A Memorable Day at The Orange County ScooterZone

This past Thursday I tagged along with Nick Darger to the new Scooter Zone shop in Orange County. If you want to learn more about the new shop and Scooter Zone just click the two links below.
OC ScooterZone
ScooterZone

One of the main reasons why I was so excited to come down was because Nick told me that Cody Speake and Danny Rambert would be there. That was an opportunity that I was not going to miss. These two riders were a part of the infamous CSC. If you don't know about CSC please click the following link.
Fading but not Forgotten: CSC

Nick and I arrived at the shop pretty early, and the day went by pretty quickly and before I knew it Julio Oceguera, Danny Rambert, and Cody Speake all showed up at the Zone. We all talked for a bit, and then it was straight to the back where all the ramps were. Cody, Danny, and Julio spent some time riding but after a while we all for some reason went outside to the parking lot out back. It took all of 30 seconds before we had the urge to go explore the industrial area for street spots. I had forgotten my scooter...and was forced to ride a stock Pro model. But at this point there was nothing that was gonna stop me from getting a chance to see Cody and Danny shred...and shred they did.

I watched them in silent admiration, amazed at how natural they both still were on their scooters. Before I go into this further, here's a little information you might want to know..

CSC as you know if you clicked the link provided above was made up of Mike Dies, Mikey Weaver, Cody Speake, and Danny Rambert. Mike Dies stopped scootering and became an amazing BMX rider, Mikey Weaver stopped riding and focused on other things in life, and that left Cody and Danny. Cody and Danny stopped riding scooters in late 2005. In their 5 year absence Cody started skating a lot, and Danny was on his bike most of the time.

It wasn't until 2010 that they would start to get back into scooters. While at the skatepark they would run into riders Lucky Scooter Part's Rider, Nick Donatelli and Scooter Zone's, Nick Darger, who were both well aware of how infamous these two were...and Cody and Danny couldn't fight the urge and would usually borrow their scooters and ride for a bit. Well Nick and Nick saw the opportunity to get these two back into riding, and they took it. They built both Danny and Cody two different set ups, and for the past two months, Cody and Danny have been picking up right where they left off...

Danny Rambert- Handplant Tailwhip over the Spine


When I say right where they left off, I mean it...and then some. To watch these two ride was something I wasn't used to seeing. Back in the days of CSC, it wasn't about being the best Team/Crew in the sport...it was about going out with your friends, and pushing each other to become better riders. Well watching Danny and Cody ride together, opened my eyes to that. To anyone who doesn't know them both personally, you would think to yourself, “Geez...these guys are dicks, constantly trying to one up each other”. Well that couldn't be farther from the truth. They are in fact pushing each other, not so much one upping each other. It was really crazy to witness. You would see Cody do something ridiculous, and then right behind him Danny would go and do something even more ridiculous, which would then push Cody to go back and do something even crazier. It was progression, right in front of your eyes, in the most purest and sincere of forms.

So as I said, we took off to ride street, there were times where we would be mobbing really fast and these guys would go and hit gaps without even having a chance to scope them out first. It was like fear just didn't exist in their worlds. Nothing was being taken seriously either, we were just out there having fun. Eventually we came to this pretty serious size gap...and set up near the gap in the parking lot, was a pretty big picnic table. Immediately Cody wanted to move it and set it up so it was going down the gap.

Once it was set up, Julio said he was out..and sat down with me. Danny took a couple looks at it, and he said he was out too...and joined us sitting down. Not Cody though. He took a couple run ups, and then straight hopped up the bench and first try manualed down the whole thing. He comes right back up, and after a couple attempts, feebles down the whole thing. Julio and I just sat back watching eyes wide. Cody comes up and says “Your turn Danny” and moves the table over so that Danny can feeble it. And Danny who had said he was sitting this one out, gets up...goes back...and comes up and manuals down it first try. He comes back up the gap and feebles it first try. Julio and I were in awe.Danny Rambert, Julio Oceguera, Cody Speake, and Dick Narger

We get back to the shop and it's pretty dark now, the store is closed, and Nick gets his camera, and the lights out to light the ramps up for Cody, Julio, and Danny. The session was pretty intense. There were a few gnarly slams, and some really sick stuff got filmed. Danny and Cody continued to push each other while riding, and eventually someone mentioned “Flairs”. Cody and Danny have recently both been trying flairs, but neither have landed one and rolled away...Well, all it took was the mention of it, and Danny was off to get his helmet, and Cody borrowed one of Julios..and they were both on deck ready to drop in. Danny took a few attempts and was over it, he just wasn't feeling em. But it took about 8 attempts for Cody to call it quits on them. He was rotating them every time he came around...and it's obvious that they will both have flairs in a matter of weeks. We wrapped things up, got a bite to eat and called it a day.

Codys First Flair Attempt of the Night


Riding with Cody and Danny is something I won't be forgetting anytime soon, and I know I will probably ride with them again in the near future. And even though the possibility of the full CSC getting back together again is slim to none...what they've done in the past for the sport, and what Cody and Danny are going to continue to do in the future...is more than enough for me.


-Written by Steven Tongson