Stonegate Skatepark Overlooking East Bay Hills

In my early quest to meet skaters in the area, I found myself deep in San Jose at Stonegate Skatepark. I immediately loved the place. It is a bit hood. On one visit, a portly park goer tried to sell me a video camera. He was wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet.

This time around, the only folks there were riding BMX bikes or skateboards. Here's some of each.

Matt, on the Smith




Indy Grab Bowl to Bank




B/S Noseslide Down Hubba



Scott BMX



F/S Rock

Sphere: Related Content

Breakin' my Vert Cherry

I've been on a vert ramp before last night. Once. Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, backyards were for BBQ'ing and goofing around. The plots were largish, certainly large enough for a skate ramp, but it wasn't something you saw. In the summertime, those with means would head over the state line into Wisconsin to chill. Later in life, making friends with WI natives, I was introduced to the term FIP or Fucking Illinois People. We just called them ched-heads and got on with it.

My family would go to Lake Geneva to hang out with our neighbors at their summer house. I had a Vision board and I would take it with me every time. Our friends house was on a huge hill and i enjoyed hill bombs down it and would periodically wipe out and leave skin all up and down the road. That was about the extent of my skate prowess. Our friends whispered that there was a half-pipe across the street. We snuck into the neighbors yard and saw it. It was HUGE. I couldn't believe it was skateable. The thing had to be 8 feet tall. I think it had a little roll-in section because I remember being confused about how you would deal with that. I never got up the nerve to take my board onto the ramp. Rather, I just remember being in awe that anyone could skate that thing. I would have to use my imagination, though, the neighbors were nowhere to be seen.

I got a last minute call from Tony who wanted to head to a vert ramp in Richmond to meet a friend. I quickly agreed and we were off.



My first impression? Holy shit this thing is big. It dwarfed my memory of the Wisconsin ramp. I learned it had recently gotten an upgrade to make it even taller. One of the first tricks: Ffej on the Sweeper.



John



Jeff clearly had this place dialed. He is the master of the invert.



Jeff took more runs than anyone else with the possible exception of Greg who owns the ramp.







Oh yea, Greg can do inverts too.



Before too long, Brad McClain showed up. He took his skills honed at 6TwentyOne's mini to the vert ramp with no issue. He probably got more air than anyone else that night.

FSA



Boneless



Front Rock



My favorite trick of the night: Crailslide



There were also two youngsters in the house that night. Their mom let me know it was the first time on the ramp. Here's the youngest, who can't be older than 6 droppin in on 11 feet of vert.



And the older brother, reaching sweet coping at the other end.



Okay, more inverts.





After midnight, we wound it down.







Special thanks to Greg for letting us barge in on the session. I hope these photos do some justice to the spot.

And that's how I finally broke my vert cherry.

Sphere: Related Content

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

Sphere: Related Content

Com 33: Portrait Assignment - Friend

Sphere: Related Content

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

Sphere: Related Content

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

Sphere: Related Content