Where was I?

Duncan Creek Park in Dacula, GA

Tonight I got the chance to session Duncan Creek Skatepark (designed and built by Wally Hollyday Skatedesign) in Dacula, GA, which I didn't get a chance to ride the last time I was in the Atlanta area. My first impressions were that the place was much bigger than the photos I found on-line lead me to believe. I thought about taking pictures of the park on my phone like I normally do but the images below (that I found on-line) do more than adequate job of showing all the ramps and obstacles.

As usual, the bikers were out numbered by the skaters, but on this particular night we seemed to be substantially out numbered. I rode for a little over 2 hours and I'm guessing there was on average 25 bikers and skaters total at any given time. Even with that many people in the park there still felt like plenty of room to ride as long as you're willing to ride different sections to avoid the bigger crowds.

I also really enjoyed the long grind box (which you can see in the lower right corner of the image above) since I was able to pull a feeble to smith, 1st try and a smith to feeble, 37th (I'm estimating) try.

I was particularly fond of the quarter pipes in this bowl. I found airing out of them to feel really comfortable.

The sub-box in this section was particularly fun to icepick stall and grind out of the wedge.

If you're ever in the Atlanta area and you get the chance to ride Duncan Creek Park in Dacula, I strongly recommend you do it. Now if the weather isn't too bad, go out and ride.

Lessons I learned riding my mountain bike

Tonight I went on a two hour mountain bike ride after my Show Car event in Florence, SC and managed to learn a few lessons along the way.

1. When going on a bicycle ride, double and triple check your route along the way. Even if you know where you're going, check it again. A "short" bike ride can turn into a much longer ride rather abruptly simply by missing just one turn.

2. Always fill up your water bottle before you leave for a bike ride. (see lesson #1)

3. Dress appropriately for the season, not just the current weather conditions. It is surprising how quickly the temperature drops during the fall when the sun goes down. (see lesson #1)

4. When pedaling down back country roads, be prepared to pedal your ass off at a moments notice. It seems that in the country there are a lot more loose dogs running around and they seem to just love chasing guys on bikes.

5. Even though pedaling down the center of railroad tracks is fun on a full-suspension mountain bike, after the second mile it still manages to take its toll on your butt. (see lesson #1)

6. Pedaling a bicycle is a great way to see parts of the country you would otherwise never get a chance to see.

7. Always make sure you know exactly where you're going when you start even the shortest ride. (see lessons #2, 3, and 5) If you do manage to get lost anyways, be prepared to learn lesson # 6 first hand.

Rodney Mullen is the best skater in the world

I found this and had to share it with everyone. Rodney created more of the skateboarding moves than any other three skaters in the world (excluding Tony Hawk probably). Enjoy!

Super Fast Downhill Skateboarding - This is fun

I just stumbled upon this video and I was enthralled from beginning to end. These two skaters were getting great footage and the whole time they were passing the camera back and forth. Enjoy!

Adam Kimmel presents: Claremont HD from adam kimmel on Vimeo.

Really tall bike

This guy I know from BMXing at skateparks has a business where he travels around the state mostly and puts on BMX demos for various businesses, schools, fairs, etc. Anyways, while riding the show he met a guy who boasted about having some really tall bikes so he went over to check them out. The picture below is what came from checking out the weird guy's bikes. I'm not even sure how you would get started riding that thing.

Lewisville, TX Skatepark Update

I just learned some news about the skatepark in Lewisville that is being constructed. You can check my previous post HERE for an update on a potential opening date.

Trails edit from Ride UK

Thanks to a Facebook post by my friend Travis, I found this trails edit with Liam Eltham from RideUK BMX. Good stuff, enjoy!

Ramp Ranch Skatepark Austin, TX

So I just got back to my hotel after riding Ramp Ranch Skatepark for the first time in Liberty Hill, TX (located about 20 minutes northwest of Austin on Hwy 29) and I had a great time. Apparently the place is under new ownership (THIS link may be the old owners) and I lucked out with "$2 Tuesday" as opposed to the $15 non-member fee I would normally pay. The guy behind the counter (forgot to ask his name) said they were going to be having a BMX contest on the 27th of September and that I should come back and compete. Since I can't 360 or backflip the box jump I would fall into the Advanced class. I might just have to make a weekend road trip out of it with a few friends. I wouldn't expect to win but I'd definitely enjoy riding in a contest just once. He also told me that they were going to be changing the place up (including the addition of a foam pit) and that I should come back in December when it's all finished.

I met a local kid by the name of Kyle who was shredding the place pretty good. He did a few alley-oop 270s over the horseshoe hip, suicide no-handers up the step-up, a tuck-no hander over the box jump, barspins galore & an x-up over the spine. He was pretty good rider and a cool kid to ride with.

I managed to pull a few things that had me stoked. According to Kyle, I'm the first person to ever icepick grind the flat rail on the pyramid, seeing as how it just got installed and all. I jumped the spine numerous times and nearly lawn darted myself to flat only once. I aired the hips in the horseshoe and smithed the entire ledge on the second pyramid.

I even managed to put together a line that included a tire grab over the box, icepick grind on the flat rail, 180 up the eurogap to fakie disaster the quarter, then pulled a sloppy table back down the eurogap, manualed down the manny pad on the pyramid & finished off with a manual back over the box jump. I was super stoked on that line because I called it out when I first got there and didn't think I would have it in me to land it. I also tried to tire ride the flat rail three times before deciding to take a pass on that one. The second attempt ended with a barend in the stomach that left a nice round red mark.

All in all, it was a great session and I'm looking forward to riding that place again some day. Enjoy the pictures below.

You can't see the Eurogap on the far left of the platform in the back. According to one local, the mini-ramp in the back corner is 7 feet tall but it looked more like a 6 foot mini to me.

This is the flat rail that I apparently became the first person to ever icepick grind. First! I also tried to tire ride that rail and failed all 3 attempts.

I'm not sure how but I managed to air both hips on this horseshoe followed by airing the spine in the photo below.

That spine tried to lawn dart me once and some how I managed to loop out of it once as well. I pulled a smith grind across the flat and down wedge in the back ground but only because the coping was above the ledge which locked on the back tire.

The foreground is the landing of the best box jump I've ever ridden. You can see in the background that the roll-in almost gives you too much speed for this box jump. It's also hard to tell but behind the roll along the entire back wall is a 3 foot deep bowl with vert wall on the left side that leads to the double roller jump on the far left side.

I'm really curious to see what the place is going to look like come December. If you get a chance, you should check out the BMX contest on September 27th at Ramp Ranch in Liberty Hill, TX.

Skater jumps moving car

This kind of looks fake but if it's real than I must say I'm impressed. Talk about ballsy.

Nathan Williams in Georgia

I just found this video on Dan's 360 and had to include it because it shows Nathan Williams riding a bunch of skateparks in Georgia that I recently got a chance to ride when I did a Show Car loop through there. Enjoy!

Levi's® Clip of the Week - Nathan Williams Mix - More BMX Videos

Espee Bike Park in Chandler, AZ

This place truly is one of my favorite parks in the country. Sure it's 7:00 pm & 100 degrees (literally) but I'm still not as sweaty as any ride ever in Florida.

The bike of the future

According to Olympic Cyclist Chris Boardman who designed the bike above, this bike is theft-proof and includes puncture proof tires. It can also count calories and play music for you while you ride. Even though this bike is just a dream right now, all of the technology involved already exists. I hope I'm still young enough to pedal a bike when it finally comes out.

The Factory Skatepark in Newnan, GA

UPDATE:

I forgot to update my post but it is official. The Factory Skatepark is CLOSED. 

I went by there twice a few weeks ago; the doors were locked & the store front was empty. Sad days we're living in.

Today was my travel day from Jesup, GA back up to the Atlanta area and since the drive time for that trip was only 4 hours, I had plenty of time to hit up The Factory Skatepark in Newnan, GA. I would like to go on record from the very beginning and say that this park is by far my favorite skatepark in Georgia.

I've never been to an indoor skatepark that is as massive as the Factory. I'm just guessing now but, I think the building used to be a factory of some sort, hence the name. According to their website, the park is a 40,000+ square foot facility, and they basically filled up just about every square foot with obstacles to ride.

According to the guy working behind the counter (I forgot to ask his name) the skatepark just went through a 2 week long renovation of the ramps. You'll see in the pictures below that a few of the obstacles aren't finished yet & even then I don't think I could ever get bored with that place.

I could begin to describe the place but to do so in any detail would take pages upon pages of blogging. I'm not that dedicated to the process, sorry. Instead, I'm going to describe a few of the highlights under the pictures below and let you look through them yourself.

The pyramid in the picture above is the otherside of the pyramid in the picture below. It was by far my favorite because the up to flat rail got icepicked at least half a dozen times and they were felt super smooth.

This was my second favorite ramp, mostly because I've never ridden a resi-ramp before. I also enjoyed it because I pulled my first "clicked" tuck no-hander.

That spine was a lot of fun.

Not only is this skatepark my favorite in Georgia, I think it is safe to say, this is my favorite indoor park, PERIOD. I may have to figure out a way to go back there one more time before I leave Georgia. It kills me to think that I may not get a chance to ride it again for another year. Thank you to all the Factory Skatepark locals who I rode with for sharing your park with me.

BMX video of some of my friends

This is a video by Tazz Hernandez that has clips from my friends Travis & Deven, as well as a few other BMXers I know. Enjoy!

Fun at the GASHOUSE from Tazz Hernandez on Vimeo.

The BMX Scene in Tifton, GA

Of all the towns that I am stopping in while I'm working in Georgia, Tifton is not the one where I thought I would run into any BMXers on the streets. Well, technically they ran into me.

According to the city's website, Tifton is a "friendly city" located just off of I-75, Hwy 82, Hwy 319 and US 41. Tifton has a population of over 15,000 residents and I just so happened to meet the TWO Tiftonites that ride BMX.

After getting psyched with BMX videos, I decided to grab my bike and go pedal around the area of my hotel for a little while. I hadn't pedaled around for more than 15 minutes when a silver Jeep Cherokee pulled near me in a K-Mart parking lot and the drive asked, "You ride?" That is a phrase that every BMXer worth their salt stained clothes has muttered at some point. "You ride," is the secret code every BMXer uses to find fellow big kids on little bikes. According to Brett and Joseph, they are the entirety of the BMX scene in Tifton, GA. When they saw a bike they didn't recognize being ridden by a guy they didn't know from the Taco Bell across the street, they had to ask the all important question.

The proper response to the inquiry of, "You ride?" is, "Yea." At that point it is understood by both parties that the common bond of Freestyle BMX will be shared. Brett followed up my response with the next question in the secret code, "You wanna' ride?" Which of course I responsed properly by saying, "yea sure." Instant fellowship is shared as soon as the rubber hits the ground and the shoes hit the pedals. Brett and Joseph decided to show me around to a few of the local street spots. The first place we stopped had a metal ramp with rails on the sides that went up to a loading dock. While we were there, we set up a couple of plastic jersey barriers to make a curved wallride which surprisingly enough worked out.

Then they took me to a car dealership parking lot that had a sign near the corner with a large metal base. The base of the sign was a headtube high, metal grindbox that was eerily close to a brand new Mercury SUV. This didn't stop either one of them from feeble grinding it. Later we headed to a cool wall-ride setup with a short up bank in front of it. The wedge acted like a bump jump almost onto the wall-ride. I had some fun on that until I somehow managed to nose manual the wall and slam my knee into my handlebars. It was shortly after this that we reached the last spot of the night.

We didn't know yet that this was going to be the last spot of the night but Brett made sure of that when he decided to draw blood. So here's the setup. Imagine a concrete loading ramp that goes up to a loading dock for trains. The ramp was probably 25 or 30 feet long and was about stem high at the top. The edge of the ramp had a concrete curb that was pretty rough with quite a few chips and cracks in it. In fact, there was one section of the curb that was missing a 6 inch wide chunk. Brett feebled about a third of it a few times when he decided he was going to feeble the entire 30 feet of curb. He pedals down to the far end of the parking lot to get enough speed for it and this is when his blood decides it is time to make a grand entrance. Unfortunately for Brett's chin, he hopped into the feeble before the missing chunk and his back peg slipped into it and fell right off the ledge. Brett pulled an accidental half tail-whip right before falling straight to his chest and chin. He immediately hopped up and said, "I hit my chin!" As with all face wounds, it started bleeding immediately. He used the Ace bandage that he had wrapped his wrist in to wipe the blood off his chin and began to calm down a little. The quote of the night has to be when he stood up and said, "Welcome to South Georgia."

Welcome to South Georgia indeed, like I said before, I never expected to meet a couple of BMXers while street riding in this little "friendly city" but that is what BMX does for people. It brings together a few friends that are separated by more than 10 years and 1,000 miles. Thank you very much to Brett and Joseph for showing me some cool street spots in Tifton and for being cool guys to ride with. Oh yea, thank you Brett for making the blood sacrifice to the BMX gods. The rest of us on 20" bikes greatly appreciate you sacrifice. Put some ice on it, you'll be fine.

Freecoaster Frenzy

Thanks to a Facebook news feed, I found an Ian Schwartz video on Danscomp360. This of course lead to a second Ian video. Followed by a Bruce Crisman video, and then a Karl Poynter video, etc. etc. Once I finished wasting about an hour getting psyched to go ride, I decided I would post a few of my favorites here. Enjoy!

Ian Schwartz in Cali! from Jim Cielencki on Vimeo.

Best of Bruce Crisman from Federal BMX on Vimeo.

Hardcore Sportz - Karl Poynter & Shane Weston from dirtystylebmx on Vimeo.

Brook Run Skatepark Dunwoody, GA

*** WARNING ***
I use the word "boob" in this article a lot. I apologize in advance. Thanks for reading.

The plan last night before the "Boob Tube" warped time and had me awake at 2 am was: to wake up early, ride a free park in the morning, Brook Run Skatepark from noon to 2 pm and then drive to Albany. When the alarm went off at 7 am I decided Brook Run would be enough riding for a Sunday.

When I showed up the place wasn't open yet and I was the only one there. About 5 minutes later a 4 door hatchback pulls up and 3 BMXers get out and start suiting up. I later found out they were from Orlando and on a weekend long roadtrip around Atlanta to do some riding. I would have to say they were in their late teens and maybe even 20 or so, but I've always been horrible with guessing age. Shortly after them a family (including the shaggy haired dog in-tow) with a few young kids on Wal*Mart specials come walking up. Finally a late 20s married guy on an Eastern Thunderbird showed up. After the attendants arrived and got the place setup to take the $6 Non-resident fee from me, I got inside to do some riding.

Brook Run Park is a DeKalb County park with a concrete skatepark in Dunwoody, GA. They only offer 3 Bike Sessions a week and one of them happened to be on my day off. I will say in hindsight, that I wish the session was much earlier in the morning though. The air was thick with humidity and heat. I found it hard to sit on the deck in between runs because the sun was so bright. Fortunately, the park has a facility with big bay doors all around that open up the building pretty well. I bet I spent more time catching my breath in the shade of the building than I did actually riding. The one thing that made the heat tolerable was the fact that the park had a COLD water fountain. I don't think there is any single daily moment that I treasure more than a drink from a cold water fountain when I'm riding a skatepark on a hot day.

The park itself has an interesting approach to the standard concrete park setup. When you first ride in, there is a pool with a shallow and a deep end with "pool coping" around the whole thing.

To the right of the pool is the 6 foot deep bowl section. I found it hard to air out of the steep tranny but then again, it was really hot which affects my riding. The bowl had a sort of "G" shape with a 3 foot wide "spine box" on one end.

There was an oververt pocket in the back and a big boob hip (big boob... hehe) in the center with a coping quarter. There was coping around the whole bowl with a sub-box on one side and a tombstone extension that made for a wall ride on the end with the "spine box".

In the back of the bowl section is another boob hip, the oververt pocket and an extension on the bowl to make it 8 feet deep. I never got the courage to try airing out of this "vert" end.

To the right of the bowl is a classic small ditch setup with steep wedges on each side.

Around the side of the building is the street section. The street section has some very classic street obstacles but it seems so spread out. I guess it is probably good for skaters but I found it somewhat limiting.

I did really enjoy the euro gap in the back corner (which you can sort of see in the back of the picture above). I also kept trying to icepick stall the grindbox on top of the wedge (in the picture above, on the right) but never did pull a clean one. After sweating out about 15 lbs of water in 2 hours, I said good bye to my fellow riders and began the long drive south to Albany.

Audi R8

The insurance business must be good because the agent for today's event owns this Audi R8. Nice car!

First FMX Frontflip to dirt

It's a little sketchy but I had to share this with y'all. Wow is all I can say.

And for good measure, here's a Frontflip flair on a BMX bike.

Bay Creek Skatepark Loganville, GA

Today I hit up the 2nd skatepark of my Georgia trip and I gotta' say, I really like Bay Creek Skatepark. Bay Creek Park is a city funded park in Loganville, GA that has a 20,000 square foot concrete skatepark. The park itself has a skate plaza feel to it with tons of ledges, rails, and even a granite sub-box on top of a wedge. The park also includes a nice bowl section with some really smooth tranny. I actually drove out there last night to find that after only 15 minutes of riding the lights mysteriously shut off an hour and a half early. The park is normally open from sunrise to 11 pm. When I showed up last night the place was PACKED but this morning it was myself and 2 novice skaters. Man I love an empty skatepark. I only rode for about an hour and a half before the heat got to me but I still had a good time. I found a fun little line around the bowl and even did a few wallrides on one of the jersey barriers. Now the question is, what park will I ride next?