Week Five
 

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Monday April 16, 2007 - John A. O'Connell High School (San Francisco, California) Week number five of the got milk? Gravity Tour started today. I’m still shocked at how fast it’s going by. It still seems like last week that we started this thing in San Diego at Chula Vista High. Week five brings us to the wonderful city of San Francisco. We were in San Francisco last year for the tour, but Mother Nature did not agree with us. It rained four out of the five days we were here last year. That being said, we were pretty relieved when we arrived on Sunday and saw that the forecast was clear for the upcoming week.

Our show today was at John O’Connell High School. We performed at this school last year, but due to the rain last time around, they only saw the flatland portion of the show. This time it was clear sunny skies, so the students would be treated to the entire ramp show. Our contact here was Jane Steiner, and she let us in the back gate, and directed us to the area we were to set-up in. I noticed a change in the campus right away, they had installed a rather large garden next to the back gate, something you don’t see at many high schools, especially in a big city like this.

We had some athlete changes for this week. We lost Dave Voelker and Gabe Weed, and picked up BMX rider Tom Haugen, and skateboarder Anthony Furlong. Since we had no flatland rider this week, the ramp riders had to take a few extra runs, but they never skipped a beat. Our show was one big assembly today at the end of the school day. The students made their way out onto the blacktop, and were instantly treated to a wide array of tricks from the athletes. Once the whole school was present, the show started, and the students of O’Connell High were very enthusiastic and loud from the start.

Tour athlete/spokesperson, Fabiola da Silva, was doing some of the biggest airs she had done all tour long, and threw down flatspins and even a 540. Marc Englehart has been absolutely amazing since he started on the tour last week, and today he was stellar again. He definitely goes higher on this ramp than anyone else. Anthony Furlong and Danny Mayer had the students excited with their 360 varials and kickflips, while Tom Haugen did every barspin variation he knew and lots of tailwhips as well.

We were all happy that the weather agreed with us this time around at John O’Connell High. We were happy to finally give them the full show, and the students were very appreciative as well. I do have to say, that on the entire four weeks of the tour thus far, the students of John O’Connell have been the loudest and most enthusiastic of the tour thus far. They were a smaller student body than some of the schools we did in southern California, but they get the award thus far, for being the most enthusiastic group of the tour.

That’s all for now, cross you fingers for more good weather the rest of the week.
-- Jimmy C

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Our show today was at Phillip and Sala Burton Academic High School. This is actually two schools sort of rolled into one, on the south side of the city. You should have seen these steep hills that surrounded this school. At first glance, we did not think we could get the truck up the main street the school is on. Fortunately for us, our truck driver, Armand Sylvie, can do amazing things with that truck and he found an alternate route. Once we got into the campus, we began set-up on the back softball field. It was a huge field with a really nice view of the city, seeing as how we were high up on a hill.

Today was another big assembly show, both of the schools were dismissed from class and we had about a 45-minute window for our performance. The wind had settled down a bit from earlier, but it was still blowing around the field pretty good. Despite the wind, all five athletes skated and rode the ramp like it was a championship competition. Fabiola da Silva and Marc Englehart both pulled ridiculously high flatspins into the wind, and Marc even did a 900 at one point, something he does not regularly do. Danny Mayer pulled a clean Mctwist (540), something he also does not do every day. Anthony Furlong and Marc Englehart took the show a step further today.  They decided to go for a doubles run. Marc did a 540 over Anthony, and then Anthony did a 360 varial over Marc, it was pretty impressive. The big highlight of the show was Tom Haugen. He rolled in and did a tailwhip and a superman air, but I thought he was done after that. Instead, he popped onto the deck, looked around for a bit, and then rolled back in. He did a few set-up airs and then did the unthinkable, a double tailwhip. That’s basically where he is in the air, the frame of the bike does 2 complete revolutions, but his body and handlebars stay stationary. It was pretty wild and the students loved it.

We had a local dairy come out today, Producers Dairy, and they sampled free milk during the show. The students were very appreciative of that, and they all loved the show. I had mentioned in yesterday’s wrap-up about how loud and enthusiastic the students of John O’Connell High School were.  Well today’s school was just as loud and into the show. These last two days have by far been the best students of the tour.

A big special thanks go out to Producers Dairy for coming out to sample today, and to Susan Kitchell from the school. The crew and I thank you for the ice for the cooler, and for the lunches you guys brought us.

Lastly, our show today was allowed by the school staff as a bit of an “incentive” to get the students hyped up for their S.T.A.R. testing next week. I want to wish all of the students good luck on their S.T.A.R. tests, and we look forward to next year’s show.
-- Jimmy C

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When we arrived at the campus, it looked like we weren’t going to be able to fit the ramp truck through the back gate. The gate itself was wide enough, but there was a grass hill on either side that prevented the doors from swinging open completely. It took quite a few attempts, but our truck driver, Armand Sylvie, knows that truck like the back of his hand. He managed to make it fit with only an inch or two to spare on either side.

We set up today on the football field, closest to the home side bleachers. About 30 minutes before show time, some of the students came out with these huge banners. There was one banner for each grade level, and they draped them across the back of the bleacher wall. This was something we don’t get to see every day. When show time rolled around, the entire student body of 1,100 students were brought out to the field. On their way into the bleachers, they were greeted by our friends from Producers Dairy, who passed out free milk.

The wind was pretty bad today. It was blowing hard, and it made the banners on the ramp railing puff up like a big sail. Just like yesterday, the athletes all rose to the occasion, despite the windy conditions. Tom Haugen didn’t do a double tailwhip today, but he still did plenty of single tailwhips and lots of barspin variations. Marc Englehart and Anthony Furlong did another doubles run today, and again, Anthony pulled a very clean 360 varial over Marc doing an air. Danny Mayer ended the show with a perfect “Mctwist”.

Afterwards, the students were dismissed for the day, and were allowed to come down onto the field to get autographs, and participate in the trivia session for got milk? prizes. While this took place, the students also had the chance to sample more milk from Producers Dairy.

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Our show today was at Washington High School. This school was one of our rainouts from last year’s spring tour, so I was glad to see we had a shot at giving them a performance this time around. This campus is on the northern tip of the San Francisco peninsula, and you can see a great view of the ocean from one side of the campus, and the Golden Gate Bridge, from the other.

We set up on the back softball field today, and had two shows. One was during lunch, the other was during 7th period. Before the first show started, a Berkeley Farms truck showed up and parked right next to the ramp. Berkeley Farms gave out free milk during both shows today. Just like the other shows this week, the wind was an issue, but the athletes overcame it, again.

Danny Mayer was skating like it was a contest during the first show. He did most of his flip tricks, and did three or four 540’s. On his last trick, he bailed and went for a kneeslide, but something else came down the ramp with him besides his skateboard. I thought it was some trash blowing in the wind, but after taking a closer look, it was part of his truck (the metal thing that holds the wheels onto the board). There is a metal post that runs through a skateboard truck called a “kingpin”. Danny had broken his kingpin in the middle of a trick and half of his truck came flopping down the ramp with him. Luckily for him, it happened in mid air, instead of while riding up or down the ramp. This wasn’t an easy fix, so Danny had to sit out the second show, but he helped out by taking pictures for me.

The second show was a little shorter, and it was during 7th period. With Danny having to sit this one out, the other four athletes stepped it up a notch. Anthony Furlong ended the second show with a super long run. I think he skated for almost a minute straight.

After each show we did trivia for prizes, and gave out a couple of skateboard decks as well. Washington High has a skateboard club, and several of the skate club members remembered us from last year. They were bummed that they couldn’t skate the ramp, but they were pretty stoked on the show.

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I woke up this morning expecting to see more rain, but to my surprise, it was clear and sunny. The ground was still wet, and so were the streets, but the skies were clear, which meant we had a green light to set up the ramp at Lowell High School. The original plan was to set up on the football field and be part of a large rally. Due to rain in the forecast, the rally was cancelled, so our secondary set-up area was on the basketball courts, same place we were last year. We had two shows today, during staggered lunch periods. As the students made their way out to the courts, they were greeted by a refrigerated truck from Berkeley Farms dairy. The students were able to grab some free milk, and then check out the show.

As show time rolled around, the clouds started to form again, and for awhile, it looked like more rain was definitely coming. The wind picked up and the temperature dropped a bit, but no rain. The athletes skated two sessions, while the Lowell students cheered them on. During the second performance, a local television station came out to shoot some footage for the evening broadcast. After the show, they asked if we could keep the ramp up for another hour, so they could do a live shot for one of their shows. The ramp crew agreed, and the live shot was on. The cameraman came up with an idea for a skit. The reporter would interview Fabiola da Silva, then put on Anthony Furlong’s helmet, and pretend she was going to climb the ladder and drop in on the ramp. Then the cameraman would cut away from the reporter and zoom in on Fabiola, long enough for the reporter to toss the helmet back to Anthony Furlong who was on top of the ramp. Then the cameraman zoomed back in on the ramp, so it would appear as if Anthony Furlong doing the skating was actually the reporter. While Furlong was skating, Fabiola was able to play “newscaster” and narrate the action on the ramp. It was a good way to end the week.

That’s it for this week. We head got milk? Gravity Tour event, the Stockton Asparagus Festival.
-- Jimmy C

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