Well that was fun.

So, my commute to/from work is about 3 miles, and makes the shape of 3 sides of a square. If I use transportation that I can take over the railroad tracks, I can just take one side of the square, and cut the commute down to less than a mile. So I skateboarded to work.

Mind you, I'm 30, and have never really skated in my life (outside of a little bit on borrowed boards around the paddock).

I will say, it was actually a lot of fun, and looking to be my new habit.

Any other skaters in the commentariat? Any tips/advice?

My advice -- buy a helmet and wrist protection. And don't fall. You're already old enough that you (probably) look like a dork on a skateboard, so you might as well be safe

haha nice, this is just awesome yeah I used to skate, until I came to the conclusion that I sucked lol

I moved on back to BMX, ride BMX to work! much more fun nothing like getting there and saying you did a tailwhip coming in the parking lot lmao

I wanna bring rollerblading back

Tomorrow's news headline:

"Man killed while trying to skateboard in front of moving train."

Why not walk? Less than a mile sounds like a nice walk, wake you up in the morning.

Hell yeah. I fully believe adults need to play around* more.

*Consciously, not just goof off.

stuart in mn wrote: Tomorrow's news headline: "Man killed while trying to skateboard in front of moving train."

Heh, rails were abandoned long ago. It's actually a big political deal 'round these parts, they keep trying to get light rail in the area to connect down to BART, but every time a measure comes up, some area votes it down for some reason or another.

imirk wrote: Why not walk? Less than a mile sounds like a nice walk, wake you up in the morning.

Bleh. Walking's boring. It's for, like, people who read newspapers and use the phone to talk 'n'stuff.

In reply to alex:

Okay, it did just take me three weeks to finish "walking off" an unintentional combat roll after jumping a stream at the beach, but I still think there's something to the notion that you get old because you stop playing, and not the other way 'round.

A couple years ago I was playing paintball for the first time. Beating feet across an open field for position at the start of the scramble, caught a rock or tree root or something and went ass-over-teakettle at full clip. I E36 M3 you not, in midair as my body is trying to remember how to tuck and roll, I think to myself, "Wow, when's the last time I had a good, hard fall?"

A split second later, after the tactical shoulder roll failed to engage, I slid a good three yards on my left shoulder with my legs in the air at about a 45° angle.

I got up and could barely run from laughing so hard.

ReverendDexter wrote: Any tips/advice?

Longboard. For a nice, smooth and (somewhat more for us old guys) stable commute to work.

Besides, they look really cool.

-Rob

In reply to alex:

I LOL'd

The traditional slow mo would have been great for that Alex lol

+1 for BMX!

death to the Frootbooters

Why exercise when you can still take a huge vehicle and a shortcut?

There are some electric skateboards that look pretty cool

any tips and advice? learn the ollie haha it can be helpful for over the railroad tracks and if you want to add some flare learn a kickflip lol don't over tighten your trucks, for riding you want em loose. Also the bearings, I would go apec 5 or high for smooth riding. I did take some stuff when I used to skate

I think I would enjoy my mountain bike

mad_machine wrote: I think I would enjoy my mountain bike

Tried it.

Mountain bike is much harder to get through the two fences I have to cut across. It either has to be small enough to go through them (which makes it too small for my frame), or it has to be rugged enough that I can throw it over the fence (tried that... once).

ReverendDexter wrote:

mad_machine wrote: I think I would enjoy my mountain bike

Tried it. Mountain bike is much harder to get through the two fences I have to cut across. It either has to be small enough to go through them (which makes it too small for my frame), or it has to be rugged enough that I can throw it over the fence (tried that... once).

It's time for some fence pruning:

NickF40 wrote: don't over tighten your trucks, for riding you want em loose.

Really? I had to WAY tighten mine down to keep from getting the off-balance hyper-wobble.

Is that more of a regular board kinda thing? 'Cause I went more in the longboard direction, reverse-kingpin trucks, that sorta deal. Not really looking to do any tricks, just cruise around.

Looking forward to your "I broke my wrist on the way to work" thread.

ReverendDexter wrote:

NickF40 wrote: don't over tighten your trucks, for riding you want em loose.

Really? I had to WAY tighten mine down to keep from getting the off-balance hyper-wobble. Is that more of a regular board kinda thing? 'Cause I went more in the longboard direction, reverse-kingpin trucks, that sorta deal. Not really looking to do any tricks, just cruise around.

Couldn't help thinking of Gleaming the Cube.

Sorry.

ReverendDexter wrote:

NickF40 wrote: don't over tighten your trucks, for riding you want em loose.

Really? I had to WAY tighten mine down to keep from getting the off-balance hyper-wobble. Is that more of a regular board kinda thing? 'Cause I went more in the longboard direction, reverse-kingpin trucks, that sorta deal. Not really looking to do any tricks, just cruise around.

HA! First thing I was going to say is set the trucks how you like 'em. I had friends whose boards I absolutely couldn't ride back in the day because they ran their trucks so loose.

Buy/find/steal, whatever, some bigass wheels and decent bearings. No sense in crusing around on little 'bearing covers' if you're not intersted in doing any tricks. Watch out for rocks. Learn how to fall.

Yeah, ha I though you had a regular board. I can't ride them loose, but I like them a tad on the loose side though, which is what I meant. Yeah get big wheels and some good bearings and it'll be a great ride

"learn how to fall" LOL the rocks and breaking your wrist statement will be soon haha

but yeah learn how to fall for sure becuase a stone under your wheel will stop you DEAD in your tracks.....or if you don't want to risk that...bmx