On a cold and snowy day I bundled up (long johns and all) and went to this lovely garage. I cruised around pretty cold for awhile before feeling pretty good. Pretty quick I put one of those vent pipes out to ollie over. Had a line that I think was kickflip over a parking block, back 180 one pipe then fakie back tail the tiny curb. Tried my dream run for awhile of slappy crook, no comply 180, then fakie flip front tail. Never got too close to the ffft. Put two pipes out and was pretty hyped to ollie both. Then went with three. Self filmed it for Neil and felt really hyped to land it. It wasn’t easy for me and those pipes seem taller then they look in the photo. After that I went on a flatground rampage for an hour or so. Landed most of my basics. Didn’t struggle all too bad with treflips. Tried a ton of fakie double flips, but never got one. Came close to b/s halfcab heel which I haven’t landed in forever. Close to varial heel. Been feeling heelflip tricks lately.

The breeze died down a bit so I went across the parking lot to this garage. Cruised it for awhile before trying a line over and over of ollie the little median, front 50 the red curb, then ollie up to kickflip fakie on the somewhat banked thing on the left side of the photo. That took awhile. I also tried a ton of fakie double flips and came really close, but nope. Just a few more days to land a 12th new flip trick of the year. Landed a really bad fakie tre, but it’s been awhile.

Then I went to check out Red Curbs, but drove by this one on the way and hit it up. Took awhile to get my first manual, but nose manual came quick. Then tried nose manny shove and manny front shove. Didn’t get close. On the way back I would try a slow trick off the curb. Got pop shove, fakie bigspin, front shove, kickflip, varial flip, b/s flip and stalled out on 360 flip and went home very exhausted. Skating in 20 degree weather is hard to stay energized. But I was really hyped on how hard I skated and for how long in the cold.

Fun little #Rampy session with Ollie today

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 12, 2014 at 6:16pm PST

Ollie's angle of the toboggan is so much better. Turn up the sound!

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 12, 2014 at 2:43pm PST

Headed out to Rampy after some really fun sledding with the kids (see the hilarious clip Ollie filmed above). Ollie hasn’t skated Rampy or at all in awhile, but his first run had almost every one of his regular tricks. His runs are marathons with way more tail stall / rock fakies then me (which is saying a lot). It was a blast though. We skated for close to an hour. I landed a lot of my tricks and was hyped the front feeble came easy. Ollie learned the halfcab kickturn in about 5 tries.

After a busy morning of running Christmas errands and then lots of football at Fairview with Ollie I met Dave at this spot for a quick session. I should skate this spot more, it rules. We went through quite a few basics to start. Slappy nose, tail slides. Board slides. The weather was nice and warm. Dave did a sick boardslide to fakie. I mostly did switch noseslides (no pop) which were fun. Then battled a halfcab boardslide which ended up being really fun. Lined it out with a front 180 up the curb first (didn’t get a nollie tre after). Dave did a really good front lipslide. And Front 5-0, switch boardslide. I got a switch boardslide too, and kind of a switch front noseslide 270. Flatground went decent for me. I really like how Venture lows carve. This was a really fun session.

When I went to work a few hours ago it was cool out, but sunny and no breeze and it felt nice out. So when I skipped out of work to Blue Skies and was met with a very gusty cold wind I got bummed. I still went to the park, but man it was tough to find any motivation. I slammed on a couple ollies over the flat bar, did some super slow front 50s then mostly just skating the banks. I started with a few basics on the main bank. Did a switch ollie to fakie which felt kind of neat. I did some frontside ollies and ollies to fakie on the little qp. I was hyped on the ollies to fakie because I’ve never really done that trick. They weren’t popped at all, but then again nothing I do is. I would do the ollie to fakie then push switch to the main bank and do halfcab or try halfcab flip. That was it. Oh yeah, I started a new pair of Stratfords. Only 4 more pairs left.

After work I went to the Research Center. It was cold and windy still, but not quite as cold somehow. I went through a few warm up basics. Noseslide, switch noseslide (the slappy non ollie kind aka john brandow), etc. Then on to crooks which is really fun there. I only landed a couple though. For how often I skate that spot and try crooks there I should land way more then I do. At least I feel like I’m posting up better then I used to. Got a couple bad back 50s. Tried kick back 50, got kind of close. That ledge would be one of the taller ledge I’ve done that on. Tried to front 50 the tall part of the ledge and struggled so hard. Would fly off my board. In the end I got one and I will blame brand new shoes for the problem (it sounds legit right?). Flatground went ok. Tried a lot of nollie flips, fakie tres. Did a couple b/s flips. Kind of a whatever session, but at least I got out and did some grinding.

#scenesfromwhereifalldown

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 12, 2014 at 7:37pm PST

Feeling a bit better yet on an icy/cold night I went to Red Curbs. I started really slow. I mostly skated the non red curb that’s really waxed. Started with 50s both ways and slappy crooks on the red curb. I did some of the best slappy crooks I’ve done. They were really fun and I posted up good on them for once. Then I started trying fakie front 50s with b/s halfcab out. I got really close, but never quite got it. I was grinding far for me which felt cool, but my body kept wanting to go out f/s. At one point I my 3rd or 4th front heel on flat. Going slow, horrible style, whatever. I tried some front nosegrinds for awhile too, but couldn’t get it. Landed on a few treflips, but never rolled away from that evil trick. Started to feel like I was making my cold worse so I left.

In what looked like a nice morning I made plans for Jake and I to meet John at the long ledge on campus. I skated Rampy briefly to get warmed up. I felt really disoriented from my cold. Argh. Then right as Jake showed up the wind kicked up something fierce. I was really bummed on the wind and almost wanted to cancel skating. With my cold the wind would suck. But we still went for it. Initially at the ledge it was hard to skate due to leafs, branches and twigs flying by from the wind. But it ended up not being too bad all the time and we actually had some brief periods of calm. John may not know the difference between east and south, but when he found the ledge he immediately began ripping. At one point he did a marathon run ollieing the rounded 5 stair, a few flat ground basics, ollied off the ledge and ended with front 50. Him and Jake were ollieing up the ledge as high as they good. Jake managed to ollie up it at the highest point. So sick. John had some really good front 50s too. I was going through a weird streak. Some tricks were working great like varial flip off a curb first try, nose manuals, almost switch 180 manual, but tricks like ollies and front 50 were not going well.

John left and Jake and I went to the slappy ledge. I slammed super hard trying to do a ‘fast’ no comply 180 and messed up my wrist a little. It’s aight. I had a few not-much-grindage slappy back 50s. Jake did slappy bluntslides. Then we headed over to the bank to fence spot. On the way there I had a blast. Wallie up the red ledge, ollie off, quick ollie up the curb, ollie the kicker over curb. At the bank to fence we mostly skated the bank. I did most of my basic flippers within a try or two. I tried f/s halfcab flips for awhile and kind of landed one. Jake rattled off several tricks too and came super close to fakie treflip. Then we went to the newish fitness center. Jake killed it by manualling a tall edge then ollieing over a cone off the two stair. I took a long time to ollie a little rock, but man it was fun. Then we finished with a game of SKATE that took awhile for us to land anything. Jake said that one of us needed to land a 360 flip and after several fails I landed one that felt great. Jake got me on a heelflip. I forget the rest, but I won it on a b/s flip. Fun day. I felt like crap after from being out in the cold wind though. Doh.

Got to skate with @chadmang today! And he still rips!

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 12, 2014 at 12:35pm PST

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 12, 2014 at 8:08pm PST

I was still feeling pretty sick from a cold that kept me off the board for two whole days! I waited for Chadman to show up rather then be out skating already. We went to Valmont to start on the mellow warm up pads. We did a warm up game of SKATE that Chad one easily. We did a lot of basics to begin it though. Chad ollied the curb cut gap. I came close to 180 nose manual. Chad did a 180 nose manual body varial. It was tight!

Then we went to campus and started at the one stair ledge spot. Chad was hyped on it and nose manualled it and tried to do slappy front nose to fakie off it like I did. We hit the slappy ledge for a bit. Chad had some mean front 5-0s. I had some back 50s and maybe a crook. Then we went to the newer long ledge. Had some fun there doing a few basics. Chad was trying manual to kickflip out, but didn’t quite get it. Then Will and a few of the younger Boulder kids showed up. They all sat except for Will who was ripping. Chinese nollie flip, front, back tails on the tall part of the ledge, Ripping. Then Chad and I headed back to the car via a pretty fun downhill cruise.

Thanks jerks

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 12, 2014 at 1:50pm PST

Was actually kind of busy at work. Had to hustle at the park as it would be a short one. I started with what has become my normal first trick, an ollie to fakie on the main bank. This one went well. On the way to the park I felt like skating the bank and that’s mostly what I did for awhile. I was sore from skating so much so ollies over the flat bar didn’t work, but everything else seemed good. Kickflip fakie, fakie flip, b/s flip, boneless and a half cab on the bank. The halfcab was scary because of how narrow the bank is. After awhile someone else showed. I kept cruising around the park. Got a good b/s flip on flat. A few other basics like front 50 on the ledge and boardslide to fakie the flat bar. Then two more people showed. Geez. 4 people skating at that park is way crowded. So I mostly just tried fakie treflips on the bank. Got close. On the way back I would try 360 flips until I finally landed one. Got a crooks on the ledge and bounced back to work.

Blue Skies park after lunch on another cloudy and cool day in the low 30s. Since I know it’s going to be really cold at night I’m trying to skate during the day. I was feeling better then yesterday. I went through the warm up rounds somewhat quick and settled into some new stuff. Was trying a line of front 50 up half the escalator ledge (above), b/s flip on the bank, crooks the low ledge, then hippy jump a flat bar. The front 50s started off good and I was going faster then I normally do, but the b/s flip was being tough (it’s a narrow bank making it harder for me). Somehow I eventually managed all 4 and the hippy jump was the first one I’ve done there. It was scary as that trick terrifies me for some reason. I was hyped on that. I tried to ollie onto the main ledge when I didn’t get the line. I got close, but no cigar. For a bit I tried front 180 off the ledge then fakie treflip on flat. Got close. Then I settled in to trying front shoves off the ledge. It’s hard because there isn’t much setup time and even for me I’m going slower then I want to be. About 20 minutes later I finally landed it. Whew! Two new tricks at the park in one day.

Around 9pm after helping India study for her math final a little, dishes, etc I went out to Rampy. I was really sore, but I didn’t care. I didn’t skate for too long, but did a few things I’d like to remember. Did a couple hurricanes. Did some fakie pivots where I went in to fakie without first pivoting on my front truck. Also did one of those f/s bean plants to tail. That trick is fun.

On a sunny, but cool Monday in the low 40s I headed to Blue Skies after lunch. There were a few puddles throughout the park and some ice left over from the little snow shower, but things were mostly skateable. It became apparent quickly that I would not be skating well. I managed a few things I enjoyed. Fs ollies on the little qp, boardslides to fakie on a flat bar, fast for me front 50s on the low ledge, back 180 the low part of the snake rail, cab kickturn on one of the weird banks. Finally got the backside 180 off the main ledge. But man it was really bad. Tried to ollie the low part of an escalator ledge and failed miserably. Seriously, not even close. Bummed me out.