These days, it seems like pool riding is as much of a niche thing as it’s ever been. Not that it’s surprising. I mean, who would want to spend days on end searching out pools, barging some vacant house, draining mucky algae-ridden sludge containing who-knows-whatever else, only to get in maybe a few quick runs before getting the boot, or worse ticketed/arrested for trespassing or breaking-and-entering? That’s more along the lines of some Type III Fun shit. Heading over to the bowl at the local skatepark for a leisurely cruise is definitely a much more enjoyable path of lesser resistance.

Yet there continues to be small pockets of riders in various corners of the world who see the value in these discoveries, once all the obstacles are overcome in order to get some carves in. Canadian transplant Andrew Lazaruk is one of them. He currently calls one of a few pool hotspots in the Southwestern U.S. home- good ol’ Southern California. While there are plenty of good bowls to ride in that area (the parks that are bike friendly, at least), there are way more pools up for the taking. I’ve been out that way on a couple of occasions the past few years hitting up multiple ones with Andrew, and it’s seriously outrageous. Our two-part “Pool’s Gold” edit starring Garrett B., Mr. Homan, and Enns that dropped a few years back barely scratched the surface. Out in that region, unlike traditional street spots, pools seem like a constantly renewable resource that will never dry up (pun intended?).

And Lazar continues to ride old, and newly discovered pools, be it from trading pins with other pool fanatics, the unicorn permission pools, or just doing the traditional scouring of areas near and far. So many finds, so little time. - RD