6 months ago, I met a guy named Thomas Hosford at Ray’s Women’s Weekend. Thomas is a frame welder from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and also happens to be a rippin’ street rider. We ended up becoming fast friends and traveled out to the ThrashBike Brooklyn Banks jam together in June. Thomas kept telling me about all the great riding in Michigan, and after I got back to Colorado, he sent me an email with photos from tons of spots in the area. And with that, I knew where my first road trip of summer ‘09 would be.
My first stop was the Davenport, Iowa public park. I’ve wanted to ride this place since I moved to Colorado, which is pretty ironic considering I grew up an hour away from this park. Anyway, I met up with my old friend Tyler Brady and we seshed the park until dark. The park itself is a concrete beauty-a large street section that flows into a huge bowl with several hips and a spine that transfers to a mini ramp and a few more hips. The city also allowed artists to come in and paint the park, and whether it was to deter gang graffiti or just make the place pretty, it’s one of the most beautiful parks I’ve ever seen.
My first stop was the Davenport, Iowa public park. I’ve wanted to ride this place since I moved to Colorado, which is pretty ironic considering I grew up an hour away from this park. Anyway, I met up with my old friend Tyler Brady and we seshed the park until dark. The park itself is a concrete beauty-a large street section that flows into a huge bowl with several hips and a spine that transfers to a mini ramp and a few more hips. The city also allowed artists to come in and paint the park, and whether it was to deter gang graffiti or just make the place pretty, it’s one of the most beautiful parks I’ve ever seen.
The next morning I took off for Cleveland. Thomas was going to meet me at Ray’s, as well as Jeff Lenosky and Joe Prisel. Ray’s just built a new dirt room, which is open during the summer, while the indoor park is closed. There are two lines of dirt jumps-one smaller set with lots of transfer options and a couple wall rides and berms, and a line of four large tables that lead into a fun left hip. After that, Ray opened up the indoor park and showed us all the new stuff going in for the upcoming season, and we rode until the wee hours of the morning.
Friday morning rolled around and Thomas and I headed north to his stomping grounds, Ann Arbor. You may recognize this as the home of the University of Michigan, and holy cow, that campus had a TON of amazing street riding. After checking out the school, we rolled over to the Ann Arbor public dirt jumps. Thomas spends a lot of time on these babies, and it shows. The park is very beginner-friendly, and several riders of various skill levels showed up while we were riding.
I had to take off for my parents’ house in Illinois the next day, but not before hitting the box jump in Thomas’s backyard. Heck yeah!
My last riding stop on this trip was St. Louis. A very dear friend of mine, Mo Malone, is a badass tattoo artist that lives in this town and I had to see her before I went back to Colorado. Mo rides bmx, so she took me to Ramp Riders park in St. Louis. I was so beat that I spent more time watching all the local rippers, but next time I swing through I really want to ride this place. With 2 different jump lines, a massive street section, and a big C-wall, this park is Missouri’s answer to Ray’s.
Much thanks to everyone who let me sleep on their couches/spare beds while I was on this trip. I had a blast!
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