When hopping on a longboard to go flying across campus to your class, I have a few things I want to advise you of, as well as some helpful tips to make your ride that much more enjoyable:
1. Before going down all the hills, through the massive crowds that make their way to class every day, try and do a few test runs.
Go out a few days before classes officially start and figure out a path that you can easily take, one that hopefully has a wide space so you can carve back and forth, avoiding those obliviously lost in their phones.
2. Instead of plugging into your own headphones and not being able to hear anything going on around you, I recommend putting a speaker in your backpack.
Small transportable speakers are all over the place for sale and they help those around you hear you coming, as well as not blocking out the sounds of approaching cars. I have skated many times with my music playing to alert people who otherwise wouldn’t look up until you were already barely passing by them.
3. Do not fear crashing. If you plan to ride to class daily, then expect to crash, and you should just roll with it.
I have shown up to quite a few classes with a bloody arm and knee. If you get the first big crash out of the way, you learn to not worry about it happening as much and you can enjoy the ride so much more.
4. Clean your wheels!
Every couple of months, sit down and unscrew your hardware and take a q-tip and wipe everything down. Also make sure to add lubricant of some sort to all the interior parts of the board to make sure it doesn’t rust on you. Having a board rust apart is a very sad thing to happen to any skater.
5. Avoid riding in the rain.
For some, it is easy enough to hop on your board as rain pours down, but this causes a lot of problems for your board down the line. The water soaks into the wood, causing it to weaken and eventually splinter and break much sooner than it normally would. Also you metal bearings and hardware in general will rust unless you clean them soon after riding in the rain.
However, if you are determined to ride in the rain, I recommend Moonshine brand boards, which have ones made of the same material as water wake boards.
I hope some of these tips are new to you and that next time you go cruising around campus, or anywhere else, its will be improved by this article.
