The Ride Crew

At first approach the Ride crew seems to be party maniacs. To fit in, you can expect to shamelessly dance and keep up with the insane drinking rhythm of the energetic team. The night never ends and the group pushes the boundaries till there are none left to stop them. As boldness, stupide and restlessness seems to drive the members – recklessness, motivation and radness are the values pushing the riders on the snow.

Welcome to our world.

Starting the weekend with a road trip

3pm, I’m heading to pick up Severin in Flims, who was waiting with a beer. The sun was shining and the nice and warm balcony made his point. He popped the beers with kitchen utensils and we sat there enjoying the sunlight before heading to Innsbruck.

On our way, we naively followed the GPS, taking us across the border and through the city, where we lost more than 30 minutes, followed by another 30 minutes of red-light traffic before the Alberg tunnel. Result: a gang of 20 hungry men had to wait for 40 minutes for us to arrive before heading to the restaurant. Bad start.

After filling our stomachs with rice-less risotto and bread-free schnitzel, we got the fire going with 2-3 beers per person, followed by more drinks in a club, and then another one. Counting the number of drinks per person, the day after, was scary.

The night was smooth with celebrations, dancing and laughs.

A burning spring weekend

The morning after was one of my favourites. Maxi joined the breakfast with bare feet and served himself with 4 orange juices… “that’s it for now,” he said. His sleepy and devastated face was priceless to watch.

Nevertheless, we all got back on our feet and headed (with 3 hours delay) to the Skyline snowpark in Nordkette.

The day was perfect: beers, sun, slush, sunburns… all the riders were shredding together and the filmers /photographers were having some great collaborations and exchanges. Around 3pm we gave ourselves a little break to eat and realized most of us were still struggling with a hangover. Then back to work!

The day ended with a shower and a good pizza, after which we all went to bed for some well-deserved rest.

The grand finale

Sunday was as shining as Saturday, and we finally had the energy to get creative, which caused us photographers to be kicked away from features a few times. Anyways, we got some fun shots and everyone enjoyed the slush. That day the park wasn’t as crowded, which allowed the team to have more laps and get more content done.

Overall, this was one of the best gatherings, and the whole Ride Family was grateful to meet up and be able to share some time all together. No matter the language you speak, the country you are from… our culture is the same for all of us: because, WE ARE RIDE SNOWBOARDS!
See you all soon I hope.
Ride on!
Nicki

Pictures: Nicki Antognini
Words: Nicki Antognini & Leo Baker-Hytch
Location: Nordkette, Innsbruck, Austria
Thanks to: Ride Snowboards Europe for organising the memorable weekend