Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Kozakov Day 1: Let's Skate.

So last night was a storm and a half! Someone said 90km/h winds?? Well my cheap €30 tent stood up against the gales and the rain pretty well. When I woke up I found that not many others could say the same. Due to the previous nights rain the initial 9.00 a.m. practice riding didn't really start on time. Benjamin Malherbe, Matt Arderne and I decided to take a walk down the track to see what was in store.... Needless to say my socks were rocked... The initial drop is out-of-this-world crazy, straight into a 90º right-hander which you somehow have to put breaks on for. At this stage I was kakking balls as I knew I'd done foot-braking, but this felt totally next-level, and on the wet tar too. After we got a lift back to the top we discovered that it was time to skate. 
I have never been around so many skaters at one time. And as many hardcore guys as there were here today. At least they wish you to believe they are hardcore, what with many of them sporting flashy NJK leathers, intimidation was definitely the name of the game.
In the end I skated 5 out of the 6 runs for the day. The first two runs I kept taking the left-handers too wide, and the third time I fell whilst stupidly trying to do footbreak before the last sweeping right-hander. This fall led me to shattering the knee-pad in my leathers and losing my board for about 5 minutes. That was embarrassing....
After the skating was finished the rain and fog set in, whilst everyone moved to the beer tent!

My tent. 



The beer tent at night.

The food stalls.

Playing the bench game.

Marcus Rietema giving the low-down.

1 comment:

  1. Well done on skating that amazing hill, Ben!!! And 5 times, nogal!!

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