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 One
of the great things to do when your a skater is "road trips",
get a group of like minded skaters (some beer) a car (some beer)
and a something of a direction to be heading and your off…A
Road Trip…. did I mention beer?
A few
months ago a small group of us did that very thing. Sack, Kev (the
Daddy) Butler, Stevie Martin and myself headed south in search of
some concrete heaven or ramps a plenty.
Not
everyone likes to skate concrete, let alone old concrete that's
gnarly as hell and tears holes in you (ask Sack about that), but
that's half the fun. We had an amazing few days travelling around
finding parks we only had heard about, to spending a wet day in
Bristol just looking at the park (very frustrating), all screaming
simultaneously when Kev's driving nearly got us all killed! The
good old sleeping on floors and drinking too much beer is all part
of the enjoyable road trip.
Day
1
We started off in Birmingham at the Epic Skatepark, just because
it has one amazing wooden bowl, and Mr Andrew Huggins showed up
to skate with us, then off to Stratford Upon Avon but the rain beat
us and we had to go drink beer and then head off to bed.
Day
2
Rain, rain, rain! All we could do
was look at Bristol's Dame Emily Smyth Skatepark and St George's
Skatepark (both free). I think it had to be the most frustrating
thing just to leave your board in the car and only look at the parks,
so all we could do was head home and drink beer!
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Stevie
and his beer, notice a trend?
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Day
3
The sun was out and we headed to Calne (free), we had heard about
this place and Stevie Martin did his research and bingo, it was
great old stylie concrete, rounded lips and no coping. Not everyone's
idea of fun but all four of us worked that place and had a blast.
Then
on to Yate, and "Oh my God" the concrete bowls there are
awesome! Not the easiest park to ride, but just great to see something
of that size being built in the UK (and free), pads are a must on
this beast! Gary "head hunter" Palmer joined us at this
park to shred it for a few hours.
Then
it was time to dodge the rain and head off to Combe for a great
twilight sesh. This is an odd mellow place tucked away next to a
cricket ground, but well worth a trip and a fitting end to the road
trip. Then time for the last few pints and reflect on the last few
days of skating and getting to know your friends just a little bit
better, and knowing they are truly friends, roll on the next road
trip.
So
to the Gnarly Dude! CD. It was on this very same road trip that
Gnarly Dude! was born …. at the moment the CD is at the pressing
plant and we should get out hands on it on 2nd September… oh
I hate waiting!
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Talk sk8 on the 
