But this was a whole new vibe we had to adopt. Snowkiting was totally new to us and wearing so much gear it’s way harder to move than when you’re just wearing boardies. The gloves made it hard to hold the bar while you’re unhooking but it made me focus on jumping big more…So all was good!!

Susi was joining us as well which was great fun. She nailed a gnarly wipe-out when she tried to jump of one of the cliffs. She’s got some balls tho, it was all icy and rocky but she still went for it.
Anyways, at the day of the race there were more than 100 contestants that showed up to the start. The Ragnarok area is known for it’s unpredictable and often changeable weather conditions. And it was no different this day…It was a nice calm morning, but as soon as the start signal went, the snowstorm hit us properly.
Trust me it was a total mess, I was being used by my kite to get dragged along for a while…Which got pretty scary at some parts of the route I took…Big icy walls and drops made it too hard for me to continue and my ankle was soar as F, so I just quit.
Azza wasn’t too stoked on the conditions either and gave up quite soon after me too…
The goal was to do a lap around five buoys that form a round of around 20km. And you had to do that five times…So in the end you’ll be exhausted anyway!!
Susi made one lap on her four meter which was sick.

All in all, Norway is great fun and I’m definitely going for another snowkite experience sometime next year. Maybe jump of a 1km high cliff, I’m in, and you know it.

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I thought about jumping over a helicopter, some gnarly bridges and pieces of land to fly over. But that doesn’t really cut the deal for me, well the heli would be sick but after some investigation it’s just not that smart.

So I was thinking of making a mega loop, but when it’s on it’s halfway through the loop I want to yank it back the other way.

This will make the kite stall and have me freefall for a second. I’m fine with that, but what’s important, is to get the height and confidence to the max.

I always heard about this spot Pozo in Gran Canaria where it gets super windy and some good waves roll by from time to time.

Before I knew Red Bull was backing this stunt up and the On The Loose crew flew out to Gran Canaria. No one of us had ever been there so it was a bit of a gamble.

The forecast looked quite promising, but it’s windy there most of the time anyways.

We met up with Bjorn Dunkerbeck as he’s from there and knows all about the right conditions on the island. So he showed us some nice places, unfortunately the waves weren’t that big.

I mean, the wind was good, there wasn’t even a beach, the sand was blown away by the non-stop strong winds. So a rocky beach and strong winds are not the best set-up for kiteboarding. Although the locals were all rocking it pretty nicely, I mean I saw guys that were in their 40’s and they were still pulling some nice loops.

They just learned how to deal with it, that’s great, but as a holiday destination for beginner kiteboarders I would suggest something else.

Anyways, the stunt I was going to try. Yes! The first day out was pretty strong winds and the waves were ok…As the forecast seemed to improve I just focused on getting dialed in with my new 2011 gear.

My new boards are pretty dope, love the new Lunacy with it’s channels and concave set-up. Then the kites, I was riding my 7mtr Fuel on 17mtr lines which felt good.

I was only able to pull some big mega’s on that, but for the stunt I needed a 5mtr.

So I tried that out and it felt pretty good, got some biggies in there for sure.

We had booked a helicopter to capture the stunt from a different perspective. Unfortunately my ankle was killing me and the wind and waves weren’t as I hoped for. But I know that I’m comfortable enough to search for the right spot to rock this move out.

We didn’t get the stunt done, but I’m sure we got a nice section out of this trip.

Our good mate Gianni Aragno was chilling on an island next to us, so I gave him a call and he rocked up to have a session with us. After that we went to have some fun at the go-kart track.

He also brought his dj mixer and we had a nice night spinning in Pacha Club Gran Canaria. For me that was a sick experience!!

Aight, enjoy the pics for now. Episodes and highlights will follow in some weeks.

Peace!

Ruben

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Going uphill with your kite is sooo much fun, and then you’re on top to get some speed and just jump all the way down. Such a sweet feeling when you move the kite around aggressively. You create some kind of little freefall and get closer to the rocks…Risk is always fun to keep focused!!

Anyways, check out the episode and the photos below to get a nice impression of our trip to Norway!

In the next episode you’ll see how we all did in the endurance snowkite race.

Peace out and catcha soon.

Ruben

Red Bull Ragnarok Day 1 from Morten Gjerstad on Vimeo.

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Aaron needed to go for some stitches due to a cracking pipe which cut his toe open. Oh well, he probably deserved that anyways

I will be training hard to get my fitness level up and get my ankle strong again. Super motivated to come back and ride hard again…Ppffff!!

We’ll hit the snow in Norway where we jump of some fun cliffs and later on in the next episode we’ll compete in a tough endurance race.

Check it out and enjoy that stuff.

Not that I love doing illegals, but it’s just so easy to drive to a sick spot a few hours away, but quick. J Makes life easier for sure…Azza’s got his sick Range Rover sport down there so that gets some good usage too. Compared to video games, it’s pretty sweet!! Haha…

This year was different for me though, I wasn’t able to ride. Instead, I had a surgery…I needed to get my left ankle fixed up. All the cartilage was just worn out by all the poundings over the years and it was bone on bone.

That’s a gnarly situation when you’re young and you want more…I took some time off and focused on staying fit and enjoyed other things like dj’ing a bit.

Anyways, Aaron was busting out some sick moves again…In straps and in boots, even on the cable he was throwing down like a pro.

It was suffering for me to watch all of that without getting any action myself. But at least Azza was having a great time and my motivation meter got cranked way up.

Check out the new episode and the pics.

Laterzz.

Rubes

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When you travel so much you need to make sure you balance things out nicely. That you take your rest when you can and that you’re fit when you gotta rock it.

After a while I just got so overloaded and busy in my mind that I didn’t really get to stick to a plan or have a routine. Everything is a bit all over the place.

So my next trip is on the 1^st of August, then I’m off to Pozo, Gran Canaria. Where the wind will blow super strong and I’m going to push myself for a new radical move.

But spending some time at home is important for me, not having to put your game-face on 24/7. Rest…

I still didn’t even really get time to sort out my life. But I’ll do that next week when I’m back from Gran Can. Now I just had some time to do some wakeboarding, hang with some friends, empty the mind a bit…wash my clothes.

Now all my gear is prepared for a nice week of action. Although, my ankle’s super soar at the moment. Need to have it checked out when I get back…

But this can’t hold me back for now…Booooom, wap out a big fat megaloooop first!!

Aight, wish me luck!

Cheers.

R

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I wasn’t too stoked about the whole trip anymore as we had some film shoot lined up and I wasn’t able to ride. Harsh deals…

For Aaron, who was on a mission to secure his 6^th World Champion title the trip was good fun. He had been to New Caledonia before and met up with some friends.

I cruised along and enjoyed the vibe of New Cal for sure. What place…

Tom Hebert, one of our mates who lives there helped us to get a local touch of the island and took us surfing.

Aaron’s luck in the competition didn’t go so well, he had some trouble with his board not feeling too good. So no 6^th title for Aaron, and time to take a break from the whole competition side of life.

Azza’s On The Loose with Ruble Duble, traveling the globe to live life and ride hard.

Check out episode #3 NOW!!!

Peace!

Ruben

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This time it was  the West-Coast that needed some lovin’, so Aaron, Will and I managed our way down to Hood-River. Our mission was to shoot some interesting stuff for On The Loose, and with Slingshot I had several missions going.

Working on some new boards, graphics, testing, photoshooting, filming.

Plus there was a cool throw down event organized by the crew from the Slider Project.

A lot of good riders came down for this event as the Gorge is a fun place to ride and hang out. They had several nice features in the water that were being hit nicely by some of the boys like Billy Parker, Brandon Sheid, Eric Reinstra, Sam Light, Jason Slezak and bunch of others.

The event was just one day and in the morning the wind was nice and strong, but later in the last stage of the competition the wind died out.

Aaron and I managed it into the last 9, were Aaron came out as a winner. Bet he was well stoked, he’s getting the hang of hitting rails well good lately.

So I was actually looking quite forward to go home as I was quite busy and didn’t really get time to recharge my batteries.

After dealing with all the stuff in the Gorge, the boards came out good. Slingshot even had me sit down with this designer to create a custom graphic.

That was sick, the board came out well nice…Will show you soon.

We were staying in a nice house that overlooked the whole spot, so that was pretty comfy.

I’m off…Peace!

Ruben

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This time you’ll see Azza and me on a trip to Brazil. Aaron is rocking out some moves while I busted my ankle…

Luckily Riki and Gigi from Pro Kite Brasil had the perfect set-up to get some chill time in.

It was a big bummer for me as it was the start of my trip around the globe with Aaron. First Brazil, then New Caledonia onto Cape Town.

Harsh deals traveling around the globe with all your surf gear with ya and not be able to shred.

Oh well, I had enough time to get my mind on some other things!

In the end, everything happens for a reason.

I hope you enjoy this episode, check back regularly as we’ll have our latest pics and travel stories up.

Make sure to check out Red Bull TV too.

Peace out and spread the love.

Ruben

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