Western Washington Road Trip - Posted 7-13-07
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DAY TWO
Kilwag: MC and Kilwag took off from Portland Friday morning. After a slow start and some some horrendous traffic mid-day around Tacoma, they finally met up with Shawn and Company at Crossroads, a recent Grindline creation.
Conahan: A slow start? I'll say. I could have watched the first three Bones Brigade videos in the time it took you to get gas, an oil change, and finish up your appointment at the beauty salon.
Kilwag: Ah ha, ha. Let's not go there Mark.
Conahan: That's what I kept saying! Anyway, the Crossroads skatepark in Bellevue really reminded me of Grindline's Carnation skatepark but with better finishing. Crossroads is a single multi-pocket bowl with an oververt pocket, triple-wide deathbox and combination of molded concrete and steel coping, There is a waterfall to a slightly-curved vert deep end wall. Native guides Dan Hughes, Tony Davies and Steve Betten met us at the park and you could say we had the place mostly to ourselves - except there were 10 of us! It sprinkled on and off but it would stop, the park would dry out and we could get a few more runs in. The park has a nice wide open feel with some well designed hips to pump or launch over. The deathbox was a challenge and there were good lines to the oververt. Grindline has perfected the molded coping technique. It was fun. I'll give it a thumbs up.
Kilwag: I agree Mark. It's kind of like a mirror image of Carnation that has been stretched in some areas and compressed in others. I felt it was almost too open in that there was too much travel time between walls. I had a similar experience with Carnation when it opened but that was due in large part to my own inadequacies and being unable to find my lines. I enjoyed Crossroads, but it's not one of my favorite parks. One interesting feature is it's proximity to an assisted living retirement community, which means a higher than normal concentration of gaping senior citizens and the increased chance that you can get stuck behind a slow moving car with a turn signal that is stuck in the on postition when trying to exit the park. Don't laugh, it happened to us. I give Crossroads a thumbs up.
Conahan: Traffic was pretty heavy back to Kent. The park was built by the company that built Washington's Sprinker and University Place skateparks. In spite of that, reports were favourable on Kent with a few reservations (four hips in the big bowl were too sharp, the design was conducive to collisions and there were plenty of dipshits using the park). Kent is an impressive place, The skatepark is large with a full-pipe, small right-hand kidney bowl with pool coping, a transitioned bank with curb top around the big bowl/pipe area and some interesting gap features including a small bank with a deathbox over a gap. That pool was fun but small. The big bowl has a lot of dead spots. Steve Betten managed to get up high in the pipe so the speed lines are there. Maybe I was just starting from the wrong end. The pipe and transitions were smooth but the hips were indeed poorly constructed and plenty of twits were dangling their legs in the bowl or dropping in to do flyouts.
Kilwag: I don't know what reports you were reading, but the one I read made it out to be a death trap. I wasn't expecting much considering the contractor's reputation earned from past work, but I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, the edges of the hips go all the way down to the flat, but they are manageable, providing you know they are there. Walking up to the park, I thought that small bowl was going to be unrideable, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.
Conahan: Nice park and amenities including some skate-themed art (images and sculptures of skateboarders coarse-resolution pixel-style for some reason ‹ but cool) shade trees and water and restroom facilities. There are also a couple of unsupervised rock-climbing simulations on site - one of which must be about 25 feet tall. I did run into some old skateboarding friends, Rob Skala and Mark Holt at Kent. I saw Rob at the Battle Ground opening but I waven't seen Mark in 25 years he was riding an old non-concave Sims board that would probably bring a good price on EBay.
Kilwag: I believe that ws a Sims Flagship, Mark.
Conahan: And I believe you are a dork, Kilwag. I'm going to give Kent a flat hand-wiggle. I'll skate it if I'm up that way again but I wouldn't think of it as a major destination.
Kilwag: Perhaps because I expected so little, I ended up really enjoying that park. I didn't spend a lot of time in the big bowl, partially becasue I found it boring, and partially because I didn't feel like dealing with the flyout brigade. However, I really enjoyed the banks and tranny in the street course. The split pyramid and the long quarter pipe and bank setup really made my day. I enjoyed the small bowl too. I give it a thumbs up for overall terrain. I dind't know we were going to start splitting hairs with the hand wobbles there, Mark.
Conahan: Since a road-trip means camping, I'll share my thoughts on our campsites as well. Shawn had booked a K.O.A. in Kent which would be home for a couple of nights. $3 pancake breakfast with High Noon on the big screen TV, showers and a swimming pool. A nearby wildlife sanctuary provided a three-story observation platform where we could drink without disturbing our neighbors. It cost plenty ‹ especially in view of the fact that our campsite just barely held our three cars and four tents. Thumbs down on the K.O.A.
Kilwag: Couldn't agree more. Nothing like camping in a parking lot. At least we cheated them on the head count. Thumbs down. This brings us to day three.
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Western Washington Road Trip - Posted 7-13-07
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