We were on a mission. Our objective was simple, discover what this town possesses that lures so many skaters and bikers alike. Our trip began in the decrepit town that I call home, Springfield. Out of 70 some thousand people, statistically speaking, the probability of another BMXer residing in this town is almost 100%. But it turns out to be 100% wrong. The scene in Springfield is nonexistent. So I was thrilled when the guys

These guys drove over two hours to ride with us, that is being TRU to the sport.

from Uhrichsville decided to pay me a visit. Travis also made the journey from Columbus to join us in our quest. (West side represent!) Our night started off by weaving our way through the drunken sorority girls that lined the streets on our way to the newspaper building. The rail surrounding the parking lot was our first victim. It stands about 2’ tall with a flat 2" wide top. Making this rail perfect for double peg grinds. After countless grinds, we started rolling uptown, that’s when the trouble began. A couple of Springfield’s finest decided that we fit the description of common criminals and were nice enough to inform us that we had been spotted breaking into cars. Great, glad to see they found the real criminals. After interrogating us, they told us to leave the area. So we rode around the beautiful southside ghettos for a while. The night was basically over, we sessioned a wall ride for a while, then worked our way back to Wittenberg.

The next morning, we mounted our steel steeds and headed towards un charted waters. Dayton is the town renowned freestyler Colin Winkleman calls home, so we thought we were in for a real treat. We thought wrong. The Montgomery County circle thing in the middle of town was the first good place we saw. Teaming with grinds galore, we rode here for a good hour. We concentrated our attack on the multi-layered platforms that had

endless possibilities. This was obviously a gathering place for the local boarders which had all of the ledges coated in wax. Travis was in feeble heaven as he rode around sporting a big smile. Towards the bottom of the courtyard, four long stairs, easily 15’ long, led down to the sidewalk. Travis, Scott, and Josh were all leaping the entire way down. My favorite part was the ledge that ran parallel to the stairs, 2 and a half feet tall at the beginning and 5 and a half feet at the end. It was about a 20’ grind to the end. This was the highlight of my day. Scott was pulling some nice flatland links and feebled the platforms for all their worth. Josh pulled a smooth smith grind over the three-stair drop on the left side of the courtyard. We were all impressed with the place and couldn’t wait to see what other places we could discover. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got. We trudged our way through the rest of downtown unable to find any places worthy of our efforts. So we stopped for some cappuccino and planned our next assault. We found a bank lined with parking blocks where Scott was pulling abubaccas to nose picks and fufanu attempts. The rest of us hit some tail taps and went on our way.

We were starting to tire out from riding all over looking for stuff when we decided to go back to the County circle place for pictures. All I accomplished was wrecking all over the place and witnessing Scott break his freecoaster. Our day ended on a dreary note when we had to coast back to the cars. We all loaded up, and went our separate ways. Dayton didn’t get the rave review that it probably deserved, we needed to find the locals who knew where the good spots were. So our mission was over, Dayton had beaten us down. But we left our share of battle scars along countless ledges and all too clean walls. So where will our next assignment take us? I’d put my money on Buckeye central, OSU campus.

By: KC

Travis with a smooth grind along a not-so-smooth ledge

TRU