There's a back story to this photo. Or at least just some kind of a story worth sharing. So skip to the bottom if you just want to look at the picture...
Basically, we didn't come here for this spot. But what we did see seemed too good to be true. A large concrete covering? Seemingly large enough to bump you perfectly up and onto a mellow, somehow not too frightening handrail. Two problems are the size and sheer weight of the manhole. And the wall between the runway, and the rail. Luckily, the wall had doors that swung open perfectly aligned with the spot. This was the easy part. Hop, the wall, prop open the doors. But to actually lift this thing? It was going to take some work. We start scraping away at the dirt and debris growing in the cracks of the covering. This will help make wiggle room when you try to get a crowbar in. This particular seal had probably not been opened since it was installed during the school's conception. We jiggled two crowbars back and forth until we were finally able to start prying the top up with our boards. The lid was over 4 inches thick so you can imagine this was a lot harder than just prying up a metal street covering. It took 3 people simultaneously working this thing to get it out, then we dropped it in the hole. We couldn't even fathom being able to somehow lift this thing from the depth of the pit, but we managed to get it back out. When we tried propping the block up, it didn't fit safely because there was no support underneath, causing it to shift during take off. Eventually, we figured out that if we cut the nose and tail off of two skateboards, we could wedge them across the length of the hole, making a support for the concrete to rest on. This worked perfectly. So good that we got a line, and then shot the nose grind single. It truly was one of those special moments where man-made stuff with no purpose for skateboarding somehow just works perfectly for it.
Our trusty French distributor, V7, was keen to run a pizza ad in Sugar mag to drum up some brand awareness. We obliged. And submitted the following. For our blind followers, the page is entirely blue, with a horizontal photo in the center of the page. Vince's last name, Milou is written in a typical athletic fashion. The ball player wearing yellow attire and a matching cap swings for a ball that seems to be bouncing up towards him, presumably a ball that should not have been swung at...The letters Z and A intersect on the opposite side of the page under which there is the text that reads "Proudly distributed by V7." The aforementioned distribution. The photo in the center captures Vince using a large piece of concrete, propped upwards with a skateboard to form a ramp that helped project himself into a nose grind going down a 7 stair hand railing. A bump, to a rail. The photo was shot in Northern California by a seasoned photographer by the name of Jeff Landi. The footage from this ad will be featured in Vince's new video part premiering on thrashermagazine.com on September 21st. 
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