the week in sports.....

mc donalds vibes

"no dude I'm serious, the 90's are making a comeback"

i thought the light was super artsy, turns out to be just a really shitty photo

never not practicing

sometimes you chuga lug, then turn around a puke in someones cooler

- tent city- 10 years or more ago

this full pipe was over 30 feet tall, so that makes its transitions 15ft plus. it was in the middle of nowhere in Australia. We had driven the van on dirt roads for hours upon hours hoping that at the end of the road the pipe of all pipes laid waiting for us. When the road finally ended, we pulled over to find a practically dried up reservoir, judging by the size of the overflow pipe peaking above the mud and the crud we had found our spot. 

We slid around a fence with our boards and our tents and hiked down to the other end of that overflow , which obviously led to where a river once was. Everyone was slightly delirious from the drive and being on the road for weeks. As the sun lowered , we found our camp spot,  ditching our tents and boards we hiked over to the pipe. Laying in front of us was a sleeping monster, littered with trash, cracks, dead animals, and the nastiest mud. There was a about 10 of us, rare to have a silent moment, but at the sight of this drain, jaws were wide open but no words came out. Eventually i think it was julien that simply grunted "fuuuuuuuuuccckk"....... 

The thing was not only impressive in size but completely terrifying, the fact that we were hours from the nearest hospital didn't ease the anxiety. Like no full pipe i had ever seen there was a 30 ft bomb drop into the thing, so you were completely hauling ass on your first turn. As we walked away, the bats had started to fly around our tired shuffling bodies. The flies were chewing on every scab, and then we started to talk about what we just saw. 

With this many people at this time of night when camp is setting up, all you hear is the shuffling of nylon from the tents and sleeping bags and then just zippers. Its almost comical. Then it gets practically silent as everyone sets up their  little zone. Our gathering of fire wood was barbaric, branches ripped from dying trees, logs popped out of dried mud, old skateboards, if it was flammable it got burnt. Someone threw a full can of beans in the fire, i ducked behind a tree watching the can swell with the heat... then BOOM!! The can explodes, what goes up must come down, boiling beans falling from the sky, Bailey feel asleep a little too soon and was woke up by beans burning all the way through his bag and onto his flesh. "what the fuck man"   we all started rolling with laughter. 

I fondly reminisce about these times, obviously. It wasn't a shit show, it wasn't what you think you see in the videos of people trying to out -shit head- or out party the next guy. It was more like soldiers gathering the night before battle, burning off some of that anxiety, as their minds wander into the coming mornings battle. That next morning i only heard flys, maybe some shuffling of tents, but just BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ.... The Oz flies are no joke. Most mornings they served as our alarm clock. As i got up i noticed Juliens tent was empty. I have deep respect for Julien, we've traveled the world and never once have i worried if he'd be alright, picked up his trash, or not felt the fire he has to skate new things. I knew he was in the pipe, so i dragged my groggy ass up there, sure enough he was squatting in some wretched filth with some make shift scooper and a bucket trying to make a dent in the crap that lay in the bottom of the pipe. Gabe was there shooting some film of the thing, this photo was that morning. We had to haul the crud up out over the 30ft bomb drop as well.  Is this when i say "you gotta pay to play".... I'd rather not.  I think Julien cleaned more of it then anyone, and skated it the least. Not due to fear or lack of skill, but something deeper than that. Anyone that has ever built something knows what i'm trying to say.

This trip was pretty hard core. Sometimes some skate purist will say things about some of these trips being paid for by someone else.... like i "did in on my own buck" which is great. That guy probably would of lasted 3 days on this trip, or been dragged from the back of the van. There was nothing glamorous about it, somedays you had the jokes or the fire or the story to get everyone through a drive and the other days you prayed your buddy did. You can glamorize it, you can down play it.... paint a picture, make it poem, voice over, get that perfect staged shot..... but that's not it. Its the balance of being completely uncomfortable and completely comfortable at the same time. Or maybe the story teller or film maker should have to clean the pipe, you know what i mean? 

the new - RIPPER- #6

 river killing it

  ja-pan

 homeless

 nicke and the lobster boss

thanks dude. they all see the mama tried, i'll see ramblin fever

whats the frequency kenneth, hows the clearance.. Clarence.

    gasoline eh?

  fuck around and find out

quite possibly the best break up line

maybe an oakland minute or maybe just some random stuff

that's a lot of primer

 black and blue

 they got a baby now

caution: god on board

my bike was pumped on the santana cover. noodle on.

thought for food/ a fools rambling/ planned arrogance destiny

       is there something wrong with us they we constantly need to convince others that our way is better than theirs?
  actions speak louder than words, but then pen is mightier than the sword. But most importantly i always thought that Yin Yang was spelled Ying Yang.
  but back to this.....I like to skate vert, its fast, and its a constant perfect wall in front of you, which some could argue is repetitive or boring. I get that, but its the shifting gears in speed from big air in 4th into the downshift into 3rd that makes the smith grind. Manipulation of a constant. But i"d never ever say vert is better than parks or street..... or pools! because honestly pools are probably the best. Boil it all down and at the end you get the backyard pool, coincidentally its the birth of it all. More or less. Moron blessed.
   So what i'm saying is, why do we have to say it so loud that -i ride farther than you, faster than you-, i knew about the band before you, seen them more than you, my map is more filled in than you, been traveling longer than you...... basically the things i do are better than the things you do, and the way i go about them is better too.
  what Im doing right now has been labeled as "egocentric ramblings" which is true. Singularly noted as well as dually noted.
 But what if i just like what i do. After 40 plus years I've landed on my feet, waved at a cute girl as i did, tripped and fell on my face.... and realized gee i like the view from down here.
 There's is no picture of the ocean i went in today, there is no handlebar shot of the ride the other evening, but what i do have is a firm belief in who i am and what makes me, me.  I may be selfish or may just like to be alone most days, i prefer driving with my dog in the truck than having a redundant conversation. But if you like that constant company thing,,,, fucking cool. That rules, i'm horrible at it. There are little military deck coats and chucka redwings with beanies biker dolls lined up waiting  to buy knuckleheads..... but that doesn't make us all the same. And god damn i actually really like that costume, now i have to think about it.

REQUIREMENTS;
1. WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU COME FROM?

2. LET ME SEE YOUR 8TH GRADE PHOTO

3. CAN YOU PATCH A BICYCLE TIRE?

4.HAVE YOU EVER ASKED ANOTHER MAN ABOUT HIS BEARD (IMMEDIATE DISQUALIFICATION)

5. DID YOU REALLY "I USED TO SKATE" NEEED PHOTO.... NO PHOTO= FAKIE ROCK 6FT QUATER PIPE. OR WALK THROUGH STARBUCKS NUDE WITH SKATEBOARD.....BECAUSE THAT IS JUST PARTIALLY WHAT IT WOULD FEEL LIKE TO BE A SKATER WHEN I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL.

6. WHEN YOU WERE A "CRUSTY" DID YOU HAVE A CELL PHONE?

7. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR TIMING.... RETARDED OR ADVANCED?

8. HAVE YOU EVER GONE DOWN ON A FEMALE WHILE SHE HAD A YEAST INFECTION?.......IF SO, DO TELL. THEN EXPAND ON THAT SUBJECT.

9. AND NOW WE WILL NEED A PHOTO FROM 10 YEARS AGO, AND YOUR REAL BIRTH NAME AND THE SECURITY CODE ON THE BACK OF YOUR CREDIT CARD.

10. WHY ARE YOU?

          bye,

phife.... RIp. thanks for the soundtrack in the 90's



this fucker is a bad ass. i give him as much as i can, and one look from his eyes destroys my heart

joel chaves in the 80's.  Joel kind of looked homeless, liked to play tennis, and skated like he'd never seen another human ever skate. Some sort of idiot savant. This photo is truly unbelievable to me and gets me very "stoked"

tight

thanks for stopping by