(WARNING: Long-winded post by Peter. Read at your own risk.)
The anticipation had been building up for weeks and finally, the time had come – a weekend at the Maryhill Loops Road in Goldendale, Washington! MLR has some history to it and is currently a private road used for various car, motorcycle, bicycle, and world-class skateboard events. Sanctioned downhill boarding has been going on here since 2007 - it is a well known and well organized event in the downhill community. The course is 2.2 miles with run times from 3:10 and up. Riders get up to the mid 40-mph range at top speeds.
This weekend was a freeride event (definitely not free) for
anyone from ‘noob’ riders starting out their big road skills (me) and
experienced riders who wanted a more ‘chill’ downhill format. No prizes, places, or timers – just run
after run of good ‘ol fashioned downhill fun. Three U-haul trucks full of over 190 riders took us up as
many times as we could manage from 9am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday.
Day 1 - Feeling Up Maryhill
The set up:
Board – Subsonic Racecar 38"
Trucks – Caliber 50*
Wheels – Abec 11 ZigZags 66mm 80a
Bearings – Bones Reds
This board is my new baby - the first new deck I've had in eight years. While it is not an ideal downhill board setup, it is very versatile and would be able to handle this course just fine. The
Caliber 44 degree truck would be preferred (the lower the degree of angle to
the ground the more stable it is at high speeds) and the wheels are on the
small side for a downhill course but I wasn’t going to drop more $$ on trucks or another
$70 on some fresh 75mm or larger wheels.
All in all, the setup performed very well for me - grippy on the turns and plenty fast on the straightaways.
When I arrived at Maryhill I felt like a kid at Disneyland
for the first time. You know when
the roller coaster is going ‘chunk-a-chunk-a-chunk’ up the hill before the
first drop? Yeah, like that. It was a beautiful sunny day and the
course road just went up and up and up into the hill. There were giant windmills gracefully dotting the hillside
and a gentle breeze in the fresh spring air. It was great to see so many different riders and their board
setups. Fifteen years ago there were only a handful of boards, trucks, and wheel designs available. The current longboarding scene is healthy, alive and has plenty of young rippers tearing up Maryhill and any other hill they can find. People not only brought
downhill boards, but also luge boards, butt boards, gravity bikes, and adult
sized ‘drift trikes’ .
While skateboarding is generally a solitary activity – just
you and your board – riding with a pack provides a unique group experience
where you must be constantly aware of who is around you and you must hold your
line as to not drift into others leading to a chain reaction of wipeout
carnage.
My first run was amazing, not because of anything having to
do with my skills but because of the pure awesomeness of this course! Nearly flawless pavement, turn after
turn (about 15 in all), and if you took the right lines down the hill you could
lean hard into every turn without having to pre-drift or slide the wheels. Many of the turns are named: spaghetti,
back breaker, and never ending left are a few. Having never done pack riding downhill, I stayed away from
the large groups going down. Some
packs had 20+ people at a time! It
was my first time truly being able to draft people, which was fun to
experience. As if the course
wasn’t fun enough by itself, on one straightaway they set up a tunnel of hay
bales – 3 tall, one wide – to shoot through. Some riders affectionately called it ‘the temple of
doom’. I skipped it on my first
run but for subsequent runs I would usually shoot through it. Pure awesomeness…
After all the riders made their way down the U-Hauls would
follow and we’d be going back up for another ride. In all we got about 12-15 runs that day and I didn’t crash
once!
When riding was done for the day I headed out to my campsite at Maryhill State Park, only a few minutes down the road, but not before enjoying the beautiful view of the Colombia River from the Stonehenge memorial site. I arranged with a couple fellow riders – Remy and Pat – to share a camp spot. These young rippers were up from the Bay Area so we had a good deal in common. It was refreshing to hang out with teenagers who had their heads on straight and were not delinquents. Besides waking up the next morning to ants all over the outside of my tent (the dirt pad under the tents was basically one giant ant hill) the campsite was nice. Lots of other skaters were camped around us so we were in good company.
Day 2 - Getting Spanked By Maryhill
Another beautiful day for riding! With my confidence building I borrowed a larger set of
wheels from Pat and oh what a difference 10mm can make. The wheels were noticeably faster,
making my margin for error on the turns a bit smaller; my lines would have to
be tighter. I was also pretty sore
from being in a tucked/crouched riding position most of the prior day so I knew
I would need to not be lazy with my form on runs. Fatigue can lead to inattentiveness and dumb mistakes –
something Maryhill’s constant turns are not very forgiving of.
Everyone’s level of stoke was still very high. Some of the more ballsy riders were even doing boxer runs (just the helmet, shoes, and skivvies) and yes, at least three dudes did a full on naked run, with helmet and shoes of course. I got in about three runs until the inevitable happened – my first wipeout. It really wasn’t a bad one. Just slid out and off my board on a hard heelside turn. I got some road rash on my right thigh and arm but I finished my run and after a quick visit with the on hand EMTs I was back on the hill.
After a couple more solid runs I had another spill; this one
was not as nice as the first. I
was fast approaching a right turn at ‘the cow gate’ and saw three riders had
wrecked up ahead. They were clear
of the course but one of their boards was rolling back into the middle of the
road. I was set up center/right on
the road to make the toeside turn but with the board rolling into my path I had
to swerve left and try to cut a late turning hard right to make it. As anyone who has done racing or high-speed
sports knows, these things happen so fast and your mind can work very quickly
to adjust as needed. In a matter
of five seconds or so while making the turn my thought process went like
this: “ok, wreck ahead, board in
the road, swerve left, cut right, hold it, hold it, lean, lean, lean, grab the
rail, wheels about to break (slide), lean, hold it, not going to make it, hay
bale on left, going to clip it, going down, slide it out, shit!, I’m so glad
I’m wearing this helmet!, am I flipping over?, whew, that sucked…” The first two thoughts after a wreck
for a boarder are usually ‘where is my board?’ and ‘did you get that on
film?’. My board was about 20 feet
behind me and although there was a camera man at the corner he was shooting the
three guys that wrecked before me and only saw me after hearing the crash. Although I was pretty shaken up I gave
the corner marshal the universal thumbs up to let him know not to radio for the
ambulance. He came over and told
me, “Wow, you did a classic scorpion there.” This term was new to me and I could have lived a happy life
having never known it, let alone experienced it first hand. Here are a few examples of other
unfortunate souls and their scorpion falls. Ouch, right? So basically what happened is while sliding into the left
shoulder I tried to 4-point slide it out on my pads (hands and knees
down). My right hand slid fine on
the road but when my left hand hit the gravel/dirt it buckled under me causing
my head to go straight down. I
ended up coming to a grinding halt courtesy of my left hand, face and right
shoulder, while my legs bent up and over my back. Thank God I was wearing a full face helmet (required for the
course). Unfortunately I sprained
my left wrist pretty bad and could not bear any weight on it. I waited with the camera man for the
U-Haul to pick us up on the way down.
I was bummed to go out like that but also thankful it wasn’t any worse.
After changing out my wheels and bearings, which is pretty annoying to do one-handed, I said some thanks and goodbyes. I drove out for a beautiful 2-hour trip home feeling very thankful for the chance to experience the best hill riding I have ever done. This noob had a great time and would love the opportunity to do it again next year!
 Always wear your helmet kids! 
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