Skateboards & Bikes . . . the "best of" the Message Center

From: Ed Stewart
Date: 2/12/2001
Time: 12:29:43 AM
I remember skateboarding down the hill from the Admin building, with the wooden deck, clay wheels, and shorts... I got some urethane wheels from a teenager who was passing through the Canal on a sailboat, and it was the best! I quit skateboarding about '78, right before I went in the Navy. I got a wild hair up last year and went to the local shop and bought another board (plus all the safety gear). I ride about once a week or so at a local Vans indoor park not too far from my house. I know I am BY FAR the oldest geezer there!

From: Mouse (Paul Fiori)
Date: 2/14/2001
Time: 1:56:50 AM
hey dave yeah those were the days for sure!  Those clay wheels from the skating rink and an old street sign sure made a racket going thru the governor's covered driveway at two in the morning.  Thanks to Surfer magazine I ordered those Stoker urethane ones. A lot faster and quieter. Remember leaving somebody down at the bottom to push the pedestrian button so traffic would stop and we'd go whizzing thru the intersection to the train station.

From: David Jones
Date: 2/14/2001
Time: 12:14:33 AM
Paul, I remember the incident with the CZ Police while skateboarding. Didn't you go into the Lt Gov's house to slow down and end up broadsiding the squad car who had slowed down to inspect movement in the driveway? I guess he was pretty surprised when you came out of there at 25mph and straight into his door. And didn't they take you to the station for that one? Probably the first (and only) Zonian to be arrested for skateboarding. Be sure to bring you mug shot to the reunion! :0 Dave Jones.

From: Joel Baglien
Date: 2/15/2001
Time: 8:30:16 PM
All these clay wheel skateboarding stories bring back my two best / worst memories.  I was a Diablo kid - I lived on Morrison Street. On my first attempt to skateboard down Panzer hill (I thought I was good . . .) about half way down, I hit a small rock. The air time was great but I scraped most of the skin off my palms and underside of my arms. My first real case of "road rash". I got more cases of it when I raced bicycles in my 20's but none as memorable as the first.  The smoothest concrete always seemed to be around the the open air hallways at the Diablo Heights Elementary school. I always enjoyed the hard fast 90 degree corners and would crouch down and grab the outside edge of my board to get maximum effect. On one corner I misjudged my grab to the board and ran over all my fingers on my left hand. Those clay wheels were hard. I thought I was going to loose a couple of fingernails. I winced just now thinking about it again.  I think both of these incidents happened when I was in 5th grade (Mrs. Snyder). I did get a lot of board time without crashing. I DO have some sense of balance!

From: Joel Baglien
Date: 2/15/2001
Time: 11:34:59 PM
Back when I used to ride and race bicycles 200+ miles a week, 2 beers after a ride would just about put me under the table (almost no body fat). Since marriage, 3 kids, and running my own business, I'm up about 15 pounds from my racing weight. At least now, however, I can enjoy more than 2 beers in an evening.

From: Mouse (Paul Fiori)
Date: 2/16/2001
Time: 9:38:42 AM
AAAH Road Rash!  Definitely a right of passage along with broken bones. It is amazing how a little pebble will stop the board but not you.  Some places I've boarded down was the hill at Lajes field in the Azores, Acapulco hill in L.A. and Andersen AFB Guam. Smooth asphalt is the best! I want to start snow boarding but the thought of being strapped to the board and sudden stops caused by trees and age doesn't excite me much.

From: Mouse (Paul Fiori)
Date: 2/16/2001
Time: 9:44:10 AM
Cycling was fun and finally did do Thatcher Ferry bridge a few times.  Salt air and wind in your face.  The chiva busses were another story though. I had one of those Panamanian bikes with 28 inch wheels hard pedaling uphill but coasting down hill they were fast!

From: Joel Baglien
Date: 2/16/2001
Time: 1:19:03 PM
I replaced skateboarding with cross country skiing when I moved to Minnesota in 1981. Within 2 years I skied my first Birkebeiner (a 35 mile VERY HILLY marathon ski race) with about 5000 other people. I did the Birke six more times plus a number of other shorter and longer XC races.

From: Joel Baglien
Date: 2/17/2001
Time: 12:50:03 PM
Tom, Remind me to tell you at the reunion about the annual "Tough Guy" mountain bike race I used to host for my bicycle racing team. It involved a 1 beer per lap rule (no lite beer allowed), a sand hazard, a water hazard, and a winding trail through the woods. It was a true test of endurance, balance, and intestinal (literally) fortitude. We had penalty laps that involved carrying a bowling ball and the event ended with a bike toss (an old junker - not our own bikes). Now that I'm more mature, I think I stand a real chance of winning - translated: I can go for more than 6 laps.