Longboarding Epic

Last Friday there was a good weather window long enough for me to get the M Coupe out to the detail shop to get a dent fixed and a clear bra installed on my hood. Jo works about 1 mile from the shop and offered to let me use her car while mine was being fixed. Instead of mounting up my roof rack and taking a bike I loaded up this long board John got me for Christmas. It's about 5 feet long and rides smooth as a cadilac. What a perfect opportunity to break it in with a short trip on the bike path.

The Longboard

The Dent

On the way to the detail shop, Josh, the owner called me and said I needed to drop the car off at his paintless dent repair shop first. "No problem", I repsonded and speed off in that direction. When I got there I realized that my one mile skate had just turned into an 8 mile skate on the sandy shoulder of a busy road. Leaving the shop I had to go straight up a hill and then brave the super long and steep downhill side. When I pulled up to the shop, the M Coupe imidiately got the attention of everyone there. After I dropped off the keys, their eyes were all on me as I opened the hatch and pulled out the longboard. The hill started right out of the parking lot. My progress up it and into the 30 mph wind was comically slow. The looks on their faces were priceless as I slowly inched away with each push. I would have gone faster walking up it, but I had to much pride to walk in front of my audience.

I haven't skatedboarded since I was a teenager. Starting out on the wind swept shoulder, as semi's and honking commuters rushed by just a few feet off my left side was bad, but the head wind and sand were worse. The muscles in my front leg protested the strange demands I was placing on them with cramps and pain. After an eternity of suffering I crested the hill thinking the worst was over. Wrong! The downhill side was longer and steeper. I did an incredible job of avoiding the sea of rocks that were just waiting to jam in my front wheels and send me headfirst into traffic, but the shoulder was too narrow to turn and control my speed. My only option was to eject off the board and run full speed down the steep grade of the highway shoulder into the leafless, brittle pricker bushes below. Beaten down, demoralized, and riddled with prickers I shamefully walked, board in hand, to the bottom.

At the bottom of the hill I finally left the chaos of the road for one of Boulder's many bike paths. You can get anywhere in the city on a bike as fast as in a car. This is partly due to Boulder's intricate, well laid out bike paths and partly due to its horrible traffic. With the shear hell of the hill behind me, I settled into a good rythmn and started enjoying my adventure. My leg muscles were getting used the skateboard, my cramps were fading, and I was even starting to add a little style to my form. It was great for about 15 minutes, until the gust front hit.

When frontal systems cross over the Eastern Rockies they crash down on the plains of the front range with enourmous energy. Hence my blog name; Lee-Side means "the leeward side" of the Rockies. The front that moved across Coloardo Friday hit me smack in the face with about two miles to go. It litterally blew me off the longboard. I spent the last two miles moving at at snail's pace, weaving on the path through the open fields and paire dog towns of East Boulder. There was absolutely no protection from the wind. Unlike cycling which I am used to, I could find no optimum aero position on the long board. I just had to push through it. After another eternity, I rode into the detail shop to the same priceless looks I left the dent shop to. Josh summed it up best with the words, "You skated that far. (Pause) On a day like today. (Longer Pause) Your (insert your favorite explitive here) ___ing crazy!". I think stupid is a better adjective, but in my own twisted way the suffering in the wind, sand, and traffice was a hell of a good time. Besides, I was due for an epic!