Night Skate With SO

So the other night, I decided to go on a night skate with my girlfriend. Before we left, I asked her which board she preferred. She chose the Bamboo Series Two, the one with the all terrain wheels. 

“Why do you prefer that one?” I asked her.

“Because my feet really become one with the board,” she said.

She’s probably not experienced enough of a longboarder to understand how much those wheels help with giving a smooth riding, and correcting flaws in the surface we skate on. But the bamboo series two, unlike the carbon series, is a board she feels stable on. 

I chose my old snubnose to ride on that night? Why? Well I still like to ride it every once in a while, even though I no longer use it in my daily commute. Also, my snubnose is pretty scratched up by now, and I have no problems about banging it up on a night run. But my Boosted Board, well, I’m still babying her. 

You’ll remember an elaborate problem electric skateboards can run into. Where, if you break on a downhill you charge the battery. But if the battery is already full, you can damage the battery if you continue to put power into it. 

For that reason, we started at the bottom of the parking garage, and skated up to the top, first. She took forever. I think she went the whole way up on the slow gear. On the way down, she used the brakes the entire time. 

Her feet hurt by the time we got to the bottom. I skated with her on part of a baby hill on campus before we went home. Not even two miles, but quite fun. The last time I went to that parking garage, I was learning how to skate from a longboarder friend of mine. That night, I was the teacher.

I guess it’s worth talking about the problem my board had. It appeared as though the remote was breaking. This is the big, clunky, original Evolve remote we’re talking about here. I’ve fallen on it a few times, and on some level I think it’s perfectly understandable if the remote was on the fritz.

But part of my problem is the way the board responds to losing connection. It brakes. It seemed as though my signal was really weak. I became scared to skate with my arms out, because with my arm fully extended, I was losing signal. 

I started skating with the remote held behind my board, in my sacrum, to keep it in a good spot. But then, even there, the remote lost signal and the board auto hit the brakes. 

Finally, I examined the bottom of my board. Remember, the screw fittings on this board are long since broken off. The battery pack and electronics are held in place with velcrow and zip ties. But while you skate, the battery pack tends to drift to the front of the board, for some reason. I remembered, when I opened it up, that there was a silver antenna patch under there. I pushed the battery pack closer to the back of the board, closer to its original position, and tried again. 

Perfect signal. I had no other issues all night.

After thinking about it, I realized that a well positioned nail or tack could hold the battery pack in place. Where’s my hammer?

I also discovered a new way to use the board. If you turn off the remote, but leave the board on, it will engage the brakes. This is useful if you want to go slowly down inclines. Say you’re at the top of the hill, but the hill is too scary for you? What do you do? You could carry your board down, like a chump.

Or you can do it in style. You turn off your remote. You skate down the hill like you’re in slow motion, and when you get far enough down that you feel comfortable, you turn on the remote. It’s a nice option, because the brake you get from doing this is more convenient than if you have to hold the trigger out on the remote.