More students = Less battery?

Well a new semester at UF has started. This is always bitter sweet for people who live in Gainesville. It means that the roads are once again crowded with students. And the buses. It’s a good thing, if you like being stuffed into public transport with young college girls. And it’s great from the point of view of skateboarding past a long line of traffic. But it’s bad in almost every other aspect. Oftentimes now, the bus is so crowded that I can’t get a seat. People bump into my board when they walk past me. And worse, there’s more foot traffic on the sidewalks I’m forced to skate on. Which means more slowing down. More yelling “Excuse me,” (I’m still waiting for my electric horn, kickstarter), and statistically, I’d expect to have more collisions with pedestrians.

When I ride the bus, I always try to stay at the front of the bus. This is for practical reasons only. I get off at a stop on the top of a small hill. If students get out in front of me, I’m just going to have to pass them, half a moment later. Since I’m consistently the only skater getting off at that stop, if I get off first, I can blow down the hill without the inconvenience of passing someone who may or may not suddenly decide to step in my way.

I’ve been boarding home long enough to have learned to take a shortcut through a parking lot. To simply take the bike line down one, off campus street, where the UPD has no jurisdiction. But by the time I get home, about four miles ride in total, I’ve been getting the low battery light.

This troubles me slightly. Remember, I keep meticulous logs on how often I skate, and the distance I skate when I do. The purpose is to show what kind of mileage my board can get. This is dependant on many factors. Florida is known for being flat, but my route takes over several hills. And with the students in town, I’m doing a lot more braking and accelerating. So that factors in.

According to my log, I’ve traveled 669 miles on my board so far. That’s no small chunk of change. I’ve changed the grip tape once. The wheels show no signs of wear. But if the board blew up tomorrow, it would have cost me about $2 a mile. Of course, I’d expect it to last longer. Much longer. At the one year mark, I’d expect the cost per mile to go down to less than $1 per mile. How cheap a form of transportation it is depends entirely on how long the battery works for me. But if my four mile commute becomes too much for the battery before then, it will be a bad omen. I’m hoping to ride the board long enough to get the cost down to at least .50 cents a mile. But only time will tell.

In other news, @evoskate44 followed me on twitter. They’re the European branch of Evolve, not to be confused with @Evolvesk8boards. Either way, yay! I’m almost mildly relevant in an emerging technology most people don’t know about.