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Outlaw Racing in the News: Pasadena City College's newspaper covered the rampage on Dump Road. It's a pretty good article and worth checking out. Click the pic to go directly to the Courier's webpage article. |
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Front Page  Scene Reports Beaver Creek - Down Hill Skateboarding Massive
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Beaver Creek - Down Hill Skateboarding Massive |
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Saturday, 05 May 2007 |
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Passing through the foothills west of Denver on the 70, snaking past the many ski resorts and abandoned ore mines that dot the hills and catch the winter's snow, the mountains rise. Framing a blue bird sky frosted with whisps that resemble strips of powder torn from the many peaks that rise to pierce the sky. Beyond all of this lays Avon, Colorado and the area known as Beaver Creek. This is a veritable plethora of downhill runs and this remote location could keep riders busy all day and night for weeks on end.
Duality
As with many resort towns, the Avon is an area of duality. The highway comes into an area shaped like a big taco-- layin' out on both sides are vast heights. On one side of the taco you have the resort known as Beaver Creek and on the other half you have a series of hills better explained as mountains. The resort itself begins past a gate house where there are “guards” that are more than happy to help you find what you are looking for. It seems like it would be hard to get turned away and most likely even the most suspect answer could get you through.
The first thing you pass once beyond the gates is a series of small roads off to the sides of the foothills, many of these are peppered with solid runs that are low traffic and have not only some amazing turns but also some amazing views of the small town higher up. The golf course also affords some decent little cruising and the lay of the land is decorated with old barns and such. Nothing nearly as core as the hills with their turns but if you find yourself wanting to cruise and peddle the golf course is a good choice. The only drawback to heading past the gate and up into the ski town area itself is the level of security, and traffic is much higher. Traffic consists mostly of the tour buses and SUV’s you will want to watch the corners as people in vacation mode tend to float corners and the busses take up much of the road.
The heat more or less will require you to hit a run and then move on, summer months will be easier to session with the limited amount of visitors during those months. The balance of respect for the locals and getting your session is a matter for you to consider. Have respect so others may ride.
Heading out of the Gates and north you hit the extreme opposite of the resort community, although the hills are very built up residential wise there is little traffic and what was shorter tighter runs is now opened to large sweepers and huge straight aways. The switch backs float up the mountains, stepping higher and higher. There is little many DH riders have seen in the states that could truly compare to not just the quality but quantity of these lines. As with the resort, the northern lines have draw backs but they are few, some of the roads are of a large grain aggregate and some corners will be dusted with pea stone. Traffic is minimal and almost all lines either give you enough room to see through to oncoming traffic or it’s just wide open. I can only imagine how beautiful these runs must be by moonlight
The scene
Loaded Joes is a great place to grab a coffee or snack. When we wandered in to meet Rob they were playing "36 deadly styles" --apparently, they rock kung fu flicks on a large screen Sunday mornings. A killer place to meet up and warm up for a day’s session! The Board Room is the local board shop, although their longboard lineup is a bit sparse, the owner is a nice enough guy and if you need some hardware or other spare bits they should be able to help you out. This is a resort town, so keep in mind there are two types of people here in general: real humans and vacation zombies. Just because the area is built up with massive homes worth millions you don’t have free reign to terrorize the tourists. Although many people do visit here, respect should be taken for the locals that actually live here. It’s their town and you are just a visitor. Find your runs, show respect and ride safe.
Conclusion
Beaver Creek is much more than a powder destination, it’s a world class longboarding location as well Anyone who is lucky enough to live and ride in beaver creek is lucky enough. The terrain yields itself to providing a very picturesque and challenging set of terrain. If you ever find yourself passing through Avon, maybe you should hop out and take some turns.
We want to pay respect to our tour guide, the one and only Rob McKendry. Rob was kind enough to show us around while suffering from dengue fever. Props also to the shotgun rider Monkey who performed his duties as a tumbleweed wrangler flawlessly. Special thanks goes to the Beaver Creek safety and security crew, who allowed us to ride the hills, climb some stuff and more or less have a great time. Also special thanks to the Board Room who let us build out decks and Never Summer for all the support.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 13 May 2007 )
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