Longboarding Again!

I’m pleased to announce that I’m longboarding again. Why have the gods been so generous to me? I’ll never know, but I do thank them. And I thank the people at Evolve, for returning to me a brand new box and battery! After connecting the wires and screwing the screws, I’m back, baby!

For those of you who follow me on Instagram @maulakai, you’ve seen the pic of me making it to the picturesque end of the trail at Payne’s Prairie. While I was there, we passed the obligatory group of longboarders who couldn’t believe that my board was powered. It was a great ride, and I’m so happy to have my board back.

All that they told me about what went wrong with the last board was the battery. So I’m assuming the battery just went out. Just like that. Weird huh? I’ve rode that board all around Florida, and I’ve *never* run out of battery. And then one day, it just dies on me. I’ve heard camels described similarly. Was my battery a dud?

You’ll remember that I meticulously log every ride I have on my longboard. Why? In order to determine what the lithium polymer battery that comes with the board is good for. So I guess it’s only fair to publish the results in some way shape or form?

I managed to get a replacement. But my board broke about two weeks before the six month warranty was up. So in a way I got lucky. Still, that original board and battery I was given went 687 miles. Approximately 185 charges. A far cry from the advertised thousand charges. So I guess it’s reasonable to assume that my original battery was a dud.

But it does beg the question of how I treat my new battery. Before, I would only charge the board at home. I would often supplement my commute with a short bus ride, and only use it about 4 miles a day. For weekend joy rides, I’d go much longer.

Now I’m wondering if I aren’t better off charging the board at work. Which way is better? If I charge the board at work, I’m going to double the number of charges I give to the battery. That would, theoretically, half the battery life. But if I continue to use my battery the way I had been, the battery would spend about eight hours every day with a good mile drained from it. The instructions say to keep it charged up.

Or maybe the rare days when I had to skate both to and from work, were the days that put the most stress on the battery. But still, in all my time with the original battery, I never even drained it. I never got to the bottom, it never cut out on me … until it broke.

Oh life, why must you have such difficult to answer questions? I’m not sure what I”m going to do in reference to charging my board. But I do know that I’m meeting up with a friend to skate tomorrow after work.