What happens when three bored college guys reunite in the city for winter break? A Chicago urban snowboarding showcase video set to music, that's what.
Connor O'Brien, 20, of Wheaton, Ill., tethered to the back of his friend Stephen Macenas' hatchback, shredded through the streets and alleys around the United Center on a snowboard Monday.
"We were kind of bored," said Macenas, a 20-year-old student at Purdue University and Naperville, Ill., resident. "The best or worst ideas kind of come up when you're bored."
Macenas, O'Brien and Eric Mauer, a 21-year-old Columbia College student who filmed O'Brien from inside the hatchback, have been friends since high school and caught up during break. Wanting to showcase the city and simultaneously have some fun in the snow, they decided to make the video. Macenas said he drove, while O'Brien was the snowboarding "talent." (O'Brien works at a ski resort in Colorado, where he goes to school.) Mauer edited together the highlights of their ride and chose the music ("Snack Attack" by A Great Big Pile Of Leaves).
Ana Pacheco, a spokeswoman for Chicago Police News Affairs, said the trio could have been cited for either negligent driving or "alighting from a moving vehicle," which she explained is entering or exiting a vehicle while moving. She said she did not immediately know what fine that would carry.
The group was careful during filming, Macenas said. He barely had his foot on the gas pedal during filming. "If we ever saw a car, we would stop immediately," he said. "We didn't want to be any more dangerous than we needed to be." They even spotted a couple of squad cars, which didn't seem to mind.
There were only a few wipeouts. In one instance, O'Connor tried to repeat his matress pile jump, displayed in the video, to get more air but ultimately failed, Macenas said. That footage was cut from the final product. Macenas also said his parents weren't too happy with the video, and that the group likely won't be trying it again. Still, he said the effort was worth it.
"We all love our city," he said. "We think it is beautiful and we wanted to show other people."
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