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AoS-Fest IV : Paradise in the Desert |
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Day 2: Friday December 8th - East Phoenix Tour |
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Chandler Skate Park |
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| We navigated down Gilbert Road and over on Ocotillo to South Bashas and finally to the Chandler skatepark. We rolled up around 10:30 am. There was only one other person at the park. We got out, took a quick restroom pit stop and headed into the park. Everyone was giddy with excitement upon seeing the massive street course and two bowls. We all split off and got to skating. The larger, U-Bowl was quite a test. Finding the lines in that thing was a chore. Nothing came easy in that bowl….you worked for it. We rode it a bit and then moved to the smaller, odd shaped bowl. I don’t know how to explain that one. It had a shallower square-ish end that rolled into a round bowl. The weird part is the shallow drops to the bowl down a short waterfall that is maybe a foot high if that. The waterfall seems almost useless with no purpose other than being a speed bump. If you caught that thing going from deep to shallow, it would stop you in your tracks! Not sure why they put that in the design. It gave us all a good laugh if nothing else. It was while skating that bowl that we met the other skater at the park and made introductions all around. His name is Matt "Westside Matt" Lohr. Turns out that Matt is one of the AZPX guys, and we talked about the plan to meet up with Rob Locker (owner of AZPX) and crew. Between rest breaks in skating, Matt was kind enough to give information about all the various parks and share some great skating stories. Matt was coming off a broken foot injury and just getting back to skating. You wouldn’t know it though. He was showing us some nice lines around the park. I was just starting to get the hang of the goofy little bowl when I suddenly got overheated and coughing and puked next to the bowl. Although the first, this would not be the last time. I had been sick since Thursday a week ago with some kind of cold and congestion, and I guess my body was reminding me that I was not 100%. I had been (and would continue to be through the next several days) very congested and with my sinuses all stuffed up, my balance was for shit (pardon my French). I was doing good to be skating at all, but I was determined to have some fun and partake in this AoS-fest with my friends. So anyways, I puked and decided to take a break and snap pictures. Soon, the whole group moved back over to the U-bowl to try it out again. Our guys were finally getting the hang of it. Kerry and Jay were frontside grinding the big vert face wall. Patrick was speeding around the whole bowl. Butch was getting backside double-truckers around the corner. Kerry topped it off with some frontside airs out on the big wall. Even Barry was finding his own lines. We were all stoked for each other! Staying on schedule, it was time to move on and take a break for lunch. We told Matt good-bye. Matt is good friends with Wrex Cook, so he said he would talk to Wrex about meeting up with us maybe in Peoria tomorrow. Cool! Wrex is a ripper, and one of the nicest people you will meet. We looked forward to that. Before we left, Kerry and Butch had an impromptu handstand contest. Both rode handstands across the entire street course! Those crazy old schoolers. (haha) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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