After a few hours sleep at the airport, i made it the days mission to but a car. i headed into london on the tube and went to a net cafe to do some research. After a few phone calls , i was on the bus to Cheltenham, where i would later buy my 1985 Nissan Sunny for £100. Cheltenham is a very posh city, but actually one of my favorites in england due to its cleanliness, hot girls and general cool vibe to it. After signing some paperwork and shaking hands i was off in my new ride. Driving through the English countryside on a nice sunny day was very pleasant. I rocked up at court Farm in my new ride and was greeted by the crew. Some didnt recognise me due to the car and my haircut. Later on i had quick ride and then slept under the stars.
Have been very slack with the blogs in Ireland. But am going to try and sum up the last week in 1 blog with 15mins of internet credit remaining.
Tuesday night i was unable to get any accomidation in london so i slept at heathrow airport.. i figured i wouldnt get andy sleep, but at least i wouldnt get stabbed. On the wednesday i caught the plane to Dublin before lunch and arrived at my hostel right in the city about 4 in the arvo. I was absolutely buggered so i slept for a few hours and then went out the some pubs in the temple district with some other people from the hostel. The craic was 90 with live bands and the guiness on tap was at least 40 times better then at home.
Thursday i caught the bus up to Newry in northern Ireland and was met at the bus station by Lee, wife of Gary Parr(owner of the surfin dirt mountainboard center). We went up the track for a bit of a look and then he took me to my accomidation which was a hostel right at the base of the infamous morne mountains. The views here were spectacular.
Friday i went down to the track to do a Clinic/tutorial with some of the local riders. Everything was informal and the idea was to give them tips on how to land new tricks. This was very rewarding with nearly everyone landing somthing new. That night more mountainboarders arrived for the competition the next. Everybody was staying in the same place so we just sat out in the field and had a few beers before going to bed.
Saturday was the Boarder X of the Irish open. In the end i managed to get 3rd place. The weather was misty rain at the start of the day so the track was quite slow. By the end of qualifications the sun was out and the track was drying up. Turns out despite falling off in qualifications i had made the semi finals. In the semi final the race was very tight with all riders no further then a foot apart after the first 2 corners. I slipt back into 3rd place and was lucky enough there was a pile up in front of me and i crossed the line making it through to the finals where i ended up placing 3rd in an equally close race.
Sunday was the Freestyle Jam and the big Air. The freestyle jam was an hour long session on the track where riders could bust out the sickest lines they could. i pulled off a few backflips, massive 3's and 5's and boardslid the rainbow rail to take 1st place. In the big air i wasnt so lucky. On my 2nd jump i dropped in and got some speed wobble sending me off the jump crooked, i was planning on doing a backflip nosegrab, so i was committed to the trick, i new as soon as i left the lip it wasnt sop good, but i had to continue trying the flip so i didnt land on my head. i ended up landing far to the right of the takeoff then bouncing off the landing ramp ontop some rocks beside it. i cut the end off my thumb and it is quite bruised. i continued to ride and took 2nd place in the big air.
Monday. Now i am back in dublin at a hostel. I'm not sure how my thumb will effect me, but i am struggling to write, get my wallet out my pocket and carry my board bag. hopefully it heals up soon. I guess whatever doesnt kill you makes you stronger.
The last few days i have been chillin with Mike Payne up in Talford. WE have done a fair bit of riding at some sweet freeride locations and skateparks. At one of the skateparks the kids had seen Johnny Kapahal, and they were stoaked to be riding with me and Mike.
Earlier Today i did something way out of Character... Hair modelling. A Friend of Mikes mum needed some peoples hair to cut, and my hair was gettin way long, so myself and mike both volunteered as a bit of a joke. Apparently the hairdresser is renowned as one of the best hairdressers in UK, so i scored a free haircut worth £150.
I am now currrently on the train back to london. The trains here are way overpriced so when i get back from Ireland i hope to buy a cheap car.
Well i've been away for exactly 1 month now and am still having a great time, although missing some aspects of Australia.
Yesterday was another great day, myself, alex and teo went back to double waters to finish off some filming. We then went and met up with some crew at Tom Kirkmans house and had a session in his backyard.
Tom is unfortunately not riding at the moment as he is recovering from ankle surgery, but myself, joel trilivin and Mick Kirkman were throwin down flips and spins off the 4ft kickers to dirt landings. I also landed a few of my first FS Boardslides on one of the smaller ledges there.
Today i am catching the train up to worcester to session Out to Grass this afternoon and then hit the town tonight to celebrate Niki Forecasts birthday, Should be good.
Today the weather was dry, so myself and alex headed for a place called double waters for some riding and filming. The place is part of dartmoor national park, and has great riding with grass tracks through fields covored in bracken. There are also loads of wild horses and sheep around which you have to look out for. We did some wicked freeriding and got loads of good footage, and then headed into the village for some cornish pasties(they are sooo good, i've had like 5 this week). At 5:00 we left for Ivy leaf again for the team training night. There were about 12 of us riding and i threw down some more backflips and learnt boardslides to 270 out on one of the rails. It was another great days riding and tomorrow should be just as good, sessioning Tom Kirkman's(3 times world champ) backyard.
Today i travelled 1 hr by car through the english countryside to get to Ivy Leaf Mountainboard center. As it was a week day Boz and I were the only ones riding, so we had the foam pit and dirt jumps to ourselves. After trying some stuff in the foam pit, i thought i may aswell throw down some backflips on the irt. All attempts were landed clean so i was stoaked on the days effort. We went back for dinner and i have just been down at the local pub having a few pints to celebrate the backflips.
In the later half of yesterday i was lucky enough to do an interview with BBC tv and Scuz magazine, with various questions ranging from Home and Away Vs Neighbours to what made me come out to the UK. Today the comp was completely called off due to wet weather + poor track conditions. I packed up my stuff and jumped in the car with Alex aka boz, to travel to his family home in the south west near devon. Alex's family own a series of cottages onn the propperty and rent them out B+B style. One was unioccupied so i can stay here for the next few days which is sweet.
Well its 2:30 and its been raining on and off all day. I am currently at "The Edge", where it is round 3 of the UK mountainboard series. I am yet to do my time trial and there is more rain to come. On the bright side i am lucky to have scored a place in the "out to grass" team tent. Its like a 16 man tent with a huge living area and stuff.
Yesterday was a good days riding in the sun at the edge. The jumps are huge and the boarder X is my favorite i have ridden so far in the UK. Me and Nicky Forecast(the best female rider in teh world hands down) were trying frontflips. I tried 3 and on the 3rd attempt i manueled otu and got worked over, so i decided to call ti quits. BBC Were filming, so maybe it might get on tv or somthing. After a few more runs on the boarder X we headed to the local quarrey for a swim
In the night we all had a few too many ciders and beers.
Yesterday i left London and caught the train to hereford, to attend a session going down at "Out to Grass" mountainboard center. I was met at the station by James Slay and Jack Johnston, and we went straight to the center from there. Unfortunately the weather was wet and there was a strong head wind, so the track was not running as well as normal. Myself, Wiggy, Slayer, Nicky Forecast and Jed Hornyold were sessioning the jumps, railsand boarder x track before the rain drove us into grabbing some old school boards out of the shed for a powerslide comp on the wet grass. I Chose an MBS cricket which was my first board, while others were riding frame boards and various other contraptions i had never even seen before. After this we headed for James Slays house aka "The Slayboy Mansion". This was a huge 3 story mansion with an east and west wing, a massive garden and about 25 bedrooms. We were all staying here the night, so after a few beeers and pizza we went down to the local pub. After many pints, shots, games of pool and Jenga we arrived back at the slayboy mansion at around 4am. We awoke about lunch time and made our way to out top grass for a session and then proceeded to travel 1hr by car to "the Edge" Mountainboard center, where my next comp is, this weekend.
The day started off by travelling to the airport with andre and silvia on their way to work. I arrived there at 10:00, a little early for my 2:45 flight, but it was no drama. For some reason my flight was delayed by 1 hr, so i did not get to heathrow airport until around 6:00. I jumped on the underground and headed for kennington station and arrived at about 7. I was very rushed for time as i had booked a ticket to see Erykah Badu at Brixton Academy, which started at 8. To walk from the station to the hotel ended up taking around an hour, carrying my pack and board bag, but i eventually made it. I quickly checked in, had a shower and jumped in a cab to the Venue. I Arrived there at around 9, so as i walked in (expecting to have missed have of the show) i was glad to see Erykah just comming out onto stage. Her and her bands perfromance was incredible, however the set list was slightly dissapointing with most songs off the new cd, and only 1 or 2 classics. The show finished around 11:30, i bought a t-shirt and finally ate some dinner.
I made the decision to walk back to the hotel to save some money, and it was only a 2km walk and i thought i knew the way. I walked for about 30 mins along main roads until i realised i had lost my bearing and i had no idea where i was. Luckily there was a policeman on the side of the road so i asked if he knew where the hotel was. He said "its about 1km over there, just walk through the parek and turn right and then left". I started to walk towards the park and find myself walking alone through some London ghetto at 12:30 at night. The streets were really dark and the people were even darker, out on the street playing ball, drinkin 40oz etc. I put my head down and walked a little faster, it was pretty obvious that a white guy from Ballarat didn't belong here. As i reached a more lit area I realise that a few of the men were following me. i turn the next corner and luckily the glowing lights of the hotel appeared.
So now i have just made a coffee and am washing my clothes in the bath. All is well with my wallet in my pocket and no knife wounds. HERE IS A VIDEO FROM THE BADU CONCERT.
