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Orlando has a Vegas-style showcase of booty floss bikinis, distributors of sun block and surf jams called the Surf Expo.
This year, my own whoring had made me feel as though the blood that once ran through my veins was sucked dry.
The only thought for salvation that made me semi-coherent was that I had my skateboard.
First stop was the Badlands,
which is a new addition to the
Florida skate scene. It features a
monster metal vert ramp that has
two extensions with pool coping, a
mid mini-ramp that is also metal,
and the usual street course with
obstacles, pyramids and a covered
spine ramp in case the weather
turns nasty. We rode there all day
with Tim Payne, Tully and Red, who
today had the place dialed. The
weather fluctuates a lot so the rain
had accumulated in the seams of
the ramps, which made for some
slippery sessioning. The locals were
friendly and the shop was well-
stocked with all the necessary tools
to make every kid look like he just
stepped off a noseslide at EMB.
After some smoking with the locals,
we said good-bye and left for
Daytona. It was raining hard as
hell, but I wanted to go anyway.
After going as fast as our rental load
would take us, we arrived at the
doors of the Stone Edge Skatepark.
Concrete and metal are molded
into the shapes that make up this
"challenging" facility. It has been
in operation for almost six years and
boasts over 8500 members. While
A confused skater (left) contemplates drop-
ping in with his helmet backwards at Stone
Edge. Mod Mike Frazier (top sequence)
steams a fakle 5-0 nosegrab noseslap
fakle on the recently moved vert at the
Skatepark of Tampa. Visiting Lonnie
Peoples (right) hooked up with us at Stone
Edge and popped frontside to rolls on the
vert. A sample of the fine looking women
(right inset) down in Gator country. A
dumping ground (below) for bogus gear.
Tom Groholald (below left) is alive, well
and jumping the island of the 9 Bowl.
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