Freewheelin' Page #5

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When I say waves, I really mean banks.

- [Camille] Stevie's hometown is Ventura,

up the coast from LA.

And the city built the first playground

designed especially for

skateboarding, a skateboard park.

(adventurous music)

(rhythmic suspenseful music)

Skateboarding is more than just a sport.

Like skiing is in some places,

it's also a means of transportation.

Stevie skates to and

from school every day,

so he's got his hometown streets wired.

Stacy took Bobby to the Escondido Bowl.

This was one of the ultimate

rides in skateboarding

and probably the closest to surfing.

But Bobby, the professional skier,

had trouble riding the bowl at first.

His feet together skiing

stance is okay for slalom,

but this was totally different.

He had to change to

Stacy's surfing stance.

Once he learned that, he

was really starting to fly.

(adventurous rock music)

- These guys are just smoking.

This is a whole new aspect of racing.

I think I'm gonna try Stacy's stance in it

with more of a open drawn out,

bowing type trip and a parallel

consistent, look at that!

What an experience.

- This is the best.

- Hey, this is really a

new trip for me, I love it.

It opens up more doors

than I ever imagined.

It's like the first time

you break a mogul field

and you're just bursting

through the moguls going Ooo!

(adventurous rock music)

- This is the hottest thing

I've ridden in so long.

That's like, it's like, (exhales rapidly)

I'm trying to put so much energy

in it 'cause I get so

stoked, I get so anxious,

it's like this is it.

It's like you feed off of it.

And like you can just

throw all your weight

and just feel woo.

And you just hit it and you throw down,

and you throw up, and you

just got so much speed.

It's like in certain

other things I can surf

and like you throw your arm

and you go that direction,

and like your arm goes and then you meet

the direction in which your arm goes.

And you get so much speed off it that way,

you know, weight shifting.

It's just incredible.

(spirited instrumental music)

- [Camille] Where was it?

- Escondido.

There's a thing called the Reservoir

or the bird bath or something.

- Where do they get the names?

- I don't know.

But it sure was a neat place.

He was just learning how to ride it

and he was going crazy.

Look at him.

Wow, those guys get

radical and they're crazy.

- I'd be scared to death.

- They're fun.

That guy was so radical,

I can't even believe it.

- [Camille] As the film went along,

the movie people wanted

us to see the footage.

We were really stoked.

Unbelievably hot, Stacy said he'd never

put so much energy into riding a place.

His stomach got all twisted into knots.

Your wheels hit the tiles.

They're 12 feet up from

the bottom of the pool.

(techno music)

And when your wheels hit,

they make this loud click,

and you're weightless, completely vertical

to the side of the pool.

It's only an instant, but

it seems like forever.

Getting vertical is just about the best.

That weightless feeling,

like you're in orbit.

That's what skateboarding's

getting into now.

- Skateboarding the swimming pool

is a lot like surfing a wave.

Only that the wave is not

moving in a swimming pool.

You have to use your own torque

and ability to pump to get up the wall.

It gets steep rather quick,

so you have to torque off the top

and drop straight down to make it.

(eclectic jazz music)

The first one that I ever hit the tile,

that was about the hardest thing,

the most psychological thing because

every time you feel the tile,

you naturally just want to jump off.

(eclectic jazz music)

- Oh man, it was so tight.

The bowl was so tight,

like you get headaches.

- Really?

- You hit it so, I swear you turn so fast.

It's just, God, and just

when you get up there,

you don't know what, it's

just that you're weightless.

It's really weird, you throw your weight--

- [Tom] Checking at your height or else

you know you won't even make it,

you have to get weightless

to catch your board and come back down.

- [Stacy] The only other thing like it

is this place I went to last

week called the Pipeline.

It's this 15 foot granite pipe

that goes over a quarter of a

mile back into the mountain.

Like just to get there,

you have to cross a 20 foot

deep pit on an old log.

This guy Waldo was really radical.

He got so high, that he got

past the vertical plane.

(uptempo jazz music)

- [Camille] They were

holding the world record

speed runs for the

Guinness Book of Records.

It's so dangerous, only

a few skateboarders

will even attempt it.

A lot of others showed up to watch them.

Guy Grundy is the one who took the record.

The heavy armor's necessary too.

Leather jackets, crash helmets,

and knee and elbow pads and steel boots.

The extra long boards were for stability.

At 50 miles per hour, only one little

mistake and it's all over.

Gary Hitchcock.

(starting gun fires)

(dramatic techno music)

(adventurous music)

(sirens blare)

(starting gun fires)

Guy Grundy set an official world's record

of 50.1 miles per hour.

(rhythmic band music)

Stacy and I met whenever we could.

We went everywhere together,

but I could tell he was getting restless.

Weekend trips weren't enough,

he wanted to skate

more, to surf new spots,

but there was always school

and his job at the

restaurant, that was hopeless.

We talked about it a lot.

He still didn't know what he was gonna do.

But he had to do something,

break free somehow.

I guess we both knew that.

Every free moment, Stacy was skating,

but only the hotspots now.

He was skating harder than ever.

We took a trip back to the Escondido Bowl.

Tom Sims and Mike Weed both

had already turned pro.

They were really radical.

(spirited piano music)

Suddenly, a kid on a bike showed up.

He was really ripping.

Stacy was stoked, he used to ride

a motocross bike when he was younger.

He talked to the kid and found out

they were holding races just

a few miles down the coast.

- [PA Announcer] Your

front wheel must be against

the gate to start the race.

No re-starts, absolutely not.

- First call, pedal drive!

- [Camille] These kids were pretty young,

but really going for it.

It's another incredible sport.

(vibrant rock music)

And they think skateboarding is dangerous.

(adventurous rock music)

- [PA Announcer] Michael Farley,

he's gonna take another flag.

(gentle piano music)

- [Camille] I hadn't even realized it,

but a whole year had gone

by since we'd been together.

Skateboarding was really getting big,

spreading across the country

and around the world.

It was a whole new wave

and Stacy really wanted to ride it.

Word had gotten around

about how good he was,

and he'd gotten offers to

join some of the big teams.

But what he really

wanted to do was travel,

any place where there was

hills and empty beaches.

I saw it wouldn't be long now.

The movie people were

really into skateboarding.

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