Big Day Out.

Meeting Antonio. Photos courtesy of Tam.

Negotiating how to fit on the Vespa with two skateboards.

Sliding by some newly constructed roads near Ikea.

Not sure what the suburb was called, but cruised around looking for a drink.

The boards and the Vespa.

Riding through Villa Borghese. Looking for some more locals.

Met up with two little chaps. Neither had helmets. This will change.

We had to carry our bike helmets, so we wore them. Bombed through the bus lanes, closed to cars.

Sliding in Villa Glori. Shocking cellphone blur.

One of the little corners.

A nice steep run for practicing slides.

Looking down the same road.

So today was the first day I managed to go skating with some local Roman skaters. I met up with Antonio whom I had met through Sliverfish. He arrived on a Vespa, so we had to negotiate how to fit on the little thing with with two backpacks and two longboards. It worked out alright.

The first place I was taken to was a newly tarred road near the shopping centre Ikea to the north of Rome. My setup currently isn't the best for sliding. Super hard bushings that came with my Kahalanis need to be swopped for softer ones. After there we went through town to Villa Borghese where we met two younger guys. We skated through the park, with a number of gentle hills, to a road that runs along the Villa down to Piazza Del Popolo. Would be cool to go back there because its closed to traffic, and the buses aren't that much of a problem. Stopped for lunch at Burger King. Had my first meal there. Reminded me of the burgers at Steers. We then went to Villa Glori, where there is a steep hill for pedestrians. When we got there it was occupied with runners doing sprints up and down the hill. We decided to go somewhere else and found some fun little runs through the paths of the Villa. My Boardyard got quite a hammering as the wet ground took me by surprise resulting in the board flying out and smashing into a bench. Here we met up with some more locals, and even a girl skater. Unfortunately she fell and hurt he knee and had to leave.

After a while we headed back to the hill, called Viale dei Settanta. The steep gradient allows one to gather speed quickly allowing for a number of slides in one run. It was a really awesome day, getting to meet the locals, and seeing some of the spots. Apparently there are some awesome hills outside of town which I'm super amped to check out.