SKILLDASH BMX – “TOKAROTO”

Apr 05, 2024

Written by Bart de Jong

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SKILLDASH BMX – “TOKAROTO” In Greek, "to karoto" means "the carrot". This came about, because in Duolingo (a language learning app), when you learn Greek, the first word they teach you is this and they repeat it over and over again. As a result, on the trip we were repeating it all the time as a joke and the Greeks also started at one point and the name stuck.

The crew was Hristo, Magic, Boyan and Bobi the filmer. The route was Sofia - Thessaloniki - Volos - Lamia - Athens. 9 days in total, 4 of which in Athens. We were lucky to have wonderful weather throughout the trip which allowed us to also enjoy the beach and have a really pleasant overall experience. A big highlight was living in the campervan the four of us together. Riding and filming from morning to night. It was very exciting and productive because everyone was pushing themselves a lot. I personally have never had so many tricks on serious street spots for such a short period.

A big contributor to that was that all of us fell into a state of high focus and commitment throughout the trip. Everyday was a mission to get the most out of the available time and energy and it was a great process. Bobi, our filmer had a huge role in making the whole thing happen so productively. It’s been a while since we had someone on a trip who was there only to film, because in Bulgaria there were no other active filmers until he got into it. His contribution was enormous as he is super dedicated to what he is doing and his unique and constantly evolving vision resonates with our crew a lot. And he's only 15 years old!

In Athens, we were with the locals all the time. They took amazing care of us and every day were showing us around a different neighborhood, always full of spots. Without them we would not have been able to explore even a fraction of this street paradise. They are all real gangsters and the underground culture in Athens is blooming. At night it’s a common thing in the city centre to see armed police officers with guns and shields running around the streets, explosions thundering here and there and anarchists throwing Molotov cocktails towards the police. There's a very obvious conflict between some local communities and the police. It’s a chaotic world that’s interesting to see!

Riders:
Hristo Iliev
Anthony "Magic" Jelev
Boyan Stoev

Filming and editing:
Bobi Stoilov