Entries this day: pulling_skaters_is_good_for_your_legs

pulling skaters is good for your legs

5 April 1996

Last night my adventure started at Fuzzies, which, actually has been closed for non-payment of taxes for a while now. We've been meeting in the parking lot across the street.

I saw my friend Danielle, who was in her car on her way to the Jones Plaza. I was on my way there, so I had her pull me! It was pretty cool, though we "only" went about 20 mph, which is the speed at which the traffic lights are timed. (Sometime in my life I want to skate 60 mph.) I simply hung onto her open window. That way I was able to see any potholes or bumps in the road and easily avoid them. She pulled me about 6 or 8 blocks. I was a bit nervous about cops, but it was way too much fun to be *that* nervous about them...

At the Plaza, I watched the skateboarders and aggressive skaters do all variety of grinds and jumps that I feel would necessitate wearing a helmet. The only pads that I saw were some knee pads and shin guards. One of them had on a shirt that said, "IF IT CAN'T KILL YOU, IT'S NOT A SPORT." That actually is about what I think, but I *do* wear a helmet.

I personally didn't do anything amazing at that point; I'm still letting my bruised hip heal. (I didn't even do a single parking garage last night...) I want it to heal before I go back to the skate park tomorrow.

A group of us skated to The Big Easy, via Domino's Pizza, where there was a live band playing (at Big Easy, not the pizza place).

I met a guy named Scott, who is starting a business of renting time on paragliders. To fly a paraglider, you have a big parachute thing over your head, and a big fan tied to your chair and you can fly around! They have about an 80 mile range, so I think I'll rent one, and fly over to my dad's house!! Ohmygoodness, the more I think about that, the better it sounds.

I also heard about some other *cooler* (cooler = faster and more dangerous) sports that I want to try, like roller "surfing" using a big ram-air parachute-looking thing to pull a person on wheels across the salt flats in California..

And about some guys who had tremendous-wheel-size skates and totally flying down an amazingly steep smooth mountain highway.. I have *got* to try that.

With all variety of amazing ideas in my head, I mundanely skated on flat smooth ground back to downtown. Once I got there, I found a pack of guys on mountain bikes, so I skated around with them a bit. For about 2 blocks, I was able to maintain 17 miles per hour with one of them. After that I let him pull me a couple of blocks. "It's good for your legs!" I told him after he complained about how hard it was.

We skated/biked down the steps at Alley Theater a few times. The bike dudes were doing bunny hops down them, trying to ride up them and lots of different variations of riding on the steps.

After that I stopped by Power Tools (skaters get in *free*!) for a bit. They had a live mexican-rock-rap band (whatever that means) and I didn't stay for long. I stopped by the Plaza to watch the padless skaters on my way home.