Drove to Denver to sell boards at Emage and 303. I thought Denver would be drier. It was not. So after tons of Christmas shopping and selling boards I ended up back in Boulder. I was going to stop home and grab Ledgy, but I figured I might get stuck. So I drover around looking for dry. I found a decent patch of somehwat downhill asphalt out in the industrial park and went with it. It had a parking block where I warmed up with some different stalls. There was also a little loading dock to do a quick little half push before riding off. I mostly tried some downhill lines. First one was pop shove, kickflip, back 180. It took awhile. The kickflip was killing me. Ugh. Then I tried varial flip, no comply 180, fakie flip. The varial flip almost resulted in a focused board. That trick is the worst. I would eventually get the line, but it took a toll on me. Then was halfcab flip followed by b/s flip. That one took awhile too, but it felt good when I did it. Then I tried to start a line with 360 flip and never landed it. I left frustrated thinking I was going home. But I drove around looking for some more dry spots.

This spot is always dry and I ended up dorking around. It’s obviously really mellow, but when most spots are covered in snow, you gotta do what you gotta do. I started with some side rock variations then tried to do a rock kickflip to fakie. I got really close and then the one I landed was not really to fakie or regs, it just kind of came out and stopped sideways on the bank. Oh well. Rather then leave as the sun set, I stubbornly decided to do 10 flip tricks on the “bank”. I thought it was a bad omen when the first trick I tried, kickflip to fakie, took over 5 tries. Bs flip, fakie flip and halfcab flip all took longer then they should too. But then it started to become fun. F/s flip, fakie f/s flip, varial flip to fakie, fakie varial flip. I randomly decided to do a “bank” trick I’ve never done before. Sex change. And it felt rad! I decided to torture myself with trying 360 flip to fakie which ended up coming pretty quickly, but I put my hand down. I got a few more, but every time my hand touched. I blame the mellowness of the bank. I was sweating at this point too and it felt good.

(setup 8.38 null venture wides 52mm spitfire f4 99a bones medium bushings nb# pj stratford 533 brown/gum)

Hyped to find some dry. #day338

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 18, 2015 at 5:10pm PST

Left work early since I’ll be off for a week. It felt somewhat warm in the 40s and I was thinking I’d just be skating flatground somewhere. But low and behold there was a window of dry at the research ledge! The runway had some wet, the angles were different, it wasn’t easy. I did a couple noseslides and a boardslide before crooks. The crooks felt really rad. At this point I was hyped that I was able to skate outside and grind a little. Then I started trying back 50s. UGH! I tried to do them with less angle then normal. Well actually, I didn’t really have much choice since the snow effected that. Plus I had to get on a little later which was taller. I would end up getting a few really bad ones, but I mostly just got bummed. I did a few more crooks to ease off the pain. Tried a few flip tricks on the sandy sidewalk above the ledge. Even kickflips were hard. Couldn’t do a treflip. Ended by trying halfcab noseslide and couldn’t believe how hard it was for me. I got super bummed, but kept at it until I landed the worst one ever. It’s tough being so stubborn.

(setup 8.38 null venture wides bones medium bushings 52mm spitfire f4 99a nb# pj stratford 533 brown/gum)

Was feeling kind of sick after a tough night of food poisoning or something. Took a nap after work and then messed around in the garage for a bit. I had watched Felipe Gustavo’s part in 1947 and thought about a dream trick of mine, 360 flip noseslide. So I just went out and hucked it for about 15 minutes. I never got even remotely close, but it did feel remotely possible. I’ll keep hucking it in the garage. I also hucked more flip tricks I can’t do. I guess I feel dumb doing tricks I know how to do in my garage because everything is so slow. But I don’t feel so bad hucking in hopes of being able to do some of these tricks out in da streets.

(setup 8.38 null venture wides bones medium bushings 52mm spitfire f4 99a nb# pj stratford 533 brown/gum)

Same setup as last night. Hucked kickflip noseslides one way and rotated through just about every flipper going the other way. I didn’t land anything. Hucking is fun. I even hucked tricks like switch hardflip and switch varial heel which I have 0% chance of landing. Got closer to kickflip noseslides.

(setup 8.38 null venture wides bones medium bushings spitfire f4 99a 52mm nb# pj stratford 533 brown/gum)

On a cold and snowy night I did not want to try for a parking garage so I went into the garage. After some warm up manuals I started hucking. I managed to actually noseslide the ledge and do a tiny crooks on it. Then I hucked kickflip noseslides for a long time. Going the other way in the garage I would mostly huck switch heels or nollie heels mostly. I went a long time without landing anything. I got remotely close to switch heel and very close to kickflip nosestall. Kind of hyped to have a little area where I can try that trick at least.

(setup 8.38 null venture wides bones medium bushings 52mm spitfire f4 99a nb# pj stratford 533 brown/gum)

I probably should have skated outside int he cold as the forecast was calling for a lot of snow later in the night, but I lazily went into the garage instead. I did some manuals to begin. Then took a bit to do a few basic frontside stalls. Front 50, front smith and front tail. I tried to do a back 50 stall, but couldn’t get up the courage in the tight space. I did a few kickflips and was 1/20 on heelflips.

(setup 8.38 null venture wides bones medium bushings 52mm spitfire f4 99a nb# pj stratford 533 brown/gum)

Outdoor mostly-flatground session in the December sun #iskateagain #hurray

A photo posted by carleigh samson (@gnarlycarleigh) on Dec 13, 2015 at 5:01pm PST

Awesome flatground/yoga/ledge session. It was great seeing you @the_neviathan!

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 13, 2015 at 3:17pm PST

Nate and I went to the research center in search of dry and found it! We were there a bit before others showed up. Nate had some some good no comply 180s up the curb and flailed some noseslides. I had some noseslides. Then we kind of kept going up the hill further and trying lines and that’s when other people started showing up. Rob, Matt, Dave and Carleigh. Rad crew! It ended up mostly turning into a flatground session and no one was really getting down the hill so we were mostly all together at the top. Rob had long manuals and nose manuals. I also saw a long line with kickflips, shoves, 180s, no complys. Nate had a textbook nollie heel, followed by a nollie tre, a switch front heel, an amazingly long and awesome nose manual. We all tried b/s flips for awhile. Not very many were landed. Matt had his patented treflips flowing, had a couple bigflips, a switch treflip or two. Carleigh had kickflips, nollie shoves, 180s, came really close to b/s flip. Dave had some buttery manuals, regular and switch no complies, kickflips. I had one slow 360 flip, a few fakie big flips and other regular tricks of mine, but mostly struggled. We hit the shady ledge for awhile. Nate had good back 50s, couldn’t quite get back 5-0, and did a good noseslide. I had a few crooks that felt awesome and a couple bad back 50s. Matt had back 50s, tried back smith and back tail. I can’t seem to remember what the goofy footers did. Carleigh may have done noseslide shove. Rob halfcab boardslide pop out I think. Dave had a solid front 50 and may have gotten into front crooks. Then it was time to drop Nate off at the bus for his flight back to Portland. Doh. Fun skating with you dude!

@boredzinejp challenged me to a wallie and said it could be bad. So I wallied badly. Ha. Spots were slim pickings because of the ❄️❄️. That trick is hard for me. Next I challenge you to a firecracker Josh. 💥💥💥 #theglenandjosholdfartlongdistanceinstagramtricksuperchallenge

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 13, 2015 at 6:21pm PST

After dropping off Nate I went in search of a place to do wallies for the game. At first I tried on this kink of a wall off the bike patch near my house. Technically I got a couple, but they were so bad I didn’t put them in the clip. Then I went to campus in hopes of finding something to wallie. I ended up above. The spot was harder then it looks as there is no runway. I should have probably cleaned it up, but the slam hurt more then it should and it was getting cold. I was walking back to my car thinking I would wait to try a new trick until some other day. But then I saw the 5 stair and it was saying “Hey Glen, firecracker me!” So I tried. It took me awhile actually. I’ve never done more then 4 shorter stairs so this was a challenge for me. When I got it I was quite hyped. It was funny because there were a ton of students in the building behind me studying and I kind of felt bad. On top of that I had my phone propped up against a cup I found in the trash in the middle of a busy sidewalk. Luckily no one stepped on it. Fun day!

(setup 8.38 null venture wides bones med bushings spitfire 52mm 99a f4 nb# pj stratford brown/gum)

Had an extremely lazy day full of resting and chilling. It was wonderful. During the day I changed my setup in a couple ways. First I switched out baseplates to the regular baseplate. It doesn’t set the axles as far apart. I haven’t been super hyped on how my trucks were turning and seemed to recall them turning better when it’s set back a little. Who really knows. I also put some pretty much brand new spitfires that were in my garage. I’m not sure why i swapped them out awhile ago. So yeah. I spent more time switching my setup then I did skating. I basically just did tricks until I almost fell and then went inside. It was still very fun. Nose manual, nose manual both 180s out, front 180 nose manual 180 out, switch too, back 180 nose man 180 out. It’s all so fun.

(setup 8.38 null venture wides bones medium bushings 52mm spitfire f4 99a nb# pj stratford 533 brown/gum)

#fun

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 11, 2015 at 1:58pm PST

Nate and I met John, Blake, Rob, Dave and Matt at the Lafayette park on a cool, but nice Friday around noon. We were the only ones at the park. This park rules when there aren’t a bunch of people there. Everyone kind of did their own thing to warm up. It seemed like there were quite a few people in the toilet bowl. Matt was front boarding and back lipping the bump to flat bar though. He’s good. Dave seemed to be on a mission. He was doing back 50s across the whole manny pad ledge and slappy crooks on the shark fin, he would eventually 50 up the whole thing too. So gnar. I got a couple front 50s to manual, but I was kind of plagued with that slow feeling and not very confident again. There was a ton going on, so it’s so hard to remember what everyone did. Eventually a hubba/ledge session would transpire. It was rad. Nate had boardslide and feeble down the round rail. Matt front lipped it, but that was probably too easy for him. Dave worked up to it and then did a bunch of boardslides to fakie with a ton of style. Blake had some moves down it too and did front 50 shove off the enlarged Pier 7 replica. I would eventually get a little noseslide on that too. Rob boardslide the whole bump to ledge, Nate 50’d it, Matt back tail’d it. John, Nate and Matt did ollies over the round hump in the snake run. We played a game of SKATE that Blake would eventually win with a 360 shove it. I had done decent earlier in the game until acquiring a bunch of letters from Rob tricks that I should probably have learned by now. Cab, backside no comply 360, and a couple others, but I was hyped to actually land a backside 180 one foot. After the game most of us tried 360 shoves for awhile. I think most people would get it. Then it was kind of a free-for-all and at one point Nate did a 360 shove, then John did an impossible and I followed with 360 flip. Fun times. Then it was off to eat with Rob and Nate which was awesome. Well, except there wasn’t much for me to eat, but hanging with those guys was cool at least.

After that Nate and I stopped at Arapahoe Ridge for what we figured would be a 5 minute skate before realizing we were too sore to skate. But nope, Nate shredded. I didn’t do much of anything, but after seeing Nate nose manual down the long 3 stairs I was able to nose manual down one set. Then I filmed Nate for awhile get the double down nose manual as well as a banger going up. Manual to nose manual to nollie shove up. Sick! Stubborns!

(setup 8.38 null venture wides bones medium bushings 50mm v1 stfs nb# pj stratford 533 brown/gum)

Some highlights from today sandwiching some bad back 180s. @bkfilmphoto @the_neviathan

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 10, 2015 at 5:04pm PST

Feeling sore and tired from the Crisis premiere Nate and I went to Thornton park. Nate was super hyped as I suspected because this park rules. We pretty much had the park to ourselves and Bernie showed after about an hour of skating. Everyone skated decent it seemed. I was still in a bit of a funk, but skated better. The noseslide to manual to back 180 out hyped me up as did Nate’s line above. Nate did back 50s over the manny pad all easy, had some cool manuals/nose manuals across the slant. Bernie showed. We took awhile to do the kickflips/180s above. I made the physical challenge of 10 tricks on the ledge at the bottom of the bank above. I started off really sucking, but would eventually get to 10 or more. The back 50 was the scariest. My legs didn’t want to pop at all. Bernie and Nate did some bangers. Bernie had front smith 180, almost front smith kickflip out. Nate had back 5-0, back nosegrind, back smith. My “better” tricks were front 50 back 180 out, front 50 shove out. As much as I sucked it made me how rarely I skate a ledge like this. I need to do it more. We played a “no mercy” game of SKATE that I think Bernie would eventually beat Nate with a cab flip. I couldn’t back nosegrind the tiny ledge. Good session.

After some Chipotle we met Matt at Safeway ledge. I was beat. I got a couple 50s then just hucked front crooks for awhile before giving up and walking over to the auto parts store to get a new headlight. Matt and Nate ripped it up. Nate did a fakie back tail, front tails and some other tricks I’m forgetting. Matt did all of the basics going fast. Front 5-0 180, fakie nosegrind 180, front 5-0 shove, front tail front shove. So good.

(setup 8.38 null venture wides bones medium bushings 50mm v1 stfs nb# pj stratford 533 brown/gum)