“Trail Skating”

The way I have wanted to ride my skateboard has always been evolving.  I used to want to skate big stairs and handrails, then I wanted to be a technical wizard, and then I randomly became obsessed with oldschool tricks.  Somewhere along the way I fell in love with the avant-garde skaters who utilize their surroundings in bizarre ways that ranged from gnarly to silly.  After becoming infatuated with this sub-genre of skating, my mind was blown when I was lucky enough to assist Clay Shank (clayshank.com) with a project that became “Journey to Skate Boulder”.  Skaters’ see architecture differently because of the possibilities on a board, but Clay opened my eyes to the possibilities of skating nature.

This new video was filmed in less than two hours and edited on the same day.  My friend Pat Fisher (buildinggnarnia.com) was in town and I randomly decided we should go out on a popular nearby trail for a session.  I first skated the trail  on New Years Eve and ever since I have wanted more.

I also have to give credit to the cruiser board you see used in this video.   I set it up over four years ago as a test-model for gear I would eventually sell in my soon to be opened shop.  Somehow every piece of my wonderful cruiser board has lasted all these years throughout some serious use (and bearing cleaning).  It is at the point where I wonder if I should retire the deck, but I feel like its life isn’t properly spent until I break it.  I honestly cherish every single session I have with it now and wish for many more.

Enjoy this simple edit showing the day in the life of that weird guy that brings a skateboard on a dirt-trail hike.  Yeah, I’m that guy, and I am stoked!

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“Bud’s Hidden Night”

It is no secret I like doing “weird” tricks on my skateboard. Skaters like to use terms like tech or gnar skating, and I like to use the term avant-garde skating when it comes to my strange maneuvers. My friend Pat Fisher is a ridiculously avant-garde BMX rider who occasionally throws a skateboard into his tricks.  While he was in town we decided to bring our own lights to the unlit skatepark for some fun.  There are some normal tricks in here, but I was stoked on filming some of my signature weird tricks and learning a few new variations as well.  Enjoy!

“Thriving In Decay”

The skateboarding subculture has boasted about its existence among gritty environments since the early days.  At face value that feels right, but Pat Fisher questioned this premise and had different conclusions.  By comparing the historical rise of skating and BMX with economics and other factors Pat began to see a different story.

Pat’s main medium is BMX and he has been skateboarding for several years.  I love talking/arguing with him about the minutiae of skating and other related activities.  At first I disagreed with many of Pat’s points when he described this short-film before its completion, but after viewing my opinions changed and I have a new perspective on the history of skateboarding.  Pat asked for my help in this project to add some skateboarding knowledge and footage and I’m stoked I got to contribute.  I had a lot of fun working on this even though some of my footage sucks.  It was all worth it just to bomb a hill catamaran style (if you haven’t done a catamaran, you should).

This is a skateboarding website and there is a lot of BMX in this video, but we can’t deny the fact that our worlds are interconnected.  Beyond that, this short-film makes me appreciate the important connection between skating and the rest of the world.  Skaters may think they are a unique subculture feeding off of the forgotten elements in our space, but we are intertwined with the world around us in ways we can rarely comprehend.  Pat’s last bit about breaking away from the concepts that hold us back is important, and I look forward to seeing the unpredictable evolution of skateboarding.

Check out Pat’s website Building Gnarnia!