On Sunday, John Michael went to the skatepark and found his hero, Raymond Warner, filming a YouTube video. Raymond included John Michael and his friend, Ronin (“What!”). John Michael appears several times, until he says goodbye. It is John Michael dropping off the ledge that you see at the 7 minute mark and who Raymond comments on.
kc, John Michael and I were very happy that Billy joined us for Christmas this year. We had great weather and, in addition to our Christmas Day celebration we went mountain biking at Mt. Laguna, found a way to hang our car cargo box in the garage, went to the skatepark a few times, went to a neighborhood Christmas Eve party across the canyon, played Disc Golf and played some dominoes.
John Michael got his dream present, a custom scooter built around a Raymond Warner signature deck. The deck was signed by Raymond, who also sent a personalized poster and stickers. John Michael got all his wished-for components in separate gifts. He was really stumped as to how Santa was able to get him a titanium handlebar from “The Vault Pro Scooters”! He must have at least one elf there. John Michael also wanted to build the scooter himself, so with Billy and I standing by he did so. We ran into a bit of a hitch getting the handlebars installed, but after The Vault opened we learned to trick to that. So John Michael slept with the built scooter without the bars the first night and with the whole thing ever since!
One other photo that needs describing is the Rasta man instructing John Michael at the disc golf course. This guy offered to teach him to throw better and gave him a lesson in standing, arm motion and the technique of “Clear your mind” just before throwing, all while his boom box was jamming out Reggae! Surprisingly, getting seriously baked is not a requisite disc golf skill!
Well, we’ve been hearing, endlessly, about the Woodward camps https://www.campwoodward.com for about 6 months now. We were told about a weekend camp by another parent at his local park so he was ecstatic that he could attend. This is a huge facility, with many (more than 5) outdoor areas and a huge “hanger” full of a variety of ramps. They have large foam pits to learn flips and other high-altitude dangers tricks, “resi-ramps” (thick rubber pads overlying some kind of padded material) which are an intermediate positive step for these same tricks, then huge areas of masonite-type ramps of varying slopes and radii. There are a number of eating areas, a shop with a mechanic, nurses and PT types, It’s quite amazing.
This is the first time he would be at an overnight camp, so we were a bit worried about how much he would like that. There were 250 scooter riders there, only 20 age 10 or less, and those (The Minis) had their own cabin with two parent monitors.
There were a lot of “Clairemont Kids” (kids from his local park) there so he felt at home. One of those was also a Mini and his father was a parent monitor.
The days started at nine with an hour of stretching and warm-up, then a small group class (picked by skill level), then free-riding after lunch and dinner and lights-out at 10:00. Most of the campers rode every minute they were not eating or sleeping. Â Most of the Minis did not take a shower for the three days they were there! Ugh. I badgered JM to take one on the second night and the next day he reported that he had done so, but forgot to take soap with him!
On Monday afternoon, when there was only about 50 riders left, and most of them quite advanced in skills, a few were attempting triple back-flips in a competition/game. John Michael had finally worked up the nerve to try to learn a back-flip and began doing so, into the foam pit. He got a lot of encouragement from the older kids and did quite well (as you can see in the videos).
After that, and just before we needed to leave, his favorite professional rider, Raymond Warner, visited the Mini cabin and talked to the kids remaining there. Â John Michael knows him from when he has filmed his vlog at the Clairemont skate park.
He wants to return for a week-long camp next summer.
Back-Flip from the side
https://vimeo.com/user2228640/review/301702831/e965d5909c
Back-Flip from behind
https://vimeo.com/301703540/209a34bceb
All-terrain scooter
https://vimeo.com/301703939/480aa297fe
On Friday, November 9, John Michael’s class performed “The Great American Game Show” play. They also sang a medley of patriotic songs. It was another entertaining and fun afternoon for us, the other parents and the staff of the school.
John Michael had two roles, and Louis Braille and William Addis. I think you can “see” which of these photos are of him playing Louis Braille. William Addis, for those of you, like me, who do not know him, invented the tooth brush!
We are back to visiting the skate(scooter)park every day after school and, often, at least once on a weekend day.
John Michael remains dedicated to improving and he certainly is doing so. He will, generally, work on one trick for the 90 minutes of after school time we have. I thought I’d include a series of him learning the “Superman”. When he completes this, he will lift his scooter while he is in the air and grab the deck (he’s got this part down), push the scooter in front of him while he is flying forward, then land on the deck and continue on. Not easy.
One day a few weeks ago, a professional rider was there practicing one trick – amazing. Check out the photo and see the muscularity this involves. Then the video. The crowd went nuts when he successfully landed this. He was also great with the scooter kids. He talked to them and signed their scooters!
(Videos at the page bottom)
Chris Farris
https://vimeo.com/296213767/c5d7c356ff
Riding the berm
https://vimeo.com/296213541/2c49daaf27
kc, John Michael, Mary Pat and I drove up to Mammoth Lakes  at the end of August. Peg and Chuck flew in for a few days and then Billy joined us for the end of the week. It was unfortunate that Peg and Chuck were not able to be there during Billy’s time. We had a great time riding in the bike park (except for a few falls), in the local area, touring the area and playing dominos.
We had beautiful weather and, except for one day, few people on the mountain. Some of us visited Mono Lake and saw its unique features with the Sierra range in the background.
John Michael did some epic rides, really pushing himself. He learned a lot from Billy and did his best to match his cousin, who he thinks is the greatest. Â It surprised me when John Michael said he wanted to do a ropes course which was in the central area of the Mammoth Lakes bike park. He has always, previously rejected height-related activities. The course was VERY difficult for someone his height and he was terrified at points (not as much as Aunt Peg and Mom, however), but he persevered and completed it. There is a video series at the bottom.
Peg had a pretty bad spill on the Off The Top trail and bruised and scraped her knee and elbow. I fell on the same trail two days later, suffered less severe physically, but broke my bike, permanently.
It was terrific to spend time with Peg, Chuck & Billy riding bikes, eating good food, drinking local beer and playing dominos!
I’ll put two different image galleries in this post, photos and videos.
Thanks to Peg for sending me some of her photos.
The videos will be below the photos.
Photos
Videos
Billy & JM ride through a difficult rock section, I walked.
https://vimeo.com/293736708/0531d1186b
On the ride back from the Mammoth lakes, John Michael pulled off one of the greatest bikes saves of all time – check out his reaction!
https://vimeo.com/293847287/313512b904
kc and I did a nice ride on public trails around town.
https://vimeo.com/293849172
Here John Michael leads Billy, kc and me down the Off the Top trail, the highest starting and longest trail in the park.
https://vimeo.com/295060388/a38b52cc9b
On one particularly difficult day, John Michael was struggling with the effort, but pulled-up on the trail and would not proceed unless he could try the difficult side trail Billy had taken!
https://vimeo.com/293850097/1c4c8e0865
Another video of Off the Top trail, but with only John Michael, Billy and me.
https://vimeo.com/295259056/96e5795d9d
Ropes Course videos
Step 1
https://vimeo.com/295463676/92bf91d3ee
Step 2
https://vimeo.com/295462429/a2c30d09f7
Step 3
https://vimeo.com/295462074/132f77def6
Step 4
https://vimeo.com/295467195/84ce032af6
Step 5
https://vimeo.com/295460915/1b5d51b167
Step 6
https://vimeo.com/295465276/604e047dc3
John Michael was getting itchy about scooters and wanting something new. Instead, we decided to customize one of his current scooters, the Lucky.
We bought this when his Madd Gear scooter’s fork broke. The fork on the Lucky broke about three weeks later – he is taking huge jumps that scooters of this level (pretty damn good!) just are not built to handle. The Scooter Farm, where he bought the Lucky, gave us a more robust fork. (Later Madd Gear also sent us a better fork.)
Anyway, the Lucky was pretty beat up and covered with partially scratched-off stickers and looked terrible.
John Michael and I bought spray paint from Home Depot and then “we” got the stickers off, disassembled it, sanded it down, cleaned it with solvents, sprayed the various parts and reassembled it.
He’s pretty happy, I like it, the kids at the park are totally impressed.
John Michael competed in his first scooter competition, ScooterCon 12. This competition was hosted by his home skate and scooter park. It was an all-day affair, although we only stayed for the morning. There were classes of riders all the way up through the professional ranks and the Envy car belongs to one of the pros that John Michael follows on YouTube, Raymond Warner.
John Michael made a perfect run, as you might watch. He was one of the youngest in the competition, if not the youngest. We are very proud of his performance and his behavior there.
Images and video from ScooterCon 12.
August 4, 2018
YMCA Krause Family Skate and Scooter Park
San Diego
John Michael continues to dedicate himself to scootering. He has improved noticeably and I’ve noticed other adults at the park taking videos of the little kid launching off the MegaRamp.
He is at the park with a purpose and when we are there he is single-minded on improving his skills. Some of the staff at the park have begun to call him “Mr. Dunnigan”!
He is likely entering a competition, ScooterCON SD12, in early August as a “Beginner.” It should be fun.
John Michael at the Skate & Scooter park, June, 2018.
