PHOTOS BY BRIAN PERRY
1/28/02

I didn't think I'd ever been to Burnsville before but on my way down to the G-Shock Skatepark I passed the site of my spiritual depantsing (Simpson's credit - Apu). That's right, Skateville. To you it might be a run down rollerskating rink but to me it's the place where I was denied by a pretty young girl during a snowball. I don't remember much about that day, I was probably 10 years old, I just remember feeling really stupid.

DMC, Indy air click to enlarge

Needless to say I was a little defensive when I arrived at the skatepark. I've privately voiced my apprehensiveness about this park based on the fact that I didn't know who it was. But I'll get to that later. Anyway, I pulled into a nice sized parking lot with plenty of cars in front of the building. I suddenly felt excited again, like when I was young (and less jaded) and going to a new park for the first time.

After a jedi mind trick I walked into this huge space filled with skaters and skatelite as far as the eye could see. I saw DMC down by the vert ramp so he and I hit the mini to warm up. There are two mini ramps there- one is really small and looked to be about 16 feet wide. I didn't ride it but it looked fine for beginners. The mid sized ramp was split into two 16 foot sections with half around 4 feet high and the other half around 6. It was a fun ramp to ride. Trying to speed up from low to high and vice/versa kept me busy for quite a while. The coping throughout the park was thin. It's not the worst problem to have because it's coping and easy to replace. But on the mini ramp it was already dented up from bike pegs and it's just going to get worse. But the same coping on the vert ramp wasn't dented at all. It was fast and felt solid.

Wayne Zerr, Lipslide click to enlarge

The vert ramp itself is 32 feet wide with strait walls. Ole, Mike Haugen, DMC and Peder Mewis were tearing it up. It's all new wood in the park so everything is very smooth. It'll take a while before it's beaten up enough to find the kinks but for now it's excellent. The transitions are a bit small but it makes lip tricks more fun. I looked behind the ramp and was a little worried to see 8 foot spans between templates. It's hard to tell how it'll hold up. But I heard that they put long screws through the skatelite and into the 2x4's underneath. So that could tighten it up.

I didn't skate the street course too much but I skated it enough to warn Steve (Nesser) and Wayne (Zerr) to be careful on the humpty-hump roll in when they showed up. That thing is gnarly. But of course when Nesser started skating the park shrank considerably. He goes huge. He did a kickflip across a 12 foot gap between the banks in the center of the street course that was sick as hell (see photo). The course itself was decent. It's geared for skating, biking and rollerblading so as we know it's hard to get something everyone will like. There's a 8 foot wide, 6 foot high spine in the center of the course that would be pretty much useless for skaters but bikers could go either direction off it. There are some nice long rails and plenty of room to move. The concrete is perfect & smooth which somewhat made up for some goofy transitions in the course.

Steve Nesser, The only skater to figure out how to use this bank. Out of a jump ramp, onto the wall, and mellon onto a bank. Sick. click to enlarge Nesser, Kickflip over a 12 foot bank click to enlarge

I felt a lot better about the place after meeting the owner. His name is Cole and he and his wife & family were running the joint. Very approachable guy. His kids skate and he has a motocross background so he's not some corporate putz. He seems open to ideas and really wants to have a nice park for people to go. I asked him about the sessions (I've heard some complaints) and he basically said he's going to see how it goes and they may be changing some things up. That goes for the park too. It's inevitable that parks get changed around but it seems like he's in tune with what's working and what's not. And like I said, things are easy to change if need be.

The place had a lot of kids in it. I walked around to see what they thought and they seemed really excited to have a new park to skate. The place is pretty huge. Cole is keeping the bikes separate from the skate sessions which is a good idea. At least I think that's what he said… I can't remember. Ole had told me that he did some work for him & told me he was a good dude so I'm happy for the guy. I hope it works out & continues to grow. He was telling me that he wants to take up skating. Having your own park helps a lot.

On my way back up to the cities I had to drive past Skateville again. I realized I haven't grown too much since that day many years ago. I've never done another snowball. My mind started drifting until I pictured that same girl now with a dozen kids living in a trailer. Life could have been a lot different if she would've said yes. It could have sucked.

BRIAN PERRY

G-Shock Skatepark
11925 12th Ave
Burnsville MN 55337
gshockskatepark.com