Virginia

Virginia is where my roots stem from. It is where I grew up, where I got my first board, where I learned to ollie, manual, and slide. It is where I started longboarding, a decision which has profoundly shaped where I have gone, who I have met, and ultimately helped shape who I am. I can’t claim that northern Virginia is a mecha for downhill, or that there are an abundance of parks. I can’t even claim that it has nice curbs or ledges. However, in 2010-2015 when I was first getting into longboarding, being a suburb of Washington DC, it had a lot of people to skate with and beginner friendly hills. Springfield was coincidentally home to Loaded longboard legends Adam Colton and Adam Stokowski whos videos such as Whirling Dervish, Do you humu?, and trick tips with Adam and Adam inspired countless kids including me to get into longboarding. The freeride longboarding boom around 2013 came to spawn the formation of skate crews like my first one with Chaz Miller and Sean Durfey, or later with Vince Miller and Devon Dotson. About thirty minutes away there was a neighborhood called Lake Barcroft, home of Lake Barcroft DIngus Riders, Dare I say the real LBDR (don’t @ me Liam). Lake Barcroft was home to skaters like Conner Arman, Alec Albergottie, Kieran Herz, and Ray Phelps who I traveled to slide jam after slide jam with, eventually making our way out of the suburbs into the mountains for our first taste of downhill.