Thursday, May 01, 2008

Conveyances

I've started riding my bike to work, which has been both exhilarating and mildly terrifying, just on accounta I broke my arm a few years ago after I wandered into some bad karma and I'm desperate not to do that again. Did you know that the invention of the bicycle played an important part in the role of women's liberation? I think that's very interesting. Anywho, I feel quite liberated on my bike.
Lately I've seen this bizarre kind of skateboarding, only the skater in question has no board, just wheels under the shoes somehow. Like they sawed a skateboard in half. Has anyone else seen this? I've been trying to explain this phenomenon, but no one seems to believe me. But! I just looked up (online) proof (is that any kind of proof at all?) - turns out they're called freeline skates. To me it appears that the skater has neither increased speed nor increased coolness, so I can't really figure out what the advantage is. But, perhaps freeline skates will play an important role in something, who knows?

3 comments:

KHM said...

Cooo-ool! Riding a bike to work is certainly that! I really miss the days when a 50 mile ride to kick off Saturday morning was the norm....

The freeline skates look dangerous to me! I can see the advantage over both skateboards and inline skates: appears that the two wheels can rotate direction (e.g., not just forward). And lighter, more maneuverable. Looks like a skull fracture waiting to happen!

KHM said...

I'm wrong! ;-) there's no change of direction involved but if you search for freeline at YouTube you can see a nifty intro/instructional vid clip. Awesome! It looks much more like surfing than skateboarding and more maneuverable than inlines...

I still think you'd have to be crazy...

Special K said...

I used to tear it up rollerskating as a kid, so I thought I'd kill at inline skating, and I bought a pair, but turns out I could hardly get 10 feet - these terrify me!