Stop 3: ALBUQUERQUE

On our way out of Phoenix, we swung by the airport to drop off Vince and Taylor, and to pick up Zach Lyons, one of our new additions to the adidas program. A few things about Zach: he weighs about 120 lbs, wears a size 6 shoe, ahem..is a serial killer, and he has to do all his shopping at Baby Gap. But he has a completely original outlook on skateboarding, and it shows every time he steps on a board. Seen his part in "Get Familiar" yet? Do yourself a favor and pick up at least 20 copies, keep one for yourself, and then proceed to distribute to everyone in your life that you care for. You will all thank me for my undeniable wisdom.

Zach locked down shotgun for the rest of the trip so he could yell creepy things to girls on the streets. "Hey you, GET IN THE VAN!!"


We watched hella skate vids on our drive east...


Lot's of scenery to take in...

The Hills Have Eyes..


City Slickers 2: Legend Of Curly's Gold..


One more for the woulda/coulda/shoulda list. "I would have totally feebled it, but..it's just that..my trucks are all.."



When we arrived in Albuquerque, the temperature was about 20 degrees cooler than Phoenix. Everyone was so amped that we grabbed our shred-sleds and pushed down the street in search for any nearby skate spots.


There was a rad obstacle to be skated around pretty much every corner we turned.


Ol' Dirty Sanchez..




Darth Nuggz..


I feel that I've captured the true essence of doubles here, no?


What more could you really ask for? Maybe a solid gold runup with a foam pit landing?


What's the hottest new way to exit a crooked grind? Just grab that shit stale and pull it in dog!




Derek and Jordan found this fun little pit o' banks..


Sketchy bank ollie in the wee hours of the morning by Fukuhontas...


Back to the hotel for yet another dude party...


Award for the harshest head accessory ever definitely went to Mike Derrick..


Hmm, is it too late to switch rooms?



The next morning we met up with local filmer and street ripper Jonathan Nelson to show us around his fair city. With a quick stop at the local Einstein's Bagels, we were ready to get shreddy. The spots we skated were amazing.

Mike D frontside flippin..


Ryan with a wallie backside grind..


This was a relatively massive ditch to relatively massive wall for everyone else, but for Jake it was merely a bank to curb for him to tinker around on.


And then...a river ran through it..


Just like Shaun White, Jordan will cross over into other extreme sport genres whenever he grows bored of skateboarding. "Hey, it's all boarding bro!"


Even though the water came in and ended our fun, it was time for us to head over to the Alamosa skatepark to hang out with all the locs and throw another skate jam. The park is pretty new and was super fun...




The sun went down shortly after we arrived, but the park lights came on and kept the session going for hours.


Pat from Beach Zone went all out with a grand tent set up. I was immediately afraid that he had expected us to roll up with Gonz in the van, but in the end Pat is just one really hospitable dude that's down for skateboarding, no matter how big time you are. Thanks again man!


Chomp on this..


Adidas + skateboarding = happy!


Cheerth Pete!




Jordan was stoked to find that there was a pretty solid Manik fan base out in NM..


Try as he might, Zach just can't look un-creepy..


Beer-grind competition between filmer Andy Froberg and tha Nunnska...


..the winner? You be the judge..




After everyone had been well fed, we grabbed a bunch of shoes, shirts, hoodies, and stickers from the van and had a best trick contest down the 7 stair rail. What better time to skate a rail than when you've just downed 4 hot dogs in the last 10 minutes?

Anywho, dudes were absolutely killing it, and we pretty much showered product down on them. It was pretty hard to pick one single winner, because they were all ripping so hard. Good job fellas, hope you like your new shoes!

After the jam, we made our way back to the hotel for a little shut eye, hoping to get an early start on tomorrow before we had to head north for Denver.


LAST DAY
We got up and out the door at a respectable hour today and met up with young Jon Nelson again. Our hopes were to hit at least a handful of spots before we had to get out on the road. Unfortunately, Jake tweaked his knee pretty bad at the first spot we skated, and then a massive rain storm came in. Indeed, it was a bummer of catastrophic proportions.




And that was our queue, so on to Denver we went..


In summary, Albuquerque was HELLA sick. Great spots, really nice locals, and a true love for skateboarding. Our only regret was that we weren't there for a few more days. A big thanks goes out to Pat, Jonathan Nelson, and the good folks at Beach Zone & 4D's boardshops for all the hospitality!

Stop 2: PHOENIX

Monday, September 10th, 2007

So we rolled into the greater Phoenix area around midnight, and to our surprise it was 97 degrees...yes, at midnight. We hit the hay fearing what it was going to be like the next day when the sun was fully staring down at us...


Yep, and it actually heated up to 112 eventually. New addition to the holy book of tour objectives: do not die.

We made our way over to Cowtown in Tempe to hang out with the owner, Trent. Dude has nothing but love for skateboarding, and the shop was a clear testament to that.


Vince Del Valle everybody. I'm gonna have to give you the cliche "watch out for this kid" line, but I really mean it. This kid is the full monty. He kills both the tranny and the streets so hard it looks like he's in a goddamn video game. Just ridiculous.


Even though it was way too hot to skate for even the most gnar-core of skateboarders, Thrasher photogenius Joe Hammeke met up with us every day to show us the best spots Phoenix has to offer. Thanks Joe!


Derek Fukuhara puts SPF 1 million on before hitting the streets.


Ryan Holloway is a true skate rat from Austin. Born to shred everything that gets in his way. Just look at the fire in his eyes...he's like a real life Rocky Balboa...only he's from Texas...and he isn't Italian...and he's not into the whole boxing thing either, I guess...


Jon Nguyen likes to get his perv on. That is really all you need to know about Jon.


Al Davis is about to put Cinicinnati on the map. Check out his part in the Anonymous Skateshop video, "The Streets Is Talkin", and you'll know what I'm talking about. It's been on constant repeat on this tour so far.


Jordan Sanchez hails from Seattle. Nirvana plays in his brain all day, all night. Oh, and he rips on a skateboard.


Jake Nunn is one of the most underrated skateboarders on the planet. Nuff said.


We went to this gnarly amoeba pool in the middle of the ghetto. Vince Del Valle and Taylor Bingaman shredded it while I daydreamed about it being full of water.


Vince's brain eventually melted and he started to think like an 8 year old boy...


Ditches for days.


This John Motta spot is better than most skateparks. Jake looks down upon Phoenix as he hovers high above via backside 180. Don't mess with Texas.


The next day, we wised up and decided it would be best to hide from the sun for a bit. Best idea ever: go-kart racing!


The shy one? Check. The rebellious one? Check...hmmm...skate team or boy band?


And the pretty-boy would have to be Alex Davies.


Ryan Holloway posted up at the moto-racer game. $20 bucks well spent.


Taylor and Vince tested their skillz out at some air hockey.


Pete Eldridge shows his best game face.


Once the sun had passed over, we headed out to the Tempe skatepark for our first of several skate jams we'd be doing. The park is sick, and everyone was psyched.


OMG! Alex and Jordan are totally like BFF's!


Taylor owned this park. They should really just hand the keys over to him.


Vince front lip up over and all the way down.


Hammeke and local filmer Slugger came out with us every night to light spots up until the sun came up.


After several days of triple digit temperatures and an average of 3 hours sleep a night, it was time to jump in the vans, blast the AC, and head further inland towards Albuquerque, NM.


A big thanks to Joe and Slugger for showing us around, and to Trent at Cowtown for his hospitality.