Go Skate Day 2011

Go Skateboarding Day Atlanta 2011

     Finally! After missing the first seven years of Go Skateboard Day, I was finally able to go. To be honest, I highly doubt that I've actually missed all of them since they began in 2004. I probably skated on June 21st at some point in the last few years, but never have I been where the action is. Of course Atlanta's Go Skate Day turned out to be less than I expected, but it was still fun. Apparantly there was a much larger turnout last year. Nonetheless, it was a good day. I started out the day by eating chocolate chip cookies for breakfast and watching skate videos. Then, in the spirit of skateboarding I headed out around two o'clock. My first spot was the 'black boxes' on the Piedmont overpass. 

"Black Boxes" with the shadow from the canopy above. This is
Piedmont on the right.

     I have to admit, these were much higher than I expected. I was able to boardslide one, but that was it. I considered doing a 50-50, but I don't like grinding things that aren't longer than 3 or 4 feet... it doesn't yeild enough enjoyment for me. When I arrived at the Black Boxes there were only about 10 kids skating. Soon afterwards there were well over 40. However, within an hour there were only 2 people there... me included.







The location for the Black Boxes is pretty nice. It's directly
over the Interstate on an overpass.

      So the other fellow showed me around some of the spots in Atlanta. We proceeded to the Georgia State Banks, GP Ledges, and the Underground Atlanta Stairs. These were all a bit of a disappointment because there were no skateboarders to be found anywhere. So, although I was hoping to avoid it, I ended up at the Old Fourth Ward Skatepark. It was pretty crowded there. Go Skateboarding Day is different for everyone. For me it is about skating in places where people generally don't allow you to. Strength in numbers. Skate the bailed out bank rails and stairs (we own them now right?), schools, churches, and whatever else you generally get kicked off of. I mean this is the main advantage of having 100+ skateboarders together at one time. Take a page from critical mass. Of course, this is how it's done in many cities and towns across the World. The skatepark was fun though. One thing that I found to be ironic is that fewer kids actually get to skate on Go Skate Day. The best skateboarders tend to rise to the top and show off thier skills while everyone else sits back and enjoy the show. It's truly enjoyable though. I have to say that although the street competition was pretty amazing to watch (especially the kid who landed a blunt to fakie on the wall), the highlight of my day was to see the older skateboarders show up and rip in the pool and flow bowl. This was incredible! One guy had to be at least 55 (probably older) and he was absolutely destroying the pool and the flow bowl. That was certainly one of the coolest things I've ever seen. 

The older guy ripping up the pool like it was his day job.

     In the end, I only landed two tricks after over 8 hours of "skating," a boardslide at the black boxes and a boardslide down "the racker." That, however had very little effect on my day. It truly was an enjoyable experience and the amount of energy that surfaced at the skatepark was phenomenal. No doubt about it, Go Skateboard Day will become a standard holiday for me from now on!





This guy was really nice too. He's doing a 50-50 in the deep end here. Insane!



This kid had a really awesome style. Here he is doing a manual across the
island and dropping back in.



This kid placed in the top 3 of the street competition. Looks like he's doing
a feeble here. He was very consistent.



The older guy again just destroying the flow bowl. He's my new hero.



Another one. He was grinding all the way around the curve each time.


Below are some videos from throughout the day

The Black Boxes when people began to show up

and before everyone left.

Old Fourth Ward Park... where everyone migrated to from downtown.

Flow bowl footage.

The worst bail I saw all day, but this is the same kid who

blunt to fakied the wall. The craziest thing was that he

got up after this and kept skating.

A huge lipslide. I believe he won the contest too.

I could be wrong about that though.

Massive backside bluntslide (or over tail?). Absolutetly amazing!

Hat Trick!!!

The "street" course at Old Fourth Ward

Here is the other part of the "street" course. This is the part
that is impossible to approach without starting at the flow bowl.

     I just got back from an incredible Old Man Skate Jam with my bro Doug. I took him over to the Old Fourth Ward Skatepark that just went up a couple of weeks ago. This place is strange. I hate to complain about "Atlanta's first skatepark" but they got really sloppy on the street section. This is a real downer for the kids who skate street (which is the majority of kids under 25 or 30). As one kid said to me last time I was there "It looks like they spent all the money on the bowls and pool... then just didn't care about the street course." Unfortunately, I think he was right.

     Everything is super tight and difficult to approach. In order to get a decent run at the street course, you actually have to skate around the edge of the beginner bowl and then skate up a large bank, it's pretty weird. I have a theory on this. Old skaters from the 1980s are building skateparks... therefore they are focusing on ramp and bowl skating even though these seem to be less popular for the younger generation. It's all good though because I have personally learned to love bowl skating... and besides, what is better for street skating than actual street right? As my friend Doug pointed out today , it seems weird that the city (who wants to keep kids from skating on its streets and infrastructure) would build a park with an awkward street section. I guess they don't really care in Atlanta since they've long since welded skate stoppers on every ledge and handrail that was enjoyed a generation ago. I always thought skate stoppers were funny. Growing up I was always told, "We're worried about "liability" that's why we can't let you skate here... sorry guys." So the logical step then is to put screws and weld knobs onto handrails and ledges? OK, so now if I do try the rail it's going to kill me... or better yet some goofy kid (or adult) goes to "buttslide" a rail and ends up... well you get the picture. It's truly laughable. Liability.

Here is "The Racker" complete with a faux ski sign explaining the park's
skill levels.

  
     Enough ranting though, the good news is that I love bowl skating so this new park is incredible for me. And better yet, this place built in the most realistic handrail I've ever seen at a skatepark. It looks so legit that you can't even tell if it's meant to be skated. It's amazing. It has a sidewalk approach (complete with spaced cracks), A crack in front of it, and even has the height of a real handrail. I mean this handrail is the kind that you would find in front of your local bank, school, or police station (no joke), etc. Because of this I added this rail to my Handrail Hitlist page on the site. The good news of course (for me) is that I landed a nice backside boardslide on it today (yeah yeah, its the only trick I can do on a handrail so what). This is also why I cleverly (or not so much) named this post "hat trick" as well. Since skating handrails again these last few months, I have now hit three different handrails. Twigs in Griffin, Twigs the Second in Kennasaw, and The Racker in Atlanta. I call it The Racker of course because I saw a kid actually rack himself (landing your testicals on the rail) just last week. Like I mentioned in my handrail post earlier, handrails are mostly mental. And seriously, if you want to get psyched out about a rail, just watch someone hit their junk on one. That makes everything scarrier (or funnier if your watching Americas Funniest Home Videos).

The "Blue Square" flow bowl. This is the highlight of the park for me.
The transition is fairly mellow and very smooth, not to mention the half
 pool closest to the viewer complete with the beloved tile.

     Now on to the jewel of the park, and no doubt where all the funding landed, the bowls. There are three bowl areas: beginner, medium, and expert. And just to make this place a little cheezier, they use ski symbols to let you know where you are skating. Not to be too much of a hater, but it's a good thing they put these in Atlanta because if they had ski symbols in Griffin I'm sure no one would get it (although the tell-tale sign that you are still the South is that the easy level is marked by an orange circle instead of a green one). I mean this is just cruel to do to people in the middle of June. Thanks for reminding me of pleasantly snowboarding while its 90 degrees with 85% humidity and no breeze, not to mention the fact that the bathroom and waterfountain exist but do not actually function.

Here is the "Black Diamond" pool It's really fun, but very steep.

     
     Anyways, It's a bit creepy at times becuase I'm still not used to the amount of vert in some places, particularly the pool. It has the same dimensions as the pool at Brook Run, but no doubt things changed in construction somewhere. Somebody is lying because this pool has much more vert than Brook Run. Anyways, this pretty much sums up my day. It was awesome, I got to skate with another Old Man from the good old days, and we tore it up... or something like that.

Getting a a little bit of tile in the shallow end of the pool.

My buddy Doug getting up into the cradle and enjoying some flow bowl.

Another picture of the Pool. Deep end on the far
side and shallow on the left and right.

Doug earning himself some 'street cred' at MARTA.

There is also some excellent graffiti underneath the Freedom Parkway
Bridge that I walk under to get to the park.

More beautiful artwork.

One more. I just can't help myself. Also, if you're lucky, when you take
photos of this, there is a homeless guy under the bridge who will scream
"Hey mom, I'm homeless!" and laugh hysterically.

No Country For Young Men?

    It's interesting to see the different styles and methods of skateboarding over the past few decades. There have been changes in the environment (such as the massive switch from flatland to street) and even in personal style (such as large baggy jeans like JNCOs to skinny jeans) of skateboarders. One trend that I have noticed while around skateparks is the generational gap between street and bowl skaters. Although I grew up skating street (largely due to a lack of options), I have since found myself enamored with mini ramps, flow bowls, and even pool skating. These had no appeal to me years ago, but I now find them to be attractive. I suppose getting back to the roots of skateboarding has something to do with this or maybe just because bowl skating allows me to be in the company of the generation (sometimes a few generations) before me. Either way, the last several years have opened up an entirely new avenue of skating to me. I have recently declared my love for the pool.

I just learned how to get to the tile on the backside.

Now I just need to learn how to do it frontside.

       What I find really interesting though, is that this happens to be an area of skating which very few people under 30 participate in on any real level. I am sure that there are plenty of younger skaters out there who can rip in the pool, but if you were to go to an average skatepark with a pool and look at who is skating it you are probably going to see an older demographic. It's interesting how much of a thrill it is though. I have to admit for all the years that I focused on street, I can think of nothing as physically intense as pool skating. It truly works your entire body.

      For some reason I grew up under the impression that pool skating was really boring. I was certainly not alone in this either. I recall watching skate videos and always fast-forwarding any vert or ramp skating in the films. I even hated how the X-games and Tony Hawk gave people the impression that skateboarding was only about vert skating. This was especially annoying since I had never in my life seen anyone in person actually skate vert. Further, I don't think I had even seen a vert ramp in person until 5 or 6 years after I begun skating. Nonetheless, I have since learned why an entire generation grew up with this and was completely content with it. In many ways, it can be more exciting than street. I kind of think of street like bullriding. A trick only lasts a few seconds, but its a very intense few seconds. Bowl skating is different because it takes a lot work to keep your momentum going. This, however is rewarding when you get that sense of wieghtlessness as you pump the bowl. So no matter what trends seem to come in and out of skateboarding, let's just hope that pools remain! Besides you could never have this much fun swimming in one.

You might notice that I have a strange obsession with celebrating

a new or difficult trick by drinking a cream soda.

Getting a little bit of tile here.

Another tile shot. Thanks to the my beautiful wife
(you can see her shadow) for taking these.

This picture should have been the tell-tale
sign that I would throw my back out in this
pool a few days later.

Handrails

My second handrail, and first frontside on a handrail.
It's located at a bank

     I love handrails... well really small ones at least. When I started skating, handrails were considered to be a benchmark accomplishment. If you could hit a handrail, then you must be pretty good. So literally for the first several years of skateboarding, I would constantly be looking at handrails to attempt in the future. This quest for the perfect handrail was difficult, but if you could find a nice rail then it was well worth the effort. In many ways I have kept the 1990s mentality that handrails are king. Because of this, I have set a goal for myself to be able to hit a handrail (not necessarily a large one) at the age of 30. Handrails are funny things. They are 95% mental. Because of this, I have often gone through droughts of not being able to do them. I hit my first handrail in 2000. I was able to do both backside and frontside boardslides on them at that time.

     Then I moved to Idaho on a religious mission for two years and lost my ability to do them anymore. I was unable to do a handrail again until 2009. So after 9 years of not skating handrails, it took a lot of mental energy to convince myself to try them again. I then had another short drought in the last 2 years. Handrails are problematic because the longer you go without trying them, the more difficult they become. After a seemingly long 2 year drought, I just recently was able to do one again. A friend and I have named this handrail "Twigs", because it is so small (as seen in the video above). It's only a four stair rail, so it's perfect for regaining your confidence. After a couple of years of being pyched out , Doug (my friend) and I just recently were able to take down Twigs again.

Me, Doug, and Josh after taking down Twigs
again after a 2 year drought.

     This has inspired me to try and branch out (pun intended) and try to boardslide other small handrails. These may be found in my Handrail Hitlist. My second target was a five stair rail at a skatepark North of Atlanta (video at the bottom). Although it took me quite a few tries to finish it off, I finally was able to take down this little rail. I still love the feeling of sliding down a rail more than anything else while skateboarding. Landing a handrail brings with it an intense rush of excitement. Although all the handrails that I now hit are located within skateparks, handrails are really the strongest link between park and street skating for me. They are sort of a liasson between the two. When hitting a handrail, you can still feel the vibes of street skateboarding as you appropriate an aparatus created for safety into the most dangerous place in the park.

                   Swift-Cantrell Park Handrail