Category : Hippie Mike

Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Skateboarding Team Riders

Hot Times in Onterrible

Toronto birds eye

It was a trip back to the homeland of Barrie, Ontario for myself, Carrie and Kaelen, and we normally avoid going there in the Summer months because of how hot it gets, but there was a Milestone Celebration Party happening that we needed to attend. A 60th birthday, an 80th birthday, a few 30th birthdays and a bunch of key anniversaries, including ours were all occurring in the June, July, August time period, so off we went. It wasn’t meant to be a skateboard trip but you know it’s always on my mind, so we tried to get as much skating in as possible, but with temperatures being in the mid 30’s every day that it wasn’t raining, that can be a tough thing to do. Either way, even if we don’t skate, we still meet up and hang out with the old crew that I grew up skating with.

We flew in on the Sunday evening and you could see the humidity, but we were blessed that we weren’t stuck at all in that insane flood of rain that hit Toronto the next day and shut the whole city down. They got over a year’s worth of rain in 1 hour – how the hell do you see that coming? Up in Barrie it was all good and we met up with some friends and family to get the vacation started. Doug Williams‘ house seems to always be a central hang out and you get to play darts against Kevin Creelove and Mike Van Noortwyk (Noorty) while you’re there. They are tough to beat. So we spent a few evenings there seeing lots of people. We met up with Jay Coulson the second day we were there and we skated his little mini-ramp.

Hippie Mike & Jay Coulson

Jay is now the manager of Tropical North Surf Shop which is the longest lasting skateboard shop in the area and we swung in there the last day to show off some fresh Protest product. With our distributor Unit120 Distribution ready to sell our gear across Canada, hopefully you will see it in Trops pretty soon. The ramp was fun, pretty small, but really quick. Good for mellow sessions, and it was great to skate with Coulson again – it’s only been about 10-15 years. Anyone from the local area will remember the old days when there was a ramp in Jay Coulson’s barn. A lot of insanity went down in that spot before it collapsed.

Wednesday seemed like a great day for Golf so Doug, myself and Carrie’s Dad Dave hit up this course called Pine View, which we had played last year as well. A lot of hills, and a lot of bushes. We got ‘er done and survived the heat, and found more balls than we lost. Somehow Dave won, and I think he mentioned that in his speech at the Milestone Party. Thursday had been set out as the Canada’s Wonderland trip with all our nieces and nephews, and Kaelen was stoked to see all his cousins and go to this huge park. Being the crazy guy that he is we made sure he got a blue wristband so he could hit certain rides, even though he came up about a 1/2 inch short for it. The first thing we did was take him on the Thunder Run a roller coaster that shoots through the mountain in the dark. 1st roller coaster – successful, so then later on in the day we had to get him on the Ghoster Coaster, one of the oldest wooden roller coasters around.

AER08901

That thing was crazy, and by the look on Kaelen’s face in the photo, he didn’t expect it. But afterwards, he was stoked on it. A great day for fun times with the family.

The next day was back in the mode of skateboard world – I had a meeting set up with Sean Bittle from a new company called Top Grom.

Hippie Mike & Sean Bittle - Top Grom

This company is focused on promoting skaters that are teens and children only. They are hosting competitions for kids 13 and under in 5 different countries this summer, and have created a magazine that will be hitting the shelves in the matter of weeks. Sean drove up from Toronto to meet me for the first time as we had been talking over the phone and by email for a while. We discussed a bunch of opportunities for us to collaborate, and it sounds like I will be writing for their magazine, along with some other amazing things. It was a great lunch meeting a Moose Winooski’s, and I had my oldest nephew Riley Robinson with me to be a part of this new venture. I look forward to being a huge part of this new Top Grom era. After the meeting, there was really only one place to go – the Barrie Skate Park. I remember it took years of meetings and petitioning and a bunch of work to get that skate park built back in the 1990’s, and they ironically finally put it in the year after I moved away to BC. So I’ve only ever skated it a few times, but I know which obstacles I like there. I’m still recovering a strange injury I had in the middle of June when I jammed my ankle at Seylynn, so this was the first time I had skated anything but tranny in a while. You could tell – my pop wasn’t poppin’ and my flips weren’t flippin’, so I tried to stick mostly to this weird rising quarterpipe they have there. The design of the Barrie Skate Park isn’t that bad, but the concrete job is terrible filled with lumps and bumps all over that shouldn’t be there. I really don’t like flat banks that are steeper at the bottom than at the top… I only filmed this 1 trick there, body varial noseblunt near the top of the quarter, and it wasn’t easy. Plus pushing as hard as I could across the entire park in 35 degree sun doesn’t help, but I did skate Bear Creek and Confederation Park for many years, so I know how to handle it. Thanks to the local kid Dylan for filming it.

Saturday was party day, that was the Milestones Celebration Party at Carrie Williams’ parents’ house. Beers, wine, food, a band, cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and some old time friends all came out to celebrate, and it was good times.

Me and Creelove dominated the game of ladder golf until the wee hours of the morning, and nobody got hurt. It was great to see everyone. The next day the same type of get together happened at my Mom’s house, but with about 100 less people. It’s hard sometimes to live so far away from all of our immediate family, and although we love the family we have created in BC, it’s always a nice treat to be bombarded with the originals. The night at my Mom’s ended with 3 1/2 year old Kaelen busting out his skateboard in the driveway and putting on a full demo. I grabbed the video camera and got this rare event on film, drop ins, fakie rides and he even landed a sweet primo stall. It was great to see him on his board showing off again, it’s been a while. On Tuesday before we headed back home we stopped by the old stomping grounds of St. Mary’s Elementary School and Kaelen continued to go for the gusto.

Kaelen Drop in at St Marys

It meant so much to me to skateboard at this spot again and even more to do it with my son. St. Mary’s was the spot where we hung out every day while growing up in Barrie from about the time I was 15-18 years old. If you were a skateboarder in Barrie Ontario in the 1990’s, you knew about St. Mary’s and you hoped you were accepted by our crew when you showed up. Each year we filled the basketball court with wooden ramps in the summer and had our own skate park until some idiot decided to come by one night and torch everything on us. The one flatbank had been pushed up tight to the wall of the portable that day as I remember Chris Foley doing huge wallrides on it, and unfortunately half the portable burnt to the ground. An era was ended that day as we were told that weren’t allowed to skateboard there anymore, even though it wasn’t our fault – The St. Mary’s Posse had to change their location. So many of us have our roots at that spot. I tossed a basic line through the whole parking lot for old time’s sake – 1 footer off the curb cut at the top, kickflip on flat, manual down the table in the island, ollie up the curb and down the 3 stair and 180 off the concrete into the basketball court. Just doing that line once brought back years worth of memories.

Hippie Mike & Kaelen at St Marys

I filmed Kaelen while we were there and then we headed out. A 15 minute session was more than enough in that heat, we were soaked.

Monday was probably the best day we had, next to the Canada’s Wonderland day, we hooked up with 2 of the true old schoolers – Shane L.S. Dennis & Eric Francom.

3 brothers united

When we moved away these guys were barely old enough to drive, and I had been a huge mentor to them in Snowboarding for many years. Both went on to become sponsored riders for Burton after I left and it had been since our wedding 10 years ago that all of us were in the same room together. Eric picked up me, Carrie and & Kaelen early morning and we grabbed Shane from his Unity Market and Studio downtown and started driving to Huntsville. Eric’s got a cottage and boat there and we needed a day on the lake.

Eric Frankom lipslide surfin'

These guys are sick Wake Surfers and we just cruised the lake for hours while they did their thing.

LS wake surfin'

 Carrie and I attempted it but neither of us could get up for the start. I just flipped off the boat a bunch of times during the day. It was old times at it’s best, and we all were glad that Eric made it happen.

The whole trip was a blast, and it was great to see all these old friends and re-live some amazing memories. We partied, we skated, we saw friends and family, we visited my Dad’s memorial, we hit the coasters at Wonderland, we flipped into the lake, we created new ventures, we sweated in the heat, but most of all we had fun. It’s always a great time to take Hippie Mike back home to Ontario and be Skully again…

Dad's memorial bench

Love to all my family – my Mom, my Dad, my sister and kids, the in-laws, and everyone else out there. See you again next May for Julie and Deon’s wedding.

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Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Skateboarding Team Riders

It Saved My Life

As I visit the old hometown of Barrie Ontario and run in to my friends from the past I have lots of amazing feelings and emotions running through my veins. I think back over my whole life and all the ups and downs I had, the crazy times I went though and the millions of relationships I made over my 35 years on the earth and how many of them still live on strong. All in all in everything I’ve done, it all seems to relate back to one thing – skateboarding. In the summer of 1986 I got my first skateboard and we would hang out all over our neighbourhood in a large group and just shred the parking lots and streets. It was a connection that was stronger than anything else at that time and built confidence in amongst us all. We learned together, grew together and created together. As time went on I continued to be active in all sports and for a couple years I didn’t skateboard that much, but one day I ran into an old friend Chris Connolly who had just got into skateboarding and told me to come out with him after school to a school called St. Mary’s. I came out, got right back into it and after that day spent many years localizing that spot with a huge crew of the best skaters in town.

Me

I look back at the guys I considered role models like Malcolm Campbell, Chris David, Mike Van Noortwyk, Chris Macallum and Mike Sutton and we learned so much from these guys. And it makes me think of the generations of young skaters that have looked at me the same way and grew up under my wings like Cisco Gooding, Jaden Easton-Ellett and Andy Anderson. We are all role models when we are out in the public just doing our thing, and even if you go through rough times, there’s gonna be someone that looks up to you. You never know where you will end up in life but the most important thing to always consider is to have a passion that you love and live for it. That day Chris Connolly took me to St. Mary’s and got me back on my skateboard was the day that saved my life, and made me who I am today. You know me, and everything I’ve done for the skateboard world – now imagine if I didn’t skateboard and wasn’t here in your society… How would it be different for you?

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Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Skateboarding Team Riders

Hippie Mike in The Now

Hippie Mike-Article in the Now 2013

Protest Skateboards creator “Hippie Mike” has been well known for many years in many different cities but he is most respected in the city of Surrey where he calls home. Mike came up with the idea for a series of skateboard competitions which most of you may know of called Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey where he hosts 5 consecutive competitions each summer at multiple skate parks in Surrey. With this summer marking his milestone 10th year for the tour, Hippie Mike shares his thoughts of reminiscence of the event he created with the local newspaper – The Now.

Check out the article

http://www.thenownewspaper.com/sports/Hippie+Mike+marks+years+touring+Surrey/8604719/story.html

Hippie Mike's Tour de Surrey #10

 

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Andy Anderson Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Ryan Brynelson Skateboarding Team Riders World Round Up

World Round Up 2013 Winners

Guenter Mokulys 1st Place World Round Up 2013

Once again, Wow! What a weekend of insanity. Being a skateboarder for over a quarter century I have seen a lot of amazing talent and have been to and organized many skateboard events, small and big, but this one was at the top of the list for awesomeness. Not since Slam City Jam have I seen so many unbelievable skaters in one room in the Lower Mainland. These guys know how to put on a show….

Big thanks to Monty Little and Kevin Harris for putting in the hours of labour to set this Freestyle Championship up, and also to house contestants from all over the world. I had the pleasure of being the main Videographer for this event and I will be releasing a short video/interview for each contestant as well as a 15 minute Recap Video of the entire event. I got to meet everyone that was there on a more personal level and really enjoyed my time with each of them. And to top it off I was honoured by Monty and Kevin with a Kevin Harris/Skull Skates Deck signed by everyone and a Bob Marley Freedom Flag – so stoked!! Be ready for all the videos to come out throughout the next week.

Hippie Mike Freedom Flag

As for the results, it was tough in both Categories. The Amateurs had some serious battles going on and people jumped positions between the Semi-Finals and Finals. I am Proud to announce that 2 of our Protest Riders made Top 3 and you know who they are – Andy Anderson took 3rd Place, which is huge considering that he just really got into Freestyle on a serious note one year ago at last year’s World Round Up. Then it came down to Ryan Brynelson and Kaue Arouja for 1st and 2nd. They both had flawless, consistent and insane runs in the Finals and somehow Ryan Brynelson accomplished his goal and is now the #1 Ranked Amateur Freestyle Skateboarder in the World. Give it up for the Protest Kids!!!

In the Pro’s it was tight and I mean tiiiiiiiiight. So tight that the Top 5 were all scored within 1 point of each other. One of the competitors was really pushing for me to hook him up with sponsorship and he is definitely deserving so we have added him onto the Protest Team. Lucio Flavio Simas de Lima from Brazil is now sponsored by Protest Skateboards and finished in 7th Place in the Pro Division. He is stoked!!

I gotta give it up to all the Pros, this was a difficult competition and even though they all love each other like family, everyone was there with the same goal to win. Per Canguru from Brazil went into the Finals in 2nd Place but had some difficulty in his runs and ended up in 5th. Masahiro Fujii from Japan destroyed the place and had the crowd going crazy all day every day and ended up in 4th Place. Mike Osterman from USA is one of the most solid skateboarders I’ve ever seen, he stomps every trick with more power than he uses to pop them and he pulled through for a 3rd Place finish. The biggest surprise of the contest was Seya Nakano from Japan who is not a sponsored Pro but entered into the Pro Category in hopes of success that would help make that sponsorship happen, and I think his chances of it happen are very high now since he put on an amazing Demo of how good he is and ended up in 2nd Place. So good!!

The winner was almost inevitable right from Day 1Guenter Mokulys from Berlin, Germany has been skating Freestyle for decades and when he’s on his game, he is almost untouchable. He dominated the entire weekend right from the get-go and proved himself once again to be the champ by winning 1st Place at The World Round Up Freestyle Championship 2013. This was huge piece of history as this was Guenter’s 10th big win and he is now a 10-Time Freestyle World Champion. 

Give it up for Guenter Mokulys!!!

This event was soooooo awesome. I asked so many competitors in their interviews the same question “What will be your biggest memory from this event?” and the majority had the same answer – to see all their friends from around the world who they share a special and unique passion with, and the feeling that filled the atmosphere which was so positive. It felt like a huge Family Reunion and I can’t believe how so many people who speak completely different languages can all come together in unity and be as one in this little space. That is the beauty of acceptance.

Cheers to everyone who came out, and understand that the love shared throughout the arena was made possible by riding a piece of wood with some wheels bolted on to it.

Skateboard for Life….Skateboard for Love

– Hippie Mike

World Round Up 2013 Results

Amateur

  1. Ryan Brynelson – Canada         
  2. Kaue Arouja – Brazil        
  3. Andy Anderson – Canada       
  4. Jacob Whitt – USA       
  5. Thomas Nascimento – Brazil     
  6. Felix “Fleppo” Jonsson – Sweden  
  7. Daniel Trujillo – USA         
  8. Mic Murayama – Japan    
  9. Alejandro C Finy – Costa Rica      
  10. Adam Flood – Canada       

Professional

  1. Guenter Mokulys – Germany
  2. Seya Nakano – Japan
  3. Mike Osterman – USA
  4. Masahiro Fujii – Japan
  5. Per Canguru – Brazil
  6. Stefan “Lillis” Akesson –Sweden
  7. Lucio Lima – Brazil
  8. Rene Shigueto – Brazil
  9. Jesse Whalen – USA
  10. Albert Kuncz – Hungary/Slovakia

Other Competitors not in Top 10

Amateur

  • Rickey Rodriguez – USA AJ Kohn – USA
  • Sam McKinlay – Canada Bert Mathieson – USA
  • Yuta Miyatake – Japan Christian Heise – Germany

Professional

  • Dan Garb – USA
  • Darryl Grogan – USA
  • Lucas Gomes – Brazil
  • Lynn Cooper – USA
  • Stefan Albert – Germany
  • Tai Tai – Brazil
  • Takashi Suzuki – Japan
  • Tomo Koyano – Japan
  • Toshiaki Fujii – Japan
  • Photos from Day 4
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Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Jaden Easton-Ellett Skateboarding Team Riders

Lip Bank Love

Growing up a street skater you spend your life searching for so many different types of spots, there are the ones that you are only ever going to go to once just for a trick or two for your video, and then there are the ones that you hunt out as spots you can chill out at for hours and just have a good time with your friends. Some of these spots are available all day and others might be businesses that you need to wait until they’re closed, but either way these are your spots.

We discovered this spot which I simply named “The Lip Bank” about 9 years ago now and we have had many many sessions there and perfected a lot of technical tranny tricks. It’s perfect for weekends and late nights when you just want to hang with your buddies and not be bothered. The Lip Bank isn’t the biggest, coolest obstacle in the world, but it is still dangerous and definitely challenging to skate. I personally consider this my favourite skate spot just for the fact that most people can’t figure it out. It looks easy but it’s so not.

Check out this quick session with Jaden Easton-Ellett, Justin James and me Hippie Mike –  and live the love…

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Cisco Gooding Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Skateboarding Team Riders Video Reviews

New UBC Skate Park – Love it or Hate it

UBC Park4

Hippie Mike and Cisco Gooding hit up the new UBC Park today to see what it’s actually like. There have been many comments leaning in both directions about whether this skate park was a waste of space, or is simply amazing. Some people love every inch of it, while others won’t even bother going there.

That’s skateboarding for ya… We had fun there.

The street obstacles are all funky and good for learning on. The stack of books obstacle is probably the main eye catcher of the park, and can be very intimidating, but we’re sure to expect some serious bangers to go down on these floating ledges. The bowl is small and mellow but that’s okay too, it works good for grinds, and people who aren’t as experienced gotta learn on it so at least this way they will. The barrier on the bank is totally sweet so I think that could be an attraction. It may not be the most amazing park ever built, but it’s something new in a secluded area that could benefit from it. I don’t think there any reason for negativity towards it, plus we have definitely seen some awesome videos come out of it already and it’s hardly been open for  2 weeks. In the world of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, the skateboarders are overly spoiled to the point that all of us moan and wine about every park that pops up now a days – oh there’s too much tranny, oh the bowl isn’t deep enough, or oh these ledges aren’t high enough or have the wrong coping. We’re spoiled in the fact that we forget how hard it used to be to skateboard without being kicked out everywhere you go, we forget that there never used to be 8 skate parks in one city, there was hardly one per municipality, and we take for granted the fact that if we don’t like a particular park, we can choose not to go there and still go to another one right close by. Not every city has these luxuries, or gets to pick and choose what Skate Park they are going to skate that day, and what one tomorrow. And each community that is lucky enough to get a skateboard park has people that live there that are going to appreciate it for what it is no matter what, and make the best of it.

Check out this video that was just filmed in Barrie Ontario. This skate park was built in 1999 and is still the only one they have. It’s not laid out that good, the ground is weathered and rough, and the obstacles are all the old chunky style. But you don’t hear these boys complaining, you just hear them stomping every trick they try out of appreciation that they have a skate park at all….

Respect that.

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Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Jaden Easton-Ellett Protest Skateboards Skateboarding Team Riders

It’s Official – March 24th, 2013

Protest Partners 2013

10 years ago I met Jaden Easton-Ellett as he was barely 9 years old and had just started skateboarding. He came to one of my Skateboard Camps at the Cloverdale Skate Park in Surrey. Just another tall, skinny kid covered head to toe in skate pads and a helmet, it might have even been a bike helmet. But right away in that set of lessons I recognized some things about Jaden. He had a natural ability to learn and adapt quickly, and he was somewhat fearless, or clueless to danger, whichever one it was. Jaden learned a lot in that camp and he was signed up in another one a couple weeks later. I figured I was going to see a lot of him and I thought that was cool.

Jaden started coming to almost every camp or lesson I had scheduled for Cloverdale and I was always teaching him so many tricks. Since each lesson begins the same by teaching all the basics to a bunch of newcomers, I would just send Jaden off on his own and watch what he was trying. Then later I’d go over and give him some stuff to try that related to his interests. He was learning fast and his creative side was showing. This went on for years, and Jaden would sign up for tons of lessons and camps and come out to all the Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey Contests and it just evolved into a really awesome relationship between us. When he turned 14 he was super sad because he wasn’t going to be able to come to the lessons anymore since the age category maxed out at 13. So I hired him as a Volunteer and he began to help out at the lessons. He was good at it too, so the next year we started paying him when we could until eventually he took over teaching the camps as the main instructor. 

Jaden always showed a good sense of responsibility and had a lot of self-motivational drive inside him. Then one day he told me that he designs websites and would like to set one up for Protest. So we did – that was in a about 2010. As Jaden’s knowledge with internet and website management was growing, he was learning about how the website could actually begin to produce income. So last year we decided to take our friendship to a whole new level and work together to help make Protest Skateboards Website a place where the skateboard world can stay connected with what’s happening in the Lower Mainland and we made some changes. Jaden became a partner in the business, and invested some funds into it, but wasn’t legally old enough to sign on as a full partner, until now.

I’d like to congratulate Jaden Easton-Ellett on his 19th birthday on all of his accomplishments and officially welcome him on as my full Business Partner to Protest Skateboards. 

To many more years of great friendship and success…

A Toast

Protest Partners Toast 2013

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Carrie Williams Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Skateboarding Team Riders

Surrey/Delta demoed at The Spring Kickoff

IMG_1009

It was one of the first big contests of the 2013 season, and Dan Pageau couldn’t have chosen a better date. The Spring Kickoff Contest at Pitt Meadows lived up to it’s name by being on a beautiful Spring Day, and the day the clocks move ahead. Tons of kids showed up, lots of Locals for Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge, and lots of the One Love Skate Shop Crew. Lanny Deboer and Andre Tsougrianis both hung out and skated a bit, Lanny won the highest air contest out of the bowl, and then MC’d a bunch of the contest. But we had a full sized crew show up from Surrey and Delta, including Jordan Strong, Brendan Nielsen, Ryan Barron, Jacob Drescher, Mathew McCauley, and JR Barron, along with Hippie Mike, Carrie Williams and Jaden Easton-Ellett with the Protest Skateboards Tent.

It was a solid competition, everyone was throwing down. In the beginner category there were lots of little rippers all doing different tricks left right and centre. JR Barron shredded it in the qualifier run and then smashed his face on his first trick in the finals chipping a tooth. But he just bounced up and fought through the pain to finish an unstoppable run, winning the Beginner competition. That’s how we train these kids in Surrey.

Jacob Drescher showed everyone how Delta does it as Chis Sommerville from Street Dreamz Board Shop sat and watched him beat out all the Intermediates with ease.

Ryan Lepore kept Delta’s reputation of amazing ledge and rail skating in full effect as he terrorized the entire course in both runs. The way it worked was you got to skate until you fell off your board twice. It took over 3 minutes for Ryan to slip up twice in the finals, beating out some tough skaters like Jordan Repin, Jesse Holland, Dominic Devries and Ryan Prasad.

Tsawwassen Represent!

They decided to have a Master’s/Senior’s division for people 30 years and over, so Hippie Mike got in there with Carrie Williams, Jonathan Reichert, Tim R and Dan Pageau. After complaining all day about his injured back and how hard it was to move, Hippie Mike went to town when it was his turn, utilizing the entire park and lasted a long time before falling twice. Of course his second fall was a crash hard enough to rock a nation.

Hippie Mike takin’ it home for Surrey!

It was a great event and I think everyone had a blast. We sold some gear, hung out with lots of dudes we haven’t seen in a while, and skated.

Here are some photos from throughout the day, mostly of the younger kids since they ripped it so hard.


Thanks to Dan Pageau and One Love Skateboard Shop for hosting the event. Support your local businesses

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Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Skateboarding Team Riders

Hippie Mike at Chuck Bailey – Winter Styles

Way back at the end of January, during that nasty spell of Cold and Foggy Winter, I met up with Ty Williamson, aka Tyler the Film Creator at Chuck Bailey Skate Pak and filmed this little montage. It was a tough day for filming as the entire park was soaked when he arrived. I threw down a couple quick tricks on the mini barrier and then proceeded over to the flat bank where I tripped over my own feet after landing primo and knocked my knee slightly out of place. This happens often when you don’t have an MCL. We finished off filming anyway and later that night the old knee popped back into its proper position.

I know I’m not the best skateboarder out there anymore and it’s difficult to compete with the crazy kids of today, but I will point out that I haven’t seen anyone do 95% of the tricks in this montage. Especially when there’s ice on the ground….

Peace – Love – Respect

Skateboard for Life

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Extreme Sports Hippie Mike Skateboarding Team Riders

Further On Up The Road Hippie Mike Finds Ollie North

Hippie Mike & Shawn J - Ollie North

The times are always changin’ and it gets tough to keep up sometimes, but one thing that’s always kept me goin’ is my skateboard. After many years of living life as a skater I’ve always been able to adjust with the changes. As I get older, I get wiser, but I also seem to get bigger and slower. And it makes it tough to be who you were back when you were just growing up annihilating the streets and livin’ life in your Glory Daze. But I always find my way home.

Surrey is the place I call home, and I’m very proud of what I have helped to create in this city for the skateboard community to enjoy. But as the population of skateboarders seemed to be constantly growing here in Surrey, the population of Skate Shops was diminishing. And now there is only 1 true “Skater Owned and Operated” Skateboard Shop left in this city.

So I went on a search to find that little shop hidden away in the heart of Cloverdale, venturing through the streets and skate parks of surrey until I finally got there. It was calling my name to come home.

I found my destination, took off my jacket and prepared to stay a while.

Hippie Mike has returned to Surrey

And joined Ollie North

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