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Europe in a Few Words by Kevin Reimer
Photo: Brianne Davies
Photo: Koma Kino
How can you describe Europe Trip in just a few words. It’s rather difficult actually. But if I had just a few choice ones off the top of my head these are what I would pick:
Old
Germanic
Stylie
Mountainous
Small
FAST
Autobahn
Architecture
That’s just a few. Maybe that will get my mind rolling in the right direction.
The trip to Europe was insanity. I arrived in Geneva when I was supposed to arrive in Zurich a day earlier. I hopped in with the skate crew in our rental Renault “Scenic” which we thought would be a 7 person van, but actually turned out to be more or less a compact hatchback with a “rumble seat” meant for children. We cruised out skating daily. We hit up Almabtrieb first off which involved an amazing rip on the Autobahn which I was ever so lucky to drive for the most part. We watched our digital speedo vary from 150-170-180-190-195… Then onto and just barely to 197. Which was our set record for quite some time. It was epic. You’d be driving along in a speed limited zone and then wham… 120km/h on a sign with three black lines across it which meant… FLOOR IT. We arrived quite late at night and took a look at the course thinking it would be epic. It looked a lot like Jake’s Rash when we rolled up and we were all thinking it would turn out to be deadly draft dodging madness. It turned out to be all about the exit speed in the end. Brianne dialed it. That was sick to see. Them Euro’s didn’t have nothing on her. Epic racing.
After that… Freeride time. Shralping the sickest passes in the world on our way to the Graveyard Call. The sickest of all tracks this world has to offer. Can you bust a 50mph pendy in one lane while the road is sweeping to the left, then right? Cause you’re going to have to if you’re going to win the Graveyard Call. Slide or die all the way to the finish. Corner after corner of wheel burning madness. That’s what I’m talking about. Yet again, Rayne domination. Spencer schooled the juniors. Brianne spanked the women. What more would you expect from Rayne Longboards?
Onto the next adventure… Bombing hills of course. Cause that’s mega. We tripped down to Barcelona where were graciously accepted by the boys at Fortrate. The sickest distributor there ever was. Our hosts gave us beds, showers, food, AND skate days. Mega. Barcelona is a mecca for all things rolling. You want to get air. They got it. You want to slash a nearly vert bank made of weird round bricks? THEY GOT IT. You want to get air off a brick boob mid-city… THEY GOT IT. Ocean. Seafood. Culture. Spanish… THEY GOT IT. What a trip there.
After that trip, James and I decided it was time to solo on a mega mission to some unexplored skate terrain… The Canary Islands. We got gnar daily. The roads are made of crushed volcanic rock which is extremely sharp and VERY black. There’s lots of rallies on the best roads there so they keep them shined up and squeaky clean. That means your wheels slide like butter and the lines you leave are second to none. That was some great skating I’ll tell ya. The food there was INSANE. Best food of the whole trip. Our hosts there had it entirely covered. Octopus ceviche, a local dish named “Old Clothes”, fresh fish, amazing potatoes straight from the ground, barbequed onions ripped straight from the earth and thrown on the grill. THAT IS WHAT IS LIFE IS ABOUT PEOPLE. FOOD…… And sick hills. I’ll be back soon enough. James and I rented a bike and captured some deadly footage of which you’ll see more of soon. When I was finally ready to head to Kozakov I looked up how much it was going to cost me to get there… 500 Euros later, I was on my way. OUCH. That’s about 750 dollars you see. Money I was really hoping I could use for stuff like eating and the like, but sometimes, you gotta go. CHECK OUT THE VIDEO AT SKATEHOUSEMEDIA.COM
Kozakov. The rained out rally. We were all amping on such an amazing trip, all of us do gooder skaters. We wanted to rally. The track was hot. You would start off pushing and drop suddenly into a mega steep that spat you into a 90 degree right at about 100km/h. That’s right… Try to stick THAT ONE BUDDY. After that, a tight left hand hairpin that was all about the slide. Drop into the next combo a sweep left into a harshly flat right hand hairpin all about the exit speed. Shoot out of that and cruise along the flat into a steep left hand hairpin, again all about the drifting. Shoot out of that into a looooong straight where the best tuck ruled. Your wheels are worked in one run, you’re almost at the finish, stoked… But wait… You have to stick another 90km/h 90˚ turn! Joy! Sliiiiiiide it on your worked wheels and hit the finish. That’s a good track right there. The town around Kozakov? None existent. There was some GREAT dessert at the top of the hill though. We ended up getting in two qualifying runs which was not too bad, but the rain cursed us and we could not race. Ending up 2nd at the last race was a pretty hard hit. I wanted to race after all that time jamming on the Canaries. What can you do. Time was running out on our trip and it was time to head home.
Prague… The city of old. Architecture, people, food. Gnarly stuff. Can’t get much better to the end the trip. A Thai massage here, a Mcdonald’s breakfast on the way to the airport with Dalua. The end of a good trip always starts with greasy gutrot, right?
Back at home, I was able to shred my home hills harder than ever before thanks to Rayne Longboards, Daddies Board Shop, Orangatang Wheels, and AERA TRUCKS getting me to Europe. Hope I can make it back next year for another shralp on the Alps…. Missing those 30km long hairpin riddled descents already. Luckily, there’s a 6 km hairpin riddled descent just a motorbike ride away……. Which I’ll be skating tomorrow in the sun.
Shred daily you daily shredders. Dream big and go get it.
Rayne Longboards Challenges you to: GAME OF S.K.A.T.E
RULES
- Post your video response to the “Game of S.K.A.T.E” video page.
- You have one month to promote your entry. Try and get as many people to “LIKE” your video as possible. Top 10 videos based on most “LIKES” will be in the finals.
- Kyle will select one winner from the final 10. His selection will be based on: Style, # of tricks completed, and level of “Gnar”.
- Riders must at minimum be wearing gloves and a helmet.
- Submissions won’t count beyond October 7th, 2010. (The sooner you create the video the longer you have to rake in the “LIKES” – GET STARTED NOW!!!!)
Trick Tips:
- Kyle will be monitoring the video page. If you have any questions on how to complete the tricks simply post your questions and he will do his best to help you out.
Prize:
Rayne Longboards – Avenger!
Contest will be released Tuesday September 7th, 2010 on the RAYNE CHANNEL YOUTUBE account.
Skate4Kenya
When was the last time you went for a skate to benefit someone other than yourself? Interesting concept. When we go out and shed gnar it’s typically in an effort to better our skills. Don’t get too agro – we all skate for self improvement and that should never change. However wouldn’t it be amazing to go for a skate that would benefit someone else?
Les Roberston from Skate4Kenya is about to trek across Africa with nothing more than a Demonseed, camping supplies, a camera, and a bundle of good will. Les and his crew are supporting a cause called Social Entrepreneurship 101 which has a mission to:
“uplift the lives of African youth and their communities through sustainable entrepreneurship.”
Les has just started his trip and is now struggling with some very interesting decisions. The first being “slum tourism” which has been pointed out as often more harmful than good. Les comments on this very topic in his latest post “Why I Skate 4 Kenya“. We couldn’t agree more Les its all about the 2% for now. Keep on pushing! The rest will follow suite.
Check out his latest video update:
Ride the Giant 3 – Event Summary
Photo: Brad Riemer
Ride the Giant 3 was an epic battle with an expert level hill and some aggressive new features and an extended racecourse. The event was a hot one with temperatures reaching a consistent 30*C or 90*F but the heat was manageable with a quick jump in the beautiful Okanagan Lake. Thanks to the efforts of Adam Auger and the Vancouver stoop riders were able to complete a scorecard to collect points in an effort to win their entry fee back. The scorecard challenged riders to complete tasks like “pinecone slide”, “early grab the mini ramp”, “hit all features”, etc… The three day event felt like an afternoon – time fly’s when having FUN(1 point). The focus of the event was progression and I think all in attendance would agree that they left the Giant a better rider.
Thanks to the hard work of Kyle Martin, Travis Craig, Jon Huey, Billy Meiners and many more the course had 3 extra surprises which claimed much flesh and a few more sever victims. The first of the features was an 80ft banked wall which most were able to navigate and accelerated riders into the straight before “gravel corner”. The second was a short cut, which cut a mellow hairpin. The time saver was gnar and definitely through a few riders into the dust as the last of the short was a dirt ride. The last feature was a long wide kicker. Billy Bones set the record with a launch over 5 people. Each feature had its own level of difficulty and in the years to come we hope to build off each feature to offer riders an even better experience. The hope is as we continue to grow the event that riders skills will increase along with it.
The last day of the event was the race and we split the mountain in two so those not wanting race the hill could still freeride the top section. The racecourse started and finished in the same section as the pervious two years for the first 3 rounds. The top eight were then shuttled to the upper section of the course to just below tight rope(thanks MikeMC). In moving the course up the hill the racetrack had an injection of 5 new corners. Exciting for sure! The top 8 riders were Zak MatumVSMike McGoldrick, Matt (Grizz) KroetschvsVSKyle Martin, Adam YatesVSMackenzie Yoshiada, Justin OrtizVSDillon Stephn. In the end it was Zak and Dillon for the finals and the home town boy took the win! Congrats Dillon. Although the focus of the event was really on the race it was definitely a blast to watch. A HUGE thanks goes to Mike Benda for organizing the race which couldn’t have went any smoother.
Thanks to our sponsors Rayne Longboards, Switchback Longboards, Pabst, Abec11, Orangatang and everyone involved for making the event what it was. All in all the weekend was a huge success and I look forward to having everyone back.
Andrew
Where you are not allowd to longboard in North Vancouver
The nice folks at the local RCMP in North Vancouver dropped this off for our information. The rules are for the City of North Vancouver and don’t apply to any other region like (District of North Vancouver, West Vancouver, or Vancouver). Longboarding in these area may result in the listed fines.
This map only includes a few of the restricted areas. Follow the instructions below to see all. The lines in Red are “Absolutely No Skateboarding” and the lines in Blue “Skateboard on Sidewalk ONLY“.
To view all restricted streets select “North Van. By Law” “in a larger map”. The link will take you to google maps. Then at the bottom left of the screen you can scroll through all restricted streets on the map.
Reviving the Blog…
So its definitely been a while since we made an update – maybe its time to breath some life into this thing… What question for Mr. Rayne would you like answered?
I HEART MIKE BENDA!
Who doesn’t love Mike Benda? HIS HEART IS PURE GOLD!
He has been a huge part of the local and international longboard scene since the beginning. “Serial 5” has probably shown you how to do a trick or two… his fast, all or nothing style makes Mike a fun rider to watch and skate with.
He is always helping grow the scene by driving groms all over the city and showing them how to ride properly. He has even been known to pay for entry fees and loan equipment just to allow other people to share the passion of longboarding. He gives a lot and really expects nothing in return.
If you’ve spent time hanging out with Mike you know he is ultimately a kid at heart just looking for the next session. So when you see him in a suit(not leathers) it can be a bit shocking – it goes to show that there is a lot more to Mike than meets the eye. He may be standing next to you with a smile on his face but really he is thinking of how to best catch you off guard to sneak a quick jab.
Next time you see Mike make sure you give him a hug.
Thanks to Brianne, Nick and Shawn for making the custom t shirts and to Paul for taking the photos.
TELL US A STORY ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE EXPERIENCE HANGING OUT WITH MIKE BENDA!
There is hope yet that BIG BROTHER does have a heart…
FROM MIKE BENDA’S PAGE:
So I posted up about three months ago in part about that skateboarding ticket I had mailed to me. I sent in my dispute the next day and the “two to four week process” took three months, inclusive of continual hounding from my end. The hounding and follow up, however, DID pay off as I received verbal confirmation today (after yet another call into them) that they’ve voided my ticket. Thanks for letting me know eh? Anyways, it’s a small victory but a victory nonetheless. Stick it back at them!!
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