Indy trips are meant to be an exploration—a search for spots and places that are slightly off the beaten path. They're van rides of high camaraderie and lo-brow jokes. Deep discussions about proper style, who was the first to do what, who does what the right way, and who just plain sucks are always the subjects at hand. They're trips that showcase the young bucks, mix in the tried-and-true, and grace the lucky few that find us in the presence of legends. We represent the core. You're on an Indy trip ’cause you want to be, not ’cause it's your job and you're worried about your paycheck. Find it, skate it, and leave nothing behind but destruction.

We went to Europe to skate and celebrate Indy's 30th anniversary, not to do demos. Jeff Grosso, Steve Olson, Alex Olson, Darren Navarrette, Peter Hewitt, Chris Haslam, and Stu Graham signed on for rippage—they got autograph signage. England, France, Germany, Austria, and Spain was our route. Here's a quick synopses of our happenings…

London: Cold, wet, dreary, dull, right? London was actually sunny and warm! We skated Harrow for a day and a half, and for good reason. An icon of a spot, Harrow is being torn down and word is they're going to build a new park right next to it. Ally Barr, O.G. ripper and our tour coordinator—along with Jerome—navigated our van through the outskirts of London, Birmingham, and Wales. We were hoping to just get lost and happen upon some spots, but we had a demo almost every day. Thank god for Haslam and Stu, who laid it down at every park and put on a good show. Sound exciting? Not really, but with all the driving, Steve kept us amused with Melanie Griffith stories and about how skating really went down in the '70s and '80s.

Next we were off to France, and when you think of France, you think of Paris. Did we go to Paris? Yeah. We saw the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and that's it. Our two tour guys (sorry, I forgot their names) were actually pretty cool, but demo after demo didn't give us much time to relax. I got slaughtered one night (watch the video) on some really good wine, the boys judged a Best Trick contest at the local park, Grosso got sick, Navs got sick, and Alex bought a beret. Boring. By the time we got to Stuttgart, Germany, the weather turned bad and morale waned. Thomas picked us up at the train station and we all dropped like rocks. From there we headed to Austria, where another Thomas picked us up and took us to an indoor ramp structure that was the most fun we'd had yet. The locals were killing it with sick, fast lines from the bowl to the mini. A little over-vert corner, a spine, tranny up to straight vert, Hewitt did an eggplant, Stu went ultrasonic, and even Steve Olson slashed into grinds at speed. The place was so much fun after a week of driving and demos, and there was only one thing that could finish off the day with a bang: Wiener Schnitzel!

The next day we drove three hours to a signing, 45 minutes to a demo at a skatepark in the rain, and then to a park where they dried up the bowl for a 10 minute session. Then another two hours to a bowl where it was sprinkling, and some dude pulled out a blowtorch to try and fry the trannies. Wow.

By the time we got to Algorta, Spain, we only had two days left. Aster met us at the airport and told us that we had no demos! The weather was a perfect 80, and all they wanted us to do was hang out and skate if we wanted. Spain is heaven on Earth. Beautiful girls, awesome food, rad skateparks, super cool people, and perfect beaches.

Alain Goikoetxea took us all around to a bunch of parks and a few street spots that everyone was psyched on. We'd skate Algorta park in the morning, get warmed up, hit a few other spots during the day, and end up back at Algorta before the sun went down.

 

Thanks to everyone who got us out there and showed us around. It really wasn't as bad as I'm making it sound, we did have tons of fun; but next time, remember: Indy doesn't do demos.

 

 

Exclusive Indy Europe video

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