Phoenix Trip: Part 4

Wednesday is all about heading down to Tucson. It is a bit of a

lazy morning. I am up by 9:30am and mostly just chillin' out, in the

air conditioning of course. My first priority is Dunkin' Donuts. It

is a must have for me. Every time I'm in PHX I get my fill at least

twice. I waited for everyone to wake so I surf around on the Internet

looking at some skate videos, mostly Tom Penny thanks to Bobby and

re-watching Rodney Mullen from the Ground Up. I love watching tech

street skating videos. By the time everyone is up several hours later

I am really getting antsy for donuts. I grab my Schwinn Cruiser and

start to head out to get my fix. Billy stops me and says that he can

drive me because he needs to go to the sign shop right next door to

get a banner made for some up coming Jamaica shows. Both Harb and

Ryan have to work so we are looking to get into Tucson around 4:00pm

so to fill and kill a little time we pop in Intrikat's Background

video on VHS. I have been fiending to see the Mark Gonzales intro and

the epic Phil Dolan piece that is perfectly matched with Dredg for

the longest time. I only half remember all of what is in the video

itself. I was stoked to be able to peep out all of the sickness that

goes down in that vid, it has been awhile. It is also interesting to

see a piece of the evolution that Chad has experienced in order to get

to the whole pegless thing.

So finally we are off. A quick stop for gas, Dairy Queen snacks

and an hour and a half of driving until we are at Harb's apartment

complex. We follow Harb toward Ryan's apartment to get everything

organized. We sit and chat a Ryan's for a few. Richard and I start

peeping out the little bit of flat history Ryan has on a shelf. He

has the original ACS RL freecoaster hub and also the first KHE

freecoaster pretty sick to see. He also has an old Suntour shell that

he welded some of his own flanges on to not exactly a precision job.

HEHE But he said it got the job done. Nice.

So the Home Depot by Ryan's is one of the spots they frequent. It

is of the asphalt variety. It is pretty roomy and not a lot of cars

to have to deal with either. There really wasn't a whole lot of warm

up it seems for the session. I always like to do some stretching

because it allows me to ride harder much quicker and helps from

getting hurt too. Anyway, Richard and I started snapping some photos

right off the bat. Before you know it, it kind of becomes an

impromptu photo session. I click some of Richard working that back

wheel with some pivot links. Then he shoots some of me doing some

wheelchair variations. I shoot some of Billy as he throw some links

and works on getting a feel for one footed surfers (Scurfer)again.

Brett rips through a couple links on the front wheel. Richard and

Harb also take turns doing some iPhone shots and filming too. Ryan's

busting out his high speed deathtrucks and hitchhiker whips and just

commanding it.

Phoenix Trip: Part 3

The main spot for the crew tends to be the park directly across the

street from the house. We roll out to join Brett. He is often the

first to hit it up and today is no exception. It is best to wait

until it gets a little later in the afternoon. That way the trees

offer a little bit of shade to help combat the heat. We head over to

the little spot off to the side of the park. It is where Brett has

put in countless hours over the years. It is a slab of concrete good

for smaller type jam circles. Billy, Richard and I start to warm it

up and make it happen. Frank shows up shortly after with Dave not far

behind. The side spot slab is getting crowded so we head over to the

basketball courts to keep the session going as the sun starts to set.

The courts are equipped with good lights and are concrete with a newly

placed tennis court type of top layer. Ryan and Harb are now in

the line up so we are working with a bit of a modified jam circle.

Inside circles, turbine hang fives, half packer links, hitchhiking

switches, and smith decades are common place items. We hold out for

as long as we can and try snapping some photos, but the basketball

players are starting to inundate the place. There are many spot

around so we check out another set of basketball courts which are a

short ride away. No dice. These courts are packed too. So we decide

to head toward downtown Tempe to roll around a bit and check out

what's poppin' for the night. ASU is right near by so it is decided

to head to lot 59. It is a giant asphalt lot for the school with a

strong steady slope to one direction. The problem being that only

some of the lights are on and therefore it dicey at best. I feel like

this spot is only good for certain types of tricks in the first place.

We only stay for about 15 or 20 minutes. Billy, Dave and I start to

roll out the long distance moves. Billy and Dave are working on the

wheel chair and hitchhiker side of things. I try out some

crackpackers, cliffhangers, and both forward and regular deathtrucks.

The hill is enough to take you from one end to the other if you can

let it. So I try my hand at a hang nothing. I think it is the

longest hang nothing that I have ever done, well over 100 yards. I

held it until I started to run out of room and then linked it to an

opposite elbow glide for good measure. Since some time has passed we

head back to the original basketball courts. Billy phones his wife

and she says that there are only 4 people on the courts now. It is

creeping up on 10:00pm and the lights at the courts turn off at

10:30pm. So Ryan and Harb start to make there way back to Tucson.

Dave rolls out too, work in the morning. The remaining riders keep it

rolling until the end. Having fun, socializing, and just perfecting

and evolving their flatland until the timers click off to bring the

darkness.

Silver Contreras representing in LA!

I saw this video on facebook. Silver rides in L.A. WATCH OUT!!

Artistic OutBreak from Silver Contreras on Vimeo.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming...

Phoenix Trip: Part 2

It is Tuesday afternoon when Richard and I get into Sky Harbor.

If you want to feel the force of the Arizona heat July or August is

prime time to get exposed to it. It always takes me a few to get

reacquainted to it. Richard steps off the plane and gets blasted by

the instant oven feel and asks if that extra heat from the airplane

engines. I laugh and reply ahhhh nope you'll see, just wait until

we're out in it. Welcome to the valley of the sun.

Billy scoops us up and we head back to the house for all the

greetings and to get to building. Richard has to build up his ride.

I ordered a couple parts to try and aid in the lightening of the dream

machine. Aluminum pegs and axle nuts to replace the steel street pegs

and primo jewelz and also a quick pedal change upgrade. I also have a

pair of bars under my arm for Billy to replace the pair of broken bars

that he has on his bike. So we are all working on our bikes getting

prepared, joking around and catching up. All is about finished and we

have been getting hungary. Richard is topping off his tires with some

air and BOOM. He blows out the valve in his rear tire. DAMN, no

bueno!!! So we hit the bike shop to pick up a tube and then get a

quick little snack before we head out for our first AZ session.

Phoenix Trip: Part 1

Bill Freeman (inventor of the cliffhanger) wrote a long story about the Phoenix trip, so I'm going to post a couple paragraphs everyday with some photos. So stay tuned to FlatMode for daily updates.

It seems to me that once you have been riding flat for a few years

that traveling to ride in a different city is the ultimate experience

to be had. Richard has been getting the itch to hit up different

spots and check out other scenes for a while now. I love to travel as

much as I can. So after a few conversations and some logistical

difficulties, we came upon Arizona. I was the one who had suggested

it because, well I lived there for quite a few years therefore I know

the whole situation pretty well. The flow of riders there always

varies a little from time to time but there are plenty of homies in

the mix. I travel to Phoenix every few months, so I keep a couple of

bikes at my boy Billy's to avoid the whole traveling with a bike

thing. I get really sick of taking my bike a part all the time so

lots of spare/old parts ended up equaling a spare bike to ride. It is

a bit heavier than my more current setup, so it can take some getting

use to riding. It feels sloppy and a little like a beast. I have been

calling it the "dream machine" or scrapland bike. It IS more

convenient but certain tricks are damn near impossible to adjust to

and pull off on it in such a short time. I guess that is the trade

off. It sometimes is more about hanging out than just strictly

riding. - Bill Freeman

DVD Give Away!

Watch the video, answer the question and get a chance to win a DVD.

Click here for the details:

http://www.diversiontv.com/newsletter/2010_07_giveaway.html

End of the CRX...

Life in LA...besides getting his combos dialed in, Richard Aguayo likes to customize his car as well.

Richard had just finished putting the side markers on his CRX to make it more JDM compliant.

At the end of the night, he decided to cap off the evening with a little ice cream and went to Baskin Robbins to sample the 31 flavors. He wasn't inside more than a few minutes. He made his order, turned around, and the CRX was GONE!!!!

The police found the CRX dumped out in the industrial district. The thieves had taken everything they possibly could. I hear the CRX is one of the most stolen cars in LA. Luckily his bike wasn't in the car when they stole it!!!

LBC Life at the Globe Spot...

Despite there being a "jam" of sorts on Sunday, it looks like some cops waste time flexing on bike riders, while serious crimes run rampant in other parts of Long Beach. Make sure to keep two wheels on the ground and your speed under 3mph. I don't remember seeing a speed limit sign at the spot.

Life at the Rose Garden.

We just started riding regularly at the Rose Garden at USC campus. USC is located near South Central LA. It's a dope spot. It's got shade, good surface, it's a centralized location for most riders to meet, people are hanging out enjoying the science center and the garden.

It's all good, but once in a while some riff raff might come through. It's LA, so you have to expect these things....never a dull moment.

Last weekend, Richard, Ahmed, and I rode all day at the garden. By the day's end, we were exhausted. While chilling out for the cool down, the cops roll up....

I'm thinking, "Ok, here it is. Theses guys want to flex and kick us out."

They pull the squad car up on the spot and stop right in front of us and jump out...

...and tell these four other dudes,walking out of the garden to get their hands up.

I guess they were tagging or something. We just chilled while these dudes got cuffed up, stuffed up, thats tuff luck...

We just silently rolled out, to avoid any further drama and went to eat dinner. LA life!

End of an Era...

I was cleaning out the lab a little bit and decided to recycle all these old VHS covers from the old Diversion 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 videos. It was actually difficult to find a place in LA that recycled paper products. I called about 5 recycle centers with the same response.

Recycle Center: "Paper's not worth much, we don't recycle that."

Bobby: "Well, do you know a place that does recycle paper?"

Recycle Center: "No."

OK, well I found a place near China Town that did recycle paper. I thought they were going to charge me for the service, but they actually paid me $7.20 for 240 pounds of it.

Cool, Burrito time!

A Cardboard Mountain!

The end of the VHS relics...adios!

Jetaway: Phoenix.

Richard Aguayo and Bill Freeman decided to get their "jet-set" on and flew out to Phoenix for a couple days this week to ride with the crew in Arizona! Hopefully, more picts and a story coming soon!

Now that they're back, it's time to wash the plane!

Bizhouse News Break!

Shawn White sent in this picture.

He's dropping new aerospace forks.

One pound, 3/8 dropout, mounts or no mounts.

Bizhouse!

Spot Check: Enterprise

If you come to hollywood, we will take you to this spot at the appropriate times to avoid getting kicked out. The surface is hard, smooth, fast, yet grippy, no dust. It's an old school tennis court and the lights are bright at night. The other day, TJ hit me up to ride in the evening.

This is TJ Flexer.

TJ owns a bike shop called Orange20.

If you need anything, TJ will order it for you and meet the pricing of Dan's Comp.

Man and his best friend.

Dreams made reality.

You know how we do over here at Flatmode.

Ahmed made it back safe and sound from his trip to Trinidad.

He was able to meet with Trevlon and has a bunch of funny and interesting stories from his journey.

Definitely one for the books!

Here are a few photos he sent in. He was filming down there too.

So I suspect a mini-documentary should be coming from him at some point.

4th of July Lalo BBQ- wrap up.

So Lalo, had a flatland BBQ for the 4th holiday. We sessioned all day and then had an interesting Lalo style after party, watching the Create video and the Ganji Bootleg tour video. Here are a few clips from the day's sessions!

Thanks for organizing the event Lalo!!

Bryan Hull shot these video clips!

An Afternoon Session.

Claude Hickman is in the area this summer. He hit me up for an afternoon session at studio city. Here are a couple of switch sequences for you. Click on the images to see the sequences big.

Claude does a circle K to halfpacker scuff.

Bobby does a wheelchair to steamroller shift to no handed backwards hang 10.