About 1,200 people worldwide will, at least occasionally, lay down on wide boards with wheels and handrails and rocket down hills at speeds exceeding 80 miles an hour, a sport called “street luge.” Riders brake with rubber soles made out of recycled tires strapped to their shoes. (One manufacturer advertises theirs as having “Real tire smoke and smell when used correctly!”)

About the same number of people live in Ferndale. 

What do those two things mean, taken together? Nothing — except for Ryan Farmer.

Farmer, 31, lives in Ferndale and works as a forestry technician. He is also one of the best street luge riders in the world and a Ferndale City Council candidate. Somewhere in all of that he runs a darkroom and paints. 

Farmer has traveled to 24 countries (if you include layovers), won the 2022 Street Luge World Championship in Argentina and was ranked first in the U.S. in 2024. He’s been competing for about a decade. It was a natural progression from downhill skateboarding, which he started doing because it gave him the same rush surfing did, albeit for a lot longer than just the 20 seconds or so a great wave lasts. 

Farmer doesn’t think when he’s laying on a piece of metal three inches from the road going 85 miles an hour. He does not think about the hairpin turn a couple seconds up the road. He does not think about his problems or the scenery or his competitors or … anything, really. He lays on his back and looks at the sky. 

“When I’m committed to riding, all I’m doing is taking in the visuals and other senses that are happening in front of me, and then making the subconscious decisions of what I need to do to continue going down the hill safely,” Farmer said. “So when I’m going through a corner, I’m not thinking about anything, because it’s this almost primal subconscious. I’m just doing. I’m not thinking, which is, I think, my favorite part about it is. You’re not as in the moment and aware, but you also are much more aware in a strange way.”

He’s lived in Ferndale for eight years, a move he made to improve his life after living in Southern California for most of it.

“It’s been an incredibly supportive community, which I didn’t expect when I first started visiting here, but it really makes a difference in the quality of life,” Farmer said. “People that care about you and what you’re up to and ask how you’re doing and actually mean it … it makes a big difference.”

Occasionally, Farmer gets the chance to practice street luge here in Humboldt. He said there are a few good mountain roads to train on, but only on Sundays so he can avoid logging trucks. The ever-present potholes don’t make it easier, nor does the loose gravel. 

He’s also trying out politics, running for Ferndale City Council this election cycle. It was a decision made after fighting with the city and some community members over Pride flags left on a bicycle he left out for people to decorate. The flags were defaced. Farmer wants a resolution, a war he’s still bitterly waging.

His time is limited, but Farmer doesn’t spend every free weekend competing overseas. He said his darkroom doesn’t take up too much time, and of course he has to keep working his forestry job so he can put food on the table. But he thinks he can serve on the City Council despite all of those draws on his attention.

Why would a guy who could focus on traveling around the world, riding courses in places like Peru or Australia or anywhere where the roads are steep and the corners are tight, want to use that time on something like a small-town city council? 

Farmer said that he’s been thinking about the future and his place in it a lot lately. He’s been working to get street luge recognized as an Olympic sport, even though he knows he’ll probably be too old to compete if and when that ever happens.

“I think change is inevitable, whether it’s with street luge and us refining our gear, or in city politics and management plans — growth is going to happen, whether that’s more athletes riding a board, or more people moving to Ferndale,” he said. “So seeing that value in the future of town, just like I see the value in the future of my sport, can help push me to spend the time and energy to make the changes and facilitate the growth that is going to best benefit the community.”

Ferndale’s future is Farmer’s main concern. He believes that Ferndale’s growth is unstoppable and already underway, and he worries about preserving its Victorian character while still making it accessible to newcomers and locals alike. 

“As much as I love our industries built around town, I also understand that with each financial struggle comes the interest in developing into more housing or other businesses,” Farmer said. “And I think as long as we direct that growth, it could be healthy and continue benefiting the town’s historical district. Because I want the historical district to stay historical and not have McDonald’s or neon signs or all the things that would take away from people’s experience coming through here.

“We need to manage the growth of town in a way that [we can] have cheaper, more accessible housing for the elderly and youth that are coming to town or working or putting down their roots and raising a family here.”

Farmer’s run has been controversial to some Ferndalians. Local pastor Tyrel Bramwell published an hour-long YouTube video about Farmer and called him a pagan and said he was “actively supporting evil.” Bramwell included some clips of Farmer calling a man at a Pride event in Ferndale an asshole, though Farmer says he left out the part where that man yelled at Pride attendees and belittled them. Farmer admits he’s not proud of it, but he is confident that if elected he would be able to ignore the rancor and focus on his job. 

“The reality is that the majority of town and the community isn’t for bigotry, so we can’t let the occasional altercation define what our town is known for,” Farmer said. “And at the same time, even if I don’t agree with what the majority thinks, I think my vote should represent what is understood as the majority vote. Because if everybody says the sky is orange, I should probably think, ‘Why do you think the sky is orange?’ If one person says ‘The sky is orange,’ and everybody else says ‘The sky is blue,’ then thank you for your time and your opinion, I’m gonna take that into account, I’ll chat with the rest of the community, and then my vote will represent the people that believe the sky is blue.”

PREVIOUSLY: 

• (VIDEO) Ferndale’s Ryan Farmer Takes First Place in World Championship Street Luge Competition in Argentina