Slams #3: David Gonzalez

David Gonzalez is a pure thrasher. He attacks tranny and rails like few others with an almost reckless, crazed mindset to put aside any pain as he battles for his tricks. Look at Possessed to Skate to see some of David's rough bails. Starting things off at 0:45, David battles the Muska rail to get a back 50. From getting caught in the rail for some serious shinners and gut shots to getting pitched down the second set of stairs straight to the shoulder, David gets heavily bashed around getting this trick. At 1:41 David sacks a kinked rail very straight on. What makes it worse, despite David already being short enough to not avoid sacking easily, is that the rail rides up against the wall and David can't even move away after sacking the rail because he's pinched up against it, sustaining that moment of pain. Also, he nails a gnarly kinked front board but only after a rough battle at 3:52, which is highlighted in the Hall of Meat above.
A couple other Hall of Meats for David include some serious bruising while slamming his knee into the ground trying to backside 360 down the Cherry Park stage gap, and also falling straight to the arm here while trying to kickflip front board a long wooden rail. For the latter bail, it's not human for someone to simply shake off the wrist after landing with all their weight directly on it, but David's definitely different.
Now this clip of David trying to ollie a 22-set is 6 years old but still shows how hungry he was to try the gnarliest tricks. The very first bail is scary because David's head smashes super hard into the ground, but then again every bail after that just hurts when you watching his body uncomfortably compressing into the ground and sliding/rolling out.

Next Week: Skating the Unskateable

Skateboarding today is generally based on doing tricks in the streets. Sure there are tons of great skateparks out there with perfect transitions and ledges, but one of the core qualities of why we skate is to manipulate the streets in the "real world" for our own purposes. This is why some spots are completely blown up because of accidentally being made near to perfection for skateboards, and other spots are known only for one trick alone because of how impossible to skate they may seem. This week I will be looking into latter side of the spectrum, at skaters that have the ability to visualize skating spots that most of us would never even consider touching with our boards.
For a topic like this, I feel that it's necessary to mention guys like Danny Way and Bob Burnquist, who have taken skating vert to a whole new level. Looking at Bob Burnquist's Dreamland, I find it hard to believe that anyone could come up with the crazy ideas that this man has. The innovation in skating the unskateable (nope, helicopters are not your typical skatepark feature) is hard to match with a part like this. However, considering that Bob did create an actual "Dreamland" with perfectly smooth surfaces and mathematically correct ramps and transitions, he doesn't exactly fall under the category of the top five guys this week who have changed the way we look at natural street spots.
Also worth mentioning is Clint Walker. My perception of skating impossibly gnarly spots has changed completely since his Modern Art part. From skating glass handrails to handrails with both drop downs and kinks mixed together to unnecessarily long street gaps like at 5:03, Clint truly made an impact on skating with this part and how guys view what is skateable and what isn't skateable.
And then there's David Gonzalez. His Possessed to Skate part was an instant classic for its sheer gnarliness. How could it not be when David sets new standards for handrail skating with tricks like at 4:32 or his unreal ender at 5:30.