took like 15 minutes, which got me thinking, "My, it sure is
taking a long time," so I go out front to see what's up and end
up peering right into the eyes of the real estate guy, who is just
tripping, I can tell. And, to make matters worse, he has with him
what looks like his wife and daughter, who are already in the
house with the front door wide open. So I walk to my beloved
Nissan and try to do it nonchalantly, making like I'm cool, I'm
supposed to be there, and the guy turns around to go into the
house. Then I run back into the backyard, saying/half-whisper-
ing, "Let's go, guys... uh...
like now," half-pointing to
the window that the whole
family is looking through,
just wondering, "What
the..." And we split as fast
as possible, trying not to
make a scene. But it's
already too late, he saw us
good-our car, our descrip-
tions, our whole every-
thing-and I'm thinking,
"What lames we are,"
'cause we're seriously like
kids in a candy store,
going bananas... But, jeez,
was it worth it!
The End Is Nigh
Looking back, it was pure
heaven, really. So
skatepark-like that I was
kicking myself for not look-
ing at it sooner. And by the
looks of things, it had to be
emptied forever, 'cause the
plaster and coping had that
dry look of months, perhaps
even years, of neglect of
moisture. It was a time.
warp, a throw back to the
days of splendor and mag-
nificence and workmanship.
If skateboarding had any
monuments or gods to look
up to, this particular pool
would be the grandaddy of
them all. I've skated
Colossus about ten times
now and am blown away
every time I see it because of the gigantic size of the yard (half a
football field), the crazy enormity of the pool-which rivals any
park-built bowl including the 15 foot bowl at Pipeline, the mon-
ster bowl at Lakewood, or any other gnarly thing-and the fact
that it has obstacles galore-3 death boxes, 2 sets of stairs and 2
lights which can be obtained if you have the cajones to do so.
Thread the needle, baby!
Well, if the credo is: "Nothing lasts forever," then you gotta take
advantage of every living moment as if it were your last run. I
knew that as soon as people started showing up out of the wood-
work to ride this pool, and when all the neighborhood kids told a
friend, and so on and so on. At least they had enough brains not
to spraypaint all over it! Anyway, when you've been doing this for
as long as I have, you begin to tell when things are about to get
CLOCKWISE
FROM FAR LEFT:
Stephen Bailey
tailslides the side
wall of the mon-
ster pit. Photo
Burnett. His royal
vertness, Rune
Glifberg, gets a
smokin' lipslide
off the hip and
strained, and on that
last weekend (five
weeks later), after
some severe thun-
der showers in the
area, we went to
ride Colossus for
what I felt was the
last time. We fought
the rains all day and
prayed for "one
more session." We
drained all the water
out, dried up the
scum with my T-
shirt, I might add,
then continued to
shred some new
lines for about five
minutes worth
before the irate next
door neighbor peek-
a-booed us and
went ballistic on us
with an old man
tirade like, "Get out
of there! I'm calling
the cops! That pool
cost $40,000 to
make, and you guys
are fucking it up!"
What a nightmare.
Well, I drove out
there three days
onto the flat.
Photo Malenfant.
How do you say,
later, and guess
deep? Photo
Malenfant.
what? That's right,
some people had
miraculously moved
in and started fixing
up the place; the
"For Sale" sign was gone, and the new homeowners were there
to stay. What can you say except, "Hey, if you got to ride the
Colossus, you were pretty damn lucky and experienced a thrill of
a lifetime. But if you didn't get to ride it, just cringe at the pics and
fantasize." Till next time, hasta la vista, baby! -Steve Alba
69