|
|
|
| Q&A: McKendry on Speed (1810 Posts)
|
| Topic |
Info |
|
my pnuematic $0.02
|
|
On 7/6/2005
duane
wrote in from
United States
(68.15.nnn.nnn)
the smallest fast pnuematics in existence, as far as I know, are the 12" diamater Panaracer wheelchair racing tires, which fit spoked rims (Sun).
These are conventional bike tires but smaller. They aren't particularly fast compared to comparable sized solid urethane unless you:
-grind off the slight tread
-pump them up to 275 psi
-pray
-emply spoke covers to make disk wheel
they get faster if you wipe the tread with toluene to swell the rubber. If you do all this yes they get fast. Very fast.
yes the grip is decent but not comparable to flat urethane, the contact patch at 275 psi is miniscule (its about 1 square inch total for all 4 wheels if you weigh 275 pounds, naturally). I don't think these could take much side load without exploding violently
As you might imagine, making smaller diamater wheels in this maner gets very difficult, in fact the Panaracers tend to have a bump where the tubular layers are bonded together
Panaracers (and 99.99% of all bike tires) are bias ply, and just like bias ply car tires, friction is high because the ply's of fabric run 45 degrees to the bulge of the tire, as it rolls.
A few folks have made radial bike tires, some old dude named Rinkowsky, and more recently Michelin for eco-marathon racing. using these tires the French microjoule team got over 10,000 miles per gallon in a little aero car, with more or less regular gas.
I'm not sure what the rolling friction coefficient of Chris's 'thane is, and that number is also dependent upon tire size, grind, etc, but good bike tires are around Crr=0.030 I've seen urethane tested at just over 0.050 and I used to run some skatecar natural rubber tires that must have been well under 0.050 because they layed smoke unto the urethane, pneumatics and everything else for that matter (while they lasted; for rubber speed=fragile)
As a comparison Michelin claimed 0.010 for the eco-marathon radial tires(!). Too bad they are 16". I've noticed some of the factory teams in the Goodwood soapbox race in England seem to have these (the winners, Lotus, certainly did, and won by 5 seconds on a 60 second course)
So I think it could be done, yes they would likely be much faster, but durability would certainly be suspect and good traction is not a given with faster rubber compounds.
lets' run some goddam skatecar races and then everyone can take out this mental aggression on the course, and us no-talent geeks can have a chance, and we can leave skateboards as skateboards
|
|
|
|
|
Oldmatic, Newmatic, It Don't Matic To Me
|
|
On 7/5/2005
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Gravity sports and roller sports have seen wheels made from wood, metal, clay, rubber, urethane and other plastic variants. There is absolutely no rule prohibiting the use of such wheels. The rubber and/or pneumatic tires that have been used for skateboarding have been dog slow thus far, which is NOT to say that couldn't be made faster, while maintaining superior traction to urethane. My limited knowledge of producung rubber tires is that it is a tricky busness, and very difficult to get consistent results, even with a huge budget. Just ask Michelin.
Duane's a smart guy, and perhaps he can shed some light on the reasons for us not seeing more rubber under our boards.
It would appear to me that hubs, valves, tubes and tires under varying pressures would require a ton of R&D for wheels with a 4" OD, with no guarantee of success or a market for the resulting products. It's taken a lot of my time and money to just try and get guys off of roller-skate wheels. It's hard to say how well Carve Boards and Summit Slicks are doing financially, but they're not really into the race scene either. Whenever it rains at a race now, we see a few guys whip out there stickier but slower rubber tires, in the hopes that they'll make up time in the turns. The guys on urethane just take it easy in the turns, and then eat'em alive in the straights. I have my own ideas about what can work in the rain...
|
|
|
|
|
Duane's 100psi Panaracers
|
|
On 7/5/2005 EBasil
wrote in from
United States
(63.206.nnn.nnn)
Well, I personally hope Duane shows up with the pneumatic tires mounted on a vintage Toft 8 wheeler (and a stack of NOS Tracker riser pads). If it's a Maryhill-style, No Limitations on Boards race, such a thing just might be legit. Under the more typical rules outlined here, either in the summaries of the various rules or in what Chaput suggests as a model, the pneumatic wheels might have some difficulty "fitting in". Hmm, not in all those rules. What's the deal on bladed spokes and tubeless?
Of course, Lonnie Toft sometimes rode on his knees. Freakin' poseur. Not even a skateboard, right?
|
|
|
|
|
wheel requirements
|
|
On 7/5/2005
sean c
wrote in from
United States
(65.175.nnn.nnn)
what happens if/when someone like duane (who is constantly talking about how his pneumatic tires would be faster) shows up at a race with a board with pneumatic tires? Is this progression or is it straying too far from the roots of skateboarding? In your opinion should wheels be limited to urethane only?
sean c
|
|
|
|
|
re: Lance Armstrong
|
|
On 7/5/2005
msk
wrote in from
United States
(68.190.nnn.nnn)
"But just imagine Lance Armstrong rocked up at the tour de france with a bike that had three wheels {not like a tricycle but behind each other} and some new mechanicsm to pedal."
Couldn't happen. If you've been watching the Tour so far, the bikes you've seen Lance riding in the Prologue and TTT are at the very limit of what the rules will currently allow. The UCI (cycling's governing body) has *very* rigid definitions of what a bike is, including frame shape, handlebar placement, weight, seat placement, wheelbase, tubing diameter, etc. The bike I used to race in time trials 12 years ago (a Zipp 2001), is now illegal because the frame shape is wrong. The UCI has become so obsessive about equipment rules (some of which they've even admitted are purely about "how the bike looks") that many in the industry have banded together to protest what they feel is killing innovation in the sport. A few years ago, the UCI even went as far as to throw out every hour record set since 1972, since that was the last year the record was set on a "real" bike.
In comparison, the rules regarding slalom and downhill skateboards are practically wide open...
|
|
|
|
|
Bi means two
|
|
On 7/5/2005
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
It doesn't matter where you put them, having three wheels is contrary to the definition of a bicycle. Period.
Skateboards have traditionally been defined as a lean-steer board that you stand on, and NOT by the number of wheels. Note that inliners have used 2, 3, 4, 5 or even more wheels per skate in racing. Bikes, trikes and quads are examples of vehicles defined by the number of wheels.
Streetluges have gone from 4 wheels, to 6 wheels, and even to 8 wheels, and it's accepted as a part of the sport's evolution. They've also gone from pegless to pegged, and back to pegless.
The truth of the matter is, I could argue the case for continuing NOT to limit the number of wheels, and I could also argue the case to change the current rules to limit the number. Only GSI limits the number to exactly 4.
It just seems pretty silly to me to all of a sudden start saying, "We are skateboarders, and we only use skateboarding equipment!", while standing around in our motorcycle leathers, with blue roller-skate wheels, tennis shoes, and motor sports helmets. At least our gardening gloves with the cutting boards on the palms is traditional. Oh, it's not. My bad.
|
|
|
|
|
Lance Armstrong
|
|
On 7/5/2005 Justin
wrote in from
South Africa
(196.25.nnn.nnn)
But just imagine Lance Armstrong rocked up at the tour de france with a bike that had three wheels {not like a tricycle but behind each other} and some new mechanicsm to pedal. Everybody would freak out cause it doesnt look like the traditional 2 wheeled racer.
|
|
|
|
|
Limit to 4 Wheels?
|
|
On 7/5/2005
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
I don't think that it's a good idea to limit the number of wheels to 4. It would probably just be a knee-jerk reaction to the speedboard that I used in Marryhill. That board is over the length, width, height, and weight that I've proposed. It's hard to say what the reaction of riders would be, if it merely had six wheels.
If we were talking about an extra motor, transmission, chassis, and tires on a race car, it would be an expensive upgrade. But we're talking about one skateboard truck (which lasts forever) and two wheels (that last twice as long now) which is cheap. Skateboarding is the least expensive form of racing on the planet, and this doesn't change that.
Then there's the issue of "purity" and "tradition". And you have ask yourself if you want to prevent the sport from evolving because "that's not the way we've done it in the past". Using 6 wheels is an easy thing to spot. Huge changes in decks such as foam cores, aluminum, carbon fibers, v-lams, fiberglass, drop-throughs, and drop-decks aren't nearly as noticable. Having custom trucks is also not nearly as obvious as 6 wheels. As a result, having 6 wheels is an easy target when it comes to banning certain boards. I look at it this way - All Speedboards are skateboards, but not all skateboards are Speedboards. Therefore we shouldn't look at what a traditional skateboard has looked like to determine what is appropriate in Speedboarding. I think that what is appropriate is what an individual finds to be the fastest and safest lean-steer board that he can stand on down the mountin.
If anything, a 6 wheel skateboard has a certain amount of "eye candy" for pictures, video, and the media. It could be one of many points of differentiation that an audience could hone in on, making the sport a bit more interesting than "just a bunch of guys with motorcycle leathers and helmets riding a skateboard down a hill". I've travelled to many remote locations to see our races observed by more animals than humans, but we don't have live in obscurity for racing to be cool. Ask anyone who has been to the DHX what it's like to race on a track that is 3 deep with fans on every inch of the track, with a JumboTron, TV, prizemoney and trophies. I think that it's cool.
I've been watching The Discovery Channel and OLN lately, seeing how Lance Armstrong and his team is using technology to help them in racing. I think that it's cool. Every team is doing what they can to get themselves ready for battle on the streets and in the mountains of France. IT'S INTERESTING. You don't have to be a fan of bike racing to find it entertaining and educational. There will be a point where most of the technology will have played itself out, and any advantage from one rider to another will be minute, at best. The result is that EVERYONE benefits from the technology, and the guys who can race bikes the best will win. That sounds like a win-win to me.
Our sport has guys who want to impose rules that say that the only thing that can touch your board is the bottom of your feet. This means that you can't grab a rail or touch the board. This means that your knee can't touch the board. You'll notice that these guys don't ride much anymore, and that we've moved on to riding much more technical hills with incredible skill and sliding technique. Ironically, these are some of the guys who first used double-front truck setups in gravity sports.
In short, I don't see a problem with 6 wheel speedboards. I do see a problem sharing the road with boards that are too long, boards that are too wide, boards that are too tall, and boards that weigh too much.
|
|
|
|
|
6 wheels
|
|
On 7/5/2005
panda
wrote in from
France
(82.225.nnn.nnn)
The rules you laid out seem to make sense.
No mention of the number of wheels though.
Do you think skateboards should be limited to exactly 4 wheels or is there room fo r 6 wheel racing in your book ?
Ideally would you like to run 6 wheel setups again ?
|
|
|
|
|
Spec Class?
|
|
On 7/4/2005
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
My board was 60" long x 13" wide x 5" tall, with an 8" tall piece of foam on the front. It weighed 22.5 pounds fully loaded and used wheels that were 3.27" in diameter (83mm). The basis for the board was an 11" standing platform (1" wider than my normal), a 36" wheelbase (2" longer than my normal), and an extra set of wheels up front (this adds 4"). I weighed my 42" Big Red X, 3 downhill trucks, 6 83mm Flywheels, bearings, mounting hardware, grip, and a riser pad and it comes out to 12.5 pounds. This would pass IGSA's & GSI's weight limit (11 lbs + 1 kilo), but I'd have to shave a half pound for EDI's rules. IGSA says that there must be a minimum of 4 wheels, GSI says exactly 4, EDI doesn't have a rule.
I have proposed the following specs:
Length: 48"
Width: 12"
Height: 6"
Weight: 15 pounds
Wheels: 4" OD
The board should be lean-steer activated. No brakes. No sharp edges or dangerous features. The bottom of at least one foot should be planted on the board while riding with the other foot being in contactat with the board, except for when pushing or attempting to regain control.
I think that you get a tech box that is 48" x 12" x 6", put it on a scale and zero the scale. If a board can fit completely inside it and weighs 15 pounds (or less), 4 of the tech specs have just passed. I'd keep it that simple. I would NOT attempt to define or to ban fairings or airflow devices. Bumpers, fenders, rails, risers, toe-blocks, trucks, hubcaps, wheel cowlings, numberplates, board contours, bends, concave, camber, rocker, all change the way that air passes around a rider and his equipment. It would be entirely STUPID to make a highly subjective rule that required completely ARBITRARY judgement to determine whether or not a feature or component on a skateboard constituted an "illegal" airflow device. If you have an appropriate height limit (no one has imposed this YET), you can simply allow everyone to construct skateboards that will pass tech without any problems. There is only so much that you can do with a 6" height limit. You may be able to clean air over the toes of your front foot, and/or attempt to prevent air from hitting your spinning wheels, and everyone would have the same opportunity to do this. Currently, no one is complaining about drop-decks putting a rider's feet behind and below the front part of the board. No one cares if you have a teardrop shaped deck. Few people have found it compelling enough of an advantage (if any) to have their boards run cleaner. Most of the effort has been with helmets, leathers, gloves and shoes.
Another type of rule that always backfires is when someone tries to control the COST of what is competitive. Gravity sports have seen bans on floating-axle trucks, drop-through decks, exotic bearings, fast wheels, fast helmets, kevlar racing suits, speedsuits, safer chassis designs, etc. Some "well intended" organization makes an attempt to keep the "less resourceful" skaters happy by banning "expensive, unfair" equipment. Often times, the items being banned aren't even faster. For example, some riders like 8" wide hangers and strong straight axles. For years, the only solution was a Randal luge truck. It's expensive and has 4 bearings in the hanger to "float" the axle, which is strong and centerless ground for straightness. Some people ASSUME (incorrectly), that these trucks are faster and "shouldn't be allowed" and then argue that not everyone can afford these. The result? They BAN floating axle trucks. So what do guys do? The spend about 10 times as much money to get custom 8" wide hangers heat treated chromoly or titanium axles. Congratulations - the price of "being competitive" just went up.
Then they ban all kevlar race suits. Now instead of paying under $1,000 for a set of leathers, guys can go out and spend $4,000 on the most high tech "seamless" aerodynamic set of "real cow" leathers. Again the price of racing just went up.
Want a lightweight Snell rated helmet that provides good visibility in your tuck and is super aero? Fine. Someone can and will go out and pay the $940 to test his limited production run of helmets, get the certification and stoke out a handful of his teammates and/or himself.
We are not a place where we can (or should) try and make speedboarding into a strict spec class. Who wants to go to a race where you have to buy, and then ride, somebody elses idea of what a good downhill board is? Guys want to ride what they want to ride. I think that simple rules will have racers thinking "outside the box", about what can fit "inside the box", that will get them down the hill safer and faster than ever before. You can choose to run a simple setup or go as high tech as the box will allow - it's your choice. You can put together the most expensive board on the planet, but if you can't ride it down the hill, it's absoltely WORTHLESS.
|
|
|
|
|
passing the gnar gnar
|
|
On 7/3/2005 mike p
wrote in from
United States
(69.107.nnn.nnn)
cool place for passing! thanks
|
|
|
|
|
Where Did Dennis Pass?
|
|
On 7/3/2005
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Go straight down from the "D" in "Downhill until you find a dark sport on the "S". I got squirrely there, in the lefty, and Dennis made a move before the right hander. He may have caught some bad air because he kind of stalled out there, and I was able to dive to the inside of the right and retake the lead in the straights.
I had a great run in the quarters, an okay run in the semis, and my run in the finals was my worst. I almost paid the price for it.
|
|
|
|
|
more maryhill q's
|
|
On 7/3/2005 mike p... again
wrote in from
United States
(69.107.nnn.nnn)
another question for chris... what turn did denis make that (albeit shortlived) pass on? my guess would be the little wiggle that preceeds the left/right s before the long straight section... if that made any sense
|
|
|
|
|
Racing and Regs.
|
|
On 7/3/2005 PSR
wrote in from
United States
(69.161.nnn.nnn)
Chris, your post just below, from 7/2, IS SPOT ON!!! Thank You for saying, without pointing a finger in any one (or 6) direction the Reality of how Racing ends up being run. It dosen't have to be like this, and it shouldn't be like it is. Sponsors of Racing need to hold events that are TRUE to the Sport[s] they represent, not 'true' to the folk they know personally.
My old 6-wheeled 'woodie' sled, the 'Crutch', it still is in use, and I would have loved to have run it 'legally' at the 1st X-Games in Providence, but somehow, it was deemed 'illegal' during practice (not Metal). I haven't raced luges since, other than doing 70+ down Rt-9 with Old-School Dan. Meanwhile, I watched racers take the very same ideas I had built, and run them, a good 4-6 years later, once the 'Rules' allowed for those innovations.
It's a damn shame when innovation gets labeled as cheating, and rule-changes to benny the bros is considered the norm. But then again, NASCAR dosen't want anything WEIRD happening on their glass/rollbar flying billboards. What would happen if real Drivers like Loeb,Schummacher,Hakkinen,Millen,or Soldberg showed up with intentions of doing NASCAR? You'd see a sudden regression to U.S. mid-sized off-the-lot-with-power-steering cars with no power and ugly tire/suspension restrictions. Oops,I just described IROC... Yeah, like I was sayin'
|
|
|
|
|
equipment regulations
|
|
On 7/3/2005 herbn
wrote in from
United States
(152.163.nnn.nnn)
i've heard a few reasons besides the ol standby of safety. I bikes and motorcycle racing there is the fair to the financially challenged rule, this keeps big companies from building exotic expensive equipment(with no marketablity)just to win races and get promotion/headlines. An extra truck and two extra wheels,hardly a problem, all of chaputs board doesn't look all that expensive to make unless you ast chaput to make you you one,ex.bigredX,though it could be argued that he does open the door to to extreme deviations,personally i don't see a problem. But just as an example,,10lbs is not heavy enough? 15 lbs,would be better? what do you do if next month a 15.1 board shows up ,give it a pass? they decorate it with their ribbon so then it's 15.2 lb..... Chris , if you had a foam and carbon deck made and had them run some magnesium trucks with ti axles,replaced all the balls in your biltins with ceramic balls you would probabely make the weight, though you'd be guilty of the deep pocket advantage. Would the board still be faster?,,it would be interesting, expensive and interesting; and probabely banned anyway.
|
|
|
|
|
Skateboard? specs
|
|
On 7/3/2005 Mike P
wrote in from
United States
(69.107.nnn.nnn)
Chris what were the exact specs on ur board? Length, weight, and width in particular?
|
|
|
|
|
Down Here
|
|
On 7/3/2005 Mike P
wrote in from
United States
(69.107.nnn.nnn)
I don't remember anyone accusing Chris of cheating. It's more that people felt that his board was not really in the spirit of the sport. I don't mind the extra hanger, but the farring on it just does not seem fair. There are two things that make riders fast: how efficiently they take turns, and how aerodynamic they are. The farring eliminates one of those elements. You wanna talk about making it like NASCAR... imagine if everyone had a board that leveled the aerodynamic playing field. That is, in fact, unsafe becasue you would have beginners going that much faster (side by side with the experienced) into burly turns, eating s#@!, and taking others down.
Anyway, I got side-tracked... The point is, Chris's board was legal. He won fair and sqaure. However, many people who know skateboarding well seriously question whether rules for a race should allow a board such as this in a race. My personal oppinion is that rules should ban such boards. Judging from the specs Chris himself recomended, he appears to agree. So lets move forward into fair races.
|
|
|
|
|
reason for last topic
|
|
On 7/3/2005 down here
wrote in from
United States
(209.215.nnn.nnn)
I strayed...The next scenerio is of coarse the next year there are ALL KINDS of rules that will turn skateboard racing into nascar. It's a double edged sword. Yes, when everybody is driving essentially the same car, it comes down to driver skill and the luck of not being caught up in a crash. There's nothing wrong with this sort of racing except that it already exists. It's called IROC. I miss the OLD nascar, and I'm not sure I'd like to see speedboarding go in that direction. STAY INVENTIVE!!!
|
|
|
|
|
Be careful what you wish for
|
|
On 7/3/2005 down here
wrote in from
United States
(209.215.nnn.nnn)
Alright, I'm a nobody from the southeast who's only been over 40 a scant few times. (we don't have mountains here) Still I love haulin' azz on a skateboard like the rest of you. I've read ALL the brewhaha on all the threads about maryhill and decided to spew a little. As a casual observer it seems obvious to me that the only person at fault here is the promoter. If you throw races with what are essentially no rules you have to expect innovative americans to show up with all kinds wild contraptions. (frankly, I'm dissappointed chaput was the only one) Oh, they're always laughed at with a lot of " oh my God look at that thing!!!" and most of the time they fail and everyone has a good laugh. But every now and then, one of those contraptions WORKS. Then, everybody runs to the rule book and finds what? NOTHING. ZERO. NADA. At that point most normal people say "well.....damn...he smoked us. hmmm....what can I come up with to beat it?" Then you're usually left with only one or two crybabies to lazy to even read the rules in the first place who scream "he CHEATED" Don't sweat it Chris, and keep up that same innovative spirit that created the abec 11 wheel. We ALL benefit your hard work. Know that you are appreciated from places you rarely even think about.
|
|
|
|
|
Not that special
|
|
On 7/2/2005 Kenny?
wrote in from
United States
(66.235.nnn.nnn)
Sorry to spoil my thunder Chaput, but I didn't skate Mary Hill. I mean I skated on Mary Hill (haha) but I didn't go down it. I'm not that special, all I did was take pictures and film.
|
|
|
|
|
Bans & Fans
|
|
On 7/2/2005
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Of course I know why I was banned. The whole situation can be summed up in two letters. It was BS. Black Sheep maybe?
Are those your pics from the CLB site Kenny? Good job. It's hard to take the time to skate AND film a race. It gives everyone an opportunity to see what words alone can't explain. And Dennis is a terrific sport and a fast, fast, skater. Even though he qualified 3rd, I think that he still slipped under a lot of people's radar because he's not as well known as some of the others from the northwest. We shared the podium at Danger Bay so I know that he's for real.
And Andrew, I can't take all the credit for bringing out the worst in us. Competition brings out the best in us, and it also carries with it some baggage. When I first started racing, I was very excited to be in a "pure" competition, one without judges like there is in street, vert and freestyle. I thought it was so simple - the first one to the line wins, may the best man win. Well, naive as I was, I started entering as many races as I could to gain the experience and the knowledge to become competitive. I say naive, because I made some very wrong assumptions. I assumed that just because I wouldn't cheat to win, others wouldn't either. I would never try to ban someone's equipment unless it was obviously unsafe to others. I would never change the rules to diminish other's strengths. I would never falsify times, change bracketing, ignore violations or invent them. But others have. And it came as a shock to me, because I thought that people were basically honest, and others would easily see what was happening and act accordingly. I've got some bad news. I was wrong. THERE ARE POLITICS IN RACING. Everyone has an agenda (which is understandable), but there have been people in a position of power who are ethically and morally corrupt.
There are so many examples in so many different situations that it wouldn't make sense to dredge them all up now, but it's been going on for years, and it hasn't stopped yet. It happens in big races, as well as in small. We all want to win. We all want the guys from our team, our city, or our country to do well, but we shouldn't be stacking the deck in people's favor or dealing a crappy hand to people we don't want to win. There aren't that many opportunities to go out and race on closed roads in a competitive format. When there is a race, but it's compromised by politics and favoritism, it's just another lost opportunity for men to figure out who the winners really are, and downhill skateboarding itself is the biggest loser.
Skaters often save up every penny that they have to travel to a race that's far from home, only to have a big sign stuck in front of them that reads, "You Can't Win, But Try So That We Look Good!"
There is a duty and a responsibilty for race organizer to set up a safe environment on which to have a battle in a time efficient manner. There have to be rules of engagement that are not subject to interpretation. I an organizer falls short of this, he will invariably become a powerful judge, making arbitrary decisions to attempt to restore order in the chaos that he promoted. It leaves racers in an awkward (but all too familiar position) to come back from a race where the effort is appreciated, but the outcome was questionable.
If I am to "blame" for good rules being established and put into place, PLEASE, PLEASE, BLAME AWAY! They won't just be there for me - they will be there for EVERYONE. The more that we have established who we are, what we do, what we use, and how we do it, the better. Then we can focus on the the race itself, and who the REAL winners are. And THAT my friend, is the spirit of competition.
|
|
|
|
|
Banned
|
|
On 7/1/2005 Justin
wrote in from
South Africa
(196.25.nnn.nnn)
Dig to know why you were banned??? You seem to be the black sheep of standup but you given so much imput back to the sport.
|
|
|
|
|
Images
|
|
On 7/1/2005
Kenny?
wrote in from
United States
(66.235.nnn.nnn)
Hey, thanks Chaput and Deano for mentioning the pictures I took. Glad to here you've seen the ones of you hitting the hay bails Deano, I have footage. So back to the topic of this whole ordeal... Mary Hill was the first longboard event I've ever witnessed and like EVERYONE else there I was dumbstruck at Chaput's little invention. But, the best input I've heard pertaining to it, comes from the man most deserving of putting an opinion to it; the man who passed "the chariot of death" up (even for just a second), Dennis. "im glad i went up against that in 2 heats, i feel as if it made me go faster down the hill tring to catch it." And it was visibly true, Chaput rose the bar, whether he was challenged or not. He made the people he raced with challenge themselves to step up and push themselves harder. You rarely get to experience things so cool as when Dennis passed up Chaput, the whole hill erupted with excitement. So whether three truck boards are banned in future races has no importance to me. Honestly, I doubt many people could stand up to the pressure, without credibility that is at par with someone the likes of Chaput the other riders will rip you apart. Especially with all of this heated discussion going around. And I thought Mary Hill under the radar, wow, was I wrong.
|
|
|
|
|
chaputs place in this world
|
|
On 6/30/2005
Andrew Mercado
wrote in from
United States
(71.107.nnn.nnn)
Chaput you were put on this earth for one reson and one reson only...to bring out the worst in us all. Its not a fun job but someones got to do it.
|
|
|
|
|
