No Bikes Tag

26 Jun

Posted at 04:05h in archive, features, home, videos by

Often when I plan out a No Bikes trip it’s centered around visiting a single park, or a few parks that are clustered in the same area. For our trip in 2018, that skatepark that really captured my imagination was the “Thunderpark” in Montana. The park is one of the (now) many Evergreen Skateparks built in the state, and beyond the unique concepts in the park layout, the backstory behind the park was really intriguing. Throughout Montana, skateparks have been built in small towns and on reservations as part of the Montana Pool Service movement with Jeff Ament from the band Pearl Jam as the leading force. In my travels, I’ve always had the best time riding parks in small towns, and these parks look especially good.

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04 May

Posted at 11:36h in archive, features, home, videos by

Alaska was a dream trip that was a decade in the making. Since we started doing No Bikes trips in 2009, the general theme has been to go to interesting places, often out of the way, to ride cool stuff. Although Alaska was always bound to meet the first two criteria, the third is an open question to most people. I know that there is a lot to ride in AK, but others have found that idea to be somewhat unbelievable. After ten years of evolving crews and memorable trips to Washington (twice), Oregon (three times), Montana (twice), Utah, and BC (twice), six of my favorite people came to visit my favorite place. The above video contains nine minutes of highlights from the summer of 2019. Read on for some photos to preview a ‘zine that will come out later this year (for those who like hard copies, and want to know more about Alaska and this trip).

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21 Jul

Posted at 02:38h in archive by

group shot_resized
[Back]: Matt Desson, Aaron Gates, Donald (Dab King) Delp, Cary Lorenz, Delia Millsap, Tony Archibeque Jr., Slade Scherer, Jack Nicholl, Colin Fried, Jordan Thaden, Andy McGrath, Dave Butler, Carl (Pizza King) Arnett, Ty Scott, Tommy Joseph, Mat Ridgeway, [Front]: David Clay, Tony Piff.

Each year, my friends and I pack up a few vehicles and go explore a new part of America. This year, we packed two trucks, two cars and a minivan with 20 people and 19 bikes. The destination was Eastern Oregon, the fourth of July, and the heart of America.

Words – Aaron Gates. Photos – Tony Archibeque Jr. (unless otherwise noted)

READ THE FEATURE

30 Oct

Posted at 21:20h in archive by

Reedsport w Ridgeway

Mat Ridgeway – powerslide in the funnel

Airspeed Skateparks was one of the companies that helped bring us into the modern era of skatepark design. While Grindline and Dreamland were carefully constructing some of the most well known advances in this area, Airspeed was building obscure and outlandish parks in rural Oregon. Although the other two builders were doing exciting things and building parks that flowed well and worked for the majority of skateboarders, Airspeed focused on building obstacles that nobody had ever seen before, often on their own dime and sometimes without the city planners’ knowledge.

Although most of the guys on the trip didn’t know it, this trip through Oregon was mostly designed as a pilgrimmage to Geth Noble and Stephanie Mohler‘s three biggest masterpieces.

Airspeed was birthed out of the Golden Triangle – Medford, Ashland, and Talent, which represented a giant leap for Oregon skateparks. Oregon’s now established skatepark builders were once just a bunch of skaters with a passion for building parks, many volunteering to gain experience.

Airspeed’s parks have been both lauded and criticized, and both sides of the coin have merit. They built things that nobody had ever seen or imagined, but the parks were often centered around those features with less thought and effort spent on other areas. The “street” obstacles at most of these parks are pretty laughable, and the transitions outside of the main bowl at Reedsport are very strange. Faults aside, Airspeed makes my favorite parks.
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