COLORĀDO
TRIP OUT
Story and photos by
Michael Burnett
JOHN DENVER WAS RIGHT
When it comes down to it, every
moment of a skateboard road trip,
even if it involves high profile skate-
boarders in fabulous locations, is not
worthy of mention. Though the action
may peak now and again, there's still
plenty of eating, sitting and staring
time that no one really needs to hear
about. Some road trip stories are bor-
ing. I read a recent travel piece in
another mag recently where even the
digestion of food was deemed worthy
of mention. Jesus.
The following are some thoughts
and anecdotes from a recent skate
trip to Colorado-a truly heavenly
destination. These are (hopefully) the
fun parts. The photos should flesh.
out the rest.
THE BOULDER SKATEPARK
Some people stay away from
skateparks on keeping-it-real grounds,
but I think they're great. It's true that
skating solely at a skatepark will make
you a street retard, but shit, there're
worse things. A lot of skaters in
Boulder are coming to this conclusion.
The Boulder Skatepark is my home
park and will always be my favorite,
even though it's not that big and some
of the ramps are falling apart. All the
obstacles are individually named and
Keith and Ned and the boys just added
a new roll-in ramp called either The
Phil Hartman Memorial Water
Slide or The Poop
Shoot, depending on who you ask.
Other ramps include The Wild Stallion,
The Viper and The Camel Toe. You can
go fast at the Boulder Skatepark and
there's always lots of goofy little kids
milling around asking weird little kid
questions. It's a great place to skate.
IT WAS JUST A MATTER OF TIME
Bladers aren't taking it anymore. At
the new Colorado Springs skatepark a
wiggler pulled a knife on Brian after
they collided.
"Are you kidding me?" Brian asked as
he put him in a choke hold.
Another of our friends took the
knife away.
"I'm gonna go home and get my shot-
gun," the blader yelped.
His buddy, who looked straight out of
a SurgeⓇ soda commercial, agreed and
attempted to further their case by
telling us he was an ex-gangbanger.
"You wanna get crazy?" he asked us,
tears welling up.
Apparently the OGs forgot to tell him
that real gangbangers don't cry when
their friend's knife gets taken away.
The new park is like a crappy Santa
Rosa and is fun as hell. Rollerblading
gangsters are stupid.
STOOTS
Jared Stoots started skating at the
Boulder Skatepark five years ago at the
the age of ten, at a time when there
were absolutely no kids under the age
of 18 riding skateboards. He used to be
a real terror, but he's since mellowed
out and doesn't have such a crazy
midget style like he used to. He could
do kickflips from the get-go and stuck
Iwith the tech stuff even when we has-
sled him to learn quarterpipe tricks and
drop in on vert. At the recent Warped
Tour qualifying contest, Stoots suprised
everyone by doing a frontside rock 'n'
roll in his run.
"Stoots!" we all yelled.
I was so proud, I could have given him
a wedgie.
IT'S FAD-TASTIC!
Although Colorado is blessed with
many many free and public
skateparks, it is cursed by a man
and his crew of morons
who repeatedly win
the contracts to
build these
parks,
86 THRASHIES
RIGHT Dan and Lisa can barely contain themselves at the sight of
Al Partanen's monster lien table top into one of Crested Butte's ears.