First thought…..Thank you! To the Concrete Kings and everyone else that is PushCulture. Thanks to our sponsors..Bustin, Arbor, Bern, Original, Landyachtz, and Uncle Funky’s skate shop. We couldn’t have done this without you all!

Second thought….Booyah! The first annual Concrete Kings “Mini-Bomb” was a huge success! We had 100-120 riders show up from as far as Florida and maybe even further. And as I rolled up, late as usual, I was greeted with a rolling wave of stoke and scores of eager riders ready to start. Sorry guys, we spent 30 minutes looking for a parking spot close to the after-party location….prizes and my dad’s grill were in the trunk. Also greeting me at the 116th and Broadway starting line were Columbia University students, pedestrians and even the NBC news team. I did as many greetings as I could, lined up and then my co-host/organizer Rob Rodriguez shouted go and the race was off!

The race was 6+ miles of NYC traffic surfing, pedestrian dodging, adrenaline pumping fun! The first rule of this race was…”There are no rules”. I wanted this race to represent what you would see on any given day as the Concrete Kings shred the city’s streets and that includes bypassing lights, caution signs, cops and even skitching. This too is PushCulture. Adam Crigler caught a skitch that people will  envy until the next race. The cab was waiting at the crosswalk, the lights turned green, the heavens opened up and Crigler went flying down 5th Ave doing at least 30. Awesome! He wasn’t the first or the last but it was definitely the best! After that it was a close race for second. The fastest riders in the city were there and to them six miles of pushing through the city non-stop is an everyday occurrence. But this push race is more than speed…it is about awareness, daring and natural instinct. You have to be ready for the cars that want to cut you off, the light that is about to turn red or the pedestrians that litter your path. There can be as many variables as there are people in NYC, the only thing you can do is be ready to react. This too is PushCulture.

Adam Crigler did the course in a fast 21 minutes and was rewarded with a crisp $100 and his choice of prizes. Big Up bro!!!!! Evan Armbrister really made his presence known with a strong second. Apparently he can do more than talk trash! …That might seem harsh but I bet he’s doing that crazy laugh of his right now. Do work.  Look out for this guy to do some real work in the races to come! Congrats bro and don’t get too comfortable…The Rifts Are Coming….RIFTS! (Read the blog if you don’t know what If you don’t know what I’m talking about).

No man..or woman was left behind and we waited at the Union Square until everyone crossed the finish line. Their was tons of love being spread and no drama. We left Union with crowds of people staring in amazement. Way to go Concrete Kings! The group as a whole skated a few blocks where my dad aka Bear began to grill and everyone prepared for the awards ceremony.

Finishers in order from 1-10.

Adam Crigler. Evan Armbrister. Solomon Lang(Me). Kiefer Dixon. Wilfried Bouillon. Caspar Henrici. Travis Davenport. Javon Prince Lang.  Jeff Vyain aka the wiggler. Nelson Oliver.

Video from the race and finish line are being worked out now…Thanks Jeff.

You would think that after 6+ miles of continuous kicking that the group would be ready to take it easy….not the Concrete Kings.  The only breaks were to grab a hot dog or hamburger and to listen for prizes being announced. After that it was back to skating with a few more contests yet to be held…..There was the sprint race spanning a few blocks that was won by Mike Dallas aka Diesel. The Best Trick by Wilfried Bouillon. And the Hippie Jump by Paulie Connor.

All together the day went perfectly. I can’t thank everyone enough. The Kings for representing us so well. Our sponsors for the dope schwag. Open Road for help making the awards ceremony possible. My dad for laying it down on the grill even though he had just done the race as well. And everyone who attended and made this such a wonderful experience. You are PushCulture!

Stay tuned for info on the Concrete Kings next event……”The Track Meet”.

We work hard here to make sure every customer loves their custom longboard and sometimes the days drag on and on.  As I’m leaving today after being here for a solid 12 hour workday, we got this super cool email from a recent customer.  I just wanted to throw it up somewhere because this is what its all about!

“The UPS guy walked up to my door just as i did, Holding a big box. Busted it open and there it was my beautiful strike!
Took her for a run IMMEDIATELY,
smooth ride, carves make you want to cry.
Fantastic flex thats holds me so. I need to skate more, Gotta go!
I freaking love this board.
Love,
Gregory from Colorado.”

What’s worse than a rainy day? Snow! Rain is temporary, snow is forever. Or at least it feels that way. I’m not sure how much snow we actually accumulated in NYC but it’s enough that skating will be pretty hazardous for a while. During the next few days we will go through a process of melting while the temp is barely above freezing and then an almost instant freezing, with the deadly black slush an almost constant. (For those of you who never have to leave Manhattan this doesn’t apply to you, that borough gets all the love and if you hadn’t seen it snow you might think the streets had heaters under the pavement!) For those of us that live in the best borough a.k.a. We Go Hard or anywhere not called Manhattan, we have to spend the next few days wondering why we have this feeling that we are forgetting something as we leave our apartments and exit that dreaded mass transit system. This morning I walked around my apartment an extra ten minutes before I could convince myself to leave. I told myself that it was my board I was missing but it took me a while before I was comfortable enough to leave without it. Then as I was getting off the L-train I had to do the look back check five times just to make sure I wasn’t leaving anything.

So until I can snowboard to work…snow is the enemy! Especially when referring to NYC’s Push Culture. Our boards are not accessories, they are necessities! It is not something we simply do because it is a nice warm day, this is our life! Yes it is cold but we still have to get where we are going. I assure you my board will get me out of the cold before your feet will. Yes it is cold, try throwing an extra layer on and Pushing the whole way! Note the emphasis on pushing as opposed to “cruising”, try kicking twenty times for every five second break. Ha, maybe five seconds is too much. I bet you are burning up by the time you get to your destination.

So you should understand why we are so crestfallen at the news of snow. Yes, it is nice to look at and fresh powder is awesome when you are flying down a mountain but deadly when trying to make a sharp turn. The tree I collided with after last snow is painful proof! But hold out skaters, Spring is on the way.To my fellow Concrete Kings there are always Manhattan streets and sidewalks everywhere else…just watch out for those pedestrians and snow banks!

It’s Bustin Bitches!

Recently my brother, Brian Davenport, and I spent some time in europe. We got to do a lot of great skating in a lot of great cities.  I spent most of my time in Paris, France and just like anywhere you skate for very long you inevitably meet the local skaters.  I was so lucky that a guy contacted me via my youtube page (travisdsupervilan) and told me he had seen me skating in the streets in paris and told me about the weekly board meeting for the local scene, which happened to be at the base of the Eiffel Tower.

It was a beautiful place to spend the evening, there’s  a nice small hill and lots of room for flat land fun, but more importantly about thirty skaters showed up with all different styles and boards.  Through the language barrier we managed to get a good feel about Paris longboarding; the scene, history, companies, skaters, events…….. The city is so ripe for Push Culture and I believe its just about to explode.  There are a lot of skaters but its still very unusual to run into another one on the streets.  It seems that the only thing holding back the market is retail issues.  For whatever reason sports and skate shops carry very few options of longboards and they generally start at 200 euro and do go well over 300 euro.  That exchanges to about 300 to 500 dollars for a board.  And that’s just not fair to our Euro bros and sisters.

So……long story short; I met these two guys in the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d3L5PtLBC8) that night at Trocadero.  From what I can tell Marvin Thine and Antoine Badin (aka mastaflex @ widiwici.com) are two of the most stoked riders in France!  I am happy to announce that they are going to be one of the main French connections for Bustin Boards!  We are working with them on wholesale to France right now and hope to have boards in shops by the spring.  We hope this relationship will mean that riders in France will have more choices and better prices, encouraging more skating worldwide!

Bustin International,

TravisDSuperVilan

I had told myself, no hard pushing, this isnt my race I thought.  Bum knee and too little cardio over the last couple months, didnt seem to slow me down too much…until the hill at Canal that is.  Keeping a steady medium pace, ducking through traffic, talking to riders rocking boards I had painted, all made the day just swell.  Dipping through congested rows of yellow cabs and tourist buses all while smiling for the 1000 cameras that were on Broadway that day.  Skitch a cab, skitch a bus, flirt with a pretty lady taking our picture and laugh as we blow the intersections never missing a beat.  Green light, yellow light, piiiinnnnkkkk light… solid red; didnt matter gotta push.

I hadnt had this much fun in a long time.  I hadnt been this sore since kickball season.  Sirens chirping all around and Nick keeping his head on a swivel.  Calling out and working as a team to avoid bacon all while weaving this intricate pattern through the hustle midday traffic.  I remember laughing while the burn really set in.  Nick making his textbook sigh and still we pushed still harder than anticipated.  Cops pulling people over randomly, not me, not us…we had escape routes all thought out. Smell that?  Yup Bacon on the left, we dip right.  Bacon right, we duck left.

Times square’s a breeze, nothing like what I thought it would be.   Pavement felt good, pedestrians parted like the Red Sea.  Flash a smile while you pass and they flash one back.  ”Bustin”, “What’s Bustin”, “BUSTIN!”  Everywhere you look, people are staring at those shirts and mouthing that word, BUSTIN.  Made me feel good.

Up Canal, Hell on wheels.  Catch a bus, YUP!  Im not in contention, I gotta just make it up the hill.  Workers cutting up pavement proved to be a huge obstacle and a ton of people got sucked into that trap including myself.  Almost ate it bc jello had taken over where my legs once were.  Plop, plop, plop, SAVED it.  Three steps and regained my stride, back on the board.  Micku asking how many more blocks and the finish is within reach.  Push for the cameras aaannnnnndddddd smile, cheese!  Finish line.

Great day filled with great people.  Thanks to everyone.  Jax for catering our Bustin BK Shop party.  Fabrika for coming out to show off their CPR film and for capturing the Bomb.  The cats from Original for coming through.  S9 for throwing down for the bar tab.  Ian for organizing.  All our roommates from the WonderBread Factory that got to participate this year (feels like you accomplished something doesnt it?).  And for the weary travelers, the road warriors, the ones that got nabbed and the ones that got away.  All 300 of you, THANKS.

Congrats to Mark Shaperow (where did this guy come from??) Goes to show you what heart can accomplish.  Thes and Jim, Sol and Mike and all the other Bustin faithful.  Another safe year down.

Let the countdown begin.  T minus 363 and counting…

Now that this race is over I feel I can finally take a breath, relax and really let my body heal. This has been an extremely intense year. There has been pain, love, joy and sorrow, all of it worth it once I passed that finish line. I would have loved coming in first or even top three but considering my condition at the beginning of the year I am both pleased and blessed to have even finshed. Even with wanting to win this rest, the part of this event that I enjoy most is the meeting up at 116th and connecting with old and new friends and the crossing at the finish line. Especially the finish line, the air is electric there! To me this is what the event is really about. I somehow wish that we could experience the feeling of riding through Times Square with the group and really being able to see the looks of amazement on people’s faces. It’s hard to do that when you are flaming toward the finish line. Maybe next year…..So I keep getting questions of who placed where. It has all been caught on video and I have been in contact with Fabrika Pro about having something on the site with the top 10 finishers in the next few days. Stay tuned.

After the race we headed down to the east river for a bbq/hangout. This was also a great ride, where people forgot about the competion and really enjoyed the skating. Well most did…sadly for some it’s always about them being faster than whoever. Just skate! There were a few people grilling out there and a festive mood was in the air. Thanks to my father and sisters for your part, I wish I had one of those turkey burgers now! The day started catching up with me and I decided to head back to the Bustin lofts for some well deserved rest. Of course once I started skating I couldn’t help but to bomb 6th avenue to Times Square and bomb back down 7th and then the Path. I stay skating! No rest for the weary…after about a hour of rest I decided to head to dinner and a few glasses of wine with Matt, his lady Shawna and her friend Amy. I love steak! I was hoping to party that night with them but the New York scene screwed that up. Still pretty bummed about that…. The plus out of that was still being able to hang with Jasin, a new friend and longboarder. We partied at The Box in the lower east side. That place is crazy and I’m not just talking about the burlesque shows. That night along with the festivities of the day had me laying on my couch until 9 this morning. I never went outside on sunday. I was maybe out of my room for a total of 15 mins. The city that never sleeps but it’ll slip you an Ambien.

So next on the list is the opening of our new store in Brooklyn, hopefully by the 13th of November. Spread the word and look out for news about our grand opening.

Thanks to everyone for coming and sharing this experience. Congrats to all who finished the race and be safe until we meet again.

Bustin- Skate for fun.                                                                                                                                          KING.

The trend is growing for each of these races but there are many voids in our lineup.  Too many skaters e-mail us questioning when/what the next event will be.  This weekend I had the chance to speak with many of the industry guru’s who share the same ideas, now we need execution.  Please share your ideas on the comment section below to generate a buzz about new events.  Don’t hesitate to offer opinions because the best events are those that get discussed.

I was watching a surf video last week that compared Andy Irons with Dave Rastavich.  The director focused on the difference between competing for a title and surfing for the soul.  Andy generates a buzz by placing in more events than the rest of the pack while Dave is a Free surfer who travels the world searching for the next perfect wave.  I have a dream that community generated events will be less competitive and focus more on perfect conditions.  We all know that secret spot we go to when we need a release and we all have side streets in our lives that inspire our skating.  I encourage all riders to bring a camera to their favorite spots and describe them.  Riders are easily inspired by other skaters favorite spots and new genre’s of skateboarding evolve when new riders seek out these areas because everyone has a unique style for shredding different concrete waves.

The moral of the story is this:

Our lifestyle is based on thousands of stoked skaters yet we have few events.  Stand up in your community and do something about it.  Send me an e-mail @ mikedallas@bustinboards.com if you have an idea and we can discuss the best method for hosting your event.  Remember the power of social networking though all of the easy to access sites out there like facebook, myspace and twitter.  Your event will empower people.  Brainstorm and execute.

Freshpaved Style Sessions photography

David Bakal’s latest footage – some finishline and trophy cememony

Latest Bomb Video Footage…check it out!

ConnorBoals.com- more footage…

(scroll to bottom of page for full list of Broadway Bomb links, current and historic)

This was my 3^rd and most fun Broadway Bomb experience.  The hype before and on race day was exciting to listen to each week at the Bustin Loft in Hoboken, NJ.  While I assemble longboards, the community speaks.  The Loft is like a barbershop.  Everybody hangs out and talks clean smack about who is going to beat who, and who is skating strong and a lot of jibber jabber.  I had fun listening to the many conversations between the local guys, and girls.  This year the girls showed up to win and their vibe was strong.  Skaters from New York, Jersey and almost every other U.S. state including Canada, France, Italy, U.K. and Russia were there.

Friday evening before the race we hosted a soft opening at the new Bustin – Brooklyn location, 340 Grand in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  Local documentary team Fabrika Pro premiered their Broadway Bomb film which was emotionally powerful for many skaters who appeared in the film. Everyone was super excited, confident and supportive of every skater before and on race day.

We met at Riverside Park around 11am and there was already a huge crowd of skaters and patrolling police officers.  Matt, Solomon and Nick were passing out the sweet Bustin Bomb shirts we designed for the early birds and everyone was socializing, getting stoked.  The weather was overcast and 60 degrees which is good Bomb weather.  The race was confirmed the night before when I received an e-mail from Ian Nichols that said it’s a GO!

Everyone was super stoked before the race but slightly disappointed that there was no sign up sheet.  People really seem to feel involved when we sign up, even though the registered racers don’t remember their race number after 8 miles of balls to the walls skating.  I remember last year finishing the race, very tired as the finish line personnel screamed at me for my race number.  My ears were all plugged up from breathing so hard and I could barely see straight as I tried to remember what my race number was…Fortunately I had it written on my arm, #4.  I always will remember that moment.

The clock was almost NOON and everyone began lining along the curb on Riverside Drive.  Cars honked and skaters inched forward to be first in line for the start.  Every so often someone would yell “GET BACK” and the crowd of 300 would inch back, then inch forward.  I love skaters.  Ian finally showed up at 11:55am and yelled at everyone for trying to start without him.  Sorry Ian.

At 11:56 a few patrol cars rolled up and were monitoring us.  A few more flipped on their lights and flew up 116^th to the top of the hill.  Participants were nervous the police would block the street and there was some commotion.  I could feel the start about to happen and the hairs raised on the back of my neck.  Photographers were everywhere, production crews were on cue and in position, it seemed as if 116^th was the gate of Heaven and we were all about to ascend up to the golden path down Broadway to the sacred Broadway Bomb champion’s Bull, or Minataur (Theseus).

11:57 Ian put an evil grin on his face and began the customary count from 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4…..then the cops flipped their lights and sirens.  Squad cars surrounded the park and the pack scrambled up the hill, fast.  Some skated, some ran and screamed and cheered and yelped.  The start is always awesome and probably the most dangerous part of the race.  Skaters have one focus and that is to get to the top of the hill first to get out of the mayhem of 300+ boards, bodies and 1200+ wheels that are inches apart and tangling up.  My plan was to pack up with Kaspar, Theseus, Crigler, Solomon, Poli, Brandon, Kong, Mark Schaperow, Jimmy, Darko, Ryan, Dabonka and some of the other guys I skate with.  We all killed the hill and kept close to 110^th.  I love skating with these guys.  We use each other to draft and gauge our personal performance because we know the strengths and out weaknesses of our team.  The beginning of the Broadway Bomb is my favorite part.  We led with a swift pace and enjoyed the ride.

The buzz before the race this year was skitching.  There was a lot of local debate about grabbing cars along the ride as well as a lot of buzz on Silverfish.  The front pack was especially a part of this debate as the elite riders wished this race to be a test of true endurance and strength without the assistance of a motor vehicle.  During the race the front of the pack was very cautious in the traffic systems.  The rest of the pack skated by whatever means necessary to cross the finishline quickly and painlesly.  I was leading the pack with my crew until about 80^th street when a few patrol cars and some undercover officers pulled out in front of us with their lights flashing.  The front pack blew through the line of officers and the chase began.  I don’t believe the officers were trying to pull them over but as soon as somebody in the front pack touched a car the officers zero’ed in on him and over the loud speaker announced, “pull over”.  The pack rolled up on the tail end of the next traffic system and dipped away to freedom.

I noticed some officers trying to use crowd control tactics that seemed to help for a stretch of road but when the traffic got more congested they again pursued.  I was pursued for no reason for a moment but I dipped onto 6^th Ave. then resumed course at the next street to find the sharks hassling another skater.  I continued on, fast.  The officers were a part of our pack during the entire race but their traffic agility did not allow them to keep up with the pack.  Sol’s dad, Big Bear was tripped by an officer only to have Big Papa Bear plow right into the officer.  Oops!  Bear said he was sorry and the officer asked him to skate in his lane.  The only drama I heard about was the skater who took out an old woman then tried to keep skating.  The crowd tackled him and he was arrested, yet he appears in the video after the race so he must have been set free.

Does anyone remember that big fat hose laid across the road?  The pavement was wet all around and the hose was about 3 inches tall.  I almost ate it hard and a bunch of other guys around me had a hard time too.  Good times.  At Delancey street a bus was turning left but was stopped halfway through it’s turn and I was blocked.  I kicked my board underneath and squeezed through the wall of pedestrians but the board bumped a tire and bounced back.  UGhhhhhhhh, I had to run back around the bus yelling at pedestrians (I was pissed).  An old woman picked up my board and handed it to me, awwwww.

The head wind was strong coming off the Atlantic Ocean and the final stretch after Canal street was hell.  My legs were destroyed and because of my adventurous ride I was behind a lot of the guys I wanted to beat so I kicked and pushed and kicked and pushed.  I even pulled a few sneaky hide next to a car or bus and pass you kind of moves to bump my self up a few places.

The end is always a run for the money.  Broadway was extremely crowded with traffic and pedestrians and Mark Walberg was shooting a film right next to the finish line so the cops were there waiting with the paddy wagon to haul us away if we caused too much rif raf.  The production assistants surrounded us and demanded that we leave their shoot.  The stuntman was 30 floors up acting out a suicide jump and even he seemed to be impressed with out crowd of barbaric yelling, chanting, stoked longboarders, all 300 of us.  What a day to race Broadway.

A BIG SHOUT OUT TO MARK SCHAPEROW, BUSTIN BOARDS TEAM RIDER.  Mark has been focused on his training and race tactics all year and proved that hard work and dedication will overcome all obstacles.  I am proud of Mark and stoked that he is a part of our crew because of his passion for skating.  His energy and enthusiasm inspire more than people he knows.  The sport of longboarding is fortunate to have riders like Mark to set an example for everyone.  He worked hard and earned the title of Broadway Bomb 2009 CHAMPION!  Get Die!

After the race we were surrounded by reporters from all sorts of publications who wanted to know the story of the race.  All of the hype and support his year really promoted the event in the media world of NYC which will help the growth of our sport immensely.

Thank you to everyone who participated this year.  Please log in to the Bustin community section and upload your photos so everyone can see them.  Tag everything Broadway Bomb related and help grow the event so next year we have more than 400 skaters battle Broadway.

Top Finishers Broadway Bomb 2009

1st Mark Schaperow

2nd Collin (send us your last name)

3rd Theseus Williams/Jimmy Soladay

4th King Solomon, Michael Poli, Adam Crigler (one of these fine gentlemen placed 4th)

5th (awaiting video verification)

6th (awaiting video verification)

More coverage @

Brooklyn Barbarosa

“Giant cement choppers, hoses, gridlocked traffic and irate traffic cops made the homestretch the most perilous.” – J. Hayes

Ryan Slack

“At one point there were two police paddy wagons driving next to us, yelling as us to pull over. None of us did, because we knew that at the next red light, we would snake through the traffic and he would be stuck.”

-R. Slack

You Tube

Vimeo

TimeOut NY

Redshift Pictures

Redshift II

Silverfish

Sacha Lecca

Freshpaved

Concrete Wave

BeastCoastLongboarding.com

Gothamist

Timeout Magazine

Longboard Living

Earthwing Skateboards

Loaded Boards

Cal Streets

Pavement magazine

Garden Skate

Longskate.com

Core 77

Chris Baskous

CosmicEgg.com

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Zoo York BMX Bomb

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