I Put My Back-out Amidst A Photo Black-out.

I'm not a fan of the "text only" blog post.  But there is a very good reason for this one.  Secrecy, and lots of it.

I've talked about the etiquette of secret spots and DIY builds before and I'm not going to go over old ground here but, that's right, BUT it would seem that not all skaters in the UK read this blog, a revelation that rocked me to my core.  How do I know this? 

I know it because of our recent escapades at the new Secret Spot.  A combination of a poor grasp of the etiquette and the introduction of the interwebs and associated social media has had blood pressures rising and stern words a-spoken.

I was going to bring you images of the spot depicting the leaps and bounds in construction that happened on Saturday and even more that went down on Saturday. Unfortunately we are now on a photo-blackout.  Hence all the words.

So with no visuals for your eye-balls it leaves me only one course of action.  To moan about my bad back.  It'll get you too you know.  I was very smug about back pain when I was younger, I was a very flexible teenager, as my golf swing proved, and bad backs were what lazy, inactive people got as karma for being lazy, inactivate and quite possibly fat. Now I know better.

My back's taken a beating over the years, like most skaters, just think of all the times you've landed on your coccyx.  This Saturday I learnt that crouching on my knees hammering away at a concrete floor with a masonry chisel and a flimsy hammer for an hour or so can have an even more devastating effect on my back. Since the hard labour of Saturday I've been walking like the worst kind of incontinent pensioner and, of course, unable to skate.

This is where I finally get round to making my point.  Skateboarding is amazing, we all know that.  Building something to skate is even more amazing.  Crippling yourself building something to skate is still amazing because pain is temporary. I'm gutted I won't be able to skate for a week or so but knowing what is in the works at the spot totally makes up for it.  If my back goes once we're finish and it's ready to shred,  I may well be less philosophical about it.

Look after your back kids.... Pah, as if you're going to listen to me?

[LIALC]

P.S.  bend zee kneez!!

The Candle-light Session - Secret Spot

I've been meaning to get these up for a while now, got loads going on at the moment so it's only now that they make it onto the world wide web.

These shots were taken before the clocks went forward so we were arriving at te spotin the dark and having to get light any way we could. Head-torches, wind-up lamps, bicycle lights and candles were all being employed in a desperate attempt to light the place enough to skate it safely.  We failed.

It was lit, a bit, just not enough.  The bottom of the quarter-pipe had just been skimmed to meet the floor and the thin section at the floor started to crack up and finally big enough chunks were coming up to throw me into the face of the hip opposite.  There really isn't a lot of time to take evasive action.

Johners and James kept on shredding until we'd finished the beers and the candles were fading.

Since these pictures were taken there have been big steps forward and hopefully I can get down to help out again soon.  But for now you can all take a look at how things looked a week or so ago.

Go build something to skate.

[LIALC]

Nocturnal Bristol DIY Fun.

It's been a while since I made it down to Bristol for a skate.  This time round it was a flying visit, driving down on Saturday morning and back on Sunday afternoon.  After hanging out with the family Plews, it was time for Dave and I to head to Daveside, his new DIY spot.

Joxa with a RnR Slide going that way >

Habgood had a face full of snot so it was just Me, Joxa and Dave that made it down to the amazing little spot.  I'd seen a few photos but none of them really did justice to just how good this spot is.  The location is amazing, right by a vast expanse of smooth tarmac with superb lights all the way along the side. 

Dave had spotted the location ages ago and had tried to get people to get something started down there without success.  Then he decided to take the bull by the hors and started building the first quarter with rubble, as soon it started to look like something was possible people started being available to help out.  There have been hic-ups along the way, some loose lipped moments had the place open for business way before Dave would have liked, as is often the case with these things, and several bags of out of date concrete at a pound each later... you have what yu see in these photos.

Dave retaliates with an RnR slide coming this way.

The transitions are by no means perfect and the surface is showing signs of being a little to thin but Dave and the crew are going to resurface what's here before starting on the expansion programme.  The concrete structure that they've build up against is like a gnarly gift from the skateboard gods.  it's topped off with angle iron that has some heavy duty bolts, nails and rivets protruding out here and there, making for some interesting grinds.  A few backside grinds had me tipped to the floor, who knows what stopped the grind but each time the effect was the same, me on the floor.

Tail blockage.

Dave and Joxa were having it.  They both paid no attention to the holes and rough patches and just shredded for the couple of hours that we were there, luckily an ankle roll for me made me pick up the camera a bit earlier than usual.

Joxa

Dave

 Hopefully the next time I make it down I can lend a hand with the next stage of the build and skate it without hurting myself.  Thanks to Dave for the invite and to both Dave and Joxa for a really fun skate.

So if you are reading this and thinking "I could build something like that", YES, you can, just buy the concrete and have a go, that's exactly what Dave and the crew did.

Build it, skate it!

[LIALC]

Chapped Lips and Bad Backs - The Price of Living Your Dreams.

This time last year the Fox Spot was already starting to take shape. Now we know it's time is limited thanks to the redevelopment of Burgess Park and the inclusion of an Olympic size BMX track.  The site of the Fox Spot is where the final corner before the home straight will be.

Continuing to add to the Fox Spot seemed stupid if it's only a matter of weeks away from destruction, so a new site was needed.  Thanks to Johners' and James' keen senses, we have one.

There's no telling how long this will last so for now it's staying a SECRET location.  But you can see how we got on with the fist afternoon of building below. Fingers crossed there are going to be many more to come.

[LIALC]

The beginning

Fuck the Olympics, build a skate-spot

Salvaged

Johners' gadgets

Mixing by hand

Ingenuity

Fag break

The Hip

Keep it tidy.

Kingpin's Set In Stone - Finland, and a bit of extra Alv.

So that's it, this is the last in the series.  This time it's Finland with a lot of rain involved.  This place looks like it's going to be amazing as time goes on and more bits get added and seeing as they have a deal to stay on site for the next five years or so there cold be a lot to skate at the eviction party in 2017.

All of the edits have touched upon the hard work aspect of DIY skateparks, this one introduces the discomfort angle quite nicely too.  The wet is shit at the best of times but when you are trying to get concrete to go-off against the clock with the rain coming down in bucket loads, well that just taking the piss. But that's what these guys had to deal with and I love that the muck and wet and cold feet aspect of this build really comes across.



The motivations behind this park are set out really clearly at the start.  Basically no-one was going to do it for them, so the had to do it for themselves and it seems that the local government were happy to give the skaters temporary residency as long as it meant they didn't have to put their hands in their pockets.  And so it began.

In the accompanying article, Alex irvine delivered a gem.  It's great to get advice, tips, instruction on how to build, shape and finish concrete and even make your own tools but there is, as Alex points out, only one minimum requirement "That you can ride it"!  The cover of the magazine is a portrait of Pontus Alv, who appears in this edit and who I'll be returning to in a minute, crouching in the pocket of an unfinished transition surrounded by re-bar, an illustration of where DIY can go.  But Alex is pointing you towards the starting line.  A handful of old bricks and mud, some pre-mixed concrete from Wickes/BnQ, a bucket, some water and a trowel and you are off and running.

Pontus talks about the smaller scale stuff in the edit and about there being a greater reward-to-work ratio from making something skateable out of a tiny pour/build and lets not forget, ten tiny pours later you're going to be looking at a lot of stuff to skate.

Staying with Pontus for a second there is aa new edit/interview with him doing the rounds today. In it he talks about his return to his homeland and his feelings about the skateboarding's ability to affect your emotional and mental well being.  I can't remember if I've talked about this on here before but I've definitely had conversations with other skaters about the ability of skateboarding to almost act as a form of meditation.  To take you out of the maelstrom of all the worries, stresses and anxieties you might be dealing with.  Years ago when I was going through a weird patch I would go and skate the vert at Playstation and for the three hours I was there non-of that stuff would enter my mind and I was free of it while trying desperately not to land on my face.  I know some don't like to talk about skating in these terms but I am all for it, the more we appreciate skateboarding for what it really means to people, as well as the purely fun aspect, the better.

Take a look.





Well done everyone at Kingpin and Carhartt for putting these together and giving me something to write about.  Keep up the good work.

Now go and build something. Who knows, maybe I'll put my money where my mouth is too.

[LIALC]

The Life Saver Park that couldn't Save My Weekend Skate.

 Last weekend I was all set to have a good skate at a park up in Derbyshire that is round the corner from a relative's house.  I was amazed when it got built and I've only skated this Park in Wirksworth once. I remember being quietly impressed with the simple layout that puts something in every corner allowing you to keep a good flow going.  Also the inclusion of a mini-ramp that is more than 3 feet tall and wooden bowled hip that makes for some fun.

Unfortunately on the Thursday night when we were due to set off up the M1 the weather reports were all about extreme weather warnings, freezing rain and 97 car crashes in the space of two hours. As soon as we decided to postpone the drive until the Friday morning it started to snow in London. Vindicated.

Either side of the M1 was like winter wonderland the whole way up.  As we got closer to Derby a quick phone-call revealed that the snow had missed the Wirksworth area all together.  Now I felt a bit sick as I'd left my board at home, resigned to the bad weather.  My sanity remained intact though, because the week old snow had refused to melt away so it made no odds after all.

While taking these shots I noticed that qquite a few sections of surface plyu had recently been replaced others hat were marked fr replacement.  So it looks like it's going to be kept in a skateable condition for a while yet, despite the Derbyshire climate.

One day I'll get to skate this little beauty again.

[LIALC]

Kingpin's Set In Stone - Sheffield - with some added Casper

That's right, a day late again.  Why fire yourself into the eye of the storm when you can sit back, ponder and let the calm settle before sending your ship of words floating out onto the sea of the interweb?





More Skateboarding Videos

I know I promised to read the accompanying issue of Kingpin in order to have a little more insight into the motivations of those involved with these builds. I have of course been distracted by beer, snowfall,  hanging with Harper, motorway driving and preparations for Valentine's Day.  This is not so say I have failed completely, I have read the first couple of articles and was struck between the eyes by something Daryl said in his little interview.

Daryl's interview is mainly about the process of building and demystifying some of the technical aspects and explaining how you can do things on the cheap rather than having to buy all the expensive tools.  Hidden in this interview was a little throw away remark that struck to the heart of what sets these places apart form others "it's your spot for you and your mates and not for a load of poxy kids on sc00ters".  If that single sentence doesn't get you excited about the prospect of spending all of spring, all of summer and all of Autumn up to your elbows in concrete, nothing will.

As for any hi-brow dissection of the motivations and thought processes of the people involved in these builds you'll have to wait until the final installment.

What I can do is mention how pleased I was to see the skating of Casper Brooker in this Sheffield edition.  I saw Casper at South Bank in the dying days of SEDJ and couldn't help but be a little jealous of his pop and power. I think this "Set in Stone" shows the what I mean by that.  and if you want to see more, here's his Emerica welcome edit from October last year.

Enjoy.

[LIALC]