After a fun filled family day in Fort Collins I rolled to Saul’s around dinner time. There was a good sized session going on. Nick, Saul, Eric, Justin, Peewee. On my first run my foot slid off my board and I fell. Great. Getting used to the orthotics is harder than I thought it would be. Saul was ripping. He gets faster and grinds longer every time I go there. He also had a nice front slash on the brick. Peewee skated a lot. He makes long grinds look easy and had some cool lip tricks. I swear Nick nollied into a backside grind at one point, so sick. Justin makes really long grinds look easy too. Eric was in a zone of trying axle stalls on the qp then cali grinding into the bowl. He got really close. Some others got it, but not going as fast as Eric. I got a little one after a front rock on the qp. It was quite fun. The qp is a great addition. I think it helped me finally have a couple okay runs, but still nothing new and not as good as runs I’ve had before.

I had kind of sat around at the end of the session for awhile. My legs stiffened up, but I still wanted to skate some flat so I went to the parking lot near red curbs. But oh wow was I stiff. I couldn’t kickflip in like 10 tries so I threw my board then broke it. Something about pumping transition kills my knees. It sounds weird. I think I need to stretch or something. Anyways, the flatground session was super depressing.

(setup 8.5 Null Ollie deck, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 52mm Spitfire F4 conical 99a pink/purple wheels, bronson bearings, New Balance Numeric 344 white superfeet 3/4 insoles with a thin adidas insole on top)

While still recovering from a nasty flu I set out for a short one on a wet day. My skating was worse than I thought it would be. I basically just did a few slappy crooks, the slowest front 50s imaginable and struggled to cleanly ollie a parking block. I also got some 180s over the parking block, couldn’t quite halfcab flip, did a couple slow kickflips, bailed some slappies on the yellow parking block. Called it a day.

(setup 8.5 Null Ollie deck, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 52mm Spitfire F4 conical 99a pink/purple wheels, bronson bearings, New Balance Numeric 344 white superfeet 3/4 insoles with a thin adidas insole on top)

Had a nice drive up to Buena Vista and stopped at the park for about an hour before going to my moms. This park is terrible. I don’t understand how so many people like it. I didn’t have much energy and the fact that for the most part there were only scooter kids there didn’t help. I did a few axle stalls around the park. The most fun I had was not carving it at all and just doing back 50s on a straight wall, then coming back and trying kickflip tricks on the flat bank. I was 2-2 on kickflip to fakies, took a bit for b/s flip, couldn’t get big flip or 360 flip to fakie. I still liked the shoe combo and I seemed to leave in a little less pain than I have been.

(setup 8.5 Null Ollie deck, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 52mm Spitfire F4 conical 99a pink/purple wheels, bronson bearings, New Balance Numeric 344 white superfeet 3/4 insoles with a thin adidas insole on top)

Had to run to Meta to sell boards and decided to pick up a pair of vulcs to try and spend more money and try yet another shoe. I ended with yet another pair of NBs. It wasn’t really by choice, but it was all Meta had in my size. Maybe they were still available because they were all white? Anyways, I went to a random spot which ended up being the new bus station off Pearl & 30th. I felt like a complete beginner on a skateboard. I worked up to a line which was front 180 up the curb, switch 180 on flat then noseslide this ledge (which is pretty tall). It felt cool to street skate. I also had a couple of kickflips that felt great. I had cut my superfeet insoles so it was just the orthotic part and put an Adidas insole over it. It felt good. And actually these shoes are really roomy in the toe area which really seemed to not make my plantar fasciitis worse. maybe there is some truth to all those people saying barefoot is the best cure for plantar fasciitis. That was all I did skating, but it was really comforting that I skated and didn’t immediately start feeling lots of pain.

(setup 8.5 Null Ollie deck, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 52mm Spitfire F4 conical 99a pink/purple wheels, bronson bearings, New Balance Numeric 344 white superfeet 3/4 insoles with a thin adidas insole on top)

@corpoglenny worked out a new trick with me

A post shared by Eric J Eckert (@ericjeckert) on Mar 19, 2017 at 7:27am PDT

On a cold midwest morning we went to a park I’ve never been to in Omaha before. Seymour. It is terrible, but we had fun. I started in the bowl with Carleigh and Eric. It’s funny because most of the tiles were missing which left a crack that to drop in over. There was a small patch to drop in on though. It was alright. Most everyone skated the ledges, but I wasn’t up for ollieing. Eric and I ended up trying these weird front cab rock’s on the wedge that were pretty fun. It was a lot harder for us then it looks. Then a flatbar session was going on. Damon took top honors with a textbook first try kickflip back tail. It was seriously amazingly good. Carleigh lined out kickflips, boardslides both ways and heelflips. Matt was almost getting nollie shove feebles. Jack was doing boardslide to switch smith? I don’t know, maybe more just a nosebonk. Joe took awhile and got a front smith.

@damon1819 getting crazy

A post shared by Eric J Eckert (@ericjeckert) on Mar 18, 2017 at 2:44pm PDT

@joerhamilton fakie flip. Such a fun and unique spot!

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 20, 2017 at 5:55am PDT

Then we went to this amazing spot. We had to sweep it out initially as there was tons of salt on it. Careligh spend some time sweeping out the top part that looked fun too, but we never ended up skating it. Doh. But the manhole and main bank were really fun. Especially landing tricks and rolling into the second bank. I tried bean plants to tail on the manhole for awhile. I got into them, but chickened out on the drop in. Lame. I did have some fun boneless and beanplant variations on the bank though. Got a new one. Bean plant finger flip. Carleigh did axle stall and feeble stall which are so much more gnar than they sound. Also an alley oop bean plant. Jack did front pivot to fakie, but was too sore to skate much. Joe did a nice fakie flip and front pivot 180 out on the manhole. Damon just kind of mauled the manhole. It was funny. He would do frontside nosegrinds and then just kind of ride through it. He had the sickest noseblunt to end it. Eric did his fingerplants on the bank, rock fakies on the manhole, tried blunt grab out to fakie and slammed! Matt did every trick on the manhole. Blunt, crook, back disaster, blunt to disaster (I think?), seriously everything. Local legend Jeff Chase joined us for awhile which was pretty cool.

Heavy crew

A post shared by Eric J Eckert (@ericjeckert) on Mar 18, 2017 at 4:17pm PDT

Then we went to ‘One Step’. I was too sore to ollie at this point, but it looked so fun to skate. There were a bunch of people there, it was like a 90s session. Jeff was killing it. Carleigh relearned front 5-0 on a step while I did slappy crooks over and over. Matt and Joe were getting the lines in. Jack was skating harder than I would have thought. Basically that spot ruled, but I ended up sitting after awhile from being in too much pain.

@jackspanbauer pivoting then rocking then rolling

A post shared by Eric J Eckert (@ericjeckert) on Mar 18, 2017 at 5:51pm PDT

Lastly we went to this spot where I didn’t even try to skate. Everyone else ripped it though and Dan even joined us. Carleigh with the back d, Matt with back blunt, Damon blunt to fakie, Dan front smith, Joe tuck knee rock ‘n roll, Jack put down a lot of tricks, but they are failing to memory right now. While waiting I had taken a pair of Joe’s Vans out of his car and put them on instead. After wearing them all night it seemed like a lot of my pain might actually be caused by how limiting cupsoles are. I’ve thought this before, but I haven’t skated with superfeet in vulcs in a long time. I’ll probably try that next. Anyways, the day was rad. I obviously wish I could have skated more, but it was still fun and the crew was out of this world awesome.

(setup 8.5 Null Ollie deck, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 52mm Spitfire F4 conical 99a pink/purple wheels, bronson bearings, New Balance Numeric PJ 533 black/white 12 superfeet insoles)

A few reasons why @jackspanbauer is the world's greatest skateboarder. #skateyork

A post shared by Eric J Eckert (@ericjeckert) on Mar 17, 2017 at 3:25pm PDT

Drove to York overnight. Woke up feeling pretty rested and hung at Eric’s for awhile before heading to York park. As Carleigh, Jack and Eric cruised around the park to warm up I did the foam roller. Ha. It helped though. This ended up being my favorite session of the trip as I was able to skate without too much pain. It’s hard to remember what all went down this far after the session (writing this one week later). Jack learned heelflips out of manual. But of course he kickflipped into every manual. The one in the clip above is so good. He had also done manual front shove to manual, pole jam late shove, front 5-0 back 180 the top step, hurricanes on the parking block, crooks 3 shove on the bank to ledge, noseslide 270 shove, basically everything. Eric was doing his tricks. All were awesome. Blunt transfers on the pyramid, boardslides on the parking block, frontside cali grinds, finger flip tricks I don’t know the real names of, beaming rock fakies. Carleigh got the cali grind too, boardslides on the parking block, bean plants and then we started trying this fun doubles line. We both did cali grinds off the ledge to start, then I did crooks on a ledge and she did front board, then over the hip I tried b/s flip and she tried kickflip. There were a couple where we got to the last trick and had the funniest falls. It was really fun. Then we started just trying the last trick and Eric joined in doing blunt 360 transfer which he did every single time .. except when we landed it! Ha ha. I think that was the end of the session. We went to the crazy hubba thing. Carleigh rode down the stairs and Jack tried to noseslide again for awhile and then slid into home base trying to ollie ollie.

Then we drove to Fremont and met Joe and Damon at the Fremont park. Jack and I were so sore. I did the foam roller for awhile then joined Carleigh and Joe on the mini ramp. It ended up being pretty fun even though my first few runs were super sketchy from being so ridiculously stiff. I got a few Rampy tricks and a bunch of bean plants to tail that felt really fun. Carleigh and Joe had some marathon runs that were impressive. Joe with the patented combos like fakie frontslide axle stall to rock ‘n roll. Carleigh got back disasters, feebles to fakie and I think learned beanplant to tail too. Damon would come up on the ramp and do some crazy fakie shove pivots, fakie shove kickflip out, blunts to fakie, etc.

(setup 8.5 Null Ollie deck, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 52mm Spitfire F4 conical 99a pink/purple wheels, bronson bearings, New Balance Numeric PJ 533 black/white 12 superfeet insoles)

I haven't been able to skate much lately because skating every day last year completely destroyed my body. So here I am inflicting more damage trying to relearn some basics. I am also working on my hipster dad look by bringing my kid to the park and filming him. #realdadlook @lil_hoser

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Mar 15, 2017 at 7:44pm PDT

After bringing boards to Crisis, Ollie and I went to the Broomfield park. It was nice and warm out and the park wasn’t too crowded. I didn’t really get more than what is in the clip. A few quartapotty tricks and a first try halfcab noseslide on the blue ledge. Ollie had rock ‘n rolls both ways and an accidental pivot on the quartapotty.

(setup 8.5 Null Ollie deck, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 52mm Spitfire F4 conical 99a pink/purple wheels, bronson bearings, NB Numeric PJ 533 black/white 12 superfeet insoles)

Went to the dog park on a nice day after an insanely busy day of work. I had about 30 minutes before my PT appointment. I am so desperate for less pain I bought some Busenitz shoes thinking they would help. They have a flexible toe area, but stiff mid/heel which is what most plantar fasciitis tips say to get. They also have a tall heel lift and as soon as I set my board down I knew I would hate the shoes. I didn’t think I would hate them quite as much as I did though. I mixed between game changers and superfeet to see if either helped. Nope. It felt like trying to skate on an escalator. I have a huge fear of rolling my ankle and I forgot how much an elevated heel adds to the fear. I only got pop shoves, kickflips and no complys. I was not hyped. Oh well, at least the Busentiz shoe makes for a steezy chill shoe.

(setup 8.5 Null Ollie deck, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 52mm Spitfire F4 conical 99a pink/purple wheels, bronson bearings, Adidas Busenitz Pro 11.5 superfeet insoles)

Met Dave and Simon at Twin Peaks Elem Saturday afternoon. The weather was warm when the sun was out, cold when the sun went behind clouds). I was feeling good. I had stretched a lot earlier. Simon was already doing wallrides, Dave was already doing all variations of shoves. I took a few tries to get a backside kickflip, but a second try kickflip to fakie felt awesome and put me in a good mood. Also got a fun no comply bigspin. Dave filmed Simon kill it for awhile. He did huge front 180s the hard way over the hip and followed them by a halfcab to manual down the brick median. He also did some wallride footplant and a backside 360 flip super steezy. I got a bean plant first try which also felt really cool. Posed backside flip over the hip, but didn’t really commit. Also couldn’t do the wallie nollie. Dave did pop shove body varial, fakie wallrides, switch shoves, some beautiful kickflips (ha sorry dave, but he did get some good ones). Dave and I hucked 360 flip variations for awhile. He went switch, i went nollie. I had never done nollie 360 flip on a bank before and got super close. It pops different. I ran out of juice. So did the others. Fun day. I finally skated for real!

But oh man did I pay. I was really sore later that night, but the next morning was the worst. I couldn’t even get out of bed my plantar fasciitis was so bad in my pushing foot. Ugh.

(setup 8.5 Null Ollie deck, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 52mm Spitfire F4 conical 99a pink/purple wheels, bronson bearings, NB# PJ 533 black/white 12 superfeet insoles)

Wanted to skate last night, but I was too sore. It was depressing. But rather than only complain (which I did plenty of) I did a bunch of yoga, ming method stretches, enzymes, cold shower, the whole nine yards. I woke up feeling better. Good enough to skate. Since I work later this week it’s hard to get out at night so I went to Lafayette around 8am. Plus this way no one can see me struggle this bad. And it was bad indeed. I bailed a lot of stuff. That park is fun to cruise around at least. I missed the tail on a lot of tiny ollies on little bumps. The rock wallie to get warmed up is so fun. I tried little frontside to tail over the weird steep rock hip for while. Got one, but it didn’t slide. Tried to do a long line starting at the black ledge and ending back on the bank under it. But didn’t really land much. Especially because I couldn’t ollie onto the ledge. Did do that little slash 180 out. Not sure if I’ve done that before. Ended with a fun bean plant that took a few tries. Going back I was getting front tail stalls on the manhole hump which is weird for me to skate. All in all I skated terrible, but that park is fun to dork around on when no one is there.

(setup 8.5 Null Ollie deck, venture 5.8 wides, 3 washers outside each axle, Venom 88a bushings, 52mm Spitfire F4 conical 99a pink/purple wheels, bronson bearings, NB# PJ 533 black/white 12 superfeet insoles)