Road Buzz DVD - The Review

We've seen Saft and Boneless (and more recently, their daughter!) at pretty much every European and UK race and freeride we've ever been to. And, without fail, one of them has a video camera and clapper board in hand! Finally, after countless road trips, road rashes and other madness, the fruits of their labours are here, burned onto a small plastic disc, for us all to enjoy.

Never heard of Sami? Watch this...

Filmed from 2005 to 2008, the film is based around interviews with some of the pioneers of downhill racing and freeriding from all over the world. Stephane Baroz, NoComp, Tom Worsely, Sami Cantieni, Thomas Edstrand, Pete Connolly and Roli Hafner are just some of the people who make this DVD such a good watch. Many of these guys have been skating and luging downhill for longer than some skaters today have been alive. The interviews are heartfelt and often very humbling, those who think downhill skateboarding and luge are new sports need to watch this and take note! One thing which has always set our crazy world apart from other "sports" is the sense of community and humility, and Saft and Boneless capture both of these things with ease and eloquence.

Betina in front of the clappers

Legendary events such as Chamrousse, Pipay, Bude and Chill on a Swiss Hill make the skating sections of this worth watching for the hills alone! It is amazing to see how much skating has progressed in five short years. In some ways this video is like a rad time capsule, it captures downhill at a moment when it is free from restraints placed on it by big sponsors, TV coverage and hidden agendas, and it shows a group of people who are organising their events and scene and travelling all over the world, simply because they love bombing hills with their friends. It shows the true DIY, fun and soulful essence of downhill skateboarding and gravity sports.

UK racing at Dalby Forest

I always try to judge a Skate Video on whether it makes me want to go skateboarding afterwards. This one did, we went and bombed some sweet dusky runs in Redland as soon as the credits came up. Whether you're new to all this leather and speed malarky or you've been going to Europe for a decade, you really need to do yourself a favour and get a copy of this!

Here's the trailer:


ROAD BUZZ trailer 1 from saftand boneless on Vimeo.


Copies should be available from skate shops soon!

More info can be found at:

http://www.roadbuzz.saftandboneless.co.uk
Myspace
Facebook

Huge thanks to Saft and Boneless for making this inspiring DVD and sending us a copy for review... see you on a hill soon!

Jules, shredding again!

Went for a skate on the Shiner Hill last night (thanks Darren!), and had a good one with Jules. He's been off his board for most of this year following a serious illness, and it was super good to see him back on his Spooky and loving it! Good to have you back amigo!


D300R_2010_06_23-222230, originally uploaded by Lushlongboards.

More cone dodging and wheel destruction on the Lush Flickr Account.

St Aubin Epinay Fancy Dress and Video 2010

The first trip to France for the year went off! Here's a faster run filmed on the Go Pro by Chris Vanstone, with Mikey River and Clement Gayraud ripping...


St Aubin Epinay 2010 from mike river on Vimeo.

We also had a fancy dress comp, and gave away a load of stuff to the best costumes. Rider En Bray Camille won with a crazy afro-shaving-foam-wig-toga-combo. I think we'll let the pictures speak for themselves... Children avert your eyes!

We're going to France for the weekend

We had so much fun at St Aubin Epinay, courtesy of the Riders En Bray, that we're going again this year. Here's a GoPro video filmed by Mike and Rich from the 2009 event.


Riders Enbray-St Aubin Epinay Freeride 2009 from mike river on Vimeo.


See you there - if you can't make it we'll be back with a big pile of video footage and photos next week... watch this space!

Stop press - Unconfirmed rumours suggest that UK Downhill Legend and Lush rider Pete Connolly is stopping by on his way back from a pre-season mission to Switzerland...

Not just for hills...

Bob from Alpha Longboards in France sent us these pictures of his mate Hugo Madignier blasting the Annecy Bowls on a drop through Kilima pintail... not just for hills!

Photos by Eric Manzi.

British Open Slalom Championships, Hog Hill London 2010

Here's one for all you cone dodgers - the UKSSA have put together then British Open Slalom Champs, 6th-8th August.

Click Here For More Info. This is the biggest UK slalom event of the year, so whether your a seasoned cone ripper or just feel like giving it a go, Sign Up and be there! There's also a thread on our forums that you might want to check out for more info, Click Here for that.

Lush Longboards in the USA

Our good friends at Longboardskater.com just took delivery of some Kilimas and Sambas - finally giving us a retailer in the USA!!

They have Kilima Archers, and also a special shipment of the new Samba. This latest version of the Samba is stiffer and more aggressive than previous versions, and it features the same sharp top rails found on the Spooky and Kilima. More concave locks you in and the low ride height makes sliding easy... this thing will help you destroy soft wheels like nothing else!

Longboardskater have even put together a special "Mike River Special Edition" of the Samba, with the same truck set up as Mike runs himself - dewedged Indy 215's - for the ultimate low ride/easy slide combo.

Sideways - check. Locked in - check. Stylish - check. Mike River, Samba special!

All Ireland Skate 2010

We were contacted by Al Collins a couple of weeks ago - he's skating the length of Ireland, starting 10th July. He's doing it to raise money for a charity that works to help sufferers of muscular distrophy, Muscular Distrophy Ireland. We thought that he deserved a Kilima for his efforts, so we sent him one and he'll be making the trip on that, rolling on Cult Wheels and Sabre trucks also. Good luck Al!

Al Collins All Ireland Skate Mission- extended version from Philip Evans on Vimeo.

Follow Al's progess at skatinmizenmalin.blogspot.com/

Sergio and Fernando coming to the UK!

Matt at LongboardSource just sent us this - Will, Piet and Mark from Falmouth have clubbed together with their own money to get Slide Legend Segio Yuppie and his son Fernando over to the UK for a week! Definitely pretty awesome and definitely worth trying to get to if you like sliding and longboarding in general. Sergio's last visit to the UK made an impact that was felt for years afterwards, and this visit is sure to be no different.

See you there! Massive props for all the Falmouth guys for digging deep to get this to happen - legends.

Hog Hill Report

Words - Gav Mckenzie, photos James Rumble.

Hog Hill last weekend turned out to be an absolute blinder of an event!

With something for vitually everyone, the centre was packed with skaters. The head count over the two days looked to be well over ninety longboarders, all having fun on a selection of different hills.

Events over the weekend were: Downhill racing, Freeride, Slalom (Tight and Giant), Buttboard racing, The Mini Decks Challenge, Under 16's Downhill, Ladies Downhill and an All Girl's Workshop!

The Mini Boards Challenge had to be the highlight of the weekend, with ridiculous old school tucks and loads of slams just off the starting line being the order of the day.

In the downhill, Liam Fourie worringly won wearing an Aero Helmet and a full lycra bodysuit whilst riding a slalom deck. Is this skateboarding getting too serious?

Over on the slalom hill there was a good amount of lycra flying about as well, scary times and scary bulges.

Highlights of the weekend: sketchy overtaking, crashes into wooden pillars, broken collarbones, massive campfires, find an open off-license, man surprise, Dangerous Decks Board Game, Elephantitus foot, naked calendar shoots, fast slalom girls, crashing, skating, grinning, racing, awesome!

Look out for the next one early August.

More photos on James' Flickr account.

If you went to an event that we didn't make it to, have a cool video or some photos that you think are blog worthy- send it to us!