Consider longboarding
I think longboarding (a) is underrated.
I've tried a lot of modes of transport for getting around the Bay Area – walking, BARTing, busing, motorcycling, driving, bicycling, and longboarding:
- Walking is nice but pretty slow.
- BART & buses work fine, but you need to get to a station that goes where you want to go.
- Motorcycling is fast & fun, but also dangerous and expensive.
- Driving is fast & safe, but way more expensive than a motorcycle. Plus you have to think about parking.
- Bicycling is fast, cheap, and fun, but it's hard to carry a bike on BART, and bikes often are stolen when left outside (even if locked).
- Longboarding is fast, cheap, fun, and about as safe as riding a bike. Plus it's really easy to carry the board inside, or on BART.
I bought this board three years ago on Amazon for about $50. I didn't know how to longboard when it arrived in the mail, and was able to learn the fundamentals in an afternoon messing around on a quiet street in my neighborhood.
So far I've put 600+ miles on it – it's never had any problems, or needed any maintenance.
Sometimes when people see my board, they seem to think it's some outlandish mode of transport that's inaccessible to them. I don't know why this is, I want to say something like "legacy of 90s skater culture". But if you (a) are healthy enough to go on a jog, (b) at one point learned how to ride a bicycle, and (c) have $50 & a free afternoon, you can definitely learn to longboard!