I’m a marathon skateboarder. This doesn’t mean that I skate 26.2 miles at a time, pushing along like a blind idiot until my nipples are bleeding from the constant rubbing against my shirt and I’ve thrown up a sandwich from two weeks ago, I’m just really into covering ground on my skateboard.

The love affair began many years ago when I passed out drunk on a city bus in Denver and overshot my stop by about eight miles. When I woke up at the end of the line it was three in the morning and another bus wasn’t going to be along for two hours. Thusly I began the long push-hop home. It took about two hours, but was much better than sleeping on a bench while waiting. At then end of the long journey I drank a mimosa and went to bed feeling like a real champion.
When I first moved to Chicago, instead of taking buses, I rode my bike everywhere. It was quick and easy but I kept getting hit by cars which ain‘t any kind of fun no matter how you fluff it. On a bike you get all tangled up in the frame and are kicked to the pavement from higher up. At least on a skateboard you can run out of a fall or at the very least, dive roll. So after four manglings on my bike I decided to give it a rest and skate places.
The quick of it is this: the Dakota high tops are the best long distance skate shoes I’ve ever owned, maybe even the best skate shoes (.). They offer fine arch support, brace the ankle, pillow the foot and aren’t retardedly puffy, plus they have a vulcanized outsole so the overall grip-and-rip* factor lies somewhere between a pair of Vans Skate-Hi’s and these DVS Hufnagel high-tops I had a few years back.

From the day I put these fuckers on I haven’t been able to get enough marathon skating. Right out of the box I rolled the three miles to my day-job then, after quittin’ time, skated four miles into downtown for an afternoon appointment. From there I skated the three miles home happy as a pig in shit; an experiment I’ve since repeated several times a week (the rolling in shit experiment, I mean).
Skating around Chicago is just as handy as biking, especially if you have a CTA multi-pass. You get to skirt shitty traffic and hop on busses and trains to cut corners. Plus you see more sights. On a bike you feel the constant pressure to keep your speed up and to stop only as a last resort. On a board it’s fun to stop and look at stuff and maybe shoot some photos of sad dead animals.

Shit’s deep, I tell you.
What baffles me is that the Dakota, isn’t part of Adidas’ skateboarding footwear line. It’s probably for the best, however, as the Superstars and Stan Smiths that have been updated for skateboarding, while undoubtedly more resistant to the rigors of jump-and-scoot, look like they’ve suffered an allergic reaction to a bee sting. The colorways are fabulous, but my word. I tried some of the Shelltoes on and could’ve sworn I was wearing slippers made to look like sneakers.

Anywho, like the Indian tribe that no doubt inspired their namesake, the Dakotas are durable as fuck and, even more importantly, absolutely in touch with their environment. It’s like they’re constantly gnawing on peyote buttons.

Jealous, right!?

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