4July2015

So let me start by saying that I learned something *very* valuable last night. The fourth of July, Saint Augustine Beach, and electric skateboards all go together *very* well.

What can I say? Of all the night skates I’ve had, it was easily the best. And it wasn’t only the fireworks. It was the people. It was the beach. I don’t know where to begin and I’m all over the place.

Let me start with the day. Because the fourth during the day was pretty good, and pretty good, considering it didn’t rain. I managed to skate the Bamboo Series Two all the way down to the beach. Where I well all out and jumped into the water, even though I was wearing jeans shorts. Still, I pussed out to skate the thing down the beach.

I skated everywhere. I passed a little girl who said, “It has a controller!” Which was new. I skated by lawn parties, and longboarders.

It was also the first time ever I was stopped by a cop. That is, the first time in Saint Augustine Beach I’ve ever been stopped by a cop. You’ll remember I was previously stopped by the UF Campus police, but I digress.

So I’m skating in the residential area. But the big street to cross to get to the beach, and to get to the ice cream shop, Cone Heads, where I was going, is A1A. When I got to A1A I hit my brakes and came to a near stop as I looked to see what the traffic was like. Well wouldn’t you know, the first car there, the one I was braking to stop for, was a police SUV. So even though I wasn’t technically stopped at that moment, I was going so slow that I put a foot down and anchored myself. Turns out the cop SUV stops and turns in front of me so that he can roll down the window and say, “Hey! You have to carry your board across the street. Unless you want a $167 fine.”

“Yeah, I’ll carry it,” I said. I carried the board across the street to Cone Heads. But, after that I thought about it a little and I’m not sure I have to *carry* the board. I mean, I hope this is just semantics here, but carrying that Bamboo Series two is kinda heavy. I’d much prefer to simply put the board down and roll it. You know, kick it across the street, so that you’re already pointed in the right direction and able to hop onto a rolling start once you’re across. But he said to carry it. I wonder if the same rule applies to bicycles. Do *they* have to carry their bikes across the street, or can they simply roll their vehicles across, too?

So that happened. And I’m not the happiest about having to get cock blocked by those guys. I’m sure they just want everyone to be safe for the holiday, and don’t want to have to deal with some horrible injury. But let’s be honest, I’m looking out for me, and I’m not about to cause an accident. If there’s really something that would help, it’s getting the cars to slow down.

While I rode my @BoostedBoards around for half of the time, the real hero of this weekend was the all terrain, Evolve Bamboo series. What’s great about having these two boards is that they can tag team together perfectly. While one board is charging, you ride the other one. By the time you’re home, your next board is ready to roll.

But I made sure to have the Bamboo ready for the night skate. The fireworks show in Saint Augustine Beach was scheduled for nine thirty. Meaning the sun would be down. I could have taken my backpack with the #loudbicycle horn, but I didn’t. Instead, I took a bright flashlight and a red taillight and skated out.

I want to be clear here that I took the board for the all terrain tires. I really hate night skating with orthodox wheels. This is because the darkness makes it too difficult to see the imperfections and debris in the road that you really do need to be aware of to skate with orthodox wheels. But you take the all terrain tires, and you can skate with relative impunity.

So I started skating around the neighborhood. Turns out the area by the library with the section for seniors and vets was a bust. There wasn’t *anything* going on there. So boo. But then I got to see a family set off their fireworks in their driveway. It’s hard to describe what made this night skate so good. Because there were explosions and fireworks going off all around me. I simply skated around, looking for a good vantage point for whatever was going off at the moment. And with an electric board, it’s really easy to skate over a few blocks and see what’s going on before the show is over.

You saw my Instagram video about the nice little skate run? Well there were some nice fireworks going off behind there. I got a great view of fireworks over the water that I might never have got the chance to see otherwise.

Then I went for the run, and guess what I saw? A deer! Then another! Three! All of them scared like armageddon was happening. And to a deer, I’m sure they felt like it was. My little flashlight was so bright, they froze up in it! Then they ran from my, right through people’s houses here off A1A. I was so surprised to see that family, and to run with them for a half a block or so.

But the real treat was finding out that my neighbors just a block over were lighting off some *serious* fireworks. They had the real deal. You had to be with me on Snapchat to get in on that. But I felt very happy for staying with my local fireworks, and not driving off to some technically bigger displayer somewhere else.

I’m here at the local StarBucks, which is *packed*. But I’d like to say that for the record, I took my backpack so I could carry my laptop over. Which meant I had the @LoudBicycle horn. And sure enough, I had a chance to use it when a car pulled out in front of me. Now don’t get me wrong, an accident wouldn’t have happened. But my *honk honk* got him to stop with enough room for me to glide by on the sidewalk.

If I hadn’t had the @Loudbicycle horn, he probably would have blocked the sidewalk. I would of had to stop and try to skate awkwardly around behind him. He might have waved me on, but still it would have ruined my momentum. Just ruined it! So three cheers to @Loudbicycle for their hard work.

Fourth of July + Electric Skate + Saint Augusinte Beach = Fun times