My first time to Woodward

So the trip started off in Denver. The opportunity came to head out to Austin a few days before I was to be at Woodward east. So in like six hours I gathered up my shit and split early as hell. My buddy Tom drove and let me tag along, so the trip to Austin was free. Can't pass that up! Austin is so humid in the summer, most of your day will consist of drinking and swimming! During the mornings and evenings you ride because that's the only part of the day you can stand outside without sweating profusely. The first day we went to the new park on Downtown Austin. It has a ton of street shit there bit the bowl in the back is so good. There is a ton of lines hips and an awesome clam shell. Barton springs is a rad swimming spot to hit if your out that way during the summer. They have a diving board and tons of smokin hotties! The water is good and if your broke there is a free spot to take a dip as well. Almost every evening before the Austin nightlife takes control, everyone usually meets up at the eastside trails. Those things are dialed. I met a bunch of rad dudes out there riding. Scott draper is a local out there just to get an idea of the style of trails they have. 6th street gets shut down like every weekend for all the people who want to get wasted. Definitely a fun city. Of course the night before I flew out there was a keg party at Tom Ed and marks house. Needless to say that it hindered my abilities to get to the airport on time. I had Tom take me into San antonio the next morning because I found a cheaper flight there than I could in Austin. We rushed into town and I went to a Ross, bought a big bag and put all my shit inside and I flew out to Woodward. Showing up to Woodward is always a trip. The first week I was in buds barn living it up. I instructed twice a day and the rest of the time I rode and wake boarded on the new pull cable set up. I learned so much, rode some new stuff, and spent a ton of time icing my body parts. The second week I had to chill for the first couple days because I sprained the hell out of my ankle, but I got to ride the last few days, so I was pumped. Mini mega, the mega air bag, cloud 9, lot 8 the dirt jumps... I wish I could live there. I am on the road as I write this so I am excited to see what happens. Then we rode chenga world in cleveland Ohio. That park is really good, it has a ton of different obstacles to shred... foam pit and resi kids suck though! We met a local "Dorito" and he looked us up with a private sesh at rays dirt room. That place is amazing you can get lost in there! The next morning we headed to Rays to meet Dorito again. He got us in there and riding in no time. Those dudes that run the place are super Cool, thanks again! We rode everything in sight and there was quite a bit that I didn't touch. There was a huge bowl with an amazing curved wall and a million lines, the dirt room, obstacle courses, the box jump room, a foam pit and resi room, its so big. Driving up to the place is crazy, you would never guess it's there. We headed out to Louisville late that night after our sesh. We drove 6 hours and made it to Louisville and started to look for a place to camp for the night. Fuck that! It's so humid in Kentucky this time of year you couldn't sleep outside. We found a shitty hotel and 36 dollars later we are livin large. We woke up in the morning, even worse. Felt like trying to breathe soup. So we decided to mess around the city for a bit. Louisville has a bunch of stuff that I found to ride, a lot of it is all around courts and law offices though, needless to say not my scene. Bastards. The best part of the city is all of the water fountains. I never had so much fun street riding. We had some good mood food, and headed to the park. I had a ton of fun just carving the full pipe. That thing is so big! You are doing like 30mph at that thing pumping around those bowls and you barely go half way up. Super fun if you like going fast. It's kinda in a shady part of town so keep an eye one your shit! After we got a few clips and met some locals we went to a Holiday in to take a dip. Hotel pools are your best friend on a road trip during the summer. Fumunda cheese isn't something that you want around lunch time. Seriously, we got into Nashville and I had never seen so many hot cowgirls in one place. The were all being corralled into the bars from a brittany spears concert. We spent some time looking at some really good street all around that city. Definately going to have to heal up and head back! We arrived in Memphis with the intentions of camping out somewhere and riding street all that next day. Like everything else on this trip, that didn't go exactly as planned. Lucas and I went to a walmart to find rafts to sleep on, and conveniently they shut all the registers down for like 35 min so by the time we got our shit, waited for the cashiers, it was daylight before we found a camping spot. We got our campsite ready as the sun was coming up. Perfect riming to be mutilated by Mosquitos. So to make a long story longer, we didn't sleep and we just kept trucking through Memphis onward to Austin. I have a weeks worth of work and then I still have to go back to Denver. This trip was so fun. I had the opportunity to learn some new tricks, met a ton of new people, and most of all, I can't wait to do it all over again. Hopefully next time my wrist and ankle will hold up! Hollahollahollaholla -Mat Olson[gallery link="file" columns="4"]