We had previously set up some time to hang at The Vault Pro Scooter Shop to do interviews and custom builds. Not everyone was involved with these so there was a constant flow of people coming and going with plenty of chilling and scootering to keep everyone preoccupied for the time being.
On the second day at The Vault, we hosted a ride day with a mini competition at Westchester Skate Park. The boys got some clips and did a group scooter check. The team was mainly wanting to ride spots so we warmed up as best we could at this very slick park and hit the streets. We met at a nearby school and pushed around from there.
Dylan found a pretty cool sidewalk gap. We all knew there was something there just by the look and feel of it but we weren’t really sure what. After about 10 minutes, it was determined a wall ride thread the needle jump before the crack and don’t hit the electric box that was in the landing was the best option. There was a lot going on here plus Dylan had to push mach 10 into traffic which is why it was a perfect Dylan trick. Giving it his all, he ended up riding away with a clean fast land, barely dodging the electric box that Chris was standing behind to get the photo.
Further down the road in the opposite direction, Tom and Jona were eying a bump to bar. Getting acclimated with the spot, Tom decided he was going for the bump to bar to board slide. One half assed attempt left him with a quick realization that it was all or nothing for this trick. Coming in fast it looks like he is barely going to get over the bump and then he pulls his scooter a foot over the bar and lands in a leaned back board slide as if he was just riding it out/surfing a wave. He ended up so tweaked on the rail that it looks like he is about to ride it to fakie but he pulls his body back to regular as if he had the skills of a gymnast. Some might say he does.
The school was a fun place to ride with a little something something for everyone. Jona and Christian rode a line of picnic tables and gapped 10 plus feet over a railing into a mellow bank. They were hitting it so fast, it was hard for the camera to keep up. Jon ended up pulling a Downside Whip Noseblunt slide first try on one of the picnic tables. Josh was off getting B-roll for the documentary and come nightfall, Ian was battling a trick. He ended up settling for a BS 180 to fakie nose manual to fakie on that same picnic table.
The next day we were at The Scooter Farm to ride their park, sign body parts/posters and watch the Chema documentary. It was the first time reuniting with a lot of friends since the last scooter event so overall it was good vibes.
SD11 is known to be an all day event so you better be prepared. A good chunk of the dudes woke up early and got the bus cleaned up since we were parking it right at the entrance. Once we got there we set up our booth and started talking with a lot of familiar faces and fans. We were intending on selling some products to make up for all the gas money we have been spending but in the end we gave away a lot of products which put plenty of smiles on peoples faces.
While most of the team was at the event, Issac and Chris were headed to urgent care because this was the 3rd day in a row that Issac was feeling like complete crap. He got hooked up to an IV and ended up spending most of the day in the back of the bus sleeping. There was scare of him developing diabetes but it ended up him just having food poisoning and never fully recovering from it.
After SD11 we dipped to the beach to put our feet in the sand and body surf some waves. If you ever get the chance to go swimming in the ocean with Dylan, do it! His spirit animal is for sure a dolphin. Watching him slap around in the water surfing the waves, he transforms back into a 12 year old having the time of his life.
The next two nights we crashed at the Brillo Pad. If you don’t know about the Brillo Pad, it consist of Zack Martin, Jake Hershey, Jon Devrind, Jon Hamrick and Chloe Abisaleh. Apparently everyone was crashing at the Brillo Pad too. Big shout out to everyone living there, putting up with all types of crap and letting us use your shower or garden hose to clean up. Since there wasn’t much room in the house to sleep and the backyard already had a decent amount of tents up, most of the team slept in the van or just outside of the van in the grass. Christian ended up waking up to a neighbor asking why he was sleeping in his front lawn and he replied, “there wasn’t enough room in the bus” and the neighbor immediately changed his attitude and was fine with it. Some of us ended up making breakfast there too. It was like our own suburban camping spot. It must have been a weird site for everyone that owned houses there. People walking around barefoot and shirtless, someone cooking on a portable stove, doing interviews on the side of the road next to the bus.
There was a party both nights when we stayed there which is great when you want to hang with all your pals but it makes for an interesting sleeping situation but luckily most of us aren’t light sleepers and can fall asleep anywhere. Perhaps like one young lad that fell asleep in the piss corner the entire night. It was sort of fun to crawl out of our tent to discover what damage had been done to the backyard now that the sun had risen.
The day of the street jam was chaos. There were so many people blocking traffic and buying tickets to a train they didn’t need. The first spot was a mellow bump over some dirt landing in the next parking lot over. Some people got there early to warm up. As the crowd came in, the madness begun. Literally a train of people pushed full speed at the gap and when one person fell, 5 people fell. It was almost like the running of the bulls.
We left that spot to go just up the road but we got kicked out before anyone could ride. As we were leaving, the cops were on to us and Tanner ran over Sam with a car which really escalated things for the cops. We crossed the train tracks where kids almost got ran over due to an oncoming train and the cops followed us to the next spot. We rode for maybe 15 minutes and then they broke it up.
As we cleaned up while the cops were watching us, we tried to decide where to go. A lot of suggestions were being thrown out but they were getting shut down almost immediately. We decided to go back to the meet up spot and throw out prizes. A lot of us just sat around and tried to ride random things to keep us preoccupied. Eventually a plan was made and we were headed to a massive stair set.
Getting there before the crowd, watching the first few people get in the mindset to huck themselves down a 22 stair was definitely exhilarating. A few started committing and sticking it. The crowd eventually filled in and it was clear that a lot of money was going to be given out at this final spot.
The sesh lasted close to 30 minutes and came to an abrupt end when Brenton shattered his knee cap. He tried to straighten his leg and it was locked. You could tell for those 2 seconds of uncertainty that he had know idea how bad it was. He laid back and accepted his fate as he circled his hand in the air telling everyone lets wrap it up. It still leaves us an uneasy feeling in our stomach to see the photos and talk about it. Turns out the homie was back at it in less than a couple of months throwing the same trick down a similar size gap.
After the street jam, we hung around trying to figure out what to do and snapping photos of most of the people on the bus. We decided to just head up north to LA to stay at Tyler's. First we had to grab some grub and make a stop or two along the way.
We pulled over at a Carl’s Jr to hit the bathroom. As we were walking in, we cracked jokes about hitting the rail. Then Jon started to really look at it. Something about that rail pulled him in and told him to hit it. As we were getting the camera and scooter out, we noticed some dudes that were at the street jam. The chances of seeing them was pretty slim, miles away from the jam but it was sick so we had to snap a photo. They ended up staying and watching Jon land a boardslide.
The boardslide wasn’t enough for Jon so he threw a heel whip out of it. After he landed that, he still wanted more so he board liped the rail. We think Jon knew he was going to be in a bus for 3 hours so he kept trying to prolong the inevitable which we were okay with.
It's always nice being in the Wheeland household- plenty of space, hot tub, plus momma Debbie hooked it up with some great chili. We spent probably two hours unloading the bus in the dark, consolidating our items and deep cleaning as best we could. After we finally finished, we got some beers and chilled out with some quality bro time, mentally preparing for the drive up to Tehachapi the next morning.