On Saturday, I rallied up with Stephen and Mica to go to Johnson City to visit the Angry Penguin bike shop and then to ride the Kingsport skatepark.

After they waited on my slow ass for almost 2 hours, we left Knoxville around noon. I forgot how far JC was from K-town. Not that it is really that far. But it isn’t the 45 minutes away that I seemed to have thought it was.

No worries, the entire trip was made worthwhile just by stopping in at the bike shop. The Angry Penguin is what a bike shop/skate shop should be! They were stocked to the rim with everything you could ever need and then some. It was like living inside a dream, only if you want anything you actually have to pay for it. And I did, I picked up a new Colony headset, some Shadow Conspiracy Little Ones pegs and some Odyssey Plastic pedals. The best part is that unlike most local shops, I think I came out cheaper. Jake (the main man up there) was really cool and made a point to show us they had used parts too. I didn’t want to leave, especially since they had HUGE projection screen setup in the back of the store showing some BMX. I could have stayed the night, but we had places to be.

We headed over the park after stopping for lunch in this awesome NY style pizza joint. Some of the best pizza I’ve ever had (another reason to come back up).

The park there is way way smaller than I remebered it. I knew that it was small, but I didn’t realize how small it was compared to our park. We’re so spoiled by the park here. After the Nashville park two weekends ago and now this one seeming tiny, I realize now how truly nice ours is. Its not the greatest and of course some things could be laid out better, but still, I love it. Its was hot as hell there, so we rode for a few hours and headed home.

I couldn’t wait to get back home to ride our park and feel home turf again. Ahh the smooth transitions and seamless, proper coping….ahhhh so nice.

I rode through the rest of the night and loved every minute of it. The Knoxville Skatepark is nice! Just don’t start charging…it’s not that nice.

Check Stephen’s blog, dixiebmx for some photos!

Filed under: None by corey m