Air over the stairs at RDS

Air over the stairs at RDS, June 2006. Built by Colin McKay & his dad, and Rob "sluggo" Boyce, this park has nice bowls and an awesome vert ramp. All the guys who work there are super cool and have been so good to me. Thank you to Anthony for teaching me the basics of b/s airs, and to Miwa for the encouragement. Many thanks, too, to Colin for letting me skate with you, and to Jake for the grip advice, and to Pierre-Luc for the advice and encouragement...since that weekend I'm landing my airs more consistently. So many vert tricks, so little time....

August, 2005: Clowning with my friend Mitchie (L), Bucky, and Mitchie's live wire sister Nicole, who always knows how to light up a moment. Bucky had just won the vert skateboarding competition at the 2005 Vans Invitational, which is the Portland, Oregon, stop of the Dew Action Sports Tour. You don't want to know what Colie was trying to do with her finger. Luckily, Bucky has daughters and a good sense of humor.

The Skatebarn West "Anklebiter" team, for skaters 10 & under. That's me in the white helmet (back center) Thank you SO much, Jill, for supporting me and for putting your heart & soul into this great park! It's the best in all of Seattle because of you.

Hitting a late-grab backside air during practice on Weds on the Dew ramp in Louisville. I also landed b/s air off the extension. The Dew ramp is pretty sweet, with a mellower tranny than RDS.

Dad likes this shot. I say it's boring.

Thursday morning started pretty early for us since we did a couple morning shows for TV and radio. Our vert grom crew posed here with Caton, from WAVE3, the local NBC affiliate. We took pretty good care of her. Thanks Caton!

The best part of the Louisville trip was getting to skate the Dew ramp. The second best part was being able to hang with cool vert pros like Andy Macdonald, who is one great guy. On Friday, Andy stuck around after the pro practice ended to skate with us. He supplied some helpful tips and skated doubles with us. This was the tail end of the "make a funny face" photo. My face was stuck this way for at least 15 minutes and the emergency medical technicians had to be called in. OK, I'm kidding, it was really only 10 minutes and it went back to normal after the med techs used a defibrillator on my head. Really. Would I kid you?

This sequence shows the 50-50 that I landed right at the end of Saturday's practice in Denver. I had only just gotten this once up at RDS, the weekend before we left. I managed to land it during Saturday's demo in Denver, too, which was so cool. Thanks, Bucky & PLG, for the tips & support! Here's a short WMV clip of me landing it in Saturday's demo. The 50-50 is right at very start. Thanks to Steve Krouth for shooting this!

Right after hitting the 50-50 in practice, I did a little in-your-face b/s air for dad.

Another angle on a b/s air off the opposite wall in Denver.

On the Dew Tour skate park course in Denver, early in the morning, with my peeps. The tough thing about doing the morning shows is that you have to get up really early, but it's worth it.

With one of my heroes, Steve Caballero, after the San Jose Dew Tour finals on September 10. I thought it was super-nice of Steve to wear a special T-shirt just for me (JK).

Managed to dial in kickflips a couple months ago but heelflips have been bustin' my chops. Today (9/23) was the first day I was able to land four or five during a couple hours of trying. Still a bit sketchy but it feels much, much better now. Wonder how long it took Bucky to get f/s heel flip gay twists...hmmmmmmmm. :)

A little fun with Pierre-Luc, Tas, and Jake in athlete medical after it was all over in Orlando. I'm standing primo on my board to keep up with the Big Dogs. I'll keep stompin' it 'til I get it, Tas. Hope you're right about the chicks (you should know).

More recent work. Since the Tour ended in October, I have a bunch of new tricks like this gay twist, aka fakie mute 360, and lots more. Photograph by my vert friend, Dan Hughes. Thanks, Dan!!

My friends and I with our two most favorite people on the Tour.