Words by Rob McWhinnie
After a week traveling the Andes in search of the biggest mountains we could find, I’m stoked to have made it back safe and have had an unforgettable experience. The goal of the End of the World tour was to find Abra Malaga, the back road to the epic Machu Picchu and skate it top to bottom. Along the way we found many new roads and created friendships to last a life time.

Two months ago my buddy Pablo Seone, owner of Chaman Longboards was having a beer with me at a BBQ, we were a little wasted and started talking about hills in the country that had never been skated, he rushed to the laptop that was already surrounded by people checking photos from that days freeride event and pulled up Google earth, typed in a string of words and directions in front of us arrived a massive 50km plus, 30 hairpin, middle of nowhere mountain road. It makes its way down between 2 5000m high peaks stretching 1000m above the summit of the road.

It was Abra Malaga and it was EPIC!!!!

As far as we knew no one had even been close to riding it, it’s a back road through a national park to the ancient Machu Picchu, the city of the Incas, little did I know how awesome and crazy the trip would be to get there. Soon after seeing the hill on screen Pablo offered to pay our bus fare to get to Cuzco to go skate it!! Yeeeeeeww this was the start of a massive sponsor drive that eventuated in a fully paid for trip for myself and 5 good mates to reach Abra Malaga to bomb and film it.

The road trip is 24 hours to Cuzco and we had a new H1 van to enjoy it. Unlike most skate trips you or I have been, this one included 3 girls and 3 guys.

The girls were: Marisa Nunez, Ishta Backlund and Maga McWhinnie, you couldn’t choose 3 better girls to travel with, amazing, fearless skaters and positive vibes all day. Still, girls being girls they packed a shit load and took forever to wake up in the mornings. Jose Cortez and Christian Salmon would be joining me, getting rowdy and bombing everything on the trip. Jose shreds anything and Christian is an awesome videographer for Choro Longboarding helping me document the adventure.

First stop on the way was Nazca, famous for its alien airports and megaliths in the lifeless desert. It is now going to be famous for the 70km downhill paradise we found on an empty road out of town, Mt Poquito ( poquito meaning small) burned most of our petrol getting up and we only had time for a little corner session every 10-15km on the way up but made plans to skate it on the way home, at the summit we stopped to check out the view and a little grommet came out of nowhere to talk and play on our boards. I’m sure Yori won’t forget us for a long time to come.

Yori on the top of Poquito

Once in we made it to Cuzco we wanted to leave and find mountains to skate. Cuzco is a crazy city, built hundreds of years ago as a treasury for the Incan empire, once including an entire garden made from gold, flowers, bugs, birds and beast would stand basking in the sun entirely made of gold. You can guess what happened when the Spanish turned up, so now the city is half Inca masterpieces and half Spanish churches, in a weird but beautiful mix. I organized free stay with a local hostel. The Kokopelli Hostel had put Marisa and Ishta up before on our Mancora Endless summer of Gnar trip and they knew what we were up to and provided us with a massive room and bunk beds for the entire week.

A short drive out of town and we hit our first hill, half way down it turned into a sand pit and made for some slipping and sliding even on the straights. We could have stopped but it was a bit of fun drifting our way down. Across the Sacred Valley of the Incas, we noticed our next run, climbing high up the mountain to some ruins at the peak was a dead end road with little bridges over the rivers, hairpins around cliff faces and straights through the green farm land. We spent a full day skating Pisac, warming up for the bigger mountains to come and having some fun as a group for the first time on a hill.

If you have seen any of my photos or videos before from longboarding in Peru you would have noticed that I’m usually in the desert of some kind. Where we found ourselves now was a green, lush, rich diversity of life atmosphere, with rivers, wild plants animals everywhere, completely relaxing and awesome.

After a few days skating local roads we planned the trip to Abra Malaga, 250km away, on the way we passed all the tourist stops and ancient ruins. The closer we came the more wild and extreme the environment became, it was like stepping back into the dinosaur period. When we arrived at the base of the mountain everyone was majorly stoked to have even made it, the mountain just erupts out of the river plains, we drove skyward for an hour to reach the summit, stopping and admiring the view and unbelievable amount of hairpins and sheer cliff face passes.

Once at the top, well damn I forgot how hard it was to breath, the environment was insane, massive clouds where blowing right up against the cliffs and moving at a speed more like smoke from a fire, after putting on rain wheels and stretching it was time to face the road and bomb it.

No one except myself had rode wet weather wheels on anything seriously needing them and it took a while to convince the crew that they are shit and you will need them. I had 6 sets made up at the Fico Longboarding workshop, we customized a disk sander to rotate the wheels at warp speed and used a hunting knife to cut the wheels. Instead of sanding off the urethane it melted off like butter and produced the best wet weather wheels I’ve ever seen.

So we kicked off in the dry and quickly got in the flow on the easy first section of sweepers and pins, Maga was keeping up as we all were taking it easy having fun and admiring the view as we passed between the two peaks either side of the road, it was a huge deal for her to conquer this hill as it was for me too, it was even better to be doing together.

Soon it began to rain, it got steeper, colder and clouds began to block the view of the next corner, I stopped the group and we had a few practice runs at predrifting into a hairy hairpin, while it was bucketing down. We were all drenched but every one was smiling ear to ear. Jose fell in love with rain riding, blasting out standys sending out rooster tails of water. The girls got confidence to slide in the rain, locking up and railing, so we did some filming then decided it was time to bomb the steep section.

I had a word to Maga and wished her luck and to take it easy, she was going to do it but at her own pace and safely, I however wanted to get sideways and have some fun so we headed off separately, the next 35mins of downhill in the rain was the 4 of us now smoking each other around hairpins and throwing massive predrifts into corners like pros in a DH race, the best thing about rain riding is it feels like your doing 80 when you bust a slide.

At one stage I thought I was going to freeze solid. The wind chill at 60kmh down the straights was terrible, should have worn a full face! We stopped when the rain gave way and road started to dry, had some lunch and changed wheels, did some interviews and rang our clothes dry. I brought dry clothes hahahaha, I felt like a million bucks. The rest of the day we sessioned the bottom section, 8 hairpins 4 straights, 1 bridge, cows, horses, donkeys, kids with water bombs, hi fiving old men and perfect pavement. That has got to be one of the best afternoons I’ve skated in a long time and the biggest, longest decent I’ve ever made in my life.

Over the next few days, we would trek to Mach Picchu and spend the day safe on a rock looking over the ancient city surrounded by mountains rising into the sky. Other days we would relax on a mountain road just having fun drafting and filming, the way home would be another 24hour trip so we planned to do it over 2 days and skated the hell out of everything we arrived at.

The entire trip wouldn’t have been possible with out our Major sponsors Chaman Longboards, RipTide Bushings, Rayne Longboards, Hopkin Skate and the guys at Kahalani, TeamB (arbi), Kokopelli hostels, Nuqa Clothing, Choro longboarding and Fico longboards peru. These guys believed in us and supported the whole trip, I’m stoked to represent all of them and its awesome the level of support they have shown to longboarding development and exploration.

Overall the trip was incredible, I really couldn’t imagine doing it again anytime soon though, it was exhausting and extreme, its taken a solid week to lose the flu I got after riding raining mountains one day and arid desert the next. I’m glad, that like last years Across the Andes trip, I’ve discovered new roads and epic hills. It inspires the locals to leave the big cities and explore their own country, I’m stoked to have made it home safe and conquered my fear of returning to the big roads of the Andes once again. The friends that joined me will be friends for life now, we experienced some awesome shit together and risked everything to do it, downhill skateboarding is our life and we are living every day we do it.

See you back home soon!!!

Rob

Rob McWhinnie (do rad shit)

Good to their word, Orangatang have released worldwide, their new freeride wheel called Balut. Which means we have Baluts in our shop, ready to buy at the same time as US skateshops. In fact, due to timezones, Australia is one of the first places in the world you can buy them!

These wheels have been in protype for a long long time. Orangatang never releases something early just to capture quick sales, they develop and proto until it is worthy for your hard earned cash.  We saw the new core in the Hopshop early last year, and Jackson was really enjoying skating those early protos. While the urethane was getting perfected, other companies have released centreset wheels, such as Tunnel, Seismic and ABEC11. Now Orangatang can show us why it was worth all the wait: a new urethane mix they are calling Euphorethane. It offers increased durability, less flatspotting, and a smooth and predictable drift.

The direction Orangatang have taken for this wheel is Freeride Slide. A wheel you can pull off big drifty slides but also bust out lots of rotation quickly.

The two key elements in the development was the core and the urethane. A big core lightens up the weight. It is also centreset so it will wear evenly and can be rotated or flipped to prevent coning. The other benefit is a rigid contact patch across the whole wheel. Combined with a rounded edge, these wheels will slide smooth with a predictable release and hookup.

And the urethane? You going to have to try them to find out. There are three duros:  80a orange, 83a purple and 86a yellow

Diameter: 72.5 mm
Contact Patch: 35 mm
Width: 44 mm
Durometers: 80a, 83a, 86a
Weight: 133 grams (per wheel)
Bearing seat: centerset

Making of the Sunny Side Up video

Yatesy rocked up to the new Hopshop launch last week. You probably saw him lurking the building? He helped build boards all day for groms, and stoked out a few Landyachtz customers – who better to pimp out your Drop Speed than Yatesy??

In between all the festivities, Jacko and Yatedawg headed to some sweet local hills …

It is the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.

Tomorrow, Saturday 28th January, a new Hopshop opens at 4 Northcote Street St Leonards. It is only one building away from the old Hopshop but it is 5 times the size.

This project has been 4 months in the making. 3 weeks of intensive building work and hours and hours of rad creative brainstorming.

Everyone at Hopkin believes we have truly created the best skateshop in Australia, if not the world. There will be four levels of skateboard and longboard hardware. The bottom two levels are skater hang out areas which includes a movie cinema and coffee shop. That’s right – there will be a place to park your parents in style while you hang in the shop!! Parents, we have employed Chris Sanders, one of Sydney’s best baristas to create coffee that will make you want to come back to the Hopshop more than your children.

To explain the opening day, we have created an event page on ASRA called Hopshop’s Gone Mondo.

Day starts at 8am for a special push race. First three skaters to the Hopshop get to be the first people in the new Hopshop. They get to jump the queue. Next 20 skaters get 20% off anything they want to buy in a one off purchase (full price only no 20% off already specialed items).

For everyone else, best in best dressed. There are a list of super discounted products that can only be bought instore on the day.

Doors open at 10am to everyone.

Here is a sneak peak, photos taken tonight before we closed up.

First level (of four!) at the Hopshop

New front door at the Hopshop at 4 Northcote Street... yes they are skateboards on the awning

The new Helmet wall - 30 heads individually handpainted

You can see some of the heads featured on Heelside facebook page

When you are mobbing a big hill in a group, what is important is staying out of the lane of oncoming traffic and maintaining a safe distance from riders around you.

One of the biggest rushes in downhill skateboarding is skating safely with other riders in a tight pack, however it can add extra risk and cause an accident if not managed with the right skills.

Being able to simply hold another rider at a certain distance from you without giving him an extra speed boost or slow you down can get you out of those tricky tight situations. Barging through and hoping for a gap is always going to end in carnage.

Camera: Jackson Shapiera, Tim Day
Skaters: Caspian Baska, Ben Westover, Jack Glenn, Liam Bemrose
Edit and heroic camera save at 0:43 : Jackson Shapiera

Always stay in your lane and respect YOUR limits

This is not the welcome to the team video, that b happenin after the new Hopshop opening party

This is YeahDawg bombing a hill with a grin on his face!

He is also showing off his bushman skills, learnt going walkabout in the Kakadu – the new stick cam is looking good Yatesy, dont skate in the rain, it might sprout and grow.

You read that right, Hopkin Racing has a new team member, Adam Yates.

What can we say? Everyone loves Yatsey!

His enthusiasm for all things skateboarding is infectious. Always the first to stand up for a grom or charge down a mountain or be the wingman you can count on. Freeriding, racing or chillin. Yatesy is always there with a smile and a yarn.

We are super sizing things at the Hopshop in 2012 and that will include Yatesy in some way. His ideas to help the community, grow our sport and support groms, lines up with our vision. He has deep connections to the Canadian scene, he is part of the Landyachtz Eh Team and is also one of the OG crew from the Gold Coast.

Can we harness all that Yatesy energy? Never… but things are never going to be the same around the Hopshop once we unleash the Yates.

Look out for Yatesy at your next event, he’ll be there, representing all that’s best about Landyachtz, Goldy crew and Hopkin Racing.

Welcome to the team mate.

Adam Yates Landyachtz Ad

You know it ,we dont sell scooters in the Hopshop. In the same way we do not sell Penny’s or plastic skateboards. I dont care if Globe or Flip or Stereo make them. No amount of video marketing can convince me otherwise. These are fashionable toys.  We are not a toy shop or a fashion shop … we are a skateshop.

However, occasionally a scooter video comes along that represents the sport. Like the bantum video, we might not sell the product, but we approve of the marketing… I can’t turn my back on the streets Annie…

I have been sitting on this one since 20th December. Christmas was busy, New Year hectic and as I type this, I’m sitting at Sydney International Airport waiting for a flight to Los Angeles. 20 minutes till boarding, I’m going to knock this Rob McWhinnie race report out very quick. Check back for rad photos.

Words by Rob

Quilmana or kill-mas-gnar was only discovered 6 months ago and the tar was laid only months before that. Why this is important? Because here in Peru good roads that you can hit 90 on and are not 3000m high are hard to come by!

Yesterday APDS the local race organisation put on the first Downhill race here and the last for the 2011 championship. If you havn’t seen any footage of Killmana then check out Luca and I hittin it with speed last month.

After waking up on a beach in Asia surrounded by rubbish and a rotting carcass of what looked like a bloated donkey, Ishti, Maga and myself headed down south to get breakfast and a good car spot for the days racing, feeling a bit shady after last night’s prom that we crashed I decided to ditch my leathers until racing started. You got to understand we are in the desert with no shade and solid tail wind, so practice got under way and all the fastest riders in Peru had turned out, I was stoked to ride with the guys again, each year they get quicker and better, practice lasted 3 runs and we had a massive bus with aircon to get back up to the top.

The track consists of a steep push in leading around a left hander into a 2km straight, then a slight double s bend in to a fast right hander, a second straight of about 2kms with a little kink then two top speed left handers and a roller coaster drop to the finish, its fulltuck the whole way, drafting and position is key and a good gangster lean wouldn’t hurt. In qualifying its a bit of the case of whos got the best tuck, I was wearing just my skins and a pair of shorts and got a good time of 1:57 placing me 6th while 1st Felipe got a 1:54, must have been the scull cap that slowed me down.

Murphys Law, as soon as I said to the organisers how smooth everything was running for a change some arrogant drivers decided to break the road block and a convoy followed them, straight up the hill while the girls where still doing qualifying, well fuck it was just mayhem for a few minutes, we had to watch as the first girl came tucking into the 1st of the final lefts only to find not just a truck, motorbike and taxi but a donkey cart too!! I freaked out knowing that Maga was coming next, flipped a shit a blew up in the organisers face, calling them everything under the sun, Maga came over the horizon and made her way down but not before having to tackle a truck overtaking another truck on her way, luckily she’s the best footbreaker this side of Europe and survived, she was pretty shaken up at the bottom so was Rafa the previous girl who was almost in tears.

At that stage I was furious that the organiser had risked my wife’s life and thought about boycotting the race, after a short walk to calm down and a quick safety meeting I decided 6th place was too good a position to throw away, Maga felt confident to go down again so I guess no harm was done, racing started quick and I got positioned with my good mate Jr (Cortez) we had been riding here the last few times together and I knew his lines, we made it though to round 2 and had a hot heat with 2 other fast riders, every one pushed off hard and I drafted Jr before the first corner and held the lead down to the last corner when I heard the awesome sound of 3 riders hitting 90 drafting you getting closer and closer, then the sound of thunder, WHAT !! I turned around and the biggest dust cloud was covering the track, Jr had got a wobble right behind me and spooked out the other riders, I drifted out and ate desert gnar big time, Jr felt bad about what happened and ended up giving up his 2nd place to old mate who crashed.

Round 3 I was up with Aldo, this guy is like Benbro , big, calm, solid and fast, the plan was to just sit in his draft all the way down and smoke the others but I couldn’t resist dragging him on the straights, the 2 behind caught up close at the end but we had it in the bag.

The semis weren’t going to be so easy, we pushed off hard and just as we dived in to the first left a motorbike was coming up the track, 2 of the guys airbraked but I was on the outside and stayed in tuck, for the rest of the race the lead changed hands 6-8 times, it was what I had been missing for so long while off injured, really fast really tight and really rad racing. I had a good position in 2nd for the last corner and maybe I drafted too early, so I found myself on the inside of the corner, Aldo dived in and I had to break tuck to hold him off, that was it the 2 behind me pounced and I claimed 4th, stoked with a amazing run I was happy with it but old mate who got 3rd called a rerace cause of the motobike and we got to do it all again. This time Aldo lead the whole way almost and at the finish line myself and the other 2 where lined up all with our arms stretched out and screeming to go faster, 2nd place was taken away from me by inches and 4th was inches behind that.

Such a good time on a great hill, the finals where made up of classic riders, Felipe took the win Aldo Carella got 2nd, Jorge Mestanza got 3rd and my old mate of 45years Fico Larco took 4th, you might remember he was on the Redbull podium last year and still shreds.

In the girls final Ishti pushed off way too hard and stacked it which left it open for Marisa Nunez to sail home and take the win, Ishti had 5 seconds on her (and only 4 I think off me in the qualifiers) and was tottaly bummed, while Rafa Malaga took second for the KATA crew.

16 year old Andres Canales was the stand out rider on the day, beat me by 2 seconds in Quali and raced in the under 18s to take the win against South America’s fastest grom Gustavo, stoked for ya buddy.

Hop’s notes: I have photos but no time to upload. Check back in 24 hours for the photos

At the end of the year, Jackson has served us up a rad video on Hot Heels 2011.

Enjoy the escapism, as Jacko and Luca discover South Africa for the first time.

It got everything, freeriding, awesome scenery, IGSA racing and Baboons.