Probably the best scenery I’ve ever had for skating, and I believe there is almost no place to beat it, is US 163 in Monument Valley. I am sure you know what I am talking about, and if you don’t just look at the picture below and you will recall it right away. You saw it in John Ford’s Western movies with John Wayne, or you know it as the Marlboro Country, or for the Jeep ads…
While it is scenic beyond belief, it is not an easy road. The pavement is fine but very granular and the grains are big. That means that it is next to impossible to skate on the sides and you have to keep in the middle of the road where it is big gatorback road but doable. My friends knew that it was a big dream of mine to skate here and so they stayed behind me with an SUV and protected me from other motorists. I did it on Memorial Day Weekend 2004 and it is still in my mind. I skated it on Rollerblade Lightning 09 with a Mogema 5×84 frame, wheels by Hyper 83A. One wheel after 10 plus miles suffered major lacerations. I think that big wheels would definitely help on this kind of road. It was an amazing day for my skating, a dream come true. Traffic was not bad at all. Downhill is not too bad either since due to the rough nature of the surface, it is difficult to really gain a lot of speed.
