Still trying, every time I'm here some kid frowns at me and ask's how old are you? I just smile and say, old enough.

never quit trying.

Very nice Alvin, keepin the dream alive. My new bike is almost ready. I will give you a ring soon. Woody.

Hey Woody whats up, thanks I saw a really cool video on you tube last night of you doing some freestyle, very cool! What are you building?

so that's what it looks like when you're trying?
feel free to post more pics whenever you feel you're up to your old level again.

seriously ...
you're getting more air than i do.

Thats a very cool looking retro ride , if/when you manage to crush the caged pedals , grab a set of the new school DX pedals , they take a punishment better than the old DX pedals.
If that is you _just_ getting back into it , you obviously haven't lost that 1980's style , feel & lack of fear when casually riding cement. We never rode parks wearing sunnies either bitd , so you score some extra bonus cool points as well.
Keep it up & back the insanity dial off a few clicks so you can keep posting photo's


I could get that much airtime & possibly more in a skatepark now if I wanted to , although the landing would _not_ be very pretty.
I am tempted to try it tho , as the ambulance ride to the hospital & a few weeks on painkillers + the non medicated pain of one on one physical rehab with a female nurse is always enjoyable. Very tempting , &
I'll make sure there are a few video cameras rolling to upload the whole event for you tube or photobucket <heh>

Whilst I ponder my physical future & the possible consequences of re learning how to fly , I'll scan & post a few more photo sequences of Jeff Watson in the Skateboarders Action Now thread...

BTW: The correct reply to the "how old are you" question from young kids is "I'm older than your dad"
It really messes with their heads.

JB

Hey thats funny, the pedals are new redlines they feel/work great, but hurt like hell! when you slip one, this is a small park down the street from where i live, I've been riding again for about eight weeks and its starting to feel good, I rode a little in 2000 and a little in 2003. The problem is most of the local parks have tiny bowls, there are a few places with deeper bowls, I can't wait to get those dialed in. I'll keep posting pictures

That's a great photo! They might be building a skatepark in my town out here too & I hope we can get it to let bikes in too. I'm trying to look into it to see what I can do to make sure that happens. I was skating in a skatepark a couple summers ago that's about 30 miles from my house and one of the kids there told me, "I wish my dad could do that." I wasn't a dad at the time and I remember thinking, great, now I'm an old guy, LOL. Well I am a dad now so someday Vivi can tell her freinds "Yeah, my dad does that stuff." Keep on riding!!!

This skatepark, like most doesnt want bikes inside, but like most that are public and not staffed with employees bikes ride anyway. There are some nice parks around here that are a lot bigger, but are staffed and only let bikes in a few hours a week, which is better than nothing, because some dont let bikes in at all. Some of the kids at this park started calling me the old man. I just say yeh and I'm half blind so stay outa my way, they just laugh, their all really cool.

As far as the new park, if its going to be a city public skatepark, like this one check with city hall maybe a city council member that has sayso on approval, make sure you advise them public parks are paid for by all residents and should be enjoyed by all!

Yeah, it's supposed to be in a park just on the other side of my town. I only heard about it a short time ago but I'm definitely going to be looking into it. I also know there's never really anyone (like workers and such) out in the park where they're planning on putting it other than when they're cutting the grass. So hopefully it'll be something like in your photo up there.

Hey, I just googled it. This is what they're planning on building:

http://www.kendallvilleskatepark.us/



The FAQ section pretty much answered it all. Now I just need to go help it along.

Sweet! That's a cool layout, you'll have a great time in there and it sounds like you'll be able to ride it either way. mornings are best when all the kids are at school,enjoy! let me know how it goes.

This was my favorite skatepark in the early eighties i rode here every week untill i was about 15 skatecity Whittier California 6 big bowls a big freestyle area and some really cool jumps in to a small half pipe

Good stuff. Doesn't look like you have lost any of the style over the years.

Thanks it just doesnt feel as easy as it did back then, but its still a lota fun!

Great old photos! What were you riding back then, looks like a GT maybe? I noticed you still ride black mags! Awesome!!!, I ride mags too. (other than on my Master)

I was on a GT in some of those photos and I also rode a torker(my favorite skatepark frame) and a skyway for a little while, I love tuff wheels too! Everybody asks why I'm still ridding them, I always say because i can, I talk to Eddie Fiola the other day at woodys freestyle show, I hadn't see him in years and he frowned when i told him i built a bike and started ridding again with the new graphites, no likes mags anymore.

Great looking old pix , considering the type of camera that was used to take it. I don't think they made slick auto focus 35mm cameras back in the early 1980's , you had to know how to manually work a 35mm camera back then....which was all too hard for us riders.

Alvin: re caged pedals vs DX , the caged pedals will hold up fine until you get back into a situation like this...



Things obviously didn't quite go the way I had planned here & bailing off my bike ~15 feet in the air was the best option for self preservation at the time. Pedals with an alloy cage's just don't last long in skateparks , Aluminium cages fatigue real quick when you try to bend them back after they have been flattened...
, bailing out mid 1982 , I was 14 at the time.

I still have the DX pedals + the rest of the bike today as a rider , but the old DX pedals started to sound a bit too grindy after 25 years , so I replaced them with the new DX pedals.
The pedal that became a legend in it's own time , still lives on in it's 2nd coming.

JB

LOL! cool picture I think I'll rethink the pedals thanks for the photo and advice, as for the camera im sure it was junk it was my buddy's and he never gave me much time to warm up my photo session lasted 5 minutes or so, his on the other hand took days and i got all the crap if his pictures came out bad. it wasnt really that bad he was very cool and always took me the skatepark.

I think any "happy snaps" camera that took a cartridge instead of a roll of 35mm film in the early 1980's was pretty much a lost cause to use to take any BMX photo's other than stationary ones. Even the they were usually under or over exposed or out of frame....Looking back , the offset viewfinder , lack of any real lense adjustment , unknown focus , fixed shutter speed etc etc it a wonder that people managed to capture any action BMX photo's on a "happy snaps" camera.

But back then if you had the choice between a set of flight cranks or a 35mm camera & a course on how to use it , you would have always picked the cranks.....

I still prefer my 35mm SLR manual Cannon camera over
the more expensive new digital version of it , but for sheer simplicity , versatility & useable features the "happy snaps" Cannon Powershot A450 digital I bought
the other day for AUD$188 is absolutely fantastic , small enough to carry around & conceal , yet not too small to handle & "drive" properly , 15fps video with audio as well , unbelievable features & value for money. Plus it dosen't take 8 Megabyte photo's that need to be cut down for posting on the internet, you can put 350 of the highest quality photos you want onto a 512Meg SD ram card , it's a _very_ useful little
device....wish I had it back in the 1980's , but it wouldn't have been very compatible with the computers back then......Treasure the all the 1980's BMX photo's you have & treat them well.


JB

JB

For sure I have them all, what few i have in a nice album now. I only wish i took alot more back then

Hey Alvin, does Fullerton allow bikes or do you just ride hoping not to get busted? There are a couple of parks in Jurupa and Corona that let bikes ride also. would love to bring some of my friends to Fullerton. Let me now the best times to go? This next weekend will be bad since I will be having a blast in Rockford. You should try and make it, I herd its a great time.

Xavier

Hey Xavier bikes are not suppost to be in the Fullerton park but no one seems to care, Its in the back of the park. The police drive by every time I'm there but just look and keep going, I think you be fine. Lots of kids on weekends and evenings, go early, LMK maybe we can hookup there. As for Rockford I wanted to go, but had no one to go with, maybe next year. See ya

Alvin I have your number, I'll call you in a couple of weeks maybe we could hook up?

Late,

X

Cool!

Love this stuff

That's cool!