This was how we spent our thanksgiving. The road is a dream in a dream in a dream. Thanks to all the sponsors that made this trip happen.

Skatesgiving:Jungle Raw Run from Team Quebec on Vimeo.

We’ve been skating this road since at least 2009. I myself have a history of near death experiences when drifting into the other lane on those rights. Luckily no one ever got seriously hurt. Take a look back at our exploits from one of our first NC trips as a group:

Regardless of what you think of Push Culture, the Davenports are great people that have a genuine love and respect for the sport. Stoked to finally get to see their footy from Ohio. If you missed the race than insert random angry comment probably calling you a kook from me as usual.

Chris Buono hit me with this over a month ago but October was insane and I’ve been slacking with the site for personal reasons (I’ve actually been going skating…). Here is the first interview in the series that the ladies man himself is doing with the raddest girls that shred in the east.

My first Beauty of the Beast interview is kicking off with Casey Jackson!

She has just as much energy and stoke as I do on skateboarding and LIFE!!!! I don’t even know were to start with this lovely lady! Between her skating, roof top gardening, volunteer job as an assistant horticulturist at the Baltimore aquarium, her awesome cat, biology and chemistry tattoos on her arms, cliff diving and gluten free beer drinking habit she is an awesome friend to all! And this is all just the daily life of Casey Jackson!

I first met her briefly at Fight Club DC, she was and still rips a mini ramp harder then myself and 95% of the longboarders in the area. About a year later I met her in the elevator of a parking garage in Baltimore. That tattoo!  Its stuck in the back of my head…Since the garage session that night she has been the older sis I never had! She’ll help anybody with anything! But don’t cross her. SHE WILL DESTROY YOU. If you were at Anthony Flis’ Nova Slide Jam this past winter you may have seen the devil come out a little bit!

Chris: CASEY!!!!!    Please tell us a little bit about your self. What got you into skateboarding?

Casey: After highschool I attended college for 8 years and earned three degrees. When I graduated I realized I needed an outlet for stress, I needed a social life. So at 26 years of age, I chose skateboarding to provide me with just that: a stress outlet and a social life. Plus it seemed radder than anything else out there.

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First I need to thank Dan Oliver for his time and effort into putting this on. It means so much to the entire community that you are willing to put this on again regardless of losing money last year and getting yanked around by the town. We all appreciate your hard work and the work of all the other volunteers so much.

Bainbridge, Ohio is a town you’ll never visit ever in your life. You have absolutely zero reasons for coming here other than Soldiers of Downhill. But that is the best reason you could ever have for going to a tiny town that offers nothing to passers by. Soldiers is the fastest race course in the U.S. and one of the most technical. When you combine those two aspects it is probably the most gnar race course in the U.S. So why weren’t you there? It’s a little hard to get to but I drove 9 hours by myself through the night and then 9 hours home. Needless to say I didn’t make it to work on Monday but this event is that worth it.

Bainbridge is typical small town America and it’s an eye opening experience for people that aren’t used to it. The Virginia downhill guys spend the majority of our skate trips in places like this so we’re kind of used to it but man I love the Queebs reaction to Murrrica. The town doesn’t even really like the race particularly. Someone almost started a fight with Buono outside the bar after calling the racers “queers.” Regardless of this we hit the town hard. The skating is great but for some reason this town brings out the rowdyness in everyone. The one honky tonk bar we went to got inundated with skaters yelling and cheersing everything while old locals jumped on the table dancing or humping. Buono made out with a mom and daughter that night. Corn fields were run through, under age kids were fucked with at a house party, it’s kind of insane. Congrats to Georges for not winning the party again this year, I’m proud of you!

The course demands your respect though. I’m not sure how many people I saw go into the hay but I’d guess all of them or at least close. Niko probably didn’t crash all weekend but he’s a beast and that’s why he ended up on top of the podium. I never hit hay at all on Saturday but because of stupidity I fell trying to look good for the Team Quebec camera at the fastest part of the course coming out of the chicane where you should not fall because of how bad it could be. Sometimes you need those 55mph crashes to keep you in check and remind you of the consequences of your actions. Sometimes that shit goes worse like it did for Jraw. Hitting hay head first at 55mph is no way to go through life and it was the scariest speedboard crash I’ve seen in person. The eruption of hay was incredible and it gave Jeremy the worst concussion I’ve ever seen. Having to explain what happened to him every five seconds was so painful. Hopefully this new head trauma will get his sense of smell back though. Send your love to Jraw as he heals up, but I also heard that he skated the Harrisburg gnar on the Monday after like a fucking lunatic.

Racing happened and was fun. There’s probably awesome highlights that should be mentioned but I don’t really care about racing that much. Racing this run in general is gnar as shit no matter who you are, going into these turns in a pack is heavy. Things that you should note though are that: 1) Will Royce is from Florida and faster than you plus shreds street harder than you can skate downhill so check yourself. 2) Will Seal stepped shit up and put on his big boy leathers and got a couple rounds further than I did and I can’t wait to see that kid skating next summer and blowing minds. 3) Jraw has been killing it at races this year and needs to travel off the east coast and go show his steezy ass off else where and get some recognition. No one was sliding as stylishly as the mofo.

To see all the awesome photos and where that video came from check out www.teamquebec.org

Results:

1. Niko Desmarais
2. AJ Haiby
3. Mike Jakoop
4. Will Royce

I think I met Max at Munnsville but it could have been before then too. I remember he had the most absurd leathers and was chilling down the hill. The next time I skated with him he was shredding after riding with Pat Schep a ton. The dude is a skater all the way through and knows what’s up. If you need proof then just watch the Venom Mega Ramp spoof. This was a fun correspondence we had via email over a month or so this summer.

Anthony – Hey man, stoked to do this with you! I’ve been chilling on this article series for too long since I did the interview with Brian. Trying to do a “where are they now” sort of thing.

I guess first thing is the most recent: how was the Rado Pass trip you just took last weekend? I can’t imagine what that’s like!

Max – The pass trip was rad. I’m working on a magazine article about the Colorado scene so I can’t say too much: but those dudes definitely showed me what’s up.

Once you’ve skated their roads, you understand why Colorado dudes always rock leathers and skate with that fast racing style. The thin air and the way the roads are built, with grippy pavement and really big turns, make it fun to go really really fast.

I’ll go out on a limb and say that Colorado has better skateparks than California. They’re newer, better-built, more diverse, and more fun than most parks in California. Also, the people are laid-back but spend considerably less time on the couch than Californians. If I didn’t work in the skateboard industry, I’d probably live in Colorado or Portland.

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So, it comes the time when leaves change color, the air cools, and the fuse is lit. That’s right, it’s time for the Autumn Bomb!

With the amount of curiosity and excitement last year’s race created, we decided to make HVAB a two-day event this year.

Day One – Race Day – Full on racing at the same hill as last year, High View: at around 35mph, it’s not the fastest course we have, but when you’re four skaters deep, all predrifting for lead spot around the first right turn hairpin, things get tricky; and to make it more challenging, we added gates to the course after the first turn. That means two crash corners, and tighter heats. There will be 64 spots available, and racing will be conducted in four man heats. Helmet and gloves are required.

VT Autumn Bomb Longboard Race from daniel sparling on Vimeo.

Day two – Freeride – Strictly for fun (with prizes and podiums) Jam style event on a curvaceous road. Tight and compact, The “Dam Good” Hill features three graceful turns, a right dropping into a sweeping left, then a creeping right with a sharp run out. All in over a 100 feet of vertical drop. Pavement is flat with large faced stones, making it slide effortlessly. You can ride this hill a million ways, and always learn something new. Again, helmet and gloves are required.

Sign-up — To sign up visit NCDSA and fill out an entry form. Entry fee TBD (around $20).

Sponsors – We are always looking for sponsors, contributors, and volunteers. If you are interested in helping out, please send 802lbc@gmail.com for more information. We would like to thank our current and past sponsors for making High View Autumn Bomb II happen.

Current Sponsors:

Surf-Rodz

Projection Films

Kebbek

Rotule

Clutch

Team Quebec

Looks like this went off! Here’s some video and the results:

Hard:
1. John Kreutter
2. Andriy Dash
3. Brandon Harrison

Soft:
1. Ben Vaughan
2. Dan Fontz
3. Sam Abramson

Women:
1. Jessica Corchia
2. Chelsea Egan

Best Bail: Mike Mayhugh
Longuest slide: Nick Glaudemans

The 2nd Annual Central MA Longboarding Event, the only event of its kind in New England, is preparing to bring over 300 athletes and spectators to the little town of Harvard, MA on Sunday Aug 7th. Its success is evidence that the new wave of longboarding has a home on the East Coast.

After an extremely successful grassroots event in 2010, event organizer Mike Girard has created enough community enthusiasm to draw over 150 participants from all over the East Coast – all the way down to Florida – to this event. It took only a day for the Facebook event to reach 100 positive RSVPs, and the responses have continued to come in. Participants range from life-long adult skaters, to sponsored professional riders and the young up-and-coming.

The Central MA competition features three main events: a downhill race, a slide competition, and a flatland style competition. In the downhill race, 128 athletes will race in 4-man heats down a closed-road course that features two descents, both of which will propel racers to speeds approaching 50mph. The slide competition will have racers performing their best moves down a section of the race course with judges spaced along the hill to assess them. Judges will also determine the winner of the flatland competition, in which groups of participants will have a set time limit to show off. Secondary events include longest slide competitions and games of SKATE, which is played like the basketball game HORSE.

The competition boasts over 20 sponsors, including big names like Loaded Boards, Orangatang Wheels, Push Culture, Concrete Wave, Original, Surf Rodz, Eastern Boarder and more, as well as local longboarding startups like Eden Racing, Nashawtuck Longboards, and Green Street Longboards. Other sponsors include Trophy Life Tattoo, Marcus Lewis Day Camp, Collegiate Greenscaping and Creative Contact. This means participants can expect excellent podium prizes, while attendees can look forward to great raffle swag.

Registration for participants begins at 9am and preliminary heats will begin after 10am. The event is expected to run until 5pm. Any longboarders interested in competing can contact Mike Girard at emgeemann@gmail.com.

This gathering of downhill skateboarding enthusiasts received press coverage in SkateSlate, the Loaded Blog, the Harvard Press, and the Harvard Post last year. A video recap of the first event can be found here.

Thanks to Andiry from Earhtwing for the video.

The day was hot as hell but it didn’t stop the shredding. Josh Wright and Dylan Headley won it to continue their domination of slide jams.