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Skate or die; avoid tardiness a la Marty McFly
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Who was that girl who just executed the 360 degree heel flip, aka laser flip, in front of the Administration Building? I bet the librarians would not approve of that guy who just did an airwalk grab off of their front steps!
Only a man in the midst of an apology would push his girlfriend to class on her new longboard from behind.
All of these instances may (and already have) become a reality of campus life. No matter where you’re at on campus it’s almost impossible to make it to class without someone skating past you, and that someone’s probably going to make it to class much faster than you will thanks to a slatted four-wheeled platform known as the skateboard.
“You can cruise around on these much easier than walking,” Mike Watson, a linguistics major said. Watson prefers a longboard to the original skateboard that saw its rise to popularity in the eighties. “[The longboards] don’t stop on rocks and cruising is much easier on the longboard; it takes less effort to get from [point A to point B] than it would with a skateboard.”
OK, so first there were the skateboards – those I’m familiar with. But what are these longboards all about?
Adam McDaniel, the “Skateboard Guy” at Newt and Harold’s informed me that, “the difference between longboards and skateboards is that longboards are much easier to ride – it’s called California coasting. Skateboards are mostly used nowadays for tricks; longboards are used for travel.”
California coasting? Upon further investigation I found that it is indeed the name given to those who ride on the bigger boards because longboarding originated in California – inspired by the design of surfboards – where the streets challenged boarders due to their rolling hills.
Longboard decks are made of shaped wood or composite materials, designed to balance properties of weight, stiffness, flex and twist, while offering a secure stance and accommodating the height and weight of the rider. The simplest decks are made from thick birch – or in Canada, maple.
McDaniel pointed out to me that some of the finer longboards are constructed from a type of Hawaiian wood called koa.
These woods are glued together, and pressed into the desired shape with a vacuum, hydraulic or manual press. More complex decks include the use of fiberglass or carbon fiber for decreased weight and increased stiffness. Regular skateboards are often made the same way and from the same type of material.
The big difference between the platforms is really in the price. Skateboard prices have become surprisingly low over the years – probably because they’ve been on the market for so long now that there is simply a reduced demand for them.
For a blank skateboard (a skateboard without a name brand emblazoned on it) expect to pay about $25. Skateboards made of bamboo are five dollars more, and pro-boards – those with name brands – will run your pocket down about $55, still cheap in comparison to the much more practical longboards.
Longboards range in price from about $150 to $250 depending on name brand and materials used to design the boards, but the boards are made of koa, which is 7-ply and more durable.
Don’t have the mad skills to navigate your way to class? Don’t have the money for anything made from koa or bamboo, let alone anything name brand? Thinking you might just walk to class instead of enjoying your daily California coasting? Think again, for there’s one more animal left out of the foray that hasn’t been mentioned yet – Razor scooters.
Yes there are students on scooters too. “I don’t have the coordination for skateboards,” Angelica Garcia, a senator for the Associated Students of Boise State University, said. “My little brother had a bunch of [skateboards].
He recommended them, but I prefer something that I wouldn’t have to haul around and scooters are much easier to haul around than longboards or skateboards.”
All of this diversity among student transportation amazes me. With the low prices of skateboards, students just might be able to forget about shoes – which run at nearly the same price – and use skateboards instead.
Maybe someday they’ll think of a way to make hybrid shoe-skating devices – oh, wait a minute . they already have!
Whether you choose to travel through time a la Marty McFly by studying some history, or you choose to travel around campus a la Marty McFly by way of skateboarding, one thing’s for sure: perform an ollie in front of your professor as you hand in your homework, and rather than receiving an A on the assignment, you just may earn an A-plus instead.
ERIC MARTINEZ
Special to the Arbiter