Oregon Cannonball Run 2008

I’ve been making half hearted attempts to put together a Cannonball Run of Oregon skateparks for several years. The Cannonball Run is one of those ideas that sounds fun but is actually quite a chore if you decide to undertake it. Every time I would suggest it I would get a few non committal grunts or “that sounds annoying.” It turns out most people would rather spend their time actually skating instead of driving from spot to spot and having to leave just as you get warmed up. Leave it to MC to actually put the plan into motion. He tried one earlier this winter but kind of gave up half way through due to weather and lack of sunlight. In Washington a crew had a similar experience. When Old Man Army decided to give it a go in Arizona, MC picked up the torch and ran with it. It wasn’t publicized as an event on Skate and Annoy because Mark had planned to hit some private bowls on the way and didn’t want to bring the troops along. At the last minute (literally) I talked him into just hitting public parks for the sake of continuity. In the car he was still inclined to hit one well known private spot in particular because he was afraid we wouldn’t get to all sixteen. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. Heck, we could have easily squeaked in a seventeenth since we drove right by Oregon City on the way to West Linn.

Highlights of the trip were Glenhaven, the Vancouver Washington skate spot, and Mark accidentally driving off leaving Rich from EPM stranded at McDonalds. We met some cool locals from McMinnville who were also at Holly Farm. Arriving at Burnside at a very chilly 7:30am and finding a couple guys skating there was a surprise as well. Lowlights included a mud infested Battle Ground where I swear I saw barf in the deep end. Some Aumsville locals tried to give us some attitude, but Salem local Gabe was there ripping it up. Then there was all the driving.

One of the things about a Cannonball run is that there is barely time to skate, let alone photograph or video. I tried to do all three, and as a result I got fairly mediocre results across the board, pun intended! Originally I had conceived of a Cannonball Run taking place in the summer, with lots of extra daylight and more lengthy travel times due to fewer parks, but so many have gone up in the last three years it’s a lot easier now. When Portland’s system gets built we won’t even have to leave the city limits. I think I’m over this for now. Bryce may be on track when he suggests an 8 parks on 8-8-08 event instead. Who knows, maybe after another year passes we can try for 24 in 24 hours.

In the future, everyone will have a blog about the same session every time they skate. What else would explain the fact that out of five guys on the trip, four of them covered it online?

Check out Conahan’s write up of the Oregon Cannonball Run 2008. Rich over at EPM has a lot of pictures and a short write up as well.