“What is this? A mountainskateboard?”
I was headed down South out of Pittsburgh when a baggage handler was peeping my ride. It's probably the closest someone has come to accurately describing my mountainboard. I’ll give that guy 20 stokens.
Why head South in the summer-time? Hows about a good old-fashioned southern style tiki party to go along with some awesome mountainboarding to get your motors running? The Trailer Park in Atlanta, Georgia has become an infamous spot in the world of mountainboarding. The also infamous Ted Ladue decided he wanted something sick to ride in his hood. He built it and year after year they have come. Coomed even.
When the 180 on Homelessness event seemed like it would end forever, The Trailer Park took it another year and did a little bit of good for the world. Now twice a year The Trailer Park hosts parties that bring mountainboarders from far and wide to have some fun in the red Georgia clay and make partygoers raise their glasses. This time around it was about "Heyeholua" , an ancient Hawaiian sled for sliding down some grassy hills. Thank you Polynesian brothers. Hula skirts, lays, and a full tiki bar made for a fantastic setting in the middle of Hotlanta.
With the addition of a new dirt landing on the first jump all the riders were excited to touch four wheels down on the beautiful red Georgia play-dough. Eager riders worked all day to get a little bit of riding in on Friday. The Georgia heat slows one down like a pair of Timberlands trying to run the Boston marathon through neck deep molasses with a pocket full of grits. The rain doesn’t make things easier either. We had lots of that, but with a new space age invention made of some sort of synthetic smooth material that blocked the rain from getting the ground too wet (I think they call them tarps) we were able to ride well into the evening.
Despite the decline of sanctioned competition there is still a hard charging young group of riders coming up in the game. Brandon Goode is a new kid on the scene that is already setting things off. He comes from Alabama and has some tricks that could make a break-dancer jealous. I’m talking bout lots of foot plants, one footers, and ninja style Madonna to judo. Along with being detached from his board he had some super stylish 360s and 540s coupled with style off the trailer drop a few times. He’s just soo hood right now.
One5Media was there filming for next year’s movie, ”Surf the Earth.” Some of the riders featured in recently released, “Shralpdown” were there showing how good next year’s movie will be. Nick Hill is a bad man, and God bless him for that. Nick likes to go really big and get nice with the board while doing so. Nick showed off his assortment of frontside 540s along with some techy stuff on the quarterpipe. He is just so controlled and composed while spinning. It is an incredible display to watch him as he skywalks on the stratosphere.
Kelby Clark is a young ripper that showed off his fluid riding at The Trailer Park. He walked away with an awesome award depicting a tiki mountainboarder carved from a bigger wooden tiki mountainboarder. He is also featured in the June MBS newsletter. Talk about come up.
Skinny Kenny is a man that lives and breaths mountainboarding. He has his own park in Tennessee and shows off quickly how he’s been on his grind. He did a tailblock on the coping of the 4-foot quarter. Nuff said.
Baron Frierson made a showing but had to bow out early because of a freak scalping accident on his finger. Apparently, his finger got caught on his wheel on a weird landing. He did do some solid stuff before the accident and hopefully he gets well enough to ride soon.
Young Casey Thomas represented SLC and Dirtstar Army. Casey knows how to handle himself on any Coast. He showed off big frontside rodeos and big front 5ers. I can’t wait to see the Dirtstar movie to see more of this kid.
I would tell you about how I did but I feel like I’d be a little bit biased in expressing how I got just so nice with the board at The Trailer Park. Stay tuned for, “Surf The Earth” and decide for yourself if I got down with the get down. I can say that I won best dancer and a ballin new fitted hat. Stay Fresh!
Big shouts out go to all the riders that worked extra hard to make sure the park was rideable in the wake of the torrential downpours. Thanks to Brian Southard the head of park maintenance and all the locals that continually work to make sure the Trailer Park is kept up in immaculate shape. Thanks to Wayne and all the boys from Alabama that travel to The Trailer Park occasionally just to make sure it is in good shape for events like this. To the man Ted Ladue who taught us all to dream big and you may one day have a sick mountainboard park in your backyard.
Until next time ya’ll…keep pourin.
