The Fish May Be Stale But The Popcorn Is Fresh!
Old Bold And Never Sold
What will you be doing when your 50? Is that a scary thought? No need to be freaked out kids cuz i have a great game plan for you, just keep skating like those N-Men dudes from Sac and life will continue to be worth living. The obvious question for those of you still enjoying your salad days is “who the hell are the N-Men and why would I want to emulate their skate path”? Without delving too deep into the history of these Sacramento legends I will tell you the majority of these guys have been skating since the dawn of time and have no intention of giving up anytime soon. As crusty as some of them they are still hitting it hard on the boulevard even when they reach the big 50 as in Allen’s case here.Trust me I understand that some of you youngsters don’t give a fuck about old geezers rolling around on skatingboards and why should you? When it comes to old schoolers your probably used to decrepit dudes padded up to their neck talking about ebay auctions and getting in your way at the local skate track. You know the type that’s more into talking about skating than actually doing it. Yeah, i get it but that ain’t these guys (for the most part) and it definitely isn’t my homey Allan Barclay. These dudes (again, for the most part) are actually cool as shit and at least in Barclays case don’t even wear pads and are still crush the coping like savages.
Although a decade away something tells me meat juice will be floating FSA’s when he hits 50
When the Facebook invite popped up to celebrate Allan’s 50th at the newly built Beeble bowl in Auburn there was no way I wasn’t going to show up and document the festivities. Not only am I a sucker for good skate party but I made a custom shape a while ago for Allan so this was a perfect opportunity to finally deliver it in the form of a birthday gift. After a long drive to Rancho Beebs I rolled up and the session was in full swing with a eclectic mix of the generations killing it so hard the new tiles were flying off like underwear in a whorehouse. Unfortunately our man of honor Allan was on the injured reserve list from shredding to hard earlier in the day. Fortunately he had enough cold beer to drown his sorrows and nurse his wounds so I don’t think he really gave a shit. However our main 4 wheel backscratcher Ryan was in his usual kill mode blasting those exceptional trademark airs over the hips along with a sweet crooks to fake over the stairs and other assorted meaty goodies. The Folsom’s were both killin it as well but I must say Katherine is definitely shining harder than her husband at this point – after all her heavy moves it was nice to hear all the women yell “girl power bitches”! Some of the aforementioned N-Men were in the cement pond hitting it hard as well and like I said before these guys just won’t give up no matter what. They are definitely entering uncharted territory when it comes to how long a human can rip on 4 wheels. Seems like broken bones and bunions on the toes should have slowed these senior shredders down but it just ain’t the case.
Not willing show respect to your elders? No worries – you can join Griffins tribe of anti N-Men affectionately known as the C-Men. He’s taking resumes as we speak.
But I must say that even though this was party for a grizzled old N-Man it’s obvious there was a new gaggle of rippers in town ready to take over. Popcorn, John Worthington, Blake and the leader of the rival C-Men gang Griffin were tearing the new skate track to pieces. The fresh buttery black coping was getting assaulted like one Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims- straight murdered! The N-Men laid some deep roots down in Nor Cal and It’s so nice to see the baton getting passed along to the the next generations of skaters and seeing what they come up with. By the looks of it Sacto skateboarding is in good shape for years to come. After Griff finally laid down that beauty of a back smith over the hip it was time to pack up and head back to the bay. All the way home I kept thinking what a superb bowl beeb’s and crew have created and how much skateboarding rules. What other activity is there where a group of people from 5 to 50 can get together and having a raging time? Skateboarding is truly the great American pastime!
Happy Birthday Allen!
– BROdela
Unfortunately Ryan and I didn’t get too many clips but here’s a little edit to get you hyped on the bowl. Start buttering up the Beeb’s now cuz trust me you want to skate this beauty of a cement pond!