Go Skate Day: Crashin' and Bangin' at Ed Austin

The second stop of the Bangers contest was at Ed Austin Park off Monument Road in Arlington. Two separate obstacles were featured here, the first being the brick quarter pipe modeled after the Maitland banks near Orlando, and the second being the Jersey barrier on top of a bank. By this time, the clouds were coming in overhead, which was a welcome sign, but people were still suffering from the intense heat.

It seemed like all hell had broken loose when the contest started on the brick quarter. There were collisions left and right, a couple of camera lenses got bonked by flailing boards, and a couple of people may have gotten their feelings hurt just a little. Darkness brought his own props, which included a Power Wheels Jeep to be used as an extention. I don't think it worked out too well though.

After this everyone moved to the Jersey barrier. Unfortunately, I got sick from the heat, and had to miss most of this, but I heard that George Evans and Max were holding it down. After all was said and done, everyone headed to the next spot for the last contest on Go Skate Day: Bangers for Bucks at Kona Skatepark. More coverage coming tomorrow, including video!

Here are the photos from Ed Austin:




Bong Gause


Crashin'



Triclops





Mike Barnes weaving through traffic









Bong




Guess what's about to happen here?



I wonder if Craig ever ended up doing that Bangers for Blunts contest he proposed.

Go Skate Day 2009 - Bangers at Atlantic Beach

I would consider Go Skate Day in Jacksonville this year to be an overwhelming success. We started at Kona at midnight on Saturday night, and ended at Shantytown in Springfield on Sunday night, and every moment in between was worth remembering.

On Sunday afternoon, we headed down to the Atlantic Beach park for the first leg of Bangers. (The park goes by many names, so I'll just stick with 'Atlantic Beach Park'.) As soon as I opened my car door, I was blasted by the hot Atlantic Beach air. I thought I was ready for it, but holy crap was it hot! 100 degrees outside. I guess I should have made note of the weather.

The vibe here was the most mellow. People from around the area casually came in and out, I even saw a girl there just hanging out in a bikini. (Kind of made me feel awkward, they don't have those in Riverside.) The best trick contest went down over the door, which for obvious reasons didn't bring a ton of competitors, though the ones who did participate brought it in a big way. P-Nut even ollied the channel on his sword board. Holy crap. Not only that, but Darkness was there on a board that was at least 20 years old. I even saw that long board guy there! What is this guy's name? He ripped it up. Last time I saw him, it was when he was skating the miniramp at TSI. The ramp was barely wide enough for him to do an Axle Stall.

Clyde was there to help Ryan King give out prizes, and when those were gone, we took our sunburnt selves to the next stop-Ed Austin park off Monument Road.

Here are some photos from the event. Click the photo to go to the Flickr gallery, where you can see the full-sized images.


Ryan King, the Emcee


P-Nut and his Sword Board


This is the face you make when your skin is melting.


DJ Triclops, the Man behind Hip Hop Hell provided music for the event. I want a copy of that 'Jacksonville' Track.


Mike 'Darkness' Barnes, Crailslide over the door.

How he can skate on that board, I have no clue.


King


Darkness was really feeling the 80s on Sunday.




Joe M., too much sickness to capture in a photo.


If you are smart, you move to the shade to announce a contest when the weather is over 100 degrees.


Joe Marrara going over the Door


Skating better than you, on a long board.


Neil Blender.

Busstop's Go Skate Day 2008, Part 1 - Atlantic Beach Rotary Club Park

In an Effort to make the most of my Go Skateboarding Day on June 21st, Me and my friend Jordon Fink made plans on getting up at the crack of dawn to enjoy the scheduled activities. Unfortunately, I had spent a little too much time the night before enjoying drinks and a show with my friends up at Club TSI downtown, and had a hard time waking myself up before the event. Apparently, Jordon slept in too, so it all evened out. Just a little after 10, we headed out from Riverside and made our way toward the Atlantic Beach skatepark. We stopped to get some food at Wendy's near the corner of University and Atlantic, and had quite an interesting experience involving baked potatoes, oranges, and lack of common sense.


Jordon Brought a Hat That can be Worn 2 Different Ways. This is Option 1.

We used google maps to find the park, and our directions to the park were way off. Apparently, the Go Skate Day flyer had the incorrect address to the park, and we ended up at the park with the long C-shaped curved ledges. Nice place to skate, but we were way off and had to ask for directions. Luckily, a rad guy in a blue truck let us follow him all the way to the park, so I'd like to personally thank him for that. (And sorry for bugging you while your were renting a movie from McDonald's.)

When we got to the Park, things had already started, and Red Bull was on location making Red Bull-infused smoothies for everyone. I'd never been to the Atlantic Beach park, so I was pretty surprised to see it when I got there. This park is not at all like a traditional park, with high transitions surrounding almost the entire body of the park, sort of like an over sized pool. I took lots of photos to better illustrate what I'm trying to say.


Red Bull Smoothies
The contest here was taking place on the door obstacle, which is basically like an over sized deathbox in a pool. I was surprised to see people skating this park as well as they were, and even Martin Ramos joined in, doing some grinds and a huge backside ollie over it. Seeing how he was the one giving out the 20 dollar bills for awesome tricks, I don't think that he is too worried about not getting one, but I wouldn't hold it against him if he did give out one to himself.


Martin Ramos, Over the Door

Other Standout Tricks at this park include a 540 over the channel by one of the Pineiro brothers, I think it was Steven - I didn't get a great photo of it, but it was pretty substantial, and I can see some potential vert pro-ness coming from this kid. Both Steven and Juan Pineiro were giving it their all, all day long. A guy people were calling 'The Darkness' was killing it all day, and it was apparent that he would be from the second I saw him skate. He was doing smooth backside smith grinds over the door, among other awesome things.


Darkness, Backside Smith over the Door


Steven Pineiro, 540 Over the Door



There were quite a few good tricks done during our time there, and Atlantic Beach turned out to be a surprisingly good time. Also, I met a really rad little dog. I can't remember it's name, but here's a picture anyway.



Before we left for the next park, Jordon and I spent some time skating the parking blocks in front of the park. Apparently, the People from Board City excel at this.



After that, we headed off to Huffman Park to skate the Manny Mania obstacles, so stay tuned for part 2.