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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 6 of 6)
TM: Hmm. I guess the hardest part was figuring out how to get to various parts of the city to do a skate. Eventually I got to the stage where I could not reasonably start and end at my house, as I had always done. So I started to take BART (the local intercity train system) to various stations in Oakland and fan out from them. I called that “BART-secting” the city. Eventually that petered out too, so I needed to start taking buses to various skating destinations. The trouble was that there are virtually no buses that go into the Oakland hills. So I had to do a lot of hill climbing on skates. Especially toward the end. Eventually I began to print out a map of the area I wanted to cover on a given outing. But even with a map, the best approach isn't always obvious. It’s almost never possible to avoid backtracking or sometimes doing the same street twice or even three times. And when you throw differences in elevation into the equation, it becomes even harder to figure out the best route. A friend gave me a “walking map” of Oakland, which shows streets with particularly steep grades. Studying that map was useful in planning routes. But even then, I needed to be open to making adjustments as as I went along. IP: Any particularly scary parts? TM: Definitely. Having a big Doberman or pit bull running straight at you barking like a madman is certainly a sobering and scary moment. That kind of thing happened far too often. Also, the moment when you realize that you are skating too fast downhill is a bit scary. Hitting the deck, even on purpose, is never routine. IP: Now that you are finished with Oakland, what would you say was the most rewarding experience you’ve gained? TM: Before I started, I had a very poor understanding of Oakland as a whole. Now, I’ve been to every neighborhood, indeed every street in every neighborhood. I have a much much better idea of how it all hangs together. I see that one area melts imperceptibly into another, that a matter of a few blocks can mean the difference between boarded-up crack houses and houses with awesome views of the Bay. I’m not exaggerating. And I guess I have lost any fear that I might previously have had about going into those rougher neighborhoods. I probably wouldn’t wander into some of them at night; but I would have no hesitation skating any of them again in the daytime. IP: What's next for you, skating-wise? TM: I've done about half of Berkeley (immediately to the north of Oakland), so I guess I should finish that. And I need to get back to the Friday Night Skate. IP: Could you tell us a little about who you are? What do you do for a living? TM: I have worked at Apple Computer for the last 15 or so years. I do computer programming. In particular, I work in the QuickTime group, fixing bugs and pretty much doing whatever they tell me to do. It’s a really awesome place to work, surrounded by so many creative and intelligent people. IP: One last question. After all this street skating, what kind of safety advice do you have? I’m going to guess that wearing the proper equipment is a key factor here? TM: Absolutely. Remember the Prime Rule of Skating: You will fall down. So you may as well be prepared. Get some serious equipment and wear it. There is no such thing as overkill when it comes to protective equipment. IP: Thanks, Tim!
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