Great Start to the '10 Season

I've been skating so much lately, that I welcome the rain, and a short break. A few of us attended Wheelabrator in Connecticut. It had been the largest ever, with around 40 people. The location reminded me of Overlook Park, here in Vermont, only industrial instead of residential. There is a drafting run, a slide hill, and a bike path. I really like the format of Wheelabrator, or lack of format, that is. There were no prizes, no competition, no ego trippin'. Just good'ol fashion skating around.

Made a couple trips out to Meadow Ridge, and it was fantastic! I really think I'm understanding the correct speed needed to make the flat right hander. Too fast, and you blow out, and you can't predrift because you kill too much speed. Most importantly, don't try to race the guy in front of you, just stick to the line, and hope you come out faster. It has been working well for me so far. I got some footage, but of course I'm totally slacking on that as well.

I have been landing B/S shuvit slides, and practicing switch check slides. My purple O-tangs are nearly cored, and slightly egg shaped. So far, freeriding has been ruling my life in Oh-Ten. Mostly because of how much I commute, I am able to find more time to throw slick slides. Maple Street has quickly become my choice hill get into Burlington. No longer do I have the urge to bomb down Pearl Street, bragging about how I beat traffic. I wait for traffic to pass, so as not to impede there travel, and when I have no uphill traffic, I take my run. At the next stop sign, I wait for those who want to drive downhill, and continue my massive freeride session.

So Mallets Bay has been drastically improved thanks to the creation of a five foot tall start ramp. With theoretical speeds of 15 mph coming off the ramp, it turns Mallets Bay into a world class GS/SGS destination. With Rick's help, we have been setting 40 cone courses, with large tucking sections, and high speed pumping features. Stay tuned for Outlaw news.

Speaking of events, UVM is having a Longboard Demo Day, and Raffle to benefit Haiti. The festivities start April 29th, noon, at the Harris/Millis Basketball courts. There will be ramps, rails, boards, and much more! Check it out. I will also be on VPR's Vermont Edition, with Sarah Ashworth, at some point. I am scheduling a time to meet soon to do an story about skateboarding in Burlington. I emailed in during a show about road usage, road sharing, and alternative transportation. My story sparked an interest with Sarah, so she got back to me. I am really looking forward to this story, because I hope to portray a positive image of skating, and educate those who need to be educated.

I have also heard that the Notch road is clear and closed... I got to go.

Where's the sign?

So there is this neighborhood with awesomely giant banked driveways. It is perfect for huge drifts, and big slides. It is quiet, and nondescript...almost too quiet. As it turns out, the neighborhood is unmarked private, according to one of the residents. The concerned resident was very polite, and a little surprised to find himself dealing with two, very mature, skateboarders. The association's insurance doesn't cover skateboarders on the road, and the neighborhood doesn't want to advertise their exclusivity. I think it would be in the insurance companies, and the associations interest, to advertise "private property". With no clear sign, anyone could use the road, and get injured, not just skateboarders. I respected the guy's wishes, for now, but intend on returning. Not out of spite, but out of principle. Nothing we do on that road is as, or more dangerous, as operating a motor vehicle.

Progression

So in my continuous search for new people to skate with, I posted about a skate session we would be having on the Burlington Vermont thread, in the Silverfish's New England forum. To my surprise, some one not only got back to me, but they actually showed up on time! Gunnar met Jack, and myself at Mallets Run on May 2nd, around 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Gunnar's preparedness was outstanding, and enthusiasm to learn refreshing. After gearing up, and going through safety protocol, we talked about skill level and limitations. Gunnar, before our sessions, I would consider a beginner, because he had all the basics, but lacked the intermediate skills like sliding. He showed great awareness of his surroundings, and never the bit heedless. All of these things contributed to his quick progression. In two days, Gunnar went from chirpy, stinkbug slides, to buttery drifts around corners. It was remarkable. Something that took me years to figure out, he gets in a matter of days. I think it's awesome.

It just proves that anyone can do this. It just takes some basic understanding, protective gear, and common sense. People don't deep sea dive with out their life support systems, commonly known as a Self Containted Underwater Breathing Apperatus, so why would you skate with out the proper protective gear? Gunnar was able to skate more, because the gear he was wearing protected him from harm when he fell, and falling is going to happen. Reduce your chances of injury, and greatly increase your skate longevity. With the proper gear, limits can be pushed, and confidence expanded, but don't let it get to your head. You are still mortal. Know your limits, and always maintain control of them. "Don't let your ego write checks your ass can't cash".

By the end of the first day, Gunnar had made a dozen of decent heel, and toe slides on his Landyachtz Evo, Bear852, with s9 goddess of speed wheels. He understood more about aerodynamics after doing some downhill runs with Jack, Tom, and myself. Since Jack is all of 110 pounds, I was bump-drafting him into the sweeper, so he could take it a bit faster. As the sun began to drop, Tom and I set up some slalom cones for a GS course. The cones were spaced a full road width apart, starting at 30 feet, and progessively reaching 50. Jack even got in on the slalom action, riding my LY drop speed, O-tangs, and loosey-goosey Venom barrel bushings. That was a great day. Day one of the Gunnar sessions.

Gunnar sessions: Day 2.
Kyle and I met Gunnar at Overloook Park, May 4th. We did a few warm up runs, Gunnar was more confident in his slides, and was hitting them at higher speeds. We then proceeded to the bike path, towards the White Barn. This was Gunnar's first time riding the bike path with some speed, and when he got the first major turn, he busts out the cleanest drift. The White Barn, with it's blind turns and sweeper, posed no problems for Gunnar. We posted up at the hairpin, and Gunnar was nailing one hand drifts around it. Kyle was floating around the hairpin, letting the back end of his surf bug swing out, as he leaned hard on his heelside. No hands needed.

Skate today because tommorow might rain.

Playing Catch Up

Yesterday, April 25th, was a really fast day. Tom and I made it up to MR around 10 am. We took turns driving and skating. MR is at least a mile long, top speeds around the high 40's (MPH), features includes a 90 degree right hand turn up top, some mellow turns in between, and a high speed left hand sweeper at the bottom. We were reaching 40+ mph before the first turn (90 degree right), and had exit speeds in the high 20's. We believe the optimal exit speed wold be at least 30, in order to get to 50 mph before the sweeper. Tom got a little twitchy around the sweeper, and blew out once on the right hander. I had some hard scrubbing to do around the right hander in order to hold my line, some wider trucks might resolve this issue *que Kahalanis*. I was feeling really comfortable around the sweeper, even when cars were coming up, I was able to hold my line on the outside.

After the MR runs, Tom and I made our way back into Burlington, picked up Kyle and Justin, and headed out to Mallets Bay. If you know where Marble Island Marina is, then you can find what we call "Mallets Run". A road with no houses, Mallets Run is full of open, unsold lots, making traffic low, and parking plentiful. Mallets Run maybe short, but it sure is sweet. Plenty of mellow turns, room for drafting, passing, and a right hand sweeper that gets better everytime. Throw in some tunes, beer, food, and more skaters, and we got ourselves an outlaw. Keep on the look out.

Until then...

good luck playing catch up!

and then...

7:10 a.m. - Alarm

9:00 a.m. - Meet Tom, Kyle, and Carter at MR. MR is wet, we mobilize to the back-up hill.

9:30 a.m. - Irish Hill is green, so we gear up.

9:35 a.m. - Clutch. Clutch. Clutch (thanks for driving Carter, next time we'll try on getting you an automatic).

10:20 a.m. - Four runs in, the town starts emptying the fire hydrants onto the road for some reason, so we start taking the 90 degree right hander before the bridge. Estimated speed: 43 mph. Five runs. Nine runs total.

Noon - Haul chain. (literally)

6:00 p.m. - Pre-Thrash BBQ. Delicious.

8:oo p.m. -THRASH- Cluster fuck to organize.

8:30 p.m. -THRASH- At the hill. At least 12 people, various skills and abilities. Started out on the "Snake Run", then the "S-Turns", "Raoul", and finally bottom of the Davis Center. At the Davis Center we set up some hippy hoping obsticles that were pretty advanced, and not something the whole group could participate in, although most tried. Kyle was having a good time of course, and Carter was getting some really good footage of him. It was fun, and a little dangerous, while it lasted. Everyone was about ready to leave...and then...

9:40 p.m. -DRAMATIC THRASH'N FINISH- Tom purposly got in Kyles line, who was about to make the last manuever in his perfectly planned run, which was being filmed. I stood there as the match was stuck against a rough surface, pavement. Anger. Thrown chair. My phone rings, and the timing couldn't have been better. I hope that shit never happens again.

10:00 p.m. - Cha-Ching

11:00 p.m. - Blog writing, melt, sleep, or is it sleep, then melt?

See you on the hill, and leave the drama at home.

Happy Holidays! (4/20)

A bunch of us partied at the giant sweeper on Mount Philo. Boombox, beer, boards, and spliffs. It was a long day for me, so I'm writing this post a day late, and it's a fuzzy day at that. But from what I remember, it was awesome. No one got hurt, and everyone had a good time. Carter got some footage of the day, so be on the watch for that. It's raining for the next few days, so hopefully I can get some work done. Does any one know about free ftp servers to host my blog?

See you on the hill.

Broken Arrow Day

Never expect things to happen as planned, but always make the best of them. That was the lesson learned today. After the original plans fell through, I quickly arranged new ones. Jack was way ahead of me this morning, having already skated Mt. Philo, and Irish Hill by 7 am. He was excited when I mentioned a new hill for DH. This hill is classified. Since we had no driver, we had to hike the mile or so to the top. By the second run we were pretty tired of walking, but I drove Jack, so could have one last run. Some course maintenance was needed around a rocky corner, but other than that, we had some awesome runs. Jack fine tuned his stance around left handed sweepers, while I worked on sticking my 90 degree rights. Jack was hitting the 90 degree right hander at 40 mph. Crazy kid!

After some downhill runs, I took him back to his place, and grabbed some much needed food. Then I grabbed the Gl1 and tripod to do some solo filming at the White Barn hairpin. Be on the look out for that footage, as well as footage from BCC, Overook, and UVM.

See you on the hill

Easter Day Sesh

It was cold, so naturally we had a slow start. After gearing up, we (Tom, Kyle, Justin, and Billy) mobilized to the White Barn run. Winds were from the north, but we had some nice cover from the trees. On the second run, it was myself drafting Kyle, who was pushing for dear life for about half the run. It was just after the fence, before the left hand sweeper, where my will to slow down diminishes. Going around the three-foot wide corner, I take the inside, and Kyle maintains the outside until…with no safe means to adjust his weight (Kyle wasn’t wearing gloves at the time), Kyle’s truck hangs off the road, and catches some grass. Thankfully, Kyle wasn’t injured, but that wasn’t the only close call today.

Again, it was I who was taking the lead. Tom and Kyle were taking the right around the divider on Stonehedge, when Tom tried to sneak inside of Kyle. With no clear communication, the two lightly touched wheels, which resulted in both riders bailing. Tom made it to the grass, while Kyle slid a good 20 feet down the road. Remarkably, Kyle’s jacket wasn’t torn, and both riders were okay.

There was no footage from today, strictly skating, but we did have some really nice runs. Tom nailed a heel-side stand up slide around the hairpin, at the bottom of the White Barn Run. Justin was putting down some really good two-handed toe slides around the same turn. Billy really improved his pushing abilities, and downhill stance. An old dude was totally stoked with what we were doing, but he was definitely more into our protection. If you want to be treated like a professional, you gotta look like one. It was a good day today, not only because no one got injured, but because tomorrow is looking even better!

See you on the hill