Tag: longboarding

Longboarding the Bank-Vernonia State Trail, twice in one weekend

Our gear awaits
Jamison and me at the top, ready to go down

Jamison wanted to longboard again today, or was it me? Maybe it was both of us. Regardless, I wanted to try my downhill board and see if that made me a little faster. My Kegels are already on that board. I need something to be able to keep up with Jamison. So, off we went!

Suzi and Melissa didn’t want to shuttle us today, so we took a couple of cars.

Last time I’d ridden this board, it had felt a little squirrelly at speed. And no, the Banks-Vernonia Trail isn’t that fast, but with a consistent tuck, Jamison’s phone said we got almost to 25 mph.

The board felt solid. Jamison and I have already checked our calendars for the next Wednesday we can both hit Mt. Tabor.

Longboarding the Banks-Vernonia Trail

Headed to the creek
Mendenhall Creek going under Buxton Trestle
Melissa in the creek with Mousse and Gilligan
Wooded path
Buxton Trestle

Jamison wanted to longboard the Banks-Vernonia State Trail and Suzi and Melissa were willing to shuttle us so we wouldn’t have to do the 3-trip car-shuttle thingie. I couldn’t say no. ;-)

Suzi and Melissa walked the pups while they waited for us. We ended up skating Tophill to Buxton twice. In between runs, we walked the Buxton Trestle, Melissa walked the dog through the creek, and we found some blackberries. Mmm… :-)

What a great day!

Longboarding the Banks to Vernonia trail

Top of the hill, ready to go
Bombing the trail
Photobombing Jamison
Bottom of the hill, that was fun!

As a last hurrah of Jamison’s spring break, he invited me to longboard the Banks to Vernonia trail with him. It’s a nice, long, gentle ride. The weather was wonderful and the trail was dry. Jamison also took some videos with his phone.

Thanks, Jamison for the invite! That’s my boy. :-)

Photo credit. The tall, skinny pics are screen grabs from Jamison’s videos. Posted with his permission.

Another Wednesday, another PR

SE Hawthorne Boulevard
35.54 mph

Another Wednesday, so I headed off to longboard Mt. Tabor to get the PR that SpeedMeter glitched on last week. I was successful — 35.54 mph!1Sing along with me! :-)

I saw only two other longboarders on the hill and met only one of them. I’m looking forward to skating with (ok, getting dusted by) Hopkins again. At least I kept up with him hiking back up the hill. Once again, I continue to be impressed with the longboarding community here in Portland — it’s a very accepting and supportive crowd.

I skated twice from the non-Wednesday midpoint, once from near top of soapbox hill, and then six times from the top, where I took a few pictures and used SpeedMeter a few times. I’m looking forward to rain to quench the wildfires and wash the air.

In addition to longboarders, Mt. Tabor is a haven for bicyclists who want to work on their hill climbing and descent skills. Their presence made up for the dearth of longboarders. Turns out, my downhill time isn’t much different from the bicyclist I was tracking.2His bright yellow shorts and jersey made him easy to pick out. More surprising, my quarter-mile hike up the hill takes about as long as the return trip for him. ‘Course, once he got to the top, he kept going on down. I wanted to cool down for at least one of his cycles before heading back down.

Never Summer Clutch with purple Kegals. This setup seems to work for me.

Credits: Map tiles by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0. Data — OpenStreetMap contributors.

  • 1
    Sing along with me!
  • 2
    His bright yellow shorts and jersey made him easy to pick out.

Wednesday at Tabor

Thanks to Ethan texting me Daddies was doing a demo day at Tabor, I had a great time at Mt. Tabor. Going down after a large pack really relieves the concern of pedestrians and dogs on the route (though one rider had a close call with a squirrel). Some of these guys are just fast. ‘Course, they’re the ones that talk about Tabor being boring, it’s so easy. I’m not there, yet. But I’m getting there.

I did all but my first run from the top. That, plus a better tuck from doing the Banks to Vernonia trail with Jamison multiple times, resulted in another PR for me. I think my next run was even faster, but SpeedMeter had an issue with that run. Oh well. That leaves more room for another time.

I miss Jamison on the hill.

o/-<|:

Going downhill at Mt. Tabor

Looking west toward downtown Portland
Earning my next run
Selfie while cooling off between runs. Selfies are lonely without Jamison.

Wednesday means Mt. Tabor. Unfortunately, longboarding is just not the same thing without Jamison. Little buddy!

I did some runs from the bottom third or so. It’s the most efficient considering run length vs. return walking. And it does eliminate the risk of all but one blind corner, a good thing when skating alone.

The views are spectacular! My photography and the time of day don’t do it justice.

Longboarding Mt. Tabor with Jamison

Being Wednesday and all, Jamison and I decided to downhill Mt. Tabor. And, being Wednesday and all, we ran into other longboarders.

Robin and Sky showed us how it’s done, with tight tucks and fast runs. Sky was hoping to break 33 (or was it 34?).

I was happy to hit 30.49, a personal record.

Regardless, it was nice to have other longboarders precede us down the hill, alerting any pedestrians1And toddlers and chihuahuas? ;-) to our approach.

o/-<|:

Quick Banks Vernonia Trail Longboard Run

Jamison and I tried to get Longboard SpeedMeter going the last time we longboarded the Banks to Vernonia Trail, but it couldn’t get enough GPS satellites in view at Tophill.

This evening, I waited until the first gravel crossing before starting SpeedMeter and it worked — I think. It captured a top speed of 25.14 mph at the location I would have expected, but then recorded the run’s top speed as 9.73 mph. Oopie!

Regardless, I’m looking forward to trying my top-mount board on the trail and then at Mt. Tabor.

Longboarding the Banks-Vernonia Trail

Jamison, Ethan,1Ethan is the master of riding fast and looking fast. One trick I learned is to wear an untucked and unbuttoned shirt. When it flaps in the breeze, you look fast. Being able to “match” a plaid shirt with plaid shorts is just bonus! ;-) and I longboarded twice2It takes a few trips between Buxton and Tophill to reposition the cars, longboards, and longboarders. from Tophill down to Buxton3It’s 5 miles each time. That’s 10 miles on the longboard — a good day. :-) on the Banks-Vernonia Trail. A fair number of bikes4One fat-tire bicyclist was so enamored by my steeze that he couldn’t avoid heading my direction. Fortunately, there was (barely) enough pavement left over to sneak by. and pedestrians joined in the fun.

Jamison took a bunch of videos using his new Yi action cam5Not an ad, just a hopeful observer of the consumer. The price and specs seemed right. We’ll see. and snapped some stills with it, too. I’m looking forward to his video edits. Stay tuned…

o>-<|:

Update: Jamison’s video is live!

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    Ethan is the master of riding fast and looking fast. One trick I learned is to wear an untucked and unbuttoned shirt. When it flaps in the breeze, you look fast. Being able to “match” a plaid shirt with plaid shorts is just bonus! ;-)
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    It takes a few trips between Buxton and Tophill to reposition the cars, longboards, and longboarders.
  • 3
    It’s 5 miles each time. That’s 10 miles on the longboard — a good day. :-)
  • 4
    One fat-tire bicyclist was so enamored by my steeze that he couldn’t avoid heading my direction. Fortunately, there was (barely) enough pavement left over to sneak by.
  • 5
    Not an ad, just a hopeful observer of the consumer. The price and specs seemed right. We’ll see.