#grindsaroundnine

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 4, 2016 at 8:17am PDT

Woke up around 6 am for some dumb reason. Was gonna go to a park, but I was feeling kind of indecisive. Ollie got up around 7 and said he’d go somewhere. We left around 8am for little Arvada, but when we got there the whole city park was closed in preparation for fireworks. Doh. Went to big Arvada. There were people there, but it wasn’t too crowded. We started out in the front area like normal. I was really tired, kickflips weren’t even working. Ollie had some nice drop down manuals on the blue chips, front 180s off. I did a couple front blunt to front axle stall on the little bank. That was fun. Back in the snake run area I had a good feeling hurricane on the qp that ollie slashes above. Ended by doing front 50, back 50 and front 50 front 180 off the pier 7 granite. Felt cool to grind granite.

Later on I went to campus in hopes of getting Josh’s trick. I did it horribly a couple of times. Once was clean, but the nose barely taps the ledge. The other was not clean, but I clearly get in nose then put my hand on the ledge as I fall out of it. I was gonna try another one, but a cop was posted up nearby killing my desire to stick around in the heat. I had tried a bunch of hardflips, nollie flips and switch flips. Got remotely close to all three, but never put both feet on them.

I ended up at research ledge and it didn’t go that well. I tried to do 50s and treflips before laying into crooks. I kind of did, except I couldn’t do front 50. That ledge is so hard uphill frontside like that. My back 50s were crap too. I did have some ok lines to the ledge though. Warm up was pop shove, back 180, halfcab flip. One that took awhile was fakie flip, fakie bigflip, pop shove. I was good on heelflips again, but not close to any new flippers. The front 50 took forever. Switch front nose felt good. Crooks too long too. I started to feel like the Thunders skate similar to Venture Lows and got annoyed with it. I went home and put some Venture Hi’s on. We’ll see how that goes.

(setup 8.1 Habitat Suciu deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, Es Sal black/gum)

I am out of Null decks and really wanted a new board. So I went to Meta and got me a pro deck from one of my favs pros and companies – Habitat Mark Suciu. A little later I went over to the school not feeling much like skating. I started by putting my tail down on the curb and trying to jump to front nose since it’s my new challenge. I didn’t get close at all. After awhile I tried them while moving and it was much easier. Too bad that asphalt is the worst asphalt ever and not fun to skate. I would do a kickflip between each try as I was breaking in some old Es Sal 20s I had in my closet. I think I may have only skated them once. For whatever reason I thought they were too thin, but they seem good now. I ended up technically getting a switch nose to front nose, but it was just a jib. Oh well, not a bad start to the challenge.

(setup 8.1 Habitat Suciu deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, Es Sal black/gum)

Blurry morning trizzle warm up. CU ist pretty

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 2, 2016 at 9:45am PDT

Woke up pretty early. I was hyper, but my legs were not feeling great. I went and found some flatground on campus and went through a few basics before getting hung up on treflips again. Well, I guess I did a few, but never got one that felt great. I didn’t really get any tricks I was hyped on, although I did land a lot of my basics.

Not wanting to only skate flatground I pushed into this area. I was incredibly sore. I don’t get it. I tried some lines. Back 180 off the little 2 stair in the background then switch boardslide the last ledge. Never got the switch boardslide. Going the other way I did a slow ollie onto the lowest ledge and got over the stoppers then did a front 180 up the two stair. I tried some noseslides on the ledge too, but it was kind of sticky and weird.

Then I took a couple pushes and ended up at this perfect looking ledge. Except it’s terrible. It does not grind. Granted, I didn’t wax it, but I put a couple front 50s in as tender as I could and it didn’t budge. Got into some back 50s which kind of hyped me up, a crooks jib and some switch noseslides on the other ledge after this one.

Today was a good one. 📸 @oldfartatplay

A photo posted by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Jul 2, 2016 at 7:26pm PDT

Then I played Filmer Glen. I skated a little at Wilville, but not really. Hayden got some cool stuff at Wilville. Then we went into campus, Jack made a dream of mine come true and Riley and Hayden got some more cool stuff too. I love these people.

(setup 8.25 null awkward vectors deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, New Balance Numeric PJ 533 burgundy)

After a day of working from home I went to the research ledge feeling slightly better then the last few days which isn’t saying much. I started by riding down the Max stairs a couple of times then pushing down the hill going fast. As I was going back to the top to ride the hill again three cars pulled up and stopped in the middle of the road and set up a barricade at the entrance of the street. So there was a campus parking attendant right where I wanted to start my lines. Weird. Then I was skating the ledge for a bit and spotted a CU employee coming for a smoke break. I did the quick noseslide on the ledge to try and claim that area as my own. It worked, but she sat on the ledge right next to it smoking. She was nice. Then another employee came and joined her and they sat there smoking while I bailed trick after trick. It’s kind of pathetic how little I can handle smoke these days. I was coughing. I did my typical order of tricks. Boardslide pop out, noseslide, noseside to fakie, crooks. The crooks took a bit. Then they left. I was doing alright with flatground too. I hope this heelflip streak keeps going, I’ve been landing them. Treflip was never clean, but I got a couple. I actually got pretty insanely close to cab flip. Tried a bunch of switch tres, they don’t seem possible until I land and I realize I’m somewhat close. Gotta keep at that one because I know Josh is going to bring it for the game of OLDFART. Front 50s were impossible at first and then I figured out that I was ducking my head weird for fear of hitting the wall. Once I figured that out I was able to land 1/10 (ugh). I got one back 50. And it was funny because it was when this dude came and sat on the far part of the ledge to smoke. He was wearing skate shoes so I figured he should no better. He realized what was up and moved away after that. Got a bad halfcab noseslide, bad front noseslide. I was feeling better, but for whatever reason I didn’t have much energy and it showed. Oh well.

(setup 8.25 null awkward vectors deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, New Balance Numeric PJ 533 burgundy)

Warm ups and almosts. 6 months down, 6 to go. Arthritis is sucking. Fighting through it. Grinding concrete is the cure.

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jun 30, 2016 at 8:57pm PDT

With my arthritis and soreness still at a high level I went off to campus in search of chin. Ended up starting at the little one stair ledge that has no runway. I felt like filming for some reason so I set my phone down. Those were basically all my moves at the first spot. I thought the front nose jib 270 out would look a little better then that. Oh well. I was hyped on the front tail though, that one is rare for me. Then I went to the second spot and was surprised by how waxed up and good it looked. Got a few front 50 combos, accidental 5-0s. Tried the 50 kickflip for about 10 minutes, should have tried more, but I started feeling like trying lines so I picked up the phone. I was 2-2 on heelflips and 1-1 on treflips (if I land the first treflip I don’t dare touch another one! ha). So one of the only actual lines I did was front 5-0, 360 flip on flat, ollie up the little curb, turn around and eventually ollie the curb drop (only 2nd try which is my record there). I would also get a couple front tails without slide and a front crooks. Tried a few front nosegrinds, but didn’t get close. I was kind of thinking of some kind of shove pop out, but I think that’s pretty unlikely. Another line I got was front 50, b/s flip on flat, f/s halfcab up the little curb. I tried to nose manual the little pad followed by ollie onto the taller one to quick drop, but I didn’t get it. I tried to do ollie up a tall part of the ledge and drop, but I was scared. Had a good session though. Can’t believe how much pain I can skate through sometimes.

(setup 8.25 null awkward vectors deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, New Balance Numeric PJ 533 burgundy)

Went in front of the house feeling very sore and arthritic. Pushing hurt. I almost went right in after a couple of slide around 180s. But after a couple of shove its off the nose I started hucking a few no pop bigspins. Got both fakie ones, both nollie ones and a backside one. All were horrible, slow, tic tac’d and what not. Arthritis sucks.

(setup 8.25 null awkward vectors deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, New Balance Numeric PJ 533 burgundy)

Went to campus feeling very arthritic, exhausted and not expecting much. I went to the little two stair area hoping to wax it up and get it to grind. It kind of grinded, but not really. Oh, this photo was taken on my way back to the car, when I got there it was still light out. After some horribly uncomfortably warm up tricks like back 50 and kickflips my body started to warm up and I could skate. I tried a couple of lines. Kickflip up the 2, front 180 off, halfcab flip on flat, front crooks the curb. I got to the front crooks, but it just didn’t grind. Doh. I would get a pivoty switch crooks in between attempts that hyped me a little. Going the other way I was trying halfcab crooks, heelflip, kick back tail shove. The only trick I got was heelflip. I tried a few back heels, didn’t get close. Oh yeah, since the Swifts died I was wearing some old PJ 533s. Even completely bald it’s surprising how solid the shoe still feels. Almost too solid. Kickflips up the 2 stair hurt so I stopped trying. I tried a few more flippers and moved on.

Ended up here. Haven’t skated it since they added the skate stoppers. I didn’t expect to keep skating it, but for some reason even though it hurt more then normal to ollie I just kept skating it. I didn’t skate fast or good, but I got front board pop out, front 5-0 (trying for 50 ha), back 5-0 (kind of and again going for 50), noseslide, crooks, some terrible halfcab noseslides, terrible front noseslides, Another dude was skating for a little bit, kind of a weird vibe. I tried some lines with manual back 180s or nose manual 180s and didn’t get them. My board is feeling very old. Tried some front heels, couldn’t get them around, almost got a nollie varial flip.

I eventually got tired of the ledge and remembered I’m supposed to try and learn how to ollie over this rock. I gave myself 5 tries. I was so sore and tired and stiff. It took everything I had on the 5th try, but I got over it. It wasn’t pretty, but it was enough to make me happy. Then I walked most of the way back to the car, tried to bomb a little hill, but slid out on leaves and walked the rest of the day.

(setup 8.25 null awkward vectors deck, thunder 147 HL stock bushings, 3 washers on inside of axles, 51mm bones stf v1, New Balance Numeric PJ 533 burgundy)

Sometimes it’s the little things that get me through a day of work.

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

This shoe almost completely rules. It’s got one of the best soles for a skate shoe that I’ve ever skated. This is the most important part of a skate shoe to me. Unfortunately the suede wears away really quickly and requires constant shoe goo attention. The little sprayed on coating around the toes does nothing. The shoe is comfortable and skates great.

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

The OG Accel is such an iconic skate shoe. This slimmed down version is pretty awesome. It’s a little too slim for me though. It’s basically a cupsole that skates like a vulcanized shoe because it’s so thin and flexible. I would have preferred that they put some newer technology into the sole instead of just a thin sole, but that’s me. It’s a good steezy shoe, decent durability, but too thin of a sole for me.