pRAWvidence, Rhode Island
Keith’s account of going to Max’s session in RI with photos from Max’s flickr. Max and Brian Peck are about to start their cross country journey to Cali where they will be residing for some time.
Pat Schep’s, Chris Sheehy’s and my travels to RI started out on a very wet and slightly weary Saturday evening. We got in the car, and started what was supposed to be a 3 hour drive (according to google maps). Not once did it stop raining, and not once did the wiper blades in our car slow down from the highest setting. Through Connecticut it was slow going, and 2 or 3 times we had scary occurrences. Once, we were splashed by a car next to us, throwing water over the car, and making us feel submerged for 2-3 seconds. The amount of water on the windshield was insane. Another time we hydroplaned for a few hundred feet.
Finally we arrived in Rhode Island, and parked near Max Dubler’s apartment, carried our sleeping stuff inside and kicked back, playing skate, carpet-skating, and just lounging discussing odd things like mega-suede. The line-up for the next day of skating consisted of Earthwing rider Pat Schep, Comet rider Keith Rebhorn, Soda Factory riders, Alex Newton, Jeremy Ross, Maxwell Dubler, there newest addition Bruce Clark, Rayne rider Brian Peck, and shredders, Rob Briggs, Lee (his girlfriend, sorry don’t know her last name), and Chris Sheehy.
The next morning we were up by 9AM to a completely different world. The sun was shining, the roads were dry (except for wet leaves), and there was not a cloud in sight. We ended up heading out to Pawtucket Skatepark, and shredded a 4 foot mini bowl for a little bit. Brian was throwing down some huge airs, and Max kept on snaking everyone, but backed it up with rad skating.
After that we went and skated in the area where the Gravity Games where. That was rad. Traffic was a bit sketchy, but that all comes with the sport. After skating in the city, we headed out to the country side where we skated a beautiful neighborhood run that reached 35 with two hairpins that had you on the edge of traction for both of them. We had Connor Milican with us taking photos.
We ended the day skating a run so dearly termed, “The end of the world.” This hill was so steep, the you could not see the bottom if you were 5 steps behind the top of the hill. It was at least 15-25% grade. It was a stand up slide night-mare because of the pavement, but a gift because of the steepness. After speaking to many neighbors and skating for a bit, we took some fashion shots and headed our own ways, but not before Johnny Law rolled up in his cruiser informing us ever so politely that if we ever skateboarded here again that it was an arrest-able offense.
Pat S, Chris S, and myself then made the 3 ish hour drive that we had done only the night before, but this time the drive was so much better because of the lack of rain, and puddles that made Pat’s car into a submarine. Providence is a sick area, with a lot of different venues for skateboarding.
