Cannon Beach

The park was supposed to have its grand opening today but it started raining so I left town. You can see a couple of kids practicing their extreme running, they were really stoked about the park and giving me a really hard time for not wearing a helmet. There’s a REALLY good bakery in the south end of town called Waves of Grain on S. Hemlock and Delta. They’ve got good coffee and wireless as well.

Nehalem

Nehalem has a masonite half-bowl with a cover, pretty sick for a town of under 300. If San Francisco had a ramp for every 300 people there would be over 2500 ramps in the city! I figured I could sleep there if it rained but this little kid was taking refuge at the ramp so I headed up the coast and took my chances hiking to the beach for the night, and risking the sleeper waves and tsunamis… So I hiked to the beach and it smelled of sea salt and sitka spruce and I missed the rain completely. It was epic. How nice to wake up to the birds on the sand at sunrise. That was until I got back to my car and had a parking ticket worth twice as much as my last hotel room.

Bay City

The tone was set for Bay City when I stepped out of my car into a giant pile of puke. The park is small and sweet but by no means Oregon’s finest. There were these three maybe seven-year-old girls using the ramps as slides. One was wearing heels (I didn’t know they made heels for kids) and licking the bottom of her friend’s flip-flops. The third had those shoes with the wheels on the bottom, and they all had chocolate or dirt or something smeared all over them. I really wanted to take a picture but it’s probably unlawful to take pictures of random children and post them on the internet (so I posted this beetle I found instead). This BMX guy tried to buy my car from me which was pretty tempting given my current circumstances, however I didn’t want to be stranded in Bay City so I hit the road.

Lincoln City, AKA Skatetopia

So that’s where all the skaters are. Seriously, Lincoln City is surreal. The park is ever expanding and despite a couple random bowls on the periphery, there’s this upper part with the blue paint, then the lower part with the rain covering, and now this insane downhill snake-run that ends in a giant bowl. Check out the picture of this girl Kim bailing at the top just after being inches from the coping. She got up relatively unscathed. Kim traveled here from Portland in a spray painted motor home with a couple other shredders. There was another woman from Portland on scene at the Lincoln City skatepark and a couple local girls causing trouble and ripping it up.

AIRSPEED SKATEPARKS; Stephanie Mohler Interview

Reedsport, Florence, Waldport, Toledo and Newport all have epic skateparks located on a 70 mile stretch of the Oregon Coast. When I got to the park at Reedsport I was blown away. Why don’t I live here? Then I hit up Florence and had an equally good skate sesh and a really good cup of coffee on the waterfront. All of these parks were designed and built by Airspeed Skateparks, which is co-owned by skaters Geth Noble and Stephanie Mohler. They’ve got skater women on their building crew and are dedicated not only to the best quality skateparks, but also environmental sustainability, diversity in employment, and community building. They have been busy this summer building a new park in Portland and another in Nederland, CO. Thanks Airspeed.

NAME: Stephanie Mohler
AGE: old
WHERE DO YOU LIVE? On the road mostly in North and Latin America
OCCUPATION? Large scale functional concrete sculptor / Skatepark Designer and Builder, Co-Owner Airspeed Skateparks LLC
WHY DO YOU SKATE? Passions pick us...................
WHEN DID YOU START SKATING? A decade ago
HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN BUILDING SKATEPARKS? I had a portable wood working shop that I carried around on my van while moving from skate spot to skate spot. I made picture frames from old broken skate decks with my portable shop and one day I was poaching the Southern Oregon Talent skatepark prior to it's completion and meet Geth Noble (present day Co-Owner of Airspeed Skateparks LLC) whom was shaping out the Twinkie on that job and a friend mentioned to Geth that I built these skate picture frames. Geth checked out the frames and said "you should build concrete forms for skate parks!". I didn't really believe him at the time (he was hitting on me) but time passed and the comment sunk in and my vision of what I could build expanded. Four months later I was living in Yunnan, China studying Chinese painting and I couldn't stop thinking about skatepark design and construction. I decided there to leave my job in China and move back into my van and check out the potential of skatepark building for myself. I volunteered on the Newport, Oregon skatepark and then the Newberg, Oregon project happened right after. At first I volunteered and after 90 hours of volunteering I was hired on the job (at the time Newberg was built none of the present day Northwest companies were in existence we were all hired as employees to the City of Newberg) It was on the Newberg Skatepark job that I learned to finish concrete and my passion for skatepark design and building was to push Geth and I to start our our company with the vision of designing and building world-class innovative structures, a company where female skaters could also design and build, and a company focused on developing more environmentally sound design and construction practice. Geth and I broke away from the other builders on the Newberg project and founded Airspeed Skateparks in 2001 and have been living the dream ever since.
WHATS THE WORK LIKE? Physically demanding and stressful but extremely fulfilling once the park is in the ground.
WHATS THE CREW LIKE? A family
DO YOU HAVE A BLUE ROOM ON SITE? Don't even know what a blue room is!
HAVE YOU EVER TRIED SKATING WET CEMENT? No, laugh.
HOW SOON INTO A PROJECT CAN YOU START SKATING IT? Sometimes within 3 to 4 weeks.
FAVORITE PARK? Our latest park Gabriel Skatepark Portland, Oregon
KNARLIEST FALL? Florence 2004 carving over the Double Death Hole
FAVORITE SKATING TRICK? Backside airs on vert
OTHER SPORTS/ACTIVITIES? Speaking Portuguese, painting the essence of plants, medicinal herbalism, surfing, backpacking, adventuring, plus reading and writing.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT SKATING? How little gear one needs to get such joy!
ADVICE TO OTHER GIRL SKATERS? Follow your passions, dreams, and heart. Know that it can be really hard sometimes to do so and there will be obstacles along the way but what you ultimately and eventually get out of pursuing your dreams is a strong sense of self, personal expansion, and self worth regardless of outcomes............take the journey it's what you were put on this earth to do.
ANYWHERE ELSE I SHOULD GO BESIDES SKATEPARKS WHEN I’M DRIVING HWY 101 THROUGH OREGON? Camp in the dunes, hike onto the beaches and into the costal forests, swim in the fridge water, and stop in the coffee shops and chat with the local people. Laugh.
ANYTHING ELSE? Na..........ride on.

Newport: a good place to get fish and chips

Waldport

This is the most amazing use of 6,500 sq ft ever! You can pump around the perimeter of the park and gain incredible speed, you won't want to stop. The park is in the trees and it smells like cedars. Where is everyone? Did I miss the tsunami warning?