I rode my BMX bike! Holy crap. Four months without a BMX is over.
The 25 lb monster is easy to throw around and knew all the same tricks that I do. I didn't really want to warm up on a six-foot mini, but that's where Max took me. I tried out the new Orkus park here in Montreal, and found the experience to be expensive. The park is mostly wedges, plus a vert ramp and a six foot mini with seven foot extensions (connected by downhill coping which is quite fun). So, good enough, but not great. I prefer Ugly Ass Bikes HQ.
I was charged $15. I was asked by the park owner when I was leaving for a review. I told him it was a nice, clean park, made for skateaboarders, that is too expensive. He then told me that I wasn't supposed to pay, and that the cashier messed up. Evidently, the positions have been reversed over the last six years and Max now has the pull I used to (two years ago, I convinced another skatepark to give us both year passes), and now being Max's buddy gets me in. I told him that if he gave me a free pass for next time and thought about putting in the computer that I don't pay anymore that I'd be OK. So that's what he did.
My feeling on this new park is that I will go as long as it is free. I'd rather give my money to Liam at UABHQ. However, does my attending the park for free help to legitimize it? And does it look like I approve of the place? That I patronize it? My commitment is to UABHQ. So the question is, much like with free clothes, is it really free if I am promoting something in exchange. I wear Etnies clothes because they are free. But I am a walking billlboard. Does using a skatepark that I'm really not down with really mean that I'm being used? Heck yeah! That's how it works. Whatever subcultural capital that I have gets rubbed off on the skatepark (Wade approves), and all it costs them is to let me in for free. That's the real sell out.
