Hey guys! Few Updates!

I was hoping that the Blog would be getting a lot of attention when it started which is why when the California Trip was over, I was a little disappointed that there was roughly 400 hits on the blog. What I am surprised to see is that to this day, it's still getting some hits which is pretty cool. Usually upon meeting people again, the conversation goes like this:


Person: "Ben! How was Cali?"
Me: "It was awesome, did you check the blog?"
Person: "erm......no, I didn't..."
Me: "Ohhh"


So I'm hoping that those numbers will increase and they can still check out all the things that we've been doing.


The main update is that a revisited Diary of the Team Razor California Trip will be published in the second issue of Scoot-Mag!!! This will include a lot more pictures and more scooter-orientated content! (Since this blog is more general)

FINALLY HOME!!!

AT LAST!!! I return to my home in Wolverhampton, West Midlands UK after a whole week of what is now memories I won't forget. I haven't rode since I got back and I still need to adjust to GMT time (London, etc) But stoked to be back on my usual diet again. I still have stuff to unpack but I'll get it done soon as well as take some pictures of some stuff I got over in California. What really made my day was meeting Heather out of the Train station in Wolverhampton after so much travelling.


I honestly can't wait to check my next bank statement after being in California for a week. ¬__¬


I'm still checking the updates in the UK and that's what I've spent almost all day doing haha! Still haven't left the house since I got home!

Thing to do when I get home:

1. See Heather! <3
2. Check YouTube Channel for comments and Subscriptions
3. Check Facebook for status updates, comments and friend requests.
4. Check a few blogs, Hehe! (<3!!!)
5. Take some pictures of all the stuff I got in Cali
6. Unpack my stuffs
7. Tidy room so that there actually is "room"
8. Talk to my UK riding pals! <3
9. Figure out what I'll do on my Birthday! :D
10. Get some updates from the Famalamalam!
11. Add stuff to the blog!
12. Go on BBC iPlayer to catch up on all the good British shows I missed this week.
13. Check coverage of Escondido and the Team over the past week
14. Try and find out where I can see the Razor Global Domination Tour TV Show broadcast on Disney XD since the start of this month! (Interviews etc.)
15. RIDE!!!!!!!!!!

The Journey Home

This sucked so hard! We all had to be out of the hotel by 5 o'clock to get onto the shuttle bus. Everyone except myself went to sleep. I went and did an allnighter whilst watching Adult Swim on TV. I know they have Family Guy, Robot Chicken and King Of The Hill, but WOW they have some crap on of a night!!! and I'm sure it's slowing numbing the minds of American teenagers EVERYWHERE. Jonny wasn't snoring so that was good, but at 4 o'clock in the morning he rolled off the bed and whilst doing so, smacked his face on the bed-side table and faceplanted on the floor. I really wish I got it on camera hahaha. Our supervisor Rich was the last up out of everyone, probably due to the sleep he desperately needed after driving us around so much! We got on the shuttle bus and before we knew it we were on a plane to Chicago. The flight was just over 4 hours which wasn't too bad. and we had a 3 hour wait before the plane from Chicago to London Heathrow. We we desperate for food straight after the flight and since we may not have them for a while, Josh and I had to buy two more Chocolate milkshakes from the airport's McDonalds, DAYUMN they're so legit, in the UK they're about 10% chocolate and 90% vanilla so that had to be done. Me and Josh found ourselves lost from the rest of the group which kinda sucked but rejoined just intime so we could board the plane. This was such a weird flight because we went from 7am to 3pm from LA to Chicago and then from Chicago to London it went from like 6am to 7am the next morning! But since we were awake almost all the time it felt like a 32-hour day hahaha. All of us managed to get at least some sleep in the journey which was fine. When are plane reached the UK, I was missing America already but I was also SO STOKED!! It felt weird over-looking the brick houses and round-abouts! I laughed when Joe commented on typical Britain being cloudy as we were flying through a cloud!

Venice Beach and the Skateboard Douche!

August 1st!!! stoked about my birthday being in just 5 days! This was our last riding day and for the occasion we headed off to Venice Beach (mainly for the skatepark). Ali told us ahead of time that serious skateboarders are there, and you'll easily face getting kicked out of the skatepark if you show any signs of being a snake (even if by accident). Also also said all the backflippers should do one in the park. A lot of people from the public watch inside the skatepark and it'll get the grumpy skaters to back off. Venice Beach is famous for all the chicks (aka: the Cali Gally) that hang out there. I'm sure all the riders got a decent look.

The skatepark was awesome! It was just the Razor UK team for a while but later grew a bigger scootering gathering. The guys from Addict showed up as well as Ali, John, Cary and Jason from Razor USA, Tyler Bonner from Madd USA and even Josh Toy showed up (OG, ex-Team Razor rider and current rider for Scooter Zone) I was pissed because not long after the sesh started, some skateboarder kid got in my way when I bar to whipped some gap which caused my leg to have these constant "spasms" whilst walking or doing anything. I did get a bit of footage of the other riders but then the camcorder battery died which sucked.


It was weird since the title "Our First American Friends" was inspired by the song by Tubelord which was based on the Beach party they had over there- For us it was a beach sesh, having all those riders there made it so legit!

Whilst on the beach, Sam bought this awesome can of Red Bull, which is actually a secret storage compartment (for ANYTHING) ;) It has the weight of a real can and even shakes like a can would! Cool right?

Now I have to tell you about the skateboarding douche. Early in the day he came into the park wearing what looked like a Winnie The Pooh outfit. He was skating round the park seeking attention from everyone and telling them to demand pizza. Eventually he left the park for a few hours. He then came back in regular clothes and tried to kick out all the scooter riders in the park (imagine how attentive Addict was to his statements) He then went round telling everyone to donate some money so that he could buy pizzas for the skaters in the park. The bastard got away with 5 dollars so I'm hoping that people caught onto the idea that he was just begging.

List of all our American friends

Hey guys, check out the list I made on the right. It's a list of all the American Friends who we've been hanging out with over the past week. This isn't just anyone we've seen (otherwise the list would be a lot bigger!) It's anyone who has acted like a friend to us and made our stay in America all the better! I hope you enjoy!

Razor Global Domination Tour USA #1: Escondido

Sup guys, some updates from the comp. This event at Escondido is the first stop of the Global Domination tour in the USA. As soon as we got there, there was a big flatland session outside which I joined in with. I wasn't surprised to see Cooper Klaar there killing it! Neither was I when Kota showed up. Both of them threw down a 360 Bri to tailwhips flat and cooper finished off with  a full-whip to tailwhip. Josh Kish sent a clean 360 double-whip flat and he gave me some props for doing my "Bar spin to heel-whip" flat, as well as with a few others for my whip to fingerwhip flat. The Global Domination Tour in the USA is a lot different to what it was in the UK. If anyone is interested, these are the things that were different:

-It was a lot less "bigged up" than the UK Tour, but at the same time all the planning was done better.

-Obviously there was no XSVPro doing all the videography. John Radtke was doing filming for Razor and something which looked like Television coverage was there as well. Phillip Long was also there filming and he's known in the US for doing great edits, he was filming for ELYTS.
-NO DISNEY XD!!!!!!!!!!

-The judges were SCOOTER RIDERS. In the UK it consisted of Terry from Mutts (UK managing director) Martin Kimbell (only scooter rider; uk OG) Phil Grice (RareBreed Sports) and some BMXers (with some ins-and-outs inbetween). The USA judges were Alex Steadman, Dylan Kasson, Kody McQueen and some other guys, positioned with about 20ft of space inbetween them; no debate or discussion took place at all.


-The prizes were more legit:

UK:
3rd=£50
2nd=£100
1st=£200

USA:
5th=Trophy, T-shirt and $100
4th= Trophy, T-shirt and $200
3rd= Trophy, T-shirt, Razor Bag and $400
2nd= Trophy, T-shirt, Razor Bag and $600
1st= Big Trophy, T-shirt, Razor Bag and $800


- ^ From above, you can gather that the top 5 riders were paid out as well as the top 3, and the top 10 riders were announced so they could receive some props. You may have also gathered that there would be absolutely no point in giving away stock Ultra Pros!


-ALL Pro riders got two 90 second runs, there was no qualifiers. There was 31 Pro riders in total so the timing wasn't too bad.


-Best one yet..... THERE WAS NO BASTARD FOGHORN!!! haha.


-Madd Gear USA riders Capron Funk and Tyler Bonner were allowed to go, hmmmm...


-There wasn't a 2 minute gap in between each rider. Before all the runs, every rider went to the place where they wanted to start, all they said was your name and you'd drop in on your own time, there wasn't anything like "three...two....one..... your 90 seconds starts now" hahaha. It didn't announce sponsors or anything, people just knew who everyone was.


All the riders had to sign 3 waivers asking for the same information haha


One of the best things.. the only queues were for food from the on-site fast-food kiosks and registration tent (both of which were very short queues)


The riding was about 10 times more legit, haha.


There was no inflatables and vinyls, but instead, a legit Gazebo.


People weren't just out there riding, it was a hot day, a lot of people were chillin'


But yeah that's about it for differences. Top 10 Results are as follows:


10th- Chris Hart (ELTYS, District) Aus
9th- Dom Olorenshaw (Razor, Scoot-Mag) UK
8th- Capron Funk (MaddGear) USA
Tied 6th- Jason Beggs (Razor) USA and Cooper Klaar (Phoenix) USA
5th- Cory Vanlew (ELYTS) USA
4th- Chris Gascoigne (Razor) USA
3rd- Cameron Ward (District, Eagle) USA
2nd- Raymond Warner (Scooter Zone) USA
1st- Dakota Schuetz (Kota Sports) USA


I myself managed to rank 15th place just behind Zig Short so I was pretty pleased :3 For me, one of the highlights of the day was chillin' for a while with Zig. Picked up the ELTYS Bagpack (which is one of the first in the UK being used by a rider) Someone who I enjoyed chillin' and riding with was Corey Funk, younger brother of MGP's Capron Funk- shredding up the box and a genuinely nice kid. Addict didn't show up to the competition but I'm sure they would've certainly made a difference to the results. My first run wasn't too bad, I bailed my last trick which was then I discovered that the ground was so hot, not only does the friction cut you when you fall, but the hot ground also burns you at the same time. NOT cool...


There was also a best trick contest which I entered with a Fastplant frontflip- I tried 3 times. The first time I over-rotation and rolled away holding on the bars with my legs scraping across the floor. the second time I lost the scooter and it hit me on the head. and the third time my foot slipped off. It was a shame for me but the prize money was well deserved between Tyler Bonner and Raymond Warner. (I think) Tyler did a triple tail-whip over this BIG channel gap and I'm not sure what Raymond did.


Throughout the day, a lot of us were chilling at the Razor Gazebo where there were fresh fruit and vitamin water to enjoy. We also got an early look at the Razor Trophies that were on show, as well as the Razor bags being given away as prizes. I'm not sure when the bags came around but they certainly looked legit. I doubt they held scooters since ELYTS have a patent pending on that, but I wouldn't mind one for use. :') Just before the drive home we each got given some Equilibrium bands to wear when we ride.. (I notice their fashionable and Heather is trying to convince me that they really do work!) :')


Afterwards we ate at a place called BJ's. Phoenix got us a table which was super cool of them. Josh Kish came over to chill for a while. I got a Phoenix cap from their manager which I was stoked about. Lil Jonny ordered one of the most expensive things on the menu which wasn't too cool. After that we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest. Tomorrow is our last riding day which is at Venice Beach. I'm sure it'll be awesome!!!