Remember the Song "Rocky Mountain High?" No, oh well me either! One thing I do know is that Denver either has a lot of skaters making up its population, or the people in Denver are just plain into going to skateboard demos. Whatever the case let's just say there was a butt load of people on hand. In fact there were more skaters here than chain wallets at all the OzzFest stops put together! About 5,000 people witnessed some impressive skating in the Mile High City. 3 years ago when the Hawk Tour first started, Tony had said he didn't want to see any kids getting turned away from any of the tour stops - and for the first time I would have to say it's getting close to that very thing happening. As the Hawk Tour picks up speed in its third year, the crowds get bigger and bigger. Sometimes we have to hold 2 demos just to fit everyone in. Gone are the days of the 400 person crowd, and what I have to say to all that is "bring it!" This has been the best Hawk Tour by far and with only three stops left we were all stoked and ready!

Bob Burnquist finds his line at the Aspen, CO skatepark.

To quote Sal, meanwhile back at the skatepark... The guys got off the bus and the RV around 2:21 that's 4:21 EST. Yes, I said RV. Because we had so many guys skating it took a tour bus and an RV to move us all around. The crew included Tony Hawk, Bucky Lasek, Jessie Fritsch, Jason Ellis, Kevin Staabinator, Colin Mckay, Bob Burnquist, Sean White, Mike Vallely, Kerry Getz, Bam Margera, Alex Chalmers, Kris Markovich, Willy Santos, Jeremy Wray and my BMX favorite Rick "Biker in Black" Thorne - not to mention the Birdhouse AM Team and the Adio AM Team! The crowd was delirious with excitement in fact it looked like a mime convention. This crowd had the excitement of stockholders of Enron Company a year back. Must have been the heat. Their was more skating talent in this Demo then any other demo in the history of demos, that's saying a lot. I guess some people just don't appreciate what they have before them, oh well, on with the tour!

Tony Hawk mute grab 540s in the bowl at the Denver Skatepark.

Mike V was on fire again in the 95-degree heat tearing up the street course and some old scabs in the process. Willy Santos busted a kickflip to backside lip slide; I think he was yawning when he did it. Chalmers was on the bluntslide tip and hitting up every possible opportunity to display the skills. Sean White, Team Volcom rider, pulled a backside heelflip over one of the many channels on the street course in super stylee fashion. It's good to have Bam back on tour… He's always good for some k-grinds, big fat bomb drops and other pranks. Kris Markovich was kickflipping a barricade with Getz and company. You needed about 10 sets of eyes to watch all the skating going on the slippery street course and you still would have missed half of it.

Kevin Staab shows the Denver crowd how sweet old-school is.

It took only about 10 minutes from the end of the street portion of the demo until the big fat bowl in the back came into the picture. Tony and Shaun White were busting double runs in this mammoth bowl the boys were sessioning. Bob Burnquist was establishing his lines early and proceeded to rip the bowl a new one. Colin Mckay had no trouble finding his lines as well. Jason Ellis told me earlier in the day that the bowl was pretty slippery. I guess it never seemed to bother him because was pretty much relentless in his attack like the rest of "The Hawk Pack". The bowl session was ripping so hard some brainless foolio even lost control of his beer hand, and launched a full Hamm's Beer in the bowl during Tony and Shaun's doubles run. It was a great day for the world of skateboarding on this hot day in Denver.

Thanx for reading, now shut up and sk8.

Quote of the day comes from Brad J, "Skateboarding should always be fun, if it's not you should quit!"

L8er

Brad J

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