Red Stripe. Adidas get worked over by Poland.
March 05, 2008 @ 12:38 PM
Tim O’ Connor, ollie shifty
By Bryce Kanights
Without a doubt, travelling to far off lands and cities to seek out and skate new terrain is one of the better rewards of sponsored and professional skating. And while it’s not all as glorious as it seems, the disparate culture experiences that you bring home with you, good or bad, are ones that you can reflect upon years later. Battered shins and bruised heels aside, memories of good skate trips with your skate pals are forever.
Several years ago, some friends of mine had travelled out to Warsaw, Poland as part of a skate tour and mentioned some of the great marble spots they encountered. Published photos from their inaugural visit became the eye candy for others to follow. Through them I was put in touch with a skater by the name of Kuba (Prezyna- Ed). It was mentioned that he was the primary link to the best skatespots in and around the Warsaw area, so without much hesitation I was able to reach him via email. Over a couple of weeks he and I communicated through a thread of messages backed by a dozen or so attached images of various skate spots that he’d offered up. Several of the locations looked appealing while others appeared questionable and seemed more suited for warm up spots. But Kuba assured me that there were others, although he didn’t have any additional photos of them. We lined up an itinerary for a visit and made a plan to get out to Warsaw in June.
Raull Navarro, backside ollie fakie 5-0, front shove it.
Our journey out to Poland began from the streets where we shook off the jet lag and skated around Berlin for two days entertained with a huge assortment of spots to choose from. The crew consisted of a mixed group of Adidas’ riders from both the US and Europe teams. Split up into two vans packed with skateboards and gear were Dennis Busenitz, Tim O’Connor, Taylor Bingaman, Vince del Vallle, Gunes Ozdogan, Lem Villemin, and Jascha Muller, with lensmen Patrik Walner, Joe Hammeke and myself.
The next morning we hit the long road towards Warsaw. Upon crossing the border into Poland, Lem was denied access due to problems with his passport and we had no alternative but to retreat back across the Oder river to Germany where we had to put him on a long train ride home to Stuttgart. It was a bummer to see him go, but Lem had been nursing a very sore ankle and was skating at half of his ability. There would be more upcoming tours for the Thai -German wonder kid for sure. With the first strike against us, we mentally braced ourselves for the next hurdle to arise as Lem’s train left the station.
Vince De Valle, ollie to fakie
It must be mentioned that if you if you ever decide to drive into Poland, the best words of advice are “don’t bother.” The shoulderless two lane highways are sketchy, peppered with potholes and plagued with crazed drivers that will barge on your lane without a signal. Add to this unnerving situation with the random pairing of prostitutes standing along the highway in the woods and you’ve got plenty of distractions for those gripping their steering wheels.
We arrived in Warsaw under wet skies, but the forecast was in our favour. The remainder of our visit brought sunshine and humidity to the grey landscape of the large capital city. We met up with Kuba and he guided us around to a handful of the spots that he’d described to us in his broken English. The majority of them were blessed with smooth marble, but either they were a bust, or only available to skate during the evenings. When we’d ask him about the photo provided of a particular long black marble hubba ledge he replied, “Oh that’s in Lithuania.” Great, our previously mentioned hit list of Polish skate pots was now crossing borders. For the next three days we travelled along Warsaw’s congested and traffic choked streets to seek out the next spot and the next and the next. It felt much like the anguished process of skating in Los Angeles. Deception is an evil thing. Several of the spots we encountered were already blown out by other visiting skaters, locked down by security guards, or not worthy of the time and film or digital capture.
Dennis Busenitz, 360 flip
Despite this unfortunate situation we managed to skate enough spots to make our visit worthwhile. If you’re looking for the next Barcelona of skate spots, believe me Warsaw isn’t it. The region is better known for its production of coal, potatoes, beautiful women and ugly men. And you can believe that.
Gunes Ozdogan, pop shove it
