Who Shall be the 19th King?

Aug 15,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Oh so many kings in this world, but 18 in particular that will hold their titles with great pride for the rest of their lives.

This weekend marks the end of the 19^th year for The King of The Bowl Series as Strato and the crew head up to Squamish and Whistler to finish off the season. Beef Under the Chief at Squamish is always a solid event, and it’s also the only bowl on the series that has coping so it makes for a completely different feel, less bonelesses and more grinders. If you’ve never been to Squamish it’s a tough little bowl to figure out, and has a serious steep wall with a corner pocket and a loveseat to carve, grind and air over if you’re man enough. The Bushman is all man, and when he rolls in you better get out of the bowl because he ain’t stoppin’ for nothin’, and if you see him heading towards the corner pocket grab your camera because he’s gonna do something hardcore. Bushman might be the only person who can air over the loveseat.

All the crew’s gonna be there including a bunch of dudes that missed it last year.

On Sunday after a crazy night of camping, everyone will relocate to Whistler as the series continues for the grand finale. Whistler Bowl is one of the best of the old bowls competing with Seylynn for the title. It has a wicked speed line, tons of spots to catch humungous airs out of and a sweet barricade at the top of the bathtub section. Every year at Whistler is awesome and something new will be done for sure. This is how the summer sessions of the old bowls end every year and it’s always a great show. Last year it was obvious as Adam Hopkins was crowned the King of the Bowls since he won all 5 events, but there are no repeats so him and the other 18 people whose names are engraved on that amazing handcarved trophy will have to wait and see who will join them in the rankings of the irresistable title

King of the Bowls…

August 17^th & 18^th

Come out and join in the fun if you can

Extreme Sports Skateboarding

The Ultimate in Ultimate

Aug 13,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

It’s the evolution of the revolution.

Canada’s first ever Skateboard Distributor is joining forces as Ultimate Distribution and Wick Winder Distribution plan to combine into one empire. It’s a pretty huge step but well thought out and with Kevin Harris and Brad Richmond working even more closely together than they do already this spells out nothing but pure success. Take some time and learn more by reading this article by Mike Prangnell featured in SBC Business, it’s pretty amazing.

http://www.sbcbusiness.com/exclusives-detail?news_id=2597

The future is here, the revolution is coming, this lifestyle will not die…

Extreme Sports Protest Skateboards Skateboarding

We like Weston – Welcome to the Team Budds

Aug 12,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

I’ve always enjoyed watching Weston Ganger skateboard. He just comes up with some of the wildest tricks sometimes, but even is norm is awesome. 3 weeks ago at my Fraser Heights contest for Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey, Weston came out blazin’. The advanced category was insane that day and it was super tough to have only 5 guys in the finals, but 3 of them that qualified were unmistakable – Dominic Devries, Tony Casano and Weston Ganger. He came out even harder in the Finals destroying the ledges down the double set and the 9 stair, and with a few rail tricks and an airwalk hardflip up the step up he finished in 3^rd place. Then he laid down about 12 tricks on the 9 stair during the Best Trick. I asked him later that night why he didn’t have any sponsors and he didn’t really know. I remember how hard he killed it on Go Sk8 Day this year too, and only got featured in 1 of the montages. I was like, man, people need to know about this guy, he’s creative, solid, fearless and consistent. And he goes for it. I asked him if he would want to be a part of the Protest Wheels Team and he said yes.

So a few days later we went back to Fraser Heights Skate Park and as the sun rapidly set, we filmed this quick video.

Welcome to the Team Weston!

Now it’s time to really skate…

Check out the video, and be prepared for more Weston Ganger

Contest Results Contests Extreme Sports Hippie Mike's Tour De Surrey Skateboarding

Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey #10 – 2013 South Surrey

Aug 11,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Stop #3 of the 10^th annual Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey took us down South to the South Surrey Skate Park, better known as White Rock Bowl. It was raining in the morning but cleared up nicely before we had to show up for the contest. There weren’t that many kids there due to other competitions happening in other places at the same time but the ones that did show up showed up with skills. The Mini Category was great with Theo and Django Caseley thrashing the bowl and quarter pipes and Aiden Eastman sticking right on their tails with tricks everywhere in the park. Little Kaelen actually skated in this contest and ripped it up, for a 3 1/2 year old. He really only hit 2 obstacles and kept repeating his tricks but it was how he was doing it that made it awesome. Great job to all 6 of the Minis.

The Beginners were all crazy kids, majority of them from Chuck Bailey. JR Barron had the crowd roaring as he tore up his first run, Adam Lewis and brother Josh both skated great as well hitting flip tricks, quarter pipes and big gaps, Nick Bachmeier represented hard for Cloverdale and Mark Melyukov owned it the whole time. This kid has some serious commitment when he goes for tricks.

After a little sticker toss I announced that this may possibly be the final year for Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey and provoke everyone to come out to the Grand Finale on September 7^th at Bear Creek park. Take this announcement seriously as there are bigger and better plans for a different Hippie Mike Tour.

The Intermediate was lacking but the top 3 had a Finals Jam as a solid 5 minute long heat and all 3 threw down. Rob Schrack was stomping tricks all over, including a solid kickflip off the big ledge to flat, but he couldn’t quite compete with Kai Searle and Riley Allen this day. Riley was definitely leading after the qualifier runs but Kai stepped his game up in the finals and tossed a lot of flip tricks, all solid and fully controlled, while Riley shredded the bowl and the quarter pipes and landed a few airs out of the bowl launch that were about 7 feet high. Kai came through with the win.

Carrie, Steph and Tienna got a 4 minute song to jam out to for the ladies division and all 3 put down some tricks this time. Carrie finished the heat off with a couple tough fakie shovits in the ditch of the bowl.

There was a Bowl Best Trick in between Intermediates and Advanced for a Protest Cruiser Deck and 2 other prizes. Allen Handley stomped a clean Miller Flip in the half pipe and got a Krooked hat, and Odin blasted a huge ollie over the bottom tit landing straight into a frontside gravitron and eft with a set of Sector9 wheels, but the deck went home with Riley Allen for a massive triple airwalk.

We finally made it to Advanced time and the competition was looking steep. A couple of park locals in the house and then a bunch of rippers that have been around the block a time or two, I knew it was gonna be hardcore. Fighter was skating with a broken arm and still ripping it up, but didn’t make finals. Neither did Dylan Dombroski and few others that killed it. Top 5 ended up being Jay Mykyte, Nate Frank, Matt Whatley, Jordan Strong and Weston Ganger. All 5 of these guys slayed it all day, and all in their own unique ways. When it came to finals they each got a 1 minute run to themselves and all 5 of them did the same thing – land a bunch of tricks at the beginning of the run the choke at the end. Jordan and Weston each only missed one trick but the 1^st place prize went to Weston Ganger who hit a couple serious tricks on the big rails. He also came right back and won another Deck in the Best Trick on the centre section. Way to go dude, especially after competing in Abbotsford all day and then rushing to get there for this comp.

Great job to everyone, and for once there was a new winner at South Surrey other than Andy Anderson, not because he got beat, but because he wasn’t there.

See you at Fleetwood in 2 weeks –

August 24^th at noon

Results:

Mini – 1^st Theo Caseley; 2^nd Django Caseley; 3^rd Aiden Eastman; 4^th Kaelen Faux; 5^th Braedan Nerpio; 6^th Rhys Eastman

Beginner – 1^st Mark Melyukov; 2^nd Nick Bachmeier; 3^rd Adam Lewis; 4^th JR Barron & Josh Lewis; 6^th Bradley Dodd; 7^th Lukas Zhanel; 8^th Terry Cho; 9^th Khalid

Intermediate – 1^st Kai Searle; 2^nd Riley Allen-Clerihue; 3^rd Rob Schrack; 4^th Chadd Sinclair; 5^th Robert Wylie & Yubo Wang

Girls – 1^st Carrie Williams; 2^nd Tienna Rivard; 3^rd Steph Martin

Advanced – 1^st Weston Ganger; 2^nd Jordan Strong; 3^rd Nate Frank; 4^th Matt Whatley; 5^th Jay Mykyte; 6^th Andrew Nathan, Yuya Ishikawa & Marcus McSherry; 9^th Brad Muscat & Dylan Dombroski; 11^th Gavin Goodall; 12^th Ryan Barron; 13^th Allen Handley; 14^th Odin

Extreme Sports Skateboarding

35 Amazing Years

Aug 9,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Wow! Can you believe that Canada’s first Skate Park is 35 years old? And along with that, Canada’s oldest Skateboard Company “Skull Skates” and PD’s Hot Shop turn the same age. 1978 was a solid year for legends to come to life, ironically I was born that year as well.

This Saturday Night, come out and celebrate the once in a lifetime anniversary of these 2 iconic pieces of Canadian Skateboard History. You gotta be 19 years old and you need to have your name on the guest list to get in. The 2^nd show on Sunday afternoon might be all ages, not sure.

PD and Skull Skates have worked very hard to create this event and are basing it around the history of Seylynn Bowl with George Faulkner’s documentary video The Seylynn Story playing on a loop the whole night and a historic photo gallery of some of the amazing people and tricks that have been a part of Seylynn over the last 35 years.

This event is for real skateboarders so don’t come if you can’t represent

Here’s the original info from Skull Skates

Skull Skates Seylynn Bowl 35th Anniversary Event

Established in 1978, Canada’s oldest skateboard company, Skull Skates celebrates Canada’s oldest skateboard park, Seylynn bowl in North Vancouver with an art and photography show Saturday August 10th 2013 from 7 pm til late at the Red Gate in downtown Vancouver. With live entertainment by DJ Kilocee w/special guest, plus live performances by Perchoron & Sorcerers. Additional show viewing Sunday August 11th noon til 6 pm.($5 admission)

In April of 1978 an experiment that would become Canada’s most enduring skateboard company started in Regina Saskatchewan. In October of that same year Canada’s most advanced and now longest standing public skateboard park opened in North Vancouver, British Columbia. It’s with a feeling of gratitude that Skull Skates has assembled a tribute to one of the world’s most important and durable skate spots, the Seylynn Bowl.

Seylynn bowl was the brainchild of the district of North Vancouver. It was designed by Calen Sinclaire, Monty Little, Niko Weis and Rob Leshgold with the initial process of a secured site and mandate to build a park beginning in the Spring of 1978; the park actually opening officially on October 7, 1978. Special mention goes to Terry Snider and Dirk Oostindie from the District of N.V. for their initiation and dedication to the project.

Seylynn thrives as a landmark in the international skateboard community, plus N.V. of course is home to some of the most dedicated locals to be found anywhere. But Seylynn is more than just Canada’s oldest skateboard park. It’s a public space that fosters creativity in people of all skating styles and abilities.

If there were anything close to sacred in skateboarding, Seylynn would have that distinction.

YOU MUST BE ON THE GUEST LIST TO ATTEND THIS EVENT. FOR LOCATION AND TO RSVP EMAIL warehouse@skullskates.com

Hippie Mike's Messed Up Mind The Bob Marley Quote of the Month

No Man No Cry

Aug 7,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

With yet another unexpected death in my family a lot of us are lost in sorrow and raw emotions. It gets tougher every day when you think about how we spend our lives meeting people and falling in love all for the times when it changes to watching all those friends and family around us pass away. Everything we do seems like a waste at times, but it’s not. Even when you lose someone very close to you there are always the memories that you have to continue on living with. That’s why it is so important to not hold grudges or get super bitter at people over minor things that happen in life, because you never know when the last time you are going to see them is until after it happens. Even through tough times with your friends and family it is so important to think positively and try to resolve your issues. I have so many friends and have lost, quite a few in strange situations that no one could have predicted, and I always think back to that final time we had together in hope that it was a good one, and it usually is, luckily. I never was the type of person growing up that said the words I Love You all the time and hugged people but I catch myself doing it a lot lately, and it feels good. I think some of that comes from worrying that the people around me might not know how much they really mean to me. Through skateboarding alone I have met thousands of people and a lot of them I consider my good friends. I try my best to care for everyone and treat everyone the same but there are definitely those who I cherish a little bit extra, who I have spent way more time with and just have so many amazing memories of. Today, as I write this I think of Josh Evin and how his 3^rd annual Memorial Jam was today, and then I think of all the sweet memories I have of Josh from Leeside, Hastings and Confederation Park and the old PM BBQ’s back in the day at 53^rd and Victoria. And I think of all the kids that don’t know who he is, or how amazing a person he was, or how high he set the bar when he skated. Who remembers the barefoot backside disasters on that 14 foot vert wall in The Project? And that makes me think of Lee Matasi and his crazy switch hardflips and 270 flips on the pyramids at Confed, and then there was Carver Don where 300+ people saw him go down at Seylynn Bowl and never recover. A tragic moment. For some that memory will be etched in their minds but I have to look past that moment into the reasons why I loved him and why everyone loved him – he was one of the most caring and inspiring individuals around and expressed himself even in his 50’s though his positive music and wicked skate styles. These are just a few of the friends we all have lost in our society. And I’m sure every one of you has at least one family member who meant the world to you that is no longer around to share a hug.

I quote the Bob Marley song No Woman, No Cry –

Good friends we have, oh, good friends we’ve lost
Along the way.
In this great future, you can’t forget your past;
So dry your tears, I say.

It’s not about the times you had today as it is about the times you might not have tomorrow. Take this time to think of all the people you have lost in your lives and what they brought into your life that made you love them. Pick the best memory you can think of and cherish it. Now go live your life and make sure that you create those feelings in others around you for them to remember you by…

To all my friends and family who are suffering

and to those we have lost

– LOVE

Extreme Sports Skateboarding

Mathew McCauley’s first Sponsor – Protest Wheels

Aug 6,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

I’ve been watching this kid skate for a few years now, I remember seeing him the first time at one of my Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey contests and recognizing his talents right away. Mathew McCauley is a unique skater who has the mentality to go for it all the time. This kid can kickflip and frontside pop shovit 9 stairs on command, and he’s not afraid to go bigger. And as he gets bigger he starts to hit more ledges and rails as well as a little bit of transition. Now that McCauley is 13 years old I gave him a chance to make a big move in his life and step up to being sponsored. This is a huge move since he was still competing in Intermediate at contests, but last year if he was on point, his runs would’ve placed in Advanced at some of those comps. I still remember last July at my Fleetwood Contest when he showed up just as first runs of Intermediate were ending and I told him to get up there and throw down, it was his turn. He stepped up the stairs, turned around and blasted a huge kickflip down the 3 block and then just completely annihilated the rest of the park ending it with another big banger down the blocks. He hadn’t even warmed up and basically just won with his first run. I knew then that his time was coming but didn’t want to rush it.

Exactly one year later I laid it down, I said “Do you wanna be sponsored and live the life of a sponsored skater where you are expected to be places and you have to compete against the big guns and throw down all the time and show up for photo shoots when I tell you to and be in the eye of the public all the time? Or do you wanna just keep living your life having fun skateboarding?” I told him if he was ready then I would put him on the Protest Wheel Team and he would get free wheels plus cost on decks. Matt thought about it for a few minutes and answered “Yes”…

He entered the Fraser Heights contest that same day in Advanced and threw down some serious tricks. I’m stoked that he was ready for this, and now it’s time to make him even better than he already is. Be prepared to see lots of footage of this kid in the future…

Welcome to a new life buddy –

Protest Wheels proudly welcomes Mathew McCauley to the Team

Here’s his welcome filmed at Chuck Bailey Skate Park

Extreme Sports Skateboarding

Tsawwassen Sun Festival 2013 Results

Aug 6,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Another amazing day in Tsawwassen, what a place to live! The sun was definitely cooperating for an event named The Sun Festival, and to be honest, we have no idea what happens at this so called event except for the fact that Michael Ray and the Local Boys set up an annual skate comp at one of the best skate parks in the lower mainland. Any contest at Tsawwassen Skate Park is gonna be a tough one to win, the energy is always solid and so is the skating. Hippie Mike and the Protest Crew showed up ready throw down with Brad “Fighter” Muscat and Andy Anderson. All 3 were on their game all day, Hippie was blasting big out of the launch and threw down his patented “Hippie Hop” through the 2 bump to rails and then early roast beef down the 3 block to finish off his 2^nd run, Fighter was flying high over the Van City Sign, hittin’ ledge and rail tricks everywhere, bustin’ benny’s over the skinny hubba and just plain skating fast and hard, and Andy, well he’s Andy – trick, trick, trick, trick, trick….. Can you hit every obstacle in the park in one run, maybe, if you’re Andy.

It started out with Beginners and came down to 3, Parker Sherwin, Nick Bachmeier and Lucas. All 3 of them ripped it up, Luke blasted the 3 block, Nick was boardsliding the green rail and Parker was popping big ollies and flip tricks all over the place.

The Intermediates were just as tough and the Top 3 came down to Colin Gallagher, Matt Hill and Jacob Drescher. All 3 of these guys are on their ledge and rail tricks and were landing tons of stuff, Jacob even double kickflipped up the step up. They were all tight in the standings but Colin took 1^st place.

Protest Skateboards pulled out a crisp $50 bill for a Best Trick up the Step Up and Hippie Mike took over the microphone. Judge Mike Hastie said 5 minutes only so they went for 7. It was literally a person jumping up the step up every 5 seconds the entire time and tricks were getting stomped left right and centre, 3 flips, double flips, ghetto birds, late shoves, blah blah blah blah blah, but Ryan Leport laid out a sick nollie double heelflip 180 twice in a row to take the money. Solid both times buddy! Even if you landed on 1 foot only the first time.

The Advanced Category was insane of course as everyone who actually entered knows how to shred in competition. Top guys to watch were Ryan Leport, Andy Anderson, Riley Antonik and Andy Classon. Somehow Tyler Burke made the Finals as well and then skated really good in them. Everybody skated solid in Advanced but these 4 were the ones to beat all day. Ryan Leport and Andy Anderson just basically rode around really relaxed and did a zillion tricks each on the ledges, the flat bars and rails, up the step up and even on flat just for fun. Andy Classon wowed the crowd with his insane wallie skills and big pops but couldn’t come through in top 3 this year. It was Riley Antonik with his barge and charge style going as fast as possible on the worst flat spots and hitting every big ledge and rail in site. Riley killed it, but he was no match to Andy and Ryan. Sick contest!

Thanks to Michael Ray and Mick Bey along with anyone else that helped to organize this event, Geoff Howe for coming all the way out to MC, Mike Hastie for judging, and of course to Hippie Mike for wearing the worst outfit of the year. Great day everybody, see you all there next year…

Results

Beginner

Parker Sherwin
Nick Bachmeier
Lucas

Intermediate

Colin Gallagher
Matt Hill
Jacob Drescher

Advanced

Ryan Leport
Andy Anderson
Riley Antonik

Extreme Sports Skateboarding

When all you do is Hurt – you are stuck in a DAZE

Aug 3,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Ethan Craig is a young but talented skateboard filmer/videographer in the lower mainland and has been dedicating his life to making amazing videos the past couple of years. Ethan has a solid following and gets a lot of respect from the top dogs of the local skateboard scene which he totally deserves. Through all of this filming he has been invited to participate in video recaps of many historic events like Goskate Day, The Burrard Hotel Takeover, and more. And in amongst all of this Ethan had begun to film for his very own first big full length skate video called “Daze”. The whole internet craze with Youtube and Vimeo has really impacted the way skate videos happen and full length videos are becoming more and more rare and obsolete, so for someone so young to be thinking this way got a lot of people stoked. 4 trailers have been released so far to show what type of amazing skating to expect, and also display some of the talented individuals we were going to get to watch in it. The hype is fully alive right now and Daze was gonna be sick…

Then yesterday, the unthinkable and unimaginable and literally the worst think possible happened to Ethan. Someone stole Ethan Craig’s hard drive containing all the footage for his video. And now he feels like he has nothing. And in your mind you still have everything planned out for how the video was going to piece itself together. A true filmer edits his video in their head as the footage happens, and Ethan Craig is a true filmer. This is a very tragic thing to have happen to anyone, and coming from someone who films skateboarding and has for many years, I completely understand the emotions that are running through young Ethan’s mind right now and sympathize in every way possible. It makes you hate everyone, it takes away your ability to trust anybody in this world, and it feels like a humungous part of your soul was torn out of your body and run over by a semi. I have had the same thing happen before where my house was broken into and all my video equipment was taken, and all I cared about was losing the footage. Objects are replaceable, but footage is not. Sometimes there are things that happened on camera that will never happen again and you were lucky to have filmed it. I quote Ethan here –

“I have today learned how only a few seconds can really change a lifetime. as well has how sentimental value it worth, millions and millions more then per-say it’s “retail” value.”

Nothing is more true than this sentence because that is exactly how you feel when you lose something that you put your heart and soul into and cannot replace in a store. You can go back to the same spots with the same people and try and relive what was already filmed but it’s just not the same. It’s not as real.

I wish Ethan Craig the best of luck on getting his hard drive back. But if it doesn’t happen, he now has a lot of work to do to regain his focus on that end goal he had – Daze, a full length skateboard video…

It’s time for everyone involved to step back up and really come together with Ethan to support him and help him get back on his feet and recreate his dream. It’s not gonna look the same as before, but it can have the same result.

Nothing but sympathy for my friend Ethan Craig

Here are all 4 of the Trailers he had put out for DAZE

Eve Feaver Extreme Sports Skateboarding

Protesting in White Rock

Jul 31,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

There’s a thing people do a lot when they live in South Surrey, they tell everyone they’re from White Rock. But I always ask the question, “What’s it say on the envelope when someone mails you something?” Surrey – that’s what. And the funny part is that even the Original Surrey Skate Park still lives by the name “White Rock Bowl”…

It’s referred to by many as The Deep Pit and it was built around 1990 following the roll in styles of all the other parks at that time like Seylynn, Griffin and Whistler Bowl but taking away the snake run aspect, White Rock Bowl is a fun one but can kick your ass without warning at any moment. As Mitch Salter was reminded during his run in Advanced when he lost control on a fly out from the deep end and land fully upside down. Ditch, halfpipe, deep end and 2 big tits, that’s what this bowl is about, and there’s only one way to skate it – fast.

It was a beautiful day outside once again, we have been blessed this summer so far. Not as many people as there used to be at this stop but it is very far for most people to drive to. But a good chunk of the Protest Team showed up and were ready to skateboard. Don Bushman Wilson has been skating this park since day 1 and showed his experience with fierce lines that never ended while Brad Fighter Muscat went huge out of the deep end and into the halfpipe, Eve Feaver proved early that he was going to be the man to beat as he blasted airs all over and laid down a whack of technical lip tricks while (myself) Hippie Mike reminded everybody that I’ve lived in Surrey for the past 12 years and have taught many a kid how to shred that park, including the infamous Andy Anderson who for once was not present at this competition due to a Freestyle Demo in Maple Ridge that he was working. The action was hot in all categories starting with Beginner where little 5 year old Presley Huska dominated but ripping down the entire bowl and wrapping around the deep end as well as making out of the end of the bowl. This kid’s crazy! The Intermediates were insane too, Rylee Wong was shredding like he was born in the early 80’s and Purple Pants Riley Allen was pretending he was Andy Anderson with huge flyouts and boneless tricks all over the bowl. Kai Searle and Ross were also ripping hard and laying down lots of tech tricks. When it came time for the ladies we had Carrie Williams for Protest, Krystal Clear from Squamish and Malia who I don’t really know. They all went hardcore, as much as they could but Carrie dominated with her many years of experience at this competition popping fakie tricks on the top banks, doing stalls in the halfpipe and carving the bowl. The Advanced was tight and everyone was skating good. Tons of speedlines, lots of solid huge airs in and out of the bowl and plenty of style form everyone. Jay White carved it up like he knows how while lil’ Mitchie went fast and tried not to hurt himself, Gary Harris was in the house and ripped it up too, and Lil’ G threw down some tough gap ollies and tailslides, Fighter used the whole bowl and stuck some tough tricks as Tyler Wong showed his old school styles inherited from his Dad, but it came down to those Top 3 –

Eve Feaver
Bushman
Hippie Mike

We’ll see you guys in Sqaumish on August 17^th and Whistler on the 18^th

Check out the photos from Mark Halliday @ Moonrider Productions

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonriderpro/sets/72157634868254074/

1 … 14 15 16 17 18 … 54

Author Archives: Hippie Mike