Friends – tamara prader

Juni 6, 2015Oktober 11, 2015

Chixxs get together – Longboarding

For the third year now, it is a pleasure to work with Tanja at Chixxs on Board.
The first „Chixxs get together“ beginner clinic this year we held in a local 20km/h spot, perfect for the first meters on a longboard.
The second edition is about to come up & I can’t wait to see the girls who are signed up for the intermediate clinic in September. Sign up here. That one will be happening in Luzern where Number One Skate Shop hosts the group.

My favorite quote for edition #1 of the girl who just came for the stoke of skating in a ladies group: „I’ll just try all the stuff switch now!“ she made me wanna hug her!

März 24, 2015Oktober 11, 2015

KORUA Shapes – Snowboard

At the moment, I really enjoy to have creative friends taking off in different directions. They are writing, experimenting with electronic music… and they shape snowboards!! KORUA Shapes

In snowboarding, I think I missed the point where I would have been fearless enough to become really good. It was always fascinating for me to jump kickers and experiment in the half pipe… but to be honest, it just never was quite good enough! Carving, going fast and cutting lines into fresh pow on the other hand was always my thing!
Eventually I got bored by the standardized, soft-ish, rocker/cambers that were available and I cut down on snow time simply because I was bored.
…just until Nicholas Wolken put an Apollo56 under my feet.

The huge nose and tiny tale make it a playful, squirrely companion. Fast turns and tight carving on slopes are super fun and if you take Apollo56 for a swim in some powpow, you’ll be the first one to run up the hill again to get a another line!
A huge THANK YOU! to KORUA Shapes for hooking me up with my new favorite toy!

Mai 4, 2014Oktober 11, 2015

Philippines, VLT 2014

End of March, Pat and I took off to be a part of the 5th Visayan Longboarding Trilogy. Three events in three different locations. A freeride, the Super Mango Skate Clinic hosted by Pat & myself with the help of countless hands & an IDF World Qualifying race at the end.
Patrick and I finally managed to double win an IDF race!
The Philippines were a whole new adventure! Traveling, the food, the people, the nature… literally everything was a new and exciting!
Morning wake up ritual: grab a mango & sit in the ocean to eat it! One gets used to that way to quickly!
Check out the rest of the photos and the full write up on the Loaded site!

Mango mornings!

Finally we won a race together! Photo by Colin Beck

Siquijor Island

Juni 16, 2013Oktober 11, 2015

Chixxs Get Together

Oh, oh, it’s been way too exciting this year! … I never even got to update this here. Sometimes, focussing on living makes more sense than letting the world know what you do 😉
More to come about an awesome trip to Japan & cowboys on the West Coast.

I’ll get ready for the first Chixxs Get Together in Zürich now! A longboard workshop on our city spot, initiated by Tanja at Chixxs On Board, a platform for ladies in board sports based in Zürich.

Embrace the sun!

Oktober 26, 2012Oktober 11, 2015

secret smile on slanted.de

Finding relics of my summer activities. As earlier mentioned, the smile at your sister ladies invited me to be part of the second edition of secret smile, a nicely mixed goodie bag full of surprises. Contributions of artists, graphic designers, singer/ songwriters and authors arranged by Daniela Bily und Kathrin Knapp. My special surprise was the little, colorful a stick on monster tattoo!
Happy, I could contribute a few lines and hope to be part of the next edition od secret smile.

Juli 3, 2012Oktober 11, 2015

Mary- f*ing- hill

Maryhill! How long was I waiting to skate this hill! …and it turns out, I’ll wait a little longer.
I tried to take a run on the first day of the 5 day event, following Patricks lines down, slower than I ever skated. I figured I wouldn’t be able to go for it with my cast on and decided to sell my ticket.

But it was a five day event… I had to keep myself busy somehow?!
So I started a little „Inlaw“ race during the freerides after the first round of qualifying.
5$ entry fee, the winner takes all!
…and my list of riders was GOLDEN!

James, Budro, Dalua, Switzer… hell yeah.
My afternoon flew by!
There were some unexpected early drop outs and some rather going for a swim not even show ups. But other than that, it seemed to be quite a success. The riders were happy with some race practice and in the finals I had Dustin Hampton, Jose Guzman, Dalua and James Kelly.

The winner who took the 100$ had as well just broken the track- record:
DALUA!

Thanks for participating guys!

Juni 25, 2012Oktober 11, 2015

Kelowna DH

Next weekend, next race. Time for the Kelowna DH!
The nice windy and wide, open road is in a residential area, overlooking two valleys. And again, we found the most scenic spot to park our RV. At the top of the hill, 50 meters from the start- line.

Unfortunately, this race again started rainy and therefore slow. Racers weren’t too eager to roll down a wet track and the organizer’s idea was to get as many runs as possible with skipping qualifying. Since the heats were set, there was not too much pressure on the first day.
This race- course was a decent bit longer than the races before. Runs take a bit more time, shuttles too. Things moved quite slow again on Sunday and unfortunately, half way through the first round of racing, one of the residents decided to be a dangerous and douche- baggy and had to be taken away from the police. This 2 hours intermezzo was very unfortunate but after that, riders were ready to kick ass! A fast track with heavy winds and more than one corner made it more interesting to find spots to take pictures at and watch people skate! The results for the Kelowna DH:

1. Kevin Reimer
2. Andrew Chapmen
3. Dillon Stephens
4. Patrick Switzer

Women:
1. Elena Corrigall
2. Marisa Nunez
3. Amy Brendon

I am very done with not being able to skate!
Stay safe and go play!

Juni 13, 2012Oktober 11, 2015

about the joy of passing on things

When I had picked up my new NJK leathers, there was no more room in my suitcase for my old motorcycle suit. I left it at Loaded & Otang with the quote to pass it on to someone who has use for it!
Only two weeks later it had found a new owner in Toronto!
Thanky you Darren for finding Timothy, a talented Toronto grom! I hope to skate with you some time soon, Tim. Grind the suit down to it’s inner liner.

Photo by Heidi, Tim’s mom

Juni 13, 2012Oktober 11, 2015

on the way to Vernon DH 8

Before taking off to Vernon, we made a pit stop at Kevin Reimer’s house. After watching the hummingbirds and observing the squirrel- crazyness, Kevin took me on a tour with his Blue Bird!
Happy to leave the different scales of grey behind us, we took off to the wine country. Home of Mischo Erban and more sunshine: Vernon!

All Photos by Tamara Prader

Juni 13, 2012Oktober 11, 2015

Vernon DH 8 & Summerland

The Vernon DH 8 race, in the driest area of BC started with a very rainy and gray day of practice. The sunday was as sunny as a summerday could be and I got the chance to work on my cast tan again!
Since the event was an IGSA race, things rolled a litle bit slower. Scott Peer and Justen Ortiz battled for an inline title, there was a decent crowd of classic luger and street luger and the ladies had a good crew on the startline too.
I was hoping for Kevin, James, Dillon and Patrick in the finals. Things didn’t work out well for James, he dislocated his shoulder and couldn’t finish the race. One of the local groms made it to the open finals together with Kevin, Zen and Pat.

After the race, we took off to Summerland to ride the Giant! …the closest thing to Swiss freeriding. I cried a little bit, not being able to skate. Being broken isn’t fun.
… but I keep myself busy doing the things that I like but usually don’t find the time to do.

The Ladies podium: Marisa 1st, Elena 2nd, Anna 3rd

Open: Kevin 1st, Zen 2nd, Brendan 3rd, Patrick 4th