The laughing Pirate.
Batshit crazy sonofabitch!
I first saw Fids on a video called Unleash your BMX, My friends and I had score a copy of a copy of an English VHS tape, and this dude was riding a metal launch onto a dirt landing and some other wild stuff from old backyard jams…
Over the years as his Legend grew, he became somewhat of an Icon, and a mystery as well, a pro BMX rider, that also skate vert. from another country.
Through the years, somehow, we all ended up becoming friends, BMX is somewhat of a small world for people who live that lifestyle long enough.
One of the last times we hung out, it was during a road trip from Hastings in the United Kingdom, to Berlin, By way of Belgium, to a Comp and then a week of travel afterwards… On the trip there, it was at least 10 people crammed in a van, drinking rum, being crazy, and raising hell. I was jetlagged, sober, tired as all getout, and confused in general. I don’t remember exactly what the order of events were, but we made it to Germany the first night, couldn’t find a hotel, and Dean, the trip captain, pulled off a rest stop on the Autobahnen, somewhere past Cologne, where we slept like gypsies in the rain, under bushes, benches and picnic tables, frightening the more ordinary German travelers. It was a hell trip from the start.
The weekend in Berlin was great, and we soon set adrift for more adventures, The whole time, Fids telling and endless amount of bad taste jokes, riding like a madman, laughing over everything, and being a bundle of energy. At one point the two of us were sessioning a shitty launch ramp, facing a set of stairs, like a flyout. He killed it! It was awesome.
At some point we ended up In Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, it’s second largest City, and the largest port in Europe. En route, Fids laughed out stories of Amsterdam, the Hookers, the drugs, the freedom to do as one chooses, and swore up and down he would not go near a hash bar, as it would send him into a paranoid state, and ruin his trip.
Once in Rotterdam, we found a Hostel, Rode Bikes, partied it up, Ate at the Kebab hut in the District we were in, met Anti American College aged back packers, women of the night, and soon noticed Fids, MIA.
As it turns, the first thing Fids does, is hit up a Hash Bar, get stoned, and spend the next day and half in his bed, in the hostel, with the blanket pulled up to his eyes like a cartoon character, missing a good part of our stay.
The trip home, with an exhausted crew winding itself down, it was more anecdotes , and stories from the Laughing Pirate… Look for More on Fids, as he rolls up For Lords of Fun Round 2. More info soon.
Berlin Germany...
