How can you describe Europe Trip in just a few words. It’s rather difficult actually. But if I had just a few choice ones off the top of my head these are what I would pick:

That’s just a few. Maybe that will get my mind rolling in the right direction.

The trip to Europe was insanity. I arrived in Geneva when I was supposed to arrive in Zurich a day earlier. I hopped in with the skate crew in our rental Renault “Scenic” which we thought would be a 7 person van, but actually turned out to be more or less a compact hatchback with a “rumble seat” meant for children. We cruised out skating daily. We hit up Almabtrieb first off which involved an amazing rip on the Autobahn which I was ever so lucky to drive for the most part. We watched our digital speedo vary from 150-170-180-190-195… Then onto and just barely to 197. Which was our set record for quite some time. It was epic. You’d be driving along in a speed limited zone and then wham… 120km/h on a sign with three black lines across it which meant… FLOOR IT. We arrived quite late at night and took a look at the course thinking it would be epic. It looked a lot like Jake’s Rash when we rolled up and we were all thinking it would turn out to be deadly draft dodging madness. It turned out to be all about the exit speed in the end. Brianne dialed it. That was sick to see. Them Euro’s didn’t have nothing on her. Epic racing.

After that… Freeride time. Shralping the sickest passes in the world on our way to the Graveyard Call. The sickest of all tracks this world has to offer. Can you bust a 50mph pendy in one lane while the road is sweeping to the left, then right? Cause you’re going to have to if you’re going to win the Graveyard Call. Slide or die all the way to the finish. Corner after corner of wheel burning madness. That’s what I’m talking about. Yet again, Rayne domination. Spencer schooled the juniors. Brianne spanked the women. What more would you expect from Rayne Longboards?

Onto the next adventure… Bombing hills of course. Cause that’s mega. We tripped down to Barcelona where were graciously accepted by the boys at Fortrate. The sickest distributor there ever was. Our hosts gave us beds, showers, food, AND skate days. Mega. Barcelona is a mecca for all things rolling. You want to get air. They got it. You want to slash a nearly vert bank made of weird round bricks? THEY GOT IT. You want to get air off a brick boob mid-city… THEY GOT IT. Ocean. Seafood. Culture. Spanish… THEY GOT IT. What a trip there.

After that trip, James and I decided it was time to solo on a mega mission to some unexplored skate terrain… The Canary Islands. We got gnar daily. The roads are made of crushed volcanic rock which is extremely sharp and VERY black. There’s lots of rallies on the best roads there so they keep them shined up and squeaky clean. That means your wheels slide like butter and the lines you leave are second to none. That was some great skating I’ll tell ya. The food there was INSANE. Best food of the whole trip. Our hosts there had it entirely covered. Octopus ceviche, a local dish named “Old Clothes”, fresh fish, amazing potatoes straight from the ground, barbequed onions ripped straight from the earth and thrown on the grill. THAT IS WHAT IS LIFE IS ABOUT PEOPLE. FOOD…… And sick hills. I’ll be back soon enough. James and I rented a bike and captured some deadly footage of which you’ll see more of soon. When I was finally ready to head to Kozakov I looked up how much it was going to cost me to get there… 500 Euros later, I was on my way. OUCH. That’s about 750 dollars you see. Money I was really hoping I could use for stuff like eating and the like, but sometimes, you gotta go. CHECK OUT THE VIDEO AT SKATEHOUSEMEDIA.COM

Kozakov. The rained out rally. We were all amping on such an amazing trip, all of us do gooder skaters. We wanted to rally. The track was hot. You would start off pushing and drop suddenly into a mega steep that spat you into a 90 degree right at about 100km/h. That’s right… Try to stick THAT ONE BUDDY. After that, a tight left hand hairpin that was all about the slide. Drop into the next combo a sweep left into a harshly flat right hand hairpin all about the exit speed. Shoot out of that and cruise along the flat into a steep left hand hairpin, again all about the drifting. Shoot out of that into a looooong straight where the best tuck ruled. Your wheels are worked in one run, you’re almost at the finish, stoked… But wait… You have to stick another 90km/h 90˚ turn! Joy! Sliiiiiiide it on your worked wheels and hit the finish. That’s a good track right there. The town around Kozakov? None existent. There was some GREAT dessert at the top of the hill though. We ended up getting in two qualifying runs which was not too bad, but the rain cursed us and we could not race. Ending up 2nd at the last race was a pretty hard hit. I wanted to race after all that time jamming on the Canaries. What can you do. Time was running out on our trip and it was time to head home.

Prague… The city of old. Architecture, people, food. Gnarly stuff. Can’t get much better to the end the trip. A Thai massage here, a Mcdonald’s breakfast on the way to the airport with Dalua. The end of a good trip always starts with greasy gutrot, right?

Back at home, I was able to shred my home hills harder than ever before thanks to Rayne Longboards, Daddies Board Shop, Orangatang Wheels, and AERA TRUCKS getting me to Europe. Hope I can make it back next year for another shralp on the Alps…. Missing those 30km long hairpin riddled descents already. Luckily, there’s a 6 km hairpin riddled descent just a motorbike ride away……. Which I’ll be skating tomorrow in the sun.

Shred daily you daily shredders. Dream big and go get it.