Bethesda Boards Slide Jam

Event recap by Mark Nicolaus.
Photos courtesy of Jacob Funk @funkproductionsphoto

On March 11th, Nick Pappas, Jarrid Lopez and I hosted a Moonshine MFG. session in collaboration with Bethesda Boards, also supported by DB Longboards, Cloud Ride Wheels, and Atlas Trucks. The idea of these sessions is to get the community stoked and encourage more skaters to come out and have fun with everyone else. We plan on holding these Moonshine Sessions about once a month! We started at the Embassy of Czech in D.C. to skate the hill, and afterwards everyone headed to Bethesda's shop to shred the ramps!

We met at the hill around 10:00, and by 11:00 there were already around 40 kids ripping it! It was badass to have that amount of people skating for just a session! We did not want to host this event like a traditional slide jam. Instead of having a competitive environment with categories like Top Freeride and Longest Slide, it was more relaxed and we threw in different little challenges in the mix to keep pressure off, but still make it interesting for everyone.

We had three main challenges; Slide Over the Wheels, Inside Line Challenge, and Best Run. Slide Over the Wheels was the most interesting challenge, and probably the most difficult. It started out with one Cloud Ride Ozone on the ground. Someone would slide over that wheel, and then another would be added about 15 behind it. Another wheel was added behind the second one after someone slid over both wheels. The same process repeated until all four wheels were on the ground. By that time, it was super tough for anyone to slide over all four wheels. The first person to slide over all four wheels, would win the Ozones. After battling it out super hard, D.C. local, Will Macleod brought it home with tons of steeze!

Jeremy Woolsey wants those Ozones!!

The Inside Line Challenge was awesome, and kept me on my toes especially! The idea of this challenge was to encourage everyone to take the best line possible on the left turn at the bottom of the hill. I stood about 4 feet from the inside curb. The person to make the gap in between me and the curb with the most speed and style, would win that challenge. After about 20 minutes of dodging and jumping over skaters, Joel Vega from York, PA was announced the winner! Joel was awarded some Cloud Ride Lightning Bearings, because Lightning Bearings help you take the tightest and fastest lines!!!

The Best Run Challenge was able to show the technical skills everyone had, so all disciplines of longboarding were focused on from these challenges! After tons of people throwing down, we narrowed it down to two skaters that really stood out, Aaron Gordy and Sam Crandall. We gave them 3 runs each, and they did not make the decision very easy at all. Both of them were super consistent, throwing seamless 360's, smooth slide shuv-its, and tons of other unique tricks. After talking it over, Sam Crandall from Bethesda was announced the winner! Sam was awarded Cloud Ride Iceeez, great wheels for technical maneuvers from the small contact patch and buttery formula!

Using all of the elements of the run to have some extra fun.

All-in-all, we were super stoked on how many people came out and how hard everyone was ripping, especially considering that the warmest it was all day was 40 degrees. Thanks a ton to everyone came out, and remember we will be hosting these sessions once a month! See you next time!!

Group photo! Will and Sam with their favorite new wheels! Gordy coming in hot! KAT RIDER!!! Alvaro snagging a dollar on his way down! Nick Pappas showing how the Inside Line challenge is done!   Getting blunted on my Cloud Ride Iceeez! Jarrid Lopez looking stylish sending a squatter.