Skateboarding, Music, LFC, Movies, just stuff. I'm A Secret Lemonade Drinker

My blog is more or less about the things I enjoy and will seem completely random and, if you want to judge so harshly, inconsistent.

Monday 17 March 2014

SLS - Street League: Be excited for Rieder!!

Street League Skateboarding is the most exciting, Strategic and soon to be, if not already, the most prestigious competition of all extreme sports, as it were. Street League is not for the sport of Skateboarding but for the sport of Street Skateboarding in its entirety with Ledges, Rails, Kickers, Ramps, Hubbas, it has it all. Maybe you will be watching out for Nyjah Huston and his bag of tricks (Kickflip Backside Boardslide/Lipslide, Kickflip frontside 50-50, A damn smooth 360 flip) or Sean Malto and his collection of superb grinds and Strategy (The perfect 5-0, Bluntslides, A don’t bail policy) or Paul Rodriguez and his weak foot trait (Switch Flip Everything, Switch Grind Everything, Sweep the floor and pray into your hat) But if one skater turns up and pulls a solid performance out of his bag, you may just watch the best Street League so far.


Dylan's very impressive Impossible over the ledge
bench at Street League - photo by Rob Monorek
Transworld Magazines 2010 Readers Choice Dylan Rieder started his career doing a couple of promo shots for quicksilver (second to Billabong but still stomach curdling) and turned professional with Alien Workshop. The big parties, drugs and women got to him and at one point he was offered rehab, but only agreed to go there if he couldn’t stop his own drugs use within 6 days. He never went to rehab. When he came back into the picture he created video parts so brilliant, he stamped his name in skateboarding again. He soon moved up to be one of the dvd collection favorites and the one to watch on days you needed motivating. He rides the street with speed, balance and air as if he were in a bowl without breaking a sweat and has proven to be a reliable skate for any camera man to follow. Rails are his forte and no ollie is too big. All that is left for him to do is bring it to the street league course.


Although Street League can accommodate such skaters as P-Rod, Malto, Nyjah and Cole, it’s ability to accommodate a true street skater is, if you will a bit sketchy. Rieder is a street skater of the highest rank and should not be place anywhere in the shadows of the four celebrated Street League competitors and their riches. Sure Street League courses are a lot more difficult to perform on than your average X-Games shite (pulled out the same competition for years and years and i do not remember being overly excited for any Street Skating competition) but it only resembles street spots and does not seem to have the real feel of any street spot around the world. The course design of Street League should not be too damaged by that remark I imagine, but Dylan Rieder is a street skater of a different sort to these Street League robots, to quote Dylan, and consistency is only a part of true street skating. For this reason Rieder seems to fall into the shadows of the Street League robots rendering him a non-contender in making it into the final 8. Depending on the course design of Joe Cialiga, Rieder could walk away a richer man. Of course, he must fight of the attempts of Nyjah Huston and the Street League Favorites by skating a strategic run and an audacious impact section.


So let’s take a look at the possible Dylan favorites we can look forward to seeing.


The impossible - Dylan Rieder is probably the only skater in Street League history who has wrapped an impossible properly and perfectly making it a trademark of his runs and his video parts. Pulling out these beautifully mastered impossibles could earn him some big points, especially if he hits a manuel or a grind afterwards.


Big flips - Ryan Sheckler could match Dylan Rieder with big flips, if he could land them more consistently. However, it’s not just the land ‘em all factor. Dylan can get the height with impressive board rotation, controlled limbs and a smooth roll away to make his attempts look easy and relaxed. However, I think it’s obvious that this comes natural to Dylan, everything is big, smooth and innovative.


Transition - Dylan can skate bowl better than any other street league competitor I’ve seen and hopefully this year, there’s a quarter ready for his no comply 180 tailslide. Fingers crossed


If we compare the Street League performance, spots and obstacles to that of just one video part alone, his Gravis video, you’ll notice the difference. The rails he skates are long, his tranny parts are bigger and flips are self elevated. This last point brings me to question the impact section. The impact section is a 6 feet platform, normally with Stairs and hubbas but sometimes will be built with rails or planters. This should be built for Dylan Rieder but this is not the case. The Impact Section is built for a skate park/skate plaza. The height Dylan would normally boast along with a smooth roll away is extremely difficult for him to hit in this section due to the small run up and tiny roll away. During the Kansas City finals Dylan came out for a great run, but his flaw would be his timing only to skate his run faster in his second attempt but bail his last trick, big frontside flip. The power of Dylan's Ollies came into play with the impact section rails. Instead of height Dylan adapted very well to this plaza like obstacle and hit long ollies into the rail but still failed to place top 3, however for his first finals in street league, placing fourth was good enough and highlighted his fantastic board control at high speed. These finals showed Rieder’s competitive side in great detail, compared to his cynical pre-lim runs, and the Kansas City course design was kind to his style and ability.


This year we could see more of Dylan reaching the finals over skaters like Tom Asta, Ryan Sheckler and the skater that probably reflects Dylan most, Austyn Gillette. I’m sure we could all question the scoring to skater sometimes, but let’s not make this hindsight bitchy. Let’s face facts, Dylan doesn’t need Street League to prove he is one of the most exciting and skilled skaters on the face of the planet. All that’s left for him to accomplish is a win!

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