What does Evel Knievel, Bart Simpson & Ocean City, MD Have In Common?

RAMPS. In roughly two weeks the Ocean City beaches will be full of these things. Concrete ramps, wooden ramps, steel ramps, vert ramps, kicker ramps, spine ramps, natural moving water ramps (waves) and every other kinda ramp in between. We can rest assure that Evel Knievel will be smiling down on Ocean City during Dew Tour weekend. No, Evel didn’t invent the ramp, or the wheel, but he was the first to cast the spell of RADICAL upon these simple machines. What he did was true magic and kids caught on. Fast forward 40 years to modern day skateboarding, bmxing, surfing, etc… and its the same idea applied - have ramp, get radical. Sure, there’s a lot more flipping & spinning and fancy grabs involved but when it’s all said and done it comes down to getting rad on a ramp, period. But a ramp is nothing without a daredevil and his maneuvers. Take for instance the oversized Dew Tour ‘pool’ that skate legend Chris Miller designed and skatepark builders Spohn Ranch constructed. The deep end is a good 13 feet deep! Nearly two stories tall! Now factor in a thin piece of pine wood, 4 urethane wheels and the lunatics that race around this ‘pool.’ With spectacular overhead airs and graceful coping dances that resemble kung fu masters doing ballet (or is it ballet dancers doing kung fu?) propelled by nothing but their own will to defy gravity. And a lot of these guys have no pads or helmets! Confused? Intrigued? Bart Simpson summed it up nicely by once saying ‘Bones heal, chicks dig scars, and the United States of America has the best doctor-to-daredevil ratio in the world.’

You know what else is rad? FREE. And it’s pretty rad that spectators can watch any and all events/concerts at the 2013 Dew Tour for FREE! Legends skateboard bowl final = Free, BMX Vert Final = FREE, music concerts on the beach = FREE. Some people celebrate with a golf clap, but when that much FREE RAD is thrown your way feel free to shout out a hearty YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAH!!!

Also make sure to check out the official, unofficial start to the weekend on Wednesday, the 19th down at the Ocean Bowl Skatepark on 3rd Street. A lot of the athletes get to town early to skate the park and hang. Vendors will be there with cool handouts and the skatepark displays a ton of rad photos that tell the story of their nearly 40 year existence. Truly a fun time and a cool scene.

In summation: Dew Tour, Ocean City, June 20-23, 2013. Consider yourself warned.