Come see the legends!

Last Thursday at the Sea Otter Classic bicycle event, NHS and Road Rider hosted an invitational downhill race on the famed Laguna Seca Raceway. The IGSA sanctioned event was both a throwback to the 1981 Laguna Seca event but it looks like it might become a permanent stop on their tour with so many riders and organizers wearing big smiles throughout the day.

Downhill veteran and NHS President Bob Denike mans the shuttle.

At the bottom turn before the finish line.

NHS’ Connor Welles, one of the contest organizers was psyched.

Local Monterey pro Zarosh Eggleston entered and was running pretty well by day end against guys that do this all the time. Here he is early, try to sort it all out.

NMen legend Randy Katen, course official.

Racers coming down the course under the iconic bridge during practice.

Lots of bumping going on during practice.

At the top corner, there was a nice gallery going on with media, local celebs, industry icons, and skateboard fans.

The heckle section featuring David Freil.

Mofo, Joe Brook, and Greg Smith paparazzi.

Legendary SF hill bomber Noah Peacock giving it a go.

Blackhart got in the shuttle and was ruling the corners

Emmanuel Guzman showed up!

George Powell and Rich Novak shooting the shit.

Jack Smith and Jeff Kendall

These guys were here in 81; Mofo, Katen, and Tim Piumarta.

NHS sales staffer Brook killing the other shuttle van.

Zarosh and Brook lookin like they just got married… Oh wait, they did!

Blackhart was psyched!

At the bottom of the course, everyone was slapping fives.

These guys have been to a few races in their day; Jamie Hart, Don Bostic, and John Hutson, once the fastest human on a skateboard.

Which does not go unnoticed by today’s downhillers.

Here with Biker Sherlock.

Results:
1. Kyle Wester
2. Andrew Mercado
3. Graham Buksa

Here is some video coverage from the event at ThrasherMagazine.com

TODAY THE SANTA CRUZ BOARDROOM IS HAVING A LITTLE PARTY WITH THE GLOBE DUDES.
SKATE JAM FOLLOWED BY A MEET AND GREAT.
AS TC WOULD SAY, LETS DO THIS!
GET THERE EARLY

825 41ST AVE
SANTA CRUZ
CA

This weekend the horde appeared at Crooks in El Paso and King Pinz in Houston… and made some new friends.

Wednesday, NHS CEO/President Bob Denike and all of us here celebrated his 25th year of working at NHS. Below, he explains in his own words how he got his start at NHS… and it wasn’t at the top.

“I first met NHS founder Richard Novak at Winchester Skatepark in 1977, he was with the “S” that day, Jay Shuirman. I was 15 years old. They gave me a set of wheels to test ride and when my Mom saw us talking, she pulled me away and told me to never talk to those guys again. They looked pretty wild back then; long hair, dark glasses, beards, smoking, and she was just being a Mom. Well, I did not listen to her. (Good decision number one for me.) I remained in contact with Richard and NHS off and on all the way through college. After graduation, I had a “real job”, working at Frito Lay in L.A. and I absolutely hated it. One weekend in 1986, I decided to go to an ASR tradeshow and I ran into Rich at what was the craziest tradeshow booth at the show. It struck me that a few people working at the NHS booth were either severely hung over and/or drinking beer in the middle of the day. Getting a taste of what I had been missing, a couple weeks later I resigned from Frito Lay (good decision number two), telling them “I need to pursue my dreams”, which at the time consisted of skateboarding, playing music, drinking beer and hanging out with my future wife Kay. One day, Rich called me at the skate shop where I worked and said “come work for me, I need your help.” It was 1987, at the peak of the skateboard boom craziness. It’s sort of funny now, but the day I started working at NHS (good decision number 3), it all started to slide and NHS went into an industry downturn. Was it me? That painful business slump was the continuation of my education. Looking back now at those times, Richard was the teacher, I was the student and the business was the class room. My first desk was in a hallway next to the bathroom. People would walk by and steal my pens and stapler off my desk all the time, basically torture the new guy all day and I soon realized I was near the bathroom because it was also my job to clean it once per week. Starting at the bottom was an understatement, but that was the Novak program. But here I am 25 years later, surviving many ups and downs and I would not change a single day of any of it.” -Bob Denike

The fruits of labor: Employee signed Dot T and lottery tickets

Checkout that frontside photo incentive!

Congratulations Bob!