RSS Feed (xml)
The recent Route One trip to Bulgaria is really beginning to bear fruit. The most recent addition to the Bulgarian fruit line-up is a video of offcuts from the upcoming Sidewalk edit (due to drop any time now...)
So if these are the offcuts, then we really can't wait to see what they've left in, as there's some cracking footage in this great compilation.
Check it out now in preparation for the main event.
Showing posts with label Bruce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bruce. Show all posts
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Friday, 16 January 2009
Sidewalk's Sofia Spotlight
As you should know, we took our skate team out to Bulgaria with Sidewalk last year for a bit of a jolly tour with a difference, and finally it has made it to the hallowed pages of the nations favourite skate 'zine. We don't want to spoil it for those of you waiting for your copy, but it's well worth a read and out now, so go get it.
What we can show you is some of the stuff already put up on the Sidewalk website, namely interviews with the team, so click the link below to continue reading this post, where you'll find an interview with Mr Bernard Leyden himself.
Click here to continue reading
How does Scotland compare to Bulgaria then? Any similarities as far as you could see?
What we can show you is some of the stuff already put up on the Sidewalk website, namely interviews with the team, so click the link below to continue reading this post, where you'll find an interview with Mr Bernard Leyden himself.
Click here to continue reading
How does Scotland compare to Bulgaria then? Any similarities as far as you could see?
It looked to me that the general population of Bulgaria take a lot more pride in themselves than the average Joe in Scotland. You know, I don’t think I seen anyone wearing trackies or drinking Buckfast. Nearly everyone I saw looked really clean and on point...
The Bulgarian language barrier was hard enough for the best of us - how did the distinctively thick Scottish accent go down with the natives?
I never had any trouble with it really, just as long as I took my time, spoke slowly and threw in some sign language type stuff.
What did you and Ashley get up to when not skating then? Did you manage to take in more culture than the rest of the crew?
Well if KFC and pizzas count as culture, I drew in plenty (laughs). Me and Ash did a good bit of wandering around, there was one point were we ended up lost somewhere in Sofia and I was kind of stressed, obviously because of being somewhere completely different and a bit ghetto, but the missus didn’t seem fazed at all. Women are mental.
What were your favourite three Bulgarian spots that we skated?
Pretty much everywhere we went was pretty rad, so I don’t think anything stands out to me man. I was just really happy to be somewhere rad with loads of potential.
Top five memorable incidents from the trip?
1 - Avid being a total bastard.
2 - Hanging out with new folks and making new friends.
3 - Physically feeling heat from sunshine.
4 - Trying new food and drink.
5 - Just feeling good about skating in general, it was all good! Stoked!
And finally, the most memorable Amir lyric you heard?
Seriously man, Amir is so funny, that boy was spitting mad lyrics, yo! He was waffling some stuff man, f*ck knows what man, he's like like the Pharcyde wrapped up in one big underground hip hop parcel. He's a f*cking good lad.
Interview stolen from Sidewalk.com, 12/01/09.
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Route One Does Bulgaria. Part 3
After the best nights kip I’d had all week, we awoke on Day 5 to find it had banged it down all night. I felt like crying, today was the day that we were due to visit the spot that I was looking forward to most of all – an abandoned duck pond with transitions of all sizes and surely many photo opportunities for all on the trip.
As we sat and I avoided another peculiar Euro breakfast, the rain subsided and the decision was made to drive into the centre of Haskovo to see if a tree surrounded marble monument was water free and to kill some time, hoping the pond’s surface would dry out. Most of the guys weren’t feeling the spot, but Lynskey stepped up and quickly knocked out a nollie nose manual and flipped into one as well on either side of the monument, carefully riding out into a bank that left no room for error of judgement.
By this time we figured it was time to give the Duck pond a try. Situated in Dimtirovgrad, this spot was amazing and our timing was just right. We arrived to find the concrete just about dry and had ten minutes skating before the heavens opened. Luckily in this time Manhead managed to get a trick on a wall that only Jerry Hsu had managed to get to the top of before, and I managed to sketchily ride away from an iceplant fakie on a much smaller wall. I was happy to get my trick but gutted to be rained out. The place was ridiculous and we could have easily spent four or five hours there had the weather permitted.
Click here to continue reading
We hastily jumped in the van and Alex, our guide, suggested we visit the town of Plovdiv as it was on the way back to Sofia and he had some friends there that might know a few spots that could be dry and he knew of a great restaurant where we could sit out the rain, should it come to that.
Bulgarian cuisine is interesting to say the least. They seem to love their veal and odd cheese and it owes a lot to French gastronomy from the pre-communist colonial times. This led to me betting 10 Leva (local currency – about £4.00) that Avid couldn’t eat a whole plate of egg-coated frog’s legs or boiled chicken hearts and lungs. He opted for the former and polished them off quickly and so won the cash – even if he didn’t stop complaining of feeling ill for the next two days. We sat and debated the virtues of British processed food whilst Avid started to go a shade of green and went hoping mad (I thank you!) over all the frog references we made.
As the afternoon progressed, the weather took a turn for the better and we decided to see if we could salvage what was left of the day by having a look at some of the spots on offer. A set of 13 stairs was found and Makepeace stepped up to try and skate the beast. To find out what happened, guess what – yeah, it’s gonna be in Sidewalk! Lets just say that after 2 heel bruises, a badly cut big toe and a badly grazed back, he was victorious, even if he spent the rest of the trip urinating blood. Think on kids, getting gnarly looks cool but your body won’t thank you for it…
With only an hour or so before dark and having been inspired by Makepeace’s determination, Amir decided it was his time to get some. Alex led us to a perfect but huge 15 stair outside a small yet exclusive looking shopping centre. Just as all the flashes and lighting were set up, it looked as though our luck was out as a security guard showed up, only for him to happily stand and watch as the Amir Williams carcass toss began… Amir has my utmost respect. Not only is he a thoroughly nice and self-depreciating guy, he also has a hell of a lot of bottle. Over 30 times he threw himself down those stairs, dislocating his finger, severely bruising his right arm, as well as the right side of his hip and banging his head on more than one occasion (including kneeing himself in the teeth), yet he kept on getting back up and running to the top, desperate for another go to tame those stairs. He would surely have been successful too had it not been for a change of security, with the new guard kicking us out, trying to get physical with Amir and then having the audacity to call the police as we walked away.
We legged it to a nearby café and hid whilst Alex grabbed the van. He pulled up out front, we jumped in with no time to finish our drinks (bought not to look suspicious) and sped to the motorway to get back to Sofia. Plovdiv – great spots but watch out for the security!
We got back to Sofia and I went straight to bed, the thought of coming too close to getting beaten up by some huge, skin headed Bulgarian police had taken it out of me.
I awoke to find all the guys in quite a state. Not good, as we had to be out of the hostel within the hour. I slowly got different stories from each of the guys as to what had happened on our return to Sofia. Lets just say it involved Sam Bruce lying on a bar, having Vodka poured down her throat by an overly amorous bartender and Sidewalks Ryan Gray giving the hostel’s toilet a traditional Heckmondwike pebble dashing!
As everyone gathered their things together, Alex arrived and we loaded our luggage into his van. We had a good seven hours to kill before we needed to be at the airport so he kept our gear safe whilst we went to NDK one last time to film and photograph any last tricks that people wanted. A good deal went down but as the photos are due to be used in the Sidewalk article, you’ll have to wait and see what the guys got. Some of it wa’ daft I tell thi!
As five o’clock approached, tricks were rushed out. Some were landed, some not. Then all that was left to do was get a quick team photo in front of NDK’s impressive fountains, jump in the mini bus and get to the airport. We checked in, got a coffee and a hotdog and sat there, waiting to get into that big metal bird.
And that is where this story ends. It’s now 8.43pm British time; the Route One skate team are all fast asleep around me and by my calculations we are probably somewhere over the Netherlands.
Take my advice: Visit Bulgaria, it’s a wonderful country and has shed loads of amazing stuff to skate, you certainly won’t regret it. And if you do go, get to that duck pond – it’s bloody ace!
In a bit…
Alex Winstanley (R1 team manager – of sorts).
As we sat and I avoided another peculiar Euro breakfast, the rain subsided and the decision was made to drive into the centre of Haskovo to see if a tree surrounded marble monument was water free and to kill some time, hoping the pond’s surface would dry out. Most of the guys weren’t feeling the spot, but Lynskey stepped up and quickly knocked out a nollie nose manual and flipped into one as well on either side of the monument, carefully riding out into a bank that left no room for error of judgement.
By this time we figured it was time to give the Duck pond a try. Situated in Dimtirovgrad, this spot was amazing and our timing was just right. We arrived to find the concrete just about dry and had ten minutes skating before the heavens opened. Luckily in this time Manhead managed to get a trick on a wall that only Jerry Hsu had managed to get to the top of before, and I managed to sketchily ride away from an iceplant fakie on a much smaller wall. I was happy to get my trick but gutted to be rained out. The place was ridiculous and we could have easily spent four or five hours there had the weather permitted.
Click here to continue reading
We hastily jumped in the van and Alex, our guide, suggested we visit the town of Plovdiv as it was on the way back to Sofia and he had some friends there that might know a few spots that could be dry and he knew of a great restaurant where we could sit out the rain, should it come to that.
Bulgarian cuisine is interesting to say the least. They seem to love their veal and odd cheese and it owes a lot to French gastronomy from the pre-communist colonial times. This led to me betting 10 Leva (local currency – about £4.00) that Avid couldn’t eat a whole plate of egg-coated frog’s legs or boiled chicken hearts and lungs. He opted for the former and polished them off quickly and so won the cash – even if he didn’t stop complaining of feeling ill for the next two days. We sat and debated the virtues of British processed food whilst Avid started to go a shade of green and went hoping mad (I thank you!) over all the frog references we made.
As the afternoon progressed, the weather took a turn for the better and we decided to see if we could salvage what was left of the day by having a look at some of the spots on offer. A set of 13 stairs was found and Makepeace stepped up to try and skate the beast. To find out what happened, guess what – yeah, it’s gonna be in Sidewalk! Lets just say that after 2 heel bruises, a badly cut big toe and a badly grazed back, he was victorious, even if he spent the rest of the trip urinating blood. Think on kids, getting gnarly looks cool but your body won’t thank you for it…
With only an hour or so before dark and having been inspired by Makepeace’s determination, Amir decided it was his time to get some. Alex led us to a perfect but huge 15 stair outside a small yet exclusive looking shopping centre. Just as all the flashes and lighting were set up, it looked as though our luck was out as a security guard showed up, only for him to happily stand and watch as the Amir Williams carcass toss began… Amir has my utmost respect. Not only is he a thoroughly nice and self-depreciating guy, he also has a hell of a lot of bottle. Over 30 times he threw himself down those stairs, dislocating his finger, severely bruising his right arm, as well as the right side of his hip and banging his head on more than one occasion (including kneeing himself in the teeth), yet he kept on getting back up and running to the top, desperate for another go to tame those stairs. He would surely have been successful too had it not been for a change of security, with the new guard kicking us out, trying to get physical with Amir and then having the audacity to call the police as we walked away.
We legged it to a nearby café and hid whilst Alex grabbed the van. He pulled up out front, we jumped in with no time to finish our drinks (bought not to look suspicious) and sped to the motorway to get back to Sofia. Plovdiv – great spots but watch out for the security!
We got back to Sofia and I went straight to bed, the thought of coming too close to getting beaten up by some huge, skin headed Bulgarian police had taken it out of me.
I awoke to find all the guys in quite a state. Not good, as we had to be out of the hostel within the hour. I slowly got different stories from each of the guys as to what had happened on our return to Sofia. Lets just say it involved Sam Bruce lying on a bar, having Vodka poured down her throat by an overly amorous bartender and Sidewalks Ryan Gray giving the hostel’s toilet a traditional Heckmondwike pebble dashing!
As everyone gathered their things together, Alex arrived and we loaded our luggage into his van. We had a good seven hours to kill before we needed to be at the airport so he kept our gear safe whilst we went to NDK one last time to film and photograph any last tricks that people wanted. A good deal went down but as the photos are due to be used in the Sidewalk article, you’ll have to wait and see what the guys got. Some of it wa’ daft I tell thi!
As five o’clock approached, tricks were rushed out. Some were landed, some not. Then all that was left to do was get a quick team photo in front of NDK’s impressive fountains, jump in the mini bus and get to the airport. We checked in, got a coffee and a hotdog and sat there, waiting to get into that big metal bird.
And that is where this story ends. It’s now 8.43pm British time; the Route One skate team are all fast asleep around me and by my calculations we are probably somewhere over the Netherlands.
Take my advice: Visit Bulgaria, it’s a wonderful country and has shed loads of amazing stuff to skate, you certainly won’t regret it. And if you do go, get to that duck pond – it’s bloody ace!
In a bit…
Alex Winstanley (R1 team manager – of sorts).
Friday, 25 April 2008
Girls Only Skate Jam Projekts Manchester!
Here's some more footage to get your teeth into this time its the Girls Only Jam featuring another Route One, Vans, and Ortega Team Rider Sam Bruce with a better style than most guys! Also including Lois Pendlebury, Helena Long, and Lucy Adams. Some seriously good stuff so have a peek you wont be disappointed!
More Skateboarding Videos >>
More Skateboarding Videos >>
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)