Following Matt Franklin down a New Mexican ditch. Matt is a slalom guy with downhill roots. He got me into downhill through ditch skating. I came from a pool/street background, and thought that longboards were strictly the domain of the sandy beach and sunset crowd cruising seaside in Venice. He convinced me that I needed to attend Ditchslap in ABQ and it seemed like a good gateway drug to longboarding. I was relieved to see that downhill was a sufficiently gritty scene. Matt likes to ride these tiny slalom boards in the fast ditches, which seems a bit touchy to me, but he makes it look super stylish.