LATVIAN SKATE NETWORK
Ventspils is a sick place for an annual skate trip. It is the only place where you can skate a vert ramp and a huge skatepark with a kink rail. If that is not enough, you can always have a low impact session at Latvija’s second best flatground plaza next to Ventspils concert hall. If you are lucky you can bump into Madars Apse or even Aivars Lembergs. And, after an intense session you can restore your energy levels at Diana Pancakes and Pelmeni joint.
Early June, Straight Forward skateboards premiered their third full length video “Viss Taisni” and announced that Linards Viksniņš is a professional skateboarder. Watch full recap from the event below and come to the public premiere of “Viss Taisni” in Liepaja.
This was completely random and unexpected. I was planning a mini RajonTV trip to Liepaja to celebrate my birthday, and somehow ended up on a Tikari trip to Cesis celebrating Miks Grantiņš birthday. This just shows how good of a trip organizer I am.
Unlike my trip, this one was organized pretty good. So good that all I had to worry about was pressing record at the right time on my old Sony camera. Roberts Krums was also there to watch my back and take over the cam when I was feeling jazzy. Nauris Dollins shot the photos. Arvids Zvaigzne drove the car. Armands Izinkevičs made sure we were fed. Tikari chef, Arturs Grinbergs provided killer accommodations, and the Tikari skate team: Kristofers Ozols, Linards Viksniņš, Arturs Nesaule, Miks Grantiņš, and the new comers Edijs Plume and Artis Strazdiņš provided the shredding.
We skated Cesis skatepark, the main training facility of the local Barspin devision, and then hit the streets. Some may think that Cesis has no street spots, but for Latvian dimensions it has a lot. If a city has two handrail spots and one decent stair set, that city is worth making a weekend trip to. Cesis has more than that. Don’t forget about the hills.
After hitting some spots we got to this twelve stair rail. It looked massive and no one thought that it was possible. Nauris and Rob left to the shop to get some grub, thinking that everyone was going to chill. All of a sudden, Artis and Linards started messing around with the rail. Linards jumped on the rail and Artis followed. Even behind the glasses Linards’ eyes were on fire. He grinded the whole thing, stomped it but didn’t roll away. The vibe was intense. It was a now-or-never moment. Where the fuck is Nauris? We need to get a photo of this! Miks, who only shot iPhone pics before, grabbed Nauris’ photo camera and started to point and shoot. Good thing Miks shot the tricks because boys were quick. Three tries later Artis was riding away from his trick and Linards did his right after. What a sick moment. Back to Back for the books. Nauris and Rob turned up just as we stopped cheering. They said they heard us yelling from shop.
We spent the evening celebrating mine and Granjas Birthdays over at Artus’ palace. Sauna, grill from Izi KCHN, and a good swim in the pond. Superb relax. Latvian Style.
The next day was rainy and we didn’t expect much to happen. We went to check some hills at the local biathlon track that has some hills. Fun fact is that Artis Strazdiņš trained at biathlon for 5 years before. Maybe that’s why he’s so good. The biathlon mega hill was taken by Kristofers who told later that it was his first ever legit hill bomb. No photos from this session, but you’ll see it in the vid.
And for our ender-ender we hit the classic wooden steps in the historical center of Cesis. Artis sealed the deal with a sick bs flip. Probably the calmest battle I have ever seen.
Shout out to TIKARI team for the trip and for good times. Enjoy the video from the trip below. The video is a joint Rob and Gaba production. We haven’t tried editing together before, so it is a new experience for both of us. Well, since we are still friends after making this video together, maybe you’ll see more stuff from our duo in the future. In the meantime, have a good watch and keep it skating.
We continue our seven mega pixels reportage of important moments in Latvian skateboarding. COVID 19 taught us to value our time and not take things for granted. That is why we tried not to waste time in June 2021.
The central event of June was the VISS TAISNI premiere and Linards Viksniņš surprise pro party. The party was so good that we can’t show you any photos for it. The cover photo can serve as a tiny glimpse into how it all went down. All you need to know is that Linards is pro for Straight Forward skateboards and VISS TAISNI public premiere is coming soon.
Get the boards! DM @straightforwardskateboards
We spent one weekend with Tikari skateshop crew in Cēsis. The Cēsu Brigade boys Artis and Edijs showed us some spots and good shredding. You already know how good they are, but wait until you see RajonTV x Tiakari skateshop video from Cēsis. You might have a new favorite skater.
The full Tikari team: Rob, MIks, Nauris, Izi Kitchen Armands, Edijs, Krisotfers, Linards, Artis, Arvids and Arturs in Cēsis.
Imanta’s skatepark has the best bowl in town and Maksims is going wild there. We are currently filming a video with him, so watch out for a Maksims Bowl edit.
You have probably seen the video from Go Skate Day by now so you know how it all went down. Here are a couple no comment photos from that day.
The summer 2021 main hang out spot is Maxlas. You can always run into someone there.
And that’s all. See you in the streets.
I don’t know what happens with the human body at moments of intense excitement, but some sort of super powers turn on. Otherwise it is not clear how can a person skate all day during a record heatwave, without rest or food and on Monday. But this was exactly what 80+ people did on the 21st of June, our beloved holiday: The Go Skateboarding day.
Like last year, the event was curated by Riga DIY, which meant new DIY spots in the city and unexpected plot twists.
(All photos by NAURIS DOLLINS. The VIDEO is in the end of the post. Enjoy)
We started the day around 15:00 at Hanzas perons with the four stairs being the main attraction. The lack of shade made this spot the hottest of the day. No bust was a great surprise as well. The spot is across the street from the police station, but no one there seemed to notice an 80+ crowd of noisy skate kids.
After Hanzas the crowd went to the newly built ledges (S/o Riga DIY) in this small nameless park next to Labietis and Piens club. The ledges are now called Piena Ledges because of Piens, the club no one ever goes to. But it’s a cool name.
Just look at how gorgeous this tall ledge is. Riga DIY has a good eye for this urban design thing everyone talks about these days. The spot was great. We had a best line contest there as well. Not sure who got it though, but our lovely supporters: Clockwise, Boards.lv, Tikari and Vans were really generous with prizes for good skating.
After Piens, we hit another new DIY spot, more precisely an updated old DIY: the Miera street ledge aka Kalvan’s BOX. With a few twists from Riga DIY, the ledge got an step up extension and a bank—a really good bank to acid drop to.
Around the corner Armands was hustling some fresh Straight Forward decks from the trunk of his Cigars.
For the ender spot we hit the BMXers DIY. Not sure if are allowed to hang there, but I guess after skaters have granted this car jump ramp thing to the spot, which you might recognize from before, we must be in good terms.
After every Go Skate Day it seems that it can’t get any better, but somehow it keeps getting better and better. Huge thank you to all parties involved, to all the skaters and to the culture of skateboarding. See you in the streets! Enjoy the video and keep it skating.
Reminisce:
First time I saw Niklavs was in the OG Imanta skatepark. I remember him doing 360 shoves all the time. That didn’t bother me so much, as I was into 360 shoves as well back then. What did bother me was that he was doing them better than me, but even more than that—his colored wheels. Every wheel of a different color. Oh my god. There’s nothing worse than that.
I have no clue how I overcame my grumpiness, but we became friends later. We have shared a lot of good times since that first encounter. We worked together on some projects, and I am sure we’ll do more stuff.
Apart from having a Birthday yesterday, Niklavs also has a couple of unused clips. Some of those clips date as far as summer 2016 when we were filming for intense days episode 1. We had a plan to make a super part, but Niklavs grew up too fast and all of his youngster clips became old as well. Now watching this mash up part, try to find out where’s the older and where’s the newer clips. Or just enjoy simple skating of Latvia’s finest.
Happy Birthday Niklavs! Keep it skating and don’t stop until you ollie everything in Riga.
Summer’s outside, the birds are signing, the asphalt is warm, the spots are plenty and Linards is Pro. What else do you need? Definitely not a Top 10, but here it is regardless.
May was too good of a month not to cover. Starting from the intro and till the end, every clip is gold. We got some new Eesti blood in this one and some clips from local Barcelona video “Like A Horse” which was made by a Latvian mate, Klavs Laivenieks. Also, a glimps and Rome and PLA Hood.
Enjoy the top and see you soon in the streets.
I am not the best photographer nor am I ever planning to become one, but shooting photos is a fun activity I cannot resist. My favorite genre of photography is “the staged group photo.” You know how photographers try to “catch the moment” etc. Well, I do the opposite. I ask people to gather in tight groups (which is kind of walking on thin ice nowadays), smile for the camera and DING! A masterpiece is created. Of course my OG 7 MEGA PIXELS camera adds excitement to this process. People love it. It takes them back to good ol’ draugiem.lv and one.lv days: the simpler times.
So, here’s some 2005 action from May 2021.
We got a clip and a line on the Kalvan’s Box on Miera street. A great reason for a group photo. Whenever you get a clip it is mandatory to take a group photo with the spot.
Another reason to shoot group photos is when a bunch of #latvianskateboarding legends are together at one location + there’s a beautiful sun set in the background. It’s a done deal. This one is from MadArcade rooftop tournament.
Run into Kaspars Gobiņš and Emils Šenbergs at Lermantova parks. They were filming a video. In other words, Kaspars was fighting for his life with the spot. Stay tuned. Kaspars is going to drop a banging part someday.
Trying to film as much as possible too. Have this idea to make a little MAXLAS edit. Hope to finish it sometime during summer.
Again a group photo with the spot. You can tell by the faces: we got something.
A gif to spice things up a bit. Rudolfs Henčels a serious paparazzi.
Ran into the mysterious Ronalds Mazitis at LNB. We had a little session and filmed some tricks for the SkateTUBE. Of course in 4K.
Arts of Clockwise skate shop is behind the counter doing business as usual.
Clockwise is going through a renovation right now and the handiest guy in town is involved. The shop’s going to be crisp.
These fellas are doing god’s work as well. Marcis donated his OG box to a good cause.
World cup hockey championship is held on home turf, so all the boys turned into hockey fans. LAT-VI-JAAAA
Met up with my mate, a big time director Andžej Gavrišs who started his career in video with filming skateboarding. He still got it on the VX.
Tikari skateshop has opened its doors. Congrats to Arturs and Arvids. The board wall looks tight.
Fricis and Miks setting up the board of their homie. Real skateboarding friendship.
GreenWoodSk8 gang (Armands, Bika and Robs) with their devoted fans. We were spending some time at VEF which looks like is going to remain after all.
The last group photo to seal the deal. This one is to celebrate a successful filming session. You can see the grass gap on the left side. That’s the spot.
A few weeks back the pearls of #latvianskateboarding gathered on a roof for Madars Apse’s skate arcade finals. The event seemed huge. First, there were dudes with cranes filming it so that homies could watch everything live at home. Might be an NBD in Latvia. Second, there was a big screen installed in the middle of the course where they’d broadcast instant replays in slow motion as well as judge’s scores. All street league nerds shat fire emojis when they saw that. Third, the location was top notch and a gorgeous sun set added extra romance to the event.
On the flip side, it is worth mentioning that the second host that was backing Madars on the mic wasn’t too much educated in all things skateboarding. Witnesses reported that they had to turn the volume down and continue watching in silence, as the commenting was intolerable. This just proves once again that not every person wearing Vans can host a skateboarding event.
Big thank you and shout out to Madars Apse for once again making something memorable for our community. The whole experience of MadArcade with all the filming clips and stuff was really enjoyable and funny. Hope we will have something like this again.
We had a 7 Mega Pixels report on insta already and here’s a little VX edit too mainly from the second half of the event. Rudik CHAMP!
Keep it real!
We asked our mates to talk about their favorite shoes from past and present. Surprisingly, a lot of people didn’t have much to say about shoes. That probably shows that Baltic skaters in general are not very opinionated when it comes to shoes. Most are happy to skate in anything they get. Doesn’t mean of course that having preferences is a bad or something. But also shows that our overall mentality is not as much gear centered over here. Well, at least yet.
The guys we got here have some opinions and/or good stories about shoes they skated. We got four reviews in English with two bonus ones in Latvian. The Latvian texts were so good, we decided to leave them as they are without translation.
So without further a do, dive into the Baltic skate shoes discussion.
I only started to pay attention to the details of skate shoes, trucks, boards etc. a few years ago. Before that I just thought I can’t skate anymore when I had weird feeling gear. Turned out there’s products that suit me better than others.
Nike SB Blazer Mid XT
I had them in cream with white sole. The last pair of shoes I bought in Australia. They have a really good choice of skate stuff over there. You can always get what you want. The first pair of shoes I knew I had to get again, and luckily SurfHouse had them when I got back to Estonia. I like light colored shoes, and these felt really good. Mid shoes are also good because you can get them evenly tight around your foot. Also the board feel was good and the flex was ok. Nightmare to put on though.
Adidas Boost ADV
My first “high “tech skate shoe. I had them in my closet for a year I think because they were of kinda weird light blue color. But once I tried them on again after a while they instantly felt perfect. There was an inner sock, they were easy to put on and supported your foot really well all around. Also I had really good flex in every direction and the boardfeel was epic. I never felt this with any other shoe. Shame I only ever had that one pair. I think they made these shoes for one year only. I am probably wrong.
My first skate shoe
Some kind of Oakley shoe from a bike shop. I don’t think they were made for skateboarding. My first pair got stolen from the school locker room and I was dumb enough to get the same pair of shoes again. Before I got the other pair however I was skating alone in a parking lot with running shoes on. I randomly met Tubin wearing running shoes in the same parking lot.
Vans Slip-On Pro’s
It’s hard to say which shoes are my favorite because I have skated in so many good skate shoes, but probably my all time favorites are Vans Slip-On Pro’s. They always look good when I look down at my feet. And if shoes look great from the top – you get extra powers in skating, I think y’all understand what I mean haha. From the durability and performance perspective, one thing that sucks about these shoes is if they get stretched out too much, your foot is gonna slip out cause there’s no laces. So, when this happens I use zip ties to tie them up! Yeah, but overall I love this shoe model, the insoles they use are great, all that rubber material grips really good and lasts long enough for me.
Vans Sk8 Hi’s
Another favorite model is Vans Sk8 Hi’s, some people don’t like them because it’s on that basic shoe side that non skaters wear (girls from rajon liked them a lot in 2015). But Grosso wore them, did Grosso wear Dunks? NO! So shut up! All jokes aside, I love this model because they last long, grips with the board well and my feet in them feel like at home, what more I have to ask for?
Converse Jack Purcell
Third model I liked so much was the one I had most problems with in the beginning. Converse Jack Purcell, the ones I had (and still have!) were non skate model, so that’s why in the beginning my toes hurt so much because of that double layer hard ass toe cap, board feel was shit, felt like I had two insoles under my feet. Later on after trying to skate in them they still felt like shit, so I ripped the insoles out, put in some really thin insoles, skated for a few minutes and I fell in love with them! Flick was so good, they gripped perfectly. Skated for a month or so, but because of that skinny ass insole I fucked up my heel, so I switched to another shoe, but I still have them laying around in my garage, they don’t even have holes in them! They are waiting for me if the dark days come…
Lakai Manchester
It was 2007 and I was hooked on ‘Fully Flared’ – one of the videos that made the biggest impact on me, especially Mike Mo’s part. I wanted to dress like him, do 360 flips in all stances like him, do all the tricks perfect like him. And of course I had to get a pair of Lakais. Got the leather Manchesters, and after breaking in they were one of the best shoes I have ever skated. I don’t know if it was just the fact that I loved the look of them or that I was a Lakai fanboy at that moment, but I got another pair after that. Later on, they started to make a different Manchester shoe and they didn’t look like the older version, slowly my hype over Mike Mo and Lakai went numb and I have never skated any Lakai shoe after that. Now I consider it a shit brand and would never buy them for my own money. I guess you can call it ‘My Love Story of Lakai’.
Adidas Nizza
2011 was the year. I got a good job at the gambling hall and was earning a decent amount of money at that time. I casually spent a lot of money on clothing and shoes, and was a huge fan of Adidas. So I went to Adidas outlet on Barona street. Once I spotted a deal of Adidas Nizza over there, they were selling them for 16 lats, so I got 6 pairs that day, all they had in stock. The shoe is very slim and very comfy, and somehow the heel protection was decent too. The sole never ripped apart. I have skated them even without socks and they still felt very good. I was casually going through them, like skating for 2 weeks and then giving them away to some of my friends at that time. Pavel got a pair from me, Jurgis also and from what I heard they enjoyed Nizzas as much as I did. One more encounter with Nizzas happened last year. Niks gave Nizzas to me because they were too small for him and I filmed my last trick in my part at Uzvara in them for Viss Taisni video. The shoes are done, but I am still keeping them in my closed for unknown reason. Maybe I will stich them up and go to Uzvara this year as well, who knows…
Emerica Westgate
In 2016 I got sponsored by Emerica. First two pairs I got where the Raynolds3 cup sole and the Westgates. The bulkiest shoe I have skated, and I loved them. They were practically indestructible compeering to other Emerica shoes (Emerica is also shit) I think they lasted about three months for me (my shoes rarely survive that long) and those were some good 3 months of skateboarding for me. I remember learning a lot of new flip tricks in them and felt like they are helping me pop my board higher. So yeah – the bulk of them didn’t mess up the board feel or anything, they felt perfect. Soon after that I got the Westgate CC – I liked them too, but not as much as the first ones. And not long after that Westgate left Emerica for New Balance. I still have one pair of the old Westgates that as made from soft, “grippy” material and I use them for running as they are supper light. I would buy a pair of them even now, too bad it’s not really possible.
The DUNK
One of my favorite shoes of all time. I think I’ve had like 5/6 pair’s of Dunks over the years and they’ve always been a blast to skate in. I love how the tongue/heel area of the shoe has a nice puffy and supportive feel, of course I like how they look… The way how a shoe looks play’s a big role in my head, it can either give you confidence in your fit and make you wanna go out and film/try something new etc. or it can F up your whole session. For instance, if I would be skating the Nyjah Nike shoe (probably not going to happen), there would be a thought in the back of my head of Nyjah skating an SLS contest in yoga pants while saying SEND IT (hahaha) and that thought would bother my skating because in my head it wouldn’t match the way I want to skate or my style of skating. But if I have a pair of dunks on and I saw Ishod on instagram with the same pair, doing a steezy SSBSTS on ledge, that would get me hyped and give confidence and make me think that I could do a steezy bs tail like Ishod :))) In conclusion. the dunk looks good, skates good, but is getting a bit too popular and mainstream thanks to Travis Scott haha.
Nike Blazer Low
This Grant Taylor model has really been my go-to shoe for a hot minute, looks really good (nice and minimalistic) has a good flick and good mixture of board-feel and support. Overall a great shoe.
Nike Blazer Mid
Also one of my favorite shoes to skate in, the board feel and the flick are similar to the low version of the blazer but these have a lot more ankle support. Recently I twisted my ankle in the GT Blazer low’s, I didn’t want to wait for it to heal entirely by itself, but I was also too afraid to go back to skating straight away because my ankle was still weak, so I grabbed these bad boys and slowly got back on my board. Also these are great for heel flips I don’t really know why:))
Nike Dunk Low
Nike SB pie mums tad nevarēja nopirkt, tapēc paņēmu parastos dunk low no sporta veiča. Viņas bija neiznīcināmas, skeitoju ļoti ilgi un beigās vēl pa 2 latiem pārdevu. Tie bija mani pirmie apavi kuri nebija bombas ar mega pufīgu mēlīti. No colorway vēl arvien kūstu un kopumā kur es tādas varētu vēlreiz nopirkt?
Addidas Nizza
Adidas nizza man atdeva Armands, ieskeitotus un perfektus. Arī nebija nekāds SB bet vienkārši sport/lifestyle. Gāja ilgi, bet iespējams arī tapēc ka pārāk patika un nebiju gatavs šķirties. Top dizains, top performance, gribu vēl tādus.
Es Koston 6
Tiko bija iznākušas, nopirku Bordos pa debīlām naudām, kādi 59 lati. Transworld žurnālā bija reklāmas, jutos moderns un viņas bija nu suuuuper ērtas. Materiālu kvalitāte gan bija mēsls, jo dila un juka ārā ne pa dienām, ne stundām, bet drīzāk minūtēm, bet ja patīk tad patīk, ko tur vēl.
eS Sparta
Tas bija tas laiks vēl pirms mammas nāca uz bodi un ar augstā pārliecības patosā vērsās pie manis ar: “Mums interesē ŠŪZI.”
Boards.lv un Čempions bija vienīgie veikali, kur varēja iegādāties ŠŪZUS, ja tavi vecāki bija miljonāri, vai gulēja ar kādu miljonāru. Ja ne, tad atlika samierināties ar kādu 10 gadus vecu Airwalk modeli no humpalām vai pirkt Roots wannabe ŠŪZUS supermārketā Centrs pa 29.90 Ls. Man bija tikai 25 Ls. Par tiem nopirku lietotus eS Sparta no Egona Avota.
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