Window To The Soul
GARY YOUNG – Vans BMX Team Rider – San Diego, California
LANA PENROSE – Photographer, Artist – Los Angeles, CA
One beautiful summer day, I grabbed my surfboard and headed down the steep and winding San Clemente, CA streets toward the pier for an afternoon session. As I approached the corner of Del Mar, and an inconsequential cross-street, I noticed a small crowd beginning to line the forty-five degree slope, near the bottom. And, just as fast as I took notice of the crowd, I heard the unmistakable sound of skateboard wheels approaching from the right. When I finally zeroed in on the skate-boarder, he had already blasted by me, in a tuck position, blazing toward the bottom of the hill. He zipped past the now stupefied spectators causing them to snap their collective heads from left to right, like spectators at a tennis match, and then banked hard to the left into a hairpin turn and was out of sight. It was a sight to behold.
When I reached the bottom, there he was, grinning ear to ear, meeting and greeting the now paparazzi-like crowd that had just witnessed his death defying hill bomb. I was also part of the baffled bunch, and walked up to find out more. His name, Juan Pablo Porras, thirty years old and from Venezuela. His game, “bombing hills”.
I had the pleasure of working with Juan Pablo Porras on October 9, 2009. One of the most humble yet intense, passionate, and talented athletes I’ve ever met.
FYI – Juan Pablo is a professional rider, and always looking to add sponsorship to his team. Check him out below!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6wTFdW2gi0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BlKJm5zv0k
http://www.convictedartist.com/long_board_skaters.html
http://www.scsurfvideomag.com/jp.html
to contact Juan Pablo Porras…
www.jprasta9@yahoo.com
