…what is it?
Street SUP is the quickest, dirtiest way around to carve a few good turns, get your blood moving, and then get on with your day. Or it’s the newest way to quickly and efficiently cover some ground. Mostly it’s just one more way to have fun on a board:)
The basics are easy, a push pole and a skateboard. The benefits are a better core workout, more turns because you never have to move your feet (just use the pole for speed and keep carving turns,) better balance and fewer falls because of the stick, and, for many of us with older backs/hips/knees/ankles that simply never skateboarded any longer because, well, it hurt, this will get you back on a board!
GEAR:
There are several push poles, skate stick, whatever you wish to call them, on the market already. The 
Kahuna Big Stick is perhaps the most popular commercially available skate stick. It is well built and the actual rubber foot part on the bottom, which pushes against the pavement, is particularly well designed and effective, plus as the rubber foot wears out a new one can be ordered and it is simple to replace. They are on the expensive side, but they will last for years and work really well.
Alternatively it is cheap and easy to build one too. A closet rod, a chunk of 2″ x 6″, and an old bicycle tire, along with a couple of hours, will have you pushing yourself down the street easily. You want the height to be about eye level when you’re standing on the ground. Cut a full width (5-1/2″) circle from the chunk of 2″ x 6″, and then cut the circle in half (you could make two…..) On the top of one of the circle halves, drill a hole to accept the bottom of the closet rod. On the bottom of this circle half screw a length of old bicycle tire on solidly for push traction. Cut the top of the closet rod to the appropriate height, and either use a cut off section of the rod for a handle, or even easier cut a slit into an old tennis ball and simply slide it over the top….wallah! Go skate!
The boards are a bit different too, or at least different options are opened up when you use a stick. For one the trucks can be way looser, since there’s no need to balance on one foot while you push with the other. I’ve also experimented with a very loose front truck and a somewhat tighter rear truck….it works well for steep hills. Carver Skateboards work reeaalllly well for Street SUP, check them out. Locally Moondoggie’s has them in SLO, and if you’re in the shop while I am there ask to try my 42″ deck out.
Other pros…..more fun on flatter terrain! The hills don’t gotta be so steep with a push stick. Our town has mellow rolling streets mostly, at night I can go out and do two or three laps around town, with two short uphill walks per lap, and feel like I just got about 2000′ of vertical in, carving all the way. I’ve also seen some kids rip with shorter sticks on freestyle boards in parks and on ramps. Your girlfriend/wife/significant other that has never skated will enjoy this and find it much easier and less intimidating to learn. Same with your kid….put a short Stick into a 4 year old’s hands and watch them skate with more confidence and success….which will translate when they don’t have the stick as well!
Pick one up and see. We will have some demo sticks and an old longboard in the shop so you can give it try. We all need some quick and dirty way to score a few turns after all:)
~CCSUP
