Last but not least.

WE MEET IN Irvine, CA, at the Element offices--Brent Atchley, J Wray, Tosh Townend, Team Manager Ryan DeWitt, filmer Preston, and myself. We got in the Element van and hit the road up to San Francisco. Thrasher photog Luke Ogden and Frat Boy Colt Cannon met us up there. Luke constructed some shelves in the back of the van to keep our shit organized. Colt arrived and the hours crept by; we just killed time until we could open our packet to see what we were in for. Our energy seemed good. I'd been waiting for this for almost six months. I couldn't wait to get started.

TEAM ELEMENT SAN FRANCISCO CHALLENGES

Skate down LombardSt. with the Newell crew

Get Team Pierre to eat live crabs

Grind a bar at Ft. Miley (w/ no hands)

SAN FRANCISCO

WE OPENED OUR PACKET at midnight, read through that shit several times over, and decided to sleep on it and start fresh the next day. Our city challenges were all do-able so we weren't sweating it. Luke had a line on where Chef Pierre would be, we all knew Brent could grind one of the Fort Miley bars no problem, and DeWitt dialed up Dave Duren and set up a hill-bombing run with the Newell boys.

Within a few hours all of our city challenges were accomplished. We also squeezed in a manny-pad session where Colt and J Wray got busy knocking out at least half of the manny tricks in one go. Colt made out with some 55-year-old broad while we were skating the manny pad. We let her have pick of the litter, and she went right for Colt.

SAC-TOWN

WITH SF HANDLED we headed east towards Sacto, CA, with a productive stop at UC Davis. Shit went down on some rails and on the flatground, and besides me fucking up my right ankle it seemed like a very productive start. Hopes were high as we put her to sleep the first night.

A few phone calls and we got a line on some pools. The sun was beating down and temperatures were sweltering. Motivation was hard to come by in Sacto, but still we managed to knock off a trick here and there. We hit a skatepark, a ditch, and did what we could, but resolved to get out of California ASAP The road was calling and we wanted to roll. In hindsight it may have been a mistake; we definitely could have been more productive had we spent another day in NorCal.

RENO

WE ROLLED INTO RENO, NV, and hit the bar at Circus Circus. It was a mother fucking freak show to say the least, and our posse fit right in. After staying ap all night and sleeping in, we got in the van with Salt Lake City, UT, targeted as our next stop.

Rolling out of Reno we saw some lady running down the street with blood pouring from a nasty wound on her forehead. We got her into the van thinking we were somehow doing the right thing by trying to get this lady to some immediate medical attention. Then we find out she's a cracked-out ho-bag whose boyfriend or pimp just lowered the hammer on her, Fuck that. We dropped her at the next corner and rolled.

SALT LAKE CITY

BETWEEN RENO AND SALT LAKE a few of the miscellaneous challenges went down, but very little skating. No worries--we had a solid connection in SLC and woke up the next day ready to get back at it. We started chipping away--a wall trick here, a ledge trick there, some transition shit at the skatepark. Not a bad day, but Colt had disappeared and our crew suffered from not riding all together and pushing each other at each spot.

The second day in Salt Lake started slow but picked up when we started knocking out some spine tricks at a skatepark, and then Colt got us lined up with a backyard pool on our way out of town. The shit was tight and dusty and night had fallen. We light it up and the locals park themselves in lawn chairs watching Tosh and Brent get busy. This was easily the very best session of the trip. The pool didn't have all the elements we needed to knock out all the shit in the book but we skated it hard, regardless, and forgot about the book for awhile.

TEAM ELEMENT LOUISVILLE, KY CHALLENGES

Pick up Mystery Guest

Show up with Mystery Guest at Louisville park at 10 pm on Aug. 15th

Nominate one member to compete in the sticker pasting challenge

Everyone must perform a benihana somewhere in the park

ROLL ON

WE DROVE THROUGH the night and rolled into Denver, CO, with the rising sun. We checked into a hotel and crashed. We headed out again in the early evening. Excuses and bad vibes started to rear their ugly heads. We started looking at the book and seeing it for the stuff we wanted to do as opposed to the stuff we had to do. The days already seemed to be slipping away and the book was becoming an anchor on our skating.

My ankle was fucked; walking was a problem, so I decide to try to rack up some non-skating points. I hit up Phil Rock at Bound By Design tattoo shop. I fucking hate tattoos, but my carcass is already riddled with them and ruined so I made the sacrifice for the lousy 50 points--"Skate and Destroy" tattooed on my left forearm. But if it's about being "down for life" then I had another statement to make and I got the Element tree logo tattooed on my fight forearm. Phil Rock then asks me to tattoo him. With no previous experience I took the tattoo gun and freehanded the shittiest tattoo ever given to anybody. A stick figure skateboard, my initials, and a sketchy-ass lightning bolt that I accidentally dragged across a pre-existing good tattoo. Phil seems psyched. I told him he's fucking nuts and we rolled out.

Day two in Denver we see some of the Habitat guys at the Denver park. No bad vibes, no shit talking, just hellos and how you doings. No need to sabotage each other, the book is taking care of that. We skate the park for a bit, then hit up some ditch spot. We skate the ditch spot all afternoon, good shit goes down, but nothing that's in the book. Oh well.

We hit Kansas City, MO, in the early afternoon during a rainstorm. We got downtown and opened our envelope. Fuck. The challenges are tough and it's motherfuckin' raining. We figured we could get Extreme Day at the Pleasant Valley skatepark knocked out in the rain, but the skating shit is going to be tough as we don't want to spend the night in Kansas City but it looks like we might have to. dust then Colt emerges from the van with his board and tells Preston to follow him.

The other guys split to Toys R Us to get a little girl's bike and a big wheel for the Extreme Day shit, while J Wray, Preston, and I are treated to the Colt show. Homeboy kickflips every set of stairs at the Slant as well as the Slant itself in the fuckin' rain, and then boardslides the Koston rail in downtown Kansas City with the rain falling on him and having to ride through a puddle on his approach. Where that shit came from I'll never know. Colt had been asleep for days and was MIA the rest of the way out, but he came alive for an hour or so in Kansas City and I'll never be able to pass through that city again without remembering what I witnessed there: Colt motherfuckin' Cannon.

On the way to Louisville, KY, Dewitt truly took one for the team by making out with some rugged black-toothed hick with a rose tattoo. Brent got the fast food employee make out (Brent being pick of the litter, crushing Colt's ego), and Tosh did a Jump for Jah off the flatground that had to be close to record book heights.

Louisville itself isn't anything to write home about; a bunch of the typical Thrasher crowd zooming around with their tats, trucker caps, and "hardcore" attitude. Whatever, it puts me to sleep. Our city challenges were a cake walk, except that Luke struggled on the benihana and Ray Barbee missed his fight out to Louisville and didn't join our crew until the next day. Seeing some of the guys I know from the other teams was good--Chalmers, Getz, Chris Cole, and Jamie get me hyped, and catching up with Knox and Dressen makes the day for me. Otherwise, Louisville was a waste of time as far as I'm concerned.

TEAM ELEMENT DETROIT, MI CHALLENGES

Build a four-man skateboard and with four men riding it, jump a four-stair

One dude paints his face in the style of the Insane Clown Posse and keeps it for a day

Ollie the big 5 at Hart Plaza (watch for security!)

DETROIT

WE PICKED UP Ray Barbee and head fight for Detroit, MI. We got there in the early evening and opened our envelope in front of Tiger Stadium. The city challenges are all doable. We head right for the big 5. Tosh ollied it and 180s it just as the sun drops. From there we hit up the Simplicity skatepark for a late night session. Tosh did the rocket drop naked. The next day J Wray puts on the ICP make-up and nails the ollie and backside 180 ollie off the top of the van. Then Luke built our four-man skateboard by putting trucks on the bottom of a plank of plywood. We found a four-stair and Brent, Tosh, J Wray, and I rode the beast of a board down the stairs.

With two days left we break for NYC hoping for an epic last 48 hours, but knowing that our backs are up against the wall. It's been a fun ride, but it's really too late to start gunning for a victory. We needed to do that back in Sacramento.

TEAM ELEMENT NEW YORK CITY CHALLENGES

Turn in footage to Jake Phelps Aug, 19th between 11:30 and 11:59 pm in Times Square (Broadway and 7th in front of the jumbo-tron)

FINAL STRETCH

IN NYC we checked into a hotel and slept until the early evening. As the sun dropped, Tosh, Ray, J Wray, Luke, Preston, and I hit the streets; the other guys hit the bar. So much for one last all-out team effort. Still, we had a good night skating the city. Hell, I'm skating with legends Ray Barbee and Jeremy Wray. I can't complain. Ray got the heelflip wallride and Tosh made his last stand sweating through two T-shirts and two decks, but in spite of the effort we all knew at this point it wasn't enough. We ended up cruising the streets all night, checking out Ground Zero, and talking story.

The last day was spent in New Jersey in the rain. I make some local connections with Al at Central Jersey skateshop and Nieratko at NJ skateshop. Al helped us find a cop to ollie over a board in uniform--gun and all. He was a guy I grew up with and he's cool as shit. Nieratko hooks us up with a boat to skate, Brent 360 flips in it, and then Nieratko takes us to a ditch and I get the ho-ho in with the rain coming down.

We rolled into Times Square at midnight. All the other teams are there, Phelper and Meza. We handed over our shit. Everyone is mingling, except Tosh and me. We stood back and took it all in. We were not feeling so friendly. We wanted to eat motherfuckers alive. It's too late and we knew it.

The party the next night was painful. Hearing the Element Team announced as finishing in fourth killed me. Fuck. I looked at Tosh, he shook his head, and I walked right out the door. I walked the city aimlessly for hours and somehow end up right in front of my hotel. Motherfucker. It was a fun trip, but to a man we all could have done more. I think it would have been even more fun to really attack the book. That's what we were there for. Some of our guys didn't even show up or care. It's a bummer. I feel it burning in my gut. Sleep doesn't come easy in NYC. I kept thinking about the things I'd do differently if given another shot, whom I'd invite for the ride and who I wouldn't. Whatever.