Maryhill Loops, for them unfamiliar, is a road that is above the Columbia Gorge and is part of the Maryhill Museum- it's actually part of the museum's collection. Completed in 1916, it was (and remains) an engineering marvel. Sam Hill, who was the founder of the Maryhill Museum, was also an advocate for roads that would allow cars like Model T's to climb steep grades like the one between the Columbia Gorge and Goldendale. For many years before the creation of Highway 97 and more powerful automobiles, it was the main connector between the two places. The Loops Road has 29 curves, including 8 hairpins and achieves a fairly identical grade over a rolling landscape. Today the road has become familiar to many because of its popularity for downhill skateboarding and other gravity sports. It's fast, but not ass clutching fast (35 to 40 mph, more with a tailwind). Thanks to the generosity of the museum and the commitment of people like the Maryhill Ratz own Dean Ozuna, the road is open to all who wish come and fly down its beautiful descent. Everything about the place is sublime. The rolling wheat colored hills and basalt formations give way to the broad Columbia below. Lazy wind turbines spin all around. The Goldendale Plateau above is cradled by Mt Adams, Mt Hood, peekaboo Mt Rainier and distant Mt St Helens. Rolling down the grade is to peripherally take this all in.
Clinging to Cowzer's Corner
The RVOD part of the G Ride stands for Ryan Vanderveen or Die, and is a memorial to Ryan, who was a young downhiller who died in 2013. The "or die" part refers to his fully committed attitude towards skating. He was apparently an endless source of stoke to his friends and those who rode with him. The G in G Ride referred originally to Girls, but was expanded to include Groms and Geezers to make for a bigger freeride. That said, the ladies show up in force (check out the lady ride ripping the hairpin at second 46 in the video above) and bring their awesome vibe and ripper skating with them. It would be great to see it have a big enough draw to be an all ladies ride, and I have no doubt that day is coming, but for the moment it was also really great to see the groms and geezers killing it too. I would say the youngest grom was about 10 and the oldest geezer, 70. Cliff Coleman showed up- you can see him immortalized in the downhill documentary "Signal HIll Speed Run" looking stylish and pinning it down the steep assed grade at Signal Hill in the 70's. Now days he remains incredibly stylish; simply enjoys the hill, carving it up in a Hawaiian shirt and kneepads and employing his signature Coleman slide. Joe Lehm, the founder of the Santa Fe Skate School (and of Ditchslap fame) also showed up and taught classes to newbies with his cohorts Ryan Ricker and Robin McGuirk. These guys were taking the overwhelming specter of the hill and breaking it down into navigable chunks. Day 1, learning how to stop! Day 2, making it down the hill with fewer footbrakes every run. Day 3, riding in a pack. Many times over the weekend I saw these guys working one on one with students and getting them down the hill with zero footbrakes by the end of the weekend.
Matt Franklin took a rare break in his busy schedule in Texas to come and ride. Always a joy to have him on board, he was even talking about racing the hill again.
Tim Hayes, Nicole and Matt. Tim (Tim-O) was ripping it up with his crew. I called them the O Mob because they all have nicknames that end in O. Buddies playing music and skateboarding together since they were teens.
Aside from a few good folks going off into the hay bales, the weekend was pure joy. Sunday topped out just under 100 degrees, so you'd feel pretty wilted after all day in your leathers and slugging down quart after quart of water. But the long ride home was filled with sweet replays of rides down the hill. Thanks much to Dean-O and the Maryhill Ratz crew for tirelessly pulling off another freeride.
Cheers and Ride On.
