Embedded: One Week With Jumbo
The Texan crew has turned weekly sessions into a successful video series, and converted friends & foes into fans. After spending a week in Austin, I think I’m a fan, too.
It’s a quarter past nine on a Saturday morning just like any other Saturday morning in Austin, Texas.
In the line to pick up our drinks and breakfast tacos at a coffee shop on the outskirts of the city, Cody’s phone is already ringing and text messages abound. It’s 9:15 in the morning, on a Saturday no less, and yet people are up and quick to remind us we’re running late for the session. Instead of sleeping in or nursing a Friday night hangover, the people of Austin are eager to skate. In the streets. Like every Saturday morning.
“None of this is meant to be serious at all, and yet Jumbo is something these gentlemen all take very seriously.
See, despite the laid-back approach, chill session vibes, and constant banter (a polite assessment of Anthony Medina’s dry humor and hilarious shit-talking) portrayed in their videos, this crew the world has come to know as Jumbo is pretty damn serious about the whole deal. So when the traditional Saturday session is supposed to start at 9 am, you better be there at 9 am, takeaway coffee be damned!
The week I spent in Austin has made it abundantly clear: none of this is meant to be serious at all, and yet Jumbo is something these gentlemen all take very seriously.
As the channel just celebrated its second anniversary; it now has over 5k subscribers and has amassed close to half a million views. Celebrated vlogs and quality event coverage, along with setups and tutorial videos, podcasts and award shows: it started as a way to motivate ringleader Cody Sanders to get himself out of the house and skate again after an injury, but now the stuff he’s created with his friends has indeed become a beloved part of the worldwide blading community.
The crew even traveled abroad for a Gigantic trip to Barcelona, which in turn brought the opportunity to print a book showcasing Mick Casals’ photographs from their adventure, later hiring David Attenborough to narrate the audio version (or not). With a whole line of soft and hard goods available at Oak City, and some very special collaborations potentially coming in the future too (you read it here first), it’s undeniable that Jumbo’s impact extends far beyond the Texan borders.
Which made me curious to cross said border, and come see it for myself.
Once reduced to his looks by a lazy journalist, Cody Sanders has a lot more to offer than just beautiful hair and powerful legs.
His heart and passion for the sport is no secret, and his positive energy oozes through the screen every time he releases a new episode of his 4 the Streets series - always on a Monday, no exceptions. His enthusiasm is contagious, as proven by the motivated group of individuals who now make it a point to join every session, as long as they aren’t getting married or cleaning up their burned-down family house that week. Not to forget, the man is pretty damn good on the skates, too.
“His heart and passion for the sport is no secret, and his positive energy oozes through the screen every time he releases a new episode.”
As I sat next to Cody while he edited the massive Blading Cup video, he kept on cracking jokes all through the fastidious process of cutting such a huge amount of footage together, in time for a self-imposed deadline despite the evident lack of sleep and mounting work obligations. Through the wall separating our two rooms, I could still hear his laughter late into the night, enjoying his friends’ outrageous jokes one last time before editing them out when Andrew or Heath would take things a step too far. And from the sound of it, in Santa Ana, they often did.
The edit dropped on Monday, as scheduled. Cody doesn’t make excuses, and he makes no exceptions, either.
I had landed in Austin just a few days after Blading Cup, and understandably, the event had left Cody truly exhausted and his pockets, several hundred dollars lighter after he’d had to replace his broken lens halfway through the pro contest - only for said contest to get canceled because of the rain just minutes after he returned from the camera shop. By his own admission, after he finished editing the 45-minute behemoth, Cody was ready for the winter break.
Yet, the real Southern gentleman that he is felt obliged to give me the whole tour and share the full Jumbo experience. I couldn’t be more thankful that he did.
“With such a solid group of individuals, plenty of cool ideas, and what seems like endless motivation, it sure feels like there’s a lot more to come in the future, too.”
Days would often start with a morning session and caffeinated chats with the exquisite Michael Kraft at House, the concrete skatepark downtown. More conversations would take place in parked and moving cars alike, but also in the back of pickup trucks for the full American experience. An experience that included a Michelin-worthy tasting of the best burgers in town, from P. Terry’s to Frazier’s to late-night Whataburger feasts, but also cajun cuisine with my first gumbo (that’s not a typo) and a Tarantino-approved dinner at the legendary Texas Chili Parlor.
And while we never actually honored the tradition of grilling there, a couple of really fun sessions took place at the infamous Dog Pound DIY, our little group then relocating a few blocks away at Tweedy’s before we’d call it a night.
Not a bad way to spend one week, I’d argue.
So here’s one last thing my time in Austin made abundantly clear: if you ever were to make your way to the Friendly City, as the nickname goes, I’m confident you would spend your time in good company, indeed. And I guess that truly is the reason that made Jumbo so successful in the first place. Beyond Cody’s infectious energy, how the scene coalesced in front of his lens, and how the fun they’re having together transpires though the screen, these are the intangibles that really made this video series such an important part of our global community in such a short amount of time. In Jumbo, the scene truly is the star.
With such a solid group of individuals, plenty of cool ideas, and what seems like endless motivation, it sure feels like there’s a lot more to come in the future, too.
But for now…
Now, it’s a quarter past nine on a Saturday morning, in Austin, Texas, and we’re going street skating. For the Jumbo crew, it’s just another Saturday.
For me, a Saturday unlike any other.
