Finally a Skateboard Video that features Skateboarding

Oct 18,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

It difficult for me to watch a lot of the Skate Videos that come out now a days because there’s hardly ever any actual skateboarding in them. I mean some filmers are starting to get creative with their intros and outros but when it’s the persons part, it’s just bang, bang, bang, trick after trick. What ever happened to that part where people had to actually skate, and push.

Ethan Craig just released a solid video about a day of skating with Will Blakley downtown Vancouver. It’s awesome for a few reasons:

Ethan pulled out one of the old style Hi-8 cameras to film with. The footage is grainy, and the audio sucks, just the way it used to be.
It shows what a street skater goes through during their normal day of just skating through the city. Lots of interactions with random people, some positive and some very negative.
It lets people see what skateboarding is really all about. Just cruisin’ through your neighbourhood, knowing all the bumps, cracks and funky obstacles like the back of your hand. And just having fun.

I wish the kids of today understood what it’s like to live on your skateboard and not get a ride to the skate park and back, but to just skate wherever you’re going that day and find the path that suits you best.

Thanks Ethan and Will for a great video sparking lots of memories for us older skaters, and hopefully showing the young guns what it’s all about. This video is so “Early 1990’s Style”, the only thing missing is Colin McKay and Rick Howard in Plan B shirts….

You gotta check it

Extreme Sports Skateboarding

Sam Hampton Throws Down

Oct 2,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Langley Loc, and actually – Walnut Grove Loc – Sam Hampton drops this sick video part, all pure street skating and super tech. Sam’s still a young buck so respect his skill level. I’ve known this kid for a long time from him coming out to lots of my events and he is a very solid skater who lands everything with ease and style. Reppin’ hard for Coastal Riders and the Surrey/Langley scene, the one trick I’d say I would label him best at is anything bigspin.

Check his part

http://hellaclips.com/videos/view/36085

Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Protest Skateboards Skateboarding

B . C . P .

Sep 6,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

You down with BCP? Yeah you know meeee!!

If you don’t know what BCP stands for then you definitely were not there during the eras of destruction at Surrey’s own Bear Creek Park. Back in the day, even before my time there, some serious tricks used to go down. Back when Clint Proulx used to be skinny and knew how to fly, blasting Benihana’s over the big volcano – everybody would go huge there. People always say that Bear Creek was a bike park, that’s ‘cause they don’t understand how to ride those obstacles properly. Clint Proulx, Chris Bone, Scotty MacIntosh, Ben Wheeler and others all created what that place was about in the ‘90’s. Then came the era when people stopped airing so much and tricks were getting more tech, Jay Mykyte, Stu Benoit, Drew Boyle, Joel Chamberlayne and myself set the standard for the young bucks in the new millenium. And then kids like Scotty Tyson just learned everything. BCP was an amazing park to be a local at, and still today lives on as one of the most unique skate parks I’ve ever skated. So many tricks I can think of that I need to go to Bear Creek to do, because that obstacle doesn’t exist anywhere else. That’s awesome.

Just to reminisce the old days, Jordan Strong and I hit up one of my fav parks so I could toss down some memories…

BCP!

Cisco Gooding Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Jordan Strong Protest Skateboards Skateboarding Team Riders

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 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

Extreme Sports Skateboarding

R.I.P. Carlsbad

Jul 5,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Located in Carlsbad, California, a suburb of San Diego, Carlsbad High School was built in 1957. Carlsbad High School is renowned for its high level of academic success and graduate levels, with top students from each year attending many of the most prestigious universities in the United States. But the most memorable part of the high school had to be the gap that was skated to its limit for many, many years. From Danny Way’s nollie, to Jeremy Wray’s frontside 360, the Carlsbad Gap was already demoed just in the old Plan B videos. Josh Kasper, Tom Penny, Andrew Reynolds, and so many more amazing skaters destroyed this gap during the 1990’s and the next generation continued the religion. Even Bart Simpson blasted the Carlsbad Gap at one point. I think my favorite trick of all still has to be a very young Brandon Turner in the Shorty’s video – Guilty, with the switch hardflip. If you watch it in super slow mo, it’s baffling to try to figure out where he actually popped on his take off. Insane.

So many different tricks went down over this massive obstacle over the past 2 decades and I’m sure lots of people travelled worldwide to Cali just to skate it. On February 23^rd, 2012 the legend of the Carlsbad Gap actually became just a legend.

Demolished forever.

Kris Markovich was the first person to ever kickflip the gap, and was also blessed by being the last person to Ollie it…

Check out the videos, and pay your tributes

[youtube id=”MUHlmz75IEE” width=”620″ height=”360″]

Extreme Sports Skateboarding

Daewon…You so Crazy

Jun 19,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Here’s a fresh teaser video from the one ond only Daewon Song. We all know Daewon is one of the most technical innovators of the sport, and him and Rodney Mullen definitely had a huge influence on me to set up my own obstacles all the time just like they used to. But the weird part about this video was how Daewon seemed to be skating all the types of spots I dream about – rocks, trees, just nasty stuff.

Check out Daewon’s part.

Now check out my last video part in “What the “F” were we Thinking”. I think we need to get together buddy. I doubt the majority of my tricks can compare with Daewon, but at least we could shred the same spots…

[youtube id=”1zI-QmUcA1U” width=”620″ height=”360″]

Contests Extreme Sports Ryan Brynelson Skateboarding Team Riders

The World Round-Up Finals (Just a Taste)

May 22,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

I went to the Finals on Monday, May 21^st, 2012 of the first ever “World Round-Up Freestyle Skateboard Championships” held at the Cloverdale Rodeo in Surrey, British Columbia. I’ve been watching Freestyle skateboarding for many years so I knew what to expect, but I don’t really follow the names that much, so I wasn’t exactly sure WHO to expect… I knew Kevin Harris would be there since he was involved with making the event happen, but I also knew he wasn’t going to be competing. I knew Ryan Brynelson was going to be there since I just added him to the Protest Team, but I knew he was going to be in the Amateur division. I did not know that Andy Anderson, another one of my riders on the Protest Team was going to show up as a late entry and compete in the Amateur. He did really well too. But it was the big names people came to see, Per Canguru, Rene Shigueto, Darryl Grogan, Stephan Albert, Stephan Lillis Akesson, Guenter Mokulys and the man of the freetstyle board – Kilian Martin, who unfortunately was not competing. There were lots of people to watch, all putting on amazing displays for the crowd. No matter how they placed, they were definitely all seen as champions. The coolest thing about going to a Freestyle Contest as a spectator, is it’s almost like you transferred into another dimension. Freestyle Skateboarding is very rare, and these guys live it so they’re used to it, but any other skater now a days, gets their mind blown away when they’re watching it. It can almost knock you down a couple notches in your confidence level of how good you are on a skateboard, because these guys are frickin’ amazing. I’ve been skateboarding for over 26 years and I am still baffled by half the tricks people do in freestyle. They are definitely one with their boards.

It was an awesome event, with a great purpose.

Both my Team Riders qualified to the finals in the Amateur division with Ryan Brynelson landing in 2^nd place, so close to winning behind Shaun Gladwell, and then the unknown wonder who showed up out of the blue, Andy Anderson finishing 5^th. Yeah Andy!

Here are the results for the Top 5 in the Professional division:

1st Place – Darryl Grogan (USA)
2nd Place – Guenter Mokulys (Germany)
3rd Place – Stefan Lillis Akesson (Sweden)
4th Place – Rene Shigueto (Brazil)
5th Place – Per Canguru (Brazil)

For the guys who didn’t make top 5, no worries. The scores were all decimal points apart through all 10 riders. Tight competition…

This is just a taste about the World Round-Up Freestyle Championships. Stay tuned in a couple of days and I will have a full story about the event, along with some seriously mind blowing footage…

Until then, click the link below

Kevin Harris – PNE Story

http://youtu.be/NAGMKe2JlVU

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

Hippie Mike Hippie Mike's Messed Up Mind Life and Death - And all the Emotions that come in between Skateboarding SkatePark Styles

Mad Carver Lives On

May 2,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

I was skating Kensington Park the other day and was busting out some flip tricks on the old Record Flat bank and it brought back the memories of all the awesome times I had with the Mad Carver back in the day. The record was built as a tribute to Carver to remind us all of how much he loved his music, especially that sweet Reggae Vibe.

Don Hartley was a DJ, a caring individual, and a hero to many people – and most of all a true skateboarder for life. “Live by the Board, Die by the Board…” any hardcore skater says it, but do they mean it. This man was in his 50’s, skateboarding every day if possible. He would just carve man. In all the years I knew Don I don’t think I ever saw him leave the ground, except for that front flip off his board out of the deep end at Seylynn Bowl. The coolest thing about Don was that he was such a nice guy, always encouraging to everyone around him and always giving out free advice. And he always pushed the younger generation to wear their helmets.

Don Hartley was a man I loved and a man I will always love…

It was July 1^st, 2009 – an incredibly beautiful day outside. It was a day I had waited for all year, just like every year – Seylynn Bowl Series Contest. The year prior there had been a potential jumper on the Second Narrows Bridge and it was closed most of the day so this year everyone came early so they didn’t miss the contest again. Must have been about 300 people around just having a great old time. It was Advanced heats and they set it up for a full Seylynn Locs Heat: Don, Hippo, Dave Boyce, Dave 57, and everyone was rippin’. All day there had been sooooooooooo many close calls like usual and the crowd really feeds off of them. Seylynn is one of the coolest parks in the world, built in 1978 in the shape of a snake and there really is no limit as to how fast you can go there. Unfortunately though it does have its blind spots, and sometimes you’re going so fast that you don’t see someone else in certain spots in the bowl. BOOM!! Tragedy struck… 57 went flying into the deep end for the speed line not knowing that Don was inside carving and slashing up a storm. It was a face to face collision at high speed and Don never knew what hit him. I was lucky enough not to see it, but I was standing about 20 feet away, and that sound will be etched into my brain forever. The crowd went silent, the music stopped, I jumped into the bowl – worried. A couple others jumped in as well, one of them was an E.M.T. ambulance attendant so I felt safe enough that they could handle the first aid and got out of the bowl. The ambulance was on its way, but how long would they take. The Mad Carver was down, and still unconscious…

It must have been the longest 10 minutes of everyone’s life waiting for help to arrive. I kept chanting “C’Mon Don! Let’s Go Don!” and telling everyone it was gonna be alright. I believed that. I honestly thought Don was going to be okay. The ambulance took him away and the contest ended right there. The mood was definitely destroyed. What went from being one of the best Seylynn Comps of all time turned into what will hopefully remain the worst.

Don went to hospital and was put on life support. 3 days later I received a text that he was gone. No more Mad Carver…

I was standing by my truck at Kwantlen Park setting up for the kickoff contest of Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey for that year and just broke down into tears. There was at least 50 people around, but suddenly I was standing alone – a moment I’ll never forget. I just wanted to go home, but I couldn’t. I’m Hippie Mike – and it’s my Tour de Surrey. I said my last words to Don out loud not caring who heard me, wiped away the tears and walked back over to my chair. I knew that Don was a legend. I knew that his death broke the hearts of thousands of people. But mostly I knew that he was always so stoked on skateboarding and watching people learn, and that was what these competitions are all about. I asked DJ Cuzo to play me some sweet Reggae music and the show began. It was a tough day, but it was all for Don. I got through the contest, packed up and went home, and found the first cd that Don had ever made me – 72 minutes of sweet Reggae Vibes. I love you buddy.

For a while, those moments kept reoccurring in my brain. That horrid sound of the initial collision. The immediate silence of 300 people. The tears that ran down my face when I got that text message. And every year when I get ready to go to Seylynn on Canada Day for the Bowl Series I still watch The Seylynn Story DVD, and no matter what I’m in the middle of when Don Hartley’s part starts, I stop and sit and watch the whole damn thing. Nothing gets me more stoked when I’m about to go to Seylynn Park. I wish I could skate that place like Don did. Any local at that park has their own style and their own lines. You watch the footage of Don there and you will understand where the name “The Mad Carver” came from. He ripped that place – since day One.

Bowl Series will never be the same. The music’s not the same. The vibes aren’t the same. Life isn’t the same. But we are a family and we will overcome. We will never forget Don Hartley and what he did for the sport of Skateboarding. We will never forget the kind words he spread amongst the groups of people that surrounded him. We will never forget the way he loved to groove. But mostly, we will never forget that day.

For those of you who knew him, then you know what this means:

Mad carver Lives On…

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