Pete Thomas Outdoors

Latest Kilian Martin video captures essence of street skating

Few sports are as difficult to master as street skateboarding, which requires endless patience, incredible balance and coordination, plus hours upon hours of often painful practice to achieve a high level of performance.

This isn't always obvious to non-skateboarders because of the speeds at which most tricks are performed. But short film posted below, titled "Kilian Martin: A Skate Regeneration," which has gone viral since it went live on YouTube last week, is slowed just enough to capture the essence and artful nature of the sport.

Martin's talents are exceptional and Brett Novak's direction is commendable. The legendary Tony Hawk, in a Tuesday morning Tweet, described the short film as "Weird, but good." Agree or disagree?

 

 

People are awesome, and the proof is in the video

Among adjectives that might be used to describe those who appear in the following video compilation: talented, crazy, phenomenal, unbelievable, danger-loving ... and so on.

But the title, "People Are Awesome," is appropriate, and it's no wonder that nearly four million viewers have tuned in since the compilation of outdoor/indoor stunts was posted on YouTube last week.

Enjoy:

 

Bob Burnquist's Mega 900 is a trick for the ages

Bob Burnquist predicted before the recent X Games that the next great skateboarding trick on the dangerous Mega Ramp would be a 900-degree rotation above its quarterpipe wall.

"I haven't really put it down because I haven't wanted it yet," said the perennial X Games star, who four years ago built a Mega Ramp in the backyard of his home in Vista, Calif. "I've kind of been waiting for the right time and the right moment."

That moment did not arrive during the action sports festival, although Burnquist tried repeatedly during and after the event's big-air competition. But he finally came through on his prediction Saturday, by completing what vert-skating veteran Bucky Lasek described as "possibly the best trick to date on a skateboard."

Burnquist not only nailed the first 900 on the Mega Mamp, a large contraption used in X Games big-air competitions. He did it "fakie to fakie," meaning essentially that he skated up the quarterpipe wall backward -- ultimately lofting 40 feet above ground as he spun the 900 -- and landed on the same wall backward.

Burnquist, who waited until Wednesday afternoon to announce what he had accomplished and to post a video on the Skateboard.tv website, said in an interview Thursday: "I didn't want it just to be another 900. In my mind I'm like, 'I don't care how long it takes, I'm going to do it differently.' "

Burnquist, who along with Danny Way have progressed Mega-Ramp skating to daunting new heights, becomes only the fifth skateboarder ever to land a 900.

The other four -- beginning with the legendary Tony Hawk in 1999 -- did so on traditional vert ramps, which are much smaller and less dangerous.

Said Hawk: "Bob has upped the ante once again and ramp skating will never be the same, thanks to him. He is unbelievable."

Asked how many times he tried the 900, in different variations over the past several weeks, Burnquist answered, "I've tried hundreds of times, probably 900 times, who knows?"

And yes, he believes the 1080 is possible, but that's a story for another day.

-- Pete Thomas

Tarp surfing rides new wave of popularity

For surfers, getting barreled, or covered by the lip of a hollow wave, is the ultimate sensation.

It's an experience during which the surfer becomes one with the wave, with walls on either side sucking upward or cascading downward while the surfer stands mesmerized, seemingly frozen in time in what's often referred to as the "green room."

These days, though, more and more skateboarders are finding ways to experience a similar sensation by deploying billowing tarps in a manner that resembles waves.

Tarp surfing is not new. It developed as an obscure form of recreation -- as so-called sidewalk surfers sought to mimic wave-riding between swells -- about 20 years ago.

But the sport is making a resurgence, as tarp-surfing wizard Homer Henard explains in the accompanying video, which has been viewed by nearly two million people since it was posted last month.

The comeback is being fueled by the video age -- several tarp-surfing sessions were recently posted on YouTube -- and Henard and his crew from Santa Cruz, Calif., believe this artsy discipline will develop into a craze.

That remains to be seen, but this much is clear: For those who have taken up tarp surfing, a flat ocean no longer means the green room cannot be obtained.

-- Pete Thomas

-- Editor's note: This post also appears on GrindTV.com

Could be year of the 900 in X Games' Skateboard Big-Air

One of the defining moments in X Games history was in 1999, when Tony Hawk became the first skateboarder to successfully land a 900-degree rotation above the lip of a vert ramp.

That's 2-1/2 spins while airborne. The legendary Hawk stuck the landing on his 12th try.

Fast forward to 2010 and to a relatively new contraption called the Mega Ramp, which has delivered vert skating to daunting new heights.

Skateboarders speed 70 feet down one ramp, soar and perform a trick across a 70-foot gap to another downslope, which leads to a quarterpipe wall that sends them more than 40 feet above ground, where they perform a second trick.

Few people are brave enough to ride the Mega Ramp, let alone try a 900 above the quarterpipe wall, but that's the expected theme during tonight's Skateboard Big-Air final on the first day of X Games competition in Los Angeles.

"Obviously with Jake trying it last year he kind of opened the box a little bit," said Bob Burnquist, two-time Big-Air gold medalist, in reference to a failed 900 attempt by Jake Brown during last year's final.

"But at the same time it's pretty high. It's a whole different ballgame. It's different than regular vert skating -- it's straight hairball. You have to just go for it and try to keep yourself controlled and get out of it safely."

Burnquist has a Mega Ramp in the backyard of his home in Vista, Calif., and top riders have been practicing there, including Brown, who won the gold medal last year on a different run with a different trick.

Burnquist and Brown have spun 900s above the quarterpipe wall, but have always had to bail free of their boards and slide down the wall. The trick is that scary and difficult, and slamming awkwardly onto the lip and breaking bones, or free-falling to the flat surface below the ramp are among the consequences of holding on too long without being in perfect position.

Tony Hawk takes a pounding, keeps on Tweeting

Tony Hawk, whose crash landing during a Quiksilver demo on Saturday resulted in a painful pelvis injury that will require lots of rest and rehab, did not break any fingers so he's as busy as ever on Twitter.

The legendary skateboarder, who fell hard to the ramp's bottom platform but eventually rose to thank the crowd and excuse himself from the event, Tweeted about the failed 540 attempt the same day:

"Did a tailbone 5 & my foot was a little off, sent me into b/s revert (chicken-neck) to flat. Hit my back & head HARD. Waiting for CT results."

On Sunday he Tweeted his understanding of the diagnosis: " 'Pelvic vertical sheer injury' & a hematoma in a pear tree is the semi-official diagnosis. All I know is: I can't lift my legs & it sucks."

Then this plug for the hospital: "My deepest gratitude to the staff at UC Irvine Trauma Center. If you are going to get seriously hurt, I recommend being near there."

It's good to see that Hawk, one of the all-time great athletes and a master at making his point in 140 characters or less, has not lost his sense of humor. Hope he's feeling better soon.

-- Pete Thomas

Skateboarders vs. security guard: whose side are you on?

The accompanying video features skateboarders scuffling with a campus security guard who was trying to confiscate one of the skateboards, so naturally it contains graphic language.

Because the skateboarders were shooting video while performing tricks -- in violation of campus rules -- at the Community College of Allegheny County, the episode was posted on YouTube and went viral, and the security guard has been suspended from his job.

The guard appears to be overreacting but he told a Pittsburgh TV station that the skateboarders goaded him into acting the way he did for the sake of producing a video. (It would not be the first time skateboarders have done this.)

If that's the case, the guard should have known better than to take the board and throw a punch, knowing he was on camera. Still, if the skateboarders cost the man his job they should be ashamed of themselves. Whose side are you on?

Rosarito Beach unveils $150,000 skate park

Following a pattern that has spread across the United States and cities throughout the world, Rosarito Beach has built a skate park to provide young people in the Baja California city with more opportunities to use their spare time doing something fun and athletic.

"This park is part of our overall efforts to provide positive activities, sports and recreation for city youth," Mayor Hugo Torres said during the unveiling of the $150,000 park on Saturday.

Skate parks everywhere, it's hoped, keep more children out of trouble and skateboarding allows them to become physically fit.

The Rosarito Beach facility, which includes ramps, rails and platforms, was funded by the city and Federal Ministry of Social Development.

It figures to be immensely popular and perhaps someday it'll even produce an X Games-caliber athlete. Rosarito Beach is to be commended.

-- Pete Thomas

Afghanistan children on a roll as skate park opens in Kabul

Skateboarding's growth and popularity among younger generations have been phenomenal. An increasingly large number of kids would rather skateboard than play team sports. Skate parks are springing up in cities around the world, and this week one opened in what seems the most most unlikely location of all:

Kabul, Afghanistan.

That's right. In a Reuters story that hit the wires today, one of the world's poorest and most conservative countries now boasts a skate park that, like skate parks everywhere, will provide young people with a venue at which to challenge themselves physically and mentally, and to stay out of trouble.

The program is two years in the making and became a reality thanks to the efforts of Skateistan, a co-ed skateboarding school. In fact, its outreach toward girls has been surprisingly successful in a nation whose populace perceives most mainstream team sports as for men only.

"I want to be a professional skateboarder in future like my teacher, and help other children learn how to skate," Mahro, 10, is quoted as saying in regard to the park and the unique school that is part of the operation.