It's been a while...

Going to get this blog running again so I can read back some time :) 2012 was a hectic year. The sport truly outgrew itself to the point where the structure just didn't work. I Did a little bit of travelling, hit Australia, Portland, Seattle, Maryhill, Vancouver, New York, Vermont, and Ohio. A serious amount of skateboarding and driving went into the season. And to look back it was fun, exciting, depressing, intense, and tons of other emotions. Met a ton of new friends. Couldn't be happier about that. The skate scene is truly a different breed of people. Can't say I'd do things any different. ciao for now

Newtons nation

Anyone who hasn't been to Newtons has a lot to learn the first time on the track. Day one is practice and time trials. Everyone gets 4 runs down the track before doing a timed run by themselves top to bottom. Your first run is the run you use to get over any anxiety any worry you might have and just take it easy to learn the track and where to make your moves and race lines. You push in, first you have a an S bend that leads into a right hand turn coming out most people air brake or foot brake because you are about to go through the dipper. A left hand turn that swallows you up and spits you out with huge acceleration. Then you enter the another set of s bends which wind you into Forest Elbow a left hand hairpin that is longer than you anticipate the first few times. Once you grip through this one, if you don't get tossed, the last part is the straight away. You have your last mile of drag racing and drafting to do before the finish line. Sounds easy right? What a roller coaster. This run is so fast and just requires maximum grip. Day two is race to qualify. A day of racing and riding just to choose the heats for day 3. Technically its a fake race day. However, all the riders will get to watch their opponents race for top spots and see where they will put there race lines on the course. This course was hard. I tried my best and this course spit me out. I realize now how I could have done better and I will return next year to better myself. This is the course I've always wanted to hit since I started going fast and I'm glad I had the chance to ride it. But I'm not done here yet. Thanks to everyone who showed their support during the event for me ! Here is a link from the 3 days of event. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtlz0VJibTQ

arrive and run

So after we left our one day stay at the hotel room we jetted over to the Hopkins skate shop to hook up with Rob McWhinnie. On our way me and kayla were dragging three huge bags around when we found a couple girls kayla had been preparing to skate with at the train station. They helped us get to the Hopkins shop and helped with the bags which was the most amazing coincidence since we hadn't a clue where we were going. On arrival to the shop we found 3 vehicles and a Camper van ready to shred some local spots. We didn't have time to say a word since they had their cars on and were about ready to leave we basically grabbed our boards as fast as we could and got in the car. They took us to some really fun corner spots. One of which had a double dipping lefty righty. As soon as you finish drifting left its time to drift right, thats how steep it is. Through the two corners its about a 15 – 20 foot elevation drop. It was a national holiday so we didn't get to stay in some places long cause there was so much traffic. After the session we went back to the hopkins shop and in about 30 minutes we were back on the road. Heading towards Bathurst for the race we stayed 2/3rds of the way from Sydney at a barn for the night. A barn really? Well we weren't sleeping on haystacks. There was a wood stove heating an entire barn with 15 beds 3 couches, and an enormous amount of room to lay out a mattress or sleeping bag. Went outside halfway through the night to see a bunch of stars I had never seen before. It was gorgeous at night in the middle of nowhere. In the morning we found out we were camped at the bottom of some local skate spots. Fancy that. So we loaded up the Bus and took a few runs. Can't blame us it was 20 and sunny. The runs we hit were winding sweepers, 60km/h, and 4 KM long. That being said, there was no traffic really in the middle of nowhere so we had lots of room for drafting and passing which is important when you are riding with 30 other people. It was a really epic day. The day was great but after a couple hours we took off for Bathurst home of Newtons Nation.

the trip to sydney.

The adventure starts in montreal on a tiny little plane travelling to atlanta. 2 seats on each side, not overly spacious but everything went smoothly. It was the chaos in Atlanta I didn't expect. We arrived in a different terminal than our connecting flight meaning we had to find a way to terminal A from terminal C and for anyone who has been to Atlanta they know there are 6 terminals. So with our bags and 15 minutes before our plane departs we ran to the closest escalator and found a subway train. Fancy that. Rushing through crowds of people only to be told later that Atlanta airport is THE busiest airport in the US. The gate we finally arrived at was packed with a crowd of about 300 people waiting to board when they should have been boarded 30 minutes prior. At first you think “i would hate to be working at the service desk” then you think “wait how are all these people going to fit on this plane.”. How cool My first time on a Jumbo jet, Full center Aisle and everything. Row 42...the last seats in the middle. It's comfy but there is definitely now view of the windows. We arrived in LA with our next flight already boarding, no time to eat snack or walk around. Kind of hectic really. We were starving and getting a little cranky. The flight to australia was 14 hours from LA. 3 small meals, and a bit of water got us there. The sun was down for the whole flight. Until we landed. In total we spent 21 hours in the air, and covered 16403 km. To put this into perspective, The verage car takes 3 months to travel 5000 km . When you leave canada usually you pass customs in canada. When you enter Australia, that is when you hit customs. I cannot imagine getting rejected, two back to back 14 hour flights would be horrendous. We had 3 bags checked and two arrived. Fancy that our skateboarding getaway and the only bag that doesn't arrive is the one with the skateboards. It arrives the next day at the same time on the same flight. I'm told. So we will see how that goes today. When we were leaving the airport we grabbed some Mcdonald's breakfast, because its tasty and familiar. When we got into the cab, my orange juice exploded, the bottom of the cup was no longer attached with just seconds to spare i had my window open and juice outside and I was sitting in a lake of OJ. Great way to start a trip. The cab driver was pissed, I was pissed, he started telling me about how he was charging me for cleaning fees and such. We talked it out and got the next cab to a hotel downtown. We figured rather than running around trying to find contacts we'd spend the first day at a hotel. Found a nice low price and went there. beautiful furniture, roof top pool and sauna, full restaurant. Couldn't have been a better choice. We are much lower than most of the buildings downtown but the architecture is incredible here !

summer 2012

It's going to be a crazy summer. We already have races going on in quebec and its april!

The First race spiral of DOOM was held in quebec city. Great time run by FFASHOP.com. The day was filled with a parking garage course and 100 skater. Tons of prizes were handed out that was sweet.

The second event was held by Oli bashonga of rollin boutique. A nice slide jam that somehow lasted 9 hours. After the event I think everyone just wanted to sleep, So many people left with new tricks and swag. The course had a few feature as well, a kicker by Rotule, and a sweet cannon rail made by Ben Dubreil who rides for Kebbek.


This weekend I spent shredding with kayla and some other friends. Went to the hills near Tremblant and got some personal sessions in on my favorite WM runs. It was a really good weekend.


This week is going to be crazy, two weeks before Newtons. Sure hope these winter legs hold up on that track! Its going to be a blast but it is a very intense place to ride I can tell.
I am most excited to just do qualifying and practice, feel the track , get the thrill of the speed, and also try to get myself into the mini ramp contest somehow. Cause I just found out its a huge festival!
http://www.newtonsnation.com.au/about

a real kind of board

I started a skateboard company called ambitious about 4 years ago now. I did custom longboard building for 2 years and created a very good reputation for myself in the extreme bends department. I built every board from maple and a water based wood glue.

Wood glue is ok but it allows flex, a shorter life span and you can't ride in the rain or it will usually start to delaminate within a month .


I got picked up by Kebbek Skateboards last month and started riding their boards right away. I knew it would be strange riding something I had not produced in my own basement but I was up for the challenge.

I can honestly say I am so lucky to be riding a Kebbek board. They are so rock solid. I have ridden mine in the pouring rain during a sudden thunder storm, I have thrown it into a curb full speed and I've taken it off some jumps.


I am currently riding The John Barnett Model, I have to say it feels really good to be on a Light Crisp longboard. I can really feel a difference in my riding when on a Kebbek board, I love it.


Also its saturday, its sunny GO SKATE :D
have fun , skate safe
K$

Pro Model T-Shirt

So it seems the longer I live in quebec the more they bring me into the family. I feel very welcomed to the Free For All SkateShop team especially since they have come out with a K-money pro model T shirt . Featuring one of my favorite sayings "ou est le stoke? " (where is the stoke?) and in big letters "ici" (right here )

Thanks to Free for all for keeping my stoke ici in quebec :)

WWW.FFASHOP.COM
WWW.TEAMQUEBEC.ORG