It's been 10 whole minutes since @the_neviathan posted his fail for #theglenandjosholdfartlongdistanceinstagramtricksuperchallenge and took a letter. Time for a new challenge! This is an old guy classic. No comply finger flip. I learned them from the master @neilsoffire and will accept the flick with either hand. Have fun @boredzinejp and @the_neviathan! #andnate #ithelpsifitsreallycoldandslappingtheboardhurts

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Nov 25, 2015 at 3:37pm PST

I went out in front of the house on a cool day 4 times. I brought my work computer out each time to hit refresh in case I had some work to do. The first three times I would immediately see something that needed attention for work. It was so annoying. Luckily the 4th time was a success though and I had about an hour and a half to get used to flipping the bigger setup. I started by doing the no comply finger flip for the game. It was cold enough that slapping the board with my fingers hurt. I was pretty sore and arthritic from the weather change, but after some no pop shoves and ollies my body felt pretty loose. Pretty early on I got a nollie varial flip which kind of hyped me up. Took a bit to get the fakie bigflip, but once I did I had it every try after. I got 5.25 treflips. Ha ha, 4 clean ones, 2 one-handed landings (.5) and 1 two-handed landing (.25). Landed on a bunch of nollie 360 flips, but didn’t ride out of any. Also landed halfcab flip, heelflip, b/s flip, f/s flip, varial flip, fakie varial flip. Geez, that’s not a lot. Came somewhat close to switch frontside flip. I had fun even though I really didn’t land a whole lot.

(setup 8.25 null venture wides bones medium bushings 50mm stf v1 washers on the outside of the axle nb# pj stratford 533 black/white)

Fun in the streets! @fullertrron Slappy front 5-0 and @matthouse with the ollie/kickflip combo. #friendsthatrip

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Nov 24, 2015 at 9:46pm PST

Met Dave and Matt under the Engineering building where we would end up staying quite some time. We started by doing some rock climbing and stationary nollies. Unless you are Matt and that also included some nollie heels. Then we started doing different lines and stuff down/up the handicap banks or stairs. Matt easily ollied up the two sets of 3. Dave did too, I was impressed. Matt missed several treflips at first which I was pretty blown away by. He would end up getting a bunch of perfect ones though. Had a line of ollie up the first 3, then noseslide to fakie up the second. Then the banger above. Dave went for the ollie/noseslide combo too, didn’t get it, but made up for it by getting close to back 180 up the 3 stair. I had some kickflips over cracks, back 50s down the ledge, halfcab flip into the bank (couldn’t fakie bigflip again) and took the longest to get an ollie up the lower 3 stair. On top of that I had to put a hand or two down. Oh well. Then we hit a nearby ledge for a bit. Matt back tail’d it. Dave did boardslide to fakie avoiding death into a pillar. I did some noseslides.

Then we skated the slanted ledge area for awhile. Fun area. Matt chilled a bit, but still got some slappy back 50s, front tailslide. Dave did his patented front 5-0 slappy that is so sick. The best slappy crooks I’ve seen him do there, good slappy back 5-0s. I did a few backside slappy tricks that didn’t grind, 50, 5-0, back smith (kind of). Got a couple slappy crooks that felt rad, couldn’t slide front tail and struggled with some lines. Matt may have done a manual or two on the orange platform. Matt easily ollied the ledge and I posed some attempts over it. First time I’ve had fun skating in awhile. Maybe I should make an effort to skate with friends more often.

(setup 8.25 null venture wides bones medium bushings 50mm stf v1 washers on the outside of the axle nb# pj stratford 533 black/white)

I broke two records today. 1. The most days I've skated in a year (313 and counting!) 2. The worst compilation of nollie front noseslides to fakie in history. I was challenged by @boredzinejp for #theglenandjosholdfartlongdistanceinstagramtricksuperchallenge #andnate #icannotnollie #worldsworstskater #sorryifyouwatchedthis #mostselfdepricatinghashtagsinonepost @the_neviathan

A video posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Nov 23, 2015 at 8:54pm PST

Headed to campus without much intent on trying any more nollie front noseslide for the game. But then I parked right by a tiny curb that was slightly downhill so I went for a few (last clip). After I did it I did a couple of fun hill bombs. It was nice having STFs again and I could powerslide without getting flatspots like I do with Spitfires (even the formula fours). Then I headed toward the long ledge and ended up at some mini bank to curb that looked easy for nollie noseslides (first one). It was dark, but probably my best one. The long ledge had cars so I just hucked a few kickflip noseslides. Then I wandered around some more and ended up at the stadium bank to curb, but there was bikes parked on it. I skated flatground by myself for a bit. I first said I had to do 15 flippers. Then I got stuck on fakie bigflip for a long time and lowered it to 10 flippers. 360 flip felt good, but other then that they felt bad and I never got the fakie bigflip and gave up at 9 and went home.

(setup 8.25 null venture wides bones medium bushings 50mm v1 stfs washers on the outside of the axle nb# pj stratford 533 black/white)

I’ve had several depressing session in a row. So what does any sane skater do in this situation? Blame their setup! Ha. I switched my hanger to a wide hanger. It was family day and since everyone else sleeps in I had to get my skating in early. I went to the research center around 10. It would also mark the windiest point of the day. I was going to go to red curbs for the nollie noseslide, but since it was sunny I figured the research center would be warmer. To my dismay the back area of the research center was totally shaded, dark, and cold. I tried a few nollie noseslides and got close so I setup the phone. But then every couple of tries the wind would blow my phone over. UGH. It was a constant battle for awhile until I finally just put my phone at the base of the light pole. I went on to be incredibly frustrated. Almost to the point of focusing my board. I probably tried the trick for about an hour. It was really depressing. I couldn’t really do flip tricks in between tries do to the wind. I did two of the worst ones you can imagine. I have two more days to try that trick for the game. Not sure if I will try it again.

Then I went to campus and started at this little manual pad. After doing so many manual in my garage on a sheet of wood I hoped that I would benefit from it. I think I did. I got manual, nose manual, manual front 180 out, front 180 nose manual (took a long time) and a 3rd try switch 180 manual. I came close to manual back 180 out (never done it at a real spot) and tried some halfcab nose manuals which weren’t close.

Then I went to the nearby ledge. I wanted 10 tricks and I got 10 tricks. Noseslide, noseslide fakie, front 50, crooks, front 50 shove, front 5-0, back 50, switch noseslide, switch front noseslide, halfcab noseslide. It took awhile. I hucked some flippers which felt ok. For once I wasn’t completely depressed about my skating. I still struggled with front 50s, but they felt a little better with the wider/higher trucks. Same with crooks. I didn’t like how the trucks seemed wider then the board though.

(setup 8.25 null venture wides bones medium bushings axle washers on the outside 50mm bones stf v1 nb# pj stratford 533 black/white)

Had a busy day scheduled of bringing boards to MRKT and then Crisis before getting to the 98% premiere at Meta ( #3shopsoneday ). I saw on a webcam that Fort Collins didn’t get any snow, but I wasn’t really sure and it was still cold so I just headed out without making plans with anyone. I got to Fossil around noon and one other skater was there. Warming up wasn’t horrible and I felt like it might be an alright session. I moved up to the top area and started trying nollie front noseslides on the curb. Never got one. Started getting bummed. Kind of did one, but it wouldn’t have counted for the game anyway because I hadn’t started filming it. Was also trying a line of ollie up the 3 stair, ride off the drop, kickflip up the curb, front 50 the ledge that goes off the curb. I got one ollie up the 3 stair out of about 20 tries. I managed to get the whole line that time, but the front 50 was beyond horrible. Then a few people showed up including Alfred who challenged me to a game of SKATE. He pink slipped me. More depression. Not because he beat me, but because I didn’t land anything. Then I just skated the ledge for awhile. I struggled with front 50s. Got a crooks to fakie then spent a very long time trying crooks shove and eventually landed one that felt pretty neat. That was the one saving grace of the session. I failed at a bunch of front smiths. Alfred was ripping. Then I headed off to MRKT.

(setup 8.25 null venture lows 1/16 riser bones medium bushings 4 washers inside each axle 50mm v1 bones stfs nb# pj stratford 533 black/white)

This band is ruling my world.

Bolted to Blue Skies around my ‘gym time’ because it looked like the weather was going to move in and prevent a lunch time skate. It ended up being horrible time. I got there right when a huge wind kicked in that lasted the whole time. The temp dropped from the upper 40s to the upper 30s in minutes. It was windy, rainy, windy, snowy and lots of windy windy windy. I tried to skate the little ledge. I was skating so slow and without any confidence. I rattled off a bunch of tricks without ollies. Noseslide 270, switch noseslide 270, front nose 270, sw front nose 270, halfcab noseslide, crooks, almost crooks shove, front 50 (it took awhile ugh), front 50 shove, front 50 front 180, the worst front tail flop in history, posed back 50 and posed fakie nosegrind, tried a bunch of switch boardslides, but didn’t get one. At end I tried to ollie onto the middle ledge and the depression really kicked in. I got pretty close a few times, but no cigar. The last one was a total insult, I just ran into the ledge. Ugh. I stretched and went back to work.

(setup 8.25 null venture lows 1/16 riser 50mm v1 STFs washers inside each axle bones medium bushings nb# pj stratford 533 black/white)

Met up with Dave and Aki at lunch on a decent day. I was very sore and I would go on to suck very badly. It was a pretty depressing session for me. I was unable to do a lot of the basics I do every time I go there. Like front 50s on the little ledge were tough. Ugh. At one point I started trying to kickflip the low part of the dragon bar. I hadn’t committed, then Aki tried a couple and did it all casual. It had me hyped and I finally committed, but I fell. I committed one more time after that, but didn’t land it. Aki was ripping some long lines with ollies over flat bars, front 50 front 180, back 50 to back tail, kickflips, you name it. Dave was doing fakie 360 shoves on the bank and almost doing front board shove out on the flat bar. Aki and I played around with some noseslides on the middle tall ledge. I managed a weak boardslide on it. I filmed Dave for a bit get really close to his line then I had to split for work.

Later in the evening after working on a new Null teaser for awhile I went out in the garage hoping to feel a little better about skating. I had taken off my Spitfires and put some old STFs on. I measured my Spitfires and they were down to 44mm! Wow. I don’t know how much bigger the STFs are, but they are a few mms bigger. I just posed tricks. Switch flip one way, nollie heel the other. Got insanely close to the switch flip. Not so close to the nollie heel. I listened to Clean Girls and it brought the hype. I didn’t land anything, but I felt better about skateboarding.

(setup 8.25 null venture lows 1/16 riser 50mm spitfires/stfs 4 washers inside each axle bones medium bushings nb# pj stratford 533 black/white)

@nolancormier bundle up and skate. ⛸

A video posted by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Nov 19, 2015 at 5:48am PST

On a chilly night (it was 32 when we started and mid 20s when we finished) I picked up Nolan and we went to the empty Louisville park. I could tell immediately that I would not skate well. I told NOlan I needed to learn nollie front nose and we tried some. Well, he did some. I just jumped off my board and shook my head because I will probably be getting a letter on it. I also was like 1/10 on front 50s and crooks. Yikes. Nolan was doing front crooks, smiths, tailslides, lots of tricks. I gave up on the ledge after awhile. We started skating the bank to ledge. Nolan was doing back 50s, back 5-0, crooks and other tricks over the hip so I filmed him once. One try that’s the line he got. He rips. I was trying to do a line with crooks on the ledge, then crooks on the bank to ledge like Nolan. Never got it. Did some noseslides, jumped off a b/s flip over the hip for some reason. Nolan also did 360 flip, b/s flip, cab, front smith, frontside flip, a bunch more. I took a long time to do kickflip to fakie on the bank. We messed around with the mellow qp/bank with coping on it. Nolan did kickflip b/s nosepick. I came close to kickflip pivot, but couldn’t get enough speed most times. Nolan then tried 360 flip into “whatever it lands in” and he did like 3 treflip front 50s in a row. I tried a bunch of kickflip boardslides on the bank to ledge. Got close, but that was it. Fun night even though I skated poorly.

(setup 8.25 null venture lows 1/16 riser bones medium bushings 4 washers inside each axle 50mm spitfire f4 101a nb# pj stratford 533 black/white)

I was almost feeling like skating. I guess the desire to take a break after hitting 300 days is finally dieing down. I went out to the garage for about 20 minutes and set the “manual pad” up the “long” way. It ended up being really fun. I didn’t get any new tricks, but I did some the long way that I’ve previously only done the short way. I know the “long” way still isn’t long, but with how little room there is in the garage the long way means I have to actually manual. I got nose manual shove, front 180 nose manual, switch nose manual 180, nose manual back 180 and halfcab nose manual back 180 out. It was fun and got me hyped to skate for real again.

(setup 8.25 null venture lows 1/16 riser 4 washers inside each wheel 50mm spitfire f4 101a bones medium bushings nb# pj stratford 533 black/white)