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| DTinVA |
 Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 2:53 pm |
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Joined: 20 Jun 2004
Posts: 527
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The town of Blacksburg just opened it's new park this weekend. It's all concrete with clover type bowl and a street / plaza section. I had a chance to skate it yesterday and it's nice. 'Crete work is good with no obvious kinks in the bowl.
The bowl has three parts in a clover-type shape. The two shallow parts are completely round and about 5' deep. There is a roll in in the middle of the shallow. The deep end has a waterfall going down which makes it around 9' with about a foot of vert as best as I can tell. The bowl is fast and once I learn it better I'll be able to hit the top of the deep at speed. I managed a few grinds in the deep but killed my speed just to pump up there. The coping is metal tubing and is very close to the wall. I prefer more coping and that made it hard to judge where you were for backside grinds.
Here are a few shots of the bowl:
Your's truly:
The street cours has a couple of stair sets, boxes a couple of quarter pipes which are pyramided. It's small and not really set up to do speed runs but the street kids seemed to like it.
Sorry, I only got one shot of the street area:
The park is open dawn to dusk. There aren't any workers there to hassle you and pads seemed to be optional. Glad I wore mine 'cause I took a couple of hard falls in the deep which would have been worse without pads. There's also a shaded gazebo area. Luckily, they didn't put any trees close by so clean-up shouldn't be too bad.
There seemed to be quite a few small kids there yesterday and quite a few groms trying the bowl (which was encouraging). Everyone seemed pretty laid back and friendly -- even the BMXicans.  |
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| bfg1971 |
| Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 2:55 pm |
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Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 3915
Location: ohio
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| DTinVA |
| Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:27 pm |
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Joined: 20 Jun 2004
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bfg1971 wrote: Who built the park?
I'm not sure who built the park. I'll try to find out and let you all know. |
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| polock |
| Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:56 am |
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ORDER OF THE SKULL
Joined: 19 Sep 2002
Posts: 7583
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| Cool, where is the park in blacksburg? Is it near the Greenhouse? |
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"Darth Vader is a punk compared to Al Davis," Hunter S Thompson |
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| j e f f |
| Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:37 pm |
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Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 4923
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DTinVA wrote: bfg1971 wrote: Who built the park?
I'm not sure who built the park. I'll try to find out and let you all know.
Found this on SPS...
With its $185,000 skate park that officially opens today but has been attracting dozens of skateboarders or bicycle stunt riders all week, Blacksburg's extreme-sports enthusiasts should be the envy of their peers.
The opening ceremony will feature trick competitions as well as time for riders to just cruise freely around the park.
The roughly 8,000-square-foot park replaced a crumbling wooden skate park that dates to when officials banned skateboarding downtown a decade ago.
For the new park "we wanted to build something that is cutting-edge and one of the best in Virginia," Blacksburg Parks and Recreation Director Dean Crane said. "That was our goal. And I think we're pretty close to it."
Along with the bowl, the new park has a street course featuring metal-edged ledges ideal for sliding and grinding maneuvers. Pads are optional but "strongly recommended" at the free park, which is open from dawn to dusk and is not staffed, Crane said.
The park was built by California Skateparks of Upland, Calif., and designed by Wally Hollyday, who has been building skate parks since the late 1970s.
Years ago, Hollyday said, skate parks were privately owned, charged admission and tended to go out of business often. To cover their costs, including insurance, private skate parks often charged more than their largely young clientele was willing or able to pay.
These days, municipalities across the country are building skate parks as what was once viewed as a fringe sport has grown in popularity and acceptance. Hollyday spoke by cellphone from Salt Lake City, where he was working on two skate park projects.
Another reason for the increase in skate parks is that as towns have banned skating in public, Crane said, they have felt obligated to give people a place to practice the sport.
Next to the new skate park is a seating area shaded by an unusual-looking pavilion designed by two Virginia Tech architecture students, Jeff Franklin and Miron Nawratil, who have since graduated.
Inspired by crooked barns they saw dotted around the region, the students designed a purposefully off-kilter structure, Crane said.
The pavilion's metal roof is held up with beams made from pine trees that were cut down within Municipal Park. The trees had been growing too close together near the tennis court and were to be felled regardless, Crane said.
The splintery, old wooden skate park still stands just downhill from the new park. Blacksburg officials may donate the obstacles in that park to another locality that would refurbish them, said Crane, who declined to identify potential recipients.
Ultimately, Crane said, Blacksburg will tear up the asphalt in the old skate park and turn that area to green space.
Ryan Witte was among dozens of people riding in the park Thursday afternoon.
Interviewed later by phone, the 18-year-old Radford University freshman, who has been skating since he was in fourth grade and is originally from Virginia Beach, said he was "real excited" to hear a concrete park had opened not too far from his new home. Witte said he prefers concrete parks to wooden ones. |
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| DTinVA |
| Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 7:07 am |
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Joined: 20 Jun 2004
Posts: 527
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polock wrote: Cool, where is the park in blacksburg? Is it near the Greenhouse?
No. It's about 2 miles north off of Main. Patrick Henry Drive:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?...e=va&zipcode=
Go past Park & Rec Center and take first right. Go up the hill -- it'll be on the left. |
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| polock |
| Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 1:49 pm |
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ORDER OF THE SKULL
Joined: 19 Sep 2002
Posts: 7583
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| Park was pretty good. The bowl was fun but it will take some time to get it down. I kept losing my speed, I am not a really good pool skater anyway! The rest of the park was decent. Kinda small and the dirt around the area got all voer your grip tape. PLus the BMXicans and "scooter" kids kept getting in the way. I give it a 6 out of 10 since it is the only bowl in the area until lynchburg opens up! |
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