 3 washers inside bones med bushings nb# pj stratford 533 burgundy)

On a cool night (low 30s) I went to the engineering building not feeling overly motivated. That ended up changing quickly though. I had a couple weak ollies and kickflips then starting trying the ol’ back 50 down the little 3 stair ledge. That was a fun warm up and let me to a line. Halfcab flip on flat, back 50, ollie the 3 stair, noseslide the bump to ledge. The noseslide was hard as I normally use a lot of angle on tricks and with the rail you can’t really use any. Then I wanted to do a similar line, but with f/s halfcab to start. I struggled with it, and when I finally started getting it the 3 stair ollie got me every time. Well, just the cracks. Them cracks kill. I was hucking all kinds of flip tricks in between tries. I didn’t land much, but it was fun. I tried to front 50 the shorter ledge by the rail, but the narrow approach got the best of me.

Then some cops posted up down the way a little so I hid myself at this bench. I would try a b/s trick (f/s isn’t really possible because of the pillar) and then turn around and try a flip trick. I tried to stack the ledge tricks. Boardslide, noseslide, noseslide to fakie, crooks, halfcab noseslide, switch front noseslide to fakie, switch front nose and lastly fakie nosegrind. I never got the fakie nosegrind, but I did get close. I also tried a few back 5-0’s that felt remotely doable. I didn’t land many flip tricks and I kind of blame the new shoes. They will break in though. Good shoes should take awhile to break in in my opinion. After awhile the hunger pains were just too much and I left.

(setup 8.25 null venture 5.2 hi’s 52mm spitfire 99a F4 3 washers inside bones med bushings nb# pj stratford 533 burgundy)