Sunday, October 12, 2008

Blessed...

Now playing: Neil Young: It's a Dream

I'm not religious but the only word that comes to mind about today's Fall Nationals is "Blessed". We were blessed with unseasonably perfect weather, blessed with 40+ riders (!!!) and when it was all said and done, blessed with no injuries and an absolutely unbelievable day. It was almost surreal to me. I know that I am blessed with this home and land and my family and definitely with the friends I have, many of whom were here this weekend. It almost brings a tear to my eye. Last night was a bit out of control, but highly comical. I kept it mellow on the consumption but the 2:30 AM shut down was a bit late (especially with a 7 AM wake up call by the the little guys). My wife lead the Tequilla charge for Fro and Matt Sivalleli and the evidence is here:


Skate drop-in and dizzaster, both totally pulled, dude.
In regards to the happenings at Birdland today, I will offer this, stolen from a piece by Keith Terra in Dig #57

Matt Newman, twilight style over the first set. The recent Mrs. Newman, Hanan, took top honors for the scariest crash a short while before this was taken. Glad she's okay.

Davey Coop brings it home while Fro preps for the jump and Noah looks for more rocks to throw.

A genuine "holy shit" moment, brought to you courtesy the White Lotus. Threading the needle on the not-quite-over/under between Brian Block and Malcom Forbes. Nice.

Tyler D in the style zone, bro.

Brian Block rolled up to Birdland, didn't even look at the jumps, and just cranked at the first set like he had hit it a hundred times before. The first couple runs were touch and go, but he quickly learned the lay of the land. Lookback in diminished light.

Malcom Forbes bringing advanced trickery to the first set with a bar-spin. He later flaired the four foot quarter in the barn. Remarkable.

"Steemer" Dan has come a long was since his last visit. Dan is my wife's favorite dude on today's role call. He works for Stanley Steemer and hooked us up with a carpet cleaning extravaganza yesterday.

Rusty Keys in the good time zone with a man-can. A Rusty Can? Stop it.

I can't believe this is the only pic I have of the legendary Solan Foster, but he was ruling it as always. I can't put into words how much it means to me when my true bros show up to ride and hang out.

O.G. Vans park local, Paul Cote, went from non-trail guy to shredder by the end of the day.

The White Lotus and his girl Stacey, have this kick ass dog, Jager, who can catch just about any frisbee you throw for him. Noah loved it.


Jason Burton stepped up to the jumps and didn't look back. Super style on the first set.

Fowlerville Pat made the scene and was killing it, bro.

Lee Abbott with a sick tabletop.

Jeremy and Jared Ball made it up. Here's Jeremy on the Marauder with a tuck no-manos.



The Towne boys trying to keep their fingers out of the spokes.

Lee Abbott and Jeff DeGryse, dialin' it in.

My man Chris Hatfield, wrappin' it up, while Matt "Busey" Newman gets the shot for VeteranBMX.com

Dave Moon leads Matt Carmickle and the White Lotus through a lap. All star line up? You betcha.


My favorite pic of the day. Matt Sivalleli.

Brian Stewart taught these old dogs new tricks. Big 3.

L-R: Stacey, Jarret Burton, PJ Danhoff and Jason Burton. The nice ones.

Rusty Keys told me his hand was broken and he wasn't going to ride. Not five minutes later he was cranking at the first set and rode for hours.

Friendly Phil Race drops in on the sketchy roll in. I think Turbo Todd Britton (green Deliverance shirt) and J. Burton (right next to him) were the only ones to make it all the way through this section.

It was definitely nice to have some help dialing the jumps. I will take this time to thank everyone for coming out, Luke McGarry, Sean Newton and Tyler D. for helping with the jumps lately and for my wife, Gail, for being awesome.

One bitch? Mosquitos. Shitloads of the little bastards. If that's the worst thing we had to deal with today, I think we did okay.

1 comment:

TEAMSANO said...

no hander with tuffs is awesome!