commuting by skateboard

In the current age of tiny rock-hard wheels that make riding UK pavements all but impossible, the idea of using a skateboard as transport might seem ridiculous. To a select few however, it has become a realistic way to get from A to B.

I'm one of those lucky people - for about two years now I have been using a skateboard to get to and from work, to go the shops or to the pub. To a certain extent, using my board as a run-around has been the most consistent aspect of my skating - particularly during the "dark years" when I wasn't really skating at all.

I blame it on drink

Just before I started to get back on-board, after a tragic skate-drought that spanned my late twenties, I was at an xmas party with my wife halfway across town, when I realised I had forgotten to bring the xmas present we had for the host. My wife dispatched me back home to get it. We had taken a taxi there, costing us nearly a tenner for a 5 minute drive and it was probably a 25 minute walk back. I was pissed. That's the English version of "pissed" - I had been drinking a load of wine and I hadn't eaten much, so I was fairly legless, which made the walk back interesting but slow.

So I get home and decide that i'm not walking back to the party. I'm not driving on account of my intoxication, so I stumble out to the shed and start to drag my bike out...it's buried under stuff...flat tyre...can't find the pump.. bollocks.... ah... skateboard!

I'd kill for some footage of that ride back to the party, sliding all over the place, trying and failing to ollie up kerbs, trying to grind  things that were in fact an optical illusion, and falling and laughing...

That was the start of it. My board became my favoured way to get to and from places - the convenience of a small personal transporation device that could be stashed under a table in the pub and so much fun to ride when drunk*, plus it was nice being able to roll on past all the usual hazards associated with walking by yourself late at night. Eventually I started doing it sober too - the adrenalin took the place of alcohol.

Skating to work

A couple of years ago and I started a new job across town. To get there from my house you have to negotiate nightmare rush-hour traffic, and there's no parking so driving there was out. Cycling would be the obvious choice apart from the fact that I hate cycling, particularly uphill and particularly in traffic, and this commute had both. Walking took too long, so once again my board came to the rescue, and once again,  proved to be perfect for the job because of it's portability, fun and the ability to be able to feel a bit indestructable when buzzing on adrenalin.

When I skate to work, I can stop off at cafes without having to worry about parking or locking up a bike, blast out the mental cobwebs, get some exercise (effective way to lose the beer gut), get rid of a hangover and laugh at the stationary queues of traffic. Best of all you get to carve, grind and powerslide on terrain you wouldn't usually get to skate.

Wait, did I say perfect?

Ok, maybe not perfect. Riding a skateboard to work has it's drawbacks - crap pavements, dog's eggs, rain, frequent slamming (usually in public!), having to carry extra clothes if you need to dress smart at work, pedestrians (always in the way, and always step into your path when they turn round to see what the noise is as you skate up behind them). I could go on...

I tried a longboard for a while which is great, but isn't particularly portable, and difficult to dismount quickly in heavy pedestrian territory, so I mainly use a street board with soft wheels (still trying to find some that are soft, yet easy to powerslide). I find it almost impossible to ollie while wearing a backpack with a laptop in it, so I usually end up dismounting to get up kerbs.

There's also the winter. Skating through leaf mush isn't much fun, and water does nothing for your bearings and the pop of your board. I've got to admit to being abit of a fair-weather skate commuter at the moment, partly because my route has changed and large parts of it are a real pain to skate..... roll on summer!

*very hazardous, may result in injury or death, although berts are good.