December is the month when thing go into stasis... Not entirely however, as the big annual event in the UK streetboarding calendar - the UK Streetboard Championships - was held in St.Albans skate park.
A combination of a strong dislike for this park, and feeling rough after a skinfull the previous night meant that I was destined for judging - and Adam and I resumed our positions as professional judges (again! ;) for the event.
Max Anderson blew everyone away - pulling massive spins and flips so high that it culminated with him hitting the warehouse roof beams inverted(!), before wisely calling it a day. That boy just keeps pushing the boundarys... :o0
A week or two later, the usual suspects - Josh, Paul, Colin and I - took a trip to Corby to get some last skating in before christmas.
The boys spent most of their time working the midi ram, while I practised backside rodeos. Those resi-ramps are a gods-end...
News of two skateparks - looks like the Bournemouth skatepark planned for the memorial gardens under the flyovers may well be going ahead, and apparently Romsey is to get an indoor park! Typical! Nothing for ages, then 2 covered facilities at once..!
So Christmas, blah, New Year, blah - hope everyone had a good time..?
Upcoming news: snowboarding in January, in more ways than one - wait and tune in next time... Mwa Ha Ha Haaaa..! ;)
newsflash!
We are moving! *excitement* ;)
Short delay while broadband is out, until normal service is resumed - about 4 weeks time - but rest assured we will be comin' back to ya with fresh streetboarding action straight from the 2009 UK Streetboarding Nationals - only 4 short days away!
Be there or.......don't.
friday 6th november
Aaaaargh! More injury... Broken wrist this time :(
Took a new Highland board to White Air, without sorting the set-up first. Took 6 drop-ins down a 25-ft drop-in - 6 big tumbles - and I really stuffed my wrist.
So, 4 weeks out, followed by very careful skating has seen me concentrate on block to reduce falls.In-between rain, have been working on some tricks and combos...
Skating is going to move indoors now the light has gone in, so expect more trips up to Corby and the big parks...
Just about to move into the new house with CJ - really looking forward to the new pad, next to a nature reserve with an awesome garden... Gonna be great!
Enjoy fireworks night..!
sunday 13th september
Not much happened - 10 second run-down:
No streetboarding... Old Bournemouth friend Graham over... Rosco's birthday - Newbury races... Bournemouth Air Show... Foot healed... Streetboarding again... Bought Highland Cartel56... Car back... Bonza.
Brighton's White Air extreme sports festival demo next weekend... First demo back on the board... New streetboard to boot...
Lookin' forward to it... Yeah.
friday 31st july
3 things have stood out for me over the last month and a half - my TVR track day, the Streetboarding World Championships at NASS and the holiday CJ and I took at the end of July.
I treated myself to a track day in my TVR for my birthday - spending a day learning how to drive the car properly with and hour and a half of lessons. Spent 45 minutes learning how to drift, get the car sideways and catch it again.
Some of the best fun I have ever had - everyone should do this, if only to learn how to drive properly...
At the end of June, there was a skate demo held in Hove skatepark, as part of the Brighton "Paddle Round the Pier" festival.
Despite the fact that we had been there before on the 2007 Highland streetboarding tour - surprise, surprise; we got lost.
We missed the streetboard demo, but helped film the lads hit the "Jon White" rail and moved on to hit "The Level" - the skatepark in the centre of Brighton.
NASS was the story on everyone's lips - yet again the Streetboard World Championships was being held at NASS 2009, but this year there was Goliath...
The largest big-air ramp in Europe, Goliath featured a 30ft drop-in, with a launch over a 20ft gap - leading to a 15ft high vert quarterpipe.
I was one of the riders allowed to ride this, our initial practise on the Friday morning.
The ramp threw you over the gap with a fair amount of ease, and we concentrated on getting our technique down. I managed about 10 runs, pushing the boundaries every time - until on my last run, I smashed my toe into the ramp on landing, putting myself out of the running :(
Continuous rain over the next days stopped the outside activities - but the sun shone on Sunday, and the Big Air finals proceeded.
I have subsequently found out that I have a broken toe - but such things happen, and it was worth it to ride Goliath. Bring on next year, with more practise
The following weekend, we played host to our Kiwi friends from Canada, Jane & Boots!
Although the weather decided to pour down all weekend, I showed them all the local sights and made them promise to come back when the 3rd member of the crew Logan hits the UK.s
CJ & I took a week off, and took some time out to look around our own country for once - rather than everybody else's countries as we have previously.
We checked out the New Forest, and decided to head west to the Cotswolds.
We took a 3-day trip through Bath, across the River Severn Bridge, through Tintern and the Forest of Dean, Cheltenham and the Cotwold villages of Broadway and Slaughter - we saw some great places (including the Cheltenham Pump House with its 70ft well under the floor), broadened our horizons, and enjoyed some great weather. Perfect.
So its back to work now, and just kinda waiting for my toe to heal so I can get back to streetboarding...
And waiting for the bloody rain to stop..!
monday 12th june
The Reel Life streetboards film competition went off!
The Flipside Team consisted of riders Paul Nash, Andy Garrett and Josh Newman with Adam Walder and me providing camerawork and editing work. It was a hard day - 10 hours non-stop riding and travelling, covering somewhere over 220 miles and collecting footage from London, Oxford, Milton Keynes and Corby.
Shall I tell you about the chicken hat? Losing all the riders across London? Nearly destroying Andys camera? The afterparty? Perhaps I'll just leave you with some images from the day...
Respect goes out to the French Team "Anti-Ductil" who won with a superb video - rider Vianney Merinville, Chris Bellet, Hadrien Raffaelli, with Theo & Francios editing - check the Reel Life videos.
Been making the most of the fantastic weather to take the TVR Chimaera out and stretch its legs.
With a notoriously unruly nature in the wet - I have been glad of the long spells of good temperatures, driving the car regularly.
With the Boscombe Surf Reef imminent on Bournemouth's summer calender, the powers that be have stockpiled sand by Boscombe Pier, to be pumped into the geotextile sandbags shortly. It's HUGE - I reckon about 100ft high..!
So obviously we just had to to boarding.
Fellow rider Ross Elliott joined me in an evening of hiking and riding - short runs, picking up speed fairly quickly, with a hard hike back up. Wicked! Will try and get more footage soon...
Various images taken over the last couple of months, while we enjoyed the great weather:
Flipside riders Paul Nash, Josh Newman and Day One's Colin Horan joined me for a day skating at the new park in Dorchester.
We turned up on a demo day with the sun shining; ripped up the park, threw down big tricks and got a load of footage.
We had an awesome day, got back so late that we wiped ourselves out - spent the next day recovering on the beach - and even Colin and I were too tired to skate the newly-discovered Asda block properly on the BandHoliday Monday. Gonna have to spend a day there soon...
I joined a TVR show day over at Beaulieu - organised by the TVR Owners Club.
We got there early, and joined about 200 other TVRs right next to the Motor Museum - parked up in a special area so the public could walk around and check them out.
After inspecting the TVRs on show - there were some unbelieveable cars there - CJ and I spent a few hours looking in the Motor Museum and walking throught the fantastics grounds and gardens there. A great day out with superb weather :)
Lastly, I have been working on CJ's longboard, doing a 2 colour flame design which CJ wanted - using purple and leopard print. Looking really good, it'll almost be a shame to actually use it...
Well - s'pose you can't frame it...
My birthday on the 23rd... Lets see what dumb-ass shit I can get up to...
