good hills

there's quite a few good hills around where i live. i haven't gotten around to drawing the maps (yet) but i can still tell you where they are, and if you know southampton, you should be able to find them, or at least get close.

the common

the first one we discovered was in the common. it seemed a fairly sensible place to start since there were lots of nice wide paths and few cars. so, there's three main routes:

1. if you go into the common from the burgess road/avenue junction and head towards the middle, you'll come to the main path. just follow that town-wards and after a few hundred meters, it starts to get steep. just crouch on the board and enjoy the feeling rushing through the air. genuinely one of the best things in the world. anyway, that's an aside.

2. the second one is close to the first, but of a totally different nature. this is a windy narrow, steep and fairly short one, but you're gonna love it. this is the one where i totally ruined my hand. anyway, to get there you go along the same way as for 1., but instead of turning town-wards, you carry on and take a left after about 30 metres. then just follow the path. i suggest you go down it really slowly the first time so you know what to expect. there's a nice little couple of bends about half way along which make it interesting and you end up by the duck pond.

3. again, follow the route for 1., but carry on past the junction and past the little path in 2. and just head on down the hill. it goes on and on and on and on and you can get some serious speed going. if i didn't have restrictions on the size of file i can put on the site, i'd show you a couple of videos of me skating down that route. but since my wonderful hosts (fortunecity and freewebs) don't let me have big files, you can't see. so... go do it yourself :)

by glen eyre

i was only shown this area the other day, but there are some quality hills around here. i haven't fully explored the area yet, but i did have a good laugh. i did also run into a car and quite seriously hurt my leg; but no pain, no gain!

anyway, to get to one of the good hills you head up glen eyre road from burgess road. it's a bit of a mission on a board, but you could take the bus if you were feeling lazy. once you're at the top turn right at the roundabout, and head down that road for about 30 metres. take a left and you're there. it's a really long hill, with a steep start. the road curves to the right and then it's straight for about 500 metres or so, with a gentle slope at the end to slow you down. the problem is this is a narrow road, with parked cars on the right hand side (as you go down the hill) so be careful of cars. that's how i got screwed over. best to have a couple of spotters along the way to warm you of cars. sort out your signalling beforehand - avoids any nasty confusion.

next good hill is basically glen eyre road itself. again, best to have a couple of spotters along the way (i'll say where). start at the roundabout at the top of glen eyre and just head on down towards burgess road. about halfway down glen eyre road there's a right turn; head down there. that corner is where you need a spotter. the just follow the road round until you end up on glen eyre road again. if you want to stop, just turn left on to glen eyre road and head up hill; it'll slow you down in no time! spotters on all the corners in that little detour are handy.

i'll keep you posted on the glen eyre situation. i've got to wait for my leg to heal a little before i go out for a proper skate again.