The first round of riders coming down the dippings of Tippy Top. Photo: Bandy.
What’s that you say? An outlaw series featuring five, fierce and radical runs in the heart of sultry San Francisco!? How?
San Franpsycho offers the most diverse habitat in skateboarding—on every road the terrain transforms with textures, traffic, and titillating transitions that tickle your wiggleboard pickle. This diversity fosters creativity and rugged skills as such spots are no low-hanging fruit.
Sinjin shaving off some speed before negotiating the tighty righty on Maternal Heights. Photo: Bandy.
Max Capps leading into the Shagnasty left. Photo: Bandy.
To have an outlaw race in this urban jungle we knew we’d have to assemble a crew competent, bold, and fun loving enough to tackle the task—and that’s exactly what we accomplished. 30 racers and a multitude of spectators/photographers/local lurkers piled into a caravan of U-hauls to see what sweet times were ahead of us. One cannot express the incomprehensible amount of joy aroused while jamming the hills and watching the barrage of skaters racing through traffic, stop lights, crackheads, train tracks, buses, etc. . .
Saftey meeting, and general brodown, atop Love is a Rose. Photo: Bandy.
Byron Essert, greasing the Bacon. Photo: Bandy.
Sunset Slider Road-Notes:
Maternal: Blind turns, watch for cars, pump them bumps.
Bacon: Dog leg right to testicle drop, watch out for parked cars.
Shag Nasty: Urban Irish snowball, watch for feral dogs and cars.
Love is a Rose: Float it, watch for cars, don’t trip on the light, ask Byron about flying. . .
Tippy-Top:Wow, get some with an ocean view and altitude, watch for cars.
Aaron “from the block” Grulick tearing it up down Tipppy Top. Now, say that fast ten times. Photo: Bandy.
Byron Essert, superman status. Photo: Bandy.
Yes this was a “race”, however, in true Sunset Sliders style it was a family affair—starting with a home breakfast scramble, courtesy of chef extraordinaire Dead Fred—and finishing with a proper post-shred get-down. The motto of the day were safety, team effort, and sweet time. Due to the nature of the challenge—holding 5 Chinese outlaw races in San Francisco—we took a ninja style hit-it-and-quit-it approach. Excitement was thick in the air as racers received nothing more than a brief but intimate map/safety session at the vans before assaulting the racecourse’s pavement with camaraderie and aggressive style. Hand-drawn maps were passed around while shuttling from spot to spot, and talk of traffic and perils along the path were spoken and heard.
Tomio Choy with a swooping crane rat-face combo—a very dificult move indeed. Photo: Bandy.
The heart of the matter and the crucial key-concept of having an event like this is: coming together through radness and positivity. Turning dreams into reality takes a group effort and these days one of the smartest investments you can make is in your local community. Up until now, nothing of equitable size and stealth had ever occurred in San Francisco, our city of hills. However, this healthy crew now exists because everyone involved has put in their heart to make an organism much stronger than each individual on their own.
Thanks Yvonne Byers for creating such radical trophies. Photo: Bandy.
Get out and get you some, get those around you excited, and smash some roads in a way no one else has ever thought possible—it’ll make you style harder and smile bigger!
-Dave Tannaci
The Sunset Sliders Scramble Video:
Special thanks goes out to: Caliber Truck Co., Divine Wheels, California Bonzing Co., Never Summer Industries, SOMOS, and Purple Skunk Skate Shop.
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