Today was the day of the world freestyle championships. Riders had travelled from around Angland, Japan, USA, Ireland, Czech republic, Syberia, France, Belgium, Switzerland and myself from Australia.
It wasnt just the rider which made this a true world class event, but the Track features were like no other i had ridden before. The main riding line consisted of a 25ft long snowboard style stepdown, after landing this travelling at mach 10, a quick speed check was required and it was on to the 30ft tabletop with a very steep lip. After riding out of this it was required to get down low and hold as much speed as possible before the next jump, a 40ft long step up jump where the landing was around 8ft higher then the 6ft high take off. Aswell as these features, there were rails, hips and a beasty 12ft drop off.
This set the platform to be the best competition of all time. Many of the expected 1500 spectators began to arrive at 1:00 in the afternoon ready to watch qualifications at 4pm followed by finals under lights at 9pm
By the time of the first qualification run, riders were all at the top and amped to ride. Many riders chose to try and throw down straight away, while others like myself were more conservative to make sure to get clean runs early on in the comp.
Unfortunately after the first 2 qual. runs the rain had arrived, so out came the covers for the jumps(just like in the cricket or tennis).
After and hour under covor, the rain had stopped and it was time for the 3rd and final qualification run. Towards the end of the 60 competitors the rain had joined us again. This time the rain was heavier, and didnt end for several hours forcing the organisers to take results from the qualification jumps.
In the end it was Renny Miles who places first, Pavel Pasha from syberia in 2nd and ben tweedie in 3rd. I ended up placing 11th which i was stoaked on. Riders were then able to relax and enjoy the free jagermeister(one of the event sponsors)
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
24hrs in Antworp, Belgium
Today i got invited to go with team Trampa to go and Visit Antworp, Home of World freestyle Champion Arno VDV. I was unsure weather to stay at Wanyi or travel for 3hrs to see another part of Belgium. I flipped a coin and was soon in the back of the pimpin black Mercedes vito van headed for Antworp.
We arrived in antworp and spent and hour chillin at arno's place in town. We then met up with his girlfriend and a few of her friends for lunch at a sweet cafe'/ The food was quality and very cheap aswell. We then headed in to On Love Boardshop(one of arno's sponsors) to collect some prizes for the comp on the weekend, as well as to check out all the sweet gear they sold. I'm sure i could of spent 1000euro in here but settled to spend 30 on a t-shirt.
Arno and friends were then kind enough to show us around Antworp, where myself and the english riders sore some amazing cathedrals, the river running through the city and some really unique street art.
After experiencng the cool vibe of the city we had changed our plans and decided to hit the town at night. By this time it was 5 in the afternoon so we headed to our first of many bars for the night. All the places we visted played some cool downtempo lounge or hip hop music and the atmosphere was great. At about 4 in the morning we went back to arno's, grabbed his spray cans and headed out to the streets to do some graffiti on some legal graffiti walls near by. As we were finishing our art pieces the sun was comming up and it was time for us to say goodbye to antworp and drive back to wanyi park.
It was definately a good thing the coin flip sent me to antworp.
We arrived in antworp and spent and hour chillin at arno's place in town. We then met up with his girlfriend and a few of her friends for lunch at a sweet cafe'/ The food was quality and very cheap aswell. We then headed in to On Love Boardshop(one of arno's sponsors) to collect some prizes for the comp on the weekend, as well as to check out all the sweet gear they sold. I'm sure i could of spent 1000euro in here but settled to spend 30 on a t-shirt.
Arno and friends were then kind enough to show us around Antworp, where myself and the english riders sore some amazing cathedrals, the river running through the city and some really unique street art.
After experiencng the cool vibe of the city we had changed our plans and decided to hit the town at night. By this time it was 5 in the afternoon so we headed to our first of many bars for the night. All the places we visted played some cool downtempo lounge or hip hop music and the atmosphere was great. At about 4 in the morning we went back to arno's, grabbed his spray cans and headed out to the streets to do some graffiti on some legal graffiti walls near by. As we were finishing our art pieces the sun was comming up and it was time for us to say goodbye to antworp and drive back to wanyi park.
It was definately a good thing the coin flip sent me to antworp.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Winterberg - Mountainboard Heaven
We all woke up at first light, normally i may get annoyed at waking up this early, however this morning was special... In front of me was one of the best mountainboard parks i have ever seen.
To the left of me was a cafe/bar and going straight up from that was a T-bar lift system to the top of the hill. Comming off the lift(~without unstrapping) you could hit 3 largish jumps, snowboard rails still in position from winter, a mini Boarder X, wallride or Tree jib.
Due to the ski lift we all did hundreds of runs on the freestyle and snuck in a few beers in between runs.
The days highlights were D.C's nosepick stalls on the wallride and Tuai Lovejoys smooth as silk corked 540's. During the days riding at least 100 people hired out boards and were riding the beginer sections of the park with us. Due to this trip making up a large section of the 2009 BFC film, winterberg agreed to sponsor us free lift passes for the weekend which would have cost us around 150 euro each.
Thanks to the guys at ROCKON GERMANY check out www.rockon.de
BACKFLIP
Chairlift up!
To the left of me was a cafe/bar and going straight up from that was a T-bar lift system to the top of the hill. Comming off the lift(~without unstrapping) you could hit 3 largish jumps, snowboard rails still in position from winter, a mini Boarder X, wallride or Tree jib.
Due to the ski lift we all did hundreds of runs on the freestyle and snuck in a few beers in between runs.
The days highlights were D.C's nosepick stalls on the wallride and Tuai Lovejoys smooth as silk corked 540's. During the days riding at least 100 people hired out boards and were riding the beginer sections of the park with us. Due to this trip making up a large section of the 2009 BFC film, winterberg agreed to sponsor us free lift passes for the weekend which would have cost us around 150 euro each.
Thanks to the guys at ROCKON GERMANY check out www.rockon.de
BACKFLIP
Chairlift up!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Let the Road trip begin!
We were up early, around 6:45 ready to pack the cars and get going on our mission to be in winterberg, Germany by the end of the day.
We eventually set of in 3 cars crammed full of people and gear. Myself, James Sleigh and Jed Hornyold were in one car, Tuai Lovejoy, Steve Cownie and Matt Brind in another car and Dave Compton, Rhys Crilley, Jack Johnston(tour Filmer) and Sarah(tour photographer) in another.
After a ferry ride from Dover to Calais filled with duty-free goodness, we had reached France. It Wasn't until 1:00 that night that we arrived in Winterberg. We had travelled for about 15 hrs, through England, France, Belgium, Holand and Germany.
After trying to check out the track in the dark, we decided to call it a dayand instead of setting up our massive 16 man tent we settled for sleeping under the perfectly clear night sky.
We eventually set of in 3 cars crammed full of people and gear. Myself, James Sleigh and Jed Hornyold were in one car, Tuai Lovejoy, Steve Cownie and Matt Brind in another car and Dave Compton, Rhys Crilley, Jack Johnston(tour Filmer) and Sarah(tour photographer) in another.
After a ferry ride from Dover to Calais filled with duty-free goodness, we had reached France. It Wasn't until 1:00 that night that we arrived in Winterberg. We had travelled for about 15 hrs, through England, France, Belgium, Holand and Germany.
After trying to check out the track in the dark, we decided to call it a dayand instead of setting up our massive 16 man tent we settled for sleeping under the perfectly clear night sky.
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