Alpine Skate Shop Hosts Wakefield Competition in Annandale, VA.

For all of you U.S. rollers on the East Coast, I’ve got something for you!
Alpine Skate Shop (Sterling, VA) has announced The Wakefield Competition at the Wakefield Skatepark (8100 Braddock Road, Annandale, VA. [Click Here For Map]; 703-321-7081) in Fairfax County.

The comp is scheduled for the morning of June 11th, starting at around 11 a.m., and entry is only $10!

Helmets are required for all skaters and full pads are required for those under the age of 18.

For more information (and pictures) of the park, visit the Wakefield Skatepark website.
Skate Sessions will keep you updated as news of this event surfaces.

Create Originals Catalog + Q&A with OWNERS and RIDERS

Brian and the guys over at Create Originals are on the grind (pun intended) for 100% customer satisfaction, and they are tackling the subject first hand.

The CO guys are on the Be-Mag message boards answering any and all questions that you have about the company, it's products, and it's riders.

Get into the conversation here.

Creates has also just released it's new catalog, featuring all the new styles of clothes and hardware. Support this skater owned and operated company by checking out their new line and rocking their gear in your area.

2011 Spring/Summer Create Originals Catalog

JBWonton05 Review: USD Backpack

Here is the first installment of reviews from a friend of Skate Sessions out on the West Coast, Justin Winton (Wonton on AMall).

In this segment, he is checking out the USD backpack.

Enjoy and look out for more from Justin (JBWonton05 on YouTube) and Intuition Skateshop here at Skate Sessions.

Set-Up of the Month: Nate Snow

Since I've been seeing so many awesome custom skates out there recently, I've decided to start this new section of the blog.

Here we will bring you a new, creative set-up every month for you to drool over and try to copy for yourself.

To start this off I am presenting you with my skates. I am currently rolling Rollerblade TRS Point-8's that have been modified with USD cuffs. I went with Ground Control Formula 1 frames, Senate Santiago Azpurua Liberty Spike Core Wheels and Blood Anti-rockers.

I am loving this set-up and need to say thanks to all the legit members on AMall for selling me everything but the wheels to create this sweet ride.

Do you want to see your boots posted here on Skate Sessions. Contact us with an image and your specs and it could be our next Set-Up of the Month.

Skater's Edge Edit on YouTube

Winter lasts forever up here in the North East. So i finally had to make a trip down to the South Shore of Mass for a sesssion at Skater's Edge in Taunton.

My boys Dave, Justin and Kevin met me there and we had a solid old school indoor sesh.

This is the edit. Enjoy.

Recon Mission: Downtown Salem

Like I mentioned in Park Profiles: Salem MA, this city is my home (or was for 26 years of my life). That being said, I have had a lot of time to find different street spots worth skating. I have found so many that I have decided to break them into a few Recon Missions posts, so there isn’t too much info at once.
Downtown Salem is old. It dates back to the early 1600’s and it still has streets built of brick and cobblestone. This is not very conducive to booting, but practice makes all possible.

The first spot I want to highlight is the Brick Gap, on Central Street. This 9-set is classic Salem; a brick launch into a blind brick and cobblestone landing. This is the first gap I ever aired and is still my favorite to this day.

Make sure the coast is clear before jumping though because tourists tend to walk into your landing quite often, which can be very dangerous.


Three more gaps are right around the corner near The Old Town Hall. The 9-set in the alleyway is fun, but it doesn’t have much of a landing spot.

The stairs in front of the lawyers office are a nice small gap, and taking a line over either of the walls makes this gap more challenging.

Back in the alley, the wall-to-wall drop gap is a creative, yet dangerous trick that is great for video shots.

Downtown isn’t all about gaps, though. What is known as The Old People Rail on Ash Street is the perfect height handicap rail along the sidewalk. Its downhill slope makes long grinds and switch-ups easy to achieve here.

Two more great rail spots are at the Visitor’s Center. The small green rails at the center’s main entrance are nice for quick tricks.

The Bell Monument possesses a thin round rail that is great for grinds but I was once told that this was a National Monument, making it a federal offense to “deface” it with my skates, so skate at your own risk.

These are my favorite spots in Downtown Salem but if you are ever in the Witch City keep your eyes open and I’m sure you will find awesome street spots of your own.

Product Review: Remz OS4 (by Brendan Kelly)

In my quest to find the right skate that is both comfortable and functional for me, my Remz OS4's came in today. I first ordered Razor Genesys 7.3's, which most of you know. My main issue with the Genesys's is that they are a hardboot, and too stiff for me, coming from K2's back in the day. Of course I didn't think about that when I ordered them, but as soon as I put them on, I knew they weren't going to be ideal for me at this time. Since I skated them for a couple of weeks, I could not return them, so they are currently for sale on the AMall forums, as well as my local Craigslist. So next I decided to try Remz OS4's. On to the review.

I ordered mine custom from Amall, boot only, size 11. I got them all black, with Trust Catalyst liners, also size 11. Separately, from another site, I ordered Kizer Slimline frames, Crap bearings, and UC wheels. After assembling the frames and putting them on the boot, I took the paper out of the boot and loosened the straps and laces in the liner. I slid my foot in and tightened everything. The first thing I noticed was that they were extremely tight across the top of my foot, where the strap closest to my toes is. They were also extremely tight on the sides of my feet in that same spot. I loosened said strap and the liner laces toward my toes, which relieved the pressure on the top of my foot, but they sides were still extremely tight. I also noticed there was a sharp pressure point under the pad of my foot. I took them off and removed the liner. Instead of using the bolts that came with the Slimline frames, I used the bolts that were screwed into the bottom of the boot out of the box. The tip of the front bolt was sticking up around half an inch into the inside of the boot. I removed the bolts that were in the boot, and used the bolts that came with the frames, which remedied that problem. I know that Trust liners are supposed to be broken in to be comfortable, but the tightness I was feeling was beyond a break in. To try and find another solution, I put in my Genesys liners, which aren't as thick as the Trust liners and are already broken in. It wasn't AS tight, but it was still excruciating. I also tried 3 different pairs of socks that are different thicknesses, the pressure remained.

 

Here is the shock absorber. It is pretty thin, compared to my Gens, and I could feel pain just from stomping on solid ground while standing still. These could have been replaced with a thicker pad though. The shock absorber is taped down as well, it sticks on rather than locking into a groove as the Gens do. There is also no insole of any kind, the only padding came from the bottom of the liner, which have extra insole inside as some liners I've seen do. Regardless, as tight as they already I wouldn't have been able to use an insole.

This is the frame bolt coming up on the inside of the boot. These black bolts came screwed into the bottom of the boot out of the box. As I said, replacing these with the bolts that came with the separate frames fixed this, but I ordered these and if I needed to use these frame bolts, they would have been no good. At least with the Kizer Slimlines. (It is also worthy to note that my friend who skates Aragon 4's had this exact same issue. He ended up cutting off the excess bolt, and Razor also sent him a hard plastic insert as well as thicker insoles than the ones that came in stock Jug Aragon liners)

My last issue has to do with the strap closest to the toes. This area is the painful one, and reason I can't wear these. Something else though, besides the comfort issue, is the angling of this strap. It is not fastened at an angle, which makes it slide toward one side of the metal rung. Eventually it would have been bunched up on one side of that rung and created additional pressure there, had of been fastened with the angle of the strap it would be more flush and secure.

I also had a friend who skates Aragon 4's try them on. I tried his Aragon's on, and they were very tight for me, but fit him comfortably. His feet are slightly narrower and smaller than mine, though we both wear the same size skate. He tried my OS4's with the Trust liners, my Gen liners, and his Aragon liners, all with the same result, they were to tight for him as well. If it wasn't for the tightness in that one area, they would be great. I love the feel other than that one point. So unfortunately I will be sending these back. I love how they look, I think they are sick visually, but we all know that isn't what matters. My next step is most likely going to be Carbon 2's, Valo AB's, or Xsjado's. A half hard shell, which is what drew me to the OS4's, that you can heat mold, sounds ideal. I am keeping the frames, wheels and bearings, since they did not come with the skate's, and buy the next skate boot only.

This Little Girl Throws Down!!

So I was checking out the new postings on Aggressive.com today and I came across this link "360soul360"...
Now I am a fan of spin in-spin out tricks so I figured I'd give it a watch. What I saw there totally blew me away.
This girl, who lives in Thailand, is only 8 years old and she is throwing some serious tricks for someone of any age.
You have to watch out this video, posted by IQKamonluck on Aggressive.com.


Find more videos like this on Aggressive.com - Inline Skating

Stefan Horngacher Edit on RedBull.com

Red Bull sponsors a bunch of extreme sports pros, but this edit of rollerblader Stefan Horngacher is off the hook. Not only is he going 100 miles an hour the whole time, but he's throwing some of the most creative tricks/lines that I have seen in a video since Mindgame stopped making films.

Gap through a huge abstract-art structure... Three grinds around an angled loading dock ledge... and not to mention Soul to backflip...

You have to check out this video. Enjoy.

Learning Alley-Oop Grinds... the edit.

So I just started throwing Alley-Oop tricks, after all of these years skating, and I think I got the AO-soul dialed pretty good.

Here is a one-minute clip of me showing off my new trick. Enjoy.

Create Originals owner Hakeem Jimoh Appreciation Post (by Brian Lewis)

Ok so here is the deal. We went skating the other day and I was trying out some new flash rig that I made. I got this cool shot of Hakeem doing a switch backside backslide and I wanted to share it with you all. Then I started thinking about how lucky I am to have such great partners as Billy and Hakeem. Obviously, you all know lots about Billy. I am not so sure you guys are to up on the deal with Hakeem. So I thought I would create this thread and fill you in a bit on some interesting facts about Hakeem. He has done so much it is a little hard to start so I'm gonna just dive in....

I think a great place to start is with Chris Edwards and Arlo. Hakeem skated for both Chris Edwards Birth Clothing and Arlo's Super Computer Robot (short lived as it may have been). That means that he is possibly the only guy to ever skate for both of them. Any one know if anyone else did?

He toured with Edwards for the Birth and D-Tour for about 2 years. Don Bambrick once told me that he actually got to see Hakeem skate on tour when Don was 11 years old and he still remembers watching him shred.

He instructed at Woodward for a few summers having many students go on to be industry people like Adam Kilgore and Dre Powell to name a few.

He put out 5 videos through Nature Skate Video.

He and I bought a skatepark and lived under one of the ramps for 8 months. Best time ever.

He toured for 5 years doing vert and box jump demos with Maximum Velocity stunt team.

Now he has put everything he has both time and money wise into Create Originals.

So yeah he is a pretty crazy dude super devoted. 33 Years old and still killing it. There is so much more but I'm not gonna go on for ever. Enjoy the photo and I am posting an edit of him from the Maximum Velocity video. Enjoy!


MVST Hakeem Jimoh Inline from Penqua on Vimeo.

-Brian Lewis
http://www.createoriginals.com/

Downloads of the Month: May

It's time for a fresh batch of downloads from your friends at Skate Sessions.

The winner of our first readers choice poll was none other than the Disney made-for-TV flick Brink! (1998). It is available for download in AVI, M4V, and MP4 formats as well as a link to my TPB account where you can download the lot.

Andy "Brink" Brinker and his in-line skating friends, who call themselves "Soul-Skaters" (meaning they skate for the fun of it, and not the money), clash with a group of sponsored skaters - Team X-Bladz. When Brink discovers his family is in financial trouble, he decides to go over to the dark side of skating and joins Team X-Bladz for 200 dollars a week. His friends, who don't know about Brink's situation, begin thinking of him as a sell-out. For a short while they will not even talk to him.
But, after Brink begins a job at a dog grooming shop named "Pup 'N Suds" he gets an advance in his paycheck enough to sponsor himself and his friends in a local competition under the name "Team Pup 'N Suds". Up until the competition day, his fellow teammates know nothing of his plan. On the day of the competition Brink reveals that he wants to sponsor his friends. They overcome their differences and realize that the only way to skate is with the help of Brink.

So, as friends once-again, they compete in the competition. At the end of the competition, it comes down to Brink and his rival, and former captain of X-Bladz, Val. Although Brink tries to skate fair, Val uses all of his dirty tricks to secure the win. However, these tricks do not work and Brink wins the race, and the competition.

Immediately after the race, Val is fired from X-Bladz. The owner of the team offers Brink the captain position of the team. But, being the great friend and team player he is, he decides to stick with his friends and remain a Soul-Skater.

We are also throwing in a bonus download this month, to go along with our featured contributor Brian Lewis of Create Originals post about his friend and business partner Hakeem Jimoh. We will be adding the Nature Skate Video - One - to the downloads list. The video also features the third head in CO, Billy O'Neill.

One covers all five boroughs (Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island) and also features sections on Boschi Pope, Austin Paz, Rafael Herrera, Ramelle Knight, Tom Lipani, Billy O’Neill, Alex Nunez, Paul Cortez, Keith Morris, Franco Cammayo, Justin Brasco, and Dustin Halleran. The video also covers the first IMYTA New York competition.

The video will be available in AVI, M4V, and MP4 formats, a TPB batch download, and we are also embedding the Vimeo video right here for instant gratification. We are all about taking care of your needs here at Skate Sessions.

Nature Skate Video - New York City ONE from The Blading Renaissance on Vimeo.

In non-skating related product, we are bringing you some of the hottest underground hip-hop talent Boston has to offer with :
Three 4 Da Stripes - Sonz of Boston
The Wreck Shop Mixtape
Tragic Allies Mixtape
and Purpose (from Tragic Allies)

Also. just because we don't think we've given you enough already this month, we're throwing in the YouTube Downloader 2.7.2 as well. This awesome program allows you to rip videos directly from video sharing sites with a few clicks of your mouse.

We hope you are enjoying all of these free offerings from the team here at Skate Sessions. Enjoy, and if you do leech from TPB please seed to a ratio of 1:1 so everyone can have the opportunity to get their hands on these videos and albums.