Post Author: Jeff McKee
I got home from Texas a couple of days ago after a sick week of riding and hanging out with the boys from Shredtown. Along for the ride were team riders Nate Perry and Brian Reeder and man, what a ride it was! From REAL handrails cemented into sidewalks to 3 foot diameter correx tubes, Janky pools and muddy shoes, we did it all. Reeder almost had his head crushed at the Handrail set-up, and then was almost decapitated by a stop sign (a prop turned jib) at the correx set-up. Nate has black and blue ribs from a janky undersized bottom pool and all I got was a lousy t-shirt. Lucky me right? haha.
The week-long journey was for a film experiment we like to call project “maximus exodus”. Behind the lens was the big baby I love to hate and more importantly hate to LOVE, Mr. Patrick Wieland. We bitch and moan at each other for most of the day but at the end, we high five as we review the footage and realize that we killed it. My knee was a bit upset with me on the trip which turned out to be a blessing in disguise due to the danger factor of the set-ups, so instead I ran a second camera while the dingy jib masters got the job done. Chris Abadie from Shredtown blew everyone away as he stepped his game up throughout the week. He was the test dummy for all the set-ups and made each of them look as easy as cake. I think he was the only rider to avoid a seriously dangerous situation hitting all the spots with confidence and ease.
We don’t want to blow the spots on the web so you’ll have to stay tuned to the blog as we continue the operation, but I did manage to snag a few fun ones for your viewing pleasure:
To me the photo above has Texas written all over it. Camoflauge, guns, beer, and the fact that we are on a cattle ranch in the middle of nowhere. It turns out there are lots of ranches in Texas and somehow Shredtown has the keys to most of them. I don’t know ho they do it, but lucky for us they do. This is where the huge correx gap was set up in a puddle just behind the photographer. Nate got the craziest photo of a nosepress I have ever seen at this spot (shot by our buddy Justin Leblanc). The board is shaped like a “U” as in “Underpants.”
Speaking of Nate, He also learned how to spell his name backwards in the dark with a flashlight after 4 beers. At Slingshot we value this type of skill to the tenth degree. We actually all spent about 2 hours total trying to do fun things with light painting photos. We made a perfect image of me peeing light onto Davis’ face but I guess Patrick Decided that photo was sooo good it could be in the photo annual or something, because he refused to give it to me for this blog.
Andrew and Davis both wore mustaches for the whole trip, but I’m guessing Andrew will end up shaving his after he see’s this pic. It makes his lips look swollen and paralyzed at the same time which could be good for some things, but definitely not for pictures. Oh yeah, Shredtown has purple shirts as well, and they are for sale at Shredtown.com. They gave me one for free and it’s about time since I made them famous. They also sponsored me with shredtown handles, so I guess they’re doing a pretty good job of paying me back.
Above is Brian Reeder wearing butt check neoprene pants for women. They go nicely with the hair and do a great job of creating a modern Tarzan mixed with a touch of Fabio type look. I better watch what I say though, because Brian has a 6 pack. He was getting psyched up to hit the handrail in this photo, but later he crashed into a tree after falling out of the pool. In between these two moments he killed it though. Kudos Brian, Kudos.
That’s all I Have to say for now…Stay tuned to find out when you can catch a glimpse of all the action from this adventure!
Truly Yours,
Jeff McKee
Slingshot Blog 