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Joe Rich in Shanghai

Posted by: Joe Rich | Saturday, November 4, 2006 7 comments

Back in 1996, I got a call one day about doing shows in Shanghai, China. I remember being so out of my mind excited as soon as I heard those words. I couldn't believe it. I was going to China. And that was only the start of the conversation. When I asked who else was going, I was told there would be a couple of skateboarders and a couple of in-line skaters, me and Matt. Matt? I thought, Matt who? Then it clicked. Matt Hoffman! It would be literally impossible for me to explain how I felt after hearing that. Half excited, half scared to death. Me doing vert shows with Matt Hoffman? What the fuck were they thinking?

Well, I decided not to question them and just roll with it. And weeks later, there I was, sitting on a plane on my way to China. This was only the third country I had ever been to at this point in my life…Mexico being the first and England being the second. That week was amazing; I had never seen such things. I remember the thing that stuck out the most was the fact of how many people rode bicycles there. A light would turn red and it was not odd at all to see hundreds of people on bikes come to a halt. It was so good! We only ended up doing shows for 1 day and the rest of the time was sight seeing. Not so bad, eh?! I also remember that it was a huge deal that the vert ramp would be staying in Shanghai after we left, as they had nothing even close to a ramp in their city at the time….Little did they know what was to come.

Jump to 2006 now…. About a year ago I got an email from Povah that had a web link included in it. As usual, I clicked on it without thinking to much about what might be on the other end of those little blue highlighted letters…. When the images appeared on the screen my jaw about hit the floor. Shanghai, China boasting to have the largest skatepark in the world! And from what I could tell, they weren't lying. Not only was the park the largest in square footage, but the size of everything was stepped up more than just a notch or 2. The park went so far beyond anything that has ever been built. Imagine your favorite cement park but all juiced up on steroids! "One day" I thought, "One day I have to make it back to China and that park!"

About 2 weeks before Interbike this year, I got a call from Koji Kraft. An unfortunate circumstance had happened to Tom Haugen and he was not going to be able to attend the event at the Shanghai park this year due to a broken leg. Get well soon Tom! The organizers of the event were kind of pressed for time with trying to find someone, so Koji rang me up to see if I could go. I originally thought it wouldn't be possible to make it due to the trade show and the people that were going with me. But in the course of a day, it all became clear that I had to go. Everything magically worked out and the green light was on! A rush Chinese Visa was put in motion as well as a call to my friend Dawn who is a travel agent. It still didn't seem real at all. Trips to far away places never really do to me until I'm actually sitting on the airplane thinking, "this is really happening!" As you can probably tell, I feel like a little kid even still when opportunities present themselves.

Due to how close the trip would be to the Interbike show in Vegas, I flew out of Salt Lake. Elf let me keep my truck and belongings in his driveway, and gave me a ride to the airport too. Sweet as! The flight from Salt Lake to Shanghai would total about 15- 16 hours with a stop off in San Francisco. The good thing about going to China was that jet lag never hits you nearly as bad when you are traveling west. Not to mention that we were crossing the international date line on the way. So I actually left in the afternoon on October 2nd, and arrived in Shanghai at about 6 at night on October 3rd! But when flying home I would leave Shanghai around 1 in the afternoon on October 7th and arrive in San Francisco at 8 in the morning on the same day. Traveling back in time is strange. haha

This trip was such a tease in so many ways because we only rode the park for 2 days. I would have tried to make my stay a bit longer, but due to some prior commitments, it was not possible. So, the day we arrived at the park, I'll talk about that. Oh shit…no picture that I had seen could ever do this place justice. It is beyond your wildest dreams! Bowls that range from 2 feet deep to 17 feet deep! And there is no exaggeration there. A pipe/capsule that is 22 feet tall…how is this possible?! When entering the park, it’s so big that you can't even see to the other end of the park.

Half of the park has pool coping at the tops of the bowls. But it’s set at the perfect depth to not be a hindrance. But this pool coping here has all been hand made. They didn't have cement formed pieces that are available to us here, but they had blocks of granite. So, with effort never being a problem, they carved each and every piece of granite into segments of pool coping ! And to make things make even less sense, there was not one person riding or skating when we got there! There are even marks in the bowls from dirt bike tires. Yeah, as in motorcycles. So here we are in the states, land of the free (haha), having trouble getting bikes into skateparks, and in Communist China, they have motorcycles in the most elaborate park ever built! Hmmmmmmmm…….

We ended up with a day of practice and a day that was run as a contest. I was so tired from riding at the end of the first day that I didn't know how I was going to get up the next morning. We got there and I couldn't decide what to ride first. There were way too many options. And just getting a run in on everything was going to take awhile, much less actually getting used to it. Usually when I go to a new park, I end up spending the most time riding stuff that is unique to that park. Stuff you can't ride anywhere else, such as a cradle or something like that. But this park, everything was unique. Even the street course had a hip on it that was one of the best I'd ever felt. I could have ridden that all day. But then I'd look out and see the rest of the park and think "ok, back over there!” For me, this place encompasses all parts of riding I had learned; vert, mini, bowls, dirt, banks and just plain going fast. It was nice to be able to appreciate every last part of it. I'd say I was running on 100% energy the first 4 hours riding the place, and then my body started to shut down. You end up using way more effort here because of how big everything is. The tranny's are so big that you have to pump so hard for a longer period of time. Due to their size, you have to be going so much faster than you are used to just to make the transition work as it should. I could have never fathomed that I would have to pull out fairly hard when airing a 16ft tall bowl ! It still doesn't make sense.

The day of the contest was fun. It was more of a jam/demo, but it was run as a contest to be able to hold the attention of the crowd. They were loving it too! Koji, Matt and Dennis all rode so well. It was cool to watch those guys as I don't get to see them all that often. Being there with Matt was a trip for me due to he was with me the first time I visited Shanghai. And to see him still killing it was great! The vert ramp was something like 15 feet tall and 130 feet wide! Matt would crank across the entire deck to drop in to his first air. Zoiks! A sight to be seen for sure.

I woke up Friday morning and couldn't move I was so tired. So we just took in some of the sights around the city. I'm not very big on going to touristy spots; I like just watching the city exist as it does. Seeing people and their actions is always the most interesting stuff to me. I could sit and watch forever. Why are people so damn interesting? Saturday morning was when I was leaving, so I made sure to get up early and get to walk around a bit before I left. I was out at 6:30 probably and there were sidewalk markets opening everywhere. They were mostly selling food it seemed. At least in the part of the city I was in. Fruit and Vegetables were laid out all over the ground. Piles of lettuce were just clumped on the streets. And sure enough, there were plenty of people picking through it all getting what that want. So cool. I wish I could have stayed out longer to walk around, but after the last photo on the last roll of film was taken, I started my walk back to the hotel. I think it’s a good thing that I ran out of film because I could have just kept walking and walking.

Well, these words were only some of what I saw and felt over the 3 and a half days I was there. We got to do a lot in this time, but not nearly enough at the same time. So a trip back is in order for sure. Add another place on the list of places to return to. Traveling always changes how you feel about certain things in your life. It puts so much into perspective. All that you get to see and do, and all that you want more of in your life. It’s kind of like meditation in a way. Well, hopefully some of you will get to have a similar experience in the world sometime soon. I can only hope that would happen for everyone…cheers. - Joe