Coast to Coast

This weekend I'm doing the Coast to Coast ride which runs across the North of England from

Workington on the Cumbrian coast to Tynemouth on the North Sea coast. I think its 147 miles in total and I'll be doing the ride in 3 days so long as the weather stays fine!
I've set up a Just Giving page which will be active 6 months after the ride is complete and I would be grateful if you can sponsor me with anything you can. I'm doing the ride in aid of Motor Neuron Disease Association in memory of my grandad Joseph Bowman.

You can donate direct on the Just Giving page here

Thanks.

More trails progress

Its a nice ride to the spot, but a total mission from my house!

2nd lip gets rebuilt

Wally's £20 shovel complete with 15 year guarantee, snapped within 15 seconds

2nd landing taking shape

The sceninc route home takes in Deleval Hall..

4 pack just about done, its coming together nicely..

I can't wait for this album

Hanson Little

I like this video, blasting down hills and jumping kerbs in the sun- good times.

Work in progress..

Darryl Tocco Oz edit

Darryl has some sick skills, that toboggan off the rail is a treat.

Killingworth Street mission

It had been a while since I had ridden Killy, mainly because a few of the better spots were now either unrideable or gone altogether. There are still a few half decent spots to be had though and they are all fairly close to one another. Me, Jo Oliphant, Wicked Jo and Richo headed up there the other day to see whats what. We parked up in the town centre and rode the super steep flat bank just next to Morrisons.

Wallride by Jo

We went over the road to try and get into the High School which has a few stair sets and flat rails but unfortunately the gates were locked and the security has certainly been beefed up since last time we were here, there was no way in that didn't involve big spiky fences and CCTV.
Killingworth has a lot of banked subways all around the town so we set off to find some decent ones to ride.

We tried riding this one but with no boards or anything the kink at the bottom it was impossible! It would be sweet with a bit of wood or concrete to soften the blow.

The next thing we rode was this weird mini humpback bridge in a housing estate. Some local mutant was giving us the evil eyeball for awhile but didn't say anything so we rode it for a bit longer before moving on.

Above and below, Jo boosts over some trolls

Jo bridge T-bog

After that we found one of the better subway bank setups in the area and sessioned that for a while, the banks are nice and steep and fun to ride.

Local artwork

Joe and Richo enjoying the sun

After that Wicked Joe gave Richo back to Pizza Hut on the condition he gave him a cheap pizza in return and myself and Jo went to ride the slippy but fun outdoor park at Burradon.

JDM Allstars Weekend

The weekend has passed but I am still knackered from it all, good fun was had by all I think. The event was mainly for Drifting but with a BMX jam and some Moto X thrown in for good measure. I got down to the event pretty early on Saturday morning and helped Tom Kirkby out a little bit setting up and then had a little go of the ramps. There was a lot of hype surrounding the event regarding the ramps as they had been billed at the Backyard ramps so people were expecting a sick course. It turned out this was a load of crap but Fearless were drafted in to build the course and it turned out OK. At one end there was a 5ft and 7ft quarter side by side leading into a 5ft Jump box and street spine with a quarter to quarter wall ride with a flat bank in the middle. There was also a flat ledge to the side of the course as well.
The morning was to consist of an AM under 18's comp and I was surprised to see so few kids turn up, only 3 lads ended up entering so they all ended up winning prizes. Lil' Dom ended up the overall winner with his high tables and turndowns. After the AM comp there was a best trick competition on the flat ledge and a number of good moves went down but it was Pete Greaves who we decided should be the winner as his trick was the most original. His crossbar held icepick grind or 'fish slice' for short won him a handful of prices for his efforts. The weather was a bit hit and miss today and when it was windy it was cold as fuck, a short rain shower was the temptation a lot of us needed to retreat to the nearby ale house for an hour.
There was a number of Pro riders turned up for the event but I'm not sure if there was even a pro comp in the end? Everyone seemed happy to just chill and ride if they wanted though. At around 4 or 5 it started to wind down so we all headed back to Kirkbys to chill and get washed and what not before the night out. There was 4 crates of Magners on the go so we drank as much of that as possible before the taxis came at 8pm. The party was at Camp David and after that most people headed to Cosmic Ballroom to dance the night away, from what I can remember it was a good night!
Sunday was a slow day, I didn't get up till around 2pm so by the time I got down to the event it was nearly over. Apparently everyone else was pretty hungover too so not much went down but the weather was a lot better. I headed down to the coast for a BBQ to round off a great weekend.

Pete Greaves with the fish slice!

Ben Hennon nose manual

Mute icepick grind

Hang 10 from Bruiser I think

Beanbag lauch session

Lil' Dom turndown air

Overview of the course

Dyno wallride

The Redbull DJ truck which was pumping DMX and Limp Biscuit out all weekend..

Crew Chilling out on the beanbags

Ben Hennon wall tap

Rain showers forced an early trip to the Tyne Bar on saturday afternoon

Chris Lee's patchwork crotch

Some of Byker's finest decided to watch the show from the trees, "ney way I'm payin 10 quid" one was quoted as saying

Pete Greaves and Cooper with the drift king!

Not sure whats going on here?!

Ben Hennon massive wallride to no-hander