|
STREETLUGE For as long as I could
remember, I have wanted to street luge. Although I
didn't know about luging, I started
out when I was about 8 years old, lying down on my blue, plastic Jaws skateboard
on a long hill in front of my house. It didn't go
well every time, but it gave me what I needed.
To me,
streetluge is downhill adventure in its simplest form.
All you need is your gear and a hill. As they say, who
needs brakes? Or my personal favorite "Wide open until see
you God. THEN brake."
I had first attempted to get into luge in 2006, but was told
the road where we were to practice got washed out and
unofficial class had to be postponed. A few months later
it was rumored that the instructor had become paralyzed from hitting a
bale. However, since then I have not heard any other
information since then and imagine this is not true
afterall. The streetluge circle is pretty small and
news such as this is well known. So, I looked around for another instructor and then
discovered that he was no longer teaching due to his being
injured as well. For some reason, it didn't put me
off from wanting to streetluge. I remember thinking,
"Well, I'll never race. So I am safe." Right. That
thought lasted 3 months.
|
|
|
 |
I continued researching the
various forums, learning about the basics, and gear in theory, then looked around for an
instructor via
www.street-luge.com
in early 2008. I
received a response from Justin Tolman and was invited along
to ease into the sport by watching his
team (including Ronnie Iverson and Rick Wilson) and
possibly participating in ground crew by driving the chase
vehicle. As with a lot of sports, ground crew is the
place to start. I put in my time by driving the truck and
doing the video footage, and learning on Rick's sled. I
started out on a slower hill (about 45MPH), moving up to a
faster one that had me going through soles in a matter of a few runs
with my typical newbie overbraking technique. I advanced
to a day of runs on another popular highway with Steve
"Grumpy" Fernando, and the then Barrett Junction with the
crew and speedboarder, Rick Kludy.
I had practiced 90 degree turns until I was going fast enough
to slide but hold my own. Then advanced to a really nice 2 mile stretch near my house
with top speeds at 50+ MPH. I live in the hills
and there are quite a few fast ones out here just begging to
be ridden. However, I prefer the turns and not speed
believe it or not. |
| I had been training under
Wilson and Tolman for a few months and entered my first downhill event
(IGSA Championships at
Frank G. Bonelli Park) a few short months later. I
came in 8th (not bad for a first race against seasoned
riders!) on a 2008 custom built TRS sled made by Grumpy, Randal 205mm Luge Comp 11 trucks,
and GPS 88mm Magnum wheels.. And the icing
on the cake? A custom pink tribal flame and lipprint
paint job by Robert Alatorre of RADesigns Custom Painting.
The following months had me on far more
technical roads which required a better set-up. I am now
riding on Pink Retro BigZigs and Khiro bushings with
better bearings and it suits me just fine. So if you see a
blond in black leathers with pink flamed sled and helmet
riding a hill near you, that'll be me. |
silverfish
longboarding .com
|
2009 Barrett
Outlaw Race
Then came the Outlaw race. Originally organized for
Speedboarders by Rick Kludy, The team and I showed up at
Barrett to race a little and remind the speedboarders, yes, we
are still the elitists! ;-) Anyway, it was great fun. Now, if we could just
get the county to slurry the road we'd be some happy
individuals!
Other Runs Which Shall Remain Unnamed
Due to legalities, I will not mention the name of a popular haunt
of ours, but we've been hitting it a lot lately.
|
 |
Here are some pics on a local hill while training for the 2009 Maryhill Festival of Speed
in Washington. Maryhill is very
twisty and loooong. It was a challenge not to wear myself
out each practice day, much less before the race. However, it
was blocked off and baled--we had the whole road to ourselves. Sweet. No more run-ins with horse
trailers. |
 |
| |
|
|
Maryhill was a blast! My first two runs
down the hill weren't totally successful but I made it down
unscathed and hungry for more. The final race was a wet one
which was pretty much a drift session. I would have loved to
have had another shot. All in all, MH has to be the best hill I
have been on thus far. I met a lot of really great people,
some legends in streetluge, old friends, new friends. I can't wait
to return.
in the hay...mid-crash.
I skipped Maryhill 2010 due to finances getting
to the event but entered the IGSA race at Bonelli. I got to
hang out with Pam and Chris again and that added to the
experience, they're always fun to hang out with. Pam always
has the best tips and I must admit is far more supportive than
most of the guys. I only had one painful get-off due
to a rear slide trying to get around another competitor before the
apex so that brought we wide.
I ended up in 6th.
Granted, many of the faster guys didn't
attend that year but it was a lot of fun since we had more hill
time than any other event.
The slide prompted me to get my sled
modified into an 8-ball (4th truck) which I am in the process of
arranging as soon as I can get my sled to Steve. It seems a
lot of the guys are switching over to a 4th truck and it seems
like a good idea to me! Until next time...
Home |
Biography
|
Extreme Sports |
X-treme
Dream Team
|
Sponsors
Photo
Gallery
|
Video
Gallery
|
Blog |
Schedule |
Contact |
|
|
