This weekend, I went over to the Cincinnati area to do a little bit of wandering around, and checking stuff out. I had plans to meet up with the Old Indy Skaters guys, which was a pretty big deal since it was the first time ever that the Old Indy Skaters [from Indiana], and the brand-new OIS Ohio Chapter would be meeting up, and skating together.
It was an awesome day of good friends, good skating, and good causes. Here's some of the highlights:
First stop: Colerain, Ohio. Just north of Cincinnati, on the I-275 beltway. Bart had given us the option to meet up here, and do a little bit of skating before we went to the "main event", a fundraiser for the "Take Steps" foundation, an advocacy group that works for people that suffer from Crohns disease and Colitis (www.cctakesteps.org). Bart told us that the Take Steps shindig might be "a little bit crowded", so meeting up here and getting our skate on might be a great idea. Most of us did, because the park looked really good on Concrete Disciples, and it was literally right on the way to Bob's Bash.
This is Colerain's "small" bowl complex. It's super fun, with quite a few "obstacles" tossed in there (clamshells, vert pockets with real pool coping, a spine, a pump bump, and even a deathbox tossed in for good measure). The bowl is also flawlessly built; there's not a ripple or kink anywhere in there. Beautiful...!
Colerain's "big" bowl. Just as well-built as the "small" bowl right next door, this bad boy is a "gigantic-sized" left-hand kidney. It's got to be at least 10 feet deep in the deep end... if not closer to 11. I didn't ride this much... huge crowds of little BMXers started showing up just a few minutes after I shot this, and barged their way into the bowl to carve around a couple feet up from the flatbottom. Kinda lame, but whatever. Later, Tim Devlin, Mike Gage, and Cody Weaver barged in harder, kicked the little fuckers out, and started dismantling this bowl inch by inch. I was so knocked out, that I totally forgot to grab my camera.
The flyer for "Bob's Backyard Bash" up in Mason, on the northeastern outskirts of Cincinnati. This was where we spent the rest of our afternoon/evening.
When Pandi and I arrived, people were just starting to trickle in. The first thing I heard, were the uber-familiar sounds of skateboards on masonite, coming from this small, two-car garage...
And, here's the culprit! Bob's Backyard Bowl. As you can see, it's only a couple feet tall (if that), and wedged in there pretty tightly. There's also quite a few "obstacles" in this little guy, as well, including a roll-in channel, a "faux spine" ( a part of the ramp where the platform has been removed, and a double-coping section put in it's place), a tight extension that looks like it actually squeezes in to vert, one "smooth" bowled corner, and a "kinked" bowl corner. I was too tall (at 6'5") to even stand on the platform- let alone, skate it- but, everybody that could looked like they were having a ball.
Bob Hickman (the guy with the tats) was the man manning the grill, judging the various contests, and hosting the event. Great dude.
The "punkers" version of a midwest staple, the "cornhole" game. Tim Ray kicked my ass at this, even after I'd built up an 11-point lead. Guess that makes Tim the cornhole expert, eh...?
There were several donated skate-items that were part of the "silent auction". This Bulldog Eric Dressen model (autographed by both Wes and Eric) immediately caught my eye. Pandi bid ninety bucks on it. She's a champ.
This H-Street Art Godoy model also caught quite a few glances...
This is one of the cakes that the "mom" contingent baked for the occasion. If you haven't noticed, it's in the exact shape (and design) as the inddor garage ramp that everybody was skating. Definitely, one of the coolest cakes I've ever seen...
By far, this is one of the coolest days that I've spent in quite some time. I'd like to thank Bob Hickman, the rest of the OIS Ohio crew, and of course Bart and the OIS Indiana guys for inviting me out. Great job, everybody. Let's do it again next year...!
