PLEASE...dont skitch...its not worth it

[*SWEET*]

yeah well... sometimes the car to go back up the hill is full so, I dont wait at the bottom to watch my friends...

[jizmnky]

hey man, sorry to here that. hope your on plenty of pain meds, sounds like that would hurt... alot!

and you think you can post pictures of the helmet after fall? if anything happened to it or the jaw protecting part collapsed or something. i have the same helmet and it kinda got me thinking...

[PeteyorkCT]

So on saturday I was riding with a couple guys..at one point near the end of the day we were skitching back to the cars. I was wearing my full face, elbow pads, knee pads, and sliding gloves. I dont really remember the crash, but they said it was only around 30km/h...or less than 20mph. I bailed, went face first into a curb, landing chin first, so the fullface offered no protection for my jaw. I remember lying on the side of the road in the worst pain i have ever felt, wishing I was dead it hurt so much. I ended up with a split open chin which needed stictching, a concussion, lost 2 teeth and got some road rash.

Only after x ray did i find out that my jaw was fractured. So here I sit for 3 weeks with my jaw wired shut, and for another 3 weeks after that with elastics on.

Bottom line...skitching is just not worth it. Its far too likely to go face first into the pavement.

pics or it didnt happen

[toki]

that sucks skitching. isnt even that fun

[jbw5485]

its not the skitching that hurts. its the hard concrete. going 180+ on my motorcycle is dangerous. but it doesn't harm me. it could deffinatly KILL me. but i do it (not very often) because of the thrill i get.
anything can happen at anytime doing anything. you can never know an accident is ahead. you can prepare for it and expect the worst and hope for the best.
i wouldn't say DON'T SKITCH. i'd say, be very careful when skitching. and always wear protective gear.


i hope you heal up and i hate that happened to you. also i hope it doesn't keep you from skating. i can understand if you don't skitch anymore though. get back on that skateboard.

blake

[OldSkateGuy]

Fact: With the proper safety precautions taken, Skitching is no more dangerous than ANY other skateboarding discipline.

If done right, its no more dangerous than traditional downhill, i.e. just using gravity to get down the hill.

There are ways to skitch safely, and there are also ways to not skitch safely and kill yourself...or break your jaw.

The thread title should really read: "Please...dont skitch without the proper safety precautions...its not worth it"

Please enlighten me about "proper safety precautions". Thanks.

[All3N]

skitchin can be pretty safe if u got ur friend in the driver seat :3

[David H]

Please enlighten me about "proper safety precautions". Thanks.

- wearing proper pads
- not accelerating too fast
- weight on the back foot, crouch

pretty much just don't suck at skateboarding, you'll be fine.

edit: allen: your relationship with the driver of the vehicle in question does not lower the propensity of you busting your ass while doing something generally regarded as ill-advised. in fact, he might try to joke around and be a badass and do something like burning out or swerving. And I don't even know what that smiley face means.

[OldSkateGuy]

- wearing proper pads
- not accelerating too fast
- weight on the back foot, crouch

pretty much just don't suck at skateboarding, you'll be fine.

Thanks, however I was just fishing to see what would get posted in response. The first time I skitched I wasn't even on a skateboard. Back in the late 1960's when I lived in Alaska , we used to skitch behind cars on our way to and from school, sliding along on our shoes on the ice covered streets, we called it "hooky bobbing". Sometimes you would see six to eight guys being towed along by an unsuspecting truck.

I remember sometimes hitting patches of bare cement and eating crap. Usually it wasn't to bad, because you would end up sliding on your chest on the ice.

Which brings to me the reason I asked about safety precautions...I think the most important precaution you can take, next to not skitching at all, is to not skitch directly behind the vehicle, as your view of what is ahead of you on the road is blocked. Just imagine your front wheels dropping into a pothole at 15 to 20mph...not good.

Now from the "don't try this at home files". When I was about your age Eugene, some friends and I came up with the bright idea to hook up a couple of tow ropes to the back of my '65 Mustang and get towed around a huge parking lot, kind of like two guys getting towed behind a ski boat. After doing this for a few minutes, we started doing cross-overs, where one guy would crouch down and go under the other guy's rope, switching sides.

All was well until it started getting dark, as my buddy went to cross over he couldn't see my rope all that well, he didn't duck enough, and I didn't raise my rope enough, resulting in him almost having his ear sliced off and ending up taking quite a tumble. Luckily we weren't going all that fast due to the fact that we on clay wheels. This was in the summer of 1974.

[adam99362]

Thank you for posting your experience. There have been several deaths over recent years and I personally know a person who was seriously injured while skitching.

Some kid in walla walla got serious head injury and now cant remeber anything

skitching is bad bottom line

[gabetar]

skitchin can be pretty safe if u got ur friend in the driver seat :3

You must be kidding.

[David H]

Thanks, however I was just fishing to see what would get posted in response. The first time I skitched I wasn't even on a skateboard. Back in the late 1960's when I lived in Alaska , we used to skitch behind cars on our way to and from school, sliding along on our shoes on the ice covered streets, we called it "hooky bobbing". Sometimes you would see six to eight guys being towed along by an unsuspecting truck.

I remember sometimes hitting patches of bare cement and eating crap. Usually it wasn't to bad, because you would end up sliding on your chest on the ice.

Which brings to me the reason I asked about safety precautions...I think the most important precaution you can take, next to not skitching at all, is to not skitch directly behind the vehicle, as your view of what is ahead of you on the road is blocked. Just imagine your front wheels dropping into a pothole at 15 to 20mph...not good.

Now from the "don't try this at home files". When I was about your age Eugene, some friends and I came up with the bright idea to hook up a couple of tow ropes to the back of my '65 Mustang and get towed around a huge parking lot, kind of like two guys getting towed behind a ski boat. After doing this for a few minutes, we started doing cross-overs, where one guy would crouch down and go under the other guy's rope, switching sides.

All was well until it started getting dark, as my buddy went to cross over he couldn't see my rope all that well, he didn't duck enough, and I didn't raise my rope enough, resulting in him almost having his ear sliced off and ending up taking quite a tumble. Luckily we weren't going all that fast due to the fact that we on clay wheels. This was in the summer of 1974.

'65 Mustang, eh? Bitchin.

[pony head]

And this one is with it wired shut, I couldnt open my mouth for 1 month.

[pony head]

Heres the helmet, I know its hard to see, but theres a small crack up top there, and one down near where your chin would go. The inside still has blood on it, but needless to say Im not gonna use this helmet again!

[mrgumdropman]

And this one is with it wired shut, I couldnt open my mouth for 1 month.

Did you mess up your teeth cuz it looks like you definitely F****d them up

not to self: Never skitch

[All3N]

JESUS. at least u had a helmet on! :O

[chandler95]

those pics are horrible...never going to skitch!

[jbw5485]

HOLY SH*T!!!! looks like it burned like a bit*ch. i'm still trying to figure out how you fu*ked up your mouth with the helmet on???? I'm not questioning you or doubting your story or anything ....but d@mn. figured the helmet would've protected everything above your neck. Was there no strap or was it not strapped?? Letting your chin be exposed? Again....hope you don't stop riding.

[AJ]

The first times i skitched were at closed road races. it usually consisted of me grabbing the driver side window frame or mirror. being goofy, i ride switch to face the driver. I dont know why this feels safer but it is. I think it has to do with the fact that skitching goofy passenger side might consist of me rolling into to grass,sand or concrete curb on the right side of the road if the truck swerves a bit too much (to this i refer to all you dummies skitching at munnsville and eating sh!t at the top of the hill).

Down-town Montreal, I got hooked on skitching from Critical Mass rides with fixed-gear cyclists.
In up-hills or really dense traffic. With one hand they grab the handle bar and the other they grab a van or suv or delivery truck. anything there hand would reach. (all brakeless!)
Basically cross country, these guys were faster than me , so i develloped a bad habit of grabbing onto anything around me moving in same direction.

The good and bad way of skitching has one key rule, and it has to do with always being able to see your line of direction, if you can't see an obstacle and you're skitching blindly from the back bumber, than YOU WILL DIE! or something like that...
I always skitch from the rear wheel ferring/frame. and most of the time I don't know the driver so its on the right side, in this case i dont want him to see me. usually upon discovery of the skitcher, drivers tend to slam the breaks, snake the vehicle until the parasite has detached or accelerate until the point where the skitcher hands can't hold onto the rusty metal body.

The most dangerous parts are at intersections, you want to know if the skitchee will turn left or right or keep going straight. side skitching is the safest, but you can really eat it hard when a car decides to make a turn without its signal lights.

I only skitch with friends driving uphill on the driver side with his window open giving him indications to control speed and to drive in the cleanest line, void of obstacles.
When I skitch strangers, its usually in dense, flowing traffic. for somewhat short distances.
always side-skitch. never skitch off a bumper like Micheal J. Fox in Back To The Future's first scene. That's just asking for pain.

I'm gonna eat it someday. Its an addiction, im trying to wean myself off.

[jimjimjim]

You should only skitch uphill at 25mph maximum... Flat or downhill, it's useless to, so uphill is the way to go. Any other way is too dangerous.