longboarding and mountain biking with kevin and owen in the north country. i went up to visit the fieder-sullivans last weekend and brought my mt bike. i got there friday afternoon with the sun shining (side note, i went the back way without making one wrong turn!) and for mid november, it was warm. we broke out a couple of longboards and went out the drive. their house is just at the height of land on old county road so there is a choice: to the north, straight and steep, perfect for speed; to the south, gradual curves and alternating hills with flat, allowing for cutting speed or even stopping. we went south.
i hopped on and pushed a few yards until gravity took over. carving back and forth with a big smile until i picked up some speed and noticed the trucks were setup much looser than on my boards. this one seemed prone to some crazy 'speed wobble' if i didn't stay right on it. still, fast was fun! i took a screen shot off google maps, just down the steep section. i am including it because i love the way they blend multiple images in street view. tell the truth, did you notice the 'anti-gravity' wires?
on the second steeper section, i felt the wobble just the 'other side' of each turn and wondered what that would mean when the car coming at me would force me into a single lane, straighter line. the car went by and i managed to make it to a flat section before taking one last hill, with no more cars.
at the bottom of that last steep--seen looking back up in the picture above--was a paved, side road that i remembered. it was often sandy and gravelly right at the turn, definitely a hazard, but offered a good uphill which would slow me. at least that was my theory as i turned. my rear wheels cut loose and slid without much of a prompt. the excitement was brief as i shot around the corner and swung a full 180° before i lost too much speed. now, cruising back to county road i gave a little victory slide in the sand at the corner.
it always amazes me at how lost in the moment i get when indulging in such downhill pleasure. i can focus and feel enormous joy at the same time. but as i stepped off the board i realized, i was alone--where was kevin? i got up one hill and still didn't see him. halfway up the next section he appeared, helmet first, carving deep turns across the road, shoulder to shoulder. he swept by me with a classic kevin wave, accompanied by his own wide smile. he stopped before tipping over that last hill and i knew he had been walking the steeper sections. helmet, elbow and knee pads, gloves, long pants, and solid shoes marked him as more cautious. maybe he was more sane too, compared to my shorts, tee shirt, and crocs.
we walked up together and took another run, then another, and then several others. i took that last hill three more times and even got kevin to try it--from a cautious, part way down start. both of us managed to avoid sliding out! we finally turned back to the house as the sun sank lower and the roads grew shadowy.
coming over to brownfield was always good for some gravity time as well as food, which we got right at after stowing the boards. after dinner kevin even made a dish of brownie-cake with kidney beans--that was new and different, "lil' kevie's moose poop brownies!"
saturday dawned equally clear and perfect for some more gravity time. today it was to be pursued on bikes and owen was coming with us. after breakfast, fixing a flat, and loading the bikes in the truck we drove over to new hampshire to the marshall conservation area kevin was raving about. the parking area was still fairly open but a large group of people were there, getting ready to hike. we unloaded the bikes and set out up the road towards the top of the singletrack.
the first trail we took down was the shumway! (the blue line on the map above) oh my gosh...this was heaven. the track was laid out incredibly sweet, with banked "technical turns and rock elements" galore. at just over a mile it didn't last nearly long enough, so of course we went back up--twice! we did another trail first but finished repeating the shumway on the final run. my goal that last trip down was to flow as natural as possible and hit a few of the lifts without breaking that 'stream of gravity'. i made it almost the whole way before my front wheel slid out from under me in a pile of leaves. back at the truck i watched the others skid about in the leaves and suggested with all that energy we hit another area.
kevin had another trail already in mind, sticks and stones. we loaded up and headed to a second round of 'flow' biking. before we took to the actual trail, i watched the other two again, this time circling round and round a pump track put in for practice. sticks and stones itself was two miles of fairly flat, compared to the downhill of the shumway, nor did i remember any built up bermed turns. but it was definitely full of highly technical turning. the track wound through the woods, with a scattering of stone elements designed to give bikers a challenge, usually by launching them into the air.
it was a fine day for playing outside! and why not follow that with some equally fine food and youtube inside. kevin and i each created a pizza for dinner: bacon blueberry on his; and beets and goat cheese on mine. we ate way too many pieces while watching danny macaskill videos.
if you have never watched macaskill work his magic on two wheels, i highly recommend it. videos always seem to look better following your own personal session with the outdoors. find some mtb trails if you like to bike, some smooth paved road if you longboard. maybe this winter will be snowful and allow us to get out to ski the backcountry, if not perhaps the ice on a lake near you will be smooth and thick.
whatever you do, when gravity starts to pull, let yourself go...!
i hopped on and pushed a few yards until gravity took over. carving back and forth with a big smile until i picked up some speed and noticed the trucks were setup much looser than on my boards. this one seemed prone to some crazy 'speed wobble' if i didn't stay right on it. still, fast was fun! i took a screen shot off google maps, just down the steep section. i am including it because i love the way they blend multiple images in street view. tell the truth, did you notice the 'anti-gravity' wires?
on the second steeper section, i felt the wobble just the 'other side' of each turn and wondered what that would mean when the car coming at me would force me into a single lane, straighter line. the car went by and i managed to make it to a flat section before taking one last hill, with no more cars.
at the bottom of that last steep--seen looking back up in the picture above--was a paved, side road that i remembered. it was often sandy and gravelly right at the turn, definitely a hazard, but offered a good uphill which would slow me. at least that was my theory as i turned. my rear wheels cut loose and slid without much of a prompt. the excitement was brief as i shot around the corner and swung a full 180° before i lost too much speed. now, cruising back to county road i gave a little victory slide in the sand at the corner.
it always amazes me at how lost in the moment i get when indulging in such downhill pleasure. i can focus and feel enormous joy at the same time. but as i stepped off the board i realized, i was alone--where was kevin? i got up one hill and still didn't see him. halfway up the next section he appeared, helmet first, carving deep turns across the road, shoulder to shoulder. he swept by me with a classic kevin wave, accompanied by his own wide smile. he stopped before tipping over that last hill and i knew he had been walking the steeper sections. helmet, elbow and knee pads, gloves, long pants, and solid shoes marked him as more cautious. maybe he was more sane too, compared to my shorts, tee shirt, and crocs.
we walked up together and took another run, then another, and then several others. i took that last hill three more times and even got kevin to try it--from a cautious, part way down start. both of us managed to avoid sliding out! we finally turned back to the house as the sun sank lower and the roads grew shadowy.
coming over to brownfield was always good for some gravity time as well as food, which we got right at after stowing the boards. after dinner kevin even made a dish of brownie-cake with kidney beans--that was new and different, "lil' kevie's moose poop brownies!"
saturday dawned equally clear and perfect for some more gravity time. today it was to be pursued on bikes and owen was coming with us. after breakfast, fixing a flat, and loading the bikes in the truck we drove over to new hampshire to the marshall conservation area kevin was raving about. the parking area was still fairly open but a large group of people were there, getting ready to hike. we unloaded the bikes and set out up the road towards the top of the singletrack.
the first trail we took down was the shumway! (the blue line on the map above) oh my gosh...this was heaven. the track was laid out incredibly sweet, with banked "technical turns and rock elements" galore. at just over a mile it didn't last nearly long enough, so of course we went back up--twice! we did another trail first but finished repeating the shumway on the final run. my goal that last trip down was to flow as natural as possible and hit a few of the lifts without breaking that 'stream of gravity'. i made it almost the whole way before my front wheel slid out from under me in a pile of leaves. back at the truck i watched the others skid about in the leaves and suggested with all that energy we hit another area.
kevin had another trail already in mind, sticks and stones. we loaded up and headed to a second round of 'flow' biking. before we took to the actual trail, i watched the other two again, this time circling round and round a pump track put in for practice. sticks and stones itself was two miles of fairly flat, compared to the downhill of the shumway, nor did i remember any built up bermed turns. but it was definitely full of highly technical turning. the track wound through the woods, with a scattering of stone elements designed to give bikers a challenge, usually by launching them into the air.
it was a fine day for playing outside! and why not follow that with some equally fine food and youtube inside. kevin and i each created a pizza for dinner: bacon blueberry on his; and beets and goat cheese on mine. we ate way too many pieces while watching danny macaskill videos.
if you have never watched macaskill work his magic on two wheels, i highly recommend it. videos always seem to look better following your own personal session with the outdoors. find some mtb trails if you like to bike, some smooth paved road if you longboard. maybe this winter will be snowful and allow us to get out to ski the backcountry, if not perhaps the ice on a lake near you will be smooth and thick.
whatever you do, when gravity starts to pull, let yourself go...!
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