Over the course of the last few weeks I've begun to feel like Kevin Costner in "Waterworld", Austin is the kind of place that gets all it's rain in at once then goes away again for a while only to return with a vengeance whenever it feels the need. "We need the rain", "lakes going to go up" and other precipatory pleasantries aside, rain sucks for skater. Some people can say screw it, screw my bearings, screw grip, I'm going to skate, which is all good and well if you're down for that, I even have rustproof bearings and MPC Storm Surge wheels in 2 different sizes so I can skate in the wet, but here's the thing. Unless I ABSOLUTELY have to, I dont typically enjoy skating in the rain but not because of the actual skating, skating in the wet can be fun, especially if you're not the best at slides like me, however I do have problems with it.
My problems with it stem more from an OCD style of maintenance I have to apply to all my skates, wheels rotated, bearings cleaned, everything tightened and loctite where needed. When you skate in the rain, water and micro dirt particles or bigger get everywhere, the worst is when you skate a newer trail or one under construction, water and mud runs off into the path and ends up in every nook and cranny of your skates. Which isn't to say I haven't skated in the rain and mud, I get stir crazy but I don't do it often as the maintenance on the back end isn't always worth the ride, maybe if I rode a path like the Veloway it would fair much better as I'd only be dealing with the wetness and those MPC wheels are top notch for wet riding, the rustproof bearings are kind of a let down, they're definitely rustproof however the seals let in too much water and I found them squeaking before the end of my ride and completely had to clean and repack them with grease after one ride.
(one of my wet weather rides)
So what's a skater guy to do in a rainy world when he can't skate? There's always a few basic options, first and foremost you could always find another hobby or something you like to do and just do that, but that's not skating so it usually isn't as fun. There's always cross training as well, which I will get into at a later time, most likely as part of this series because I've been spending plenty of time in the gym these past weeks. You can always do skate maintenance, and if you're like me with a variety of setups this can really take some time but at least everything is locked in for the next time.
The pattern here is that a skater guy is going to most likely do something skate related if possible, so I had begun thinking about what i needed as far as skating, I'm constantly trying to make things better for myself for my longer rides where I'm out in the sticks. I got to thinking and it hit me that I was very weak on illumination while riding, both for myself and for others to see me. This has only become a problem recently as I have had to wake up earlier and earlier to beat the heat and allow myself the time to do my longer rides and still take care of day to day life on the back end. So I've found myself waking as early as 5am getting ready as fast as possible and getting out the door and skating. Midsummer anywhere from 6-6:30am you already had plenty of light to see but maybe dangerous to be seen, later in the summer the sun is already taking longer to come up so it has become an issue.
So I had a project, I already had fashioned myself a head lamp with a GoPro helmet mount, some cable ties and my 3000 lumen tactical flashlight. This part was easy, I have a spare battery that I carry with this and have done almost 2 hours before the sun came up.
Step 1, light my way, done. Now it was for step 2, make sure people can see me so I don't get hit, open road skating is pretty nerve wracking, most people don't know how to deal with cyclists, even in the bike lane, so they really don't know what to do with me or they just suck, but anyways you wan't to be seen. We aren't on a bike or anything so we are a little less formidable of a presence on the road.
So at least years Athens to Atlanta race they gave us these super sweet LED lights for the first part of the ride in the morning hours, I didn't use mine that day but kept them, one night I tried mounting them to a backpack and I ripped the wire to the battery receiver from all the jumping around. So I knew I wouldn't be able to just throw the battery and LED together and be on my way.
I mostly needed a way to make sure the battery and wire were somewhat mounted and not able to move around a lot. There were 2 LED strips I wanted to use and also a spare battery that would be nice to be able to stow away, I ended up finding this small translucent organization container and it looked pretty perfect for the job. Yes, the LED light has a remote and it is awesome.
First thing I did was lay down some foil for a reflective surface, not sure if it actually helps but I did it anyways, mostly because I ended up having to join the lights and fold one towards the back so I could get the most light on the front surface.
Next I added channels in the tops of the container pieces.
Press the power button and we have light.
So that's what this skater guy does when it rains, tries to figure out ways to make the next skating experience that much better, oh and blog posts, makes those too. Next I'll go over some cross training stuff and give a tour of my garage gym otherwise known as the "Muscle Sauna".