Sliding Circeo.

We were heading to Parco Nazionale del Circeo.

The mountain and the route with a bunch of awesome hairpins.

The hill of Circeo rising before us.

One of the one lane narrow roads at the top.

The top of Circeo.

The view looking down from the mountain.

Antonio taking a break at the bottom of the hill.

The setting over the Mediterranean.

Standing in the Mediterranean Ocean.

Having some drinks at a restaurant on the beach.

So another day begins with a hunt for the illusive "Mount Awesome". I wasn't sure, when we left home, which hill Antonio had in mind to skate today, but what he did tell us was that it was going to be by the beach. The beach ended up being to the South-West of Rome on a hill in Parco Nazionale del Circeo. The journey took us about 2 hours and today there were only three of us: Tam, Antonio, and me. As we drove up the hill we started to feel the stoke bubbling up from within us as we were presented with one hairpin after another. The road was just wide enough to fit two cars; slightly choppy in some areas; and was under the trees in most places. The skating ended up with us just riding one hairpin after the next. Practicising our slides on the first right-hander. We then progressed further and further down the hill. Was a great session. Antonio's board flew off the cliff a couple of times, one of which resulted in the board being suspended in a tree. Tam was great again as she did a bunch of filming and even drove Antonio's car for the first time. 

After we finished on the hill we skated through the town. The hill through it was awesome, and not too many cars. At the bottom we ended up stopping at a restaurant at the beach and had a drink whilst watching the sun set over the Mediterranean for the first time (first time for me that is). Could have easely been in Cape Town. Was great.

The last part of our journey was slightly odd as we ended up doing a loop, thinking we were driving away from the mountain, and ended up back where we were. Just a wee bit trippy. Another day down, and the hunt for the illusive "Mount Awesome" continues.

Monte Terminillo.

Downhill Longboard @ Terminillo, Italy from Andrea Alessi on Vimeo.

Terminillo Hill Bomb.

The mountain.

The initial hill we skated. Along the bottom there.

Tam, our videographer.

The top of the initial hill we skated.

The final run.

Saturday 2 April 2011. In convoy we drove the 125 kms that is the distance from Rome to a mountain outside Rieti. I think it's called Terminillo, I could be wrong. There were six of us: Antonio, Ricardo, Andrea, Arturi, Tam and me. By the time we had driven the 25 kms or so up the mountain, Ricardo's car literally exploded. Well the radiator or something gave way or something. So now, seeing as we weren't at our destination yet, Antonio had to ferry us to where we had discovered a cool place to skate (thanks to Google Earth).

The hill was great, not too steep, but some tight corners. Hard snow on the one side, hardcore drop on the other, cars in the middle. Oh and they drive on the right-hand side of the road. You'll get the hang of it in the end. So they say. Well there was a ton of car negotiating (not too much, but enough), and a bunch of melted ice. So once everyone was nicely grated (knees, stomachs, elbows, etc) we decided to leave. Ok so this is when things got fun. The road back down the mountain, you remember, the 25 km one. Well it was time to skate it. Antonio and I got ready. Well I had my leathers and full-face, but Antonio had his free-riding get-up, so just gloves and lid. It was a long ass skate. The road was sketchy. Gravel on the sides, grooves in the middle, and cars somewhere inbetween. I ended up psyching myself out and bailed twice, but my friend Antonio made it the whol way down. No scratches. Was amazing. Awesome hill. Check it out. Gonna do it again sometime. Oh, and it was the first time I've been around so much snow.

Fiberglass Grater!

Taking bus 38.

The View.

For some reason I can never make the hill look any better.

 

 

So I decided to relieve some work stress today and headed to Ikea, taking bus 38, to practice some slides. It was the first session I had today by myself at this spot and it was pretty cool. Practiced some stand-up slides. Was very disconcerting doing them without knee-pads. Ended up bailing onto my knees once or twice. Not the best thing in the world. Managed to get them stuck in the end. My board is getting a bit grated though on the nose. When the board flips over it grates the top of the deck. The fiberglass is now poking out. Besides that, the board slides amazingly. Really awesome.

Rocca Part 2

This is the hill we found heading out south from Rome.

The hill is called Via Dei Laghi.

Rocka da Poppa!

The skate spot we were heading to, near Rocca di Papa.

Missioning to a skate spot south of Rome.

Doing a bit of tourist photographing. Cool cliffside village.

Largo Albano.

Still travelling.

We finally found the road, and... it was shocking!

Stopped at the top of the hill. Radio masts giving us dillusions that we could actually skate the hill.

The boards.

Freaking Resident Evil vibes.

Zona Militare.

Finally ended up skating a proper session near Ikea. Better roads, better

So the skate session started a little late on Saturday afternoon, only leaving the city at 6.30 p.m. We ended up getting lost and in the process found an awesome hill to skate. Unfortunately it will have to be a Sunday morning when there are fewer cars, but potentially really awesome. I'll post a vid of the route sometime. 

So when we finally stopped it was almost dark and the road was shocking. Antonio brought me some Randal 180s with 50º base-plate and I switched to 75mm classic thane Zigs. The surface was really bad. If the road was perfect it would be really amazing. A couple of sick corners. Mini Kozakov possibly? Who knows. 

So we finally left. Unsatisfied. We decided to head back to something we knew. Ikea. The skating was just what we needed.

 

Dirt Corner.

Longboarding store in Italy! Awesome stuff.