Skateboarding at Old Age

San Francisco, 10/30/2016 English German

Edition # 117
San Francisco, 10/30/2016

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Skateboarding at Old Age

Figure [1]: Michael is still riding a skateboard at his age.

Michael Every Thursday during lunch break, our entire department takes off to go eat at a different cafeteria, every team member riding on a skateboard, closely following our manager through various Silicon Valley parking lots and side streets. As you might know, I'm always game when it comes to fun activities, even at my advanced age, so I spent $100 on a so-called longboard at a skate shop and have been participating in Thursdays' lunch ride.

Many many years ago, as a teenager, I had aquired a skateboard, ironically priced at 100 Deutsch Marks, and therefore I already knew the dangers of rolling on asphalt: Stray small pebbles can lock up the wheels, bumps can make you loose your balance and let the board swoosh away from right under you, and before you know it, you've landed hard on the street, on your hands and knees. In comparison, surfing in the ocean is much softer when you fall, hitting concrete can be downright dangerous and very painful. I learned that despite the dangers, it is a total no-no in California to wear any kind of protective gear, even kids hitting the half pipes in the skate parks have totally abandoned the once popular helmets or knee, wrist, and elbow pads.

Figure [2]: My skateboard is mounted on the wall and always ready to go.

Figure [3]: Reckless skateboarder bombing down Noe Valley's 24th Street.

Thursday mornings, I often ride my skateboard to the company shuttle bus stop in San Francisco, which is about half a mile from our place. First, there's a steep downhill on 24th Street, where I carry the board, although I've seen a few clearly insane people just bombing down in traffic. Our city has specific traffic laws for skateboarders, according to the San Francisco traffic code, skateboards fall into the "NUV" category, meaning "Non-motorized User-propelled Vehicles", a device with "two or more wheels lacking a belt, chain, or gears", which is being propelled forward by "pushing off or kicking at the ground" (Figure 4).

Figure [4]: There's special sections in traffic law dealing with skateboards.

Furthermore, section 7.2.13 lines out that it is illegal to ride a skateboard in "business districts", or, in general, all over the city later than half an hour after sunset. Aside from those exceptions, skateboarding is legal on the sidewalk, the bike lane, and even on the street, under the condition that there's no "endangering the safety of people or property".

Figure [5]: Like in the "Back to the Future" movie, some skateboarders in San Francisco hang on to driving cars.

Unfortunately, many skateboarders here don't obey the law, bombing down steep hills in the middle of night in dark clothing, using private building structures as ramps, or clinging onto driving cars, hiding close to the rear wheel well, so that drivers won't notice -- just like Michael J. Fox in the movie "Back to the Future".

Figure [6]: The company "Boosted Boards" advertises their motorized skateboards featuring urban hipster youth.

And since we're living in the most innovative place on earth here, there's no surprise that skateboard technology has advanced even further: For quite some time now, hipster youth can be seen zooming around on battery powered "Boosted Boards". Riders hold a remote control to accelerate the motor or apply the brakes. At about 20mph, they gain almost frightening speed, can climb up hills, and it's even possible to comply with traffic rules when coming to a complete halt at stop signs and to effortlessly and quickly accelerate again shortly after. Ironically, I've heard on public forums recently that these electric board riders are complaining about being ostracized and yelled at by motorists and even normal skateboard riders. Apparently this new mode of transportation is considered to be hipsterish and unsportsmanlike.