In a press release posted on Nitro Circus' website yesterday, a new action sports competition was announced. The Nitro World Games will be held in Salt Lake City, UT on July 16, 2016. Travis Pastrana said, "Action sports is about progression, pushing the envelope to go bigger, faster and farther than ever before," adding that "With the Nitro World Games, we wanted to create an event that raised the bar and took action sports to the next level.”
The event roster lists Scooter Best Tricks alongside categories like FMX Biggest Trick, BMX Triple Jump, and Skate Best Trick. Anybody is eligible to compete- qualifying events will be held at Woodward West as well as Pastrana's own "Pastranaland" compound. The event will be televised live in a three hour special on NBC during primetime as well as streamed online.
What does this mean for scootering? Good, bad, neither? Ryan Williams has been a mainstay in the Nitro Circus Live show for a few years now, with a few other riders performing over the years, providing a ton of exposure to the sport. Many scooter riders have made it their goal to make it into the X-Games, and this is definitely a big step forward for them. I think it will be very interesting to see how they depict scootering, from the judging to announcing to how much airtime they get. We'll see in seven months.
What happens when a couple riders go in on making an Iphone edit? This. Armed with an Iphone 6, Death Lens, and Hotshot Handle, Mike Dejong and Andy Koke took to a middle of nowhere, Texas, skatepark to get some shredding in and film some clips. Mike edited the clips together and it turned out pretty rad. Loving the overcrook clips from Andy.
Free agent Ryan Upchurch recently took a trip to the UK for Scoot Fest and to shred with his good homie Lewis Williams. Of course they were gonna film a video, and so this what they produced. Lewis is one of my favorite riders to watch shred the transitions, dude has one of the best styles and always pulls out some unexpected bangers. And Ryan is on another level with his coping combos, and always so clean with them.
How do you refer to the act of riding a scooter? Scootering? Skating? Just riding? Recently, the term SMX has began to catch on. I’ve heard it a couple times over the years, but now the Funk brothers are championing it as the proper name, believing that the word “scootering” sounds bad and that a term similar to BMX will bring more legitimacy to the sport, helping it reach coveted platforms such as the X-Games. I can definitely see what they mean- the word “scootering” has such a negative stigma attached to it due to years of children riding scooters in skateparks and basically giving everybody every reason to hate scooters and scooter riders. And can you imagine the dudes announcing at the X-Games calling it “Scoot Big Air?” “Scootering Big Air?” Nah, “SMX Big Air” sounds way better for sure...At the same time, though, I could see BMX thinking us calling our sport “SMX” as copying them, which yeah, would be dumb. Obviously BMX came from MX, originally from racing.
I’ve said it before, but I couldn’t care less about scootering being the the X-Games. That’s a discussion that’s been done again and again so I won’t get into the reasons why. But for the dudes that do want it in, who would benefit from it...I’m all for it. If calling scootering SMX helps get scootering into the X-Games, in turn benefitting dudes like Capron and Corey, then cool. There’s nothing that would be cooler than more scooter riders being able to make a living, or getting more out of what they love.
The latest release from Friendly is a full 10 minute montage featuring footage from Sean Furze and Darcy Altavilla's PAL format cameras before they switched to NTSC. The video starts with a 3 and a half minute riding montage then transitions into random shenanigans and fun times. It's always so fun to see what else goes on at spots besides scootering, because anything can happen out there. Riders featured include Jack Dauth, Reece Jones, Royce King, Jon Archer, and more.
Will Rosati and Noah Risser linked up in New York with Badgerclit, Mario Bowers, Erik Deptula, and Kong to film this video in just one weekend. Great lines, great rail tricks, and that ender was nuts. This one had a dope vibe for sure.
Alchemyst makes some of the most well-made videos in the industry and this is a teaser for their latest project. This night-themed video is set to drop early next year. Definitely can't wait!
The shoe brand Vex recently sent out their US riders Matt McKeen and Issac Miller to get their shred on on the concrete playgrounds and asphalt obstacles of Oregon. With the focus on these two, you can imagine what gnarly tricks went down. Issac's back lip around the bowl was so gnar, and the line with McKeen doing a feeble down the crustiest lil hubba ever...so rad. Don't miss his switch front board whip on the red rail either. One of the heaviest rails ever hit caps the video with a bang. Check it out now.
Hailing from Sammamish, Washington, Tyler Bradley began his scooter journey like any other. Riding the local park, doing the trendy scoot kid tricks, basically a completely different rider than he is today. Lucky for him, Tom Kvilhaug moved to the area and started riding with him. Showing him what scootering could be, Tom lit a fire beneath Tyler that today rages like an inferno. Flavor picked him up in 2013 and it was clear that Tyler would be a force to be reckoned with. His rail game, specifically back lips, was on par for the standard back then, if not surpassing it, all the while with his own nonchalant, machine like style. Flavor USA sadly fell apart and he was on his own again. Tyler kept at it, and found himself on Phoenix earlier this year. Tyler does things on a scooter that might seem possible to most people, but have such a small margin for error that nobody else really even thinks of trying them. The way he applies 5050s is unmatched by anyone in scootering. His efforts have come to fruition today with his first video part for Phoenix. Read on for a look into how the video came together, then watch it below. Jordan Jasa: So this is your Welcome to Phoenix part. How long in the making was it?
Tyler Bradley: I spent about 8 months filming for this video part. I started filming about a year ago after my foot and ankle were completely healed, but ended up switching over from SD to HD and did not want to mix the footage so I just started over.
At what point did you get on Phoenix? How did that happen?
I started talking to Cooper in May or June about sending him what footage I had at the time for him and Dan to check out and they ended up being hyped on it. And after talking a bunch and making a few trips down to Portland to film this summer I ended up getting a spot on the pro team, which I am super stoked on.
Word, definitely psyched that you found a sponsor after the whole Flavor thing fell off. So you go to school at UCI yeah? How is it riding in SoCal compared to the PNW? Who all do you usually ride with now?
Same dude. Its going well, I only have classes two days a week right now so I ride almost everyday and there is definitely a huge difference between riding in the PNW and SoCal. The scene is so much bigger down here and the weather is always good, so you never have to worry about not being able to ride or film. Usually the crew is Nick Donatelli, Ralfie Gracia, Eddie Cuellar, Shelby Grimnes, and Andrew Zamora and I, but lately the AO/Elyts dudes, and Zack Martin have been coming up a bunch so theres usually like 15 people at each spot on the weekends, which is rad.
One hefty lip by Eddie Cuellar.
It's awesome to see the LA street riding scene growing so much. Does that push you, having so many people to ride with? Or would you be doing crazy fucked up tricks anyway?
Its great man. And yeah, having a bunch of people to ride with all of the time definitely pushes me. When its just me and one or two other people, there's a good chance ill overthink the trick and psych myself out, but when theres' so many people at the spot, you just feed off of everyone else's energy and don't really think about what you're doing and just do the trick.
So you said that 5050 uprail hard 180 took three hours. Did you just keep eating shit or how did that go down?
Yea I got there and ended up doing the backlip 180 whip up pretty quick, so i started joking around with Blake saying that ill 5050 up it and then when I got into it first try messing around I just started going for it. I actually only missed a few times, but it was the speed that I needed in order to get passed the last step that was killer. I probably landed on the top at least 25 times and the rest of the tries I either wasn't running fast enough to make it up the rail or just didn't try it.
How did it feel to land it? Come to think of it, there's like zero emotion shown in your riding haha, besides a few frustration scoot throws it seems you do this shit with a machine like mindset.
Honestly, I kept trying it for almost another hour after I landed that one until I could hardly ride anymore because I didn't think it was good enough, but had to settle with it because it was my last day in Washington.
Textbook 5050 by Shelby Grimes.
That's insane. You recently got the cover of Scoot Mag. How's that feel? Also where's the footy of that?
It's pretty surreal. I knew I was going to have an ad and a few page spread inside, but I had no idea that I was going to get the cover until a few days before it was released. And it was only a lip popover so I wasn't really hyped on the clip haha.
Ahh for sure. How's your back these days? Is the brace just a permanent fact of life for you?
Aha its pretty shitty, some days it doesn't hurt at all and others just a bit, but either way I ride and its something I just deal with haha. I actually haven't worn a brace in like 2 years since it doesn't really do anything at all.
Can you tell us what cheat code you used for your ender?
Haha Tom Kvilhaug has been telling me to do it on a double kink for awhile now, but I just kept saying it's not possible. And then a few weeks ago I ended up going to that rail in Dana Point thinking I was going to do 5050 to lipslide, but accidentally landed in a 5050 on the second down so I knew it was possible and just kept trying.
Backlip through the drop by Dom Dimatteo.
Really though, how does that work? Is there a certain technique you can share with us?
Everyone always says 5050's are easier on square rails, but that's definitely not true haha. On a round rail you can completely lean into the 5050 and just sit in it, but for my ender I had to jump into the second down part so I kept missing or landing in a feeble or whatever it's called haha.
I always felt the same about the round vs square rail thing. So now what's next for you?
Right now, I'm just going to keep going to school and riding a bunch. I'm about to go film the first trick for my next part today, so expect another part in a few months haha.
Ya'll need to make a Phoenix DVD. Speaking of, are there any Phoenix trips planned that you're going on?
Yea dude, i'd be hyped to film for a DVD. And I think were doing some sort of tour in SoCal for SD10, which should be rad.
I'll prob see ya down there then. Let's wrap it up. Congrats on the part and thanks for pushing scootering to a new level Tyler.
Hell yeah, hopefully i'll see you there. And thanks a lot man.
Another huge 50 by Shelby Grimnes.
And now, feast your eyes on the insanity that is Tyler Bradley.
If you needed something else to be thankful for today, Tilt released their groundbreaking full-length Tilt 2 today. I'm not really sure what more you can say about this video that hasn't been said. It has the best filming, editing, music, and of course, scootering out of any scooter video ever. So if you're a cheap ass and haven't bought a copy of the Blu-Ray, thank the scoot gods above for blessing you with this 40 minute audio/visual presentation of insanity.
The last trip UrbanArtt took for their "We Are UA" DVD project was to the country of Canada. Georgie, Le Baron, JD, Addy, and Javi were all there in Toronto and Montreal, with Roots Boy to take care of the filming/editing. This video consists of what I'm guess are scraps to show a little review of where they went and a taste of what went down. I'm super excited to see Georgie's part in the full video, and everyone else's part too.
Beau Neal is an am rider for Crisp, and Glasgow Skatepark is his local, also home to Jon Devrind. You can see the clear influence Jon has on Beau's riding in this video- plenty of long, technical combos consisting of smiths, nose manuals, barspins, etc. I'm sure he's gonna be a guy to look out for in the future if he stays under Jon's wing.
Jake Hershey, better known as White Chocolate, is one of scootering's strongest and most ubiquitous personalities. His latest endeavor is the series "A Case of the Mondaze." In these webisodes, Jake, KC Corning, and whoever else is around at the time chat about scooters or other topics while enjoying some alcoholic beverages. There's not much scooter talk in this one but I think there's a lot of potential here. Check it out.
Jarrod Whitehead was a scooter rider back in the day who personified what to me, was classic Aussie style. Big airs, footjams, steeze all around. Before trick spamming became a thing, and people cared how the trick was done, rather than what trick was done. Jarrod eventually fell out of scootering, and picked up skateboarding. Yesterday he was bombing a hill on his board, when he fell off and suffered severe head trauma. He was airlifted to a hospital in Sydney and now a friend has set up a MyCause page to ask for donations and help support his family with the medical bills. Its terrible to see any our extended scoot family get injured like this, and I hope he can make a full recovery.
Check this edit to see what this dude was throwing down back in the day-
Jasper RD was able to take a trip to Australia for the Scooter Hut Street Series and Brisbane Street Jam and over two weeks, was able to film this video. Jabba throws down with a raw style all his own. Front feeble down heel was too clean. Wallride over the bench to whip over the other bench was also super sick. Always fun to watch this dude charging.
So Tilt is finally dropping a new line of apparel. They sent team riders Dylan Kasson and Jona Humbel to the East Coast to film a promo and shoot some photos for the release. Jona unfortunately broke his ankle, as you can see, but not before he threw down some hammers. Dylan also has some classic Dylan clips, plenty of manuals and rail hops. 360 to manual all the way across that thing was completely mental.
So finally the last Intermission part drops. I'm not sure when Ian, previously being Pro for Flavor, got hooked up with Proto. I do know that he is one amazing scooter rider, and that his part is insane. Don't miss that switch 3 whip flat, or really any of this. Take it in a few time and then go watch the rest of the Intermission parts!
Chicago. You guys know it has a long history, with the Street Jam every year, Tilt and Sky High originating there, the various riders who have taken trips out there to film. But what of the actual locals? There's never really been an official "crew" outside of the Satori/Sky High teams until recently. Some Cali transplants, some migrant workers, and some younger up and comers have joined forces to create an outlet for their endeavors called Chi Guys. A few of the boys met up to cruise one night, and this is the result- highlighting the fun of the city, and introducing part of the crew. Featured riders include Christian Dean, Jack Colston, Alec Backhus, Richard Harck, and Chris Doyle.
Wow, this came out of nowhere. After dropping LUX, you'd expect the Friendly boys to chill out a bit, not go right into filming more. But here we have Aaron Bransdon of all people out with a new part in 2015. Such a pleasant surprise to see this today. Aaron's riding is so mature and defined and clearly of his own device. Fleet Foxes track makes it that much better too. As I get older I get more and more amazed at how other older riders can still come out with good video parts because it seems so difficult to do that nowadays (for me personally, at least).
Just when you're thinking "Oh Ralph got booted from Tilt he def doesn't scoot" this comes out and makes it plain he definitely still does. It's rad to see how his riding is developing these days, you can see he's still at the top of his game. No comply 180 thing he does out of the 50 might be the new Caitlyn Jenner, time will tell.
If you have a question about the site, want to suggest something to put up, or just want to yell at me for creating a blog about a kids' toy, send me an email at jordanjasa@gmail.com or tweet at me (@jordanscoots.
I especially want to hear what you guys want to see in the site, so please give me some feedback. Thanks!
