Pretty much everyone knows what SD9 is, but what most people don’t know is its one big filming trip for Tilt. Half of the team got picked up along the drive in the Tilt Van coming from Chicago. The other half flew in to San Diego. Once everyone was in San Diego, it was all smiles and high fives. Straight out of the airport, a couple homies randomly spotted us while we were splitting up gear, and they were down to show us some spots that were close. We threw them in the van and started driving. The first spot we got the boot in 10 minutes. We drove down a couple blocks and started to hit a college and again within 10 minutes we got kicked. We then found a cool rail hop that Erik hit 1st try. Night came quick, so we went to the hotel to chill in the hot tub and get some grub. The next couple of days we hit Home Ave ditch, came across a sweet mellow rail to trick in and out of, and checked out a school with a double rail hop. We got yelled at by locals because we were in a ditch out back making their dogs bark and found out that if the cops would of caught us it was a $380 fine. We booked out of there and ended up passing the cops in the van as we were leaving. After jumping so many fences it was nice to know that tomorrow was the SD event. Our total bust vs rideable spots was 4 out of 8.

At SD the crew mainly chilled, hung out with all the homies, devoured 3 pizza’s in minutes, watched some of the contest and got yelled at again by angry moms that couldn't see over us. Oh and Issac got sticker slapped. After the event we still had some daylight, so we went to 3 spots and lit them up. For only having half a day to film we ended up getting 11 clips. The next morning we packed the van to the ceiling and headed to San Francisco. Half way into the drive Collin pulled off on some road and the entire team got out to piss. Tom ended up winning longest trail. A little bit further in the drive we randomly pulled off and drove down some dirt roads. We got a nice portrait of the team and some B-roll for TILT2. Sleeping in the van is probably one of the hardest things to do. You have two options, you either put your head on the seat in front of you or you lean up against the window and have your head rattle off. Either one you do, you have a sore back by the end of the 7 hour drive. That drive actually turned into 14 hours on the road. Once we finally got to Oakland we hit up a Denny’s where we got the worst Denny’s experience to ever be had in the entire world. Service and food were so bad that it was funny. Everyone had wrong orders, forgotten items, missing silverware and the whole experience took forever. Good times for sure.

This was our 4th annual street jam, and it was definitely one for the books. The number of riders went uncounted, but we would like to think it was around 10,000. The Tilt crew along with 20-30 riders started in Mokena and took the train in. From there they took a small cruise through the streets to meet up at the starting point, Union Station. Immediately upon arrival the Chicago Street Jam was underway. With $1,500 cash up for grabs plus gear the riders mobbed the streets. The first spot was Fulton Market where we had one of the owners cars waiting to be gapped over. One rider tried a gnarly front flip over the car and ended up breaking his ankle. After Collin's car had been beaten down and dented, time came to mash over to the NBC tower to hit the clock ledges. This is where people had time to get a little technical and get that cash. Once the mob's energy died down, the cruising continued to the next spot. With cars turning around and bridges being covered with scooters like ants, the city clearly didn't know what to do. The third spot was a flat 9 rail at Butler Field in Grant Park.

Right away tricks were being thrown and didn't stop until the bangers came out. After too much hype, the riders went to an unexpected cool down spot at the stage ledges. After everyone had some time to rest those feet, it was off to the ender. The last spot was the massive Buckingham 12 also located in grant park. Everyone gave it a solid look and determined right there whether they were hitting or observing. A select few threw down and snagged cash to bring back home. Before the jam could end, a bike cop pulled up and tried to shut it down. He said he had reports of some unsafe maneuvers happening down some stairs and that's why he showed up. As he turned his bike sideways to block the stairs, the riders ran to the other set right next to it to set up and land their last tricks. After the cop realized he was defeated, he joined the crowd along with many other Chicagoans and watched in awe. All in all, very little injuries occurred and a lot of good vibes were sent out through the entire scooter community. We thank everyone that was a part of this amazing time. Until next year.

Like always, Tilt hosts a BBQ for all the riders and people that are apart of the chicago jam. No invites ever go out but the people that are most influential in the scooter scene just know about it and show up. This year we had a mini park set up to mess around on. People ended up throwing down after they got their hamburgers in them thanks to Tom K for being the grill master. We started to feel bad that we had to pack up because so much was going down. After things were packed up it was off to the tilt house where the after party happened. The backyard looked like a campground were we tried to burn everything that would catch fire. Inside the house, there was a mini tech deck sesh that happened while others smashed on more food.

Since so many people were in town a lot of crews joined up after the jam for the whole weekend and rode together. A couple memorable moments are, a group of rappers filming a music video and trying to link up with us while we were filming some lines by the beach. Josh Young throwing down while a security guard tried to kick us out. Jona Humbel stepping in front of a car to save one of the shots for Chris. Ridding into the night 15 deep while Collin Niesen tried to fast plant a car. Dylan Kasson going up to that same car trying to FS 180 and the dude that owns the car walks up and gets right in and drives off. Eating tons of pizza and chicken. Thanks to everyone that made it a great time and kept up the good vibes.

Every year before the Chicago Street Jam, the Tilt team goes on a trip. This year we started in Illinois at the shop and took the Tilt van to Grand Rapids, Collin/Tilt's old stomping ground. Before the trip began, the crew was told that it was going to be a mellow trip since half the team was in Texas a day prior. Not even an hour in the crew was sending it on a crazy long up rail. This was our first sign that this trip wasn't going to be as mellow as everyone had thought. Our second spot was a bump to bar next to an open restaurant. We figured we would be kicked right away, but we actually got to seshin' it for about 40 minutes, enough time for everyone to get their tricks including a massive 360 by Josh. As we were ready to leave, we talked Dylan into jumping this wet couch we found behind one of the businesses while Issac, Collin and Josh sat on it. Once we finally got the boot, we started messing around on this long down slanted rail where this hippie chick in a tie dye tee started yelling at us, "un uh, this ain't happening". She said that about 6 more times before we decided to pack it up. The rest of the way to Michigan was filled with exploring abandoned buildings, watching tom throw himself down a 7 flat 4, lighting up a manny pad for 4 hours while cops drove by numerous times not caring. After all that we ended up at Collin's parent's house with three massive pizzas. As tired as everyone was, most of the crew stayed up for a couple hours just kicking it and watching clips.

Day two involved a legal DIY park where Jordan broke his deck, hill bombing a super sketch road that Collin whipped into, and a massively long rail that Issac tried for 3-4 hours. We also hit this sketchy slanted bank to brick wall, a perfect 8 stair handrail, set up a grate to fire hydrant, a bump to bar where Jona got a tow in from a biker gang called the Ruff Ryders. To wrap it up we lit up an abandoned pool. Both Josh and Jordan wanted something at the spot. Jordan ended up going first and got a pretty decent clip but wasn't happy with it. He kept going way after the cops showed up. Collin was on damage control with the troopers while Chris filmed Jordan trying it for another 10+ tries. Finally the sesh was over and we had to hull all the gear through the fence. The cop threatened to take all our gear/van and give us fines with a mandatory Grand Rapids court date. In the end he was cool about it and let us all go with warnings. See kids, if you act respectful you get out of crap like this. Day three everyone was dead. We started with fresh home made breakfast while Dylan did his stretch routine in the front yard with Tom and Jona. We hit one spot on our way out but pretty much everyone just wanted to sleep or take their pants off. We called it early and drove back while half the team slept on the floor of the van and the other half chilled on the chairs and checked the insta feeds.

Tom and Jordan started out from Chicago to meet up with Josh, Dylan and Chris in Columbus, Ohio. From there the crew drove straight to a Denny's in Pittsburgh and started the day off right. The first spot was an abandoned school that required a quick fence hop to enter the creepy premises. Tom got a funky manual to board on a hard to get to rail. Dylan attempted a massive tail grab to water ditch. Dylan got cashed pretty trying to keep up speed for the gap. After getting a couple shots in the front we got the kick by a friendly cop that asked 20 questions about scooters and pointed us towards a couple bmx parks. On our way into the city, we scoped out a few spots and landed at a loading dock. We got kicked out 30 minutes into it and decided to go grab some pizza from a sketch spot that was as dirty as a San Francisco underpass. Once we returned to the car, the person that kicked us out left so we lit the spot up. The second day it was suppose to rain so we hit a spot we knew had coverage. We got the boot as soon as we showed up. We lingered for a bit but were threatened with a call to the cops. As we finally left, one of the employee's told us when the guy normally leaves. We hit another spot and as we started to get warmed up, the rain came. We sat around watching videos on our phones as we waited, but Dylan couldn't sit still. He was either spinning around on his back wheel, doing 360s, or bombing hills in the rain. Finally the time had reached for us to go back to the previous spot. We played hide and seek with the guy that kicked us out and then started riding. We got what we wanted and peaced. The third day we started it off right with Kings Family Restaurant which we had later that night with a whole apple pie and cinnamon ice cream. Hit it up if you're ever in the PA.

The first spot we went to was a long ledge into a sketchy bank. Both Jordan & Tom were trying the same trick. It was about 9 or 10am and we encountered some unusual stuff. An older lady in her night gown in the middle of this neighborhood watching us ride. A Will Smith look a like that had the same birthday as Tom but 19 years apart. A classic drug dealer car crept by and started chatting with us and then said they would be back. They kept pointing out that we were filming and we thought they might want our gear, so we landed everything and dipped out. Bombed some more hills. Checked out Martin Luther King school. Filmed Josh for about 2 hours on this nose blunt to finger whip out that he killed him self on. He never quite got it. Jordan casually filmed while laying down. Grabbed water from 3 girls drinking forties on there stoop... After we packed things up, we were on our way to Carnegie Mellon. Tom insisted on using his TOM TOM. We got lost about a million times. We got to see some cool views, but when you just want to go ride you get pretty irritated and can't enjoy the scenery. His TOM TOM really sucks, but mainly it was Pittsburgh's dumb roads that are old, don't make sense, and are too close to each other. As we rode around Carnegie, a security guard stopped us and pointed out the spot we were looking for but she kept hassling us and asking for our ID's and where we were from. We bounced and rode downtown for awhile cruising taking in some sights. The last day was all about hill bombs and Tom hitting this gap to rail that he had been trying to find for a really long time. The best way to sum up Pittsburgh is stupid roads, a little pricey, good spots, dirty outside the city, and medium to high spot bust rate. The people are very interesting to say the least.