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5 THINGS: Angus Gough – TALISMAN

Words and photos by Robin Pearson

Angus Gough’s 90-day USA trip at the beginning of this year was definitely a good idea. As well as riding with the Profile guys in Florida, he met up with various Haro riders when he went over to California to film his Talisman Ride UK edit.

In those three-minutes of dreamy California footage, you do get some impression of the feeling of the trip but, as always, there’s more to tell. All the times off the bike, the situations encountered when trying to ride certain spots and the characters met along the way.

Here, in Angus’ words, are those extra details that we thought were worth sharing – scroll down to check them out and give Talisman another spin.

Connor showed us down by the port on the first day and I pretty much fell in love with San Diego instantly, it’s an amazing lifestyle out there! Plus you can’t go to SoCal without getting an Acai bowl so shout out to Josh at The Green Rose Coffee Cart, such an awesome setup.

Man, The Markit ramps! seeing that place in person and getting to ride it after years of watching videos coming out from there was pretty amazing! It’s definitely somewhere you have to spend a little time getting used to but it’s so fun. Watching Dennis ride that place is pretty mad, definitely not seen anyone ride a BMX like that before, haha!

Thinking men, Mike Gray and Connor Lodes. Both formidable chess players!

I had never played a single game of chess in my life before we hung out in San Diego, but with some tips from Mike Jonas and Connor Lodes I learnt the basics and we played a few games over the week in the Markit house. I got so stoked on it that literally the first day I got back to England I bought a chess set!

I’d ridden Pat Casey’s ramp a few years prior to this trip, so I knew what to expect but I went there with no idea of what I wanted to film. I was feeling pretty sore from the day before and I cased over that huge spine and body slammed – full mood killer! I was kind of over it but thought I’d cruise the trails as they looked super fun, ended up having a pretty chilled session and shot a photo that I was happy with!

Superman seat grab indian, Pat Casey's yard.

The same day we rode Pat’s yard, Matt Cordova hooked us up with the location of a rad pool that was on the way back to SD. We got there and there was like a 50-year-old punk looking dude who told us some crazy stories, I remember him mentioning that he knew Jay Adams and some of the skaters from back in the day, that was pretty rad! Jonas was pretty sure the dude lived in the pool, haha. But he was cool with us riding there and got stoked on us airing the deep end, which was awesome. Shout out to that guy!