Hello everyone!!! Let me start of by saying meeting everyone was awesome! One of the best times I’ve had. I was initially not going until @Arzamenable told me he was renting an RV and asked if I wanted to tag along. The ended up convincing me to go… let me just say, you folks proved that the interest is not full of douchebags and assholes. If I forgot to mention you, please feel free to comment! My memory isn’t 100% all the time. Now, prepare yourselves for my experience in the mountains!!! ( and sorry for the long post) Edit: Forgot to thank @Lunasi for organizing everything! It was a blast.
I woke up on Tuesday and began to pack everything into my car. We were driving the RV the night before to try to get into Denver the next day. Had both my 10s5p batteries on my boards, some lipo batteries in the back and my 12s4p battery which I was going to build mounted on my evo with eboosted enclosure. My tools, safety gear and skate parts were packed. All that was left was to survive a day of work. Everything was going according to plan until about 12:45. At this point disaster struck. Smoke was coming from my parked car. I knew right away what it was and I sprinted to my car. I flung open the back door and flames erupted out the door. I was reaching for the pack and plastic melted on my arms. I couldn’t get it out. My co worker rushed to my side with a fire extinguisher and tried putting the fire out but the cells just kept going off and starting the fire all over again. At this point I just began dragging my boards, and lipos out the car… I then took out more belongings as co workers tried stopping the blaze with fire extinguisher after fire extinguisher… at one point an 18650 launched out of the open door into my buddies open window. I ran to his car and grabbed the cell with my hand and out the door.
In the end all I lost was an eboosted enclosure, an evo deck, a 12s4p and a backseat. However most of my stuff smells like smoke and Im contemplating whether or not I should go. I ask my wife her opinion and once again, she convinces me not to miss out. Now I do want to emphasize that the whole thing was MY FAULT. I left a battery under a black fiberglass enclosure in my car on a day we had record breaking heat. The blame lies with me.
So after getting a ride home to shower, I headed over to mike’s to pick up the RV. We stopped by my burnt car and packed my two working boards, some tools and my clothes. We were on our way. The ride itself was fairly uneventful. I did get to meet @psychotiller!!! We dropped by his house to pick up a bunch of boards to take with us. Seeing the Moestooge boards was a really unique experience Front wheel drive with a rattle sound and crazy trucks Ive never seen before!!! After everything was loaded, the next stop was denver.
We didn’t get in until around 5 pm. We were just going to be able to make the group ride. I decided that since my start to this trip was such a bummer, something had to be done to reset my mood… enter hallucinogens (“Sunshine of your Love”by Cream starts playing) it was my first time meeting lucy in thr sky with diamonds and it may have not been the best way to meet all these new people!!! But ai was the one saying fear and loathing in denver… Words were jumbling and the clouds were spiraling. We made about 250 left turns but somehow made it to denver. However we were a little late and I was frrrieeeed! I stepped outside the meeting place like a lost little child not knowing what to do. I didnt know there would be soooo many people walking about!!! Soon we see a group of esk8 guys but it is not a great site. @mmaner board had just been broken and the vibe is tense. Im standing around nervous and not knowing where the hell I am. After the situation resolves itself, the skating for me begins. The board feels like a part of me. My under lights shine so bright, it looks like im riding on light! The wind feels amazing and the ride seems like a dream. Manholes with steam coming out of them are forming arrows, directing me were to go. We end up at the skate park and just sit around. I totally keep forgetting im in denver. I meet a bunch of new people but hardly remember anyones name. Soon the scavenger hunt begins. The glowsticks in the park really stand out. At times i feel like they float up from the floor into my hands. Turns out ppl were handing me glowsticks lol. That night ended with a bunch more left turns, a manager-less wendy’s with employees unable to take orders while they cried into my fanta (For reals she was crying! I didnt do it!!), and a great nights sleep!
Next up the races!!! I personally did not race because I tend to get to competitive and would end up hurting myself. I was more excited to ride a course while music played. Unfortunately the music just wasnt loud enough to hear while riding. I ended just using headphones. My first lap around the track was on the spud. I soon realized going fast on urethane would be a problem on this track. There were several rough spots and the wheels would just not grip. After I finished my lap, the races were starting to begin. Before the official start, I decided to bring the ol travel bong out and introduce it to @J0ker. Ben had some Colorado FIRE that almost made me move to Denver. That day him and I smoked so much, inhaling oxygen was difficult. The races went by pretty quick. Off the top of my head, the rider on the evolve won the production races, that same rider won the diy 12s dual races on a @psychotiller board, @Arzamenable won the 4wd, the hoyt guys won the butt racing, moestooge won a couple and i forget the rest. A few crashes also occured. One resulted in a broken collarbone! The e-unicycle race also had a spill. It looked a lot worse than it ended up being.
After the races came a very fun time, a chance to try out other people’s boards!!! There isn’t a type of drivetrain or remote that I passed up on. I tried them all, the kaly, hoyt boards, hoyt puck, the osrr, mother fucking LACROIX Nazare, @Sender tutti-frutti lacroix with adjustable baseplates and nano gear drive… i even road a one wheel and an electric unicycle. This isn’t a place to review these boards. That would require more time and tests. This was just for fun. Pure fun!!! Unfortunately, time was cut a bit short due to the weather. That night we decided to Uber to Sender’s hood and skate the streets. The roads around his airbnb are an Esk8ers wet dream. No real cracks or rough road, limited traffic and lots of straights and turns. The main way these crazy fucks ride is FAST AS FUCK! The point is to gun it and take every single turn, slowly losing skaters like a cruel game of cat and mouse where the mouse always wins. It’s even harder to keep up in the dark! Boards began to die and it was time for bed.
Day 3 was the dirt track. I had never ridden dirt before. The day started off a bit rough with dirt bikers constantly going on the track, not knowing it was rented out. The issue was quickly fixed. I got to meet my buddy @venom121212. That sure was mathematical!!! Soon, it was time to ride. I didnt know what to expect with mt small bergmeisters and dual 6355 on caliber 2’s. It KILLED it. I was getting speed and clearing the steepest hills. It seemed like the gear drives were made for the dirt. Jake, the son of @longhairedboy road it and kept up with most of the AT boards there. The pumping of your legs and turning on the banks, dirt tracks are a different workout all together. I got good enough to take a couple laps on the one wheel but didn’t make it without some difficulty. I ate shit riding some springy tracks that made me bounce and twist just a little too much. I was able to slap out on the dirt but my head bounced on the ground a bit. Luckily, I love helmets! As I lay on the dirt, wondering what the hell happened, I checked to make sure all that was hurt was my pride and jumped back on the board. We would call it an early night and get ready for our personal last day, the mountain ride.
The ride was beautiful! I personally didnt make it all the way up the steep ass hill (shouldn’t have skated from the bar…) I was using a 12s4p board not geared for such steep roads. Lots of boards didnt make the long ass trek. I believe a boosted board went through 3 batteries and didnt make it. With about two miles left, I turned around and bombed the hill, letting gravity do the work. Seeing 30 people going uphill on skateboards really turned some heads!!! We planned to leave right at that moment…buuuuut just couldn’t say bye. We ate lunch and headed to the house of Esk8 for some more conversation and more cat and mouse. Getting to skate with jared from bkb, the guys from lacroix, the drv wizard @johnnymeduse, guys from enertion, Sender, @Indiangummy, @akhult, Ernesto from kaly and @DerelictRobot was a dream for a rookie ass builder like me. I hate sounding like a little fanboy but It is what it is!!! Leaving was bittersweet as fuck. It is time to start saving up for tampa.
Was in the lazy mode and saw a wall of text. Looking forward to reading it though.
