Danger Bay 2010

Bad Mother
Okay, so I missed the beginning of the race.  Since when does Danger Bay begin on time... I'll tell you when, in 2010.  That's when.  So when I finally got to the race site, I found my racing son, FINISHED.  Yes, chillin' behind the bales, where I should have been an hour earlier! I still can't believe it.

And then, Wolf, watched intently as the race went on... he, like the record number of racers, had crashed out into the bales, and his race was finished, but the weekend was still far from over, ahead lay still Jake's Rash and The Gold Rush Challenge.  

Wolf took third place in the Gold Rush Challenge Junior division--his last year as a grom.  Well done son.  Spencer Smith took the top junior place and someone I don't know (but will find out) took the second spot.  Spencer and Wolf can race it out this summer at Graveyard Call.   That race, son, I promise not to miss.

More Maryhill!!! Free ride

A black bird glides through the air above the steady turn of giant white turbines.  It lets out the tell-tale cry that says I'm not  Crow--I am Raven.

I unpack my red folding chair and set my seat along the road in front of a twisted dry blackberry bramble.  I rest my feet on one of the many hay bales that line the road and I wait.  For a moment I am alone.  The wind rustles my hair and blows into my ears, reminding me of many Saskatchewan springs from my childhood, as a meadow lark sings.  This is where the comparison ends.  The hum of urethane at speed along a smooth black ribbon of asphalt that winds its way through these hills reminds me that this is no ordinary hill; this is Maryhill.

One rider after another with wide smiles and keen concentration tuck around the bend in the road where I'm stationed.  The day goes on much like this, as peaceful as it is beautiful.  I can see why this road has become legondary among the downhill longboarder and street-luge scene.

Another U-haul load of riders drives back to the top, and then a second truck and a third, all filled with sweat, leather and hot eurothane.

Most of the hundred plus rider mostly men and boys, and a few women are a clad head to toe in safety gear.  Heavily worn shoes, knee pads, some with armadillo-styled spine protectors, an aray of helmets, gloves and leathers of every shade and hue, often augemented with patches of duct-tape.  They remind of some combination of super-heros and race cars.  Love it!

Then Wolf, my son, rides by again.  I, mother, spectator, van-driver, bale-sitter, photo-taker, click away again as they round the corner.  Though it was a very late night, or early morning, when we pulled into Goldendale, WA, and I've had little sleep, my day is good.  A little too much sun, and not enough sunblock, but all managable.  Being here allows me to pay back so many of the rides Wolf has gotten from Blake in the Landyachtz Van, as both Blake and Simon caught a ride with us.  Besides being fine car company, it allowed Wolf to share talk and enthusiasm for the trip and all the skate talk, a topic I can only carry on for so long before zoning out... sorry. 

At 3:20 the sky is white with cloud and the wind picks up; blows with a bite less kind than earlier this morning--but still an hour and a half to go.  I hunker down and wait.  From time to time the radio sounds, someone announcing that riders are on, or someone has spilled at corner two, but then up again all is good.

Already I know that this will not be my last time to this hill, nor behind these bales of hay.  The Festival of Speed is in June.  Maybe I'll be back for that, maybe I'll let my husband come out with Wolf.  Either way, one of us will be here with Wolf.  It won't be long before he'll be travelling without us, but not just yet.  

The weekend was a fast one, in the end.  In more ways than one. A well run, well attended event.  I still have to go through day two's photos... still more to come.

Olympics 2024

So, post games--Winter Olympics, that is, I got to thinking about the summer games, and what if we hosted them, and what if, say, longboarding became an olympic sport... This sent my mind a wandering into all sorts of fun and wooly ways until I finished the following piece (check out the two part post on Siverfish as posted by Skategeezer)

Olympic 2024: by me... yours truly... hay bale mama. (meaning the spectator, not the rider)

Would love to hear what you think!

Concrete Wave!!!

Wolf came home from Landyachtz the other day with the current issue of Concrete Wave. Needless to say, he had a huge grin.

" Turn to page three," he said.

So I did, and there it was...
Introducing Wolfgang Coleman...

At that moment, I was simultaneously proud and terrified... This is my boy!!! This is my boy?

Then on the next page there is this gruesome image, a Zombie... well, not a real one. But a good lookin' fake.
Now, that's not my son. Or I should say, that's NOT my son. But the tag-line says (if you are like me and can't read the tiny print,) 'The deadliest freeride wheel ever' Wolfgang Coleman, Eh Team. Okay, they're not saying that it's my son, but his name is on the icky guy!!!

Now, I have to stock up on the current issue, and keep some extra to send to grandparents. ... because, after all, He is MY son;)
L


...

Pink is a rag-tag gaggle of longboarders

Pink is bubblegum, and baby girls; pink is candyfloss and Barbie’s Corvette; pink is October. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so PINK has a whole new meaning!!! A group of Britich Columbia longboarders are doing their bit to raise awareness and funds to further research for a cure for this cancer.

Pink is now the colour of hair, duct-tape on helmets, spray-paint on longboards, and skate-park concrete.

Push for the Cure

This weekend is 2009 Push for the Cure, and Wolf is keen. This isn't the first time he's participated in Fundraising and awareness raising, but it is his first time with the Push for the Cure. He's done runs with school, and then on his own, when he was about 12, he shaved all his long hair off, donated the money he raised to the Children's Foundation at Children's Hospital, and he also donated his hair to a wig organzation that makes wigs for kids who are undergoing chemotherapy.

So tomorrow morning, bright and early, we'll be loading the van and driving to Hope, where he will meet up with the other riders who are in for the long haul: 150 km, or 97 miles; whatever way you look at it, it is long. What began a few years back with a small group of energetic riders who pushed from east coast to west, and others who pushed from West to East, has become an annual event, where the final leg of the journey, Hope to Vancouver, is the focal local push.

At 15 years old, yes, still fifteen for a few more months, I will leave him in Hope, and collect him in Vancouver. I have come to trust and really like the group of riders and racers he here at the Coast. All the best to all of them!

King of the Forest results.

Thought I'd throw in the link to the final results to King of the forest. I've already mentioned that Prince of the Forest... fella under 16, is none other than my son, Wolfgang Forest!! no kidding, that's his name and so his title is well suited.


KOTF. resultes click here:

Images are on the same site! That site being Unkle.ca... for great local event coverage!

Salt Spring Slope and Steez

Wolf's last event: Sept. 27, Salt Spring Slope and Steez.

Okay, the suit is great, and my son... well, still looks like a super hero,

or a race car, depending on which photo...



The event was great, so I am told. I stayed on the mainland, but Wolf and the riders had great weather, and from the full set of photos available on Unkle.ca. you can all see the rest of the event!