The year was the summer of 2008, if I remember corectly. The skate scene in Riga was pretty much skatepark oriented. Instead of developing plazas, squares and public parks,The generous European union investment in the country cursed us with bunch of those plywood zoos, trying to feed us the absurd mentality that skateboarding, bmx and rollerblading are the the same thing, and it’s just natural for us to be locked in a controlled environment and have fun all together.
We decided to bring together chefs, artists and obviously skateboarders during a brand new event at La Digue, our DIY spot in Toulouse, France.
It had been 20 years since I made the trip, so I was so excited to be invited to the 1st N-MEN trip of 2021. I was giddy with excitement as I rummaged through my stuff to find what was left of my downhill/glory hole set up. What I came up with was a set of 100mm, 89A kryptonic wheels, my old ass 169’s with giant risers, and a board that was a warped from sitting for so long.
After more than a year of not being able to have any gatherings and going thru lockdowns here and there, it looks like times are getting a bit better and on June 12th Montana based “Girls on shred”hosted their first women’s / non binary skate clinic in Washington state at the Coal pad DIY in the town of Glacier.
The landlord didn’t open the place for us on purpose, we we’re just an unpleasant side product that developed without him really recognizing. Now he has obviously recognized, and still tolerates the skaters, not without making things difficult for us, but this is another story.
The purpose of this booklet is to show love, support, representation and dedication towards skateboarding. In the last years our beloved activity has been growing and expanding worldwide demonstrating unification and acceptance inside and outside the community.
Grind Projects put it out for every man and his dog to get creating with their DIY dreams. Best crete creation would win a free pour delivered from the Grind Projects legends. Truckstop crew came through with the goods with the most insane structure and took out the win.
It was just six issues ago that we graced the pages of this glorious magazine with our professional d.i.y. park in Glücksburg in the most northern corner of Germany. After three builds in four years we thought we were finished, but it turned out we were wrong.
With all the conspiracy theories in the world, let me tell you about one that doesn’t involve the government or aliens; The Conspiracy Bowl in New Jersey is a backyard pool that we got to shred in a sick night session.
One of the best things about skateboarding is how, even in the middle of a desolate expanse of desert at an abandoned pool, you can meet a group of skateboarders who begin as strangers and end as good friends.