Giro di Peninsula

Before reveling im all the fun at Nor Cal Death Match #2, Jodi and I had small task to accomplish: a 55 mile bike ride along the Crystal Springs Resevoir and back. We've done the Giro di Peninsula together 3 years running now and I had done the ride once on my own previously. The route was fairly hilly, but nothing too bad. This made a good warmup to the Livestrong Challenge coming up in two weeks.

Here's the route:


View Track 25 in a larger map

Jodi Smiles as She Races Away from the Frothing Peleton



West Coast G

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Com 33: Portrait Assignment - Friend

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Nor Cal Death Match #2

Nor Cal Death Match is shaping up to be the Bay Area's definitive skate series this summer. After a fantastic debut at Surf & Skate, the next stop moved to the newly improved ramp at 6TwentyOne in Livermore.

Walking up to the shop on 1st street in downtown Livermore, a view through the shop windows revealed first glances at the ramp improvements. Silhouttes of ready skaters could be seen through two sets of windows facing Blue Bar, indicating the new width of the ramp was getting heavy traffic.

Arriving at the front door of the shop, it was clear that Nor Cal Death Match turns out dedicated skaters and skate fans from all around. The shop was packed! First order of business? Cop a Skiddmark Magazine. Side note, the Brain Scrabble was a good idea, and I'm down with codes and whatever so I sat down to do it. What a freakin gyp!

Mag and stickers acquired, I handed it off to Jodi for safekeeping and got busy shooting. As I came back to get more gear, the magazine was being poured over by several curious onlookers. Mike O kindly provided more copies and I handed them out to spread the good word.

VS were in the house once again and Bruce was steady slangin' Nor Cal Death Match boards. He was also seen rather conspicuously darting in and out of the bathroom and across the ramp clutching a small Macy's shopping bag to his side.

A quality event at the hottest shop going. Keep your eyes peeled for more footage from Bond and great photos from Ericksen, Chantry, Rossmiler, and our course, Skidmark.

Hard Goods




New Friends



Getting Inverted



Rat Face killing it with some of the most aggressive skating of the night.





Hometown Hero


As predicted, Brad took home first honor. Here's a rare look at a new McClain deck before its been shredded to pieces.



Speaking of rare McClain moments, check out this bailshot.



Meat Juice






Shout out to the MC




Skidmark Skatemag




Legend Status

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Art n Soul 2: Electric Boogaloo

I got the word early this week that DJ RS2 was throwing another Art'n'Soul event at the Voodoo. Last time around, the place was bangin' and there was some serious skateboarding on a little quarter pipe right in front of the stage. Wednesday night was no different. Hailing from Santa Cruz, Dusted Angel took the state and rocked some music I'm having a hard time describing. One site I found called them "doom rock" whatever that means.

There were a few familiar faces including a pair of Deejays who helped me setup last go around as well as the whole local skate crew, referred to on the handbill as "Nog's Dogs."

Also in the house was Mike 3.5, a rad artist blowin' up his canvas right in the midst of all the action.



Check out his site as well at 3.5 ink.

Armed with a camera descendent from the heavens, fellow Eye-Fi'er and photographer Caroline showed for her first try at shooting skateboarding action. You should check out her site as well, Sphynge Photography.

Ok, enough with the introductions, let's get to the skate action shall we.

As usual, Blake was killing the spot. He said in a recent post that he's able to blank everything out about the environment and just skate. No wonder than, he slayed the QP with a shit-eating grin all night. Here's a look at a B/S - F/S combo of his Smith Grinds.



To get the full effect of all the madness going on, I slipped past the velvet ropes and headed upstairs where a Metro videographer was filming the festivities.

Noggin, runnin' roughshod on that QP.



A rare look from behind the canvas of another local artist throwing down.



We wound up outside trying to get some fresh air in the smoking section of all places. Here's Noggin and Juan, two originals holding court.



Next up: Nor Cal Death Match #2: Electric Boogaloo

See ya at 6TwentyOne

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Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Dad, I miss you.

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LORDCherry

LORDCherry
Originally uploaded by dmourati

New setup

Lord Cherry Limited edition deck: 8
Ace High Trucks 33
Spitfire Classic Wheels: 58 80d
Bones Swiss bearings
Bones soft bushings

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Carlos 50-50 Up in a Photo Contest

I emailed the folks at YoBeat this photo of Carlos doing a 50-50 on a sculpture outside Roosevelt Skatepark in San Jose. I found out today it was selected for the Firing Squad, head to head weekly photo battle. I my opponent's photo as well but I hope to win at least one week. If I do, it will continue to run for up to four weeks. That's way in the future, so for now, go check it out and vote!

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Man Am in the Bag

Location: 6TwentyOne Skate Shop, Livermore, CA
Date: 6-5-2010
Conditions: Maximum Insanity

The Man Am was billed as a contest to support local amateur skateboarders. The organizers promised a night of debauchery: beer, shots, skateboarding, live music, strippers. Wait, strippers? Ya, more on that later.

As we rolled down First street heading for the shop, two dudes eating dinner stopped us to ask what was up.

Dude: "Hey, are you guys going to the skate shop?"
Demetri: "Yea, that's right."
Dude: "What's going on there tonight, we saw a huge line outside?"
Demetri: "It's top secret."
Dude: "Oh, okay"
Demetri: "It's a private skate contest.
Dude: "Good luck"

The doors to the skate shop were closed with a line outside when we arrived. There was heavy dark paper covering all the windows and a kiosk outside where yo had to present your ID. Sadly, we were never asked for the secret password or handshake. We did however get offered a beer or a shot before we made it ten feet into the shop. Local ripper Brad McClain was one of the judges. I had a little gift for him which I dropped off before downing a beer and getting busy.

The action was already underway when we got in. Unlike the night before, tonight the ramp was jammed with skaters. There were probably 15 dudes on the ramp at any given point. Some were skating, some were waiting for a run, some were taking photos, and some were just partying.

Last night was the first time I'd seen the shop open the huge garage door leading to the back of the shop.



Skaters were shredding at such a frenzied pace that crossing the ramp to get the back area was a death-defying act. Several fools spilled beer on the ramp as the dashed back in to the shop to get loaded. Noone was run over but there were many close calls. Which begs the question, how did the stripper cross the road?



Answer, very carefully.



I tried to keep it (mostly) clean here folks. Back to the show.

Even with Brad McClain, sidelined, underage, and judging the contest, SMALLBeating was still in the house.

Mattson:



Boyer:



Two new faces but familiar names were in attendance as well: Brandon Fields and Jeff Hedges. Jeff took second place in his division. These are the guys behind SkateNav, an awesome new mapping site for skateboard spots. Check it out and add your favorite spots and photos and we all win.

Brandon:



Jeff's rock n' rolls were too fast for me to capture. That and, uh, the background was a bit too distracting.

Also in the house was Bruce Rodela. Bruce and I hooked up after the Nor Cal Death Match but this was the first chance I had to see him skate. The results speak for themselves: first place.

Bruce:



Bruce also owns Vertical Smile Skateboards (catchy and appropriate for Man Am) who sponsors Ryan Carpenter. I bumped in to Ryan in line on the way in. After watching him skate, I saw him out back and called it: first place.

Ryan Carpenter, my pick for shot of the night:



Out back I also had a chance to rap with Christian Ericksen, another first meeting and one long overdue. If you haven't checked out his blog: Stick It, you don't know jack. Get over there already. One of the announcers hailed Christian as the hottest skate photographer in the Bay Area. I'm quick to agree.

Well, that about raps it up. I suppose I can share one R-rated shot with you at this point. You stuck around for it.

Ryan, invert. Make it rain buddy.

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Nor Cal Death Match #1 Prints Available

The Nor Cal Death Match stop #1 went off with a bang. Josh Mattson took first place with his aggressive skating and bowl domination. Not to be overlooked however was Brad McClain's performance including his nosepick atop the huge blue wall, the first grind ever accomplished at the ramp's upper limits. The photos got some decent play:

Paying in Pain official results:



Snuggle Blog



AMX69/LORDCherry




Low Card

Broken Magazine

SkateNav

Facebook

Special thanks to Bruce Rodela at ASF Distribution/Vertical Smile Skateboards for pumping the photos.

More photos are up on my flickr. Haven't seen my flickr yet, shame on you!

I decided based on the awesome feedback to order some prints. I got two huge 20 inch by 30 inch prints of McClain's Nosepick. One's hanging in my living room, the other is going to 6twentyone to hang in the shop. I've got a few smaller prints, if you want one, gimme a shout. Of course, Brad's got first dibs.

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