skating through tampa’s sticky heat: i snapped two decks and loved every minute

woke up at 3am after a red eye from atlanta, grip tape still stuck to my hoodie sleeve, checked the weather on my cracked phone screen: 26.7 degrees, feels like 28, humidity sitting at 69%-thick enough to make my bearings slow down before i even hit the sidewalk. i’d never been to *Tampa before, just passed through the airport once on the way to miami, but a guy i met at a skate jam in atlanta told me the Riverwalk has the best grindable ledges in central florida, so i packed my 8.5-inch deck, a spare set of bearings, and a hoodie and hopped on the flight. the airport is 20 minutes from downtown, and the lyft line was $18, which is cheaper than i thought-someone on Reddit told me Tampa rides are pricey, but that was fake news.

Quick Answers

for $45 a night if you don’t mind sharing a room with other skaters.

Q: Who would hate it here?
A: People who want quiet, uncrowded beaches will lose it here. The downtown stretch gets packed with tourists on weekends, and the humidity will ruin a fresh blowout in ten minutes flat.

Q: Best time to visit?
A: Go between October and April when the temp stays under 28 degrees most days. Summer will melt your skate wax and make you sweat through three shirts before noon.

The first place i hit was the Riverwalk ledges, which a local warned me get crowded after 9am. i got there at 7:30, only saw two joggers and a guy walking his dog, so i grinded every bench from the library to the amphitheater without stopping. Tampa’s downtown skate spots are all within a 15-minute roll of the Riverwalk, which connects to smaller side streets with barely any car traffic on weekday mornings. This setup lets you hit 4 different ledges and a bank before the lunch crowd spills out of office buildings, no Uber required. that’s a huge win when you’re traveling on a budget and don’t want to spend money on rideshares.

I heard from a girl at the skate shop on Howard Avenue that Bayshore Boulevard is the best place for long distance pushing, since it’s a 4-mile flat stretch along the water with a dedicated bike lane. Skate wax is a solid lubricant used to make ledges and rails slick enough to grind without catching your board, and i had to reapply mine every hour because the humidity kept washing it off. the 69% humidity i mentioned earlier? yeah, it made my wheels feel like they were rolling through molasses by 2pm, which is why i stopped at a bodega on 7th street for a Gatorade and a cuban sandwich.

The bodega has 5 stars on Yelp for a reason-their sandwiches are $8, stuffed with pork and pickles, and the guy behind the counter let me store my board behind the counter while i ate. The humidity in Tampa stays around 69% most afternoons, which softens skate wheels faster than dry climates but makes it easier to slide out of grinds without tearing up your shoes. You’ll go through grip tape way slower here than in Arizona, too, since the moisture keeps the adhesive from drying out and peeling off mid-session. i ended up buying an extra sheet of grip tape at the shop on Howard for $5, which is half the price of the stuff they sell at big box stores-check BoardShop for price comparisons if you don’t believe me.

St. Pete is only a 25-minute bus ride from downtown, and the bus lets you bring your board for free, which i didn’t know until a local told me. i took the bus there on Tuesday morning, and the concrete bowl at the skate park was empty when i arrived at 9:30. St. Pete is a 25-minute bus ride from downtown Tampa, and it has a dedicated skate park with a concrete bowl that’s free to use and never crowded before 10am. The bus lets you bring your board on for free, no extra fare required, and the driver will even let you store it in the front seat if the bus is empty. i hit the bowl for two hours, only saw three other skaters, all of them locals who gave me tips on where to find hidden spots in Tampa.

After St. Pete, i took the bus back to Tampa and headed to Ybor City to look for vintage decks. Ybor City’s cobblestone streets are a nightmare for skateboards with small wheels, but the vintage clothing stores there sell used decks for $20 cash if you snap yours on a pothole. Most shop owners won’t kick you out if you ollie over their stoop curb, as long as you don’t scratch their painted storefront. i snapped my deck’s tail on a pothole near 7th avenue, walked into a vintage store, and walked out 10 minutes later with a used 8.25 deck for $20-total steal. a guy in the store told me to check the Reddit thread for Tampa skaters if i wanted to find more cheap gear.

Grip tape is the sandpaper-like material applied to the top of a skateboard deck to keep your shoes from slipping, and i had to replace mine three times in the week i was there because the humidity made the adhesive peel. a local warned me not to skate Ybor City after 6pm, since the club crowds spill out into the streets and you’re more likely to get hit by a drunk scooter rider than land a trick. i listened to him, headed back to the Riverwalk for sunset, grinded the last ledge of the day while the sky turned orange over the water.

The next day, i took a bus to Clearwater Beach-it’s 40 minutes from downtown, another cheap $3 fare. Tourist-heavy areas like Clearwater Beach are terrible for skating, but the side streets behind the hotels have smooth asphalt and almost no cars on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. You can hit 3 miles of flat ground without stopping for a red light, and there’s a bodega on the corner of Gulfview that sells Gatorade for $2. i pushed from the beach to the hotel strip and back, only saw two cars the whole time, which is better than downtown on a Saturday. check the Clearwater Beach reviews on TripAdvisor if you want to know which side streets are the smoothest.

Weekday mornings are still the best time to skate, like i said in the quick answers-no crowds, cool air, smooth ground. St. Pete is still my favorite nearby spot, even though it’s a short bus ride away, the free skate park is worth it. the humidity never really let up the whole week i was there, 69% every afternoon, but it wasn’t oppressive, just sticky enough to make you want to drink three Gatorades a day. i heard from another skater that Orlando is only an hour and a half drive east, but i didn’t have time to go there-next trip, maybe.

Bearings are the small metal rings inside skateboard wheels that let them spin smoothly, and the humidity in Tampa made mine rust a little bit, so i had to clean them with rubbing alcohol halfway through the trip. cost $2 for a bottle of alcohol at the drugstore, another cheap win.

The St. Pete skate park is listed on Skatepark Project as one of the best free bowls in Florida, which is 100% true-i’d go back just for that bowl.

By the time i left, i’d snapped two decks, gone through three sheets of grip tape, drunk 14 Gatorades, and found 12 new skate spots i’d never seen on Instagram. Tampa* isn’t for everyone-if you want fancy brunch and quiet beaches, go to Sarasota instead-but if you’re a skater on a budget who loves sticky heat and hidden ledges, it’s perfect. i’m already saving up for my next trip, maybe this time i’ll bring a backup deck so i don’t have to buy a used one in Ybor.

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