austin skate notes

Seth has written a sentence or two about it in the last few posts, but I wanted to clarify all the rumors about the new skatepark’s opening date. I called the Parks and Recreation Department to double-check, and here’s what I found out.

• Time—1:30 PM.
• Date—Saturday, December 3rd.
• Place—Mable Davis Park: 3427 Parker Ln. Austin, TX 78741. It’s set back a bit from the northeast corner of I-35 and Ben White (Hwy 71), off the northbound access road.
• Map—Click here.
• Ceremony—Yes. See below.

The fellow on the phone told me there will be a ceremony and dedication. A ceremony for the reopening of the park (its been closed for a while for massive clean up) and a dedication of the skatepark. I don’t know to whom they’re dedicating the thing. Me? You? The City of Austin Solid Waste Services? Hopefully there will be a ribbon cutting. Anyway, wear something nice.

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As you may have noticed, the Austin Skate Notes server has been somewhat unpredictable as of lately. This instability has been due to many, many attacks by nefarious internet denizens seeking to take control of this server. In thousands of attempts, ASN has successfully fended off the attackers, but last week one got through and was allowed limited tresspass for about half an hour. Since then, I’ve restored the server from backup and believe I’ve eliminated the vulnerability.

While I’ve been working to strengthen the ASN server, Doug King and his Rex Ramps crew have been out in Smithville building an amazing public concrete skatepark on an astoundingly limited budget. I drove out there on Sunday to take a look at their progress. Apparently, they’re scheduled to have their grand opening on the same day as the Mabel Davis opening ceremony– dec. 3rd. Photos.

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Wow. So many obstacles conspired to interfere with my trip to Amarillo this past weekend, yet, when I talk to people about it, I keep hearing myself say, "nothing went wrong." This is in spite of me twisting the crap out of my ankle just 4 days before our departure. This is in spite of suffering such intense back cramps that I was writhing in pain and crying. This is in spite of slamming so hard in the fullpipe that I had to visit the nearby emergency clinic for stitches. That’s how great a trip we had.

The skatepark is definitely a contender for my favorite skatepark in Texas, and would probably be among my top 5 favorite skateparks in the world. For the Texas title, its closest competition would have to be Austin’s Mabel Davis public skatepark which won’t open until December 3rd, 2005. (That’s confirmed as of a meeting I attended earlier this afternoon.) Obviously, this assessment is limited to the 30 or so skateparks I’ve ridden, and doesn’t include Shanghai or the Black Pearl. As I said in an earlier post, it’s also the finest skate roadtrip destination Texas has to offer thanks to the neighboring Palo Duro canyon and the cool locals. Everyone we met at the skatepark and around Amarillo was super friendly and had a great attitude.

Most obvious among the features that make Amarillo such an exciting skatepark is the fullpipe-cradle. No other public skatepark in Texas boasts a fullpipe, let alone a cradle. This one has both and plenty of excellent lines to enter with as much speed as you need to go as upside down as you feel comfortable. Cary Jackson talked at length about how much better we like the setup for this cradle configuration over its predecessor in Carbondale, Colorado. The Carbondale fullpipe cradle is at the end of a flatbottomless halfpipe, so your lines are pretty restricted to running parallel with the flatwall in the fullpipe. In Amarillo, you can ride the bowl outside and come from almost any angle into the fullpipe, carving high on a wall to set yourself up for a big cradle carve.

But it ain’t like beating up on your little brother. Grindline, builder of both these fullpipe-cradle skateparks, crafted the Amarillo fullpipe to cone down from a 20′ diameter at the mouth to a 16′ diameter surrounding the cradle. This reducing transition presents a whole other level of challenge. As you ascend, your muscles record that transition to memory such that during your descend, that’s what they’re expecting. If you’re carving or even kickturning, the descending transition is different than your ascending transition, which can put you on your head real easy at the bottom if you’re not able to adjust accordingly. In no way is this a bad thing. It just makes it more difficult to master on a single weekend trip.

The facility has been open approximately four months now, and already the locals have rapidly progressed at the park. They went high in the cradle and had blazing fast lines through the bowl. I noticed that almost all the people at the park were skating, which helps account for their skills. If you go to a place like Ingleside, you’ll see some people skating, but a lot of kids hanging out smoking cigarrettes at the entrance. In Amarillo, they show up to ride.

Other than the bowl / fullpipe, the skatepark features a flow course with some banks, a pyramid, a couple of quarterpipes, and a short handrail down a three-step. This is where the facility pales in comparison to the strong street offering available at Mabel Davis. There has been some talk that the city of Amarillo may expand the facility with more authentic street terrain.

Other details:

• Free
• No pads or helmets required
• Unsupervised
• No lights
• Open from sun up to sun down 7-days-a-week
• Restrooms
• Nearby emergency care clinic
• Barbecue grill on site
• No electricity for jamboxes

The nine of us camped about 45 minutes away in Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Absolutely beautiful and an essential part of any roadtrip to this skatepark. Other interesting attractions include the Cadillac Ranch where that guy burried some cadillac cars in the dirt so their rear ends stick up in the air. There’s also the ‘Big Texan’ steakhouse where you get your steak for free if you can eat all 72 ozs in one sitting. If you fail this mission, you pay $72.We chose to entertain ourselves with the indoor shooting gallery instead. Sprinkled throughout town is an interesting street art installation where someone installed these yellow diamond traffic signs along busy streets that have nonsensical messages. I recall seeing– "We Win", "We call him count dracula", and a screaming eagle with talons bared. This was way cooler than the horse statues they have throughout Amarillo that local businesses painted. You know, like how that town up north did those cows and Lake Charles, LA did alligators. I think Tulsa, Ok did penguins, or maybe that was Louisville, Ky. Whatever. It’s so bandwagon.

Anyway, thanks to James for taking us up there in his plush van. Thanks to the Amarillo locals for repeating their tricks a million times so I could get my shots. And thanks to the hoop snakes for allowing us passage unscathed through their domain.

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The venom from the hoop snake bite that Seth got on his chin apparently caused Seth to forget significant portions of his road trip. Namely, that he and Adam were only two of the crew that consisted of the following:

* James Juneau
* Dave "Manny" Mitchell (a.k.a. Mancub)
* Shannon
* Travis Burk
* Scott "Switchie" Garlington
* John Weiss
* Cary "Carjack" Jackson

It was also Travis’s birthday on Sunday the 13th. Learning that the man was born on Friday the 13th explains a lot.

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Adam and I coasted home at about midnight last night returning from a monster roadtrip to Amarillo. It was an amazing 3-day experience filled with fullpipe skating, camping, beautiful landscapes, coyotes howling in the night, tent-collapsing winds, menacing hoop snakes, stitches, back pain, swollen ankles, limping, chipped teeth, 72 ounce steaks, fireworks, beer, cool locals, and lots of skating. If I find the time in the next couple of days, I’ll put together a full-blown trip report. For now, though, suffice it to say that Amarillo is hands-down THE skate roadtrip destination in Texas. Here are just a couple of photos I’ve pulled off my camera so far from the trip. More to come soon.

If you’re not so into mortality-testing skate terrain or 8+ hour drives, League City may be more appropriate for your taste. They have a new concrete street park that Carter Dennis shot photos of recently. Looks cool.

Oh yeah, the Travis County parks bond that included a skatepark passed last week. Thanks to all who went out and voted.

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Today is your last chance to vote in support of another public concrete skatepark being built in the greater Austin area. It’s the full-on voting day, so you have to vote in your own precinct. I think you can call 238-8683 for clarification.

Over the weekend I skated Banana Farm with John and lil’ moot. No big whoop. Just warming up for our upcoming 3-day roadtrip to Amarillo. Also went out to cover the KKK rally on Saturday afternoon. My press credentials were rejected by the cops, so I was left to grumble with the crowd of 3,000 who were prevented from getting within 2 blocks of the rally. Here are those photos.

Elsewhere, the Grindline crew led by Eddie that built the bowl at Mabel Davis has just completed a concrete bowl in Tyler. $75k and lots of pool coping. This new offering compliments their pre-existing metal-covered public ramp facility nearby. This brings Grindline to four Texas implementations in one year. Here are some photos Carter Dennis shot of the project under construction. It should be open for skating this Friday. Definite road trip candy.

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