Protest Team Rider Stu Benoit had to head to Scotland recently for work and of course he hit up some Skate Parks while he was there. Here’s a quick clip of Stu showin’ off for 2 of his favourite types of kids – a Rollerblader and Scooter Kid
Nice!!
You all know I’ve been on this scene for a long, long time. But some of you out there have only known me for a few years, so you might not know the old Hippie Mike. I grew up a full street skater since we had no skate parks unless we built them ourselves somewhere. So I had lots of flip tricks and loved drops and gaps. It was 2004 when I blew my knee and had to give up a lot of what I loved to do, but I never slowed down on my skating, I just changed up my style a bit and stopped doing big drops. When you see me now I’m usually cruisin’ some fast tranny lines or gettin’ tech on the quarter pipes, but this video takes you back to before I got hurt and was out in the streets all the time finding new spots.
I made this video for my Dad as a Christmas Gift in 2003. It was a montage from my skating from that year. Everyone knows I loved my Dad and I used to send him footage of my skateboarding all the time, I’m not sure if he even watched it, but I think he did. Either way, this one was for him.
Filmed on an old Hi8 Video Camera, it’s a little pixely but definitely worth a watch. Get to know the Hippie Mike you might not have had the chance to meet in the past, a drinkin’, lovin’, Happy Hippie who had lots of talent, determination and heart
As far as I’ve been told, the construction of the Olympic sized Lap Pool at the Guildford Recreation Centre begins the first week of October which means we only have 1 week left to skate the Guildford Bowl so get out there and make use of the short time that remains. The Bowl has to be removed because the corner of this new Lap Pool building is going to land right in the centre of the Bowl. The rest of the Park with all the Street Obstacles will still be open, but the construction fence surrounding the Bowl will go up soon and the destruction of the Bowl will follow shortly. It’s a real shame but there’s not much we can do about it. At some point when the construction is complete, they will be building something else in the remaining area where the Bowl was. It’s only going to be about half the square footage of the original Bowl. I’m liking the idea of a sick concrete mini ramp with lots of features and extensions. Something unique that we don’t have everywhere else. Any suggestions for what you want to see constructed there send them my way and I’ll pass them on to the City of Surrey’s Planning Department.
So for the sake of the few people that actually called Guildford Skate Park their Home Park at any point in their lives, let’s hook up for one more solid film session and make some memories
Another great event at Chuck Bailey Skate Park. It’s awesome how many different types of contests have been held at Chuck in the past year and a half since it opened. This was another first, and I’m sure it will happen again next year because it was definitely a success. Lots of rippers there from all over the mainland, but mainly Surrey, Langley, Delta, Tsawwassen. 3 Best Trick obstacles and then the ledge battle, with over $1000 to give away.
It started in the deep end of the bowl, and shit was goin’ down. Fighter hit a solid invert revert, Allen Handley was droppin’ Miller Flips, I saw someone bust a switch Judo Blunt, and Hashbrown battled hard for a Blunt Kickflip, which he unfortunately didn’t land. Andy Anderson took the $100 in this one with a Frontside 5-0 across the whole wall 270 out. Yeah Andy!!
On to the Channel Gap, or as some call it, The Chimney. Magnus Hansen was killing this thing with every trick imaginable both directions and I think he won it but I’m not sure. There were so many amazing tricks that went down over that thing. The ones I remember were Back Tailslide Revert, Miller Flip, Kickflip Fakie, Alleyoop Back Smith. It was sick.
Then we moved to the hip to hip. I personally got things started with a Halfcab Kickflip, and there was a ton of tricks to follow both directions. My favs I saw were Bigspin Tailgrab, Fakie Inward Bigspin, Nollie 360 Heelflip and Hasbrown’s Miracle Flip. I think he might have taken the prize money on that one, but I know Magnus was really close to hitting a 540 Nollie Heelflip. MC Cyrus Thiedeke really wanted to see that one and kept pushing Magnus for more tries. So close buddy.
Last event was on the flat ledges and this was where you skate until you miss a trick and then you’re out. Once it’s down to 3 skaters, the judges would decide who won by the Best Tricks that those 3 had landed. There was about 50-60 people to start, and some of the big timers went out early. Dustin Locke, Shawn Beaupre, Brendan Neilsen Tommy Gudmunson, Matt Cook didn’t make the cut. Magnus Hansen was right there till the end, and definitely threw some of the most tech tricks, but your Top 3 ended up being Dominic Devries, Trevor Greig and Jorden Murray. They all got money, but Jorden won.
At the end the judges decided who was the Top Skater of the Day, and they had a bit of an issue picking just one. It came down to Andy Anderson and Magnus Hansen, but since Magnus didn’t particpate in the Bowl Section they gave him $100 and Andy took home $200. Way to go Andy, Protest Represent!!
Thanks to Cons, Coastal Riders, and Color magazine for puttin’ it on…
Another classic Youth Fest Bowl demo, but unfortunately, the last one. That’s right, I mentioned it before, the Guildford Bowl has to be removed to accommodate the construction of the new pool attached to the Rec Centre. So that made this Bowl Demo that much more special.
It was the Skate vs. BMX Demo with Andy Anderson and James Van de Kamp leading, and me Hippie Mike on the mic. Ryan Brynelson was also there doing Freestyle demos throughout the building. Everybody just rode together in the Bowl having a good time and then at 6pm we started the battle demo. Each Captain chose some Team members from the people that were present and they rode in 10 minute heats getting cheers from the crowd to see who was most loved. The skaters by far were getting more cheers but the Bikers had the most excited females. Lots of good tricks and smooth flow from both teams, and Andy and James were great leaders.
Thanks to everyone for coming out, and glad the skaters prevailed. I had a great time hosting the event, and throwing bananas… You had to be there.
Skate Team
- Andy Anderson
- Allen Handley
- Brad Muscat
- Riley Allen
- Josh Lewis
- Adam Lewis
BMX Team
- James Van de Kamp
- Kyle Lee
- Wade Danchuk
- Tyson Casey
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Just checked out the the video released from the Coastal Riders Camping Trip in early September up in Squamish. Scotty Tyson, Adam Field, Mike Schulze, Dustin Locke, John Hanlon, Jordan Zazula, Aaron Fermill, and many others. Looks like they had a lot of fun times, and drank way too much. Classic Skateboarder Campers.
Sorry I missed it.
There is some sick skating in there too if you’re patient.
Left with an abundance of prizes after this summer’s fiasco of competitions I decided to have a BBQ and Best Trick Jam at Chuck Bailey last night. There must have been over 200 people present when you counted all the kids in the Youth Lounge and half of them kept coming outside to bug me for free stuff. It was chaotic and a couple times throughout the night I almost couldn’t handle it and was ready to pack up and run. I had a ton of pants, shoes, helmets and shirts to give away along with some bike gear and skateboards. The park was packed, with all kinds of people, young to old, black to white, skaters to bikers and of course the one and only hardcore scooter kid Damon Morgan. Damon’s been bugging me forever to run some sort of event for scooters so I told him I would add them in to this one. Of course, he was the only one there, so I told him that I would hook him up with some prizes if he could stick the hardest trick he knew how to do over the hip. He said it was a double whip and he started going for it. All the locals actually stopped to watch him so he was in full spotlight. Unfortunately on the second try he crashed super hard going full stomach off the bars and full body slam on the ground. Classic! He was done…I hooked him up anyway, poor kid.
The rest of the time we just rocked out to tunes on my CD Player and everyone just rode the park as I handed out prizes. I held a couple Best Tricks for the bikes in the Bowl, and a few different Best Tricks for the skaters for some decks. Calvin Dignard, Ryan Barron, Dominic Devries and Mathew McCauley were taking lots of prizes along with Adam Lewis and some of the other shorty’s.
It was a good event and pretty much every person that was there riding got a prize, and left with a full stomach too.
All in all, a successful event.
Next one at Chuck – October 29th
Hippie Mike’s Halloween Jam
wear your costumes, rip the park, win candy!!
See ya there
As some of you might have heard, my Canon Rebel T3i went MIA at the South Surrey Contest last Saturday, not really the way I had hoped to finish off the year of Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey. I’m a little pissed about it, since I work so hard to do so much for so many people and this is what I get in return. Luckily it was just the camera with the standard lens, none of my accessories. If anyone learns any info as to who’s hands it ended up in, please let me know.
Since my business revolves around photos and filming I had to replace the camera pretty quick, so I worked out a solid deal with an old friend and upgraded to the Canon Rebel T4i. Then my partner in crime Jaden Easton-Ellett and I had to give it a test drive, so we hit the ramp for an hour last night and busted out some “Protest Style” tricks for ya.
Check it
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In my opinion Vans Shoes are the most supportive Shoe Company for all Canadian Skateboard Events right now. They’ve been pouring funds into all of the smaller skateboard events and collaborating with other people and companies left, right and centre. Vans have been around for a long time and you’re guaranteed that their shoes aren’t shit. I’m proud to rep them every time I put my shoes on in the morning, and I thank them proudly for everything they do for me.
DIY means Do it Yourself for those slow people. It’s funny that the more the community tries to shut skateboarding down, the more that the skaters just start building their own features. It’s been a trend for quite a few years now to throw some necessary concrete down where needed to make barricades, banks and other obstacles skateable, but then there’s other projects that are a little bit bigger. Ironically, with all the new Skate Parks popping up, there are still “Burnside Type Parks” being constructing.
By Skaters – For Skaters…
Mike Strato just shared this video recently
“Here’s some footy from the handing over of the cheque to the Project 45 guys from the proceeds of the Collab shoe. The Leeside event will happen on Sept 29th and it’d be great to see all the guys (and gals) who have contributed time out for the ceremony.”
Every year the City of Surrey celebrates the next generation of young adults with Youth Fest at the Guildford Recreation Centre. Lots of exiting stuff will be happening from 4-10pm this Saturday, September 22nd, including Band performances, indoor and outdoor games, the Teen Dance, Breakdance Competitions, Ryan Brynelson Freestyle Demos, and of course the Skateboard vs. BMX Demo in the Bowl – hosted by myself Hippie Mike and featuring Andy Anderson and James Van de Kamp. This will be the final event at Guildford Bowl as it will be shut down and demolished in October due to the beginning of the construction for the new Lap Pool being built on to the Rec Centre. The street section will remain open and untouched but the bowl has to be removed and eventually will be replaced with some new features in the future…
Join us for the Demo at 5pm.
And go to the Surrey Website for all the details