Everyone come to the Saturday Sessions!! Free fun for ALL riders of ALL skill levels…riders meet EVERY Saturday at noon at the Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver from now until Danger Bay!!
Well it seems the stoke and growth of the community are still growing in Vancouver. For the last Saturday of November, I missed my first Saturday Session in two years and had North Van locals Deepcove Blake and Dano take the reigns. It was wet and cold – two elements that tend to keep the riders at home – and yet 25 riders still showed up to terrorize neighborhoods with smiles from ear to ear!! Two years ago, we’d be lucky to fill a car in these conditions. At this astronomical rate of growth, could the Saturday Sessions face challenges similar to Danger Bay?
As many know, the Sessions were cancelled last spring to the large numbers drawing too much heat. A few mitigating precautions have been taken this winter in hopes to prevent conflicts with the police and while I hope for continued growth and stoke, I feel the pressure of the growing pains and some of their possible effects on the sport. A balance, I believe, for the right lights (attention from media as opposed to attention from the police) will be difficult to achieve but IS possible with the right people continuing to lead the way and the rest of the pack following in a respectful wake.
So I got my first skateboarding ticket – mailed to me – and I wasn’t even skateboarding!! We had a large crowd out and a bylaw officer received a complaint about people skateboarding in West Vancouver so she showed up to the spot where we had spotters, helmets and respect. We left when asked and moved to another area of Greater Vancouver and a few of the drivers (myself included) received a ticket in the mail ten days later on the basis that our vehicles were there (she took our plates), therefore we must have been skateboarding. It proves you can’t win them all!! Even fighting the ticket sets me behind from not having received one. Nonetheless, everyone had a blast that day and like Kevin says, a skating ticket is like a day pass on the ski hill!!
Aside from that, I’ve been toying with a few ideas for the Sessions to keep the heat off and have narrowed down a new format to a few options (segregating vs. themed sessions), which I’ll be talking over with a few people who’s opinions I respect and will make a decision from there. Nothing’s as good as what we’ve got now – everything for everyone – but we have to preserve our sport and our spots as they’re not going anywhere and neither are we!! Keep your eyes peeled here or on Coast for the new format, to come…
I just got back from this week’s Session where Adam acted as guest leader as we hit up a different-than-usual area of Vancouver – an area that he’s familiar with. It was a wicked session: the weather was JUST above freezing and the clouds were releasing their fury on us (we saw a mix of sleet and rain the entire time we were outside), yet that didn’t stave off the numbers as over 20 of us came out and took over the roads of a military defense base for a while. Just as we were calling it quits, we got the boot from the uniformed locals and we headed up to higher elevation that proved to be a bust with the snow, ice and slush all over the road. Given that we were all soaked and cold, we then commuted to Coast’s longboard centre where we remained until the numbers started to dwindle and my carload called it quits for the day.
This Session brought back my strongest memories of the old Saturday Sessions with the stoke of the sport convincing riders to fight the elements and thrash away in their own styles. This season has been particularly different than previous seasons, however, as our numbers have been amplified as the Vancouver scene has grown substantially over the past few years and the snowball effect that stoke seems to have has riders coming in droves. Seeing all the up and comers progressing and excelling in their own ways and styles is really interesting to view and I am eager to see how they fare in the coming years.
So I posted up about three months ago in part about that skateboarding ticket I had mailed to me. I sent in my dispute the next day and the “two to four week process” took three months, inclusive of continual hounding from my end. The hounding and follow up, however, DID pay off as I received verbal confirmation today (after yet another call into them) that they’ve voided my ticket. Thanks for letting me know eh? Anyways, it’s a small victory but a victory nonetheless. Stick it back at them!!
The two other disputed tickets were dropped in the same week as mine. One other ticket went to collections; the rest were paid.
It’s weird to think that it’s the middle of June and the majority of the race season, at least for me, is over with only Ride the Giant and Maryhill FOS left on my list of places to hit. The bottom line is it’s going to be a kickass summer hereon in for hitting what I want when I want to. With the previous races just behind me, I’ve got many wheels to turn to dust and I’m looking forward to it!! Maybe I’ll learn how to post pics of my oncoming adventures on here… Stay tuned!!
November 21, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Write something Mike!
November 28, 2008 at 2:01 am
Okay I’ll bite.
Everyone come to the Saturday Sessions!! Free fun for ALL riders of ALL skill levels…riders meet EVERY Saturday at noon at the Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver from now until Danger Bay!!
December 3, 2008 at 3:35 am
Well it seems the stoke and growth of the community are still growing in Vancouver. For the last Saturday of November, I missed my first Saturday Session in two years and had North Van locals Deepcove Blake and Dano take the reigns. It was wet and cold – two elements that tend to keep the riders at home – and yet 25 riders still showed up to terrorize neighborhoods with smiles from ear to ear!! Two years ago, we’d be lucky to fill a car in these conditions. At this astronomical rate of growth, could the Saturday Sessions face challenges similar to Danger Bay?
As many know, the Sessions were cancelled last spring to the large numbers drawing too much heat. A few mitigating precautions have been taken this winter in hopes to prevent conflicts with the police and while I hope for continued growth and stoke, I feel the pressure of the growing pains and some of their possible effects on the sport. A balance, I believe, for the right lights (attention from media as opposed to attention from the police) will be difficult to achieve but IS possible with the right people continuing to lead the way and the rest of the pack following in a respectful wake.
December 17, 2008 at 6:40 am
So I got my first skateboarding ticket – mailed to me – and I wasn’t even skateboarding!! We had a large crowd out and a bylaw officer received a complaint about people skateboarding in West Vancouver so she showed up to the spot where we had spotters, helmets and respect. We left when asked and moved to another area of Greater Vancouver and a few of the drivers (myself included) received a ticket in the mail ten days later on the basis that our vehicles were there (she took our plates), therefore we must have been skateboarding. It proves you can’t win them all!! Even fighting the ticket sets me behind from not having received one. Nonetheless, everyone had a blast that day and like Kevin says, a skating ticket is like a day pass on the ski hill!!
Aside from that, I’ve been toying with a few ideas for the Sessions to keep the heat off and have narrowed down a new format to a few options (segregating vs. themed sessions), which I’ll be talking over with a few people who’s opinions I respect and will make a decision from there. Nothing’s as good as what we’ve got now – everything for everyone – but we have to preserve our sport and our spots as they’re not going anywhere and neither are we!! Keep your eyes peeled here or on Coast for the new format, to come…
January 11, 2009 at 3:00 am
I just got back from this week’s Session where Adam acted as guest leader as we hit up a different-than-usual area of Vancouver – an area that he’s familiar with. It was a wicked session: the weather was JUST above freezing and the clouds were releasing their fury on us (we saw a mix of sleet and rain the entire time we were outside), yet that didn’t stave off the numbers as over 20 of us came out and took over the roads of a military defense base for a while. Just as we were calling it quits, we got the boot from the uniformed locals and we headed up to higher elevation that proved to be a bust with the snow, ice and slush all over the road. Given that we were all soaked and cold, we then commuted to Coast’s longboard centre where we remained until the numbers started to dwindle and my carload called it quits for the day.
This Session brought back my strongest memories of the old Saturday Sessions with the stoke of the sport convincing riders to fight the elements and thrash away in their own styles. This season has been particularly different than previous seasons, however, as our numbers have been amplified as the Vancouver scene has grown substantially over the past few years and the snowball effect that stoke seems to have has riders coming in droves. Seeing all the up and comers progressing and excelling in their own ways and styles is really interesting to view and I am eager to see how they fare in the coming years.
March 17, 2009 at 3:49 am
So I posted up about three months ago in part about that skateboarding ticket I had mailed to me. I sent in my dispute the next day and the “two to four week process” took three months, inclusive of continual hounding from my end. The hounding and follow up, however, DID pay off as I received verbal confirmation today (after yet another call into them) that they’ve voided my ticket. Thanks for letting me know eh? Anyways, it’s a small victory but a victory nonetheless. Stick it back at them!!
May 7, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Mike,
Good for you.It’s nice to hear when small battles like this are won.
How did the other guys with tickets do?
Steve
Fresno,Ca.
June 17, 2009 at 4:27 am
Hey Steve,
The two other disputed tickets were dropped in the same week as mine. One other ticket went to collections; the rest were paid.
It’s weird to think that it’s the middle of June and the majority of the race season, at least for me, is over with only Ride the Giant and Maryhill FOS left on my list of places to hit. The bottom line is it’s going to be a kickass summer hereon in for hitting what I want when I want to. With the previous races just behind me, I’ve got many wheels to turn to dust and I’m looking forward to it!! Maybe I’ll learn how to post pics of my oncoming adventures on here… Stay tuned!!