I'm so Loaded

So today I heard that old familiar sound of the “what can brown do for you” diesel and like Pavlov’s dog…. or my dog for that matter my saliva glands kicked in. Could it be a new longboard deck? Much to my delight it was. A Loaded Dervish in a plain brown box was handed to me. It took all of 2 seconds to start the build, as it does with any new ride I get my hands on. I love our boards and nine times out of ten I will be riding a Street Swell but that doesn’t mean I can enjoy another companies vision. I set the dervish up with Paris 180 trucks, Abec 11 Gumballs and Panther abec 7 bearings. The Loaded is a flex machine, much different than what I am used to, but the thing was killer. In combination with the gumballs this was also a flip flop machine, not that I encourage that kind of blatant disregard for safety. It took little to no effort to crank turns even at the slowest of speeds, great when you are in traffic or on the “bike” path……..yeah right. The drop through truck mounting made kicking in flops a breeze because of the lowered deck height. AGAIN, not that I encourage that kind of blatant disregard for safety. This is a really fun board that I think it is a must for anyone’s collection. I hope you all know by now, you can’t have just one longboard. Well as always safety first and go for a ride, I am.

Rock on Les

OK I am not from Vancouver so when it gets pissy out its time to go inside and fire up the creative juices, blog a bit and crack open a stout. We are going to release a new version of the Daisy Cutter in the next month or so. I don’t want to say too much but here is a hint.

I think it is going to be one of the coolest things we have done…………but I have had a few stouts. My brother Joel is the brain child of this beauty and if nothing else it will be a really fun project. It’s raining cats and dogs in Colorado but I don’t think it will stop me from taking a lead from my friends up north an go out for a cruise……….or slide, there may be no tomorrow.

News from the Buffalo Bill Downhill

A very cool event, Justin did a fantastic job putting this together. Saturday was picture perfect with very little wind and a lot of sun. Skaters had most of the day to dial in this challenging course which consisted of 5 corners the last 4 coming back to back in hair pin fashion. Corner 2 saw riders enter at speeds in the 40mph+ range.





All of the practice came in handy for Sundays final which was hampered by rain and fog making for a slick and dangerous descent. The heats are groups of four with the top 2 finishers advancing to the next heat. At the end of the day Zack Maytum of boulder proved to be the fastest of them all. Must be those Venom bushings.
1st Place- Zak Maytum, Colorado
2nd Place- Louis Pilloni, California
3rd Place- Will Brunson, New Mexico
4th Place- Brian Elderkin, Canada
5th Place- Calvin Staub, Colorado
6th Place- Brian Holden, Colorado

Can't We All Just Get a Longboard?

The Partial Quiver

So I am packing for the Buffalo Bill Downhill and it occurred to me I need to take boards. Well being a longboard company the first thought is how many Street Swell Boards can I cram into the Jeep. But then I start thinking “man the Landyachtz board would be fun on that hill” not that I ride like these guys. Then in a moment of St. Pauli Girl induced sentimentalism I realized how many cool board manufactures there are. I can’t think of any I am willing to give up. Hamboard, Landyachtz, Arbor and the board that started it for me, Sector Nine. And then there are the boards that I will buy in the future. Boards from Miramar, Honey , Never Summer and a lot of others. I guess the point to this rambling is longboarding is so cool and is here to stay. There are an endless list of great people in this sport, Ryan from Landyachtz, Rob from Skunktech crazy Bobby from Concrete wave, nick from Miramar,Kia from Silvervish the list goes on. The act of riding itself is very freeing and in a since cleansing. I look forward to a continued love affair with longboarding and building friendships with the characters it brings into my life.

Battle of the Zulu

Sometimes the process of shaping a board can be……..well violent. My bro Joel did a nice job capturing part of that process. This board will soon be a Cruise Zulu, if it survives. This is one of the things that gets me really psyched about making boards , seeing all the raw elements turn into something spectacular.

The Cruise Zulu

Buffalo Bill Downhill

Street Swell longboards is a proud sponsor of the Buffalo Bill Downhill held on Lookout Mountain in Golden Colorado this weekend May 9th and 10th. If you have never seen downhill skateboarding you need to check this out. These guys and gals are wacky!!