Comments on: Skateboarding for my life

By: WhiteMachete

WhiteMachete — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:59:29 +0000

Well it seems as though you made a good choice regarding your new method of transportation. If you chose rollerblades, I would hate you… just kidding. Anyway, I was stoked to hear that you chose a skateboard of all things. Granted it’s portable, but generally has a negative image associated with it, especially in the eyes of campus police. Just a word to the wise from an “old timer” in the skateboarding community. Don’t ride that thing in the rain or snow, and if you need more sleep, just drive your car to the parking lot and sleep in there for a few minutes. Make sure you don’t oversleep though.

By: Robocon^^

Robocon^^ — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 03:23:12 +0000

Oh yeah, I was thinking and realized another option might be to get a folding bike, like those from Dahon (I’ve seen them at Eki Cyclery on Dillingham Blvd)
http://www.dahon.com/us/folding-bicycles-us-utility.htm
It would be easy to store in your trunk, and from what I’ve heard they fold open and fold down pretty quickly.

By: AS

AS — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 02:01:24 +0000

@Adun: A scooter would be interesting to ride, but I never see anyone on campus riding one. It’s either a bike or a skateboard, so I must conform lol.
@Robocon^^: Thanks for the advice. I try to practice when I have time, my knee actually still hurts a bit since last week so I haven’t done any practice but I believe it should be much better by this weekend when I can practice again. Practice is important, though studying is too lol…currently been studying instead. I know what you mean by freaking out pedestrians, I get freaked a bit when someone just zooms by me on a bike as I walk on the sidewalk; I don’t want to put someone through that so I will get off and have no issue with it. Maybe I should practice with something that weighs about the same as my laptop so I can get used to it…

By: Robocon^^

Robocon^^ — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 00:06:17 +0000

ugh…sorry for not editing

So riding from here to there was no problem as long as the ground was rideable.

Oh yeah, my advice is at this point is, practice, practice, practice. It wasn’t hard for me because I really enjoyed it and all my brother and all our friends rode too, so we always were out trying things and and having fun.

If you’re a total beginner, there are frustrating parts to get through, but if you want it bad enough and keep trying, you’ll get it.

For now though, waking up earlier is going to be your best bet for getting to class on time.

By: Robocon^^

Robocon^^ — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 23:57:09 +0000

I used a skateboard to get to class in my college years, it saved me a lot of time walking from the dorms and the cool thing was my classes were all in the downhill corner of campus.
I had been skating a few years before that in high school, so I had the basics of turning and sliding and ollies down pat and could handle terrain like drainage ditches, ramps, handrails and jumping down gaps. So riding from here to there as long was no problem as long as the ground was rideable.

Something you might want to keep in mind for your “commuter setup” Get larger softer wheels as they’ll roll over rough concrete smoother and not be as prone to getting caught in cracks in the sidewalk.

Be sure you know how to control your speed by changing direction and working on powerslides where you unweight briefly to turn 90 degrees and your wheels start to slide sideways to slow you down rapidly.

Also, be sure to steer clear of other pedestrians and be prepared to have to get off and walk around them if the sidewalks are clogged. It’s really scary for pedestrians to just roll inches past them from behind.

Since you’re going to be carrying a laptop, all I can say is you better be really confident in your abilities and put in a lot of time practicing. One good spill and bye bye laptop.

By: Adun

Adun — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:45:15 +0000

Odd how I missed seeing this post. Well I used to practice skateboarding during high school since half my friends were skateboarders. I never got the hang of it, but I could manage to do an ollie and a 180 shovel sometimes. But then I just got myself a scooter instead, lol.