After dinner I threw a complete together from old stuff. Basically my Indy setup, but I put Venture 5.8s on there. Then Saul showed up and we rolled to Broomfield park where we arrived to a big crew of BMXers. Kevin was there too. Turns out there was a fire at a recycling center nearby and after awhile the smoke from it got pretty intense. It was pretty terrible and I can still taste it as I write this a day later. Kevin got on grinds right away. My board felt huge and made for some weird bails. Especially when we all skated the flow bowl. I haven’t carved around in it for awhile. It was fun. Kevin had some backside ollies over the channel, back disaster, back smith the deep. He was killing. Saul was too when he managed to stay in the bowl. Ha. He does the opposite of me and gets fully out on the deck on his tricks. He did the cool pump over a hip and a few solid grinds on the pool coping. He also almost did a crazy transfer while holding the coping and riding on the deck near the 3′ sections. I didn’t do much more than a couple axle stalls.

Then we went back to the “street” section. Saul beat up the curb with endless slappies. Frontside, backside, almost to back smith. He also did a front 50 on the black ledge. Kevin did some crazy easy looking switch front nosegrind 180s, nollie front nosegrind, switch front 5-0, fakie front nosegrinds, nollie tre on flat, almost back 5-0 front shove and totally died on a front blunt on the bump to bar. I did front 50 shove, the Joe Hamilton, intentional 5-0 and almost intentional 5-0 shove, crooks and one weak fakie nosegrind, but it felt cool. Flip tricks were way off. After skating Kevin gave me some normal Thunder baseplates. So look for yet another setup change. Neat.

(setup 8.38 null perception deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, 52mm oj ez edge wheels, bones medium bushings, vans kyle walker black/gold size 11.5, custom orthotic insoles)

The biggest #dork on #teamsweatstain. 📹 @slaherty

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 8, 2018 at 6:06pm PDT

I do still skate… but don’t actually land tricks 😂 📷: @corpoglenny

A post shared by carleigh samson (@gnarlycarleigh) on Jul 8, 2018 at 3:48pm PDT

On a very hot day I met up with Jack, Carleigh and Sean during the hottest part of the day. It was 95 degrees. We started off at the dry slappy ledge. I had a new board. A new 8″ board. And I hated it immediately. But I tried some lines to get warmed up. Nothing much, but wallie axle stalls were harder than normal. Carleigh did some kickflips. Sean did some noseslides on the tall ledge. Jack can’t skate so he cruised off spot lurking. He came back calling out the rock to fakie for Carleigh so we went over there. It was really hard to skate. I did ollie onto it which took awhile. Carleigh and Sean did that right away. Sean went on to do a sick front disaster up to front disaster thing. I did the dork trick along with posed some flatground. I hated my board being so small. That might turn into a garage board. Carleigh never got the rock fakie, but man she tried and she took a beating. The hang ups were so bad. Good effort though.

(setup 8″ null midnight rider deck, venture 5.2 awake lows, 1/16 riser, old 51mm bones stf v1, 3 washers inside each axle, white venture bushings, vans kyle walker black/gold size 11.5, custom orthotic insoles)

On a rainy night I drove around a little looking for new spots. Saw one great looking new ledge spot, but it’s right by a police station. Looked at red curbs, but it was all wet since the rain was so intense. Ended up in the Steelyards garage. I had my normal setup and an 8.25 with Venture lows on it. I started basically doing a side by side comparison. I would try a line on one setup then the same line on the next. I did this for about 30 minutes and I tried to be as unbiased as possible. Both setups felt better/worse at times. The surprising turning point was how much better I felt popping the board on the smaller setup. I had better kickflips on the bigger board, but heelflip tricks were way worse. Doing little grinds on the curb felt similar. Well, it felt about the same to get in, but I had more control with the lows once I got in. Manuals felt better with the bigger setup, but that might be because I was more used to it. After the 30 minutes I skated the 8.25. I posed ollies over the big cone in the photo. It felt remotely doable and hucking it was fun, but I never committed. I tried the ironman line and had a great feeling kickflip, great feeling heelfip, then sketchy hand down treflip. I counted it. Treflips really bring out how big those shoes feel. I’m not sure I can keep trying to skate them. Anyway, the ironman line came kinda quick so then I tried to do a fakie ironman. I had some great feeling fakie flips, one insanely slow fakie heelflip and didn’t land the fakie tre. I hucked other flip tricks, but didn’t land much else. So yeah, here we go, I’ll probably skate the small board for awhile again, get flip tricks back, then want to change to a bigger setup, enjoy it for a bit, then want the small setup to get flip tricks back again, blah blah.

(setups: 8.38 null perception deck, indy 149 ray barbee trucks, oj 52mm ez edge insane-a-thane wheels, bones medium bushings, es accel slim navy/white asta size 12, footprint gamechanger low profile insole
8.25 null monico deck, venture 5.2 awake lows, 1/16 riser, old 51mm bones stf v1, 3 washers inside each axle, white venture bushings, same shoes as above)

Joe, Chad, Ollie and I met Kevin after a nice drive at the Evergreen park. It was looking like rain, but it had held off for now. As if being sore from several days of skating wasn’t enough of an excuse I added a new complete to the mix. Indys again. Yup. The reasoning. First, the Ray Barbee graphic seriously spoke to me. Second, I’ve been enjoying the bigger boards lately, but wanted to try Indys because of the smaller wheelbase than Ventures. This comes the day after I called Indy’s useless. Ha ha I suck. It felt stiff and made for some awkwardness throughout the day, but it wasn’t too bad and I liked it. As soon as we got to the park Chad threw some lofty cabs that looked so darn good. Kevin had beaten us there, but was still battling the warm up kickflip which he got. He might have even gone on to do it switch. We skated for quite awhile with just one other dude. My highlight was a kickflip onto the hip from the red kicker, front disaster on the qp, kickflip over the hip. Also a b/s flip that took way too many tries. Ollie was having fun and staying in the mix. Fakie shoves, regular shoves, f/s halfcab the hard way over the hip. Kevin killed the little ledge too. Switch nosegrind front 180, kick back tail. Him, Joe and Chad were getting at the taller ledges off the stair. Joe with the front 50 to front board, Kevin crooks, Chad feeble. Some other dudes showed up right before Fuzz, Rob, Neil. They weren’t shrimpin’ like the rest of us. Fuzz did a few ollies then fully committed to shrimpin. Rob went for it though. Starting with the bean plants, kickflips, manuals on the curb, boardslides, back smith the curb. Neils of Fire had them one foots, nose manuals, front 50s, lots of tricks going. Joe and I battled halfcab flips and both got them eventually. I saw Joe do back 50 front 180 out on the sharp ledge. I had some crooks on it, switch front noses.

I wrote the section above a few days ago and didn’t finish. Now I have no recollection of how it ended. I know I was sitting for awhile. I guess most of us where and Bobby was going for the fence ollie. Joe was still going. Front 50 to manual. Chad was trying bigspin tailgrabs over the hip. Chad had also nosegrinded up the ledge. Kevin nosegrinded down it at some point. I know I am missing a whole lot. It was a fun session. I was still feeling pretty sick and after the drive home went to sleep for a couple hours. It was tough being sick and skate guide at the same time.

(setup 8.38 null perception deck, indy 149 ray barbee trucks, oj 52mm ez edge insane-a-thane wheels, venom 94a bushings, es accel slim all black size 11.5, footprint gamechanger low profile insole)

Put on my bigger deck again and headed over to the school with some new shoes too. Es Accel Slim. Messed around with some back 50s and front 50s. Tried some slow front 50 kickflip out. Ollie was trying the hurricane really quick and I wanted to film it. He got close for awhile then the slam and that was basically it for him. I was trying flippers in between his attempts. Then Ollie left so I went to the street and skated flat for a bit. It didn’t go well. I struggled with halfcab flips which really made me mad. It didn’t help that huge gusts of wind would ruin things for awhile. Then it would be calm and I would try random stuff. I basically didn’t land anything noteworthy and it made me doubt my shoes and larger board.

(setup 8.38 null atomic cowboy deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, 51mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, bones medium bushings, es accel slim all black size 11.5, footprints gamechanger lite insoles)

Fun times last night. @slaherty @siouxer666 @garrettswheelers @43shifty @themindfulskater @lastfallensoul

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on May 16, 2018 at 9:26am PDT

After some terrible traffic I arrived at Broomfield park and quite a few people were already there. Rob was holding it down for the Stubborns. Donnie, Garrett, Riley, Sean, some dude named Stefan that was friends with Riley I thought. There was a bunch of people there. Scooter kids, bikers, other skaters. It was hard to get in it. Donnie had turned up Motorhead rather loud on his speaker which was funny because everyone at the batting cages had to listen to it. It’s hard to say who was doing what for awhile because there was so much going on it was hard to see beyond what you were doing. I kept it kind of mellow knowing it would be less crazy in an hour or so. Spent a little time filming (the sunny clips). Rob’s back lips were so sick. Garrett’s nosegrind shove was a thing of beauty. Donnie was all over the place and obnoxious about it. I haven’t seen Riley in awhile so that was a treat. And Sean wow. Back lip front shove so good. I was kind of all over not really focusing on anything. Got a fakie nose jib, couldn’t back 50, then went for the ol’ Texas Plant which I finally did when the camera was on. Oh yeah, at one point the session was mellow and Rob did like a 20 trick line. It started with back 50 back 180 on the blue ledge, fakie nosegrind the escalator ledge. Then something on the black ledge, b/s flip on flat, front tail on the blue ledge, front shove and more tricks I”m not remembering. I was pretty tired and played a game of SKATE with Garrett and Stefan which was pretty fun. Got a heelflip, landed on 360 shove, got a letter on nollie tre, and lost on b/s flip. Garrett’s b/s flip was so perfect. Then I just filmed Donnie work himself to get the f/s flip. Fun session.

Okay, so a little setup OCD that was going on. I wanted a bigger board with a bigger wheelbase all night. I had also been obsessed over the fact that Indy’s have a smaller wheelbase and thought it might help with a large board. At one point I rode Garrett’s board and quickly confirmed how little I wanted to ride Indys. Granted he’s got the young kid hipster loose trucks, but man they felt beyond terrible to me. Ventures for life I guess. Or at least until I try something else next week.

(setup 8.25 null monico deck, venture 5.8 black icon trucks, 51mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, bones medium bushings, es swift 1.5 grey size 11.5, footprints gamechanger lite insoles)

I don’t know why driving down from Buena Vista wears me out so much, but it does. Rain was threatening and I was tired, but I went to research with no real intentions. I had assembled my smaller setup with Thunders again because I was sick of the extra effort the longer wheelbase takes to flip. I started out with a few hill rides not really doing tricks then started to noseslide the ledge. I ended up ATV’ing it more than normal there and was trying the manny pads around the area. It was awhile before I tried flip tricks, but they came quicker than they have lately when I did. I got a first try tic tac back 50 and decided I wouldn’t try again. Even though I did and couldn’t do it. The slightly narrower trucks felt weird on crooks, but I got a couple. Got into a bunch of front 50s, halfcab noseslides, tried fakie front 50. Had a nice feeling backside flip and a second try halfcab heel that convinced me on the smaller setup. I was hucking back 360 kickflips too. Not even close, but they seem doable. After awhile I set the phone up to film. I was already pretty tired at this point, but having a video to go along with the journal is kind of nice. Oh yeah, I had a bearing blow out so that was a little annoying to deal with as the back heel wheel (lock into front 50 with) would move around. I was happy when it fell off. I could have put the nut back on and tightened it, but I went home instead.

(setup 8.25 null monico deck, thunder 148s with super old forged baseplate, 50mm bones stf v1, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, 91a venom bushings, es swift 1.5 grey size 11.5, footprints gamechanger lite insoles)

Went across the street on a cold night after a windy day. I started out on the curbs. Oh yeah, I was on my 8.5″ setup just because my loyalty to Venture was bugging and I really don’t like how the Thunders turn. The curb was alright, I wasn’t as into it as I had been. Still got a back 50 back 180 out and some slappy crooks though. Then went to the ledge I’ve never really hit before because it’s right by the entrance to the school and there are normally still teachers leaving. I had some bad attempts at crooks, some fun noseslides, switch noseslides and took forever to get the front 50. It’s hard to see from this angle, but the ledge is rounded so you have to come out right away. I felt a little bad about marking up the ledge, but it’s kind of perfect. Then I went behind the school. I ended up trying a very long line. Front axle stall on a taller rock than I would normally do it on, noseslide to fakie a picnic table bench, halfcab flip on flat, manual the longer rock, ollie onto the narrower one. I didn’t think I would get any axle stalls on the rock since it was taller, but I started to really enjoy the pop of the bigger setup and got quite a few. Now if I could have just done the stupid noseslide to fakie I could have gotten the line. I only got to the halfcab flip a couple times and struggled with it. It ended getting too dark to do the rock stall so I gave up on the line and went home. I was tired from being called into work at 4am. Hyped I skated as hard as I did.

(setup 8.5″ null rabethica deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, venom 88a bushings, old 52mm bones stf v5 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, new balance numeric 212 size 11 with footprints gamechanger orthotic insoles)

@ollie.gillingham first front 50. ❤️

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Apr 7, 2018 at 2:11pm PDT

Woke up to cold temps and snow and lost motivation to skate. In the middle of the day I started watching the Nuggets game and decided to throw together a complete with the Thunder 148s I skated twice. During halftime Ollie and I went across the street and hit the curbs for a bit. My setup felt great. The muscle memory from years of 8″ setups with Thunder’s kicked in and I was doing back 50s like I haven’t in years. Had some fun intentional front 5-0s, manuals, 180s then saw Ollie try to copy a front 50 of mine. A few tries later he did one. So rad. That was the trick that sold me on skateboarding some 30 years ago. So then I had to film one and it took a few more tries, but he got it. I had some fun slappy crooks too, then we went in.

The rest of the basketball game was me changing my setup so that my better deck had the Thunders and I went to the research ledge after. I’m not sure why I was so tired. Oh yeah, while riding my stationary bike as a warm up I was wearing the Lakais and they hurt so bad. The pointed show was killing my toes, so I busted out some NB# 212s I had on deck. Man that shoe has a wide toebox and I love them. So I had new trucks basically and new shoes. It showed initially with some bad noseslide attempts, but I got some. Then I kept missing on crooks because the trucks are set back a little. But once I got used to it crooks felt great. I got several sketchy back 50s, a front 50. Tried a line of 180 up the curb, fakie flip, halfcab noseslide which I didn’t quite get. Flip tricks were kinda weird, but mostly because I had no juice. I also noticed that my deck was warped. Huh. I went home within an hour. Was hyped on the trucks though. I might put in a harder bushing or something, but I think I’ll stick with them for awhile (unlike the two days I gave them before). I mean it makes sense I would like them since they are lower trucks.

(setup 8.25 null atomic cowboy deck, thunder 148s with old forged baseplate, venom 88a bushings, 50mm bones stf v1, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsole orthotic and footprints 5mm insole)

Yeah so here I am in one of those setup OCD cycles. One thing I’ve come to learn is proportions are very important. The board should be as wide or wider than the trucks. Skating the 8.25 in Seattle with 8.5″ trucks doesn’t work well, it does’t flip as fast and it just feels weird. So after work I grabbed a barely used 8.5 from a previous setup spat and put the 8.5″ Ventures on it. After dinner I went out front of the house thinking if flatground goes terrible then I’m over it and I’ll go back to the 8.25 with small trucks. Only it didn’t go bad, it actually went very good. My halfcab flips felt better than they have in awhile, I did like 8/10 heelflips, one in a line with a bad treflip. But the fact that I landed a treflip at all made me happy. I had hucked a bunch of flippers. All of them felt fine. Then I wen across the street to the curb area and had a grand ol’ time. I landed a switch front 50! It felt cool. Which led to me doing a fakie front 50 without turning out. It felt cool. And I almost got one with a switch 180 out. Couldn’t do front tails, but most everything else was going well. Kickflip up the curb, fakie ollies up, kickflip off, b/s shove off, back 50 front 180, front 50 back 180, intentional front 5-0s. Even got a sketchy bs flip up the curb. After awhile I was sitting and posting the vert clip on the gram and Ollie came out of nowhere and scared me so good. Ha. Then he skated for about 20 minutes. He had a few clean ollies up the curb, a back 180 up the curb! Manuals into 5-0s, kind of a front hurricane trying to back 180 up, then he actually tried a hurricane and got one. He also did his first ever nollie shove. Fun night.

(setup 8.5″ null rabethica deck, venture black icon 5.8″ trucks, venom 88a bushings, old 52mm bones stf v5 wheels, 3 washers outside each axle, lakai ellis black/white size 11.5, spenco 3/4 orthotic thinsole and thin adidas insole)