Planet Interview:

Taking it to the Streets, the Hills and the Pit Bulls

Urban Adventurer Talks About his 25-Year Skate Through the Urban Wilderness of Oakland

(Page 5 of 6)

If I can see the road ahead and I see that I have a clear shot where I won’t have to stop quickly — say the road goes down and then up again — I’ll just tuck and enjoy the straight shot.

IP: That kind of skating assumes that the road is not too choppy. Is that a problem?

TM: It’s a big problem. In Oakland, more than 50 percent of the streets are officially classified as being in poor or fair condition. And what’s “fair” for cars or bikes can still be murder for skaters. So half the time the roads I’m skating are not very nice. That has been a bit of a drag.

I should point out that the quality of the roads varies from city to city. In Piedmont, for instance, the roads are just wonderful. They really put a lot of time and money into maintaining their streets.

IP: You mentioned that you carry an iPod. Don’t you find that a bit dangerous, not being able to hear the traffic?

TM: Not really. Cars are usually loud enough that you can hear them over the music. So it hasn’t been a problem. The new hybrid cars, however, are much quieter. So that’s something you need to keep in mind.

The music illustrates nicely the changes that have occurred in the 25 years since I began this quest. At first, the only way to get portable music was with a Walkman, with cassette tapes. That was a nightmare, since the tapes would jam and need to be uncoiled. Then came CD players, which were better — especially the ones with skip protection. The downside there is that you only get about 45 minutes to an hour of music. The iPod, with gigabytes of storage, is really a godsend. You can skate for hours without repeating songs.

IP: Any special care needed for the iPod?

TM: No. I have found, however, that you need to pick the right spot to carry any electronics. My experience has shown that the only places that are unlikely to impact the pavement are your chest and your upper back. So I carry my iPod in a pouch attached to my shoulder pads on my chest, or else in a backpack (if I’m not wearing shoulder pads). For the same reason, I avoid any other electronics. A wrist-mounted GPS or heart rate monitor, say, would soon get beaten up.

IP: What about police? Any interactions with them?

TM: Not recently. I think the attitudes of police vary from city to city. In San Francisco, I think the Friday Night Skate has taught them that skaters are not the enemy and are generally responsible people. I have rarely been stopped in Oakland, and certainly not for several years. In Berkeley, however, the police seem to have something against skaters. I’ve had police pull me over, come bolting from their squad cars flipping open their ticket books, ready to write me up for some infraction or other.

IP: Are the tickets expensive?

TM: I don’t know. I’ve never actually gotten a ticket. My standard opening line is something like “Gee officer, I’m just out for some exercise; I see you like to work out.” That gets them every time. The fatter they are, the better it works. (Laughs.)

IP: Let me ask a few more general questions. Did you find inline skates a good way to tour the urban environment? Did you get a perspective you cannot get from a car?

TM: I guess. Again, skating is very dependent on the quality of the roadways, and except for certain municipalities (like Piedmont, as I mentioned), the roadways are not really ideal. It’s always a joy to find a newly-resurfaced stretch of road. In some cases, when the road is too rutted, I will move onto the sidewalk. But generally I prefer to stay in the road. That gives me more time to react to incoming dogs.

IP: Is weather a factor? It can be quite wet in the Bay Area.

TM: Yes, weather is definitely a factor. I generally will not skate in the rain, for several reasons. First, from an equipment point of view, you are effectively destroying your bearings unless (unlike me) you are careful enough to open them up and dry them out afterwards. They will rust up if they get wet. Also, traction is greatly reduced and you are more likely to fall when it’s raining. I should mention, however, that the reduced traction can be a nice thing, if you are doing hills. When the street is slightly wet, you can slide a bit more downhill, which is sometimes fun. So, the bottom line is that I have skated in the rain, and it does have some minor advantages. But in generally I avoid it.

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Copyright © 2005 by Robert Burnson