__________________________________________ 
|                    |                     |
|                    |                     |
|                    |                     |
|     o   o          |                     |
|    ———————         |         |           |
|     \| /           |          \@__       |
|      |             |          |          |
|      @\            |       _/\|/|__      |
|________|___________|________9____9_______|
|                 \  |                     |
|                @/  |                     |
|              / |   |           jock.     |
|              \/ /  |              \      |
|            ———o————|               o     |
|              8   8 |               /|\   |
|                    |                |    |
|                    |            ___/_\_  |
|                    |             o   o   |
|____________________|_____________________|
 mc                                 7.28.11

Once again, thanks/apologies to Fixed Characters

Another Team Pain project in Colorado. They might as well move there, they pretty much own that state as far as skateparks go. This one is in Northglenn.

This still makes it look like it’s all going to go horribly wrong, but it doesn’t. My first thought was that this was fake, but then I got distracted by the title of the vid. Who is this Manuel?

[Source: Hellaclips] – Thanks to Estes for the tip.

Billy Meiners quickly recaps the Mt Tabor Downhill challenge after the jump. Photos by Dabe Alan.

In this installment of drive by camera phone shots, what looks like the beginnings of a miniramp being constructed in a driveway. Turns out it was for a Nike photo shoot on nearby Sauvie Island. Not a miniramp, but some sort of run up to quarter pipe with a gap. As it was a few blocks from my house and in the front yard on busy street, I had to pull over and ask what was up. The guy building seemed a little weirded out by my enthusiasm. Sure is a lot going on skateboarding wise here in and around Portland. I was just thinking about that while reading Neil’s ebay watch. Two things that came to mind when he mentioned a Mark Partain – He lives in Hood River, and Julien Stranger – He was at MC’s bowl on Saturday. Now that I think about it, Chad Vogt has a model on Portland’s M&M Skateboards too.

It may not be environmentally friendly, but it sure looks fun. Thanks to Brian Baade’s nameless friend Brian Forwood for the photo.

Mount Tabor hill in Portland is a popular downhill spot. It’s closed to auto traffic and pretty mellow on conventional once you’ve taken your first run. It’s open to foot traffic as well, but on Wednesdays it’s supposed to be specifically open for high speed travel, be it bikes or skateboards. It’s also the sight of the annual Adult Soapbox Derby, an event that doesn’t use the actual purpose-built soapbox derby track adjacent to the main downhill course. There’s a bit of a debate about off leash dogs. Portland is simultaneously progressive and very uptight at the same time. There have been some “outlaw” races on the hill, but this Saturday is supposedly the first sanctioned and permitted downhill race on Mt Tabor. The Portland Downhill Challenge will feature giant slalom and old school downhill. By “old school downhill” we’re talking late 70’s style with your feet placed almost side by side. Sounds like fun. That’s on Sunday, and the day before the promoters are sponsoring the second annual Portland Skate Scavenger Hunt.

You’re looking at massive portable and reconfigurable concrete bowl made by Spohn Ranch. In much the same way that you’ve seen Tony Hawk’s metal framed vert ramp carted along in pieces to assorted demos and Boom Boom Huck Jams, except it’s concrete, and more complex. It’s a pretty amazing from a technical standpoint, something that heavy than can be set up, then torn down and transported on regular roadways, to be set up again in a different configuration. The current incarnation is still in beta. As it is now, the waterfall and intermediary walls are poured in place on each stop, but plans are to get those fabricated and surfaced for reuse as well. The rough sketch for the bowl (shallow 7′ 6″ , deep 12′) was conceived by Chris Miller before being worked over in CAD to engineer it. The individual sections are laser cut, with 3/16″ of steel between every other section. It’s supposed to be precise enough to not feel the seem on rollover. A CNC cut floor template helps everything fit together. The coping is modular as well. The goal over the next 5 years or so is to build a giant library of sections to keep it fresh.

As rad as the X-Games park looks, all these giant sports spectacles are just big business at heart. They don’t really give back to the skateboarding community in any direct fashion. At best they just pad the pockets of some of the pros on the circuit (nothing wrong with that) and lend a little bit of respectability to our public image. I’m completely in favor of corporate responsibility. Building giant temporary skateparks for single events is incredibly wasteful. I say build it and leave it, or make it portable and reusable like this one.

Check out the Portable Concrete Bowl web site or Flickr stream for more info.

ESPN has let out a few photos of the skate structure for X Games 17. They chose the now more commonplace method of pouring a concrete over a wooden substructure. This kind of facility is temporary and seemingly very wasteful, although the concrete and wood can be “recycled” into new concrete and new ramps. However, I’m pretty skeptical that they are going to store all that wood somewhere until the next time they use it. Landfill seems more likely. On the other hand, the Dew Tour is going a different route via a familiar name in precast concrete. Don’t confuse this with ordinary prefab, these massive pieces are cut with the aid of lasers and designed to be interchangeable and self aligning. The plan is to eventually build up a large library of interchangeable parts. If you’re confused about the strange look of these, then join the club. We’re supposed to get more information shortly, so stay tuned. SPeaking of the Dew Tour, I heard a rumor that PDX local Dave Tobin was being flown back to judge!