Last weekend I rode my bike to the park where Earth Day was being celebrated. One block was coned off for people to test drive electric bikes on one side of the street and remote controlled skateboards on the other. Having spent thousands of hours during the late seventies and eighties on a skateboard, I thought it would be fun to try one. Riding a skateboard is pure joy.

I approached the table where the company’s rep, probably in his late twenties, was instructing a kid about seven years old how to use the control. He rode the skateboard down the block and back, then left with his father.

The rep  looked at me suspiciously, then told me the electric bikes were on the other side of the street. I told him I wanted to try the skateboard. He hesitated, pursed his lips, then grabbed a clipboard and told me I’d have to sign a liability waiver. After that, he told me I’d have to wear a helmet, and asked if I’d ever ridden a skateboard before. I just said yes.

He fiddled with the controller, gave me instructions, and said to be careful. He told me the speed range was from 1 to 15, but that he set it low for my first try. He handed me the controller then reached for his phone, no doubt ready to call 911.

I stood on the board and pushed the “forward” button. The skateboard crawled ahead at a snail’s pace. I had to put my foot on the ground to push so it would go faster. When I returned to his station I asked him what speed level he had put it on.

“Four”, he said.

“Can you bump it to 14?”, I asked.

“Sure…..”, he said hesitatingly.

I knew I had better not fall off, now that I had pressured him to increase the speed so much. I jumped on, locked my stance, and sailed away. Now we were talking! I was supposed to stay to the right of the line of cones, but as no one else was in the lanes, I couldn’t help slaloming between them as I got closer to the end.

When I returned to the start, not only the skateboard rep but the electric bike rep and a few others who had noticed me were all staring at me in shock with their mouths open. So not only did I walk away with a rush from skateboarding, but an added bonus of the rarity of impressing the younger generation!