back from the not-dead

hi
i um
hey
i went to seattle, vancouver, seattle, juneau, skagway, victoria b.c., seattle, everywhere on the western seaboard until santa ana, and am now in lake arrowhead.
where i'll be until the 23rd, when i'll be back in boston.
i didn't skate much (it's hard to on a boat & with a bunch of non-skaters).
i did skate at the park by heroin ledges in vancouver; i think i was skating with shawn adair, which i think is funny. but no photos from that.

now i'll dump all the bike/skate/chocolate cake related photos i or my sister took.
i'll do it in reverse order, since i'm studip.

victoria, b.c. is not vancouver b.c. but victoria, b.c. is nice, too. my brother skateboarded around it while my sister & i skated around it. here i'm performing a soul grind on a scenic overlook.


before we arrived at the overlook, we were at a park with a beach. i am proud of the degree of crazy i maintained throughout the trip, and at this park i overheard someone from a group of possible boy scouts say "is that guy GAY?" winning.


tree ride at the same park:


before we arrived at the park we skated down the shore. this wonderledge was waxed a little, and some hippy guy with a dog said something about fruitbooting. more winning. i did a soul on the bottom to royale on the top, and i did my grind-of-the-trip, the name of which i don't know.




earlier on the seaboard there were some stairs. my brother and i hot-dogged it some. here's a sweet grab:


apparently, in victoria, b.c., people still inline-skate. there was a separate skate lane in one park, and people were able to easily tell my sister where she should go for cheap previously-loved inline skates. there were a pair of rollerballs in new condition, but Sister didn't want to fork over the $50. instead, she got a hawt riding pair of Ultra Wheels for $15. they destroyed her shins, causing her to lash out at us unrestrainedly. but it was cool. sweet ride:



used skate selection. mainly hockey skates, though there was a pair of argons for sale for $35.


before we were in victoria, b.c., we were in juneau, alaska. we went hiking, and tom called me asking if i could skate. here i am concluding that phone call. my skates are in my bag, but i am 2 far 2 session.


i guess this isn't actually all in reverse order. here is a photo from Redwoods National Forest. i am tree hugging.


here's something important:


we were on a boat for my birthday. i felt pretty disgusting the day before my birthday, and i passed out while my sister & brother went to an indoor pool or someplace. i thought that, anyway. instead they came back with this monstrosity. i devoured it and passed back out, then felt badly for 2 more days.






this may be why i felt so badly. we rented a car in skagway, alaska and drove through british columbia, canada, into the yukon territories. we decided it was important to swim in one of the lakes, which were really really cold. here is a backstroke:


here's a handstand at the u.s.-canada border. the border stations were each a couple of miles inside the countries.


oh. here're pictures from juneau. after we climbed a giant mountain we broke up so my brother and sister could watch basketball while i skated and called katie. i didn't really find anything to skate, so i grinded this to get some kind of a photo. bunity & bro-yale:




the nice thing about the boat was lots of chocolate cake. there were constant buffets, and chocolate cake was constantly a constant constituent of the constant buffets. this photo is from right after we got onboard. this cake was delicious; there were lots of other kinds of chocolate cake too - mousses, rums, raisiny ones . . . it was nice. they gave me a slice for my birthday too, without provocation.




that's pretty much it. the first couple of days i was in vancouver, and i didn't skate any (because of the company i was keeping), but i did get one sweet blade photo:


oh! and one more thing. when i got to orange county i needed deodorant. cvs carries this. i don't know why i didn't buy it, but i intend to remedy that wrong as soon as is expedient.


see you soon,
luv,
ben.

I rather grind up

After a gloomy start to the day, the sun finally came out and I was ready to shred once again. After work, I met up with K-Phan, Sam, Jon and Shane to blade the cement sk8park in Pepperell MASS. After warming up and playing a game of skate with K-Phan, I was ready to move on to the next spot. We headed to the infamous "up rail" to get some real blading done. We bladed, laced some tricks, took some pics and then K-Phan busted out a crazy motorcycle stunt. He stood on his bike while it was moving, pretty good for a kid that's been riding for about a month.
AO topmistrial

Kev half blader/half biker dude

Shanes 240 and my Jeep

I am almost finished

With all this rain the past couple of weeks my dad and I were able to make some progress on my custom single speed. Got most of the small things done, just need a few more things and it should be ready to go. After putting on the seat I enjoyed some nice homemade chocolate cake with a big glass of milk.

Sir Banks A Lot

I met Ercaderk, J.diaz, and knoxy at this park along Memorial Drive. Erc gapped to roll immediately.

Then mono rolled it with a grab.

Then Justin did pretty much the same thing but on the kink railing.

Then soul to...

topsoul

The blade adventures began after devastating the habitat with hot deals and pulls. We unintentionally found ourselves blading hella banks.

Woods getting juiced at Rindge & Latin which has hella new ledges that are capped.

Starting things off proper with a pencil air dedicated to pencil legs.

Double knee grab the channel.

Movie set action shot excluding hose prop.

Dick Maul approves.

Eric frontside cessing an exclusive bank at Harvard.

This can be found somewhere in MA.

Bank to wall stall to forward into the bank.

This one was to fakie.

sleazy pole bonk

the coolest bike repair stand ever

M.I.T has created the coolest bike repair stand ever, look at this thing.

the blade adventures of ian and russ

I rode my two wheeler with blades on back to North Station to meet Ru$$ who had traveled from Lowell by locomotive. I advised an exploration of the back of a nearby building and we spotted this "Go Celtics" barrier.

We began with some basics then Russ pulled this backside roy to sign bonk.


Next move was a short blade down the harbor walk to some natty launches to do lui kangs and what not.

We ventured into the bridge after some hot deals in the North End. I showed Ru$$ the sewer that ate the Ragone bone fone and the gone baby rail was across the way so we figured we'd blade that jawn.

This is by the door by the rail.

Can't blade the bridge without shredding this old fav.

...and Anna's, had to hit that up also.

another day, another dollar

Today started off bad. I dropped my Jeep off at the local garage to get an oil change and then the mechanic called 30 minutes later to tell me that I needed 2 new tire rods. So I talked to the guy and told him to get me a price and call me back. Within 10 minutes I was back on the phone with the mechanic and he told me $145 for the 2 tire rods. I said okay, do it, at this point I needed my skate mobile.

The day turned around when my boss's got a ton of food from Omaha Steakhouse and we had an amazing cookout. Thank you Steve, Adam and Jim, you guys are the best. After stuffing myself with steak, burgers and hot dogs, I was in no mood to blade after work. I got a call from Kev Phan, he wanted to blade so I thought about it and was like what the hell I need to burn off all that food I ate. K-Phan, Sam and myself bladed 2 decent wooden skateparks in NH and had a decent amount of fun. After that, I really can't say this was a bad day at all.

K-Phan flying thru the air with a 540 ( sorry no view of the launch)

K-phan is a hardcore biker dude

My dog Penny might be a future skater pup

randomness

I ordered some wheels and bearings last week and didn't expect them to arrive until tomorrow or Wednesday. Got them today, I was pumped. My buddy Steve is good at skating and drawing, check out his sticker on the rail, some BSCC stickers are on the way.

some sweetness

Lost Bliz sticker drawn by Steve Tye