Longboarding with Trempealeau Police

My friends and I have been longboarding in Trempealeau, WI for about three or four years now. It's fun to go in Trempealeau because I live there, so it's most convenient, and it has the best hills around without a lot of traffic. A lot of the hills in Trempealeau are being repaved, which is also a plus when it comes to longboarding. For those who don't know what a longboard is, it's a long skateboard used for speed and long distance. It's not used for doing tricks, like what a skateboard is used for. It can be dangerous at times when you're going 25 mph down a hill without a helmet or breaks, but if you're smart about it, it is a pretty safe sport. Longboards are convenient when living in a city because they're fast, easy to ride, and they're small enough to carry them around. It has become a very popular sport over the years, especially in Trempealeau. However, we've had a great obstacle to avoid when we've gone out to board for the past few months. The police have stopped us almost every time my friends and I have gone out the past summer. They pull us over and yell, give lectures, or threaten us with citations. It has become a big problem because every time I want to longboard in town, I can't enjoy myself for fear that a cop is going to give me a ticket for riding on the road, being a nuisance to drivers and pedestrians. It makes us angry because we don't cause any more problems than a person riding a bike would. The only difference I can think of is that the police see us riding a board with wheels and they have stamped skateboarders as punks, trouble makers, and bad kids. They think we're riding around on sidewalks, ruining private property and getting in the way of pedestrians, when we're just minding our own business riding on the roads, where we're supposed to ride. Personally, I think they're just bored because there isn't enough crime to solve in Trempealeau. One of my friends even went to another town to board and a cop pulled him over for no reason, took his information, then warned him that the Trempealeau cops were looking for him. I thought that was pretty ridiculous. It is true that longboarders can get in the way of other people, and it can be dangerous, but isn't this true when it comes to anything dealing with wheels on the road? We've been riding long enough to know what we're doing. We know we shouldn't blow a stop sign in a busy intersection, we know to look both ways before crossing a street, or to get on the right side of the road when a car is coming our way. The war between skate/longboarders may never end, but as long as I'm not being arrested, I'm going to keep on boarding.