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Brazil, 19.10. - 04.11.09 My trip started with a quick stop in Rio de Janeiro. I arrived the day after the gangs shot down a police helicopter with heavy artillery. And at night, no car stops at a red light... I don't really know how one can feel safe in Rio. |
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Guilhermes friend Alvaro took me on a small sightseing tour. I wanted to visit the Sugar Loaf, James Bond has been there a long time ago. And the gondola is made in Switzerland! The view from the top is really nice and there are small monkeys sitting on the trees. |
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I couldn't avait my first açai after 5 years! |
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Clouds already made for a dramatic view on the Sugar Loaf. We went for a short skate along Ipanema beach... In the evening we went for a nice all you can eat churrasca dinner with my Rio friends Gorducho, Guilherme, Alvaro and Cobra. |
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The weather has changed for the next day and it was hot and sunny. This here is Copacabana beach. We ate more açai and drank coconuts before I continued my trip to Porto Alegre. Mischo Erban and Ivandro da Silveira came to pick me up at the airport. That night we went for all you can eat pizza with regular pizza first and later sweet pizza for desert. It was kinda weird but definitely fun. |
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After a long and boring day at Dalua's place we finally drove to Teutônia. I was really excited to see the hill. The dark night didn't show much of it though. The next morning we did the first practise run from the corner and the second run from a bit higher up the hill. The third run was from the top. The corner seemed faster compared to 2005. I was riding 77A centrax wheels which worked perfectly for me, except of the fear of loosing grip in the corner. I think the massive dampening and good roll speed helped me a bit in the first part of the track where the pavement is getting worse and worse. |
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I got used to the track really well and in contrast to 2005 I could now hold my full tuck all the way down the fastest part of the hill. I practised up to speeds around 100 - 110 km/h before I left but a 120 km/h hill is hard to find in Switzerland! On my last run with the GPS I recorded 118 km/h, same as 2005. After lunch we did the first timetrial where I placed thrid behind Douglas and Mischo. |
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The second day started all foggy and rainy. The road dried after a while and we got some more practise runs. The organizers did a good job and squeezed in the second timetrial before it started raining in the afternoon. My second run was almost the same as the first run, around 1 min 21 sec. Kevin Rimer posted a better time and I moved back to 4th place. Douglas won the timetrials followed by Mischo. Ranking timetrials, top 8 of 42 competitors: 1. Douglas da Silva, BRA 1:17.7 2. Mischo Erban, CAN 1:19.6 3. Kevin Reimer, CAN 1:20.4 4. Martin Siegrist, SUI 1:21.1 5. Scott Smith, CAN 1:22.1 6. Hugo Haddad, BRA 1:22.5 7. Everton Alves, BRA 1:22.7 8. Silon Garcia, BRA 1:22.8 |
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These trucks remind me of something... |
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The world is one big self service platform. Take what ever you want, change it and make it your design! Welcome to the land of the big copycats! |
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Unscrupulously some guys copied a Beat Engel speedstar and here they took the front of a Icaro 4 fight and added a weird back. I'm only guessing but the helmet looks as if it was a bit too small and the back had to be widened to fit ones head... |
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After the first two rounds (1/16, 1/8) the IGSA set up their speed trap and we got one speedrun. I'm happy we got that run. My pattern technician Luzi and I made a new speedsuit especially for this event. I have to make up alot of weight, being only 65 kg, roughly 20 - 30 kg lighter than most of my contendors. The speedrun felt good, but I still wish we got some more speedruns. I think the speedsuit helped a bit, at least it made me feel really fast, hearing way less wind than with the regular leather suit only. Top 8 speedrun: 113.0 km/h Mischo Erban, CAN 112.2 km/h Douglas da Silva, BRA 111.0 km/h Kevin Reimer, CAN 108.8 km/h Martin Siegrist, SUI 108.2 km/h Everton Alves, BRA 105.6 km/h Scott Smith, CAN 103.7 km/h Thiago Gomes, BRA 102.5 km/h Rafael Bastos, BRA Referring on my GPS trackdata with once more 118 km/h and the feeling on the hill, the speedtrap most probably wasn't positioned at the fastest spot on the hill. |
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I met Scoot in the 1/4 final. He passed me when I stood up a little bit for the corner. Passed him back right after the turn and then we scrubbed wheels at about 90 km/h which gave both of us a huge wobble. Scoot got behind me again and tried to pass me on the last roller. I saw him crashing on the very side of my vision and just hoped that his board wasn't gonna hit me. |
| Looking at this video, Scoot had a lot of luck not to get hurt seriously in that crash... | |
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In the semifinal I met big Dalua. It was an honor to race him on his homespot. He waited behind me for the right moment to pass and then flew past to the left side of the road which was a bit too much for me. I couldn't take the risk. After that run I raced for 3rd and 4th place with Kevin. This time I waited behind and planned to attack after the turn. But I took it a bit too slow and he took it even faster, so I couldn't really get into big K's... draft and ended up on 4th place. |
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Teutônia World Cup Top 8: 1. Mischo Erban, CAN 2. Douglas da Silva, BRA 3. Kevin Reimer, CAN 4. Martin Siegrist, SUI 5. Scott Smith, CAN 6. Everton Alves, BRA 7. Silon Garcia, BRA 8. Vinicius Macaco, BRA Full results can be found here. Looking at the results in skateboard downhill, one can see that beside two riders from Chile, only 4 riders came from foreign countries. Malarrara Pro Teutônia on TV Malarrara Pro Teutônia - Official website Concrete Wave race report |
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The big crew at the first day of hill hunters, ready for the first hill, a nice 7km run. Unfortunately the guy in the yellow/purple leathers broke his collarbone that day. We had to pass at least one truck down the hill in every run... |
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Someone's having fun! |
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I wish we could have skated this road! It's lit up perfectly all night long. The rough concrete surface makes it almost impossible though. |
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The next day we skated a cool road in Urubici where I did my first early grab mini air. Later that day we drove at least 1 hour on a dirt road to check out a scarry hairpin section... |
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This might look familiar to Concrete Wave readers. According to Alexandre Maia, we probably were the first to ever skate on this road. |
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The scenery is awesome! |
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It's steep! |
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Maia drifting. First I was too affraid but then I took my board with soft bushings and amber freerides and it worked quite nicely. The corners are dropping so much, it's insane. Insane terrain! |
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The next day we rode another beautiful road with awesome sweepers and a superfast section. We drove to Floripa the same evening. The crew met again on Morro da Cruz for some rad and dangerous freeriding. I carved with my little board since the hill was very steep and too busy for riding with speed. Diego from Chile crashed into a nice old Volkswagen bus, which stopped in the corner to avoid anything worse. What if it was a faster car? Diego was lucky not to get hurt! And those are some real retro binoculars! The day ended with açai and fruit juices. Hmm... |
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Morro da Cruz |
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This bus station in Florianopolis was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, the same architect that designed the city of Brasilia. |
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Relax, shopping is tyring! |
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Tirol = quality? |
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Apparently passionfruit makes for a good sleep. |
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This road lead directly to the ocean, reminded me of Malibu. Nice pavements, sweepers, rollers... and dangerous trucks... |
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This shot would be even more beautiful if all of us were riding regular. |
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Juliano Cassemiro, Martin Siegrist, Alexandre Maia |
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Something you have to do in Floripa: we took a boat across the lagoa and went to eat a... |
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...massive shrimp and fish lunch! |
| The last few days we've spent riding bowls and dunes. Sandboarding was a new experience for me. Actually it's like snowboarding, only a bit slower. | |
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Good bye Floripa! |
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