Heritage Road is similar to many other residential roads in Auburn.
The quiet is only broken by the chirps of birds playing on carefully manicured lawns. Relatively few cars drive by, all of which are driving slower than the speed limit.
A bright yellow plastic child holds a flag to warn vehicles that there may be children playing near the street.
Instead of children, two college kids on skateboards blur past, polyurethane wheels making a sound unlike many others as they roll across the smoothly paved gravel street.
Will Goodwin, senior in biochemistry from Fairhope, and Richie Kesseli, senior in chemistry from New Hampshire, are part of Auburn's skateboarding subculture.
They are members of the group Auburn Downhill Campus Outlaw Circuit and compete in races across the Southeast.
Auburn Downhill's Facebook group currently has 105 members. Kesseli posts when local and regional races will be and encourages letting other members know about impromptu skate sessions.
The group also holds races of their own.
"We were getting good turnouts," Kesseli said. "Maybe 10 kids or something like that. That's really good. Recently, it's been kind of hard."
Many of the original members of Auburn Downhill are nearing graduation, and there aren't many people left to carry on Auburn's skating culture.
"It's hard to find dedicated people to skate in Auburn," Kesseli said. "To actually go and longboard. I know that you'll see a lot of kids pushing around on campus going to class and stuff, but to get kids out and actually come and skate with us is pretty hard. We really just have our solid group of like five or six kids that are always down to skate whenever."
At 223 N. Gay St., at the end of a driveway between a white mansion and the Circle K, stands Pop Love-It Skate Shop.
The small white building with a yellow trim has a bench made partly with skateboard decks and a waxed concrete block to skate on in the parking lot.
The walls are lined with racks of skateboards, brightly colored wheels and a small shoe selection. A muted television plays a skateboarder's highlight video, and rock music is played from the computer.
Behind the counter Josh Loveland, owner, employee and everything in between, understands first-hand how small Auburn's skateboard culture is.
"It's very much underground," Loveland said. "We have no skate park or physical evidence that we're here."
The closest thing Auburn had to a skate park was taken down to build a senior center in 2012.
Loveland opened his business in 2010,
now, nearly four years later, Pop Love-It remains the only physical location for Auburn residents to purchase skateboarding equipment.
Loveland is also the biggest factor in petitioning Auburn city government to decriminalize skateboarding as a means of conveyance in downtown Auburn.
The petition, Four Wheels Down and skate park initiative, has more than 350 signatures.
"I want to get skateboarding decriminalized by working with the city," Loveland said. "I would also like to build a community park."
Walking up the road they had just raced down, Kesseli and Goodwin are breathing heavily. Depending on the road, Kesseli said, the skateboarders can reach speeds ranging from 30-50 miles per hour.
Goodwin is part of Auburn Downhill for the thrill and because he wants to keep the skating culture alive in Auburn.
"Everyone's always chill and welcoming," Goodwin said. "No matter what skill level you're at, everyone is understanding. They're just excited that there's people out there skating."
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