Kalamazoo Downhill Longboarding

 These guys came and raged some primo spots in Kalamazoo.  The area with the woods path also holds a ton of ski lines...shhhhhh....don't tell anyone.

The video was posted on silverfish- i stole it and put it up here.

Kalamazoo looses a great ski hill

 Here in the south west of the Mitten our hills are small and often covered with trees and or brush. So when there is a hill that is open, and kept free of brush by a local college and it is 5 minutes from your front door- a love affair begins.  During winter storms your sneaking out to ski that hill alone or with friends.  small, steep and cheap. A friend of sledders, Midwest bound snowboarders, and the place where i unlocked how to turn- all lost under the excavator and Kalamazoo College's new development


This commercial for the Mt. Bohemia Experience brought a smile to my face though.

Still no snow here- which is fine. Sunny warm Octobers are always welcome.

Glen Dale Mini Half.

old guys at upjohn park

nothing like a finger in front of the camera lens to make a great video.
The price of radness is paid at the end of this little video. 

pics from hanging out in the Ann Arbor Area

few

Fly Fishing the Huron

Vintage Skate board. Chicago Trucks, clay wheels

The Earthwing and the old.

learned to drop in and Coleman slide.

Good Day. After riding the Honda CB450 out to Glendale I figured out how to drop in. I am unsure if i will be able to translate that to stuff that is much bigger, but it seems that i should be able to. The rector of this blessed temple of the church of skating is Todd. Below are some pics of him caressing the alter.

And then....I learned to drop in.Below is some video of it, and frankly it is pretty lame. That said, while skating it, it felt completely rad. 

And then....i went home and finished up my DIY slide gloves. They are as simple as could be. I hope that my wife likes the new cutting board..because i just cut up the old one to make these beauties. To qualify as fun til death,  there has to be some element of danger. This quality and events in which this element comes to life is called " the price of radness."   The Cost of learning to Coleman slide was significantly higher than dropping in.  Thankfully i was learning on smooth pavement and only got burns rather than cheeze grater.
Also managed to rip the butt out of my pants.
Below is my knee. Similar marks on both elbows too. 

A brief typology of Fun til Death

Typology of Fun til death.
we are often asked- what is Fun Til Death?


 Fun til death- Neil Young captured it best when he said " it is better to burn out than it is to rust."    I might burn out my knees, or my wrists, or my back. But I did it having fun. Fun til death is every day trying to find a Walden Pond where you can suck the marrow out of life. Even if at your Walden you are mostly watching your bean patch grow, takes a lot of work to get it growing. . Even if you live in a relative paradise like Boulder,CO  real fun takes a real decision to get off your ass, and that can be real work and real work takes it out of you. All that sucking the marrow sooner or later is going to kill you.  You are going to die...if the fun doesn't get you, something else will. Call it fatalistic, we call it Fun Til Death

 Fun til immediate death : Easily combined with a number of other types of FTD ( See: FTD resulting in glory) Encompases anything that is fun...but might also kill you real fast. example:  Tight roping over Niagra Falls,  

 Fun til prolonged suffering resulting in death: Untreated venereal disease for example.


 Fun til death by family or friend or spouse: Its all fun and games until you really piss some one off.

fun til death resulting in glory:  Your epic adventures go down in history. your soul ascends and spends eternity with a thousand party demons.

fun til death resulting in ridicule: Stupidity and boldness live close together.  If you die due to fun, there will be some that will question your decision. You may even be the butt of a joke or two.

Upjohn Skatepark : frontside practice

OOOF! The price of radness is paid.

The Set up

The Bail

 All taken with the timed shutter of my cell phone camera so the scenes captured are kinda random. Unfortunately I didn't catch a single successful frontside carve or....attempt at frontside slasher grinds. 

For those of you who are interested:  Limited Edition Fun Til Death stickers are available.  Send me your address and i will mail out a few. Excellent addition to helmets, skis, poles, skateboards, etc.