In this episode, I talk a little bit more about my experience in Tucson as a judge at the Tucson Thunderdome contest, and talk a little bit about what’s actually needed in freestyle, skateboarding contests, and why this one was so good.

In this episode, I discuss the results of the Tucson Thunderdome contest, and a little bit about the judging system.

You’re very quick check in the night after the contest.

Yet another quick podcast episode this time recorded in my hotel room in Tucson, Arizona, as I digest food and coffee in preparation for a day of skateboard contest judging..

Well, I have about an hour before my plane boards for Tucson. I haven’t travelled by air since the VERY beginnnig of the pandemic, late February/early march 2020. I was in Florida visiting my friends Jenna and Terry Synnott when the first cases were announced in Florida. My wife and I had been watching the information coming out of China for some time and were already convinced the shit was going to hit the fan. She had already begun stockpiling stuff. I think it was only one week after we got back that the library where I work went to virtual-only operations, four teams rotating on a weekly basis in the building to do porch-pickup for patrons, and it would be 14 months before I personally returned to work in the building.

During those 14 months around one million people died from Covid-19. I’m not sure what the exact number is now, but something like 1 out of every 350 Americans has died from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. Had we not gotten the vaccine so fast I can’t imagine what society would be like right now. Things got messed up enough as it was/is.

So it’s a big deal for me to be able to get on this plane without losing my mind, and know that I am somewhat, relatively, safe. Not 100% safe. That is never the case. Yes, I could pick it up on the plane, or here in the airport. But I’ve got an N95 mask on this entire time. Staying away from people in the airport as much as possible. I would say only 1% of the people in the airport are wearing masks, which as I said on the short podcast I made earlier this morning, is just nuts.

In other airport news…nothing has changed. People still walk around talking loudly on their phones. “Business people” still hold meetings out in the open, talking loudly on their computer or phone, revealing no telling what kind of “precious” secrets of their nefarious plans.

I love people watching. I can be kind of cynical, but every person has their own story. You never know what someone is going through. I know this very well. I do the best I can to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Life can be hard and cruel.

This will be my first time ever flying First Class. Yes, I’m that guy now. Kind of a waste on a 2-hour flight, but still it should be comfortable. I may demand a foot massage. That’s a reasonable demand, right?

Travel is very involved for me when I go somewhere to skate. I have a bag for my clothing. Then I have a rolling duffle bag for my boards and gear. Then I have my carry-on backpack with my electronics, notebooks, pens, my little microphone for home phone, my laptop, and lots of charging cables. You would think I’m going to be gone for a month and not just three days. I had considered buying a new iPad for this trip, but didn’t get around to it. I have my Asus Chromebook, which is a good travel machine. Not as useful as my Macbook Pro, but also not a big deal if it got damaged or stolen. I’ve had this one a couple of years now. It’s one of the more expensive ones. For years I travelled with a $200 Chromebook. It worked fine. Then I splurged on this one, a touch-screen model. Well, the touch-screen stopped working early. I think I ruined it by cleaning it. But other than that it is a good little machine. I use the hot spot from my iPhone for connectivity. This Chromebook is also really light, which is nice for travel.

Well, it’s about time to go release this coffee back into the wild and get ready to board the plane. Gonna get to Tucson, probably relax for a while and get a nice hot shower to wash the pathogens from the airport off my body, and meet the skaters at the spot.

Just a very quick check in via podcast.

Well tomorrow is the Tucson trip. I’m ready. Got all my gear ready and whatnot. I had a good talk with Holden (the organizer) on Discord the other night about judging, so we are all on the same page with that. I think the judging system and structure of the contest is going to be really good. He’s done a fantastic job lining up judges ahead of time, unlike so many skate contests where it a last minute thing. If you are going to run a contest, you owe it to the people who show up to take that shit seriously and have some reasoning behind things. No one should spend their time and money travelling to a contest and feel like they’ve been fucked over by the results. Well – someone who is just stupid or unreasonable may always feel that way, but reasonable people should leave feeling like they’ve gotten a fair shake. I take my judging very seriously.

I’m sure I’ll be blogging and podcasting this thing from the road. I love doing that.

Hoping the air travel problems of the last couple of days are sorted. Amazing how years of disinvestment in public infractructure is now causing all sorts of system in the country to start failing. Who would have expected that?

Another short podcast, talking about skateboards set ups, and how I think about them. My own weird eccentricities about set ups.

I haven’t done a 360 shove-it in nearly three years. I believe I have mentioned that before, recently, in this series of posts, in the podcast post. Likewise, I may have mentioned My desire to throw and stomp some 360 shove-its while in Tucson. This is factoring greatly into the complex calculus of what two board setups to take with me.

One might think “take a freestyle board.” Well, I’ve not been riding a FS board for a long time now.

Let me relate a story.

In January of 1988 I was 22 years old. Powell-Peralta’s Public Domain video was released, in that video there was a part referred to as the “Incredible Rubber Boys." Four up-and-coming street skaters, including the great Ray Barbee. This video part end up overshadowing the skating of all Powell-Peralta’s pros. I mean, no one really cared at all what the pro vert skaters were doing. But the Rubber Boys? Holy smokes! That was stuff you could go out and try, and maybe even do!

Now, as it turns out, Ray Barbee had some background in freestyle. The whole Rubber Boys part was mind-blowing, but Ray really stood out.

So here’s the thing. Besides his incredibly smooth no-comply variations, Ray was doing 360 shove-its, 540 Gazelle Shove-its, and other freestyle stuff on a typical 10x30 street board with a short nose. When I saw this, the first thought generated in my noggin was “freestyle is dead.” I had always done freestyle on a big board, but this guy was doing bigger freestyle tricks on one.

Within a week I was doing 360 shove-its on my 10.5x30 Andy Howell model, at speed. It was there all the time, I just needed Ray Barbee to show me it was possible.

Now freestyle wasn’t dead. There are freestyle tricks you simply can’t do well on a big board, and throwing a 360 shove-it on a street board while you are rolling down the sidewalk isn’t “doing freestyle.”

All that being said, the parts of freestyle that I’m currently interested in can all be done quite well on a larger board, including 360 shove-its. I don’t need to take a freestyle board with me. I need to have a board (or boards) that I’ll enjoy riding and doing what I’m currently doing.

So I’ll be taking my 8.25” Mode popsicle board that is set up for “big board freestyle” and the new Heroin deck, set up with Indy 159s and probably some 53mm wheels and some risers. And I’ll be ready to flow and have some fun.

This is just a quick podcast episode talking about my preparation for the trip to Tucson.

I've decided to do a series of blog posts, videos, and short podcasts about my upcoming trip to be a judge at the Tucson Thunderdome freestyle skateboarding contest. Will anyone pay attention? Maybe 2 people? We'll see.

I stole the idea for name of this series from the great old “Road to Philly” videos series that Sean Burke and Tommy Harward used to do . Mine will be less entertaining.

A few months ago Holden Bystry, a freestyler in Tucson, contacted me to see if I'd be willing to come out and be a judge at this new freestyle event. Now, we REALLY REALLY need a new, regular FS event in the North America, and in the U.S. in particular. The old-guard has been carrying this for too long, and frankly things have not been good. That isn't intended as an insult to anyone. We just need some younger people organizing and running events. It is time to hand this thing off to them and keep things vibrant and alive.

Now there is one sure thing about any contest. People will complain. So stepping up and running a contest is a big deal and can be a thankless job. So I really appreciate and admire Holden for having the gumption to do this. It's important. We actually have a lot of new freestylers here in the U.S., and a lot of them are not really connected to the older scene. They tend to be kind of Instagram-based and/or Discord. I'm hoping many of them will show up to this event.

Holden has a great venue ready to go. Nice surface. Flat. Perfect, really. And apparently it only rains once a year in Tucson. While the weather here in North Texas tends to be cold and shitty in January, apparently Tucson is quite nice, so we really don't have to worry about rain outs or other weather catasrophes.

Another thing in the Doing It Right column: judging. Holden has the judges lined up way in advance, and has published the judging system and criteria. There will be no surprises. Complete transparency. Judges who know their asses from a hole in the ground, a system they can study and practice with weeks in advance. No of this showing up and trying to round up judges, as is so often the case at skate contests.

Now, I am by far the oldest judge in this thing. At 58 years old, I am probably nearly 30 years older than anyone else involved. So I am extremely honored to have been asked to judge. I'm going to practice with the system, judging contest runs for history on Youtube, and I'll be ready.

I really can't wait to meet these new FSers in person, and to reconnect with some old friends there as well. Frankly, I can't wait to just go there and skate with everyone. I've not gotten enough skating in of late, so that will be really nice. I know this will be a first contest for a lot of people and to them I would just reiterate what I have said many times. At the contest, enjoy the skating of your fellow skaters. Contests are weird. Sometimes you don't feel like you have skated up to your potential. It can be stressful. But your friends are there with you, giving you the GIFT of their skating. They are putting themselves out there. Enjoy that! Consider it a gift. And realize that to them, your skating is a gift. They want do so you skate. That's what it's all about. I feel like I didn't learn this lesson until I was about 51 years old, but when I did it changed the way I think about contests and really improved my life.

Right now I’m just trying to decide what board(s) to take with me. More on that later, as I set up my new board and get my regular one updated a bit.