Grey skies feel good today

A photo posted by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Dec 12, 2014 at 10:01am PST

Headed out to campus for the first time since the students came back in the fall. That may be my longest bread from campus ever. I guess I’m getting old and get annoyed by college students. I felt a little odd, like arthritis kind of or something, but not in pain. I went to the ledge above first, but quickly realized I needed some other warm up. So I went one building away and did skated this slappy/regular ledge. It turned out to be a good warmup. I bashed into it a few times, got a slappy back 50, close to slappy crooks. Got front 50 and front 50 180 out. Didn’t quite get front 5-0. Did a line of “nollie” back 180, halfcab flip, back 50, backside flip, fakie varial flip. Sounds awesome right? But wow if you could just see how bad all of those tricks were. Either way it hyped me up. Then I went to the ledge above for awhile. Did a line of pop shove off a curb, manual a little manny pad, horrible back 50. Tried a bunch of nollie bigfilps and got close. Did a line of f/s 180 off the taller part of the ledge, switch front 180 on flat then front 50 the lower part of the ledge. Took awhile to get one on a taller part of the ledge. Some other dude showed up for awhile and skated the ledge straight on. He did a pop shove nose stall. Pretty cool. I did a crooks then moved on as I didn’t have much time and really wanted to skate the next spot.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever lined out this spot before. I think I have, but I couldn’t find a journal entry for it. Anyways the goal was to ollie up curb onto the sidewalk in the far left of the first photo, front 180 the little rock gap into the parking lot, halfcab flip on flat, then come around and ollie the 5 stair. I committed to the 5 stair almost every try which kind of hyped me up, but I would splat to the ground pretty fierce. I guess it’s been awhile since I’ve ollied some stairs. I thought it would be pretty easy though so I started thinking f/s halfcab flip instead. Got a few of those and still splatted down the stairs. Doh. It started approaching time for me to get home so I really had to land it and last try did it. Whew. I know it’s not a big set of stairs at all, but it felt like a cool line and I was skating really hard. On the way back I hit the fast hill above the 3 stair parking lot. Rather then just bomb it I did some power slides which felt so cool. Bombing is fun, but for me powerslides are so much more fun. I got to my car feeling sore and a bit shaky from skating so hard. Awesome.

Flatground Friday #scenesfromwhereifalldown

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Dec 12, 2014 at 10:08am PST

Flatground Friday! This time with some new shoes. Another pair of Stratfords from the stockpile. I feel like I’ve been blowing through shoes, but I’m still getting 3 weeks out of these which is about as good as it gets for me. I started a little slow, but ended up feeling pretty good. Got through a lot of the basics in first or second try (first try nollie varial flip!). Struggled a bit with 360 flips as always. Did the worst nollie tre ever. Slammed hard enough on a fakie treflip that someon walking their dog nearby asked if I was ok. Tried some new trick. Not close on switch flip or nollie f/s flip. Landed on fakie double flip and shot out. Super close to fakie hardflip. Almost some really good f/s halfcab heels. Some really good for me heelflips.

Okay so now that I was down to skate lows again I stopped by Meta to get a new set after work. The hanger’s I had were really worn down and apparently so old that the mold was different (pre-DLX) and they didn’t fit right in my newer baseplate. I traded in a set of trucks that Reed had given me. Then I went to old faithful – the research center. I had about 30 minutes to skate and just hit the ledge. Didn’t skate it too well, but I attribute that mostly to having already skated earlier in the day and being incredibly hungry. I got one good crooks, a sloppy back 50 or two, struggled for front 50s. I forgot how good the low trucks carve. They carve better then the highs. Flip tricks were whatever.

After a nap, dinner, some indoor basketball with Ollie I went to Valmont on a mild December night. As I pulled in Carleigh hit me up to skate. I was there for awhile first though. I had put my Venture Lows on again. Well, not change the whole truck, just the hanger. I’m dumb. Basically since I have the tighter bushings I thought I could get away with less wheel bite and it seems to be true. This might be partly due to having such tiny wheels. Anyways, so I started out hucking. Got into a few back 180 nosegrinds, but have no idea how to land one. Go ultra lucky with a first try back 50. Ollied a little box with some good scrape. Hucked some flatground. Landed on a switch flip and shot out. It was so bloody close. Both feet on, rolled a tiny bit then shot out. Argh! Carleigh showed up and rattled off a few flatground tricks and did several noseslide shoves. I can’t do that trick to save my. I got somewhat close, but not really. I added a short front noseslide, front 50, weak front tail and a couple 360 flips with hands touching.

Pretty sore from skating yesterday, but not wanting to spend a lunch break at the gym I went to Blue Skies again. It was obvious from the start that my legs were extra sore and lacking pop. So I mostly did stuff that doesn’t involve popping too much. I had thought of f/s halfcab noseslides on the way there so I tried them in a line. Boardslide to fakie the flat bar, fakie flip, fakie fs throw the board at the ledge. Never got close. Also tried boneless on the big bank then boardslide the main tall ledge. That is probably the first time I’ve boardslid that. It’s tall. Did halfcab boardslide on the flat bar. Not the best session and I should have probably rested instead, but no, nevermind, it was skating instead of work. It ruled.

60 degrees, a bit breezy at times, but 60 degrees! I skipped out to Blue Skies during my gym break. I started mostly started just doing tricks like ollie to fakie on the main bank and fakie ollies on little one next to it. Some slappy noseslides, boardslide the flatbar. Typical warming up. I didn’t get too into flip tricks. A few new things at today’s session. First I did a little line where I rolled off the highest ledge down a level then down the bank and did a crappy noseslide on the main long tall ledge. It was pretty hard to get setup that quick. Then I front 180’d a flat bar which was kind of scary. I was easy to ollie it super easy after that at least. I also did a really slow back 180 over the low part of the snake bar. Also an ollie to tail transfer on it. Baby learning steps here which make me super happy. I finished it with an ultra slow and scary front 50 on the taller part of the narrow ledge. FINALLY. I’ve wanted to 50 that for years now. The ultimate goal would be to front 50 the whole thing, but that’s going to be awhile, if ever. I was a little more tired then I thought I would be and I didn’t have a ton of energy, but man, I LOVE dorking aroud at this park instead of being at work.

It was nice out, the kids didn’t need help with homework and I had just watched the Plan B video so I felt like skating. In all honesty though the Plan B vid didn’t really hype me up because it was hard to watch without PJ in it. I went to the research center. Tried to start on the ledge, but it wasn’t going well so I went to the Colorado side and started messing around. Did the noseslide, boardslide, ride down the stairs combo. Then started thinking it would be fun to front 50 the inside of the curb I boardslide. I tried to line out a couple flippers down the hallway before it:

#scenesfromwhereifalldown

But I could not land anything. The narrowness of the hallway weirded me out. I was struggling so bad I rarely landed fakie bigspins. And when I did it was even less likely I would land the front shove after. I guess I was tired from skating so much or something. I would eventually give up on lining it out and just do one flip trick like heelflip. I got into front 5-0, but never committed to a fast front 50. The gap in was a little weirder then I thought. Partly because it’s longer, partly because you can’t take much angle in. Then I went down to the ledge which went a little better. Took awhile to get a crooks though, but did eventually get a great feeling one. Front 50s felt good again. I swear having tighter trucks gives you more pop. I guess maybe with loose trucks more energy is dispersed when trucks move around? I don’t know, but I’m kind of digging being able to get on ledges again. Did a front 50 front 180 out that felt great. Went at a front tail and felt like it was close to being a real one. Did a couple bad back 50s. And I mean really bad. Halfcab noseslide. I went home pretty sore and tired.

It's really cold. #scenesfromwhereifalldown

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:54am PST

So I’m supposed to be on this program where I land one new flip trick a month. I’m one month behind and since it’s the last day of November if I don’t land a new one I’ll have to land 3 new tricks in December. Yikes. It was really cold, like 23 degrees and I went to Southern Hills pretty early in the day. I started with a few basics that felt good (except for the treflip as that trick hates me now) then settled into a routine of 4 new tricks. Well mostly new. I would try nollie f/s flip, switch flip (I’ve landed this once in my life), fakie hardflip (I’ve landed this once in my life) and nollie heels. I landed on all of them except nollie heels. Seriously both feet on, but not enough foot on. The nollie f/s flip was so close. Man I would be hyped to land that one. Several switch flips were close. The fakie hardflip just didn’t get enough rotation. Argh. Nollie heels are super hard. I’ve never gotten close and I didn’t this day either, but I did seem to get it to flip more consistently. There were a couple that could have been makes if I would have hovered over my board rolling on the ground longer. Ha. Looks like I have to land 3 new flippers in December.

[wpvp_player src=https://www.nullozinejr.com/zine/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/VID_25201231_041134.mp4 width=640 height=360 splash=https://www.nullozinejr.com/zine/wp-content/plugins/wp-video-posts/images/default_image.jpg]

Then I went home, went on a cold walk with Liz and had more time in the afternoon to do something so what better to do then go skating? I went to Louisville park and to my surprise no one was there. Ha, it had dropped to 18 degrees. As you can see I’m very bundled up. I had a blast though. An absolute blast. I started by forcing myself to do a bunch of frontside ollies on various hips, rolled into the 4 foot section, carved around, had fun. I had a great feeling front 50 shove on the ledge, kickflip to fakie on the flat bank, back 50 around a corner, front d in the snake run, almost did nollie f/s flip, did a first try nollie treflip, a few heelflips. I tried to selfie film like Neil does to send him a clip of how we still do it here in the cold. That was first try and I never got closer. I started to get pretty tired and kickflips up the little ledge weren’t working so I went home.

Went to Safeway ledge to meet Rob then go to Darin’s ramp. It was warm, but breezy. I didn’t start off to good, but it worked out. Got a couple crooks on the fence ledge before putting my foot into the fence and coming close to getting hurt. Ouch. Had some alright basics, front 50 180, back 50s, halfcab noseslide. Rob arrived after me and was quickly doing back 50s and back 180 fakie 50s (that trick is so sick!). I somehow got a first try fakie nosegrind so I left that trick alone the rest of the day. Rob got a long one with a 180 out. Neither of us seemed to pull our best tricks. I eventually got a kick back 50. Flatground didn’t go so well because it was so windy.

@fullertrron entry for #lotf2014 @whiskeytee @crisis_skateboards #skatecolorado

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Nov 11, 2014 at 3:40pm PST

Then we went to Darin’s. I started off really good for me, but then fell apart. I had front lip on like my 3rd run, then started bailing back 50 after back 50 and almost left crying (slight exaggeration). Darin has about two million tricks and did them all. The rock to willy fakie is my favorite even though he also did long feebles to fakie. Rob powered through feebles then back smiths. Fullertron can learn tricks like the one above in a few tries. He had some rad boneless tricks. Brian killed it too. Almost got back lip to sugarcane. Wrex Cook joined and his first run had a 4 foot+ back smith in it. So yeah that pretty much sums up why he is pro. Dylan showed up near the end and did about 100 tricks in his first run. See below. He kills.

@dylanbuli doing what he does best just before the sun goes down on a perfect Sat. #thankyouskateboarding @dnutz37

A video posted by brianlstrickland (@brianlstrickland) on Nov 11, 2014 at 7:25pm PST

After driving down from my mom’s, some slacking and some eating I headed to Broomfield park. I was tired and disoriented. Something about all the change in altitude messes with me. When I first got to the park almost no one was there. I warmed up for awhile then had a fun little line of front 50 or slappy front tail then boardslide transfer on the brown ledge. That was probably the funnest thing I did. I was happy to never bail on the tiny down rail as I haven’t done one of those in awhile. Other then that not a whole lot to remember. It was fun, I was really tired though and skated longer then I wanted since I needed to pick up India at the mall.

Went to work thinking it was going to be super dead at work so I could get out and skate for awhile at Blue Skies. Of course it was way busier then I imagined. I still managed to skip out, but it was just for a short one. I self filmed a noseslide for Neil that I was gonna gram, but I just couldn’t do it. But I guess somehow I’m alright with posting screen shots of it here? Makes no sense eh? Anyways I managed two new things at the park. It had a lot of ice/puddles/snow so not everything was skateable. Started with a warm up run of ollie the flat bar, no comply 180, switch noseslide, then turn around and switch front noseslide. Both John Brandow’d. Then I found a new way way to skate the dumb big contraption. I rolled off the tallest ledge onto the lower ledge then off it to start some lines. Pretty fun way to start a line actually. Did that, then front 50 front 180 out, pump the bank then crooks. The other new thing was to front 5-0 down an escalator ledge. It was just the very end of it, but it’s a start. This park technically sucks so bad, but I can’t describe how much I love it compared to being at work.

There was supposed to be super high winds, but it was just breezy and kind of warm in the mid 40s. I setup a new board as I could not get the crap off of my grip from the night before. It turned into this weird slippery mess. Grip gum, shoes, scrubbing would not get it off. And since I’m totally over PJ I had to get rid of his pro trucks. Ha, ok, as if. I had grinded them to the axle and being the poser that I am I don’t like keeping trucks around when I get to the axle. I mean when you get to the axle you already won right?! So I setup some new black ones that Reed from DLX had sent me. I had to wait awhile before I could leave because Liz was picking up India so I had to watch Ollie. I skated Rampy for a bit. Not having all that much fun. Oh I had put my old Bones medium bushings in the new trucks. I don’t really know why. Partially because I’ve wanted my trucks a little tighter, partially because I didn’t want to take the PJ trucks apart. Anyways, Rampy kinda sucked. I almost died trying a couple front tailslides. Forced myself to do a frontside ollie then it was off to the Research center.

I started near the Max rail. Just doing that line I love of noseslide, boardslide pop out then roll down the long stairs. I was struggling a bit with the new setup. After awhile I moved back to the 4 stair side. I really wanted to get up the 2 stair part then down the 4, but I’m not good like Matt and Josh. So I settled for an ollie to back axle stall, turn onto the top, push and ollie it. Yippe. I tried a couple front 180s after, but they were just poses. Then I went over to the ledge. Had a few crooks, a sloppy back 50, a couple really great feeling front 50, really great feeling front 50 shove, a couple worry attempts at front tails and of course some noseslides that were supposed to be crooks. I lined out a couple things that felt good. Ollie up the curb, crooks, front 180 the manhole, halfcab flip. Had a few b/s flips. And trying to learn switch back 180s better. I would love to do that trick up curbs.

Then I skated flatground for awhile in the big parking lot out back. I had told myself to do 20 tricks and was at 15 when I got distracted by trying a long line. Manual a bit of the sidewalk in the background by the snow pile (the manual took me forever and I think I toe dragged a little (TILT!)), no comply 180, fakie flip, halfcab flip then ollie the tiny gap over the curb in the foreground. I only got to the ‘gap’ once and it was way smaller then I thought so luckily I did it first try. That pretty much drained me and I headed home after that. The manual seriously took me forever. Ugh.