Basel, London, Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre. I arrive with a 2h delay. Douglas must be waiting since a long time. We´re driving to his house in Sao Leopoldo. This is a suburb of Porto Alegre. Douglas lives with his mother and grandmother in a very little house. Kent from Southafrica and some Brazilian skaters stay here too. The weather is quite bad: rain and mist is not what i expected. It´s the same for the next few days. No sun and no skateboarding. It´s getting boring. Stuart from Cape Town arrives at Wednesday. It´s still raining.

But then, on Thursday, the sun is shining. We´re driving to Teutônia, which is a german colony. Most people speak german and live very traditional. Then we see the racetrack. Douglas is laughing...

What a hill. Never have i seen something steep and rad like this road. I´m really scared. We´re freewheelin downhill with 150km/h! Whooooop! This road is crazy. 2km in 1.5 minutes! Over 100km/h topspeed! The road surface is not the best but it´s good enough. There are a few rough patches and cracks. The first part of the track is relatively flat. Nothing crazy. Drop... left hand sweeper... swschsch... Now it´s getting really steep! You can feel a massive acceleration... 70 – 80 – 90 – 95 – 100 – 110 – 120? One more drop and finish. Poboppoboppobopp – i´m nervous.

We´re closing the road and comunicate by radio. We start the first run in the steep part before the turn. Road clear! Let´s go! I got some wobbles in the highspeed. I can´t lock my knee and i have to stand up. Nevertheless my GPS shows 93km/h. I don´t feel so safe. Do i have the right setup for this road? How can i do my tuck? I tighten my trucks. We all get faster and faster and then we start from the top of the hill. I´m feeling better. After the finsh i check the highspeed on my GPS: 111km/h! I have never gone that fast before. It starts raining and we´re going home. Everybody´s happy, it was a good session.

After a short lunchbreak the 2men heats start from the very top of the hill. The 32 best riders got a bip#shirt. These shirts are nice but too big for most of the riders. Everyone tries to be as aero as possible. Is there anybody having some duct-tape? Stuart doesn´t make it, he´s out in the first round.

I got two nice runs. Then, in the round of eight i met #2 of the qualifying: Everton! Three, two, one, go! I stay behind him. I try to pass him, but i can´t get him. Everton´s tuck is awesome and he´s fast! Unfortunately i can´t catch him.

I´m out! After the finish line I check my GPS. Wow, what the hell! 118km/h! I can´t believe it. Never did i feel so good after a lost run. I´m really happy! Douglas wins the final by night and Beni wins the streetluge race.

The pricegiving was awesome. Happy winners, nice trophies, big cheques! Great! It was a crazy event. Nice people, good organisation, fast skateboarding, nice girls! Thank you so much Paolo! I´ll be back next year, definitely!

At the airport Guarulhos i take the bus to the city. But it´s the wrong one. The city is big, bigger than everything else i have seen before. Approximately 20 million people live in Sao Paulo. I got no clue where I am. A taxidriver helps me calling Thiago and brings me to the airport Congonhas. There i meet Thiago. He lives in a big house with swimmingpool. We order a pizza and watch Lords of Dogtown.

The next morning we´re driving to Rio de Janeiro with Jose. Thiagos parents have a nice appartement close to the Ipanema beach.

Another four boys from Sao Paulo arrive in the evening. On Wednesday the beach road is closed for traffic. It´s hot and sunny. There are a lot of guys with longboards, and a few girls too. We´re skating a huge bowl with roll-in.

I cook spaghetti with tomatosauce for dinner. Later we´re looking for another bowl at the Lagoa but we can´t find anything. On Thursday we´re chilling at the beach. Rio is hot!!! Wow!!! Then we´re going to the Lagoa again. We got it! It´s a nice small bowl with an extension on one side, not too deep.

Thiago and I skate and take some pictures. It´s dark now and we´re heading towards Corcovado. I´d like to see the Christo. But the last part of the road is closed and we´re going back home. The next day we´re driving to the Corcovado again. The last kilometer of this awesome concrete road was repaved for the famous 2001 Red Bull Down Rio. Corners, corners, corners! And it´s crazy steep. A race on this course would be awesome.

The Christo and the view from the top of the Corcovado is awesome. The city looks nice from up here. Then we skate down the whole road. Saturday, a rainy day, oh Saturday! We´re checking out the Vista Chinese. This is the road for the first IGSA World Cup in 2006. There are a few nice chicanes in the first part. Footbrake – 180° left hand turn – 80km/h straight – finish... The whole course is about 1.5km long and not too fast. In the evening we´re riding the Rio Sul bowl.

This kidney bowl is definitely one of the best bowls i have ever skated: roll-in, appr. 2m/3m deep, a little bit of vert, perfect trannies! What a bowl! Then we´re going for a brasilian barbeque in a churrascaria in Ipanema. I haven´t eaten that much meat for a long time. Cobra shows us the nightlife...

On Sunday the Vista Chinese is still wet. There´s too much mist. We´re skating another road. It´s narrow and you can´t see around the turn. I didn´t feel so confortable. I´m drifting through a right hand turn. Then my right foot slides off the board. Autsch! My ankle hurts! I can´t ride any further. Why did this have to happen? Why?

On Monday we´re driving back to Sao Paulo. After dinner Thiago´s sister Ana brings me to the hospital. I want to have an x-ray, just to be sure there´s nothing broken. It looks good, me ankle is only overstretched. Two or three weeks and my foot should be ok. I got a brace and the doctor told me what i have to do. Too bad! Now i´m gonna stay in Sao Paulo for one week and I can´t skate. No bowls and no Alphaville!