Team Nikolai Danov | bastard

Nikolai Danov just decided to spend a week up here in Norhern Italy for attending the Launch Party #31 and to be able to survive the cold season by skating a little bit the bastard bowl. This is a glimpse of his latest session there.

Yesterday, Nikolai Danov  won first prize at ”The Chosen” contest at the Foro Italico skatepark in Rome, built exclusively for the contest.

Daje Niko!



This bastard ad was the first one of a series on italian movies… Io sto con gli ippopotami with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill (1979).

It was never published but we’ve always kept the draft hanging on the wall in our offices as it was too cool and it portrays Marcin and Nikolai together.

Things start off by meeting the dirty romans Nikolai Danov and Milo Marra in Milano Centrale. Double train to Usmate, obviously it would only be a twenty minutes drive! But we’re big time CO² savers!
Once we get there we spot the Real McKenzies, chillin’ and playing guitars under a tent. It’s pouring rain all around. We join the good company and beer after beer we accept the stormy weather.

At least it stops in the evening, letting us party and enjoy Pela’s Dj set…

The next morning, partly because life is good, partly because it can’t always suck, the sun is shining and the session is finally ON.

Many people, many tricks, many beers.. As always, a great day; Bonassi’s ramp, GroS on the mic, pork ribs like there’s no tomorrow, and of course some healty skateboarding.
Ivan Federico shockingly nailed 20 or so kickflip melons on the extension, as well as Daniele Terminator Galli landing perfection almost every time. Then we enjoyed watching Marcos the Brazilian with some crazy crowd pleasers, Basilico showing the youngsters he’s still got those moves, Stanco’s riding, the Roma connection’s skating (Milo, Nikolai and Peppe the Gipsy), local Andrea Jimmy Cantù gets best trick with a Pivot Fakie on the Burn fridge that screams danger!

First place Marcos Gabriel da Silveira, second Ivan Federico, third Daniele Galli. Jimmy makes 500 euros with the burn best trick and takes us all to a sushi restaurant! Way to go Jimmy!

The roman seaside just charmed me somehow, it might be the good air and the abundance of pork sandwiches; there is a something out there that just gets me all relaxed. So I teamed up with Edo Paris and went back for more, visiting our rider Nikolai Danov, now fully recovered from his ankle injury and in full operative mode with the newborn “Combo Skateshop”.
Witnessing him finally on the job almost made me cry; tell his mom about it!!

As usual, the flying pollish, Marcin Solecki is not M.I.A., and graces us with a stylish switch pop shove it at the popular “acid gap” in Roma Eur. We also see him bondo the “secret spot” already pictured in “Roman Vacation 1.0”.

Clearly, he has unrevealed plans for this tall ledge! Pave the future Marcin!

The thing that i liked the most was finding out that lil’ Nikolai has his “own” team riders who he takes everywhere and stunt coordinates as a real TM. His “Combo Team” features main Ladispoli heads the likes of Marcin Solecki, Milo Marra and Ivano Iacomelli.

Besides Ladispoli, Cerveteri and Roma Eur we also visited a new Rome spot in V.le XXI Aprile… Crispy! Check out the pics!

…and check out the video report (thanks Stefano “Collina” Monte).

Nessun Dorma - GroS dormitory in Bergamo

On Baco # 38 you can read about a tour we did some time ago… 12 pages With Lupi, Bauli, Marcin and Nikolai that show a different view of Bergamo, a city next to Milano with big potential. I like a lot the comments on the pics by Mirai, that guy is very funny.