After a very long drive back from TN I was dead an unmotivated. And then it rained. So I just stood on some carpet and hucked switch/nollie flips on my rug. Got close a few times. Switched around shoes between some 420s and 212. Not much of a skate day, but if I had landed one I would have been super hyped. Oh yeah, I had put an old deck on too because the board sitting in the trunk of my car throughout Tennessee got super warped. Doh.

Warmed up with some bs 180s into the bank. Was feeling pretty sick and run down. Did slappy switch noseslide down the last part and eventually back 180 nosegrind. Well, not of much grind really. Maybe if I had wax. Then I pulled out a plastic crate and thought about the trick dave challenged me to: back 5-0 back 180 out. I wasn’t close at all then decided who cares and setup the phone then two tries later I magically got the worst one ever. I was so hyped (until later on when reviewing the clip and sending it to Dave and realizing it didn’t count). I had hucked flippers, but didn’t get much. Then I piled up the crates to make a nice looking ledge, but got the boot before getting much on it. So then I made myself do 10 flip tricks. They went something like: fakie flip, fs halfcab flip, heelflip, fs halfcab heelflip, halfcab annoyingly took forever, bs flip, fakie varial flip first try, terrible 360 flip, gave up on nollie tre so did kickflip then varial flip.

(setup 8.25 null perception deck, venture 5.8 lights black icon trucks, bones medium bushings, bones 51mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 212 sea foam/salmon size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsole and stock NB insole)

New shoes which take awhile to get the flick. But I got an early treflip which relaxed me some. Heelflip took awhile. My board felt small. Got backside flip, halfcab flip, fakie varial flip, fakie flip, a couple treflips and an easy feeling halfcab flip. Didn’t get nollie flip, Nollie varial flip or nollie tre. No fs halfcab flip either. All things considered it was still fun.

(setup 8.25 null perception deck, venture 5.8 lights black icon trucks, bones medium bushings, bones 51mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 212 sea foam/salmon size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsole and stock NB insole)

Little bank to curb was fun. Did these tricks in a few tries then moved on.

On the manual pad I never got a clean manual. Tried for awhile. It was really rough on top. Tried a lot of treflips and nollie flips but never got either. Ended with a line of kickflip up, back 180 off the hard way then a halfcab flip on flat. Then as I came back I got a treflip.

(setup 8.25 null perception deck, venture 5.8 lights black icon trucks, bones medium bushings, bones 51mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 212 black/white size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsole and stock NB insole)

A very cryptic entry from some notes I jotted down a couple days after the session.

Thick insoles felt weird. Some fun hills to start. Didn’t find anything for awhile. No forensics on some good looking ledges. 3 stair ollies took awhile. Front 50 was scary on bench but hyped on it. Got crooks and boardslides. Almost died on the noseslide on the long 4 stair ledge. Never really landed past the stairs. Landed on the last stair. The 4 stair ollie took too long and I didn’t really pop.

(setup 8.25 null perception deck, venture 5.8 lights black icon trucks, bones medium bushings, bones 51mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 212 black/white size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsole and stock NB insole)

After packing for a fun filled family road trip and setting up a new board after yesterdays board focus I intended to drive to Douglas. But then I saw Wilville and went with it. I had a new 8.25 deck and new wheels. Also forged baseplates instead of regular. I had done some research throughout the day in my journal and I’ve had come good days on this setup. But as expected starting out was not easy. I dropped into the middle bank a couple times then worked my way towards the ledge. A few BMXers showed up too which was kind of annoying watching the ledge get destroyed. Although maybe their pegs were plastic. Either way they weren’t overly nice so I’m glad they left quickly. I slammed on some noseslide and boardslide attempts. You know, really tech tricks. But things would come together at times. I did a line of halfcab flip, crook jib on the ledge then ride down the narrow bank. It was scary because my heel scraped the wall. Had a few boardslide pop outs on the narrow side, switch noseslides. Tried noseslide shove for awhile and got a sketchy one. Then I tried front 50s forever. They were so scary for me. Not only was the ledge tall, but it was dark and there are cracks everywhere. I would try a slow 360 flip on the way back. Normally I would bail it, but I landed on a few sketchy ones. At first I tried to front 50 the first part which meant ollieing from the bricks which was wavy and weird. Then I started coming in with a big angle and 50 the second part. It only took like 50 tries, but I started getting into it. I landed a really slow and bad one, but it made me happy. That is a tall ledge I’ve never 50’d before.

(setup 8.25 null perception deck, venture 5.8 lights black icon trucks, bones medium bushings, bones 51mm v1 stf, new balance numeric 212 black/white size 11, custom orthotic insoles)

Had about 30 minutes to skate. As I left work it seemed pretty nice out, maybe some rain in the distance. I went to the dog park. I was getting through some warm ups. Had done a line of kickflip, no comply 180, fakie flip when some rain drops started. Then it fully dumped. I focused my board and left.

(setup 8.38 null perception deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, 52mm oj ez edge wheels, venom 91a bushings, NB# 212 black/white size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsole orthoric and 5mm Footprint insole)

After work and some Chipotle I made it to the Loveland skatepark to meet Riley and Hayden. I was getting shirts from MRKT and luckily Hayden was kind enough to grab them for me and save me some driving. Although as we later found out it wasn’t really worth it. As I pushed into the park I saw Riley slam on a switch nose manual fakie flip out. It looked painful, but was still funny. Hayden showed up right after that. The motivation was low as this park kinda blows. Those dudes warmed up in the street area. I went over to that little spine and did a few little transfers. The air over it is fun even if it took me a few tries. Then in the ‘street’ area things started getting more crowded and crowded. There was a bunch of bikers there and they would literally sit with their pegs on the coping instead of up on the deck. Tools. I tried some lines with a trick on the tiny qp then b/s flip over the A frame. I got close to the b/s flip. My favorite qp trick was a front lip where I slid. I mean I haven’t done a lipslide in forever, only disasters. So to just slide it like it was nothing, granted it was only a few inches, felt great. My highlight though was easily when I was filming Riley and Hayden. As I was standing on the deck on my board I did something weird and forgot that the ground wasn’t level so I dove into the quarterpipe. I wish someone was filming that because I’m sure it looked hilarious. Anyways, Riley and Hayden were over it pretty quickly. That park has the worst scene. Even half the skaters wore headphones and cluelessly skated around with no regard of anyone else.

(setup 8.38 null perception deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, 52mm oj ez edge wheels, venom 91a bushings, NB# 212 black/white size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsole orthoric and 5mm Footprint insole)

With rain threatening Kevin and I headed to the bike path / hip spot. I really wanted to get a back 360 kickflip before they destroyed the spot. But I was too late. Doh. So we skated the ledge over the brick gap spot. Well, Kevin did and I pretended to. Ha. It sucks being old and taking awhile just to be able to ollie one foot high. By the time Rob arrived Kevin had already done 50s, 5-0s, tails both ways. I had done noseslide and crooks. I get so freaked out trying to grind that ledge for some reason. I guess since it’s narrow. But man, it’s embarrassing how hard front 50 is for me there. Rob and I both got a couple. They weren’t perfect, but we did and it feels good to beat the challenge. I got a front 180 out too. Rob had some front noseslides. I swear one was to manual. The ledge must be kind of hard because Kevin’s only switch trick was front 50. Matt House showed! And as predicted he back 50’d it first try, front 50’d it first try and landed a treflip first try. That boy good. He went on to do front and back tails. Then him and Kevin went over the brick flat gap. Matt did treflip and Kevin did switch flip. Then I got called for work and had to leave. Argh. At least it started raining shortly after that.

(setup 8.38 null perception deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, 52mm oj ez edge wheels, venom 91a bushings, es asta accel slims, powefeet pinnacle insoles)

Working on some finishing touches on this one then gonna bring it to #eltoro for my Stubborns ender. 📹 @baffoos

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 14, 2018 at 7:01pm PDT

On a hot and sunny day Dave and I were brainstorming covered spots and agreed on Red Hawk. The session was set and even though Dave would be later it all still worked out. Kevin and Rob were there before me. The 3 of us started in the sunny curb section which was quite fun. You can ride on to grinds without even slappies and it’s fun. Rob was the first to get past the kink. That’s a long back 50 grind. I think both Kevin and I did frontside too. I don’t quite remember, but we both grinded far and it was fun. I had some backside ones that were really fun too. Kevin did a nollie flip super easy then gave some of the best advice I’ve heard. Jump back. I’m writing it down in hopes that I will remember to do it. We started messing around down below in the shade. The north ledge was so slick it was insane. It felt like you would accelerate as you grinded. Kevin is a young pup and was up on the front and back 50s and 5-0s before I had even ollied. Rob had crooks and front boards and a funny front 50 where you could see the amount of wax surprised him. I had gotten a couple front 50s, maybe a super slow back 50 and a couple crooks. Fuzz showed up, chilled for a bit then got in the mix. Then another car of skaters pulled up. Turned out to be dudes we know. Chris and Zack. Pretty cool. They were on a different program skating faster and stuff, but they were nice and it made for a fun session. Fuzz had some good back 50s and then did them with both 180s out. He would go on to piece a rad line together of ollie onto a rock then real quick nollie front lip then the Joe Hamilton ledge trick. Solid. What’s also cool is that Kevin filmed it. And he did a good job. Dave had shown up and looked a little more frustrated than normal. The front 50 back 180 took him a bit, but man when he landed it it sure looked good. Then he left for work. Only to come back a few minutes later realizing he had more time. Ha ha So funny. Then he did back and front boardslide 270s and then went to work. I filmed Kevin get a banger line. Nollie flip, front tail to fakie, switch crook. And he did it perfectly. I had started messing around with kickflip front board. And while it’s debatable that it’s actually a ‘front board’ I did land something. A few times. And I even did it on two setups. Ha. I was struggling to ollie the board I had been skating and remembered I had my bigger board in the car. The first front 50 on it felt great. I stuck with it. I had a few ledge tricks. Switch front noseslide, halfcab noseslide jib, switch noseslide 270 shove, front 50 shove, front 50 180, front 5-0. Couldn’t get fakie nosegrind though. Kevin got a front blunt and front noseblunt that was so good. He does hard tricks. After awhile we called it and debated where to eat before trekking into the insane heat. It was great seeing Fuzz, it’s been way too long.

(setup 8.38 null perception deck, venture black icon 5.8 trucks, 52mm oj ez edge wheels, venom 91a bushings, es asta accel slims, powefeet pinnacle insoles)
(knee pain 4/10)