Mackin Park Session in Coquitlam

Aug 29,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

A few of us Chuck Bailey Locs went to peep out the new Skate Park in Coquitlam, Mackin Park last Friday. Luckily there weren’t too many kids there because it’s tiny and you can see in the video how much they get in the way. I had my back brace on so I could skate, and everyone had a good time. I found a lot of the obstacles hard to get speed for, and others tough to go slow enough. I’m not the most excited about these small back and forth parks when they come out but I’m sure I will give it a shred every now and then. It was me, Cisco Gooding, Jordan Strong, Fighter and a few friends, Calvin killed it…

Andy Anderson Contest Results Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Jordan Strong Skateboarding Team Riders

Talk About “Lucky”

Aug 2,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

At the end of June, my awesome filmer/team rider Jordan Strong emailed a link to this online contest that Lucky Surf and Skate Shop was having where you film, edit and enter a video part up to 3 minutes long. I tortured Jordan by taking him to some of the nastiest street spots around every day when he got off work and getting him to film me, but that’s the way I skate. We worked hard together to make this part, and of course we filmed way more footage than we needed to. From bare foot skating to riding the yellow slide, and I even pulled out the 2×4 skateboard for the first time n years, it’s a must see for creativity.

Jordan and I also went out a few times with Andy Anderson and we got enough footage to put a part together for him too. This one really shows Andy’s ledge and rail skills.

We all worked hard and the parts were submitted the day before the deadline. Then we received word that only 4 people submitted videos to the contest, including the 2 of us, so they are hooking us up with $150 each to spend at the shop.

Thanks Guys!!

And thanks to Jordan for workin’ hard last month. At least we had fun making them.

Enjoy the videos

Hippie Mike

Andy Anderson

Andy Anderson Carrie Williams Cisco Gooding Contest Results Contests Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Hippie Mike's Tour De Surrey Jaden Easton-Ellett Jay Mykyte Jeff Cole Jon Irvine Jordan Strong Kaelen Faux Ryan Brynelson Skateboarding Team Riders

HIPPIE MIKE’S TOUR DE SURREY 2012 Stop 1 – Kwantlen Park

Jul 15,2012 / By Hippie Mike / 1 Comment

It’s the 9^th year for this series of skateboard competitions and I love that I still see a bunch of the same faces as the first year. I kicked off the Tour for 2012 at Kwantlen Park. It’s a tough park for lines, but always a good park for contests. It seems like everybody lands so much in their runs at this park, maybe because the obstacles are basic and small, not sure why. But either way, it worked out great.

The sun was blazin’ hot and the humidity was definitely hanging around, but it was still bearable enough to skate. Surprisingly for the first time in many, many years, there were more Advanced riders that Beginners. I assume because it was Kwantlen. When I started seeing some of the faces showing up for the Advanced Category, I knew it was gonna be a good show, and a tough contest to judge. With Surrey Locals like Calvin Dignard, Jay Mykyte, Andy Anderson, Jordan Strong, Brad Muscat and Ryan Barron, they were all in the running. But they would have to beat the guys that travelled there, like Ryan Prasad, Lil’ G and of course, “The Dominator” – Dominic Devries.

It was anyone’s guess who was going to come through on this one, only time would tell.

Only 4 kids in Mini this time around, but I knew that JR Barron was pushing hard for this win, since it was his final Mini Contest ever. He turns 11 years old next Sunday, so time to move up buddy! He took advantage of his skills and tore up the park landing almost everything he tried, including the only kickflip in the Mini Category. Parker Sherwin was right on JR’s heels though with a huge bag of tricks of his own and tried really hard to not let JR win. It was a close call…

The Beginner Category was just as tough with Kai Searle on board. This kid has some serious talent for his young age and lands a lot of tough tricks, with style. There was actually a 3 way tie for 4^th place, just to tell you how close this competition was. The surprise of the day though was Dante Gullickson who came out strong in his first run and then blew the crowd away with a flawless second run which was one long consistent line. Awesome!! That doesn’t happen often in Beginner. He almost won but Kai’s tricks were just too good and scored way bigger points. It was tight.

The Intermediates wasn’t so tight. Tyler Olson killed it all day during warm up, I can’t even think of a time a looked over at him when he didn’t land a trick, and was trying some pretty technical tricks. But sometimes when the helmet goes on for your run and the pressure of having the park to yourself happens, people choke. I think the rest of the category was happy Tyler had trouble, because I thought he was gonna win it for sure after watching him in warm-ups. But the prize went to 12 year old Mathew McCauley who landed a ton of rail tricks and gap tricks wherever he could squeeze them in. This kid knows how to skate hard, and takes it very seriously. He can bust tricks down huge gaps at any time, but also has a pocket full of tech tricks too. It was a blow-out win for him.

The ladies were hyped up too, Brianna Palmer is just starting out in the contest world so I’m sure she was nervous when she saw the competition that she was about to face. Carrie Williams is finally back in Contest Mode after a few years of missing out, so she brought out all her shovit and 180 skills and landed a ton of tricks. And then Heloise Wathelet showed up with Lil’ G, she’s visiting for the summer from Belgium. This chick’s got some serious talents and it looks like they might take her somewhere. Flip Tricks and Ledge Skills. Check out this video I found of her on Youtube.

[youtube id=”7oj6XHc2PSY” width=”620″ height=”360″]

It was close but Heloise took first. Hopefully we see her at a couple more of these events.

Then came Advanced. Like I said earlier, it was anyone’s contest to win. Really depended on who landed what. It was very close between the Top 5 except for how obvious it was that Dominic won. This kid has constant flow combined with super solid style and lots of hard tricks. I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it over and over, watch for him in the big leagues in the future. I’m gonna be hosting a segment of Glory Daze with Hippie Mike on Dominic soon.

My favorite tricks that went down in Advanced were Calvin Dignard’s nollie tailslide 270 on the flat ledge, Andy Anderson’s bluntslide fakie on the down rail of the pyramid, Ryan Barron’s feeble 180 up the same rail, Fighter’s Benny Hanna over the quarter pipe and of course anything that Ryan Prasad landed. There’s another name to watch for in the near future. Sick skater!! Cisco Gooding came out and had 2 solid runs too, but they weren’t of his usual “Flawless Run style” so he didn’t make Top 3, and the surprise of this category was that Jay Mykyte didn’t place at Kwantlen Park. I guess there is a first time for everything. Better luck next time Jigga…

We did have a Best Trick Contest on the big pyramid rail and it was a 3 way tie all going up the rail – Ryan Barron Feeble 180, Andy Anderson Bluntslide and Dominic Devries with a frontside tailslide fakie. Sick. Ryan was close to taking it all with a Boardslide to Feeble, but just couldn’t quite put it down. RBS…

Results:

Mini: 1. JR Barron; 2. Parker Sherwin; 3. Aiden Eastman; 4. Ry Forrester

Beginner: 1. Kai Searle; 2. Dante Gullickson; 3. Riley Allen; 4. Nick Bachmeier, Weston Huchkinson, Matthew Major; 7. Bishop Rosie; 8. Patrick Jonas; 9. Andrew Goodlet; 10. Ethan Tessier; 11. Ben Walsh; 12. Cameron Nelson

Intermediate: 1. Mathew McCauley; 2. Andre Bissonnette; 3. Eric Pedersson; 4. Malek Salem; 5. Tyler Olson

Girls: 1. Heloise Wathelet; 2. Carrie Williams; 3. Brianna Palmer

Advanced: 1. Dominic Devries; 2. Calvin Dignard; 3. Brad Muscat (Fighter); 4. Andy Anderson; 5. Cisco Gooding; 6. Jordan Strong; 7. Allen Handley; 8. Ryan Barron, Sean Cuddeford (Lil’ G); 10. Alexander Savage; 11. Jay Mykyte; 12. Shadd Trepp

Best Trick: 3 way tie – Ryan Barron, Andy Anderson, Dominic Devries

See you next time at

Fleetwood – July 28^th 2012

Cisco Gooding Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Jaden Easton-Ellett Jeff Cole Jordan Strong Protest Skateboards Skateboarding Team Riders

Summer’s Here – Time to go “Tarpless!!”

Jun 29,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

One of the moments I long for all Winter every year is getting the tarp off my ramp. It’s a luxury to be able to float a tarp over the ramp all winter so that we can skate it any time we want but it’s two completely different worlds – tarp or no tarp. When the tarp is up, it feels more like you came out just to skate, not to hang out, and you skate more like you’re on a mission. When the tarp isn’t up, you’re surrounded by the beauty of nature and the atmosphere seems way more relaxed and you just skate to have a good time. Plus everyone can actually see the ramp from anywhere in my the yard and we don’t all have to crowd into the floating fortress. We had a good chunk of the Protest Team come out to enjoy the first tarpless skate session, Jordan Strong, Cisco Gooding, Brad Muscat, Jeff Cole, Jaden Easton-Ellett, Andy Anderson, and of course myself and Carrie were both there since we live here.

[youtube id=”HHtnEFD3G3c” width=”620″ height=”360″]

I love where I live and the fact that we can even have this funky mini-ramp and make tons of noise all the time with no complaints from anyone.

Skate to live – live to skate.

Summer’s finally here, tarp’s finally off. It’s gonna be a beautiful Summer.

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A quick Sunday Session with Andy and Stu

May 29,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

I went and met up with Team Riders, Andy Anderson and Stu Benoit on Sunday to do a little filming. Andy got tied up on the skytrain for a while and it took him an hour and a half longer than us to get to the first stop – Kensington Skate Park. Stu and I had already played a little game of “Skate” and were both pretty much done with that park by the time Andy showed up, so it was all him. He started to annihilate the pool right away with grinds and airs over the deathbox in the deep end. So I started filming. Andy killed the pool, the mini ramp and the launcher in about half an hour but he blew out a bearing and we had to go get another one. Stu finished off his game of Bocce with the boys and we took off, grabbed a bearing at Stu’s and went to Hastings Park.

Both of them start shredding the bowl instantly. Man I wish I could skate a bowl like these guys, effortless tricks on every section, but nothing easy. Stu threw down his usual blunts, tailslides and lipslides wherever he felt like it, and Andy ripped through the bowl super fast hitting every obstacle possible. I told him to clear this gap from the 6 foot hip over the landing to the other quarterpipe coming back the other direction – it’s about 10 feet. Andy told me there was no way.

He landed it within 4 tries.

Then he did it about 5 times in a row – solid.

We filmed for about half an hour at each park, check out the footage.

Not bad for a quick Session on a Sunday…

Contest Results Contests Extreme Sports Skateboarding World Round Up

World Round-Up… The Footage Begins

May 24,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Man, I got so much footage at the Finals on Monday. I’m still uploading it into my editing program. The final article along with a compilation video will be posted by Friday or Saturday. I know you’re all waiting to see some wicked performances, so here’s a little bit to get you going.

These were the demos that some of the Pros put on during their introductions prior to the actual Finals, along with Shaun Gladwell’s final run in the Amateur Division – 1^st place finish – and a solid example from the master, Kilian Martin showing off why he is considered to be the next biggest name of Freestyle Skateboarding. Mind Blowing.

Just to give you a dose of what you’re going to see in the upcoming video,

Enjoy.

Kilian Martin – Demo

Stephan Albert – Demo

Guenter Mokulys – Demo

Mike Osterman – Demo

Per Canguru – Demo

Rene Shigueto – Demo

Shaun Gladwell – Final Run in Amateur – 1^st Place finish

Stefan “Lillis” Akesson – Demo

Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Hippie Mike's Messed Up Mind Skateboarding Stories of the Board

2×4, By 36

May 18,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

It was about 2004 when I built the 2×4 skateboard.

I built it to prove to the kids I was teaching that you can balance on anything. But I made the mistake of taking it down to Bear Creek Skate Park the evening I put it together and realized that I could actually skate it. I even did a kickflip off the bank launch on it that first day. It was gonna be trouble…

I started skating this thing all the time. I kept it in my trunk and pulled it out whenever I thought of something to try. I let the kids ride it every Friday at the Skateboard Camps I was running and they all thought it was awesome. All it was, was just a straight up 2×4 – 36” long, gripped on top and sitting on original Gullwing Pros and Powell Peralta Mini Rats. It’s in my laundry room right now, just waiting for another ride. I think the last trick I ever did on it was a switch blunt – indy out on my ramp, or maybe it was the jitterbug. Either way it’s been a year or two.

We had some good times, me and that 2×4 – kickflipped a roof gap on some portables, pop-shovits, manuals and boardslides, all kinds of craziness. I still remember early grabbing the 10 stair at Brookswood Skate Park on it and everyone going wild. One time I showed up at Brookswood for a contest in 2005 and I only brought my 2×4. 75% of the people there didn’t even know it existed, but they’ll never forget it after that day:

First run, I threw down a solid line to start, Kickflip on flat, then a big pop shovit, and then boardslide down the 4 stair kink rail; turned around and blunt transferred over the spine in the bowl to a 50-50 and then a rock fakie; jumped out of the bowl, cleared the path and early grabbed the 10 stair… Killed it!

Second run, started off with the same line, then went back and forth in the flat banks with a kickflip fakie, a fakie kickflip and then pop-shovit body varial; and of course, one more early grab off the 10 stair.

The crowd loved it, and somehow I got 4^th place. Nice! I didn’t do it to win, I just did it for the fun, and I was stoked that I had 2 flawless runs.

I was filming way out in Aldergrove Skate Park about a month ago for my “Show UP Mike” contest and this kid showed up and the first thing he said to me was, “Hey, did you used to ride a 2×4? I remember you from a contest at Brookswood.” I just laughed. Good times.

Another great one was this Volcom – Wild in the Parks thing at Tsawwassen Skate Park in 2006. I had ridden my 2×4 at Tsawwassen so many times it was basic. I kickflipped up the step up no problem, early grabbed both sets with different grabs, and some other stuff, but this was a day for historic moments so I decided I was going to boardslide the Blue Rail down the 6 stair. Anyone that knows me knows that I don’t ride rails any more, but here I was hopping on to this handrail on my 2×4 and making it. So I stuck it down, Blam!! I had never even attempted to boardslide this rail on my normal board, so I have to admit I was pretty stoked that I just did it on a 2×4, maybe a little toooooo stoked. I stuck it down again for my video camera so I could watch it myself, and then I talked shit: “Joyce Rail, tomorrow. It’s goin’ down.” Any locals to the Lower Mainland should know the Joyce Rail – long green 6 stair rails, fairly high, out of a tennis court and you need plywood to land on. About 12 of us went out the next day for me to do this boardslide.

First try, got on it and jumped off;

Second try, slid the whole rail and jumped off;

Third try, came up strong, full commitment, knowing I was going to land it…

Nope.

I clipped my front wheels on the bottom of the rail, leaped over the rail trying to clear it and caught my inner thigh on the end. Smash! Faceplant.

It took me 3-4 weeks to massage out this blood clot trying to form in my leg, but it was worth it. I was getting way to cocky with that 2×4 board and needed a good dose of reality as to why I should not be riding it.

The 2×4 skateboard was built to prove a point to kids, but instead it ended up proving a lot about skateboarding to myself. I learned that I can ride anything and still rip it. It helped me express my inner self and I realized that this board would push my limits to another level, and I thank every day I got on it, and every trick I did. I’m sure someday it will rise again, but can’t say when.

Until then, enjoy what might just be the strangest skateboard video part you ever see:

From the video “Never Give Up”, 2005

To the song “This Was My Life” by Megadeath

Hippie Mike – The 2×4

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Hippie Mike – Back in Action

May 3,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

I’ve been skateboarding now for 26 years, and I would say I have learned quite a lot of tricks, but the best thing about skateboarding is just running as fast as you can on to your board and surfing the concrete. Today’s generation doesn’t always understand that concept. They get dropped off at the skate park, practise their tricks all day, get mad when they can’t land them, and call their Mommies to come pick them up. That’s not what skateboarding is supposed to be about.

Skateboarding is about Freedom – Freedom to express yourself in any way you feel. I can skate for hours without doing any tricks and without ever leaving the ground. Just cruisin’ and carvin’. Some days my favorite thing to do is just grab a couple buddies and hit up the Surrey Downhill 3 or 4 times. You should try it some day. Quit worrying about who you’re impressing and just go skate.

Since the “What the F” video came out in 2010, I haven’t really been filming too much. I’ve kind of just been keeping to myself, riding my ramp at home, slashing around at Chuck Bailey, and just going back to the roots of why I love this sport. But it’s time to giv’er once again. Through all the injuries that have plagued me over the past 26 years, and the changes in my body structure due to some of these injuries, it is still my greatest passion to be out there on my board.

Here’s a little taste of the footage you’re about to get from the old Hippie Mike. Enjoy it, and get ready for a whole lot more….

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

Born Innocent

May 3,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

If there is one thing that all people in the world have in common it is that we were all born innocent. Never has there ever been a baby that the justice system was awaiting to put on trial or send directly to jail the second they are born. Unfortunately, there are babies born into slavery and other torturous means but that is not the topic today.

We all come from an egg and live in our mother’s womb before we are born. That’s what makes us mammals.

And when we are born, we all take that first breath of air and begin our lives. We are all at the same stage of life at that point.

So when does it change?

Why do we all end up so different from one another?

And where do we learn these differences from?

The quote this month is from the song Comin’ In From The Cold from the album Uprising, and it reads this:

“The biggest man you ever did see was at once just a baby in his life”.

That is one powerful message. Bob Marley is a hero just for thinking of this sentence, let alone writing it into a song. No matter who you become in life, whether you’re the most amazing sports figure in the world – Mohammed Ali, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods; or maybe the legendary ruler of a country – George Bush, John A. MacDonald, Mikhail Gorbachev, Sadam Hussein; or you were an amazing movie star – Brad Pitt, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Nicholson; even a pop star extravaganza – Madonna, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton…

The lists of people who are bigger than the rest of us go on and on forever. These are the people that we are trained to worship, brainwashed to love, and taught to fear. But why?

What makes them different?

We were all born equal – helpless babies.

No matter if you’re 80 pounds or 750, at one time you were carried around in someone’s arms everywhere you went. You couldn’t talk, you couldn’t eat by yourself, and you needed someone to change your diaper and wipe your bum.

We were all the same.

I was at an event today called “Challenge Day” and it’s an event mainly for high school students to share their true inner feelings and step out of their comfort zone to find out more about themselves and the people around them. It was an amazing experience for everyone in the room. Lots of smiles, plenty of tears, and tons of hugs. The emotions in this room were unstoppable, and the whole time I was there I kept thinking about that line, The biggest man you ever did see was at once just a baby in his life. It kept ringing in my ear. I would see people who were super upset and it would remind me of childhood. Every kid depends on someone for survival when they are a baby, but then we all grow up and try to out-do each other, and be better than the next guy. People bully each other, and put others down for no reason. They follow the trends in the media and do things to make themselves appear like they are more special than everyone around them. But in our hearts and souls, we’re all the same – helpless, innocent babies.

Bob Marley was all about Unity.

He wanted everyone to be treated equally, and I think that’s where this sentence originated from in his mind.

Because the only time that we are all considered equal, is right when we are born.

What can we do to change that…

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

The Bob Marley Quote of the Month

May 3,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Growing up, I went through some strange phases, as most kids do. I stopped combing my hair at a young age, and started to wash it with just the bar of soap instead of shampoo. I decided to walk and hitch-hike everywhere I went instead of using transit, and I just plain stopped caring about what anyone thought of me – period. I decided to just be myself at all times.

But one of the most interesting phases was when I was about 18 years old:

I decided that I was going to listen to nothing but Bob Marley. That was it. If I was in someone else’s car or house or a place of business, I had no choice, but when the choice was mine it was “All Bob, all the time”. I had over 30 different Bob Marley albums so it wasn’t hard to do, I would listen to it while I drive, while I skate, and every night while I fell asleep, and this lasted for about 1 year.

You see, one day my whole life just straight up changed. I had an awakening. This was when I decided to never cut my hair again, and to let Freedom take its toll. Most people bow down to society’s ways and fall into the traps of the brainwashing that is all over the media. They tell you how to dress, how to look, how to smell, how to walk, where to work, who to vote for, what to eat and drink, and even how to act in our own homes. You see, the government wants us all to be the same in as many ways as possible so it’s easier for them to control society.

But Bob Marley was always about Freedom – Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religious Beliefs, Freedom to Be Yourself, no matter who you are. And he preached his beliefs in song. And he taught so many people how to listen, how to hear, and how to be Free.

Most people relate Bob Marley to pot. They love him for his belief in legalizing marijuana, but those people have never heard what Robert Nesta Marley was really preaching about.

Bob was a lover,

Bob was a Freedom Fighter,

And Bob was a Black Man in a White Man’s World.

His main purpose in life was to teach people that we are all Human Beings, no matter what color, no matter what race, no matter what size.

No matter where we live now, we all came from the same Africa Land,

And all Bob wanted was for Man to Unite.

I love Bob Marley,

He is my hero, my mentor, my idol.

I believe that if Bob Marley was still alive today, the world we live in would be different in many ways.

His lyrics and beliefs helped me through the toughest stage of my life, when I felt lost in the world and needed advice and had no one to turn to. It was his lyrics that brought me to British Columbia where I am a mentor to so many others, and I will always praise him for that.

In the song Soul Rebel, Bob Marley sings:

“If you’re not living good, travel wide”

And no sentence can ring more true.

If what you have is not satisfying your soul, then leave it behind you and start over somewhere new. Your calling is out there, but it’s up to you to go find it. Don’t stay stuck in a place where you’re sad, find yourself, find your true meaning of existence, and you will know what Freedom is…

Every month I will write down my favourite quotes from Bob Marley songs and express what they mean to me and why.

Stay tuned…

Thank You

Hippie Mike

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