Chris Silva – LandoZine ‘05 from iccsilva on Vimeo.

A drastic jump of about 20 years from last week’s Throwback Thursday, but this is the ender part from Landozine’s 2005 release Illusion of Man, of our friend Chris Silva. Footage from back in his days of Hyper Bikes and backyard ramps.

Also in Chris Silva news, if you haven’t heard already, he has started his own small clothing brand titled Sour Fever. A small, grass roots effort, where each shirt is hand screened by Chris himself in Toronto.

I haven’t posted a Throwback Thursday piece in a while, but this should more than make up for it. Frank Krul is an Ottawa rider from way back in the day. About 8 or 9 years ago Frank got back in to riding (after getting his hands on Jay Miron’s first run custom complete Macneil bike through an airport screwup) and back in to the modern day scene here in Ottawa. He has since moved to Halifax, but recently posted a bunch of great old school photos to Facebook, and he gave me permission to post a bunch of them. He’s still has lots, so expect some more to come down the line. You can read his statement and then click below to check out the rest of the photos.

A huge part of my life was filled in by skating in the 70s/80s and and BMXing in the 80s/90s. From doing shows for Pepsi/Frito lay to doing a tour from Ontario to PEI with Boardwalk, meeting pros like Tony Hawk, riding with Dave Mirra before any of the Xgames, and practically living at Kona skatepark when I could…I present the following look into my past.
- Frank Krul

What else do you do when the sun is shining and you need to cut class? Drain a pool and shred! Ottawa in 86/87?

Thank god that Tom’s tires were white. We still had to clean the pool with acid afterwards. We had to stay under coping to avoid damage. Bummer.

Pool carve on an 86 or so Haro Master in Day-glo green.

This is probably 1990. I remember I wore those Swatch pants in the Eastern Canadian Snowboarding Championships in Hull (with an acid-wash pink Jimmy’Z t shirt). Another Haro Master bike.

Love the mullet…no seriously, better than a bald spot.

Suburban decade.

Double tailwhip….which I guess would make that a pinky squeek?

Backyard.

Lawnmower.

Kona Skatepark (Florida) with the infamous tombstone in the background. That bowl is probably 20 feet deep. This is probably 1988. GT Pro Tour, lavender Tuff wheels. Check out the Converse!

Kona…killer shorts.

On the Boardwalk East Coast tour. I did a faceplant on a wall-ride. Two watches and skate-geek attitude.

This was of course before Jeff got himself tangled up in the world of Ci-gars and could pedal fast enough to get speed to do something like this… oh those were the days…

The riding in this part is hilarious. This is exactly how I remember Rich the first time I met him. Pedal fast, huck hard, and hope for the best. Now all he does is roll around with his foot dragging on the tire. Maybe this will kick start his brain and we’ll have the old huckster back in no time.

Enjoy.

Rich Redmond with his first time doing a turndown on a quarter at East Coast Terminal (RIP) some time in 2004.

I don’t know if these photos are old enough to be considered a ‘throwback’, but in light of hearing that this spot in Jersey City, NJ has been torn down and plowed, I thought I would put up these photos I had on my computer from a trip four years ago. Click below to read more and see some more photos.

Me trying to display what little style I have over the bigger of the two pyramids.

Jeff, our host Brett, and Gobbo.

Four years ago myself (Prashant), Jeff Bedard, Leland Nightingale, and Andrew Gobbo (whom we had just met at the start of the trip) went to the NYC/NJ area for a week to ride, with very little planning done. We eventually met up with one of the most gracious hosts I’ve come across on a BMX trip, Brett. Brett lived in Hoboken, NJ and promised to show us the famous pyramids in neighbouring Jersey City. We biked past the Holland Tunnel, and eventually made it while the sun was fading, and were so excited. We had seen this spot in Animal videos, and pretty much any coverage coming out of the NJ scene area, and it definitely lived up to all the expectations I had. I remember old footage of Joe Tiseo doing some of the craziest and most creative stuff here. The spot was so good and felt like a pyramid you would find in a skatepark. We rode until we couldn’t see anymore, all the while Leland sipped from his brown bagged Colt 45, then we all danced around in excitement in the dark in an empty park, before heading back to Hoboken for the best pizza we had ever had.

It’s a shame that re-development has shut this spot down. A couple years ago I read about how they had fenced up the pyramids, and tried to make the ledges unrideable, and now it’s all gone. We didn’t get to ride it much, but I’m thankful that we at least got to sample what this famous spot had to offer.

Gobbo likes to dance anytime, anywhere.

For this installment of Throwback Thursday, I bring you a photo of Kyle Lafleur from several years ago. twisting a pretty decent one footed x-up over a barely existent box-jump at our old home park, Ryan Heights in Sudbury. For anyone who never got a chance to ride this park, it was in the middle of a super sketchy neighbourhood, and was totally run by volunteers. This photo predates Kyle’s learning of barspins, which is pretty much the only trick he ever does now. He used to be pretty good.

For this Thursday’s throwback, I dug through some old photos (physically, not digitally) to try and give you all an idea of where the Cockmaster came from. Where he learned the cock wielding skills he now flaunts.

Pictured above is Jeff in his dad’s ruthlessly green truck back in like 2001. I believe this photo was taken outside a wal-mart. I’m not really sure what we were doing there… but I’m pretty sure he fondled a mannequin in the store…

At one of the early jams in Toronto; I’m not sure if it was a Primo LaRev, or one of the first Metros; Jeff mounted this moose and changed its life forever. This was before Jeff enjoyed drinking, so this was definitely a sober mooseride.

This was at the first Primo LaRevolution we went to. And this photo is hilarious for so many reasons. Jeff, obviously on the left. With Shawn “Raisin Sack” Ball on the right, and Walter Fellbaum in the background. We were staying at Shawn’s aunt’s house in scarborough. This was shot in the morning after Walter and Jeff spent the whole night tormenting “Raisin Sack” and essentially coining the term. Despite being his family’s place, Walter and Jeff kicked him out of bed, roughed him up and then made fun of him once his tiny shrivelled balls fell out of his underwear. Useless dog. 

This photo was taken at a spot which apparently doesn’t exist anymore; and to this day I can seriously count the number of riders who do this trick on my fingers. Super badass. Miss that front peg and your fingers are toast. 

Rich with a clownside whip over the CP hip.

Chris Campbell – opposite boomerang curved wall (2003) – photo by Rich Redmond

Chris Campbell – downside fastplant at East Coast Terminal (2004) – photo by Rich Redmond