We wake up and gather the troops. We first are going by Activision to tour it, and meet the crew that’s putting my new game together. We get there and get a little pre occupied with a golf cart that was left abandoned in the parking lot, or so I thought. After a few power slides and speed bump jumps I find out it belongs to the security guard patrolling the Activision parking lot. Oops. Not the best way to start off our tour, but on we go. We get into the building and this place isn’t kidding around. It’s big time! As we are walking through the studios I randomly look back to make sure the crew is still following. Most of the time a few of the posse was on the floor wrestling and knocking things over. Oops. We must have got the special pass, because all the workers just tolerated it. It was a crazy scene because we met many people who have got to know us through our animations, but this was the first time we met in person. The tour went well and nothing major was broken, so we wrap it up and go on to riding.
We split up into a street posse and a vert posse. Rooftop, Nate Wessel and Chad Kagy go searching for some street riding spots. Kevin Robinson, Simon Tabron and I go down to Vista to see Bob Burnquist's backyard ramp a.k.a the "New Millennium Chin" ramp. When we got there I felt like the Bones Brigade must have felt in the “Search for Animal Chin” video. This ramp is amazing. I don’t think that even does it justice. This ramp was a piece of art. I was nervous to drop into it just because I didn’t want to mess anything up.
I get my bike and notice I left my pads at Cory’s house. Great. Luckily Bob had a bucket of random pads underneath his roll in. I find a pair of knee pads that will work, but my skin is going to be my only protection for my elbows. Well, it’s worth the sacrifice.
This ramp has 11’ tranny’s with two feet of vert (perfect). The side across from the roll in had a nice 60’ wall. The roll in was about 8’ above the deck with a nice platform you could get a good crank off of before you drop down it. This made for 10+ first wall airs. That’s the best way to enter a vert ramp! On one end of the pipe there is a capsule. It’s an over vert ¾ tranny that you could carve into and go upside down and then shoot out back into the ½ pipe. I was checking it out trying to figure out what line to use to go through the capsule as I see Bob Burnquist come charging at it on his bike and busts it out perfect. It’s obvious Bob’s got some bike roots! It took me a while to get it down because I couldn’t adjust my speed without brakes to hit it right, but eventually I figure it out. On the other end it elevates into about a 7 foot mini ramp hipped out of the vert section and bowled at the end. Wow.
We all get padded up and drop in. We got there late, so we only have about an hour and a half to squeeze a session in. It was amazing. Kevin was doing huge flairs over the 6’ canyon, and then did a perfect no handed flair over it.
Tony Hawk showed up to get a quick session in and Bob started skating. Bob comes from another planet, and after Tony’s warm up runs I wanted to put a gold medal around his neck.
It was the last stop on the tour and none of us had the intension of playing it safe. Tomorrow is a day we can heal... Simon warmed up with a 900. What? Yeah, he was on a mission, and he knew what he had to do to get himself in the mood. He landed the first one like it was a normal air, with a beautiful spin, but was a little off balance in the flat bottom and slid out. He got back up and threw another one and rode out perfect, but that wasn’t enough. Today was the day he wanted to see if he could pull a flair off. …13 foot tall ramp, never pulled one before, the light is starting to shadow, and he has only been riding about 20 minutes. The next thing you know he’s upside down, but misses his spot and slams. He’s still able to walk, so he gets back up and throws another one down, but is a little to heavy on the vert, over rotates and takes a major slam. He didn’t get up this time.
…now it was my turn. The ramp was getting shadowy and my depth perception was suffering. The next thing I know I’m waking up on the bottom of the ramp. I can’t figure out how to get out of this deep abyss, and why I don’t have elbow pads on. Kevin came running down, and showed me the way out as the sun was setting.
We all went big and now were going home.
Thank you Activision for making it so I could organize and go on such a relaxed tour all on our terms. A thanks goes out to Simon Tabron, Kevin Robinson, Rick Thorne, Rooftop, Butcher, Nasty, Kagy, Seth Kimbrough, Rueben, Nate Wessel for kickin’ ass. And thanks Bryan Baxter, Steve Swope, Mike Collins, Page Hussey, April and the rest of the HB posse for helping making this happen. Thanks Ryan Young and Stew Johnson for doing such a great job filming and provoking. Thanks Mark Losey for all the bad jokes. Thanks Jesse for shooting 16mm and Thanks Brian Bright for making such kick ass games. Thanks Bob Burnquist, Dennis McCoy, Pat Miller and all the parks for letting us ride. Thanks Jones Soda and Peter Van Stolk for loaning us your RV. And here’s a shot out to Sweet P Frank for letting us benefit from your RV skills. I’m not sure how you pulled off some of those drives, but I’m still alive, so I won’t question it. Thank you all.
It was an amazing tour with some amazing riders, but now I’m going home.
-Mat
Related Photos:
Mat Hoffman's Stealth Tour - Texas
Simon Tabron: 900
Hoffman Stealth Tour - The Sessions
Hoffman Stealth Tour - The Participants
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