Back to Memphis after Denver, its all good...why are you sorry?

I tell people that I am back to the Memphis scene after returning from a week and a half long trip in Denver, where I hit sometimes three different skate parks in a day. A general reaction from some people have been , "Sorry you had to come back to Memphis."  Which I understand what they are saying, Denver has a whole lot more to offer than the city of Memphis, I do agree, to a certain extent. For me, at the level of skating that I am currently, Memphis and the surrounding areas are pretty good. Denver did raise the bar for me, I went to Denver with limited transition skating and left Denver with a whole new familiarity for many different varieties of curved concrete and a bit of metal. Seriously, Denver took my tranny skating to the next level, thank Ja. Memphis has what I need at the moment: my mini ramp, the Wood Bowl, Tobey Park, DIY, Little Rock, Oxford, Jackson MS, Louisville, St Louis, I don't know, Kona skate park is a 12 hr drive. Yeah, I know, its not like Denver where you can live in Arvada and have access to 6 kickass parks with in 15+ minutes from your living quarters. No Memphis is not ideal, you can't drive an hour west, catch a ski lift up 2500 feet and bomb down the mountain on your new Never Summer Snowboard, then do it again, true dat. But you can go skate with some cool ass people, drink Busch, listen to music and watch TV. Its just where I am at I guess in life at the moment. Ok, yes, if you gave me a free pass to Denver I would take it for sure but things are good in Memphis.

I returned home from Denver on Tuesday night after dealing with delays from the Airline. Never fly United, I know at least two other people that were delayed by that airline this week alone. Wednesday night I headed to Terry's, dropped in and got to know the bowl all because of skating in Denver. Before that night I had previously  stood over the threshold of skating Terry's and did not do it,  but this Wednesday night I had not problem with the attempt. It took me a while that night but I even got over my Sea-Legs as Jungle Jeff put it. Skating that bowl    makes me crazy. I don't know how may times I finished  several runs back to back and my lungs were burning from breathing so hard. My lungs would be burning, my back soar, my legs weakened but screw it, I am taking another run. Skate until you drop. The next day, as I drove to Little Rock, vivid memories of skating that night kept recurring to me over and over,  giving me as strong a feeling as if I had encountered some beautiful woman's lips, intoxicating.

I decided to stop off at Kanis on my way to Hot Springs that Thursday afternoon, maybe get a run in on the Bowl and hit some wall rides. Yeah, the bowl was flooded so I hit some wall rides and their quarter ramp until it started to rain. So I went to Hot Springs were their is nothing to skate but before  I did Kanis left me with a little present. There are several different variations on wall rides, so I decided to hit a jersey type barrier that went vertical. I get up to the run up thinking that it is a little concave, but it was not, it was convex. I hit the convex and was tossed off the board onto my knee. Any way.... So went to Hot Springs Thursday, Friday and part of Saturday.

I returned back to Little Rock Saturday afternoon,  thought I was going to check out En Joy skate shop and indoor complex. I went to the address listed, even called them on the phone and followed their directions but I could not find it. After  agonizing in my frustrations and yelling vulgarities to my self in the rear view mirror I decided to go back to Memphis and skate Terry's. So Terry's I skated, what a fun and mellow sesh, thanks to all those there. And to top it off, Ron M said they had problems finding En Joy as well, so it all worked out. Hello transitons.

I also visited Tobey Park: Almost done - Photos.

Late

Plane Delays lead to more Skating

So Sunday, yes, Sunday, I left you there I think. I got to Denver International Airport early in the morning only to realize that the time on the ticket said 740 pm and not 740 am. The lady who issued the ticket to me days earlier told me it was a morning flight so I was just following what she said. Long story short, the airline canceled the flight and could not schedule back to Memphis until Tuesday at 1245. I stayed in a nice hotel off of 70 Sunday night. Monday I took a cab over to my little brothers school to meet up so we could go skate on his lunch hour. We collected one of his buddies, Vedder, and headed to Walker Branch. The first session of the day went well. I took John's car after the lunch hour sesh was over and headed up to Arvada Memorial Park.

Arvada Memorial Park is just a city park that has big open fields,  a frisbee golf course and tucked off to one side a skate park. The skate park itself is fairly minimal with a sloped bank that is wicked steep, a manual pad/hand rail, a 3 foot mini and a 7 foot half pipe. The two half pipe ramps are really the main focus of the park. They are well constructed and covered in quarter inch metal plating. I have never skated on metal like this before, it was fast. I actually only took one run for I had hit the ground skating to the park it self. I was skating down this hill to a wooden bridge, I did not know that the wood planks on the bridge were wacko, so when I hit the bridge I got ejected onto the ground. The keys in my pocket along with the grenade smashed into my thigh leaving it painful to just move. So I skated one run to just get a feel for it. I got to know a few of the kids at the park, they all must have been in high school. One kid had just finished community service but could not go home yet because the guy he worked for only made him work an hour and in turn gave him 4 hours. His mom would get really pissed if she knew. The next guy was disassembling a gold ear ring so he could sell the gold. While the last kid was going on how this friends mom let him stay the night and gave him a $20 spot this morning after he left. These are just neighborhood kids and it sounds like their family life is dysfunctional, welcome to the family.

I went back to Walker Branch ( additional photos taken) after my Memorial visit, skated an hour, picked up my Bro. We then went back to his apartment. I could not take it, I headed over to the Xanthia bowl by my self for my brother had some business. I skated the Xanthia bowl until I could not see any more, night fall.

I got on a plane Tuesday afternoon and landed in Memphis. The plane was suppose to take off at 1245, they delayed my flight until after 4pm. I would suggest to never fly United Airlines Express if possible. The United Airlines staff said that delays are very common on the Express flights.

Parting shot:
If I was going to move to Denver today where would I try to find a place to rent?? I got to know the city better than I have in the past. I spent a lot of time in Edgewater, a suburb of Denver. Why this place? If you look at Team Pains's project list you can see that Edgewater is ten minutes from Arvada who have Little Arvada and now Big Arvada, also Layette, Denver Park, Glendale and Broomsfield are with in less than 15 to20 minutes depending. That's not even mentioning the smaller parks like Walker Branch. Edgewater is a blue collar neighborhood for the most part and rent is cheaper here but it looks great. Big Arvada is going to be bigger than Denver Park as well, is what it looks like, and will probably take some of the emphasis off other parks. I only say this because the amount of traffic at a park makes or breaks your experience. Less traffic, more skate time, better experience. Living around the Denver City Park is probably the best place to live because it is like Midtown Memphis, more so than not, but the draw back is location, add 25 minutes or more to a lot of driving time to parks. The traffic in Denver is the killer about the city, you can't get around it so deal with it. And don't get fooled that every one in Denver is happy to see you, because there are kooks every where.

When am I going to move to Colorado?? Not yet, gotta get totally sick of skating in the Mid-South first.
late.

Denver, the rest of the trip.... Skate Parks Galore

I thought I was going to keep a daily record of where we went to skate and how it all went down, but once I started to hit place after place or just skate session after session, I was to tired or involved to keep track of anything other than the next jaunt. This is the first down time that I have had since the trip began really. The irony of today is sitting here at the Denver Airport all day because of a mix up on my ticket. When I re-booked my flight the lady told me it was a 740 AM flight, well, now that I am here at the airport bright and early I find out that the flight leaves at 740 PM, hmm... Whatever, so I am stuck because I can't get cell service to call my brother and getting him to come pick me up and then drive me back, man, if only I had cell service.

I gave a brief update on Monday, we did not even skate a park, just looked at Redstone Park that was over run my kids on the Razor skooters, BMX bikes and young skaters. That is just the way these parks go, they are said to be hit or miss depending on their location. Highly inhabited suburbia with easy access to the park makes for a busy place. We ended up finding a parking lot and skating a curb. Photos.

On Tuesday my brother John and I headed to Roxborough Park  in the afternoon after I got off work. We were about to go to Cornerstone Park  but were persuaded other wise by some Memphis Folk (Hammond and Kim).  Good call... Roxborough is located to the very far west of Denver and right next to were the mountain range starts to jettison out of the earth, so the views are spectacular. This park has two distinct parts to skate as many of the parks have, a flow/street section and some big bowls. The way these parks flow is different in each park, not one of their flow/street sections were the same.  Roxborough's emphasis was much more into transition as the flow section went. There was a pocket of tansitions that had a quarter that then opened up into a section of that had many different lines and tranny. Just look at the photos from the web site. Then there are two bowls, like a smaller eight foot bowl and then a larger, maybe, 12 foot bowl, could be smaller. Roxborough was our favorite place to skate. We did not make it back, but if you ever go to Denver you got to hit this park. I also dropped Wrex Cook's name and sure enough, I met this guy named Cameron that knew Wrex well. PHOTOS

Wednesday was a bust since it rained all day. This was the last day of my job in Denver, I was free to wonder about after today. I turned in my rental car, checked out of the hotel and found a nice corner in my brothers apartment. He is located across the street from Denver City Park (not skate park) and just a few blocks from the famous Blue Bird theater, I mean the Dwarves are playing there this next week. Now I was sleeping on the couch, surviving off Cliff Bars and drinking what ever was in the fridge (PBR.)

Thursday the weather turned out to decent with sunshine and cloud coverage. I rode with my brother to school were I then took over the Ford Escape and headed to a park in Edgewater named Walker Branch. This is one of my brothers go to spots since it is five minutes from where he goes to school. Pictures of Walker Branch dont look like much but this was my second favorite place to skate. I skated this park a good part of the day until my little bro got done with class. I think we sessioned Walk Branch first then headed to Lafayette Park. Lafayette is pretty far north, almost to Boulder. It was kind of remote but that did not mean it was full of kids on skooters and many local kids just out for a shred in the park. It had everything there, flow section, mini bowl with pump bump in the center, big bowls, medium bowl with a mini snake run, street stuff, marble many pad. I just dont know how to properly describe the park, please check the web site link or look at my Photos. I was so tired from hitting Walker Branch all day that I did not have a lot of energy. My legs were starting to cry out a bit from hitting so much tight tranny. That is the thing in all these parks so far, all the tranny is 6 1/2 or steeper from what I can tell were I am used to 7 1/2 or 8. We decided to skip Broomfield, which looks to have some nice bowls and a very heavy street ledge section, but we were getting super tired, so we went home. That night I hung out with Mike Eck and he took me to some Steam Punk themed bar in I dont know were Denver. Very cool though. Photos.

Friday started out super early since I dropped my bro off before 8am at school and headed to Denver Skate Park which is located right next to the Bronco's stadium. I had heard rumors that Dpark  is kind of ruled by local skaters. That outsiders get a vibe from the local shredder's like they own the park and dont want you skating in their lines. I showed up so early that I thought I was safe for there was only one guy skating along with me. So I started hitting mellow stuff, some banks and a some of the flow bowls, minding my own business. Then out of no where the lone guy skating the park started skating were I was skating, like he was skating circles around were I was skating. He got pissed at me at one point because I was standing near a ledge he wanted to hit although he had not hit it since I had been there. I moved to another section but he showed up there as well. After a while I was like what the hell. On top of that my legs had no strength in them, I guess from skating so much. After a while I just quit, what a dick man...that guy just ruined it for me. So I left there and went for some lunch, picked up my bro and did a lunch hour session of Walker branch again. The more I went to Walker Branch the more you got to see who showed up and the better I got at understanding the lines. After Walker Branch I decided to just rest and wait for Saturday. John had heard about this bowl in neighborhood off a street named Xanthis just ten minutes from his apartment. It is a nice little bowl, mellow but again was over run by kids on scooter and young teenagers who just want to drop in at then air out of the bowl. It was ridiculousness, but we will try again tomorrow. That night we went to Red Rocks for my first time to see some Standard Snowboard Movie, it was fun, Red Rocks is amazing. Photos.

Saturday was epic!! We woke up and went back to the Xanthia Street Bowl. There were a couple of shredders there but no annoying kids, except one. We basically had the bowl to ourselves. Such a fun little peanut bowl that has a three foot shallow section that feeds into a deeper 6 foot section with a 7ft extension. The tranny was super mellow, just made for good time. We then regrouped back to the apartment, made some calls and headed back to Walker Branch after picking up one of my brother's friends. We got to Walker Branch and the rain settled in just enough to make us drive North, this time to Northglen. Northglen was pretty dope, had a big bowl and street section that was set up to flow. You will have to look at my photos since the park is brand new and the site has not been updated. There were a lot of kids and skooters but by this time we don't care anymore, why let those kids spoil all your fun. So we skated and owned since that is what you have to do. After we eventually got tired of fighting skate traffic at Northglen we went bak to Walker Branch. My legs and lungs were back up to full strength. We so owned Walker Branch, I was skating every inch of that place now, never stopping except for the occasional breather. I was really getting the feel for the steep tranny after my last day of skating. My brother had to tear me away from the park, I did not want to leave, just one more run. Well, we went bak to the apartment, hung with a few peeps and then went back to the Xanthia bowl. It had rained again, in that area so the bowl was a little wet but deserted except for a couple of other shredders who were having just as much fun as us. Photos

Sunday, sitting at Denver International, thought I was going to be able to skate Al Town today, jokes on me. This was the first time I got to take in the whole experience of Denver. It is a very chill city with lots to do, skated parks every where, great food and a crap load of traffic. There are bicycles every where and you can just about get any where in the metro area as fast as a car, but then you need a car for getting out to the burbs where some of the primo spots are. Great City to live in for sure. Then you can get a Summit County ski pass for about $450 and snowboard all winter. Anyway, I just rebooted my phone and I got coverage now, lets see if my brother comes and picks me up for a few hours. later.

  

Monday in Highlands Ranch

Monday - John picked me up around 5pm, we headed to Redstone Skate Park. Very cool park, has a mini bowl, street area and a snake run that empties into a series of bowls, (check pics). It was a little crowded for my tastes, looks fun but to many kids on scooters, bikes and what ever. I think the best way to hit a park like this is in the early morning before anybody has a chance to eat breakfast. Early bird gets the worm. Actually, I bet mid day would be fine since most of these kids would be in school, but I work during the day until Thursday. We actually  split from there and found a nice parking lot and a curb that ended up being a nice manny pad. It was a good little session. I was beat anyway, I needed something very low key and mellow. I plan on checking out Clement Skate Park today unless John has better ideas. I am afraid that Clement will be the same, over run with kids. I read a review that said it was  great park, fun, but to many kids to really skate. Hopefully I can have some daytime later in the week to hit a spot during the mid day, if it don't rain. There is rain in the forecast but that is life.

Cheap Skates, Al Town/ Toast Demo, Airports and Denver... Finally

Sunday started out like most Sundays, Coffee, English Soccer, Cliff bars, feed cat, street skate, couple of runs on the mini ramp, standard stuff. Although today does have a interesting twist since it is the anniversary of the 9/11 and I have to fly to Denver, kind of weird but no worries, got some other activities as well. First I had to pack.




I missed out on Saturday activities in Little Rock as I was planted in Memphis just relaxing and maxing preparing for my long journey on Sunday. As you may know, in LR, there was a Art Show called Who Arted, a demo at the Enjoy Skate shop  and then a session at Kanis Park. I heard it was off the hook. I got to hear a bit about the festivities that went down in LR as I attended the Toast Skateboards in shop visit at Cheap Skates.

After Ron kicked every one out of his shop, all the Toast guys headed over to Al Town for a little session. Very nice session to say the least. The weather was perfect, the clouds came in and provided some shade, awesome. The Toast guys were killing it along with the local brew. Got some pics. <-(click the link) I had to blow the pop stand and get prepared to catch my flight.

On my way home I decided to stop by Tobey Park. Things are looking swell Beaver!! The park looks half finished to the naked eye. PHOTOS

Then it was off to Colorado where the TSA stopped me and took my crescent wrench.  Nothing amazing to report in flying, it is a drag. I can't wait until we get to the Star Trek days of just teleporting to your destination. I plan on meeting up with my little brother, who lives here in Denver, later this afternoon and then hitting up a skate park or two. The plan is to work during the day for Mon -Wed, skate in the afternoon, eat and crash out at night. Then Thurs - Sun, I am hoping of just over taking Denver the best I can, fully padded of course. Ok, gotta go, duty calls. Later

al town under water and tobey pour

Its Friday, have been thinking about skating Al Town all day. I get off work, ride the bike home, get my gear ready, stop for cold beverages on the go, and drive to Al Town. I get to the end of Evelyn and there is not the normal amount of cars parked on the street, in fact there are no cars. I rush of anxiety runs through my body thinking something has shut us down, for  I had been informed earlier that day that city workers had been working in an adjacent lot. I pull my car up and of course, the place is covered in water. It had rained in Mid-Town and Al Town was slightly under the weather to skate at the moment.

So I ventured up to see what these so called City of Memphis workers had been up to. There is a lot that is street level to the south of the Al Town basement which has been covered in something that is a kin to Kudzu. Certain individuals insist that this vine is not "the plant that ate the South" and something else with a prettier name. What ever, I'll call it shit, so the shit is a nuisance and the city workers cleared that whole southern lot of that shit. So much so that you could back a cement truck right over to the top of the south west wall of Al Town. Do you smell what i am stepping in? Is shotcrete out of the question? Its will be hella easier to get concrete to the next theorized project. Back her on up here. It would not be that hard to clear a clean path for a truck. A little hard work, no problem.

So then I jump in my car and turn the corner to see Jenks and Sam hanging out on some neighbors porch. I bet they were bummed but always enjoying life, never the less, I drive on to Tobey park to take a look around.

It looks like all the re-bar is in place and, like Kris Gurley reported, "Ive been to the park twice this week. On Tuesday, Andrew was there finishing up all the metal ledges and last minute coping work. He said that the crew was coming in from DC right after they were done with the Maloof course. "


All I have is pictures, I will not pretend to act like I know anything about building skate parks, because i dont:

Ok, yall have a nice day. Go skate or something. They start shot-crete on Tuesday according to Aaron Shafer.