VENUES!!!!!!!

[Gary Hornby]

When is this stuff gonna get outta the street. this has been talked about for years. How come the some of the parks are not being urged to put in a run? This a double edged sword however. The flipside of the coin is spectators and getting the KIDS into it. Something has to give on racing spots. Bring on the ideas!!!!!!

[Adam Trahan]

With all due respect Gary, I hope slalom never leaves the street. It is a street sport and I enjoy finding a good street to ride downhill or set up a course much in the same way as I once enjoyed finding a perfect back yard empty pool...

Back in the 90's, I remember reading a article, I think it was in Slalom!, written by Chris Yandall about having "downhill skateparks" or something like that.

Chris is a user of the site and he definately is a slalom pioneer who has addressd your concern at one point.

On 2002-09-17 23:49, Gary Hornby wrote:
When is this stuff gonna get outta the street. this has been talked about for years. How come the some of the parks are not being urged to put in a run? This a double edged sword however. The flipside of the coin is spectators and getting the KIDS into it. Something has to give on racing spots. Bring on the ideas!!!!!!

[Gary Hornby]

The issue of "street racing" is a double edged sword. 1st there are no spots to race other than the streets. The 2nd is that if there was a venue for racing built would it attract? I think it would serve as a twofold purpose, a controlled area for racing with out contention with traffic and a good safe place to learn skateboarding basics.

[Matthew Wilson]

hmmm...I have to agree that racing on the street is a GREAT thing and should not change. An arena for slalom skateboarding?? I don't think so! It is a nice thought, but then there will be hot debates as to what type of concrete or asphalt is used, control and maintenence of the building, etc. I think that by its very nature, slalom skateing cannot be contained so easily to a specific venue.

I think that the solution we are looking for is based in our proactiveness in our communities. There are ALOT of great roadways out there that want to be skated, I think that we need to work harder to make sure that others in our community are open to our riding on those roadways.

[Brian Morris]

Having slalom races at skateparks really limits your race. I held a race in early Oct. at a skatepark, and I was only able to have 5.5' TS 20 cones. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time racing with everybody, and I plan on having another next year, but street racing is really where its at. There is no way to really duplicate a quality paved hill.

Regards,
"Brain"

[David Eye]

For background on what "Boardman" (Gary H) is talking about, see his excellent interview
with Peter Caymann on NCDSA.com / interviews.

Peter put on the now legendary ARA race series here in Colorado in the late 70's and has some strong opinions about slalom racing
and the direction its going. Whether you agree with his points or not, I think its provocative stuff from someone whos been there.
I personally believe slalom skating can always take place on city streets in the form of offically permitted and sanctioned events (ala FCR series, etc)which is great. However for regular practices and practice races we need places that are good for slalom (good surface, pitch, etc.) legal(skateboarding is illegal on most streets and will be for some time to come)and permitted (legal skateboarding is one thing, setting up a course /race every week, another.)and safe (made safe by the above
criteria).
The places that meet all the above criteria are typically few, so we need to protect what few we have.
Outlaw races and practices will never be able to grow the sport beyond the level its at now. Parents, school administrators and others needed to expand this sport usually do
not want the kids riding in the street.

When you get a regular group going on a great spot and a few weeks later asked to leave by neighbors (who call the cops)
you'll know what I mean. I heard of several
groups losing their spot this season.
IMHO; maintaining access to the good locales is key to the continued growth or demise of this sport.
Organized, offically permitted access to private drives, large parking areas and /or service roads is the future. I have a hard time believing, as Peter Caymann and maybe Boardman does, that cities or ski-areas will invest in building a slalom- specific area.
Its a good idea, I just think budgets are too tight right now.

A "Federation of Slalom -skaters" or a national sanctioning body could help provide
cheap liability insurance for races and practices to help convince property owners
we're serious about our sport and protect their liability; letting us have our regular
practice spots and races.Thats what we need
around here, or next year all our local spots are history.

nice site, Adam T.!
over and out
David Eye
N. Colorado GraSS

[Miko Biffle]

I LOVE the thrill of riding a new hill for the first time. The landscape, curves, surface, length, varying grade with rollies etc. all give the ride personality.

Now I HATE it when I'm tossed of that hill, when I get ballsy enough to set some cones on it.

When I'm lucky and don't immediately get tossed, I cross my fingers and then go into the agonizing decision regarding whether I can safely include any riding buddies in the next session.

Example...

I've got an amazing hill 5-6 times longer than the 48 cone hybrid-gs I've set in the bottom 1/3. It's actually a good downhilling spot, with two sweepers and a dogleg. I've set my course fairly close to the right curb so there's enough room for uphill AND downhill traffic.

I hadn't been tossed off the hill during my SOLO sessions, but did have one semi-negative discussion with one of the homeowners. I was respectful and showed him my safety gear and told him that "I'd be invisible if I could, but I'm trying to practice for a PRO race series." He drove off skeptical but seemingly satisfied.

The FIRST time I brought another rider to the hill. Wham-O! Highway Patrol shows up 30 minutes into the session and informs us that he's totally stoked to see what we're doing on the hill, but has to stop us due to a complaint. He further informed us that he wouldn't lose much sleep if we took a few more runs and it would take him probably about 30-40 minutes to get back to the hill to remove us.

So I SOLO this amazing place once every couple weeks. Invite a buddy once a month. Keep the sessions short. And enjoy it without cones in all it's glory.

Still... we have nothing else near the quality of that site. Luckily we DO have one spot that supports larger groups of 3-8 riders and seems charmed so far.

I'm sure if a skatepark managed to install a v-ditch that you could either do slalom or banked slalom, I'd be happy about it. But there really isn't a comparison to flying down a beautiful hill you've discovered or been shown.

[Claude Regnier]

Slalom I Love it hope I never have to stop. I've been working since '76 on aquiring sk8park in different municipalities.

Most of them with very tight budgets. Some almost impossible to work with. The worst thing of all is that no one wants to give up good land.

Things are changing all around the globe. Acceptance is becoming commomnplace. Trying to convince them to add a Slope or a strip 20' wide slab along the side and bank the curve at the end "A LA Oasis skatepark" would be nice. It's worth a try.

SLalom racing is best on the Streets. Practice is best wherever you can get it. The better the assortment of spots you find the better you will likely do in competitions if your committed.

Just skate safe. Wherever you set-up and we can continue to work together to find ways and means of adding to our numbers. Depending on the parks I attend I usually set-up a run of cones as long as it's not to busy.

I always take cones out in my SK8 Beginer and Novicee Classes. Adam if you received "my Photo's" there are a couple of good shots from Oasis in '79.