Watch Mike Vallely’s ‘Slow Down’ Part Here
Mike Vallely‘s Street Plant Skateboards, known for unique drops that reference the pro’s extensive and diverse career, has recently moved its operation out to Des Moines, Iowa. (The midwestern metropolis is the future site of Lauridsen skatepark, the largest skateboarding facility in the United States.) Mike V. christened his new home with a part that celebrates the seasons and shows the street pioneer getting back to his roots with a healthy amount of snow-covered street plants. Watch the edit, by Josh Kelley, above.
In other Vallely news, OG NHS filmer Tony Roberts recently added a new Real Skate Stories episode to his YouTube channel focusing on the man with the master plant. The 67-minute mix of raw footage from the Speed Wheels Speed Freaks full-length is a portrait of Vallely in that revolutionary period in 1988/1989 when skateboard shapes were starting to change, tricks were leaning heavily towards a new style of street skating, and Steve Rocco’s World Industries was poised to completely upset the industry status quo. In the video’s description, Roberts says, “His enthusiasm and stoke for skateboarding is all over these sessions with his non stop, no rest, machine like approach to attacking his lines and tricks. Steely eyed determination guides his every move and you won’t see any board throwing here. You will notice I left the camera rolling between tricks and runs because he rarely stopped!” And he still hasn’t. Watch ‘Real Skate Stories, below:
We’ve had the pleasure of working with Vallely many times since the very beginning of The Berrics—his BATB 2 match versus future champ Chris Cole is a classic. When we moved to the new facility in 2012, he quickly marked his territory by blasting footplants off the five-foot quarterpipe wall and skating The Berrics like no one else. At one point, he took a bone-rattling slam that resulted in a hip-fracture, but he still kept going until he got the clip. Check out some of his projects, below:
