Vertical Rollerskating

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Message 14591 (22. May. 2013 11:54) (Tree)

Bernhard
bernhard@adinfinitum.de
Hitchhiking
Hi cephalopoid,

you are welcome to stay at my place. There only are no pools nearby, but we do have a vert ramp. And there is vert contest in Karlsruhe on June 8. Flyer can be found at Sk8Mag.de
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cephalopoid: Hitchhiking (22. May. 2013 11:06)
 Hello Bernhard,

I'm going hitchhiking in june in order to get to know myself better, but I intend to take my skates with me and tour the pools and ramps of Europe as well. If you don't mind me to be so bold to ask it just like this, could I sleep at your place for a couple of nights as well?
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Bernhard: Hitchhiking (22. May. 2013 11:54)
 Hi cephalopoid,

you are welcome to stay at my place. There only are no pools nearby, but we do have a vert ramp. And there is vert contest in Karlsruhe on June 8. Flyer can be found at Sk8Mag.de
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irene: Hitchhiking (25. May. 2013 20:00)
 Good luck on your journey. You'll be in great company with Bernhard!
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Bernhard: Hitchhiking (25. May. 2013 23:22)
 Hey Irene, nice to hear from you. How are things? Are you skating? I haven't been skating a ramp for quite some time now. The weather is ugly here.
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cephalopoid: Hitchhiking (26. May. 2013 18:16)
 :you are welcome to stay at my place. There only are no pools nearby, but we do have a vert ramp. And there is vert contest in Karlsruhe on June 8. Flyer can be found at Sk8Mag.de

Awesome, thanks! Riding vert for the first time would be a nice way to kick off my journey. I'm thinking about leaving the fourth or fifth of june, would it be okay with you if I stayed a couple of days until after the vert contest? Sounds like fun.
Perhaps I should send you an e-mail so we can figure out the details...

:Good luck on your journey. You'll be in great company with Bernhard!

Thanks!
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Bernhard: Hitchhiking (26. May. 2013 18:41)
 : Awesome, thanks! Riding vert for the first time would be a nice way to kick off my journey. I'm thinking about leaving the fourth or fifth of june, would it be okay with you if I stayed a couple of days until after the vert contest? Sounds like fun.

It's perfectly OK. O probably have to work during the day, but I might also be able to take off one or the other day. Then I could show you around a bit.
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joe90: Hitchhiking (29. May. 2013 11:35)
 Radness. Bulk photos and full written account is your mission, do you accept?

cheers joe
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cephalopoid: Hitchhiking (30. May. 2013 14:25)
 : It's perfectly OK. O probably have to work during the day, but I might also be able to take off one or the other day. Then I could show you around a bit.

That would be great! Can't wait to see your town through your eyes!

: Radness. Bulk photos and full written account is your mission, do you accept?

Bwhahaha. No. Sorry. I'm still hesitating a little about taking a camera with me, but I feel like having a camera can only be something standing between me and the environment. Besides, with 6kg of skates in my pack, taking up three quarters of the space in an already big backpack, it's enough of a puzzle figuring out what I take along and what not, as it is.
Written account would be fine, though. :D Whenever someone takes skating footage I'll be sure to ask for their e-mail address as well. It has happened four times to me now, that people asked for mine and didn't send the pics or vids in the end.
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cephalopoid: Hitchhiking (31. May. 2013 09:23)
 So, I went to buy a new backpack yesterday. The one my parents had was way too small. Still, I think I won't take a camera along. The fuss about keeping it charged up and keeping room on the sd card by hooking it up to the laptop frequently would just be too much of a hassle, to me. Sorry Joe. ;)
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cephalopoid: Hitchhiking (31. May. 2013 10:15)
 Aaaaaand I've found my first destination: http://youtu.be/CBjG-mXVUB8

:D
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cephalopoid: Hitchhiking (5. Jun. 2013 10:45)
 I just arrived in Luxemburg yesterday. While I didn't have a place to stay, sending out a couple of extra couchsurfing requests resulted into me staying at a man's place who's taking hospitability to the next level. Right now I'm starting my day at ease, still taking care of certain things, like looking up whether it's easy to hitch a ride to Schifflange, before I leave to visit the pool there.

Cheers!
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Bernhard: Hitchhiking (5. Jun. 2013 22:57)
 Hi Ceph,

did you manage to go to Schifflange? How is it?

I'm looking forward to meet you!


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cephalopoid: Hitchhiking (6. Jun. 2013 01:22)
 : Hi Ceph,
:
: did you manage to go to Schifflange? How is it?

Hi Bernhard,

Yup, I did. That pool was amazing! Nothing like the ones they build in Holland! Not that I've been in California in the seventies, but I imagine the Z-boys must've been riding pools like this one. The curb stuck out so far I didn't dare to drop in, and the tranny wasn't smooth at all. I often fell just trying to ride around, even as I was managing better and better. My right knee's a bit busted now, despite my kneepads. I was looking for new ones and found TSG Force III's in a shop in Luxembourg, but after thinking long and hard, and observing, I concluded they aren't what I'm looking for. Because of the way I fall and wear down kneepads, these with their handy buckle placement could potentially hurt me. And if it wasn't for that, the strap holding said buckle would wear down in no time. Not worth 85 euro's. Not with my PD pads being made as we speak. I hope I'll find some other vert kneepads down the road.

: I'm looking forward to meet you!

That feeling is entirely mutual! If I'm not mistaken, you would be the second vert rollerskater I meet in person, and the first who's actually active.
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cephalopoid: Hitchhiking (15. Jun. 2013 21:22)
 Hey guys,

Live from Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. Last tuesday in an attempt to find a place to stay in Konstanz I stumbled upon a painter who took me in. He's cool.

Yesterday I went on a bike ride to this pool: http://sk8mag.de/Spots/Konstanz_Wollmatingen_Pool/

It's done now, it's really deep and the wall seems verty, although the coping does stick out. I can't wait to ride it, but my knee's still busted. The swelling is gone, but it still hurts.

Staying at Bernhard's was a blast! It was nice to have him as my second host on my journey.

I caught a cold and today I haven't done much of anything, though. I don't feel like typing a lot, but if you have questions, burn away.
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Bernhard: Hitchhiking (15. Jun. 2013 21:56)
 Hi Cephalopod,

good to see that you made it to the Lake of Constance. If you are still there, you should absolutely meet Alex. He will be back in Kreuzlingen on Sunday and I'll text you his phone number.

: Staying at Bernhard's was a blast! It was nice to have him as my second host on my journey.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was nice meeting you and a bit sad that we did not get to skate. I hope you will be able to skate again soon.

How did the hike from Freiburg to Konstanz go? Did you find some new knee pads there?
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cephalopoid: Hitchhiking (17. Jun. 2013 20:23)
 : good to see that you made it to the Lake of Constance. If you are still there, you should absolutely meet Alex. He will be back in Kreuzlingen on Sunday and I'll text you his phone number.

Unfortunately, the text didn't arrive well. It says something along the lines of "wrong data format." Can you mail it to me instead?

: I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was nice meeting you and a bit sad that we did not get to skate. I hope you will be able to skate again soon.

Perhaps we could meet again some day, rendez-vous in Karlsruhe or something along those lines.
I wanted to go skate again, but the bike my host gave me had a flat tire, so that was a sign to me to give my knee another day of rest. I took care of it, though, and I plan to skate the Wolmattingen bowl tomorrow. Wish me luck!

: How did the hike from Freiburg to Konstanz go? Did you find some new knee pads there?

It went really well, someone recognized me as a hitchhiker and picked me up even before I stood at the spot to hold my sign up. He dropped me off at Falkensteig, where I got a ride to Meersburg. The guy told me the ferry to Konstanz there was cheap, and yeah, that 2,70 was worth it to ride across the lake.
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell about the pads. I went to frontline there and bought me a pair of pro-tec's. They were out of 187's, but the pro-tec's seemed like they would do the trick. I hope they will protect my knee well enough, tomorrow.
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cephalopoid: Hitchhiking (21. Jun. 2013 02:50)
 Log posts are due, but I first need to find time to write them in the first place.
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cephalopoid: Hitchhiking (23. Jun. 2013 22:04)
 Enjoy reading!

When it comes to the pools in Konstanz and St Gallen, they're both totally worth it. I should definetly do this again, but plan better, take at least three days for each pool. Anyway, here's the piece of log:

Thursday, 20th of june
Kreuzlingen - St Gallen

Saying goodbye to Kreuzlingen. Nine nights I've stayed at Leo and Joe's, giving my knee the rest it needed, sleeping in the same room as what they call a Leguan in german, going to a goa party on friday, skating in the Wollmatingen bowl on tuesday, being invited to a concert afterwards by Alex, a local rollerskater and sharing a piece of the life of my hosts. I had a great time there, and I would definetly like to return there one day.
All the couchsurf requests I've sent in St Gallen didn't get me a positive response, despite sending out a lot and sending them ahead this time. I decided to go anyway. This time I was better prepared than when I went to Konstanz. If I couldn't find a source of internet, there was one in a monastic library, according to hitchwiki. So I went. My plan B for finding shelter was better than the one I had in Konstanz. According to google maps, just a two kilometer hike south of the skatepark there was a piece of forest where I could set up my hammock. I was perfectly prepared. It didn't take long to hitch a ride from the roundabout in Kreuzlingen, and off I was, on a ride 60 km further into Switzerland. The ride's destination was the Kantonsspital. Switzerland is divided into 26 so-called cantons, as the country is a bit small to divide into parts you would call provinces or states. As I sat there, with my pack on my lap in a small car, carrying already three people, two women and a guy my age, the guy told me about his hiphop band and the clubs in St Gallen. They were nice people.
They parked at the hospital and gave me the directions to the bus stop. A short ticketless ride later (I didn't have any Swiss franks on me to feed the machine) I was in the city center. Disoriented, I walked to the train station to snag a map. My sense of orientation made me look to the direction south of the skatepark, which is located right behind the train station. There is something google maps didn't tell me about and I learned another lesson. If a town has a peculiar shape, it's for a reason. In Holland, you can't see what's ahead, behind houses. St Gallen is a city built in an alley, and I could stare right up that "mere" two kilometer hike. So far for plan B. The game you could call "look for internet" could begin.
According to the lady at the tourist information office, there was wifi everywhere in the city center. Not that it worked. After walking around pretty much aimlessly, trying to find a stronger signal, using the restroom at the Gemeindeverwaltung, the city council, and filling up my water bottles there, I decided to find the Stiftsbibliothek, the library. It was still open for a quarter of an hour, but I could still use their computer until five. I logged into couchsurfing and of the dozen of messages I've sent... just one more reply, a negative, a person writing me she was busy moving out of St Gallen, back to Denmark. Tough luck.

It was time to do something new. Asking people passing by in the city center whether they had a place to stay for a hitchhiker, in German you would say a "Tramper", from the Netherlands. And so I did. Once more the universe smiled at me, as the fifth person I asked told me to walk along. A dude with long, black hair and a guitar on his back. He thought long and hard, before he said that at his house would be too complicated and gave me a couple of phone numbers when we arrived at the train station. One for a christian WG and two of what he called an alternative WG. He told me to just call them and carried on going to where he was supposed to go. I called Marko. "Aha, und du brauchst jetzt halt ein Pennplatz?" He gave me the directions of how to go by bus and he told me to just ring the bell at the ugly house.
I didn't find a bell but the door was open and I was greeted by another door and a stairway. I rang up Marko to tell him I was in the hallway. He led me in as my pack bumped against the wind chime, welcoming me with its own song, a random pattern never to be repeated the same way again. Hippies and punks. Anarchy-symbols and anti-fascism stickers in the living room. I came home again.
Attempts to squat anything in St Gallen were always quickly dealt with by the system, so the would-be squatters scene here constitutes people living in and repairing cheap houses, forming WG's, Wohngemeinschaften, literally translated "living communities". If I wanted, I could make myself useful here, but there was no obligation. Marko showed me their basement, where one of his housemates was screwing planks onto a construction involving pads of foam. Sound isolation. They were busy transforming the basement into a political centre with room for bands to practice and for having small gigs.
The boy with the drill was getting hungry and the area I chose to make myself useful in that evening, it was already seven, was the kitchen. I could use anything they had lying around and they left me to cook for five people on my own. There was plenty of food, but it didn't seem quite coherent. Rice with red cabbage, carrots and chocolate. My experiment with chocolate was a success and they seemed to be glad to have me as a guest.

Marko gave me a bike and so I explored around a bit. He wouldn't go tonight himself anymore. I rode up a little hill and got a view of a part of the city, right down to the Bodensee. Someone seemed to have a little herd of black sheep in his backyard.
When I came back, Marko decided to go with a friend of his anyway and I was invited to tag along. I accepted and we got a little guided tour of St Gallen. Marko told that living here was his vacation. In Switzerland, he told me, you mostly get left to go about your business if you don't hurt anyone.
That a country is very conservative and right winged doesn't mean you can't feel at home being left winged, I started to understand. It's all about carving your little piece of existence in whatever environment you choose to live in.
Marko is forty years old and comes from Dresden. Living in the DDR has made him tough. Real chocolate was something you'd get once every six months and you were lucky to get two pieces. The packaging of the DDR chocolate often said "0% cocoa," being made from gross substitutes like pigs blood. The effects of the fall of the wall are still noticeable, as people are still bleeding out of the cities, leaving houses empty, ripe for the squatting fairy to come by with her magic wand. I could go on telling about Eastern Germany, but I'll see it all myself when I visit Dresden.
We went up a lift to Drei Weihern. A lift that used to be operated by two people, powered by the creek next to it, now electrical and automatic. Drei Weihern are three artificial lakes up the mountain. It was nighttime, but I could still see how beautiful it was. A bit further you could walk up stairs and get a real view of the city and see more of the Bodensee. It started to rain, though, so we headed back down. The lift was comparatively slow, as we rushed downhill in the middle of the night.
I put on my pajama and lay down on the bed that served as a couch in the daytime. Eyes closed. Good night.


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Bernhard: Hitchhiking (23. Jun. 2013 22:34)
 Hey Cephalopoid,

thanks for the update, it makes very interesting reading after having the opportunity to get to know ypu for a few days. I'm glad that you could meet Alex ans skate a bit with him. I always like a session with him and/or Sven when I'm in Konstanz or Kreuzlingen.

I went up the Kamdel once more, but the second time I went with the bicycle. It looked so much easier with the motobike and I definitely wasn't in shape for this ride, but I didn't give up. :-)


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cephalopoid: Hitchhiking (30. Jun. 2013 18:33)
 : I went up the Kamdel once more, but the second time I went with the bicycle. It looked so much easier with the motobike and I definitely wasn't in shape for this ride, but I didn't give up. :-)

That's great!
The rest of my trip went quite turbulently until now. I decided to head for Belgium to relax and visit the family in Liege, not needing to stress about finding a place to stay for a bit. I may visit the snakerun here. I wonder if there's a vert in the area, so I can finally ride one of those for the first time, if the weather allows it...
One thing I've learnt about couch surfing now, is that you need to plan and send messages at least one week ahead. And my trip was too random.
I did manage to get two sessions in St Gallen. The oldschool pool there was great! Luxembourg, Schifflange got me scared of those things now, but this one was a bit more friendly. The modern bowl was fun, transferring over the spines gave me confidence and letting my wheels screech on the wallride was fun.

An observation about scooters I've made, is that it's gotten real serious in the course of past couple of years. More and more kids started dropping in and I've seen a couple of scooterkiddies busting huge airs, both in Luxembourg and in St Gallen.

I've also been in Bregenz for one night and my host was as friendly to drive me to the bowl in Hard. That. Thing. Is. Huge.
But the weather sucked and I didn't find a place to stay for longer than one night. The whole adventure had made me tired so instead of picking the easy hitchhiking route to Munich and not being sure about finding a place to stay, I picked the hard hitchhiking route to Strasbourg, where I would stay at a friend of mine, a previous housemate.
I left Bregenz too late, around four o'clock. I got dropped off between Rhinau(some tiny village south of France) and Strasbourg. There was a bowling alley that was still open. If I would have been an hour earlier I could've easily gotten a ride, but the four people that were left were locals, not going far. I ended up sleeping with the sky as my ceiling for the first time, on a tree trunk along the road just four kilometers away from the outer edge of Stras and I already walked six. It was just too much to walk, especially after having come across a sign saying it was 21 km and not knowing where I was exactly.
Ironic, isn't it, considering I'd chosen the path of easy shelter.
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cephalopoid: Hitchhiking (11. Jul. 2013 13:18)
 I arrived back in Leiden last monday, safe and sound.
During my trip I've seen, not ridden in, the vert in Karlsruhe, the vert in Freiburg, the humongous bowl in Hard at the lake of Constance and the snakerun in Liege.
I've ridden in the pools of Schifflange, Constance, St. Gallen and Trixhes(Liege).
Amongst lots of other lessons, I've learnt that one day for one pool is far from enough and that in the Netherlands, we're spoilt when it comes to how smooth our concrete is and how well they set the copings.

August may be the time for another one of these trips.

Stay safe,
Thomas
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biffsk8er: Hitchhiking (14. Aug. 2013 09:30)
 Happy late birthday wishes Joe!!
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biffsk8er: Hitchhiking (14. Aug. 2013 09:35)
 Cool thread and great read.
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cephalopoid: Hitchhiking (14. Aug. 2013 23:58)
 Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!
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