David Gravette hopped on Instagram recently to reflect on his June 2012 cover of TransWorld SKATEboarding. You might remember it. And if you do, it’s probably because he was doing a straight up padless backflip over the punishing gap at Klamath Falls, which is not something you see every day.
The trip down memory lane stemmed from the fact that he did another backflip at Woodward Tahoe recently—well over a decade after the cover (shot by the talented Dave Chami) hit newsstands—and was surprised to pull it off after dealing with so many injuries over the years. It’s a rad story, actually. Peep the post below:
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Here’s what David had to say about it all:
“You may remember me from such backflips as 2012 TransWorld SKATEboarding cover but shortly after that I lost the ability to do them.. due to all my hip problems and lack of mobility I was no longer able to drop my hip and hold the grab through the flip. I had pretty much written them off along with melon grabs that I just will never do again.. but today I got a wild hair and really wanted to see if I could make one work. I had to develop a new way of doing them where I put all focus on getting the grab right away. I have to say they’re definitely not as cool as I used to do them.. now I’m more of a low hurling ball. Haha but either way incredibly pumped to do this for first time in at least 12 years!! I’m gonna chalk it up to all the fishing!!! Thank you Woodward Tahoe for having perfect facility to bring em back!!”
Call it a circus trick. Call it a demo trick. Whatever! There’s no denying that doing a backflip on your skateboard is gnarly—especially out in the wild. The fact that he did one 12 years later is pretty rad, even if it was at Woodward. I mean, let’s be real, who hasn’t looked at that little launch ramp and thought, I wonder if I can do a backflip on that? I admire his enthusiasm, that’s for sure. Yeah, David!
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Related: Bronson Rounds Up David Gravette’s Best ‘Worst Skatepark Ever’ Moments and It’s Hilarious
Ah, to be back in June 2012. What a time to be alive. That was a great issue, too. Gravette’s Pro Spotlight was heavy. The enjoi team hit the streets of Russia. The HUF team was playing around on the rooftops of LA. We said RIP to the iconic Carlsbad Gap. All this and more graced the pages of the issue.
Hey, you can say print is dead, but it lives on forever at the same time. Raise your hand if you have/had this issue? Love to see it.
