You've heard about the legendary Maryhill Road, right? It's mile after mile of perfect pavement, on a closed road in Washington State. The scene of many a bombing run, several bigtime races and popular for "destination skating", it was the location of choice for a big group of locals and Coast Longboarding skaters. David Price reports, with photos by Jon Huey:

"With all the rain and cold weather this winter in the Northwest, it was time for the longboarders to come out and play in the brief periods of dryness. The Maryhill Ratz and the Coast Longboarding crew put together an epic session on the perfect run: Maryhill. We hosted over 60 riders, coming to Washington state from all over the Pacific Northwest and Canada including Salem, Spokane, Seattle, Olympia, Vancouver BC and even as far away as Calgary Alberta, (a 12 hour drive each way), and converged on the Historic Maryhill Loops Road for the First Annual F@*k the Rain Tour."

Riders from Canadia descended on the hill as early as Thursday night, with the locals slowing rolling in Friday night and Saturday morning. By Saturday midday, there were over 60 riders making the 1.5-mile hike to the top of the hill and then bombing down the 3.5 miles of banked hairpins, only to do it again and again until their legs didn't work anymore! To put this in perspective, there were only 35 racers for the 2005 race that Timeship racing put on. This was by-far the biggest session ever at Maryhill.

Most people took around 5-6 runs which was grueling. Some managed to take 8 runs in a single day! Now talk about a workout! Saturday night was filled with yummy burritos and ridiculously large margaritas as 60 hungry skaters descended on the unsuspecting local Mexican restaurant in Goldendale, the closest thing to a city near Maryhill. While some elected for cheap motel rooms, most of the brave (and poor) camped and partied in the sub-freezing temperatures to get an early start on the hill the next day.

Racing on Sunday was tight and, although there were a few spills, no one got hurt --due in big part to the fact that everyone who rode the hill had at least a helmet on! The temperatures were in the 30's and relaxing between runs never lasted that long, as we had to keep warm by making the long walk to the top. Top speeds, with the slight headwind were (as recorded by GPS) only around 35mph. The winds, which during the summer blow heavily downhill, can push the speeds to close to 50mph and make things quite interesting, were quite mellow for this winter session. This allowed for a more diverse group of skill levels to attack this hill, and allowed for tighter packs and better drafting action.

There were also many gals, all Canadians, who made the trip and conquered "Mary". Two of the coolest things that happened during the session were a mass ride with about 45 people forming a huge train, snaking their way down the road, and when two riders decided to make themselves as aerodynamic as possible and took a run down the hill wearing only their underwear, shoes, helmets and gloves. I'm not sure what