Sandia Crest Road Trip

[a dubz]

Let's get this a little more organized than it was last year. Anyone opposed to mid July?

[TheChubs]

i can pull that.

[BottomSharkNM]

why not plan to go to ditch slap in may?

[tylerdwhite]

i could care less about ditch slap so honestly i'd rather go when there aren't hundreds of other skaters in from out of town. thats just my opinion tho.

[TheChubs]

im with you on that, i would rather skate it with adam than some loser like k-rimes.

[a dubz]

Yeah. Mid July is optimal for me. No snow. No skater queens

[Shedding]

Here is a little write up I did of our last ABQ journey. I never published it or anything after loaded featured our video on the newsletter it seemed kind of futile at that point.

Members at the Austin Longboard club have always had a passion for epic skating and the opportunity to travel and meet other skaters is a call yet to be turned down. I don't believe there has been a longboard event in Texas that at least one of our crew has showed up at and represented. Several of our riders have traveled the continent in search of great skate. After traveling a short distance to race in Houston in mid July, a fire was lit and a road trip was necessary.

One of our more recent members, Eric Martinez, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, suggested that we get some real travel on for some epic skating in his hometown. Seven of our members felt the stoke, took time off work, and blew some cash, all in the name of the skate. We found ourselves watching Ditch Slap and Sandia Crest videos with ever growing excitement. We began mapping out our routes and counting the workdays until zero hour, everyone ready to hit the road for a grand adventure.

Some of the crew had Friday off and we decided we would leave a little early to have things prepared for other’s arrival. I took off at about 6AM on Friday, August 7th in Chase’s gas efficient Honda civic. Nate and Robbie joined us in our early departure, the small car crammed with camping gear, longboards, and a snowboard deck we had wedged in between the seats. We planned on using the snowboard at a stop in West Texas at The Monahan's Sand Hill State Park, to try our luck with some dune surfing, something that has been on my bucket list for a while now. Along the way we passed though, Grandfalls, Texas, a small town with a population of only 391. Robbie awoke and took a look around exclaiming “What the **** are we doing here?” I informed him we were looking for any signs of youth amongst the rundown houses and failed business ventures. Nate voiced his wishful thinking for a small town skate park and less than two blocks later, there it was. The City of Goldenfalls Skate Park’s safety regulations seemed a bit excessive but after seven straight hours in the car, we welcomed the chance to get some much needed leg stretching in.

On to Monahan’s! Now, we being from one of the greenest cities in the country were not prepared for the harsh environment of the open desert. Applying sunscreen is a huge mistake if you plan on falling at all. The moist sunscreen mixed with the dry sand made my arms look like they were coated in cornbread batter after a face plant into the dune face.(which buried my glasses under 2 inches of loose hot sand.) We were very thankful the park offered shower facilities.

Back on the road and the scenery seems bleak. Having just come through plateaus, rocky cliffs, and then never ending desert, we were hoping for something more as we slowly approached our destination. West Texas and Eastern New Mexico are some of the most desolate places in this country. At several points during this section of the journey we could see horizon to horizon. It was flat plains of scrub brush and, most of the time, there was absolutely no sign of civilization. If you could see any actual trees, then you could most likely count them on one hand. It was peaceful in a way.

We arrived in Albuquerque around 8pm that evening weary from the road. We were in awe as we drove around Sandia Crest, which skirts the east side of the city. The mountain loomed overhead for several miles before we passed close to the base. Camping plans were doused when we learned of the burn ban in the area which cancelled all cooking plans. We met Scottie, owner of Carvelongboards.com, who flew up from Houston to ride this great city with us. He gave us the 411 on the cheap hotel and we grabbed a bite to eat before calling it a night. We wanted to be well rested for our assault on the summit in the morning.

Our second crew, comprised of Adam, Grant, and Kyle, left later than anticipated and arrived in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Thanks to my phone dying while I slept, they were unable to locate us. Luckily, they had their own tent and camped on the mountainside waiting dawn.

We arrived at the mountain around 10am after a hearty breakfast from a fabulous diner dubbed simply The Range Café, which everyone agreed, was simply delicious. The road to the summit was long and choc full o' turns. We were very intimidated by the top section of the mountain as we entered our 20th straight minute of driving uphill. The scenery was so spectacular we barely noticed the Abert’s Squirrels scurrying across the road for their chance at fallen seeds. These animals appeared completely alien to us. Never before had we seen an animal carrying a rat face, squirrel body, and rabbit ears. A few expletives were used to describe them on first fight.

We met our fellow ALC members on the peak and took in the fabulous view and crisp morning air. While we worked on our boards and donned our safety gear we spoke with a few tourists who were also visiting the peak this day. They were all very interested and it made us happy to actually talk with strangers about skating instead of receiving scowls. Most were shocked by the daring feat we were about to attempt and I have to be honest, I was too. This was the largest "hill" most of us had ever ridden and although not as steep or fast as some of Austin's runs, it was much, much longer. It was going to take some serious concentration and endurance for this run.

We took off from the top of the hill and the pack quickly separated with riders spread over about 300 yards of roadway. I chose to stay back, carving off speed, foot braking, and taking in the fantastic view and air. I loved coming down each leg towards a switchback, looking down at the next portion of hill. Nate graciously bowed out by volunteering to drive the chaser car keeping us all safe from the motorcyclists who love to race this road. At about the 7th mile mark or 12ish minutes into the run, I was coming into the last right turn before the chicane that finishes the top half of the mountain road. I once again put my foot down to slow for the turn but failed to realize that after all the braking up to this point, the entire sole off my brand new Etnie had gone up in smoke. The bare skin on the bottom of my foot ground along the surface as the pavement tore through the sole insert and then my sock. I tried to slide into a small parking/viewing area on my left instead of barreling over the cliff edge but instead slid off the board and went for a roadway roll. The mountain took payment of about 6 square inches of skin. Grant fell early in the run taking a turn far too wide and sliding on his rear into a guardrail instead of over the edge. He was left with some nasty road rash and a bruise that could only make sitting difficult and painful, but finished the hill out thanks to a massive adrenaline rush. Larin, a friend of mine from Texas, who happened to be in the area visiting family, met us halfway down the mountain and joined us for the next day of our journeys, later shuttling us back to the top of some runs. The injured were consoled and war wounds were treated. All cars were gathered to leave this area but the bottom half awaited skate so those that could still ride, did exactly that. We left the mountain with a little less sole on our shoes and a lot more soul in our skate.

We returned to the hotel and took a break from the high noon sun. We walked out to the parking lot and returned to eat at The Range Café, and once again, everyone agreed, this place was delicious with excellent service. While there, we met up with Devon, of Ghoti Longboards, based out of Albuquerque. We had previously only spoken with him through the Silverfish Forums and he took us to the spot everyone wanted to ride.

The famous Indian School Ditch is not for the faint of heart. It takes a confident rider to handle this place and a god to master it. The run takes much more concentration than one thinks when looking at the video. Then again none of those people in the videos took off with 9 riders at once. There is a reason for this! The pack was tight and speeds quickly increased as we weaved in and out of each others lines, charging downhill towards Albuquerque. 1 rider went down, and I got scared having a rider less than 2 feet in front and behind me and launched myself out of the ditch. I immediately jumped back into the ditch behind them still full of adrenaline, a full 5 minutes from noticing that in my super fly ditch exit, I had landed on a cactus. The walk but up the ditch seemed brutal in the Albuquerque sun and all water was left at the beginning of the run. Thankfully, Troy, a former Houston Garage Rider now living in Albuquerque, had been in touch with Scottie and was waiting for us halfway up the hill with a truck ready for shuttling.

After Indian School we headed a few miles north to Harpers Ditch, another of the Ditch Slap rides we wanted to experience. This ditch was shaped very similar to Indian School but the speeds were drastically reduced. For much of the ditch you had to pump hard to keep going. Harpers ditch, though, had many roll in spots that were great to stop and session at. The first of which had a sofa set perfectly in the shade so spectators could sit in comfort and watch all the action.

The sun was soon setting and it was realized that items were left at Indian School so we headed back to the epic ditch one last time. Upon arrival the sun was over the horizon and stars were visible in the eastern sky over the Mountain. Scottie and Robbie were hearing none of that and rolled headlong down the ditch towards the setting sun. By the time we arrived at the bottom in the cars, it was nearly too dark to see the 2 smiling faces walking towards us from the ditch. After dinner, half the skaters headed to the camp for a night of heavy drinking, while a few again opted for the comfort of a hotel.

We awoke earlier the next morning wanting the get as much skating in as possible before heading back to Texas. We said goodbye to The Range Café with another filling breakfast and headed back to the eastside of town to ride a mellow run we had been told of. The run was about 1 mile long and hit speeds of up to 30mph. We carved on and off the sidewalks hopping over road humps and bombed past the park. Several EMS crews were enjoying lunch or break and cheered us on as we passed by. I imagined they were thinking “Hooray! Job Security!” Larin shuttled us back to the top on each of our 10 or so runs before it was time to leave.

Scottie needed a ride to the airport and Chase’s car needed to head back to Texas due to work constraints of some of the passengers. Once again we jam packed the limited space of the compact car throwing as much of the gear as we could towards the larger vehicle driven by our counterparts. Adam, Grant, and Kyle decided to stay an extra day and Robbie opted to stay with them. We took some group photos and said goodbye, good luck, and screw you for getting to skate this awesome city for another day. We dropped Scottie off at the airport a full 3 hours before his 5pm flight and headed east towards home arriving early the next morning after getting a little lost.