Fifty miles per hour at fifty years of age on a skateboard. It’s my latest trick. I’ve thought about this a couple times over the years and more as the date gets closer. Most of my life going 50 mph on a skateboard wasn’t a big deal. My birthday did fall on dates I more than likely would be racing or at the least I’d go skate. If I marked any other birthdays by achieving my age in miles per hour, it was purely coincidental. My 50th birthday is here, and I really feel like relaxing. Now, “at my age” It might take some effort to get off the couch. Not only do I have to remember how to do this, but where did I put my skateboard? You start to forget things at my age, but I remember what 50 mph on a skateboard feels like. I guess I will learn what 50 at 50 feels like.
I’ve hit my head heaps, so trying to recall stories is tough and I could be making all of this up. I was incredibly fortunate to travel internationally with a skateboard under my feet. Now I didn’t come from means or have any big sponsors. I always had a job I could quit. I would beg borrow or steal to get to the next event or big fast hill. I did steal a POP tart in an airport once. I was starving. I could just reach through the drop-down gate after hours. I’ve slept on porches with Gila Monsters and scorpions. Gotten severely beat up in the streets of Rio. Most people remember the sites of a foreign city, I can usually tell you how to get to the hospital. There’s been broken bones. Sadly, I have also lost friends to drugs, alcohol and suicide. The lifestyle wasn’t academic, but the education was invaluable. The places I’ve been and the people I’ve met has enriched me with so many gifts.
Skateboarders get a free pass. Late night, moving through a future crime scene, a skateboarder just blends into the tapestry. To see and hear different cultures as they are, gives the skater an unfiltered snapshot and awareness of life. Society has a more tolerant take on a guy who looks like he should have quit skating years ago. I have stories but this one is about hitting 50. I’m not sure if its about hitting 50 years old or 50 mph anymore.
People embellish about top speed bombing hills and usually tack on 15-20 mph. If somebody finds out you’re in their neck of the woods to ride a local favorite, they will let you know they did it during a full moon, naked on acid, and usually 15-20 mph faster than anything I saw on my gps. So to achieve this 50 mph there can be no bullshit. The hill has to hit 50 easily. Now that doesn’t mean I need to go down the guaranteed 90mph hill named “Suicide Hill” . I wanna hit 50 mph on my skateboard, not in the back of an ambulance. I’ve seen guardrails and wondered, is hitting the guardrail worse than the cliff that’s out of view. Here’s another way to thumb my nose at the downhill community around the world. I’m surrounded by mountain roads that yield speeds hard to find on other continents. Big fast hills are easy to come by in Colorado. Colorado takes it up a notch. My Swedish downhill family had me riding loading docks behind the grocery store in Stockholm. Those guys became World Champions in the sport! So something that has the grade, is scenic and keeps me from using a cane for the rest of my life. Its my birthday and I get to pick the hill.
I have to assemble the board, the right people, as well as choose the spot. My downhill gear is dated and fortunately I have friends who are still in it. I have been bombing hills in Colorado for years and watched the community grow exponentially. Part of the huge growth in the sport not only in Colorado but around the world has to do with the community. I’ve got a good idea about which hill and an even better idea of who to invite to my birthday run.
Cottonwood Pass. It’s high, and so are you if you are thinking about riding a skateboard down it. It’s like 12,000 feet above sea level and bridges the Continental Divide. So pee that way it goes west and pee this way, it goes somewhere else. It’s quintessential Alpen. It also screams Colorado being surrounded by the 14,000 foot peaks that make up the Collegiate Range. Beauty in every direction with snow lingering in the peaks and avalanche debris fields reminding you, how little you are. I can’t remember when I rode it last. I do know we tossed around 60-65mph vibes.
Sending out invitations for my birthday skate has to be thoughtful. Sometimes shuttling and forgetting things or just general drama comes with organizing a crew. I’ve always referred to getting skateboarders organized is like herding cats. Some of the best riders in the World are here in Colorado and let me check my phone…yeah, I can make a call.
I’ve known Zak Maytum since he wasn’t old enough to drink. I know that because under my watch he may have become intoxicated on a skate excursion (or two). Mountain roads in Colorado are like very few places in the world. The amount of rideable hills and diversity of those hills is unmatched. To be able to ride Colorado roads with command and control means you can take on the world. Zak took on the world of downhill skateboard racing and became a world champion several times over. If he was racing, you could only wonder who was going to join him on the podium. His abilities progressed along with his design and development of skateboard equipment. He’s become one of the biggest manufactures of skateboarding products, while sponsoring events and riders worldwide. I’m fortunate to be riding on equipment Zak has engineered. I know it’s the best. Maybe somewhere in these trucks and wheels I’m running, are technology based on a run the “noob” Zak Maytum did with me years ago.
NDBK. He’s been NBDK as long as I’ve known him. Some of the people in my universe have strange and sometimes irreverent nicknames. I know a guy called Fingerbang, Scoot, Stryker, Sandman, Raggie, Yardwaste and NDBK. (those are the tame nicknames btw)
Nick “da brown kid” has been bombing hills with the Colorado downhill crew for years. He’s now one of Colorado’s speed boarding veterans. Nick not only brings experience but plenty of laughs. He keeps the session light hearted and is always about having fun riding the hill. Never a bit of ego with NDBK. A big smile and usually a beer in hand. Sometimes two, and he would never hesitate handing me one.
Justin Rolo is a knucklehead! That’s why it was surprising to see him organize one of the most talked about skateboard races on the planet. For three years in a row the Devils Peak Downhill gave the world a glimpse into Colorado’s downhill scene. Like most of the Colorado riders, I’ve known Justin since he was a kid. Young racers can be sometimes overly enthusiastic about the sport. To say Justin was “that guy” would be an understatement. Rolo would not only show up with enthusiasm but he also showed leadership that his peers lacked. Wise beyond his years, Rolo went on to organize not only the Devils Peak Downhill but keeps the scene alive with that child like excitement.
I’ve known these three kids (now grown ass men) for over a decade. They will join me at the top. It’s beginning to feel like my birthday.
I’m comfortable here. There is an overwhelming presence and high frequency here. You can’t help but appreciate and recognize its grandeur. It’s humbling and reminds me to keep my birthday ego in check. Cottonwood is all dressed up. It got some fresh pavement and new stripes. The opening mile or so is above tree line so you get that cool “Other Planet” feel. Dropping in above tree line means you can see forever and take the other lane with no oncoming traffic. Maximize your corners. That first hairpin left hurts. I’m just recovering from dropping the Harley on my foot. Took a couple weeks for the swelling to go down to even put a shoe on. Now I’m toe side leaning all my weight on a broken foot in a turn called the “Willows”. When you shoot off the road you go into the willows lining the ditch. After the “Willows” comes the big fast straight where I will be singing “Happy Birthday” inside my helmet. At the bottom of the fastest section of road comes the sign with a squiggle and states 20mph. The last few miles of road comes at you with half a dozen (or so) hairpins, big deer and RV’s cutting corners.
After a couple of runs to dust off the cobwebs and feel my set up, then I really test the bones. Going into toe side hairpins at speed with broken toe side, toe bones, hurts. Once you are in the turn it it’s too late to whine. Then you realize how lucky you are to be able to feel, breathe and do something very few people on the planet will do, at my age. 50mph is really kinda easy up here. It almost feels like cheating. I got that achievement out of the way on the first run. Maybe it was the company pushing me. Or the thought, “this moment won’t be here again”. The guys let me know we got the speed and the footage, end scene. I didn’t get this old for “one and done”. There are times in life you have people or someone with you and those moments need mindfulness and focus. Relish those times and people and moments. They go fast. I talked them into a couple more.
Taking runs down this hill, on this day, with these guys, couldn’t have been scripted better. What an honor to feel the air and have gratitude with every breath for all the people who helped me get here. Those huge peaks are now green in the summer and surrounded by the bluest skies. I thought about all of you today. My friends and family who made sure I could get to the top of the next hill. I’ve been lucky to bomb hills in lots of incredible places for the last 25 years. I have some great stories and moments in my life I hope to never forget. I bet I thought of you a couple times. Those times on the side of the road taking it all in while waiting for a passing vehicle to give me a lift back to the top. I bet I thought of each of you once or twice when I strapped my helmet on about to roll in on a steep country road. Probably middle of nowhere to most people but I was there breaking the speed limit on a skateboard. Early in the morning with the sun reflecting the dew laced cobwebs travelling through the air, I thought of you. When I came around the corner and the farmers tractor occupied my lane…I wasn’t thinking about you. I thought of you and all of you many times doing what it takes to do this. I thought of you today. Because I couldn’t do it alone. Thank you to all of you.
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE!!!!
Robert James McKendry III SafetyThird.blog