Saturday, 14 February 2015

Jordan Thackeray - New Empire Micro

Jordan Thackeray - f/s pivot
Closing for three days is not something an indoor skatepark takes lightly, especially in the midst of a British winter. But repairs to Empire's floor were necessary and quickly becoming more critical.
This closure was synchronised with the delivery of a large amount of the wood from the lost but not forgotten Zombieland Skatepark and the construction of a new micro mini to replace the very mellow, thin ramp which in my opinion was in many ways a hindrance rather than a help to newcomers to the transition

Note: I should explain at this point, as some people may be thinking "hang on, that's not news. I  skated the new ramp three weeks ago!", that my MacBook's logic board decided to throw its chips to the gulls a couple of weeks back and I've just received it back from a fortunate free repair, but that's another story. 
So this is really the first chance I've had to write this up...

The Zombie Brand boys were deep into sorting struts and marking out templates when I arrived on the second day of closure and large, deep trenches littered the floor of the park and the Empire crew were finishing off preparation of said trenches before filling commenced and Lewis furnished me with a lollypop* within a few minutes  (*Empire Skatepark standard issue construction aid #1). All was looking positive for a straightforward build.
The mezzanine's previous occupant had been taken away by a park customer so a large inviting space roused imaginative thoughts of design.
As I snapped away from a corner I noticed Lewis & Ray were getting ready to tip a bag of cement powder into a bucket. Sure that this was going to result in a dust cloud of some proportion I moved in and sat waiting for the pictures to come forth. I waited ages for the laughter, but none came. Disappointed.  
The tentatively power blended concoction was poured into the waiting gullies and levelled and full attention was then paid to the new ramp. 
After a two verses one quarter pipe building race and the flat bottom was well on the way, I left them to it.











 Although the park remained closed for a couple of days to allow the floor to set, Jordan had already got the ramp worked out and spent some time when I next visited, attacking the extension as I sat on the other side of the park.

Jordan Thackeray - b/s boneless 


Jordan Thackeray - nose pick 
Jordan Thackeray - ollie






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