Locations: Slalom courses set on a semi regular bas

John Gilmour · Post by **John Gilmour** » Mon Oct 28, 2002 12:04 am

Please post your slalom spots and likely times ...and perhaps an email address so others can get in contact with you to skate.

Some that come to mind are:

- the Trocadero in Paris, France (the giant fountains across from the Eiffel Tower) where Quad skaters regularly set courses in the afternoons in the warmer weather

- New Yorks Tavern on the Green during the summer months.

- The Boston Commons (near the Statehouse) Tuesday nights 5:30-7pm during the warmer months-

- Miami's South Beach- at the end closest to "The News Cafe" right near the area where the women tan "Au natural". Weekends- set by local Inline shop around the corner.

Pat Chewning · Post by **Pat Chewning** » Tue Oct 29, 2002 4:55 am

Beaverton Oregon (west side of Portland Oregon) I am starting to regularly practice in the HUGE EMPTY parking lot of the Hillsboro stadium (near Corneilius Pass and Hwy 26).

I'd love for someone else to join me. I have cones, a tape measure, and chalk to mark the course.

Pat Chewning pchewn@attbi.com
503-645-0323

Pierre Gravel · Post by **Pierre Gravel** » Sat Nov 02, 2002 2:24 am

The central concrete alley in parc Lafontaine in Montreal, Quebec is about 325 feet long, and flat, i marked it every 6 foot and placed some marks for offsets.
Duals are possible.

It's ridden almost daily by me and quads and bladers from april to november.
I would like to see other skateboarders there for sure...

John Gilmour · Post by **John Gilmour** » Mon Dec 09, 2002 5:16 am

Great that you posted that - I will make the effort to get up to Montreal for a session next summer.

Pierre Gravel · Post by **Pierre Gravel** » Mon Dec 09, 2002 5:45 am

That would be great John, I have a couple other good spots too. You are more than welcome.

Claude Regnier · Post by **Claude Regnier** » Tue Dec 10, 2002 5:17 am

Yeah, John pick up TK on your way and maybe UR13 and Noah and Awh you get the picture.

It's only a couple of hours away for me. PSR are you in?

Pierre Gravel · Post by **Pierre Gravel** » Tue Dec 10, 2002 6:35 am

I'm used to ride alone, now i would have company...
I better start to get in shape right now.
PSR, i made it to ball Mtn last year, now i could show you the hills in town too. Fast sliding in Westmount is a good post-slalom activity.

Claude Regnier · Post by **Claude Regnier** » Tue Dec 10, 2002 7:16 pm

Hey Pierre, I knew from your vid Lafontaine was nice but I've never seen the Big O location.

Is it dowhill much with a runout. Describe it a bit. It certainally looks wide enough. That is worth the trip. See you soon.

I'll be looking out for clear weather and you keep an eye out on the local snow conditions. anything warmer then o is warm enough.

Pierre Gravel · Post by **Pierre Gravel** » Wed Dec 11, 2002 12:20 am

Claude, the olympic stadium is a great place to slalom, no hassle, no cops and no cars. The main hill is about 500 ft long at about 5% with a 20 ft flat spot in half way down. As much runout as you want.
I set giant courses, dual tights and some in between. There is even a free secret parking...
If it's rideable this winter i'll let you guys know.
Here is a not too good video shot at 2 am last August :
http://207.96.250.98/videos/dual_slalom.mov

George Gould · Post by **George Gould** » Wed Dec 11, 2002 12:58 am

Northern Arizona sets in Flagstaff off a bike path near Lake Mary road, hybrid and T/S.

at least bi monthly when the weather is good, usually a sat or sun i set a good G/S in the hills one hour North of Payson Arizona off hwy 87. truly in the middle of no where. feel free to ask for directions

Claude Regnier · Post by **Claude Regnier** » Wed Dec 11, 2002 1:27 am

WoW Pierre, that is pretty nice. How is it in the daylight?

Claude Regnier · Post by **Claude Regnier** » Thu Dec 12, 2002 1:08 am

Joe and Nick

As BLR likes to say "A.A.A."

Your welcome here anytime.

C-YA

[ This Message was edited by: Claude Regnier on 2002-12-12 12:57 ]

Chris Raezer · Post by **Chris Raezer** » Thu Dec 12, 2002 7:07 am

The Cascade Slalom Association (boy, don't that sound fancy?!) sets up at North Seattle Community College on Sunday afternoons when it's dry. Luckily in Seattle we hardly ever see rain

The core group of riders are some of the nicest people I've ever ridden with (and fast too), and that's what keeps me coming back.

Chris

Pierre Gravel · Post by **Pierre Gravel** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 6:44 pm

I have this great spot in Montreal, with a hill at each end of the course so you ride it both ways, rode it yestarday in the sun finally, Claude are you comin'?

[ This Message was edited by: Pierre Gravel on 2003-04-13 09:43 ]

John Gilmour · Post by **John Gilmour** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 5:10 pm

I was up in Montreal the First two weekends in April- hit Mt. Tremblant for snowboarding and some nightlife.

Looks like a go. I'll try and rally some of the Northern Racing Alliance for a trip up there. At what time of the year are most temps in farenheit around 60-70 degrees?

Also I noticed a street in montreal that has lots of cafes and clubs on it near St. Catherines street. Is there a neighborhood association that could tell us when that street is blocked off for "Special events" that way we might be able to set a course on that hill.

Neil Gendzwill · Post by **Neil Gendzwill** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 5:33 pm

You wanna block off Rue St. Denis for a slalom race? Good luck!

[ This Message was edited by: Neil Gendzwill on 2003-04-15 11:33 ]

Pierre Gravel · Post by **Pierre Gravel** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 1:22 am

Man i was in Tremblant the same dates! I even had a slalom board with me but the weather was awful the 1st weekend. John did you notice the great hill that surround the area? Hmmm.

About the Montreal street you talk about it's either St-Denis or St-Laurent both are full of cafes (and cute girls) if we try to put on a race during one of the numerous summer festival, it could be done.

The weather will be really good in a week or two, so lets getsome racers here!

John Gilmour · Post by **John Gilmour** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 3:10 am

St. Laurent Street- that is the KILLER venue.

No shortage of talent would be at that race- even if no racers showed up. Lol.

How possible would this be?

What sort of festivals go on there?

Pierre Gravel · Post by **Pierre Gravel** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 3:27 am

Well there is Montreal's Jazz festival, Just for laughs,
Festival des Films du Monde, The Montreal Grand Prix, Most of them have St-Laurent close for a while.
We should try for a demo first and see the interest.

There is also a speedboard race in Montreal august 10, it's called Top Challenge,
down the Mont-Royal, there is nothing planned the day before (sathurday) i was thinking about a slalom event for the speedboarders present, what do you think John? Could they be interested?

Joachim Leonhardt · Post by **Joachim Leonhardt** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 6:11 pm

just a spot from overseas / Germany.
Brand new asphalt - parking place only opened during fair events.
here you can see about 5%, but there is a 12% and 0%, 100cone zone, too - to my mind one of the best places in Rhine-Ruhr area.
Nearest international airports DUS (Düsseldorf) about 10 miles away.

<a href="http://www.SlalomEuroRacing.com/media/A ... .jpg"><img src="http://www.slalomeuroracing.com/media/A ... _002_3.jpg" width="507" height="338" alt="A52 Abfahrt Essen-Kettwig"></a>

John Gilmour · Post by **John Gilmour** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 2:34 am

Was the speedboard event rained out?
I wonder how much cross over we could expect- we wouldn't know until we tried..

I see more slalomers cross over to DH not the other way around- Chris Chaput is the exception of course.

The Grand Prix might be interesting especially if we had a handout that compared teh racing aspects. Many kids and many adults could never afford auto racing...much less F1.

We are "Poor Man's Formula 1".

So we did miss the Grand prix which was June 13-15.... are there any other races planned?

John Gilmour · Post by **John Gilmour** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 2:38 am

Keys to creating your very own sucessful slalom scenes- like DC's. Do it and you won't be the one that has to travel to slalom.

Find a place that has pedestrian exercising traffic
Set a course not to impede that traffic- but to complement it
At first set it less than twice per month- Pick a day of the week and stick with it- gradually increase the frequency to once per week- (give the police a chance to accept it)
Have a handout or Large framed picture with photos explaining the sport and what you are doing- include pictures if possible and the contest series you are training for.
Make it absolutely clear that this slalom course is open to the public with adequate safety gear- an accident is a sure way to have police frown on your course.
Mark off your course clearly- make sure pedestrians do not wander into the course area! A policeman seeing that you are going above and beyond the "Norm of Responsibility" will understand that you less likely to generate complaints and will try to leave you alone.
After at least 2-3 months.... eventually add music to the slalom course area - though keep the levels reasonable for the area. This will make spectators linger longer as well as the participants.
Bring out a timer as often as possible.

So I am committing to Tuesday night in the Boston Common.

Would anyone else commit to a particular night. Look at DC's scene....clearly- regular course setting makes the scene happen.

[ This Message was edited by: John Gilmour on 2003-08-12 21:07 ]

Pierre Gravel · Post by **Pierre Gravel** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 7:05 am

No the speedboard event was run in the rain!!
It think it was the firts time but all racers agreed to race (they came from 12 different countries) but we opted for the qualifications format of individually timed runs.
We reached speeds of 70-80 km/h on a soaking wet technical course. Many falls but no injuries.

Regarding slalom, i asked a lot of the racers if they were into slalom and tough lots are interested in trying, not many are doing it.

We just lost our Formula One Grand Prix for next year due to anti-tobacco laws but we will have a Champ Car race (former Cart/Indy) august 22-23-25 2003.
I think it's too late for a slalom race in conjunction to that but the idea is good for next year's race.

I'm still thinking about a St-Laurent Street Race tough...

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