Hopshop grom Kelly Carter has put together a video review on the Venom Tweakers.

Words and photos by Gabe

On the last weekend of July, riders from all over North America made the journey to Summerland, BC. All of them ready to rip down one of the most technical, tight and slippery roads Canada has to offer at the annual, three day long event. The Giants Head Freeride.

Giants Head is one of the most unique roads I have had the pleasure of skating. The combination of the 15 epic corners, the width of the road and how ridiculously slippery the surface is makes for one crazy ride.

The mountain is actually an extinct volcano, meaning the rock they used to make the road was sourced from the mountain itself. One thing volcanic road will do is EAT YOUR WHEELS! It was easy to destroy a set of wheels [even two!] in a day of skating there, especially holding out big standup slides into all the corners.

Myself, Dillon Stephens and Matt K had driven out to Summerland a week earlier to get some shredding done before the event. We skated the mountain all day, every day for a solid week before the event which was incredible. We were lucky to stay at Dillon’s dads house which is a 5 minute drive to the hill. Each morning we would wake up, eat some Cheerio’s, fill our water bottles and head out for another day of shredding the epic road. By the time the week was up we were ripping
down the mountain without putting a hand down, standup the whole way.

On the last day of out pre-event shredding. Andrew Monaghan, the event organizer, came up to set up the course for the event. We spend a day helping put up safety nets and hay bales on every corner so rider’s wouldn’t fall off the mountain, and helped design and build the wallride and gnarly, banked, wooden shortcut which finished with a 30 foot dirtride to a launch ramp back on to the road… crazy shit.

Zak Maytum getting stoked on building the shortcut to dirtride to launchramp

The first day of the event was awesome. We rolled in and signed our waivers and were given out sweet Giants Head Freeride singlets and offered a free set of wheels!

Andrew had hooked up a big box of wheels from each sponsor. Sector 9, Landyachtz, Venom and Nersh all threw down a big box of wheels each for riders to thrash during the weekend.

The deal was; everyone was given one set to start, if you brought that set back CORED. You received a brand new set of wheels to kill. This was awesome for the riders without sponsors, they didn’t have to worry about being conservative with wheels. The quicker you core them, the quicker you get a new set to kill!

There was also a little leaflet handed out to all the riders asking them to rate what they think is the best freeride wheel, market research at its best!

The Spine Crusher was back in action this year

On the second day riders were getting more comfortable on the hill, it was scary watching the amount of people absolutely ripping the hill up. So many riders throwing down fast standup slides into the corners, looking smooth and steezy and having an awesome time. The level of riding has blown up in the last year, so many riders ripping down the hill with ease, flowing through the corners like they had been skating the hill for years. Beware the ridiculously steezy groms, THEY ARE COMING!

Team Norcal getting steezy through the last hairpin

Towards the end of the second day I decided to put some fresh wheels on and try to take the hill full race style, hands down, gripping tight lines. Something you usually cannot do on Giants Head due to the tightness of the road and risk of coming face to face with a car (which take up the entire road). The hill was such a different road when going full tuck into all the corners. It was scary tucking down the steepest section of the hill, hauling through tight hairpins one after another.

The road is a very different beast when riding it race-style, it was rad to have a chance to skate it like that.

On the third day we had freeriding until 1 in the afternoon, then it was race time.

The race is held on the last 5 corners, also known as the Showtime Five, due to the top section being just a bit too tight and dangerous to run a race down. It was funny watching people adjusting from flowing standups down the mountain to having to race it tight and fast. Some people were still keeping their hands off the ground in race heats, so stoked on the past two and a half days of freeriding that they didn’t care about racing enough to even swap their wheels to
fresh ones.

I had an easy first round in the race and made it through to the next heat where I was racing no-one other than my team manager, Louis Pilloni. Off the push i had  first place and held it into the first left hairpin where i blew it majorly, didn’t check enough speed into the corner and scrubbed out off the road on the exit, fun times!

The finals were run from further up the hill, including another 3 hairpins in the race. Dillon, Louis an Riley Harris from Calgary battled it out in the finals. Louis had first off the line but crashed further down the track, he managed to get up and push back into 2nd place but Dillon had too much of a lead on him and took 1st.

It was awesome seeing people getting eliminated in races and really not giving a fuck. Everyone was so stoked on the event and shredding with their bro’s that the race really didn’t matter. There were only a couple of crashes and everyone raced nice and clean. Finally an event without the stupid, competitive racing that has been happening lately. Watching riders race dirty and take each other out really turns me off the sport. People forget what its all really about, HAVING FUN!

Norcal shredder Byron Essert enjoying the pure stoke of Giants Head

A huge thanks to Andrew and the crew for putting on what I would say is the best event of the season, I have never seen so much stoke in one place at once, it was amazing to watch people progressing so much in just a few of days and having the time of their life at the same time.

Andrew Monaghan, the man behind the best event of the year, securing one of the safety nets.

If you love getting stoked and skateboarding, YOU WILL BE THERE NEXT YEAR!!!

Video from GiantsHeadFreeride Youtube Channel

Skatedivona edit

Hop’s note: These are a series of emails I exchanged with Gabe last week, I’ve put them together, cause they tell a story, and a window into the life of a traveling longboarder.

Hop: Gabe, where are you at the moment?

Gabe: Currently staying at Zak Maytum’s warehouse/minramp/house in Boulder, Colorado. Buffalo Bill is this Saturday and Sunday and tomorrow the locals are going to show us some of their rad hills. I’ll write you a blog on what the terrain is like around here, looks like there’s some crazy shit!

Hop: Zak’s warehouse/mini ramp WTF? What’s Zak’s house like?

Gabe: When everyone wakes up I’ll open up the huge roller door and get some light in to take a picture, its pretty ghetto but serves its purpose extremely well, you’ll see what I mean
Also, Marcus Bandy did an interview with me while we were on the Maryhill Freeride trip. Check it out
Hop’s note: interview is very funny, everyone should click on the link just to see the awesome photos, I’m not going to put them on here.

Oh and in case you missed it, Louis made a learning curve video from when I got taken out by some kook bombing on a freeride run

Hop: Did you go out skating, where’s the photo?

Gabe: Due to the amount of beer drunk last night through Zak’s beer bongs. Excalibur and the Electric Wizard [which he made using a fuel pump, a skateboard, two trucks, three wheels and a tube]. We did not get any skating done today.
However, I got a pretty rad shot of the minramp/garage. James moved halfway through the panorama shot so he kind of looks like an alien but its still a cool shot.
I’m off to grab some chow and get some sleep for tomorrow, Peace.

CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO ENLARGE (it opens in a new window, if nothing happens look at your browser toolbar and select allow pop ups from this website)

We all live in fear of a zombie outbreak. So you need to be prepared, it could happen on a street near you.

At Hopkin Racing, because we care, we have prepared the 7 ways a longboard could help you survive a zombie outbreak.

1. Longboards dont break easily, which means they make a great zombie crushing bat. Remember, never let go of your longboard when you swing at a zombie, it’s the number one rule.

2. Landyachtz Zombie wheels, we all know they are made from the undead and recycling is feared by every zombie. Show them your zombie wheels, let them know you mean business, and what could happen to them if they mess with you.

3. Zombies are not fast, and usually not organised. So out on street or on the footpath you’ll find good space between zombies. Your bushings will be your secret weapon. A bushing with lots of urethane, to help with a deep carve could be the difference between you and the undead. We recommend Venom bushings.

4. Dont be a zombie, no robot moves, loosen up, put a bit of style in your skating. This will help you react to zombies going for you, also help you pull off moves to avoid them. Bend your knees, loosen up the shoulders, move your feet around, dont get glued to that deck, it is the quickest way to join the undead.

5. Freeriding is your friend in a zombie outbreak. Those corner sessions, and slides you have been pulling off will be an important defense. If a wall of zombies is heading up the hill to get you, the only way out is through them. This is when pulling out a pendy or a toeside powerslide can knock the zombies off their feet.

6. If you are not skating fast enough to slide through, then the only other way is to go over them. Zombies are perfect objects to step trick over. They are slow, ridged and easy to get a foothold on. Every zombie is different, so every move could help, practice them all, especially flat topping, and any flip trick.

7. The best way to escape zombies is speed, they are slow, you need to be faster. Bombing a hill or general downhill skateboarding is the way to go. You need to work on your tuck.  A better tuck means faster speed and it is a smaller object for a zombies to grab.

REMEMBER, always wear a helmet and safety gear when practicing on your longboard for a zombie outbreak. We are serious, longboards are speed machines, they are not a skatepark toy.

We hear this question a lot, and when we found this video on Youtube, with the questions and answers, thought we should post it up.

Video is by Dustin Hampton. The skater in the blue is Pete Eubank. Both Dustin and Pete are skating on Paris 180 trucks. The bushings in their trucks are standard Paris bushings but double barrel. That is, a barrel at the top and bottom (replacing the top cone with a barrel). This is what gives the truck extra stability, you are removing the lean you get from the cone and replacing it with more urethane that will be stable when compressed at speeds in a corner and on the straight in a tuck.

Other bushings that can be used are Venom Downhill or Eliminators, either in green or pink formula. If you are going to pimp out your trucks for downhill, it is best to replace the kingpin with a 3 inch grade 8 kingpin. This will give you the extra kingpin to fit on big barrel bushings and washers.

Remember: If you are going to do downhill, you MUST wear a helmet and protective clothing. Only dummies crash without a helmet. You can do serious speeds, and in a normal hill bomb you will be travelling at least 50km/h. You would not jump out of a moving car at those speeds without protection, dont speed skateboard without protection. This aint no kids play at the skatepark.