WORDS Pete Eubank ART Kris Haro
If I asked you what the top 3 skate spots in your area are you could name them off in order, tell me why, and all your friends would agree. Those are your destination spots—the spots that dreams are made out of—the ones you’ll drive out of the way to skate because they are fast, technical, safe, hassle-free, and always radical. That being said, in between wherever you are currently and your top spots, there are bound to be numerous lesser-spots with hidden booty just waiting to get scooped up by you and your crew. The 20-piece chicken nugget question is: should ya stop and explore along the way?
When I lived in sunny Southern California I could always find someone to skate spots we rated on the Shredready Scale between the 9’s and 10’s, but many would not even consider ripping the middling 7’s, and considered them below their efforts. The way I see it though is that there are two distinct perspectives on this tequila-sunrise-surmise, and let me describe, not the idea directly, but rather via the type of persons who make these choices so as to better illustrate it, conceptually.
Option one is of refined taste. You are a skater who has been “through the wringer” and have spent your time skating shitty spots that make you want the whole enchilada without the risky side-plate. When you head out to skate you have a clear image of the experience you are desirous to realize. Skateboarding exists, for you, in predetermined spots since you regard these as the only ones worth the effort and risk. Your life is about discretion, taste, and style. You are not dicking around. You walk up and drop into the deepend and kick full-bore into every mountain road. In short, you know what you like and why you like it and fuck right the hell off if you think differently.
Option two reflects more of the enthusiastic puppy dog type. In route toward your ultimate destination spot you would rather actually skate to there rather than drive there—no matter the mileage. For you, any and all red curbs have a target on ‘em, any incline is worth a speed test, and any corner is worth a slash and hopefully a scrub of ‘thane. You are the guy in the car wearing all your gear already, with board in hand, shouting at the driving enthusiastically stop here! at every feature. Often times you are the most stoked of the bunch. Your creativity explodes on every spot. You may not be the fastest, boost the highest airs, or grind the longest, but you are the rider doing nose pick to jelly rolls on the gas station curb while the team fills up the gas tank and sparks that umpteenth spliffer.
I ride the lightning somewhere in between these two personas. In my younger days I was more of a puppy dog, but now I feel a bit more sharpened and refined. I setup my day of skating based on the top spots I want to hit during a session. Notable adventures that fall in between are put on the list. If conditions are good I will hit anything in between the 9’s and 10’s because I simply trust it as an exercise of creativity more than futility. Skating the lesser spots challenges the mind and can enhance the shredperience and sprinkle the session with the hidden fairy-dust of otherwise missed opportunities of playful fun. Our discussion today has two extremes and leaves an open spectrum in between . . . where do you fall within this revolving and evolving scope?
-Pete Eubank
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