Kitsch in The Valley

Aug 15,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

2 demos, 1 video showing, lots of great skating.

Geoff Dermer and the Kitsch Skateboards Team are heading out into the valley twice in the next 10 days. They’re putting on a Demo and Best Trick Contest with Coastal Riders at the rarely used Walnut Grove Skate Park on Wednesday, August 15^th, and then coming over to Chuck Bailey on August 23^rd for another one, including another Best Trick Contest and a showing of their last video “Bric-a-Brac” on the outside wall of the building. This will be a historic event as it will be the first ever video played on the Urban Screen Projectors.

The Poster says it all

Check out the events.

Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey 2012 – Stop 3 Guildford Bowl

Aug 14,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

What a clear day, you could see for miles and miles, except for when that truck burnt to the ground on the corner of 105 Ave and 152 st. right beside the park.

Not the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen at Guildford Bowl but still decent enough to make it count for a contest. The Minis and Beginners were definitely shredding, and the older dudes all showed up to win it. The competition was tight in all categories, but Advanced was a battle.

In Mini, Jon Schrack kept his flow going from the previous 2 contests this year and took home another gold. He was flying over the gaps and ripping up the tranny in the bowl. Joe Maillet showed off his skills all over the park and Aiden Eastman skated the bowl fearlessly, which is amazing since you can hardly see him in there he’s so tiny. Dax Searle entered for the first time and did his best, and then little Kaelen Faux barged in a run after the Mini category was over. Kaelen walked over and requested his helmet from me, picked up his skateboard and stated that he was entering the competition. A pretty bold statement from a 2 and a half year old, so I had to let him have a run. He spent most of his time holding on to his Mom’s hands and trying big ollies, but we did get a show of his pogos too. Great job Mini’s!!

The Beginners were insane like always. Kai Searle started first and set a high standard for the rest to follow. Everyone was going for it, Matthew Major boardslid the 6 stair rail, Adam Lewis blasted over the double set with ease, Riley was going huge out of the bowl and Justin Fiorante landed almost everything he tried. A tough decision for the judges to only have 3 winners.

The Intermediates forgot to show up to this contest so I blended them together with the Girls, tough break for the guys because the Ladies were ready to destroy this place. Jacob Drescher and his buddy John were the only dudes in the heat and Jacob had to work super hard to even place Top 3. It’s a good thing he laid down a kickflip over the 6 stair and a 3 flip over the 2 block to finish his run because the ladies were fiercely killing the bowl. Brianna Palmer and Carrie Williams both shredded around the entire bowl with speed and stability, Carrie laid down a bunch of tricks in the halfpipe, on the taco and outside the bowl on flat. Heloise Wathelet just hit the halfpipe section up for both of her runs but threw down some serious skill tricks including a stomped out kickflip rock and a popshovit rock in the second run. But still no one could catch Elizabeth Nenniger blasting speed lines down and up the bowl and showing no fear with 50-50’s and smith grinds both ways. She killed it!!

The Advanced is never easy, but Brad Muscat showed up with a mission, which gave everyone else a mission of their own – don’t let Brad win. He set the bar high after his first run with a lot of tough tricks that other people don’t do, and then finished his second run off with a nasty crooked grind down the double set rail which point straight at the corner of the building. Dominic Devries tore up the entire place in both runs, and actually probably should have won. He laid down skills in the halfpipe, frontside flipped the double set, and backside 5-0’d the hubba. It was a tough call between the 2, They both killed it… Zeebs was there, Lil’ G was there, DJ Dale was there, Jaden Easton-Ellet and Jordan Strong were there, but no one was gonna take 3^rd place away from Giver. The man known now as Michael James finally showed up with a vengeance and actually Gave’r. Giver shredded the bowl hard, long grinds, stylish bodyjars and crail tricks and finished off his second run with a perfect Miller Flip in the shallow end. Who knows, maybe he should have won. It was so tough to judge between those 3 dudes, they all killed it. Solid Efforts Boys.

We finished off with a Best Trick anywhere in the park which I though Dominic was going to win for sure. Riley Allen got in there as the only Beginner competing against all the Advanced dudes and almost stuck a huge 360 Judo out of the bowl. Dale had the lead for a bit with a manual to nosebonk bigspin on the curvy ledge, and then Dominic hit a kickflip front board down the handrail, regular and to fakie. But Jordan Strong squeezed out a victory with a long manual over the curvy ledge down the drop onto the deck of the bowl, down another drop onto the middle of the 2block, around the s-turn corner and then kickflipped out. He took home a sweet Cooler Backpack and a sick funky shaped Folk Board. Sick…

Results:

Mini: 1. Jon Schrack; Joe Maillet; 3. Aiden Eastman; 4. Dax Searle & Kaelen Faux

Beginner: 1. Kai Searle; 2. Adam Lewis; 3. Matthew Major; 4. Justin Fiorante; 5. Riley Allen; 6. Patrick Jonas; 7. Austin; 8. Bachouch Michael; 9. Dylan Rossi; 10. Matthew Lalim

Intermediate/Ladies: 1. Beth Nenniger; 2. Heloise Wathelet; 3. Jacob Drescher; 4. Carrie Williams; 5. Brianna Palmer; 6. John Furquhar

Advanced: 1. Brad Muscat [Fighter]; 2. Dominic Devries; 3. Michael James [Giver]; 4. Jaden Easton-Ellett; 5. Jordan Strong; 6. Dale Kind; 7. Myke Johnson [Zeebs]; 8. Sean Cuddeford [Lil’ G]

Best Trick: Jordan Strong – Manual drop Manual drop Manual to kickflip out

See you next time at

Cloverdale – August 25^th 2012

Griffin Bowl Series 2012

Aug 14,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Another classic Bowl Series contest, it was a wonder if we were going to get to have one at Griffin this year as it had already been rained out twice, but the weather was definitely allowing it today.

Griffin is usually the quietest location of the Series, it’s pretty unique and tough to skate and not as fun for speed lines as the other 3 parks, Seylynn, Whistler and White Rock, but as the crowd that showed up today proved, it can still be shredded. Even Alex Chalmers was ripping it up in the competition which is always great to watch. There was a wooden spine on the course and a manual table which was leaned up on an angle against the spine like a wallride and a couple yellow curbs were pulled out of the parking lot and added to the top of the bathtub ditch. It changed the whole scene at Griffin and everyone had a blast. People to watch were Adam Hopkins, Andy Anderson, Eve Feaver, Danny Hagge, Alex Chalmers, Simon Pigeon, and Tony and Giet from China Creek. They were all killing the park anyway but during the finals someone pulled the spine over to the side of the bathtub and it turned into a whole new competition. Nosegrinds, smiths, 360’s and back lips, this thing got demo’d.

Not much to say about the contest except, if you weren’t there, you missed out…

Sick competition!!

1^{st –}Adam Hopkins

2^{nd –}Danny Hagge

3^{rd –}Giet Rolan

Show Up Mike!! Deadline Updates

Aug 14,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

WOW!! There is a major battle going on right now!

Ever since Freestyle Master Ryan Brynelson put up his 5 Trick Video at Chuck Bailey Skate Park he has been sitting all by himself at the top of the Leaderboard. When I saw Sean Lowe was entering a video I knew he was going to have a strong chance, he’s got shitload of people following him right now, plus you knew his video was gonna be sick, the guy’s amazing…

Since Thursday I’ve been watching the vote counts for Sean Lowe rise and rise, but as soon as he got close to Ryan, then his started to go up. The past 4 days have just been going vote crazy for both of these guys. Both have reached over 200 votes now and believe it or not, we have a new leader. Sean Lowe is finally in the lead. How will it end??

We still have lots of time left in this contest as the voting ends September 11^th at 11:59pm. I am extending the submission period for entering your vids until September 1^st and then it will be purely voting from then until the 11^th.

Both these guys know how to rip it, but they’re not the only ones, so if you think you still might have a chance at beating them enter your videos asap. And even if you don’t want to enter, go and vote for these guys. I can’t wait to see who wins the $500.

Winner will be announced at Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey Finale on September 15^th, 2012 at the South Surrey/White Rock Skate Park.

Extreme Sports Skateboarding

Legal Street Skating?? Now there’s a Concept…

Aug 11,2012 / By Hippie Mike / 7 Comments

You wanna be disgusted? Click this link

http://skatestoppers.com/

These guys are making a living selling objects to help prevent skateboarding and change the appearance of the world in a negative way.

I love their motto too: “Because signs alone are not enough…”

What have we become??

A friend recently sent me a link to this video which is talking about the diversity of street skating and how the world of street skating is so much tougher now with all these “Anti-Skate” features everywhere. It also touches on the fact that with all these skate parks being constructed, the public expects us not to skate in the streets anymore, but they have to understand that that’s never gonna happen.

One thing that has to be recognized is that “Street Skating” will never disappear. This is what true skateboarding is to most of the population, and with all the Anti-Skate Caps and stuff on obstacles now, it just creates more boundaries for skateboarders, bikers and rollerbladers to cross, but it doesn’t stop them. What has happened since the evolution of “Skate Stoppers” is just that the skaters have had to become more creative with what they skate. It almost helped to evolve the sport into a more artsy style of life. There has always been conflict between skateboarders and the public, and of course owners of private buildings, and that conflict will never disappear completely. But it would be nice to try to create a more positive relationship and see some of these places show acceptance to our mentality. It would be amazing if instead of people saying No you cannot be here, having them create designated spots on their properties which are made to be ridden, and have liability signs posted – “Use at Own Risk”. I know Vancouver has built a couple small ledge/bench spots in random places in the city that are actually made for skateboarding, and that’s nice, but no matter what they create, people will always be searching for other obstacles. One thing that needs to be recognized is the addiction to finding new spots and being the one setting the standard on them with that first trick.

With all the skate parks popping up all over the world now there is definitely an acceptance for skateboarding and other extreme sports, but real street skaters and the up and coming generation of good skateboarders just use these facilities as training grounds to get their tricks down pat so that when they go out filming in the streets they can land stuff quickly before getting kicked out. It would be nice to add skateboard features into the planning in the other parks around the city, and even on the new buildings that will be built soon. We know from the ratings on TV that most people do enjoy watching these extreme sports, and maybe it’s time to collaborate with the architects to make street skating legal.

Skateboarders have definitely changed the entire world of architectural design. Everywhere you look you can see everything changing and know why things were built that way, with gaps in the ledges, caps on the rails, even patches of grass in the middle of sidewalks. To me it looks ugly and ruins a lot of the artistic side of architectural design. Instead of spending money on Skate Stoppers, just add one long piece of metal coping into the ledge when it’s built to stop it from getting ruined. Recognize the fact that majority of skateboarders would never sue a business for injury and put up liability signs on the property instead of paying security to kick them out. There are many solutions as to how skateboarding can be more accepted into society for what it is, what it always has been, and what it is becoming, but we definitely need to work together to figure them out…

I am very interested to hear feedback from people on this topic so I can go a little further with trying to make something happen about it.

So please watch this video and leave your comments on our page below

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2012/08/politics-skateboarding/2811/

“Without creators in this world, we would have nothing new, but the ones who make the biggest difference are those that change what already exists…” – Hippie Mike

Coastal Riders Represents in Surrey – Like Always

Aug 10,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

For over a decade, local Surrey/Langley Skate Shop Coastal Riders has been keeping Surrey skateboarding, and always pays back the public with a stellar Team – Adam Fontaine, John Hanlon, Magnus Hansen, Dustin Locke, Jordan Zazula, Paul Machnau, Andrew Classon, Travis McGee, Mike Schulze, Dave King, Stu Benoit, Sam Hampton, Derek Mayer, Kyutae Kim, Scotty Tyson, Tyler Holm, Tommy Gudmunson and Majed Salem. It seems as though they showed up strong at Fraser Heights Skate Park on Saturday for the Cons Carnage in the Valley Contest shredding all obstacles in perfect fashion and taking home 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to be there to cheer them on, but I’m definitely proud of them…

Check the write up from Color Magazine

http://www.colormagazine.ca/blog/news/post/4359/carnage-in-the-valley-1

Roadblock Recap

Aug 10,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

4 of the most well known Skate Shops in Canada, with some of the best Canadian Skateboarders of all time competing against each other in the middle of the street. It was a gorgeous day on Sunday, August 5^th, 2012 and the Vans Roadblock was solid. BLVD, Anti Social, Underworld and Coastal Riders sent out some of their top riders to represent against one another on 4 secret obstacles. I heard it was a great time and wish I could have been there. Check out www.bcskateparks.com for the recap

Or Color Mag for the full story

http://www.colormagazine.ca/blog/news/post/4360/vans-road-block

Tsawwassen Sun Festival Contest Results 2012

Aug 7,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Another gorgeous day in “The Land of the Sun”, Tsawwassen. August 5, 2012 was the date of the Tsawwassen Sun Festival and included in the promotions was the annual Skateboard Contest presented by Michael Ray and MC’d by Shadd Trepp. A lot of familiar faces who have localized the Tsawwassen Skate Park over the years – myself Hippie Mike, Cisco Gooding, Justin James, Graeme Betts, Andrew Classon, Cole Thodus, Luke Thodus, and many more…

All categories were filled with lots of talent including Beginner. Chuck Bailey local Adam Lewis took the cake in Beginner with a close Parker Sherwin in 2^nd. Both these kids have fat bags of tricks, so you know it was tight for the judges.

The Intermediate Category was pretty sick. Team Protest showed up during first runs in Intermediate and it was awesome how people were asking if this was Advanced. That’s how crazy the talent level is in Tsawwassen. You know little 10 year old Luke Thodus was trying his hardest to win 2 years in a row, and I’m sure his big brother Cole Thodus did not want to let that happen. These 2 can really battle for their ages, and they both probably would have done well in Advanced too. Luke came through with another victory!!

Advanced was packed with competitors of all ages, including myself as the oldest at 33 years of age. Gilbert Turenne was first to go laying down some sick ledge tricks and 3flipping over the 3 block like butter. Fighter was hot, and hitting some nasty tricks down the biggies, crooks and smiths on the red rail, and even a benihana over the 3 block in his second run. Cisco did his usual switch, nollie and combination tricks all over the park, staying low but keeping it tech, and even Jaden competed grinding all the ledges and flying over the cans. Protest always represents wherever we go but this was a tough one to win, Andrew Classon came out in his first run with complete control and determination to win. I’ve hung out with this kid since he was about 8 years old and he’s always been super creative and super solid. He actually rode for Protest Skateboards when he was 10-11 years old. I love the way Andrew gets annoyed about how long the runs are too. He usually lands enough tricks in the first 30 seconds to win, so why should he continue?? Mick Bey was another young dude I was super proud of out there. I met Mick when he was 10 years old working an afterschool drop in program at his school. He was a super talented sporty kid that had a lot of confidence. He moved out to Tsawwassen a few years ago and grew about a foot and a half taller which really helped him with learning all these ledge and rail tricks he has on lock. It’s sick to watch these kids grow up from so young, and then actually compete against them. Mick was close to Top 3 but didn’t quite make it, but the other really tall dude from Tsawwassen did, Aleka Lang. And John Purcell was definitely representing his skills. This kid likes the rails and has a lot of switch skills. Visiting from Nova Scotia he has taken the opportunity to get his name out there since he’s been here, placing in Top 3 in a few contests and winning the Element Make it Count Qualifier at Chuck Bailey a few weeks ago. Good luck on the next stage of that one buddy, hope you do well. And I hope we hear more about this up-and-comer in the future.

So many people to congratulate and compliment from this contest, but I have to throw mad props out to Shadd Trepp on the mic for being the most enthusiastic MC off all time. Such a fun guy to be around. Shadd gets just as excited about a powerslide as he does about a 3flip lipslide. So awesome buddy!!

And best I saw all day was Graeme Betts nosebluntslide and switch lipslide a table out of the smallest bank in the park, both like butter. Graeme didn’t compete, but he doesn’t need to. True Blood Park Local forever brother.

That was Tsawwassen for this year, here’s the results

Beginner:

Adam Lewis
Parker Sherwin
Luke Zhanez

Intermediate:

Luke Thodus
Sam Gror
Cole Thodus

Advanced:

Andrew Classon
Aleka Lang
John Purcell

Vans Roadblock Contest 2012

Aug 2,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

It’s that time of year again, time for the skateboarders to take over the downtown streets of Vancouver and show which Local Skate Shop Team has been working the hardest this year.

4 shops

4 Teams

4 obstacles

$4000

Sounds pretty easy, and should be lots of fun to watch. I do believe that the Surrey/Langley Crew from Coastal Riders represented the hardest last year, and I’m sure they want to redeem their titles, being the only shop invited that isn’t located in Vancouver. We know the air is different on this side of the Fraser River and it shows in our skating…

It’s the 3^rd Annual Vans Roadblock:

Coastal Riders – Boulevard – Underworld – Anti-Social

August 5^th, 2012

Granville St – Between Smithe and Robson

Practice starts at 11am, contest starts at 1pm

Show up and support your favorite shop

Poster is below

Converse Shoes Contest in Surrey Carnage in the Valley – August 4th, 2012

Aug 2,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Another contest where you crazy kids can try and win cash. $1000 in prizing presented by Cons, Coastal Riders and Color Magazine.

The event will be held at Fraser Heights Skate Park, a very street skater friendly location. You are guaranteed to see some amazing tricks go down at that place, especially if there’s money involved. So even if you don’t skate, or just don’t want to compete, head out and support the guys that do.

Check the poster below

Category : Extreme Sports