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Show r I i joab area slickrock provides lareat arena for skateboards t ! ! ' "'-' -' ; " "ZH t " - " . " t ..... i 3 1 CIie Gonzales gracefully zips through a puddle on 3 I a Slickrock Bike Trail, leaving a splash behind him. J J jjieboarding through puddles is one of Charlie's 4f iiorile tricks, and he makes it look easy. It provides w I an a challenge, since the wet rock provides less stion and Charlie has to stay on his toes until his neel bearings dry out. r V.r-s V.r-s , " I v ' 1; v- "i -'.. : j ' V v .' - jj . ; Vj I If : S - .... ....... id Urbanek shows great style and form as he C foliates a little "mogul" in the slickrock. He aptly 'Mnstrates the similarity of the sport of barding to skiing, and works on doing his -oeuvers smoothly. (Photos by Beth Heggeness) By Beth Heggeness Moab, already a haven for the enthusiasts of outdoor activities such as backpacking, fishing, 4-wheeling, 4-wheeling, motorcycling, and rafting, may well have been put on the map for yet another kind of sportsman, sports-man, the skateboarder. The sidewalk surfers are already beginning to come out in force with the advent of spring. Streets and parking lots are busy thoroughfares for loops and turns of the skateboarders. skate-boarders. But sidewalks and streets are primarily for people and cars. To solve this dilemma, a group of high school students cast around Moab Mo-ab and discovered. . .the Slickrock Bike Trail, perfect per-fect for cross-country motorcycling mo-torcycling and an almost unlimited skatepark "au natural." National Spotlight The Moab group and their skateboarding heaven heav-en were, in the fall, brought to the attention of a nationally distributed skateboard magazine, The Wide World of Skateboarding. Skate-boarding. David Urbanek, a high school sophomore, one of the initial members of the group of skateboarders, skate-boarders, wrote to the magazine and told . them about the natural park. One of the WWS writers took the bait and came out to do a sizeable feature, complete with pictures of the Moab . skateboarders f-H of the long runs they hJ discovered. David and his friends have been sailing the almost unlimited smooth slickrock on the bike trail for about two years. The kids know , the sandstone slopes of the beginning of the trail so well that they have even named some of the bowls and runs. The boys pointed out the best places to practice some delicate and interesting inter-esting maneuvers such as some fancy 180 turns and some slopes that tax one's ability to control speed and direction. Joe Arnold and Randy Lumbardie were pioneers of many of the original routes. Although . the group has looked for more runs, David remarked they have yet to discover any as good as those frequented near the beginning be-ginning of the Slickrock Bike Trail. Versatile Skateboards It seems pretty fantastic that such a precarious thing as skateboarding can be done on solid rock at all. But the weatherworn weather-worn reaches of sandstone, sand-stone, combined with the modern and sophisticated skateboarding equipment makes the sport not only possible, but loads of fun. Far from the old roller skate wheels nailed to wooden boards, today's skateboards are designer's design-er's dreams of fiberglass and plastics. The boys' fancy skateboards not only had platforms, but also wheels that flex to absorb the small bumps and shocks of the slickrock. According to David, it is not at all unusual to spend $50 for even the most basic board. Just the mention of equipment sent the boys off into a technical discussion of the newest designs of bearings bear-ings and wheels for which they were saving their pennies. As they reached the gates to the bike trail, the boys-David, Joe Arnold, Ricky Berry and Charlie Gonzales " suited up' ' and were off. They had an assortment of safety helmets, hel-mets, knee pads, and gloves. Not all the boys had everything, but they all agreed that they liked to wear what they had and all planned to add to their safety equipment in the future. David commented, "We've fallen over bad enough that we're glad we have this stuff!" They're Off! The skateboarders, as they began to glide down the first slope, generated an unusual and almost eerie sound. Charlie and Joe grinned and said that the various roars of the boards passing over the solid and hollow places oi the sandstone took some getting used to at first. However, they both a-greed a-greed that the bike trai was the greatest place they knew of to skate. David likened the sporl to skiing. And, indeed, as the boys pushed off for run of at least 100 yards ir length, they negotiated the sloping rock in a series of long, curving turns, criss-crossing the fall line. Great Scenery Part of the thrill of this skatepark is, of course, the ever-awesome scenery of Moab's canyon country. The Wide World of Skateboarding writer, accustomed ac-customed to the confines of a concrete California skatepark that charges admission, was delighted delight-ed by the seemingly limitless horizons visible from the Bike Trail. It is probably quite possible to skate for a mile or more in a series of long downhill runs, many over 100 yards. The boys demonstrated their skills and technique and all were different. Charlie's favorite trick was to whiz through puddles of water. David specialized in very graceful grace-ful slalom turns. Joe was the master of dropping into a bowl, going halfway up the other side, and flipping himself and his board around (together) 180 degrees to come back down. Ricky had to be the Zoom King he skated fast and straight. Obviously they were all having a great time. A rain squall shortened that afternoon's session, but watching the dark clouds pile up on the horizon was a thrill in itself. The darkening sky was the perfect backdrop. As all four skateboarders came "screaming" down together on a long run, the thunder of their wheels on the slickrock made one 1 think of the thunder in the "Halls of the Mountain King!" i As a result of the WWS i article, David has already 1 had requests, mostly from Grand Junction skaters, 1 about how to find the Slickrock Bike Trail and ' where to go. "Probably as ! the weather gets better f and better, I'll hear of more people," David re- marked. Despite the pub- licity, it's doubtful that I the Moab group will have to worry about their skatepark getting crowd- t ed. They may be on the i map, but there's miles of ' slickrock in them thar i hills. |
