It's very cool because my neighbors' driveways are at the far end of each other's yards. That gives me a clear 250 feet of asphalt without blocking anyone's driveway but my own. Plus, as you can see, there is just a slight grade to the street, so it's not flat practice.
Is that not the most perfect curve of cones you ever saw? My course is laid out with fluorescent orange circles marking this 6-foot course. I can go out, drop my cones in an instant and get in a few runs with no hassle. The street has minimal traffic and most people are cool and just cruise by with no comment.
If you stagger the cones a little bit, you can get a nice little hybrid set up and not worry about chalk and marking a course. Just set the cones tangent to the orange marks and you can easily reset any cones hit off the mark. Of course, I never hit any cones, but sometimes a stiff breeze will drag one down
We just had some rain, so there's the slightly flowing brook to one side, but it was already dry by the next day. It's a hazard, but hey, who's got it perfect out there?
Another spot of mine is where I plan on doing some 100-cone courses this fall. It's a nature trail the County has built that runs the length of the Sawbranch flood control canal that circles the town of Summerville.
This is one section of the trail looking north that is almost 1/4 mile of straight, flat good asphalt. It's about the width of one lane of highway and is pretty much flawless. With no cars or trucks, the trail has no pits, dips or potholes.
This is down the trail looking back south.
At the end of this section of the trail it climbs an embankment to get up to the level of a street that bisects one section of the trail from another. It's not steep, but almost works as a permanent "start ramp" for getting up some speed before hitting the first cone. Although this is great for the 100-cone challenge, you could kill yourself and easily set a 200-cone course on this stretch of flat asphalt.
After crossing the road, there is another section of the trail that literally goes one for miles. You can cross country skate this stretch of asphalt for TWELVE MILES and only be interrupted by a cross street three times. Imagine being able to skate cross country non stop for 12 miles with no cars, trucks or motorcycles and just the occasional jogger or bicyclist. If you got what it takes, you can park your car, skate the full 12 miles and then return for a 24-mile jaunt through the woods on perfect asphalt. Try doing that every day and see how long it takes to build up your chops?
Anyway, that's some of the highlights of skating in beautiful Summerville, South Carolina. There is my other spot which is the playground parking lot, but that's a whole other set of pics I didn't get. It's another FLAT spot with NO TRAFFIC where a 50-cone course can go down with ease. I still skate there, but since I got my street marked in front of the house, why bother? I got my stereo, my refrigerator and everything else I need next to a decent little pre-marked spot where I can run all day and never intrude on anyone's driving. It's ain't perfect, but it works for me!