doushbag parking
Now Playing: NOFX: Bob
"Doushbag parking" was painted on one of the decks at the Akron cement park when I was there last week.  I thought that was really funny.   There is always funny graffiti at skateparks.   I meant to take a pic of it, but only got this one on the way out.

The "Air Dock" freaks me out.  It is so huge and ominous.  I know I've written about it before, but I still get kind of nauseous looking at it.  That Metlife blimp with Snoopy on the nose landed while I was there.  I'm going to speculate that landing a blimp is no easy task.  THere was a whole crew of people on the ground, running all over the place, trying to grab the ropes to bring it in.  I imagine the blimp was in action on a Thursday afternoon for the big golf tournament that was going on in Akron.  I don't follow golf, but I wish I did so I would have known to come to town another day.  I paid $130 for a smoked out hotel room at midnight!  So bummed.  I almost always stay at Super 8 and pay 40-60 dollars, which is living large compared to the sleazy motels I used to stay in when I was super poor and on the road.   I should have stayed at the Super 8 up by Chenga--the new Chenga, which is by the old Chenga, kind of.  I rode it.  It's nuts!   I didn't know what to think or do for the first hour or so.  I just rode around, overwhelmed, feeling like a dork.  I took a break and asked "Juicer" if he wanted to shoot some photos.  I know he's super good from the old Chenga and also from Rays.  He kindly obliged and went to work busting out insane trick after trick.  I just wanted him to do some basic stuff!

This huge fufanu came right after this tailwhip on the step-up/step-down oddity...

Then, this ridiculous wall-tap out over the 10 foot vert wall (with four feet of pure vert!) in the bowl...

After that, some over-vert carves in the capsule...

He did all this stuff like it was nothing.

Here's a couple over-view shots:

After shooting the photos, I kind of calmed down and really had a good time.  Chenga57 is awesome!   There were some dudes from St. Louis there as well and it was fun riding with them.   They were on a big road trip (they are the people in the over-view shots too).

    The next morning I rode the Akron park for a bit, followed by a long day of visiting shops for work.  The last skate shop I went to was in Oberlin, Ohio, a small town west of Cleveland.  On the way into town, I noticed a lot of good terrain.  After my shop visit and before my five  hour drive back home (it's a lot further to Cleveland after the move!), I stopped to cruise around a bit and get my blood flowing before the long drive.  I was only on my bike for a minute when I heard "Hey, how's it going?".  I turned around and saw a dude picking up his bike.  A real BMX bike.  I said hello as his two buddies rolled up.    Vince, Jeremy and Justin (I think I got their names right) proceeded to take me on a short tour of the area, including a rad spot called "The Octagon" (it was octagon-shaped, go figure).  These dudes were real cool and it was a fun session.  We hit a bunch of good stuff in 45 minutes and I'm sure there's a bunch more there.  Just meeting dudes on the street and having them take me around felt like the old days, when you had an instant bond with someone if they had a BMX bike or a skateboard.  Not like today, when there's usually a weird vibe and ass-sniffing ritual like unfamiliar dogs checking each other out to see who's coolest.  Vince took this pic of me about five minutes after we met. 

And  here's a shot of Jeremy, who is turning "the big 2-0", according to Vince.

I thought about isomethign as we were riding, how weird, by normal social standards (whatever those are), that this group of 20  year olds just happen to meet this older guy on the street and take him around to ride their local spots, all in celebration of the 20 inch BMX bike.  Obviously, they knew I was older than they were, but I'm sure they would have been way off if there were to have guessed my actual age (double theirs!).  Funny, yet fairly normal by BMX standards.   Warms my heart.  Here's a shot of my unbroken Stairmaster.  I had a little scare last week, but it turned out to be a paint issue....

By the by, I still love the term "Bicycle Motocross", even if really doesn't apply to much these days.

   And I've decided that I hate the X games.  When the BMX dudes are wearing uniforms and my wife's uncle and my mom both ask me if I saw the "skateboarder wreck" on the same day, it's gone too far.  I also really, really hate that "my events" are pre-empted by shit like baseball games, NASCAR and the football hall of fame...