I just found this series on Sky and wonder if anyone else has seen this. It is a bunch of skate boarders on motorcycles doing the peninsula. I have
seen 1 and 3...dont know how many parts there are.
Woody, you would love itBajaNomad - 7-25-2011 at 09:39 PM
good find Judy, i'll check it out.Skipjack Joe - 7-26-2011 at 07:27 AM
Didn't have time to see all of it but part 4 was pretty good. Don't miss that episode.Eli - 7-26-2011 at 08:46 AM
I just saw the first eposide, thanks for the link, really interesting perspective on their fear of Baja, I never get over the surprise of that. I am
sure their heads will be turned around by the time the show is over. I am going to savor it, poco a poco.shari - 7-26-2011 at 09:05 AM
gracias Judy...I LOVED the first episode and will definately watch it all....epic dudes....some nice buff ones and even a couple token
canucks...jejeje...real easy rider stuff.bajajudy - 7-26-2011 at 09:06 AM
Eli
I just watched the first episode last night on Sky 1. It did bother me that they threw fire works into that church but they certainly are an
interesting group of young men. I never even thought of people coming to Baja to skate board.shari - 7-26-2011 at 10:06 AM
hmmm...I must missed that part about the fireworks????bajajudy - 7-26-2011 at 10:30 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by shari
hmmm...I must missed that part about the fireworks????
It was after Cuatro Casas, I think
I just realized that some people might have thought that this was going to be X rated.....sorry to disappoint....they are not nekked
motorcyclers....where IS skeet?Woooosh - 7-26-2011 at 10:51 AM
I see kids in Rosarito carrying their skateboards more than riding them. In fact besides the parking lot of the Rosarito Pavilion Mall, I have never
seen a kid riding a skateboard. There just isn't enough good pavement and I would think smooth pavement gets more rare the farther south you go.shari - 7-26-2011 at 11:22 AM
our village is full of skateboards and we only the main street is paved and the cancha...but the kids sure like messin around on their boards.
For those into skateboarding, Finland’s Arto Saari is known for his big, aggressive skating style…and his iron-man ability to recovery from some
seriously brutal spills. What you might not know is that Saari is also an avid motorcyclist. He’s been riding around Helsinki for years, and, more
recently, he’s been rolling through his new home turf of Southern California.
When we started kicking around the idea of partnering with Vice’s VBS.TV to document a crew of skaters as they rode from San Diego to Baja, Mexico, we
knew we had to invite Arto. Dude is not only sick as hell on his board, but he’s also a total good vibe. (Plus he can chop wood and build fires, too,
which we knew would come in handy.)
Awesomely, he was up for the adventure. So we outfitted him with a new Nightster Sporty, pointed him in the direction of the rest of the
boys—including Heath Kirchart, Keegan Sauder and Patrick O’Dell, friends Harvey Foster, Kynan Tait and Hime Hu, and guide Bill Bryant—and sent a film
crew along to document the journey.
Since we’ve been posting the videos, the response has been crazy. People have been writing us wanting to get the story behind the story. What couldn’t
be shown in the clips? How can I do this ride? How peeed were the locals at you for skating their town square? So we decided to catch up with Arto to
dig in deeper about his experience taking part in Doin’ it Baja. Read on to find out why Arto’s gun-buying idea got nixed, how a Sporty performs
off-road and how this trip rekindled Arto’s desire to ride from Northern Europe to Africa.
What’s your history with motorcycles? Is riding big in Finland?
Arto Saari: There are bike clubs in Finland, and a lot of my friends are starting to get into riding. But you only have like two months in the summer
when you can ride a bike. The rest of the year it’s snow and ice. I used to ride little 60cc mopeds when I was a kid, but I didn’t get into proper
bikes until like seven years ago. The first bike I bought in Finland was a 2004 Triumph Bonneville. Then when I moved to California, I ended up buying
the same bike over here and selling the one in Finland. I’ve caféd it out with different pipes and stuff.
You rode the Nightster loaner for this trip. How did that bike treat you?
It was pretty similar in size to the Bonneville, so I was comfortable on it. The Nightster turned out to be perfect for Baja. If you’d be about to eat
chit on a dirt road, you could just pick it up and go because it’s a light bike. And it was great on all the corners. I’d never ridden Harleys before,
so getting outfitted with a new stock Harley was pretty awesome.
Did you test out any of the other guys’ bikes?
I rode Patrick’s bike for a little bit. I think it was a Dyna. It was definitely a comfortable ride on the long straight stretches, but when I started
hitting corners I wanted to be back on the Nightster.
You guys rode pretty hard through miles of hot, sandy terrain. Was it rough on the bikes?
It’s definitely a rough ride. Harvey and Ky rode their own bikes, and both of them ended up breaking down. We didn’t look after the bikes that much,
but we probably should have. We just woke up and took off. If there wasn’t an emergency we would just ride. But there’s definitely a lot of sand and
heat, and it’s best to take a lot of pit stops and pay attention to how the bike is running. I guess we were just too psyched to go.
Did you need to work on your bike at all?
Pretty much all I had to do on the bike was fix some wiring and replace a headlight fuse. Of course the headlight blew during one of the days we had
to ride at night. I had this headlamp that I wore for the last 30 minutes. [Laughs] It was very sketchy.
So did you like riding with a group? Or are you more of a solo guy?
I think riding in a group is great. There were parts of the trip where the group would split up a bit, and people would ride at different paces. But I
definitely like riding as a group, especially going into towns. It’s pretty rad. I think riding with friends is more exciting, too. It can get a bit
boring riding alone.
Was there anyone that really pushed the pace and the rest of the riders?
Keegan was definitely that guy. If you tried to follow him around turns, he’d just let it loose. You’d have to be a really experienced rider to keep
up. And since [our guide] Bill knew where he was going, he set the pace, too. He’d be going a solid 80 on curves and 100 in straightaways. We’d have
no helmets on, and we’d just be trying to keep our head on our shoulders with all the wind. I got used to it after awhile, but the first couple days I
was like, “F’ng hell!” [Laughs]
You mentioned in the video that you hadn’t been on your bike that much before this trip.
Yeah, I hadn’t ridden for a year or so before it. I was definitely sore the first couple days. Actually, I couldn’t really skate the whole trip.
[Laughs] Once you go past 150 miles on a bike it’s pretty hard to get the best out of you on a skateboard. You can do stuff, but it takes a toll on
you.
When this trip went down, the two biggest news stories from Mexico were Swine Flu and all those drug-related killings in the border towns.
Were you sketched at all?
I was more sketched prior to the trip. We were going there and I was paying attention to the newspapers thinking, what is going on down there? It just
kept building up, but once we got on the road and got past Ensenada it was pretty mellow. After that I didn’t think of it at all. It was completely
awesome and full of mellow vibes.
But… I will say it’s always kinda in the back of your mind. I was on this dirt road leaving Cuatro Casas when we split up. There was this broken down
van on the side of the road and the door was open. All you could see was a pair of legs. My first thought was, ‘Oh, chit, this dude is a sniper!’
[Laughs] Then it was like, ‘no, his truck just broke down. But I still didn’t slow down too much going past.’ [Laughs]
Aside from the potential snipers, what was the most unexpected thing for you about the trip?
How good the tortillas were everywhere. [Laughs] Any old chitty shack we stopped at had the most amazing tacos and salsa. I love Mexican food, so it
was really awesome for me. Also, before I started the trip I kinda pictured Baja just like Hawaii. But that’s not the case. It’s not lush at all. It’s
all dirty and dusty. For a minute I was like, “chit, is this all it is.” But as soon as we got to Loreto and Cabo it was lush, with beautiful
beaches…and amazing little taco stands. [Laughs]
Did you guys party much?
There was definitely beer being drunk every night. In one town we went a little crazy and stayed up pretty late and everyone was haggard the next day.
But everyone got it out of their system after that and it was pretty mellow. We weren’t in big towns, either, so it wasn’t like we could go to the
local pub or something.
Speaking of crazy, what was up with that impromptu boxing match with the locals?
I think that was during the Day of the Dead fiesta or something. We rolled into a town, I think it was San Ignacio. We skated a bit during the day and
went to our campsite. Then we went back and checked out the town square that night and all the people had come out. We were hanging out watching kids
box and all of a sudden Heath was in there with them. He was like, “I wanna fight…just not Carlos!” And he got Carlos [Laughs], who was the gnarliest
dude that was beating everyone up. Of course Heath got smacked, and it was pretty funny.
Then after that the cops came and broke things up, because the kids were getting too rowdy. There was a girl fight and everything. The kids told us to
follow them so we could box more, so we started walking out of town. It was getting dark and way more ghetto and we were like, “Ah, you know what, I
think we’re gonna just go back.” [Laughs] It was pretty funny.
What was the most incriminating thing that couldn’t be shown from the trip? You guys try to go full outlaw and buy some guns or
anything?
Actually, I suggested it. I just wanted to shoot pineapples and chit for target practice. But everyone else was like, “Nah. Gringos and guns is a bad
thing. That’s when you end up in real trouble.” [Laughs] Which I had to agree with.
Looking back, what was the biggest “Holy sh*t!” moment for you?
The first thing that really stoked me out, and I guess it was the pinnacle moment, was pulling into that beach. It’s the opening clip from the videos
when we’re in the water. After riding for four days in the desert, we came around a turn and saw this blue-green ocean. I was like, “Oh chit!” And
without anyone saying anything we all skidded to a stop and turned into the beach. We were supposed to keep going but we were like, “Forget it.” It
was the first taste of proper Baja, and we were gonna enjoy it.
Do you feel like a better rider after this trip?
It definitely kicked me into a different gear. When you ride for a week straight on gravel and hot two-lane highways without a helmet you get a lot
more cautious. But I got more confident after this trip, too. I learned a lot in those 10 days…like the fact that the Nightster does pretty well as a
motocross bike too. [Laughs]
Nice. You do any jumping?
Nah, just taking the bike off-road, motocross style. I think Keegan did most of the extreme riding, but I stepped in there, too. We climbed a mountain
on the Nightster. Well, some may call it a little hill, but I’ll call it a mountain. [Laughs]
What tips would you share to others attempting this ride?
Make sure you have cash, gas and water. The gas situation is the only thing that really sketched me, but our guide Bill was really on it. He had been
down there before and remembered all the spots. He made sure that every time we had a chance to get gas we topped off our tanks. It’s pretty barren
and you don’t always know when the next chance will be to refuel. And you definitely don’t wanna get stuck on the side of the road pushing your bike
in that heat. But overall, I’d say: Stay mellow, go in peace, and respect the land…and you’ll be all right.bajajudy - 7-26-2011 at 10:33 PM
Has anyone in La Paz seen the guy who does the animal sounds in the 3rd episode? I cant figure out what restaurant they are in.
what about Santa Anita?
frizkie - 7-28-2011 at 11:55 PM
Too bad they missed the skate park at Santa Anita...It's a sweet little skate park just off the highway, just after leaving San Jose Del Cabo...they
were so close...but they didn't do the loop down to Los Cabos and up the East Cape side, too bad they missed some of the best of Baja by turning
around at Pescadero.
I guess the guide wasn't the most knowledgable re skate parks in Baja Sur.BajaBlanca - 8-7-2011 at 10:42 AM
frizke - got any photos of the santa anita skatepark ?Cardon Man - 8-7-2011 at 01:39 PM
I've only watched the 2nd part so maybe i'm missing something. But I thought it was a bit of a bore. Dopey gringo skate punks are simply not very
interesting even with Baja as a back drop.vgabndo - 8-7-2011 at 09:40 PM
I had to chase URL's all over the place but just watched 1-8. I sat through it because of the backdrop and because I love motorcycles. Skate punks
throwing bombs in churches. Eh, not so much.
I still dream of making one ride the length of Baja.
