@the_neviathan nollie lip pop #coloradicalsabbatical2017

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jun 10, 2017 at 10:44am PDT

First spot of the day – Joey Clams kf manny the top and then the roller coaster ride to the bottom #weekendatgrennys2tokyodrift #coloradicalsabbatical2017

A post shared by Eric J Eckert (@ericjeckert) on Jun 10, 2017 at 11:22am PDT

Up pretty early to skate! It was already very hot outside, but we got to Wilville sometime around 9am. I was on a wider setup so my shoes didn’t feel so big. It helped. There were two separate sessions going on. The manny pad and the ledge area. I went in between both. The ledge was popping. Nate, Joe, Damon, Josh were killing it. Nate nollie front lip pop out, boardslide pop, boardslide pop to fakie. Joe boardslide pop, halfcab boardslide pop out. Damon fakie nosegrind back tail, tried cab back tail. Josh front tail fakie, crooks, boardslide pop out. I got noseslide. Pretty sick huh? On the manny pad Matt got nollie varial heel manual to the bank, Dan was trying a fakie shove fakie manual, Eric pretended he wasn’t ollieing at all when he turned into manual. I tried switch 180 manuals for awhile. Didn’t get too close. Then Josh, Joe and I tried kickflip manuals for awhile. I started off feeling pretty good about it then started totally losing kickflips. What the heck. I started hating the bulky 868s. Josh got one perfect. It was so sick. At that point I gave up. Joe kept with it though and nailed one. Sick!

Day 3: I'm cramping as I write this! Rad-making in a ditch! Spots 1: Willville 2: 287 ditch 3: Crisis curb 4: Red Hawk 5: Brian Ball mini Ditch rippers: @corpoglenny, @neilsoffire @gnarlycarleigh, @_f_u_z_z, @nolancormier and @jackspanbauer #ColoRadicalSabbatical2017 #weekendatgrennys2tokyodrift #theditchtookoutmyshin #jpskatecrap

A post shared by Joshua Pluger (@boredzinejp) on Jun 10, 2017 at 10:11pm PDT

Then we went to 287 ditch. The crew grew larger and I grew more tired. Fuzz, Rob, Neil, Nolan, Carleigh, Jack joined us. It was hot and I was not feeling it. Josh bashed his shin and wasn’t feeling it either. We sat next to the human crap and watched others. Gross. Jack and Nolan did double noseblunts. Nolan almost got back noseblunt, then did nosegrind on the parking block and switch nosegrind too. Insane. Jack had some moves. Front tail shove, hurricanes, bigspin manuals. Rob front tailslide. Joe kickflip rock ‘n roll. Eric boardslides and surprisingly no staple guns that I can remember. Carleigh with bluntslides and tailslides. Neil was in the back doing his patented ollies on every wall and trying to get things working. Fuzz had some fast and steezy noseslides.

We gathered at Crisis. After awhile we broke in the newly repainted parking blocks. I did a bunch of slappy crooks as did Rob. Jack hurricanes. Boardslides by all.

Got a solid couple hours in before the cops gave us the boot

A post shared by Eric J Eckert (@ericjeckert) on Jun 10, 2017 at 5:18pm PDT

Then we went to Red Hawk where the crew got even bigger with Riley and Garrett joining. It quickly turned into the Riley demo. First try out of the car manual the stage then immediately to switch manual. He was going full speed into switch manual and fakie ollied into the rock. Unbelievable. There is no way I can remember what all everyone was doing. I was feeling off and kind of trying to hide, but it was hard with everyone there. I had one good crook and that was about it. Josh front 180’d up the stage and nose manual the rock. Neil had an incredible line with front lip then front nosegrind. It was great seeing Neil shred it. Jack and Riley did quick ledge tricks then ollied the 10. Remember a few days ago when Jack thought he broke his toe? There was so much ripping going on. Matt did quick up to nose manny the stage. Joe did front lip to front 5-0. It was quite incredible seeing so many great friends ripping so hard. Unfortunately we got the boot.

Party at Brian's ramp #coloradicalsabbatical2017 #weekendatgrennys2tokyodrift

A post shared by Eric J Eckert (@ericjeckert) on Jun 10, 2017 at 6:42pm PDT

@nolancormier taking cues from @brianfrancisball #coloradicalsabbatical2017

A post shared by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Jun 11, 2017 at 7:24am PDT

Fortunately Brian’s was right there and we went to his ramp to skate and bbq. A lot of shredding was had there too. I enjoyed it and had a couple okay runs for myself before retiring to food and mosquito bites. It was fun watching Nolan and Riley there. Brian is so good on the ramp too. 360 drop in?!?! I think everyone did their tricks. Neil almost got killed by a board shoot out, Dan did get killed by one. Fun ender for a fun day.

(setup 8.38″ null machine deck, venture 5.8 wides, venom 88a bushings, green spitfire F4 52mm classic 99a wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, nbnumeric 868 12 black/gum with old stock NB# insoles)

A post shared by carleigh samson (@gnarlycarleigh) on Jun 3, 2017 at 12:35pm PDT

Went out in front of my house to try and warm up and knew it was going to be a tough day for me. I had put smaller trucks and bigger wheels on. They felt fine. My legs didn’t. I got to kickflip. Then Carleigh showed up and we rolled to Fuzz’s, stretched then rolled to Golden with Rob. We hit some potential spots on the way. One full pipe had water in it, one had human crap in it. Then we rolled into Golden and looked at a spot, then ended up on campus. First spot was a plaza that I would normally love. Great flat ground and a bunch of ledges. But my legs weren’t working so flatground didn’t really work. Carleigh warmed up doing a bunch of tricks in a smooth area. I tried to do Fuzz or Rob’s lines. Everyone was weirded out by the crack in front of the ledge. Well, not kids that showed up later. Fuzz did two really sick boardslides to fakie 50. Unreal. I got my camera and we tried to film it, but he ended up hurting his back like an old person rather than landing it. Ha. Carleigh picked up the slack and got a boardslide to lipslide to grass flop. It was sick. We moved on. Ended up at a sick spot with a couple of benches, 4 stair, 2 stair, 6 stair. Carleigh reigned champ and ollied the 4 then 6. Rob did a sick line, but it doesn’t count since he wouldn’t let me film it. Or maybe it just deserves parenthesis. (front board, bean plant the 4). Then we hit a steep bank for awhile. Rob and Carleigh did wallrides. I just hiked the hill and did powerslides. It ruled. Nolan showed up and grinded the top of the darn steep bank. Then we went to Holidaily! It was a dream come true, have a couple “beers” with my friends.

(setup 8.25″ null spanbauer deck, venture 5.2 high v-hollows, venom 88a bushings, bones sft v3 52mm wheels, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, bronson raw bearings, nbnumeric quincy 254 12 gum/cream, fp gamechangers then remind cush insoles)

Fun times with young ones (aka 30 year olds). @the_neviathan @iamnotacreepyjake @matthouse @chadsterwick

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on May 29, 2017 at 3:57pm PDT

Jake and I rolled to 303 then went to Civic Park to meet up with Matt, Nate and Chad. Warming up didn’t go as well as I wanted. I felt pretty sore. I had setup a new board. A Jack 8.25. And it felt good. A setup I was finally happy with the whole day. Jake and I tried to get warmed up on the little ledges for awhile. He got tailslides. I did some switch noseslides. Kickflips and fakie flips happened. Chad then Matt then Nate showed. Nate was killing it out of the gate as usual. Matt missed his first 5 treflips. Unheard of! He would get some of course though. After awhile we went down to the new area which is super fun. I took forever to get a manual then crook grind which Jake did way before me. Nate slammed super hard trying to manual a narrow ledge. Chad did some fast manuals then had some ankle pain kick in and took off. Matt and Nate had quick bonks a ledge and Matt did back tails on the ledge. Matt had another sick line with ollie a ledge then front tail to fakie. I had a really slow line of switch nose jib then nollie front tail. It was fun though. It rained for a bit so we sat in the covered area. Then Nate jumped up after sitting for awhile and wanted to play a game of SKATE. My legs weren’t ready and I didn’t commit to a single flip trick so I was out first. Matt ended up taking it and we were skating the two little ledges again. I got a back 50 and some switch noseslides. It was fun. Nate was doing super fast front tailslides and nollie front 5-0s and nollie noseslides. Jake front tails. Matt was chilling and filming the gnar. Ha. Then we got the boot and checked out the nearby wallies which Nate did. Then called it a day.

(setup 8.25″ null spanbauer deck, venture 5.8 lights, venom 88a bushings, bones sft v1 50mm wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, old swiss bearings, lakai manchester 11 black/white, remind cush insoles)

Woke up feeling really bummed on how much skating hurt. I haven’t landed 10 flip tricks in one day in a really long time. So I was determined to do it. I started on the 8.3 setup which worked fine for kickflip, but then I went back to the 8.1 after I failed at fakie flips for awhile. It felt better. I went in the order in the video. The halfcab flip went ok. The heelflip took like 20 minutes. For awhile I thought it would be impossible for me to get to 10. I gave up on halfcab heel, trefilp, nollie treflip and nollie varial fip. The varial flip and no comply flip were cop outs. The varial flip even took a long time. Ugh. It was depressing how long most of these tricks took to land, but it felt good to try. Even physically I felt okay after. Wearing orthotics appears to be a must for me when I skate.

(setup 8.1 null rabethica deck, venture 5.2 high trucks, venom 91a bushings, 51mm spitfire classic f4 99a wheels, new balance numeric pj 533 black/white 12, remind cush chico orthotic insoles)

#deadspots

A post shared by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on May 17, 2017 at 8:23pm PDT

After a chill day at work, some yoga, a nap, exercise bike and jump rope I went to Redder Curbs to meet Rob and Dave. Dave was totally ripping upon arrival. Flying around doing slappys, noseslides, etc. I took awhile to get in the groove and, well, never really got in the groove. Rob though, he was doing super fast and long back 50s on the kinked curb that were so sick. We were all doing lines around the place. It’s so fun like that. No complies over the parking block, slappys on the busted yellow block, grinds on the red kinked curb (unless you are me who only got one weak and slow front 50 oh I guess I got a few slappy crooks), not much flatground though. Rob started doing wallies out of a little bump to wall. It was really sick. Dave was doing no comply body varials. I was posing kick back tails on a curb and got a wallie/nollie into the little bank Rob was wallieing out of. It felt cool. We skated for awhile like this so it was kind of hard to see what others were doing. I had fun doing 180s out of the little bump, but couldn’t back it up with a flip trick. Oh yeah, I was on a bigger setup out of my quiver. It felt pretty good. My knees though, not feeling so good. After awhile Dave and I tried no comply tricks over the parking block for awhile. Dave got a few switch no comply body varials. So crazy! I tried a bunch of no comply flips and only landed one. Got close to a bunch though. Then we all did slappys for awhile. Rob with the slappy while pushing and slappy crooks. I got a couple slappy front crooks that were over 40 makes. Dave did them switch though! Bonkers. Fun time with a fun crew. I wish my knees didn’t hurt while trying flip tricks so much though.

(setup 8.38 null machine deck, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 52mm Spitfire F4 classic 99a green wheels, bronson bearings, new balance numeric pj 533 black/white 12 with thin adidas busenitz insoles)

Fun in the sun yesterday with @fullertrron @color_my_friends_in @skateboard_chicken #frontsidesaul #anotherfullerdemo #notreallyakickflip

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Apr 7, 2017 at 5:26am PDT

Feeling pretty arthritic I met Dave at the Dog Park for a quick one before Saul’s. I was on my “5 iron” setup. Normally when I go back to lows I immediately feel like I shouldn’t, but this day everything about my board felt so incredibly right. I didn’t land much in the 15 minutes we skated, but I was actually trying and having fun. I had a few kickflips that I actually popped and felt good. Some terrible landings on fakie flip, halfcab flip, fakie bigfip. Hucked, but didn’t land 360 flip, nollie 360 flip, halfcab heel and a bunch more. Dave was skating fast. Kickflips, switch shoves, front shoves and ended with a fakie varial flip that I didn’t see. Doh.

Then we went to Saul’s. It was just Eric, Dave, Saul and I. Super rad small crew. Everyone seemed to skate well and have the fire to skate. Eric got the axle stall, heelflip, cali grind which was sick. He had a bunch of frontside grinds too, roll ins, back d and some funny slams. Saul was skating really fast and grinding through the bricks like it was nothing, frontside slashes, almost cali grind into the bowl, and a good slam trying a boardslide. I did way more grinds then I have there in awhile and somehow kind of landed a kickflip in less than 10 tries. It felt cool, I’d like to work on that one. The Fuller demo was in effect. Every run had something new. He had back boneless to tail just to spite our conversation, pogo, frontside grind the hip, manual the deck, long grinds, etc etc. But no kickflip! Ha ha. One of the funner days I’ve had in awhile. Smaller setups rule.

(setup 8.25 null logo board, venture 5.2 low awake trucks, 1/16″ risers, 3 washers inside each axle, venom 88a bushings, swiss bearings, 50mm spitfire classic formula 4 wheels, new balance numeric 344 white, superfeet + thin adidas insoles)

Happy Birthday @brianfrancisball ! Hope you can walk today! 😂👴🏼

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Feb 6, 2017 at 12:45pm PST

Not feeling all that great I headed to Lafayette for Brian’s birthday session. The park was the most crowded I have ever seen it ( I wasn’t there on opening day). There was an old man bowl session, a bunch of friends for Brian and then like 30 scooter kids. I blame Trump for the dumbing down of America and for kids riding scooters instead of skateboards. It’s annoying. I said whaddup to people then hit the toilet bowl with Collin and Brian. Oh yeah, I had put wider trucks on since I can no longer lie to myself that low trucks are a good idea for someone as tall as me. So starting off in the little bowl was kind of weird. But it was a good excuse for bailing back 50s. Brian and Collin were ripping. And some kid with pizza grip, hipster pants and checkered Vans was ripping too. Ha, skateboarding is awesome right now. Well, until someone turns on Offspring and we leave the area. It’s all a blur for awhile. I kind of just posed kickflips on the bank or manhole bank. After my bad luck trying kickflips to fakie yesterday with low trucks I was happy to get a second try kickflip to fakie that felt solid. Then we skated the rock for awhile. I did the lowest rockride possible and it was even lower than I had hoped. Ha. Brian had blunt and front feeble to fakie. Nolan ripped the flow bowl as did Donnie. Jack did a cool rock ride kickflip out. Then Brian started a fun little dropin while holding on session. I managed to only hold one once about half way down the 3 foot transition. Brian went for crail grab to crailslide. So sick. The slam looked so bad. After that the park pretty much cleared out as people were going to get tattoos or watch the game. I ended up staying and finally actually tried tricks. I was struggling. It was Mike, Donnie and I. We played a game of SKATE. I don’t know how, but both Mike and I beat Donnie. I think he was just being nice, but he was slamming on tricks so maybe it just wasn’t working for him. I would go on to win it with a frontside no comply 360. Then Donnie tried to ollie up the tall part of the pier 7 ledge. So gnar. He would get one. Mike had switch cali grind down the 3 stair which was nuts. I kind of noseslid the little hubba. Then I joined Donnie except I did it the easy way. Ha, it was tough for me though. I need to ollie more because I seem to be losing it. Fun day. Skating with friends is rad.

(setup 8.25 null logo board, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 50mm spitfire F4 99a classic wheels, bronson bearings, Lakai Manchesters black/white 11)

#goldenhour not #goldenshower

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jan 19, 2017 at 4:23pm PST

On a really nice afternoon I met Dave at the Dog Park right after work. It was mostly covered in water, but we found a section that was ok. I had pulled my 8.1 from the quiver and was excited to maybe actually land some flip tricks. It felt weird and the trucks were way to tight as I have switched to softer bushings since that setup. Anyways, it felt pretty good. After some warmups I got a 2nd try heelflip that wasn’t good, but felt great to land that quickly. Dave would get a heelflip shortly after that too that was super good. Dave had a good switch shove, flicked switch tres that look possible for him, multiple good creepy spins and nollie front 180s. I got a tic tac’y treflip pretty quick, couldn’t get another one, but landed on a bunch. It felt good to at least be committing most times. I’d really like to get that trick better. I didn’t really land anything else, but it was fun hucking. I miss being able to skate there more, flatground really is the foundation for the rest of skating for me.

(setup 8.125 abstract deck, venture 5.2 low custom hollow trucks with 3 washers inside each axle, 1/16″ riser, venom 90a bushings, 50mm spitfire f4 classic 99a wheels, swiss bearings, new balance numeric pj stratford 533 black/white shoes 12)

Feeling completely overwhelmed by the world and after hanging at Jason’s for several hours I skated flat in front of my house for awhile. I had put the wide trucks back on. Yeah yeah, so I’m crazy. I know it. But considering how badly I struggled with fakie flips yesterday it’s clear that 8″ trucks versus 8.5″ don’t make the difference. It went ok. I wore some new PJ 533s since they are stiffer hoping it would help my fasciitis pain. They did. I struggled with all tricks, didn’t have much drive, but kept at it. I landed a terrible nollie tre with both hands down. It still made me happy though. tried halfcab heel for awhile, didn’t get too close. Tried a bunch of 360 flips until I got a very slow one hand down land. I’ve been slacking on flatground and really want to get 3 flips back. I counted it and went to Saul’s. There was a crew of rippers there. I guess they are Satellite crew. They were all nice and ripping. Saul was ripping too. He goes faster and grinds further every time I see him. My bigger wheels and new bearings helped me skate faster, but surprisingly I bailed back 50 after back 50. It was kind of annoying. I did have fun though, got a few other things I’ve done there before.

(setup 8.25 null logo deck, venture 5.8 trucks, pink/purple spitfire 52mm 99a F4 conical wheels, venom 88a bushings, new balance numeric PJ 533 black/white shoes)

On a very windy night I decided a setup change was in order. I’ve been having a rough go with skateboarding lately and realized it all started around the time I changed to a big setup. I had read through several of my ‘favorite’ journal entries to try and come up with my favorite size. There were almost no entries for big boards (>8.25). The truck size didn’t seem to matter so much, but I definitely seemed happier with smaller wheels (<51mm). I wanted a Reynolds part and decided to go with high trucks at least. 8.25 board, 8" high trucks and the same wheels I had. I went to the Valmont garage. My board felt high off the ground on my first few pushes which doesn't make much sense considering I've been on high trucks. I forgot how much I dislike the low hanging sprinkler pipes, but I started trying tricks. Kickflips felt easier. I still felt out of it and not very motivated. I almost left. But ended up just dorking which is all I seem to do these days. I got into a few switch front crooks on the tiny curb that doesn't grind. Also some back 50s that reminded me how much I like how sharp 8" trucks turn compared to 8.5". If I rode parallel to the ledge it wouldn't be an issue, but I take a pretty weird sharp curve right before back 50s. I was hucking flip tricks without much intention of landing them. But it did feel good to huck them as I have been totally slacking on flatground lately. Switch crook took awhile. All in all, it was mostly another dreary day of skating. I felt a little better that I actually tried some flip tricks at least. I would not be surprised if I switch to low trucks and I think I really like the feeling of how close they are to the ground. They really do help with board feel. The major con is lots of wheelbite. So for now, I will try to stick with the 8" highs and see how long that lasts. (setup 8.25 null logo deck, venture v-hollow 5.2 high, 3 washers inside each axle, pink/purple spitfire 52mm 99a F4 conical wheels, venom 88a bushings no bottom washer, new balance numeric 598 black/white shoes)