Metalbmxgirl and TwoBobRobs Roadtrip

[TwoBobRob]

So after a little consultation with Generallee, we set off last week for wee Cornish roadtrip (sort of).

Day 1.  Essex.  Made our way up to Saffron Walden and met up with Jedi and a couple of his mates. Very nice new concrete park consisting of 3 bowls, all different, 2 with steel coping and one with traditional coping stones.  To be honest, I wasn't really feeling it and after a few carves around and the odd nibble I retired to ice my knee. Lola loved the place and had a great time whizzing round the large bowl and practicing her fakies. Jedi rode well all afternoon and finished the session off with a tidy disaster/disaster/tyretap combo in the pool.  From there we travelled on to check out Great Dunmow, a metal skatepark laid out in a back and forth style built by my old firm, Fearless Ramps. Nice shapes and sizes, but to be fair coming from Saffy it looked a little dated in design.  Day 1 - done.

Day 2.  Sussex/Hampshire.  Crawley skatepark first, a large modern concrete park with a wooden jumpbox tacked on the end oddly. By the time we got there it was swarming with kids so we decided to spectate for a hour and save the ride for the return leg of our trip.  From there we went on to Chandlers Ford and found the park there. This place is more like my image of a modern facility, comprising of a cool concrete bowl and a modular metal park which had a hipped mini ramp, volcano and a few bits of streety stuff. The beauty of this being the park could be revamped in the future   

Day 3.  Hampshire/Cornwall.  Rode the Chandlers Ford park, which I really enjoyed. Had a good time jumping hips and manualling around the place. This time it was Lolas turn not to feel it, so after a few carves around  the bowl we called it a day and got on the road. Got down to Hayle and found the park, got our bikes out and had a night time carve around the park and a little street session in a local car park.

Day 4.  Cornwall.  Hayle park is a cool place. designed by a local surfer and structural engineer this place is every bit as good as an american park but on much smaller scale, built for a fraction of the usual costs. It consisted of two bowls, one fairly conventional, rectangular with bowled corners, and the other much more elaborate with varying walls, corners and hips and a very nice over vert section in a clamshell shape. Lola loved this place, carving ever faster and going ever higher up around the clamshell. I did a few small airs, jumped the hip of the roll in and gave up after failing to pull a fairly simple 360 tap over the top of the roll in bank grrrr........ From there we travelled on to Treneere, the site of another park built by the Hayle team. This place suited me better for some reason and I had a ball flying round the place and even nicking a canadian nosepick on the side of the roll in bank.

Day 5.  Cornwall/Devon.  Back to Hayle for a farewell session, Lola went higher than ever around the clamshell, carrying enough speed to loft a little jump up the roll in slope. After chickening out the day before, I finally jumped across the roll in bank. We said our goodbyes and headed off to Tuckingmill, the site of the first park built by the Hayle team. This is a much smaller affair consisting of two very basic bowls and a couple of street obstacles. The place was a bit neglected with a fair anount of rocks and debris lying in the bowls. I had a little manual round the place and jumped a little dirt double that the locals had dug nearby - a first for me. We then set out attention on a gap for Lola. There is a flatbank there which turns into a 4 step with rail, then on to a larger 2 step with coping, all at the same height. Perfect. We started off with her jumping the flatbank over and over until she was clearing the whole thing to flat, then we moved across to the 4 step which she nailed first time, then onto the 2 step with the added bonus of a coping to pop off. Again, she cleared it clean first time. Job done, happy days.  Back in the van and off to Saltash park in Devon. Another place I really liked the feel of, this has conventional ramps in conventional positions, but all made from concrete. A bowled corner and bank area finished the park off. Not Lolas cup of tea, I rode the spine ramp, jumped the little baby funbox and entertained her with an oldschool 540 kickturn and rollback to 540 revert. Those were the days..... jumpers for goalposts.....

By unhappy coincidence, I had a friend in Plymouth hospital awaiting a small heart proceedure so the decision was made to forgoe our return trip to Crawley and spend some time visiting my buddy in the hozzy. With that done it was the long haul home and back to the humdrum of 'normal' life.

Over the course of the trip, Lola's riding just got better and better as her confidence increased and it won't be long at all before she's linking lines and looking for stuff to hit   

So that was that, my knee held up ok and although extremely weak it's showing promise. I haven't really tested it yet, haven't bailed or slammed yet, but on the whole - looking good.

Neither of us wanted to come home, the weather was perfect, the parks were good, people were cool and there seemed to be more reasons to carry on travelling than not to.  Post roadtrip blues I suppose. 

Looking forward to another this year, probably travelling north   


Here's a couple of short vids, first one - the big Hayle bowl;    http://media.putfile.com/Lola-at-Hayle

This one - Treneere or Camborne as its also known;   http://media.putfile.com/Lola-at-Treneere

[xchainxofxstrengthx]

I got some little vids and a few pics to add to that 

All ready to go on our Road trip



A couple of pit stops so Rob could have a short nap as the journey was very long, on one stop on layby i did some tire slides.



Trenerre



Saltash



Hayle my fav 



Small vid clip of me bunny hopping some traffic cones i found on our midnight ride

<embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i261.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid261.photobucket.com/albums/ii72/xchainxofxstrengthx/MOV00376.flv">

Rob doing a very very very long manual

<embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i261.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid261.photobucket.com/albums/ii72/xchainxofxstrengthx/MOV00385.flv">

I had the best time in a very long time, hopefuly be down that way again maybe for old fools  xo

[JT71]

awesome dude.

Twobob: good to see you back in the saddle. hope you can make the novice night as a sensei.

Lola: looking good, your progression is wicked, putting me to shame, I need to f***ing ride more.

I really want to ride that concrete park in the first vid, when it's empty like that.

when's the next trip?


 

[2020mad]

cool, like joe said let us know when you are heading north and if you both need somewhere to crash and a bit of brekkie in coventry you're more than welcome in for exchange for a bit of coaching 

[harris]

nice one you pair  road trips rule  look like some very nice spots and great to travel about hitting new stuff
glad the knee help up rob and lola great to see you improving   

[Lazarou]

What they said.

[jedi]

was cool to ride with you!   

[QUADROPHENIA]

cool parks, sounds as tho you had a good time, never noticed rob looking so cute and cuddly before, looks like a baby shrew

[lazychubs]

nice one you two and ya deffo got better lola 

[priv]

top work you two

this is why most log on to rad


priv

[Flatcap]

Looking forward to another this year, probably travelling north

YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE!  And you know you're both welcome at mine. 

Good stuff both of you, glad you had a cool time.

I'm doing a work/road trip combined thingy next week which I'm looking forward to. Up in the North East so I'm crashing at Dave Young's and Dave, Macky and myself are going for a couple of sessions, on the bike that is before anyone gets the wrong idea 

Daz.

[TwoBobRob]

Hehehe.......


Cheers buddy, we'll take you up on that for sure.

Enjoy your trip 

[Gary72]

Good times, Rob you video links still dont work for me.
I made it to Dunmow today, hurt my shoulder, didn't crash just seemed to have trapped a nerve, I think I jarred it trying to clear the platform on the mini landed back wheel on the platform and front wheel off. Did make it afterwards
Was supposed to be going back tommorow and then onto Saffy for the first time

[jedi]

get to saffy tomorrow.you'll be fine!

[Gary72]

get to saffy tomorrow.you'll be fine!

It hurts to drive, got my bike out when I got home and rode up and down the street pulled a wheelie up the kerb and it hurt like hell and only my left arm seemed to work, nearly went over the bars

[lazychubs]

should have come rom gary ya could have see this bloke elbow bone poking out lol
was good to see rob riding today .seemed wierd at first
but cool as hes still smooth as silk

[jedi]

i prescribe beers and some sleep then it'll be fine!

[TwoBobRob]

Gary, for some reason one of my Putfile links won't show up as a hyperlink, you'll have to copy and paste it into the browser....  Should be ok though, works for me  


Sounds like a good tweak of the old shoulder there bud, take it easy  

[TwoBobRob]

Cheers Chubs, but I'm gonna have to stay off my bike for a while I think. My knee ain't quite ready yet - got it in ice at the moment 

[PK RETRO]

Great read, vids and pics are brill !!!  

[jedi]

healing vibes twobob!

[Gary72]

Had the last beer in the fridge the other night,   (Jack and Dr.Pepper it is then)
Rhys only managed to get to Dunmow today as it is almost on the way to the Father in Law
Rob that manual in Lola's vid looks great, front wheel high and not just 6 inches off the floor
Will give it a miss tommorow as racing at the weekend and Creation is only 13 sleeps away

[lazychubs]

yeah take it easy
and just got back from riding to me mates need to pull bars back a tad more
as manuals dont feel right and nearly backflipped jumping the speed humps down me rd lol

[rarman1]

looks like a great time was had, some of the parks out there look fantastic

[oberonspacefruit]

I'd expect no less.