The Mountain and Wave

Got on a flight from San Francisco to Beijing that had so many skaters on board it looked like it was a chartered jet. Who would summon such a crew across the world? Woodward Skate Camp and their first international installation: Woodward Beijing. We have heard a lot of good things about this place and seen some photos of it under construction, so there was a genuine excitement “in the air.” Among the invitees were Ryan Sheckler, Aaron “Jaws” Homoki, Riley Hawk, David Loy, Neal Hendrix, Curren Caples, Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Zared Bassett, Joey Brezinski, Ryan Decenzo, Zach Miller, Corey Duffel, Juergen Horwarth and Tony Magnusson.

We landed 12 hours later and shuttled straight to the new facility, being welcomed by a giant vert ramp, amazing street plaza and a sprawling indoor facility. Jetlag was quickly forgotten and everyone started skating. Curren Caples chose one of the biggest gaps in the place as his warmup while Riley, David & Jaws worked on their Megaramp tricks into the foam pit. I might have seen Jaws try to a double backflip… or it was a beautiful mishap. Zach Miller and I found our way around the indoor skatepark, which was a daunting task. It includes a full-sized street course, 3 separate bowls connected via spines and wallrides, a foampit for launching, two mini-Megaramps, and two vert ramps with a resi-pad in between for those “softer” landings. After a couple hours of skating and delirious sweating, we went inside for a traditional Chinese buffet with dish names like “meat with pineapple” and “exploding goat.” For the record, everything tasted good and I didn’t ask too many questions.

They then brought out a cake for Neal Hendrix and me, since we arrived on our birthday. They also gave us the biggest birthday card ever. Not long after, my 2-year-old daughter passed out from exhaustion. The rest of us took her cue and went to sleep. Tomorrow we become tourists.

- Tony Hawk

Jaws, David and Riley waiting for their next flight. You can bet they are watching "The Skate Movie"

View of the street plaza from our room

My kind of place

An overview of Woodward Beijing's indoor facility

Curren Caples testing the limits of foam pit impact

Biggest mylar balloon ever, Neal Hendrix and yours truly

Tags: Featured Posts, Skate, Skate news, Tony Hawk