By: Brian Hinckley
Late January
So Mark Hilson invited Cody Wells, Sean Tomason, Alex Steel, and I on a short little road trip. Fit/S&M were having a dealer appreciation session/party at Ray's skatepark in Ohio and Mark as a S&M dealer got the invite. We planned to meet up with the rest of the Undercover skatepark crew who were already in Ohio on their own trip.
It was a very long and uneventful drive to Ohio. About 15 minutes before we got to Ray's, Mark whips out three cans of this diabetic heath shake and says... "If it makes diabetic people normal, It should make me like, kick ass!" Everyone was pretty overwhelmed when we got to Ray's. It is such a huge place, so much stuff to ride. It's basically like an amusement park for bikes.
Riding at Ray's was a blast. S&M/Fit where there showing off new products and dishing out pizza and soda. Getting to meet Chris Moeller was awesome. And they even raffled of a ton of shirts, dvds, parts, and two frames.
After a long night of shredding, it was time to head back. But not before we got gas... The gas station we stoped at was super sketchy. I went inside to use the bathroom to find that they didn't have one. When i came outside there was some cracked out homeless dude pumping gas into Alex's van. I looked at Alex and mouthed the words "what the fuck?" he then said "I have no idea." The next 15 minutes were spent trying to get this tweaked out guy away from the van. The dudes at the station suggested we just kick his ass. hmmm. Cody was getting pretty scared, then he remembered he was wearing a fitted hat in the ghetto and proceded to take it off and hide it. Mark finally got him to stop by offering him $2 and telling him we called a bunch of bitches to go hang with him at his crib. Seemed to work. The guy wanted more money but we just took off.
The entertainment on the way back consisted of Cody twitching in his sleep, putting DEA sticker all over ever truck stop, and Mark telling past stories of fun things he has down with human shit. And thats about it! Good times! I took some photos, check them out below...
Mark couldn't handle the excitement of the drive to Ohio.
We met up with Robert, Zach, Jake, and Chris at Ray's.
Ray's is a really crazy park, this giant berm is a good example of why.
Jake getting rad on the last box before the berm.
Zach with some trails style in the middle of winter.
Chris with a perfect toboggan.
Jake seemed to really enjoy the trails section.
Zach and Robert training.
More examples of how weird and fun Ray's is.
Chris taking a foot off.
Mark was having a blast in the foam pit.
...and having a blast with the foam too.
Alex cranking a 360 x-up.
I bet this will be on myspace shortly... go comment it!
Alex learned flips.
Mark showing everyone how to do a flip "It's like pulling the sheets over your head!"
Mark whipping.
Sean was pissed at the lack of stuff to grind at Ray's.
Alex with another flip.
More weird terrain.
Jake carving the shit out of the berm.
Zach won a new stem from S&M, Mark checking it out.
Alex jumping the huge box.
Cody doing what he does best!
Alex cranking an x-up. Red Bull is stoked.
More fun stuff to ride!
Cody took a break from twitching in his sleep to to a table over this box.
Random grafitti photo.
When I was at Ray's like 3 years ago I put this EXPO sticker on this banner, still hanging in there!
I managed to snap a photo of the guy pumping gas into Alex's van. Didn't want to agrivate him with the flash though. haha