Like always, Tilt hosts a BBQ for all the riders and people that are apart of the chicago jam. No invites ever go out but the people that are most influential in the scooter scene just know about it and show up. This year we had a mini park set up to mess around on. People ended up throwing down after they got their hamburgers in them thanks to Tom K for being the grill master. We started to feel bad that we had to pack up because so much was going down. After things were packed up it was off to the tilt house where the after party happened. The backyard looked like a campground were we tried to burn everything that would catch fire. Inside the house, there was a mini tech deck sesh that happened while others smashed on more food.
Since so many people were in town a lot of crews joined up after the jam for the whole weekend and rode together. A couple memorable moments are, a group of rappers filming a music video and trying to link up with us while we were filming some lines by the beach. Josh Young throwing down while a security guard tried to kick us out. Jona Humbel stepping in front of a car to save one of the shots for Chris. Ridding into the night 15 deep while Collin Niesen tried to fast plant a car. Dylan Kasson going up to that same car trying to FS 180 and the dude that owns the car walks up and gets right in and drives off. Eating tons of pizza and chicken. Thanks to everyone that made it a great time and kept up the good vibes.
Every year before the Chicago Street Jam, the Tilt team goes on a trip. This year we started in Illinois at the shop and took the Tilt van to Grand Rapids, Collin/Tilt's old stomping ground. Before the trip began, the crew was told that it was going to be a mellow trip since half the team was in Texas a day prior. Not even an hour in the crew was sending it on a crazy long up rail. This was our first sign that this trip wasn't going to be as mellow as everyone had thought. Our second spot was a bump to bar next to an open restaurant. We figured we would be kicked right away, but we actually got to seshin' it for about 40 minutes, enough time for everyone to get their tricks including a massive 360 by Josh. As we were ready to leave, we talked Dylan into jumping this wet couch we found behind one of the businesses while Issac, Collin and Josh sat on it. Once we finally got the boot, we started messing around on this long down slanted rail where this hippie chick in a tie dye tee started yelling at us, "un uh, this ain't happening". She said that about 6 more times before we decided to pack it up. The rest of the way to Michigan was filled with exploring abandoned buildings, watching tom throw himself down a 7 flat 4, lighting up a manny pad for 4 hours while cops drove by numerous times not caring. After all that we ended up at Collin's parent's house with three massive pizzas. As tired as everyone was, most of the crew stayed up for a couple hours just kicking it and watching clips.
Day two involved a legal DIY park where Jordan broke his deck, hill bombing a super sketch road that Collin whipped into, and a massively long rail that Issac tried for 3-4 hours. We also hit this sketchy slanted bank to brick wall, a perfect 8 stair handrail, set up a grate to fire hydrant, a bump to bar where Jona got a tow in from a biker gang called the Ruff Ryders. To wrap it up we lit up an abandoned pool. Both Josh and Jordan wanted something at the spot. Jordan ended up going first and got a pretty decent clip but wasn't happy with it. He kept going way after the cops showed up. Collin was on damage control with the troopers while Chris filmed Jordan trying it for another 10+ tries. Finally the sesh was over and we had to hull all the gear through the fence. The cop threatened to take all our gear/van and give us fines with a mandatory Grand Rapids court date. In the end he was cool about it and let us all go with warnings. See kids, if you act respectful you get out of crap like this. Day three everyone was dead. We started with fresh home made breakfast while Dylan did his stretch routine in the front yard with Tom and Jona. We hit one spot on our way out but pretty much everyone just wanted to sleep or take their pants off. We called it early and drove back while half the team slept on the floor of the van and the other half chilled on the chairs and checked the insta feeds.
