Skating San Antonio: Recommendations
John Faughnan
reviews.]
Inline Skating: San Antonio
Prior to visiting San Antonio for a business meeting, I searched the
web and Usenet for any guide to inline skating around that area. I
found one somewhat obsolete web page describing a Wednesday group
skate, but nothing more. So, this is your best (only) guide as of
November 2002. I also recommend buying a city map and the Riverwalk
Pocket Souvenir map.
Most tourists and conventioneers don't venture beyond the downtown
Riverwalk area near the Alamo. The Riverwalk (actually more of a
canal-walk, but that's being picky) is a commercially and
aesthetically successful development; a stunning example of
imaginative planning that began in the 1920s. It even has a
defensible historical connection to the irrigation channels of
Spanish Mexico. The Riverwalk is suited to walking, and maybe jogging
when outside the main loop. It is completely unsuited to inline
skating, which would be unpleasant (rough surfaces), rude, illegal
and dangerous. Given the ubiquitous security forces, any Riverwalk
skate would also be very brief.
Beyond the small downtown area the tourist sees, there's a vast city
of about 2 million people. Despite a dry and sunny climate, I did not
see much evidence of bicycle or inline skating activity. I saw no
off-street trails and only one street marked for bicycle use (just to
the north of the downtown area). On the other hand the omnipresent
police never gave me a second look (being middle-aged and gray may
help).
The street surfaces are mixed at best, with very few stretches of
smooth pavement or asphalt. Sidewalks, however, are often fairly wide
and quite empty on weekends.
I skated around much of the downtown area and I subsequently spoke
with some knowledgeable locals. Things get dangerous west and south
of the downtown (hence the serious policing of the tourist area); one
should not go west much beyond the city hall area. I thought the city
hall and neighboring areas were worth a Sunday skate, but expect
marginal surfaces and lots of traffic lights.
South of downtown is the King William district; I thought this was the
most interesting area to skate around with its attractive houses and
relatively smooth streets. Do not, however, seek to travel much
further south. A friend and I continued south towards some of the old
Spanish missions along the San Antonio river. After crossing some
railroad tracks it was hard to ignore the wrecked buildings and
gangsta graffiti, not to mention the dark unlit streets. We
retreated.
North of the Alamo, Avenue E is relatively well surfaced; on the
weekend it is a quiet street. Broadway allegedly heads north towards
through some middle-class neighborhoods and even some relatively
wealthy communities, but I did not pass beyond the freeway north of
downtown. Broadway is a wide street with scant but fast moving weekend
traffic. It does have reasonably skateable sidewalks.
There are said to be interesting neighborhoods around the airport and
to the Northwest near local schools and universities, but one would
need a car to get there (or try the local bus system).
Overall, the parts of San Antonio I saw do not have the skating appeal
of the great skating towns like San Francisco, Minneapolis, San
Diego, Chicago (waterfront), Montreal, Washington or even Boston.
San Antonio skating is perhaps on par with New Orleans but below
Kansas City. On the other hand in November (and Dec - March!) San
Antonio beats Minneapolis by a wide margin, and the authorities seem
accepting.
john www.faughnan.com/skatecity.html
[meta: 021111, jfaughnan, jgfaughnan, inline skating, inline-skating,
rollerblading, tourism, downtown, convention, review, guide, San
Antonio, Texas, SA, river-walk, visit, river walk]
full name
wrote:
>Inline Skating: San Antonio
>
>Prior to visiting San Antonio for a business meeting, I searched the
>web and Usenet for any guide to inline skating around that area. I
>found one somewhat obsolete web page describing a Wednesday group
>skate, but nothing more. So, this is your best (only) guide as of
>November 2002. I also recommend buying a city map and the Riverwalk
>Pocket Souvenir map.
>
>Most tourists and conventioneers don't venture beyond the downtown
>Riverwalk area near the Alamo. The Riverwalk (actually more of a
>canal-walk, but that's being picky) is a commercially and
>aesthetically successful development; a stunning example of
>imaginative planning that began in the 1920s. It even has a
>defensible historical connection to the irrigation channels of
>Spanish Mexico. The Riverwalk is suited to walking, and maybe jogging
>when outside the main loop. It is completely unsuited to inline
>skating, which would be unpleasant (rough surfaces), rude, illegal
>and dangerous. Given the ubiquitous security forces, any Riverwalk
>skate would also be very brief.
>
>Beyond the small downtown area the tourist sees, there's a vast city
>of about 2 million people.
Our population signs now read about one million.
>Despite a dry and sunny climate,
You might be confusing your statistics. We humid. Our summers are hot
and humid. Our winters a cool and sometimes dry.
>I did not see much evidence of bicycle or inline skating activity.
Currently, I might be it.
>I saw no off-street trails and only one street marked for bicycle use
>(just to the north of the downtown area). On the other hand the
>omnipresent police never gave me a second look (being middle-aged
>and gray may help).
I think that good police officers are proficient at looking without
being obvious about it.
>The street surfaces are mixed at best, with very few stretches of
>smooth pavement or asphalt. Sidewalks, however, are often fairly wide
>and quite empty on weekends.
And at night.
Always be prepared to defend yourself, wherever you are, responsibly.
>I skated around much of the downtown area and I subsequently spoke
>with some knowledgeable locals. Things get dangerous west and south
>of the downtown (hence the serious policing of the tourist area);
I am not so sure about the cause.
>one should not go west much beyond the city hall area. I thought the
>city hall and neighboring areas were worth a Sunday skate, but expect
>marginal surfaces and lots of traffic lights.
>
>South of downtown is the King William district; I thought this was the
>most interesting area to skate around with its attractive houses and
>relatively smooth streets. Do not, however, seek to travel much
>further south. A friend and I continued south towards some of the old
>Spanish missions along the San Antonio river. After crossing some
>railroad tracks it was hard to ignore the wrecked buildings and
>gangsta graffiti,
What you saw might not be what you imagined. There are a few creative
graffiti artists in the world. Here, they might be allowed to paint a
wall or two in good taste. Otherwise, you will be hard pressed to find
much unsightly. We do not even allow posters or advertising on
telephone poles.
(FWIW. One might be very careful zooming by telephone poles. If you
ever happen to brush past a telephone pole which has a nail sticking
out of it, it could hurt badly in the blink of an eye.)
>not to mention the dark unlit streets. We retreated.
>
>North of the Alamo, Avenue E is relatively well surfaced; on the
>weekend it is a quiet street. Broadway allegedly heads north towards
>through some middle-class neighborhoods and even some relatively
>wealthy communities,
Yes, there is life north of downtown.
>but I did not pass beyond the freeway north of
>downtown. Broadway is a wide street with scant but fast moving weekend
>traffic. It does have reasonably skateable sidewalks.
>
>There are said to be interesting neighborhoods around the airport and
>to the Northwest near local schools and universities, but one would
>need a car to get there (or try the local bus system).
The buses run up until about midnight, BTW.
>Overall, the parts of San Antonio I saw do not have the skating appeal
>of the great skating towns like San Francisco, Minneapolis, San
>Diego, Chicago (waterfront), Montreal, Washington or even Boston.
>San Antonio skating is perhaps on par with New Orleans but below
>Kansas City. On the other hand in November (and Dec - March!) San
>Antonio beats Minneapolis by a wide margin,
You bet. Winter is a long season for inline skating. We have about two
weeks worth of freezing weather per year.
>and the authorities seem accepting.
I hope so.
Motorblade
this for my students and others who call for advice. Many San Antonians commute
for an hour plus just to skate Austins world class veloway. we are in the
middle of negotiations with the city of Austin to properly reseal the asphalt
surface of the 3.5 mile loop of traffic free skte/bike training track known as
the Circle C Veloway. They have scheduled a rush job of "slurry seal" that is
rough and cheap bur hopefully our letter writing campaign will result in a
better quality surface.Thanks again. I understand some of your paranoia about
the rough parts of San Antonio but they may be safer than appearances would
suggest. there is a suburb called Encino Ridge that I have skated extensively.
It has smooth streets and limited traffic and quite a few skaters. It is in the
Austin direction heading toward Austin on highway 290.
"fritz"
<A
HREF="http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2001-05-11/xtra_featu
re4.html">The Austin Chronicle Features: A Life on Wheels</A>
www.motorblade.com
Birdy(Parker), Brazil(Gilliam),and Brewster McCloud(Altman)
John Faughnan
mentioned.
I knew SA is very humid in the summer, I guess my "sunny and dry" was
a brain glitch from my recent fall skate. I was quite impressed by the
policing, esp. of the tourist areas; when I said they didn't pay me
much attention I wasn't suggesting they didn't see me, they certainly
did.
> Our population signs now read about one million.
Yes, I was misinformed. This page
[http://www.onealamocenter.com/attributes.htm] has a nice summary of
SA including:
POPULATION
San Antonio is the 8th largest city in the U.S., with a population of
1,171,700. Bexar County's population is 1,401,200. The population of
the Metropolitan Statistical Area (which includes Bexar, Comal,
Guadalupe and Wilson counties) is 1,570,500.
> >I did not see much evidence of bicycle or inline skating activity.
> Currently, I might be it.
Any thoughts on why there's so little? Especially given the very long
skating/bicycling season. In Minneapolis, where Oct-April can be iffy
for bicycling (though in years past I cycled year round), we have
large numbers of skaters and bicyclists.
> >The street surfaces are mixed at best, with very few stretches of
> >smooth pavement or asphalt. Sidewalks, however, are often fairly wide
> >and quite empty on weekends.
> And at night.
Yes, though in the area we skated I found few street lights. Is that
common?
> >Spanish missions along the San Antonio river. After crossing some
> >railroad tracks it was hard to ignore the wrecked buildings and
> >gangsta graffiti,
>
> What you saw might not be what you imagined. There are a few creative
> graffiti artists in the world. Here, they might be allowed to paint a
No, this was the real thing :-). South of the downtown I think
unsightly is perhaps not unheard of. It is very true that the tourist
areas and non-tourist downtown areas I saw were pretty tidy.
I did enjoy my visit to SA. The developers of the Riverwalk combined
commercial genius with a nice sense of aesthetics. I got the sense
there were a lot of interesting stories throughout the area.
john
Motorblade
>It has smooth streets and limited traffic and quite a few skaters. It is in
>the
>Austin direction heading toward Austin on highway 290.
>
Its Encino BELLE and its out highway 281
sorry
full name
wrote:
>Thanks for the corrections! I'll make those to the web page I
>mentioned.
>
>I knew SA is very humid in the summer, I guess my "sunny and dry" was
>a brain glitch from my recent fall skate. I was quite impressed by the
>policing, esp. of the tourist areas; when I said they didn't pay me
>much attention I wasn't suggesting they didn't see me, they certainly
>did.
>
>> Our population signs now read about one million.
>
>Yes, I was misinformed. This page
>[http://www.onealamocenter.com/attributes.htm] has a nice summary of
>SA including:
>
>POPULATION
>San Antonio is the 8th largest city in the U.S., with a population of
>1,171,700. Bexar County's population is 1,401,200. The population of
>the Metropolitan Statistical Area (which includes Bexar, Comal,
>Guadalupe and Wilson counties) is 1,570,500.
>
>> >I did not see much evidence of bicycle or inline skating activity.
>> Currently, I might be it.
>
>Any thoughts on why there's so little?
There might be more skaters in the suburbs. I wonder if most inline
skaters play street hockey (but that is off topic for this thread).
>Especially given the very long skating/bicycling season.
That is worth reiterating, IMO, the only really bad weather here is
June/July/August. As a native, you learn to seek shade even while
walking.
> In Minneapolis, where Oct-April can be iffy for bicycling (though
>in years past I cycled year round), we have large numbers of skaters
>and bicyclists.
Probably feels good to get outside (without risk of freezing to
death).
>> >The street surfaces are mixed at best, with very few stretches of
>> >smooth pavement or asphalt. Sidewalks, however, are often fairly wide
>> >and quite empty on weekends.
>> And at night.
>
>Yes, though in the area we skated I found few street lights. Is that
>common?
Assuming that is an accurate assessment. With efficiency, that might
have to do with traffic. San Antonio might not be as commercially
active at night as some other same sized cities.
Later.