Fountain Head AC/DC

[Wesley Tucker]

The Fountainhead race last year was January. That weekend wasn't too intolerable. In Feburary, we moved back to the P&R and I ended up fighting off frostbite. It was sunny, windy, COLD and the snow was still piled around on the grass. We didn't actually get to skate til afternoon because the snow runoff went underground and seeped up into the course through cracks in the road. Thought I was gonna die.

There's a reason I live in the South and it ain't for the sweet smell of magnolia blossoms!

Oh, in March, it was pretty much a repeat of February. The only difference was in March it finally warmed up a little by 3:00 in the afternoon. That made it much more comfortable for that guy living in his '70 Barracuda in the parking lot.

[Noah Heinle]

Last year, I think about this time, you guys has a session at Fountainhead (or Occoquan, wherever) on a day with highs expected only in the teens. I opted out because the thought of driving 400 miles to hang out in the woods a mile from my car in the freezing cold with WesE didn’t sound too appetizing. The day after, I was pissed that I wussed out. I saw pics and heard stories that it was a great time and the cold wasn’t that bad. I was even more bummed to learn that WT toughed it out and made that session!
13 and I skated last weekend in sub 30* temps. It wasn’t bad. If the weather makes the road unmanageably dirty or wet, bummer. But if it’s doable, I’m stoked. I’m looking forward to seeing you guys. (you too Wes….both of you)

[Wesley Tucker]

Nobody likes to listen to me bellyache, but I'm gonna do it anyway!

Here's the deal. I'm watching the weather and will probably decide as late as Thursday night or Friday morning to come up. Right now, it looks REALLY DICEY for next weekend. Highs are only in the low '40s and you've got freezing stuff off and on for the foreseeable future.

If it rains next Wednesday or Thursday and washes away the snow and salt and then it's very dry Friday and anticipated to be dry Saturday, I'll head out. If it's gonna be another deep freeze where I can't feel my toes again until Monday and the wind and water makes skating a joke, I'll stay home and go to the beach.

I'd really like to come. Sounds like a good crowd and the fundraiser Saturday night would be cool. But y'all know the deal: you can walk to Occoquan while I got 500 miles of interstate with a distinct possibility of icey bridges. That ain't my idea of a quiet ride in the country.

[Aaron Morris]

Me and my Dad will be there.

[Danny Crawford]

Mr. Ohm brings up a good point that I forgot about with the brooms. Last time it was pretty twiggy and it would mess up your skating and freak you out so put a broom in with everything else you're bringing.

I'm so stoked!

[Mike Ohm]

Rumor has it that if the weather holds for the 5th the DC Outlaws will be out in force as well as a few out-of-towners. I am sure there will be enough cones and at least 1 timer available. Brooms and possiby a gas blower would be essential. The authorities have seen us there before so there shouldn't be a problem. Getting Fountainhead or another "alternative" hill for a legit race is in the works. Please clean up and respect the park.

[Dan Mitchell]

If there is a slalom race, I'll be there. I have 50 cones but no timer. I might be able to bring walkie-talkies also.
I'd also like to see some speed on my Bozi MBII, but not so gnarly that I'd need leathers and a full-face .

Come on slalom pussies, step up or shut up!!

[Jeff Boswell]

WesE brought up a good point. its pretty far back in there where y'all are planning on running the downhill. You might to come up with a plan in the event that someone gets hurt.

If I show up I'll bring my slalom cones. If I don't, have fun, be safe and God Speed!!

[Danny Crawford]

I was thinking the same thing Tony. I just didn't want to type it.

[Rene Hayden]

Shit Yeah.

[Anthony Flis]

Rene, if you can you should get out to fountainhead this weekend so you understand the layout of the park.

I think this will work out.
We just need two walky talkies, one at top and bottom of the hill and we call if from the top then record times at the bottom and then the person who just ran runs the walky talky at the bottom and records then next persons time and so on and so forth.

Now lets say we all meet or try to start arriving at 9 oclock and get practice in before qualifying. We'll start qualifying at 11 and try to finish by like 12 or so. Give everyone two qualifying runs and their best of two will determine where they fall in the bracket. Someone will need to help me out with how you determine the brackets however because that is one thing I dont know how to do. Then we will do two man heats till one is crowned and then we should open up the right side for trying and grudge matches and stuff at your own risk if you arent pissing your pants over that turn.

Slalom however...I think the cones should be set and reset through out the day so that can stay interesting. You could do brackets in that too since there is only a limited amount of people who would want to do both downhill and slalom. The only people that come to mind like that are me, Danny and Anthony S.

All in all I think that non of the racing actually matters. It's more about meeting new people and trying new things or improving on old things so if the racing thing goes down the tubes i wont be dissappointed and I dont think anyone else will be either due to the fact that there will be a lot of awsome skaters there and skating is fun especially with a lot of other people like you.

[Rene Hayden]

Sounds good to me.

Just as long as the slalomers aren't in the way or on the side of downhill runs, that's fine.

I'll be available to walkie-talkie or we can just do a switch-it-up. In fact, maybe that should be the race stakes. Last two have to man the talkie-walkies.

Rene.

[Anthony Flis]

Rene, we can't race the gnarly right side due to the fact that the turn is gnarly as hell and the possible consequences are not worth it for an outlaw race. No one wants to call in for a helicopter. We can race the left side of tehhill without bails of hay or anything just full pads and full face helmets cause you never know when youll clip someone or freak out or whatever. I say if we do downhill race with brackets then ill bring a stop watch and walkytalkies thats fine BUT we need someone to run that because this is something I really wanna RIDE at. It will be really laid back and just plain fun. Here is what I say we should do as far as a tentative schedule:
9am - everyone starts arriving and scouting out and just checkin it all out while someone starts setting cones on that middle hill.
10am - practice and running cones and courage building and mingling starts full on
11am - qualifying when you are ready for downhill
12 - qualifying should finish up and brackets drawn and up racing commence
when the downhill brackets are done with everyone free to mingle and ride the other side of the hill or try their hand at slalom and just cruise the park until it gets dark

It should be a no pressure, laid back day of fun and grudge matches with trying new things and meeting new people gearing up for a new spring season of awsome progressing skaters and some degressing cuz theyre jsut getting too old ...just kidding but yeah

[Anthony Smallwood]

I like Rene's attitude. Sight unseen, he figures we can do it. Sometimes I think we forget he's Canadian, meaning he'll find a way to get it done. Canadians are some of the toughest son-of-a-bitches I've ever dealt with, right behind the Koreans. But I think he's gonna have a tough time overcoming the slackers.....I don't want to haul haybales and I don't want to run back up the hill in my leathers as I advance ha ha ha

Again, I'll be happy just to skate and watch others skate

So, has everyone seen the shot of Rene in today's Wasington Post? It's a feature on the GSL in the District supplemental section. Also a good shot of Chris Nostrand behind the wheel of the bobcat.

[Rene Hayden]

By "mic" I was referring to walkie-talkie.

As for the shuttle, doesn't someody own a Segway? We could shuttle people up on that, or tether them to my dog.

I know this is outlaw, I have no great hopes, just that everybody races, has fun, and doesn't get hurt (seriously). I'm not going to be responsible for the downhill program. They can do whatev, hay bales or not. I was just volunteering to be a radio (walkie-talkie) man/timer if that was the only thing stopping them from doing a proper race.

[Wes Eastridge]

René, you sound like you have some big hopes. As far as I can tell, this is outlaw. Mics and shuttle don’t really fit into the equation. Bringing in haybales will be pretty difficult, considering it’s at least a mile between the locked gate to the back hill. I suggest you take a trip to check it out so that you know what is up.

[Rene Hayden]

What's so frickin' hard to organize?

You need two walkie-talkies, two volunteers and a stopwatch for downhill, right? And maybe a shuttler? I can be one of the volunteers, since I don't own a fullface, and only a leather jacket. Maybe one of the other slalomers or significant others will volunteer to be the other person on the mike, or we can just switch off like we did at DC/DC. As for format, I'm leaving that up to the downhillers. I think as long as you have the equipment, you can improvise on the spot depending on who/how many show up--i.e.: brackets or "jam session." The only problem with a totally open-ended jam is that people might cross paths and run into each other.

We are going to have slalom, according to Vlad, so that is a bit more complicated to organize, i.e.: we need a reserved clear hill, a timer system, a runout, and a record keeping device (i.e.: pen and paper). It would be bad to have somebody take a spill and then be run over by a speedboard at mach 3.

I'd be happy with reserving the non-gnarly hill (or a hill in general) for slalom from 10-1 and letting the downhillers have at it for the rest of the time in whichever way they think is best.

However, in the interests of safety, I'd ask that if the downhillers are going to take the gnarly hill, that they secure some hay baleage for the guard rail. There's no sense in one mistake resulting in the possibility of serious injury or death. That would be a serious bummer on the day.

Could the slalom community *****PLEASE***** let us know who, if anyone, is going to show up, and what resources you can bring (timer system, cones, spandex-clad hard-bodied youths) so we can plan this thing properly? Is there any interest in this event out there besides me, Vlad "the Ankle" Popov, Danny, Anthony F, Petitbois, and B. G.?

I don't know about an entry fee for GSL, but I'll bring a jar for "entry fee by donation--all proceeds to GSL (or the NHL player's fund)." I'm also willing to make official AC/DC trophies.

How about this:

9 AM Set-up for slalom and downhill bales as needed--course set after consultation (100 cones 4ft. straight w/ 10 ft stinger at bottom--ha ha).
10AM-1PM warm-up, slalom quals, B&A bracket racing (slappy and Jeff sweep the podium)
1 PM-2PM downhill "jam session" or warm up
2PM-4 PM downill racing
4 PM presentation of trophies and general carousing
4 PM -?? drinking of much beer at fine neighborhood establishments, and a moment of silence as we remember the magic and the memories of the NHL.

We could also throw in a slopestyle/sliding jam session from 1 to 2 and bump downhill warm up from 2-3 and racing from 3-4 or 5 (I don't know how long racing takes).

I will volunteer to emcee and shepherd the scruffy skaters to their assigned spots.

WADDAYA SAY, PARDS????

Any way you spell it, AC/DC spells FUN!!

[Danny Crawford]

Realistically, there doesn't seem to be anyone showing any initiative to organize, and I don't blame them because I want no part of that myself. The slalom guys might show but who's got a timer? For me, it doesn't matter. I would like to run cones for fun but I'm not interested in competing because at any time I might feel like bombing the right side....or the left side, or take my super tanker on a hand dragging low-pivot surf run. Point is, if someone organizes a downhill, I'll compete, whatever, but I'd be stoked just to take a slew of approaches toward the whole complex in a free and timely manner. I just want to ride.

I agree. It'll be too much of a pain to organize this. Lets have groups of people racing or just bombing for fun. Lets make it so there's no brackets or anything and just have fun racing people or just having fun bombing.

Me and Tony have been organizing a lot of this so this could mean that we would most likely be the ones responsible for timers and the walkie talkie stuff and I just wanna skate!

[Brian Gilbert]

oh crap please let this be the first of many fun runs for the dc/baltimore year. i want to run gs because i have a gs board, i want all you guys there, it will be fun, and sh*t, it will be a good way to start the season. lets all support this for a first fun way to start things. brian, ohm, vlad (if you can), john dillon(again if you can), Wes E, all the younge guys , seth, nino and all come on guys we can do this. im gonna drive from baltimore to where ever this is. you guys have all helped me so much in my newness to slalom, id love to see you all there. i mean i still owe mike and brian for my bushings, which helped my racing so much plus i might have an axe by then. come on lets do this.

And you know what? lets take this one more step. lets do a 5 dollar entry fee that all goes towards green skate lab, i missed the party, but lets keep it up, these guys need us , and those of us who do more then wiggle down a street, we ned this park, vans is done we need somewhere to skate tranny, so lets make it all good for all. SK8 OR DIE!!! no mater how you skate!

[Anthony Smallwood]

Realistically, there doesn't seem to be anyone showing any initiative to organize, and I don't blame them because I want no part of that myself. The slalom guys might show but who's got a timer? For me, it doesn't matter. I would like to run cones for fun but I'm not interested in competing because at any time I might feel like bombing the right side....or the left side, or take my super tanker on a hand dragging low-pivot surf run. Point is, if someone organizes a downhill, I'll compete, whatever, but I'd be stoked just to take a slew of approaches toward the whole complex in a free and timely manner. I just want to ride.

[Anthony Flis]

Well as far as the downhilling goes we gotta figure how we are gonna do qualifying. We have like two weeks to put this all together. Should we have like an hour or two of practice then do qualifying in order of peoples names on a sheet or whoever wants to go and how are we gonna time it? We'll need walky talkies to make sure of a clear course as well. Anthony what do you think would be a good way to do this since you have race experience and know the terrain?

[Aaron Morris]

I Think I might be there.

[Anthony Smallwood]

I really hope the DC Outlaws come out and run cones on the 5th. A writer for a well known magazine is going to be in town hanging out with the DCDC and ECRW preparing for a story on DC's alternative skateboard scenes, of which the Outlaws play a huge part. Not sure if it's "dead" as some say, or just in really deep hibernation, but they have made a mark and need to be part of the story. And the fact that my friend, who charges a five figure sum for a days worth of work has agreed to photograph the story for free, means tons of good photos, many of which will be included in a future art show/fundraiser for the GSL.

BTW- There is going to be a fundraiser that night in DC hosted by the DC Downhill Club/Friends of GSL. Don't want to miss this one folks. Should be a classic day/night. More info to come....

GBJ- call me 202-607-1495 or email me. The writer will be in town from the 3rd-7th and I'd like for you to hook up with us at some point to discuss the Gathering, historically and currently.

Geezer X-call me, your shades are in

[Rene Hayden]

Yeah, what is happening with Ohm, Vlad, Wes, Brian, Eric, Slappy et. al.? Haven't heard from anyone 'round these parts except the roundwallers/longboarders.

Have ye forsaken these boards for the NCDSA or what? Moved out of DC? out of slalom?

I would cone it, but I've got no cones, much less a timer. I don't think my beer cups are going to cut it, and they are a bit dangerous in that if you hit them wrong they stop your wheels. If there's no slalom interest, I'd just vote to turn it into an all-downhill blast.

And what is up with the outlaw season?

[Anthony Flis]

Hasn't been any talk here in a while so i thought id stir it back up since its about two and a half weeks away till this little shindig. I was wondering what coneheads are gonna be there? I know that me and danny are itchin for some slalom after us each setting up new boards we built for slalom. I think slalom should definately be involved. We just need someone with cones and the desire to set a course and having saturday March 5th free.

[Anthony Flis]

Run to the hills is still a damn good song tho...anywho me and danny went and rode there today and we forgot how gnarly those hills were and it was the first time ive been nervous about riding a hill in a long time. Well after halfway through the turn we realized it wasnt as big a deal and started tucking it with no foot breaking and i started moving up the hill but danny wanted to stay safe for his date tonight. The left side would definately be "raceable" and then after that we could open up the right side for the idiots who just want a challenge and are ok with putting their lives in danger.

Slalom could work out on the hill near the entrance or we could run slalom earlier in the morning and do the speedboarding after it on the back hill. I definately want slalom to be a part of this for people to try and experience it for those who have never seen or been near any wigglers in their life. Plus ill need to try out the new board im shaping tonight taht i pressed last weekend.

Keep riding fast everyone and stop getting hurt too so that me and danny will have someone to ride with next time we ride there. Anthony S, if you go with your son there tomorrow jsut bring a board to ride to the back on due to the large amount of snow melt but the back hills are fine pretty much and the turn is dry just twiggy.

[Rene Hayden]

Would Ohm, Parson, Vlad, or WesE chime in here with recommendations regarding which hill we should do the slalom? I'm workin' blind here and I ain't no coursesetter....

WE could call this year's event "Run to the Hills" -- oh, wait, that's Maiden.....

[John Dillon]

Sounds like u guys r working it....good on ya! Rene, I like the AC/DC theme....that works well. Keep it up guys!

[Danny Crawford]

Could we run the GS on the front hill like we did last year? I have a feeling that some of the people won't have GS setups and wouldn't be interested in doing it so then they could still ride on the back hill while the GS is going on?

[Anthony Smallwood]

Wesley,

Sure. GS at 10 sounds great. Uh, bring cones.

Seriously Wesley, I really can't say what will happen regarding slalom.
Haven't heard from Ohm, BP et al, but I imagine something will formulate so STAY TUNED!!

[Wesley Tucker]

Anthony,

Let me see if I got this straight: Fountainhead, March 5, 10:00 AM: Giant Slalom.

If that's the case, then I'll probably head that way. If I'm not reading all these ideas and surmisings correctly, then I don't know. I'm not exactly sure what I'm coming up for?

[Anthony Smallwood]

Strange indeed, among other things....

Coming up WT?

[Wesley Tucker]

That's strange. Whenever I think of downhilling, I'm always reminded of "Y.M.C.A" or Frankie wailing "Relax."

But, that's just what I think

[Anthony Flis]

Rene, Thats a really good idea. I think you just nailed it right there. That gives everyone a chance to try everything and have a lot of scary wicked awsome fun too and the ACDC theme is great.

Next saturday who wants to go ride fountainhead? Me and danny are gonna go check it out for the first time in a year and would love some company. And if you are lucky you may get to see my new slalom board which is in production stages now.

[Anthony Smallwood]

I'm cranking "Hells Bells" before my downhill run. That song will get you amped!

[Rene Hayden]

WEll, why don't we plan on having the first half of the day say break down along this schedule:

10-1 "Rock and Roll ain't never gonna die" GS slalom quals and finals on "back hill" (time abbreviated dep. on how many wigglers will show)

1-2 "Let me put my love into you" Beginner and/or pack racing on "back hill"

(notice those are the two downtempo songs on back in black)

2-3 "Highway to Hell" Crazy people timed trials on "the crazy people hill" --iwell that broke up the back in black theme, but what the hey, it's Bon Scott and appropriate. Just as long as you don't do a "Bon Scott." The peeps will be warmed up, the pack will be culled and who wants to attempt it gets to.

Sound good? That way Doug's happy, I'm happy, and everybody gets to race it up in a variety of formats

Also, Wes, so if we race, are we gonna be on the wrong side of the law of the law?

Hmmm. A bunch of rowdies hootin and hollerin all day at one spot may seriously increase the bustage.

[Danny Crawford]

what about taking the run from the other side (...? I don't know, I've never been there), as some folks suggested a while back?

Would that be better for beginner racing/pack racing/slalom?

Rene.

Taking it the other way is a lot safer and we'd be able to race together.

[Rene Hayden]

what about taking the run from the other side (...? I don't know, I've never been there), as some folks suggested a while back?

Would that be better for beginner racing/pack racing/slalom?

Rene.

[Danny Crawford]

Anyone up for trying to ride occaquan again? I think if we're more careful than we were last time we can pull it off and that hill is fast and long but not technical at all. We'd just have to find a better way to get into the park.

I wouldn't have a problem going one at a time down fountain head either.

[Anthony Smallwood]

I understand most peoples need to feel like the King, but sometimes sessions are more in line than contests. Most riders with no downhill experience should be stoked just to survive a fast run on such a hill. The idea of anyone pushing their ass off from the top, tucking it and making that turn maching out, is almost laughable. But it is possible. The line is there for those worthy of the best!

A slalom race makes more sense, with a downhill "session" to precede or follow.

[Anthony Flis]

This is why I want to get out there next weekend or soon so that I can see what can be done or can't. Doug is probablyabout single runs and I know I dont feel like taking a swim in the river. I haven't ridden there since last year which was obviously a lot different from my ability level and now i have an actual downhill set up. So I think that Ill get danny to go with me next saturday and whoever else wants to come ride it with us be my guest so that we can figure out what to do.

[Anthony Smallwood]

Hey Wes,

Not going to make the 'head. Skated a transition in a warehouse w/ Seth and others last night and took a nice beef. Can't be sore and stiff while trying to conquer that run.
I'd run it any day during the week if you can get away.

bad news report:
Doug Dupin said he's not having anything to do with the race if we're running anything other than individual timed runs. In his experienced opinion, it's one of the most difficult and dangerous courses anywhere and he doesn't think it's a good idea for beginners or even experts to run with more than one person at a time. Anyone who doesn't have high speed sliding skills shouldn't hit it balls out. If you come off your board at speed on the bridge, well, we're all going to miss you!

It might be a better idea to just have a session there and maybe a race a Van Dorn.

Of course, I'm in for whatever

[Wes Eastridge]

Outlaw is the only way to race at Fntnhead without at least buying insurance. Even with insurance, I doubt they would ever let us ride there, since the park is actually closed. A back-hill race should be outlaw if possible. I don’t know what the building is back at the bottom of the hill. Is it simply just a boat-rental building that is closed during the off-season or something, or is it actually a ranger station? Last time I was there, there were park staff using it for something.


Anthony Smallwood,
Are you still planning to check it out on Saturday (Jan 29)? I gave you a call but your voicemail box was full.

[Danny Crawford]

From what I remember the park was kind of out of the way to get to so the cops don't really have much of a reason to be there in the first place. I also remember that there were a lot of people going through the park and it didn't really seem to be closed.

I think it would be fine to do it outlaw style and then use oakwood as a back up spot? Or maybe try and find a way to skate Occaquan(sp?)?

[Rene Hayden]

LOW KEY SCHMO KEY...

AC/DC!!!!

Now, seeing as I live far far away, and have never skated Fountainhead, I really wish that someone who has been there and skated that could inform us re: the bust factor.

Ohm, Slappy, Brian, Wes?

Is it better to broach the subject with the rangers, or is it best to do it outlaw? Personally, if there is going to be a lot of folks, I would rather at least try to be kosher with the authorities. "Like, uh, is it okay if me and a couple of my friends skate the back hills, or do we need a permit?"

Are none of the slalom peeps interested in attempting a GS somewhere in the vicinity of the downhill?

[Anthony Flis]

This is getting big and I just learned today that i planned the rain date on the day i have band festival...i swear if it rains or snows or something so that we have topostpone it ill be so very upset...I just noticed in Renes original post he said what about having a LOW KEY start up event...its real low key now heh heh heh

[Danny Crawford]

Wow, this thing is getting pretty big.

This means that we're gonna have to find a backup spot if for some reason we get kicked out or something.

OCC is pretty close and if we get some people to drop people and gear off at the insertion point and leave no cars we may be fine but it would probably be best for the backup spot to have almost no bust possibility. How about Oakwood?

[Anthony Smallwood]

Ian Comishan of Canada is due for a visit to DC in late Feb.
It would be great if he could hold off a week or two and come race with us. I'm calling him tonite so I'll find out.

In case anyone doesn't know, Ian is one of the top Speedboarders in the world. Not only can he tuck and roll, he's a supreme slider at high speed. We'll be lucky to have him.

Maybe I can even get O'Shei to come back for a visit and make things really interesting.

Either way, I'm spreading the word.

[Anthony Flis]

I guess Rene and I are in charge? We'll definately need some cones set and lots of video. I was thinking at most two man heats down that back hill cuz i mean...its the back hill...its gnarly as all hell and i can't wait. Anthony are you really gonna go hit it next week? If so email me or call my cell phone 703 501 5447 to let me know and ill get danny and maybe jimmy and possibly some other guy out there. Im really excited for this. Maybe itll be annual? We'll see i guess...

[Danny Crawford]

We should stagger it a bit. Have one or two people go down and then wait a couple seconds and another goes. The most people going down at once should not be over 4 I think.