I took 3 days off of skating! Unbelievable right? My cold had gotten worse and I wasn’t up for it. But I got the urge and was feeling better. I went in the garage not wanting to ollie much or try flippers. I just kind of started posing front shove nosegrinds on the plastic 2×10. I got into a bunch but they wouldn’t grind. It was still fun. Maybe someday I’ll try it moving on a real ledge. I had put Venture lows back on. It felt great. Like a return to the one truck I actually do really enjoy. Maybe I’ll just stay there for awhile and forget about the big board trend.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture awake 5.2 lows with forged baseplate, 92a doh doh bushings, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle, 51mm bones stf v1 pj wheels, adidas 3st.003 navy size 12 stock insoles)
(pain level 0/10 from not skating for 3 days .. hmm .. maybe i should do that more)

On a cool day I went to Rocky Mtn Elem to meet up with Dave and maybe others. Riley ended up staying at Longmont park, but Sean joined us. I got there first and wow warming up was not easy. I was on the smaller setup and stayed on it. Dave showed next and the temperature was getting warmer in the sun. I was feeling energetic and hucking a lot. It brought me back to 10 or so years ago when I skated there with an 8″ deck. But it ended up not really translating to me landing tricks. I had a front 50 and a crooks on the ledge, that was about it. I hucked a few of the kickflips over the little brick median which I haven’t done in like 12 years. As you can see I got close, but no cigar. I had a really bad slam on a rock before ollieing up a curb. It hurt so bad. I was 1/3 on halfcab flips so struggling there too. Dave was ripping doing lines, lots of tricks on the banks. Boneless, 270 manuals, nollie 270 onto it, pop shoves, boardslides on the rock. Sean was rips. His line took him awhile, but man it’s so sick. He also said he couldn’t slappy then did several perfectly and told us he’d never really do it before. We all skated the bank to slide thing for awhile. I was struggling with the ollie up. All I got was a couple boardslides down and some nose/tail jibs. Dave had the sick pivot, was trying front 50s, 180 up the curb to fakie tailslide, front boards down. Sean had the super casual ollie up, front board down, front board to fakie, back tail stall, back tail to manual for the ender! Then we played a game of SKATE. I like ending on a game of SKATE, but about half way through my legs shut down. I remember Sean doing a good fakie 3 shove. Dave got out first and had to leave. Sean ended me with a cab bigspin. Fun day. I didn’t land much, but man we skated hard and man I was so sore afterwards.

(setup old 8″ null, venture 5.2 v-hollow high trucks, 50mm bones stf, 3 speed washers on the inside of each axle to make it feel a little wider, bones medium bushings, lakai sheffield gray size 12, thinnish lakai rubbery insoles from bristols)
(pain level 6/10)

After a chill drive down from mountains I met up with Dave and Jake at the dog park. It was a cold day, not even 30 degrees. Dave was there before Jake and I. Dave was already doing front boards to fakie on the shorter ledge and front shoves. I was wearing the City Cups again and as comfy as they are the board feel is pretty bad. I didn’t feel comfy with kickflips. Jake and I got in a mode of trying flip trick then ollie the bench. It took Jake 3 tries to ollie it so that tells me it’s kind hard. I was really struggling with a flip trick so it took me longer to get there. I was rotating between heelflip, halfcab flip and maybe a couple others. I did finally get a sketchy ollie over it after a halfcab flip. I either kinda wallied it or manualled it, I’m not sure, but I made it over and it was cold out so I counted it. Oh yeah, I had setup an 8.25 since I had focused my 8.5 the last time I skated. Dave was trying front 50 body varial out. He was going fast when he did it. He had a front 180 out too that looked good. We changed the ledge to face the other way. Dave got the front 50 body varial. Jake was doing front 5-0, front tail, died on a fakie back tail. I got a treflip on flat, couldn’t do halfcab crooks. I’m not feeling these big wheels. Dave did the crazy board transfer then fakie sex change 2nd try. So sick! Jake left. Dave and I played a game of SKATE. It took awhile. I landed on Dave’s pop shove body varial, but didn’t ride out. I forget a lot of the other tricks right now, but it was SKAT-SKAT. I think I won, but I can’t even remember what the last trick was. I blame the cold as it had dropped as it was getting dark. Fun day though, I was super hyped on ollieing the bench and getting a treflip.

(setup null 8.25 lazer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel bottom one, yellow 92a small top one), no washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 99a radial 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels, adidas city cup b/w size 11, stock insoles)
(pain level 2/10)

On a cool night in the low 30s I hit campus for a bit. I started with slappy crooks on the meetup curb then moved over to this area I’ve skated a couple times. I had put a bigger board on again. I went for a line that took awhile. Ollie up the first step (oval area in the back middle of the photo), then ollie up the next step, come around front 50 the 2nd stair on the leftish stairs, ollie up a curb, then down a 3. It took a long time, but I did get the 3 stair ollie the first time I got there. I took a few tries to ollie the long two. Then I spent way too long trying a front tail on the ledge in the front left. See how dark it is? Yeah, it was hard to see.

(setup null 8.5 perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, doh dohs bushings (blue 88a barrel bottom one, yellow 92a small top one), no washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 99a radial 52mm blue/yellow swirl wheels, new balance numeric 345 black/white size 12, stock insoles)
(pain level 4/10 feet are begging for a cupsole)

After a long day with lots of chilling and family time I went into the garage around 9pm after putting an old 8.25″ deck on.  It felt good.  I did a few basics, took awhile to get a treflip, called it a night.  Oh yeah, I mixed up a few shoes to see if they helped and some old City Cups worked out after I tightened them up.

(setup null 8.25 spanbauer deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, bones  bushings (medium big bottom one, hard top one), no washers inside each axle, spitfire f4 radial blue/yellow swirl 52mm 99a wheels, adidas city cup size 11, stock insoles)
(pain level 3/10 ankle loosened up a bit)

After hanging with the family most of the day I went to go skating at the Valmont area. I just wanted to do a couple ledge tricks then try to hosercam film a cab flip on the mellow bank for stubborns. It started misting as I pulled in. I got a first try front tail stall, a couple halfcab noseslides and bailed front 50s. I was on a big board. 8.5 with Venture 5.8s. It felt lovely. I was craving a big board yesterday so I put together a complete from used stuff. The deck was in pretty good shape. But the mist quickly turned to rain so instead of going to the bank I went to redder curbs. They had put in some new parking blocks and freshly painted the curbs. I felt a little bad digging in, but not too bad. I mostly tried some lines. First one started wear the little bumps are. Front 180 in, switch back 180 out (all of them were terrible), front tail stall a curb, kickflip on flat, slappy crook. Then I mixed up a couple lines. Ollie the little median, curve around then back 50 the median, manual the corner of a curb, no comply the parking block. Never quite got it, the short manual weirded me out. Other line was switch front 180 the parking block then something, but the switch 180 proved to be hard and I never got past it. I got tired and played flatground for a bit. Got a first try halfcab flip, but didn’t commit to much and left feeling pretty tired.

(setup 8.5 null perception deck, 5.8 venture black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers inside each axle, old bones 51mm stf v1 wheels, new balance numeric 345 black/white size 12, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 3/10 them shoes don’t have much protection)

Had a half day to take at work. I wasn’t sure how my ankle would take it so I didn’t really make any arrangements and went to Sandstone. I arrived to a big family basically having a picnic in the skatepark. Doritos on the ground, coke spilling down the banks, toddlers sliding down the qp. At least they had a few skatebaords with them and kids would take turns riding them. My first push hurt pretty bad and I thought I’d have to quit, but I’m stubborn so I kept pushing around. It took awhile before I did much of anything. I did some nollie shoves and stuff on the mellow bank. Then the first somewhat real warm up line. Ollie over the b/s hip, ollie to fakie the flat bank, fakie shove on a bank. At this point I should mention I was on Thunder trucks again. 148s. I found out Venture will not be doing the 8.25″ anytime soon. Thunders are perfect on paper so I have some soft bushings in there and hope to just get used to them. The lowness felt good on the fakie shove. I slammed pretty hard on an ollie over the hip which kind of freaked me out about changing trucks. I cruised around the park more then after awhile stuck to the little ledge. I didn’t think I would be able to ollie into front 50, but my ankle had loosened up a lot and I was able to. I did mostly halfcab noseslides though and definitely did the best one I’ve ever done. I was up on it and slid for a couple feet. It felt great. Then I did it in a line of front 50, ollie to fakie the bank, halfcab noseslide. Then I did an even longer line. Crook the ledge up top, go into the bank and ollie the hip, kickturn the bank then noseslide the ledge, turn around front 50 the ledge, ollie to fakie on the bank then halfcab noseslide. For whatever reason the front 50 all of a sudden got super hard and it took me several tries, but when I did I got the whole line and it was fun. Last thing I tries was posing from front 270s over the hip in the back, but then it started pouring. Right as Dave got there. Doh!

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, thunder 148 lights, venom 88a bushings, 2 washers inside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric black 345 size 12, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 5/10 right ankle and general pain)

Got to Broomfield on a nice night. I had put 5.8 trucks on again, but kept my 8.25″ board. Well, it was kind of funny because I had setup a complete from old stuff and it turned out the deck I chose was totally cracked. Doh. So I swapped that out after a short warm up while Kevin went to work on the ledge. He had a goal of 33 tricks since he’s turning 33 in a couple days. I think he was at 20 when I got back into the park. Wowzers. My skateboard was feeling foreign under my feet. Partly the bigger trucks, partly because I had new shoes. NB+ 345. They seemed a little thin for me, but weren’t the cause of the frustrations I would have all night. Kevin and Mike were slaying the black ledge. Darin and Justin were on the quartapotty/manny pad tip. Garrett showed up and showed his smoothness quickly. I gave up on the big ledge and played on the little one. Darin and I were working on 3 trick lines. My first one was front 50, some trick, back 50. My back 50s were bad, but I liked the wider trucks for it. Darin’s line was good. Front tail, back tail the qp, back tail fakie the ledge. So sick. Garrett was trying to manual down the tall blue bank. That is some serious pop. My next line was front 5-0, axle stall to fakie, fakie nosegrind. It was bad. Darin was trying front 5-0 shove. I mixed in some front 50 variations, both 180s out, front shove out. We were all trying the ironman line and as is typically the case I was the last. I couldnt heelflip with the bigger board. At some point I kind of rolled my ankle and didn’t think it was bad, but as I write this two days later it’s pretty sore. Garrett, Kevin and I played a game of SKATE to end it. I got out first and did a double or nothing on fakie flip and bailed both. Ugh. Those two did a bunch of crazy tricks. Pretty blah night for me. Everyone else was ripping. I don’t think I’ll stick with the bigger setup.

(setup 8.25 null lazer deck, venture 5.8 black icon, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers outside each axle, 51mm v1 bones stf wheels, new balance numeric black 345 size 12, footprint flat 5mm insoles)
(pain level 3/10 general weirdness)

Shortly before sun down I went to the research ledge on a nice night. I had some new shoes. NB# 420 runner shoes. They are very stiff so I was kinda doubting I’d have much luck on the skateboard. Oh yeah, speaking of skateboard, I had a different setup. You can thanks Max Garson for getting on my case about changing and not sticking with a bigger setup. I like how 8.5s skate more than 8.3s so I put an old Rabethica deck together. My first noseslide felt sketchy as my foot shot right off the nose. Oh great, do these shoes not have any grip? But after that they felt grippy. I got a fun feeling noseslide to fakie when Saul biked by on his way home from yoga. We chatted for a bit, then it was back to me not landing much. This ledge gets rougher and higher each time I skate it. Ha, okay the higher part isn’t accurate, but I get older and it feels taller. I had an alright session. Got a few crooks, got a terrible back 50, a halfcab noseslide that felt good. The sprinklers had come on making the line potential hard with puddles. I hucked a few flippers, the shoes seem to have good flick. I got into a few front 50s, but never grinded and land one. Maybe by the time I’m 50 I’ll just ollie and throw the board at the ledge and count it.

(setup null rabethica 8.5 deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, venom 88a bushings, oj 52mm ez edge wheels, new balance numeric 420 black/white size 11, low profile footprint gamechanger insoles)

Slept in til 9. Sleeping in that late really throws me off. After a day of not landing much I needed a setup change! Ha ha, I debated Thunder 148s and Venture 5.2 lo/hi for quite some time before settling on 5.2 hi. I went over to the school to play around and see how it felt. I did a few really slow flippers. Nothing special, one hands down treflip. Kickflips and heelflips felt better, treflips felt worse. I got close to a nollie flip or two, the smaller board felt way better for that. Then I went home to eat and was totally gonna take a nap when Jack called and suggested the Mikes Camera manny pad. It didn’t take much to get me there. There was a bunch of cars parked in the lot, but at least one spot was open. When I arrived Jack was doing back 180 fakie manuals. He mostly tried that the whole time. I couldn’t do a basic manual and I took like 10 tries to nose manual it. Argh. Rob joined us. He got in some no comply manuals right away and nose manual right after that. Jack would end up doing some epic manuals. Back 180 fakie manual to forward to fakie to forward. Ha, I can’t really describe it in words, but it was hilarious. He also did fakie bigspin out which was so sick. He got some fakie tres up the curb and a bunch of flippers on the rough ground. Nollie heel, nollie flip, switch heel, switch varial flip, impossible, etc. I had a couple flippers, heelflip felt good, close to nollie flip. I got a nose manual shove that felt really good even if it took a long time. Rob did nose manual 180 to switch manual then topped himself with a 180 out as well. So sick.

Great seeing you on your board again @jackspanbauer !

A post shared by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Aug 5, 2018 at 6:51pm PDT

Then we went to nearby rainbow ledge. Rob did boardslide pop out right away, I took like 10 tries. Rob also played with with boardslides to feeble, but didn’t lock into the grind. I did noseslide to fakie and a tiny front 50 on the curb high part and tried to line out to 180 the gap, but I bailed the gap. It was bigger than I remembered. I filmed Jack try bigspin hurricane for awhile, but he didn’t get it. Big Mike showed up. Jack got back nosegrind shove out a few times just messing around going slow. So we filmed a faster one, slams included. Mike got a front noseslide and an elderly lady passing by said “You’ll get it”. Ha ha.

@cookiegrinder13 🔥

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 5, 2018 at 6:25pm PDT

Today, Glen found the optimal weight distribution for nollie flips.

A post shared by Jack Spanbauer (@jackspanbauer) on Aug 5, 2018 at 11:50pm PDT

Then we went to this wallride spot. I wasn’t into it at first and I don’t think Jack was either, but Mike was super into it and we found some wood and signs and made it more fun. Or at least I thought until I slammed on the sign twice and messed up my wrist pretty good. Jack did the backside wallride first try. Mike got it next. I was close and after the two slams in a row had a setback. But I got it and it was pretty fun. Jack came close to touching a grind on it. Then Mike and I went for frontside. It took me about 20 tries longer. Then I slammed super hard and broke a phone trying to film Mike (ha). Then Mike and Jack skated the longer wallride. Jack tried it without a landing and slammed so hard. It was brutal. Mike put some wood for a landing and did while holding onto the tree and then without holding onto the tree. It was rad.

(setup 8.25 null spanbauer deck, venture 5.2 v-hollow, 3 washers inside each axle, bones medium bushings, bones 51mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 212 sea foam/salmon size 11, custom orthotic insole)
(knee pain 3/10 )