Lawn Chair Skateboarding

Jamison P. Metzger, one of the original Lawn Chair Skateboarders.

 You know those days where you really want to go skateboarding, but you also really want to just sit in your garage in a lawn chair? Haven't you always wondered why you couldn't do both? Well its your lucky day! thanks to Lawn Chair Skateboarding you can have the best of both worlds!! This great new sport started here in our own Plymouth, Minnesota in the early 2000's when youths started to explore new ways to enjoy the leisurely ride of "Longboard"skateboards.

Speed wobbles!

 Please excuse the words all over the photos, the original footage is featured in the credits section of a snowboarding movie.

 As you can see the sport is simple put your chair on your board, adjust the seatback to achive your desired level of relaxation and let it ride!

Jamison shown here took his love of lawn chair skating to the western states.

 Heres a new twist on an old favorite: 2 longboards underneath an old plasitic and metal school chair! This is definately a riskier and more aggressive tactic, but its quite a rush.

Lawn Chair Skating, and to think that it all started in Plymouth Minnesota.

Plymouth Skate Park

Classic Ramp at the Plymouth Skatepark.

The New Plymouth skatepark is awesome. For many years the skaters of plymouth have suffering at the old plymouth skatepark which was stuffed in the back corner of the industrial part of town and it was all made of lame portable metal ramps. In 2012 they tore up an old hockey rink at Plymouth Creek Park and put in a really nice skatepark. Its all concrete pour and really well made. They call it the skate plaza, and mostly everything there is 3 feet or less. The one thing about it that really blew my mind was the ramp they put in which is in the shape of the city of Plymouth logo.  I’ve skated here a few times and the vibe is pretty good, not too many crazies. Its a great thing to do in plymouth.

There’s a great website here of the company who made the park packed with photos of the park under construction all the way to completion. http://actionsportdesign.com/project/plymouth-mn-wheel-plaza/

The park is totally free and open to the public 24/4 its located just south of Rockford Road(aka county road 9) on Fernbrook.

All in all I give a major thumbs up to Plymouth parks and rec for getting this park put in a family friendly park/playground in the neighborhoods, easy access and a well-made and creative skate park, perfect for a summers afternoon.

Sweet front boardslide at plymouth skate park. Photo Credit to ASD

Ride around Medicine Lake

A great picture of Medicine Lake from the path. Photo Credit goes to TwinCitiesRealEstateBlog.com

  

With the weather changing and summer finally coming biking season is on. Plymouth has no shortage of bike paths, but my favorite in Plymouth is the medicine lake loop. The ride is perfect for a summer afternoon. Its about 8 miles long and there are good sidewalks for most of the way.  The course is slightly hilly but not terrible.  It’s a highly populated path and you see people running, biking, skateboarding, rollerblading, and even doing those crazy cross country skis on wheels.

Plymouth Locals enjoying a ride around the lake on bikes and blades.

A few highlights on the course:

You pass by 3 great parks: East Medicine lake Park, West Medicine Lake Park, and French Park all of which have beaches for swimming playgrounds for the youngsters.

You can travel up into the “City of Medicine Lake” if you want to take a quick detour. This is a fun area that is a peninsula completely surrounded entirely by the lake. There is a park and some interesting homes.

You get to go over 2 really long bridges through the wetlands and swamps. They are really fun to ride over but tough on rollerblades and skateboards. Also the gnats are pretty thick on this part of the trail.

The famous turtles of East Medicine Lake Park

The portion of the trail that conincides with East Medicine Lake Boulevard is super nice. There are no homes in between the road and the lake and you really get a nice scenic view of the lake from here, especially at sunset.

The trail is easy to find. It’s a loop so it doesn’t really have a start or finish but I always kind of think of the starting point as 36^th ave and Zachary Lane. From there I usually head in a clockwise direction following east Med Lake BLVD to South Shore Drive and then to West Med Lake Road. Then you head around the horn to Northwest Blvd and either around or through French Park. If you get confused just follow the shoreline.

Bomb "The Wall"

There is a special spot in plymouth known as "The Wall". At the intersection of 48th and Zachary the road drops off so steep that when your facing it up it literally looks like a wall.

When you’re standing at the top of the hill it’s the only spot in Plymouth (That I know of) where you can see the skyscrapers down town.  This is famous hill to bomb for the skateboard enthusiasts of Plymouth. Its an extremely sketchy ride, and depending on the repair of the road there are often pot holes which will grab you and throw you to the turf. Helmets are highly encouraged.

bombing the other, mellower side of zachary hill

I have also bombed this hill on a radio flyer red wagon. It was epic, and my crash at about 30mph left me with some serious road rash on my left thigh.

Geared up for longboarding, 2004

My craziest memory of bombing the wall is one night a good buddy of mine who was fairly new to skating decided that “tonight was the night” so we drove out there. And we watched him shove off and he just started flying down.  He rocked it, nailed the steep incline perfectly, but then at the bottom, one of those treacherous potholes caught his eye, he swerved toward the right curb hoping to bail into the grass, but it was too late! He jumped off took a few giant steps and then BOOM down he went luckily he only broke his arm and narrowly escaped death!

Well needless to say I encourage extreme caution on this hill


*Editors note: it appears the Wall has been resurfaced and is buttery smooth right now! (6/9/14)