FOR SOME, IT'S ROAD OVERKILL ACTION SPORTS STARS SUCH AS MACDONALD CONSTANTLY AWAY FROM HOME.

Byline: Keith Lair Staff Writer

VISTA - Major League Baseball teams play 81 road games. NBA teams play 41.

But they play just as many home games, so the athletes get to spend at least half a season in their own beds.

For action sports athletes, it's one constant trip. Seattle one night, Portland, Ore., the next, and Sacramento two nights later.

At least this week, it will be a four-day stop in Los Angeles for X Games 11. The games begin Thursday with competitions at Staples Center, Home Depot Center and Long Beach Marine Stadium.

Athletes in other sports have nothing to gripe about when it comes to travel, skateboarder Andy Macdonald says. Not even those on the PGA Tour, which has 41 stops. Or NASCAR, with 36 stops.

``Oftentimes, you don't know where the next event is at,'' Macdonald said. ``In other sports, they have a whole season planned out. They have to be in Chicago and then be at Texas on July 11. Here, we often don't know where we'll be the next day.''

It's not that Macdonald is complaining. He's carved out a very nice career crisscrossing the world riding skateboard ramps. He's won the past eight World Cup Skateboarding overall titles. He has 18 X Games medals: eight gold, four silver and three bronze. He has competed in every X Games.

He placed in the top five of every event he entered last year, including a third in X Games Big Air.

Macdonald, who turned 32 Sunday, admits that his world is similar, yet far different, from those of athletes in other sports.

Last year, he booked 100,000 miles on United Airlines and more than 50,000 miles on other carriers.

``I can compare it to what others do,'' he said during a rare trip home to Vista, in northern San Diego County. ``It's similar to the routine of what people do when they're at home. They go to work, they come home, they eat dinner, they go on the Internet.''

Macdonald's routine includes going to a competition and then to a hotel, airport, or, most recently, on to a bus for Tony Hawk's Boom Boom Huck Jam Tour.

``Hotel rooms aren't strange,'' he said. ``I know all about hotel rooms. This is just my routine. The only time it feels like work is when you've been on the road for a long time, you've sprained your ankle at the last stop, you've just arrived on an 18-hour flight to Johannesburg, and the kids in South Africa want you to skate like they saw you skate on the DVD. They don't care if you sprained your ankle or haven't slept in three days.

Macdonald's typical trek is nine months long. He said he probably won't be home again until Christmas.

In early June, he was in Moscow for an ASA Mobile competition, flew to Egypt for a demonstration, then went to Tel Aviv to do a bar mitzvah demo, something he typically does not do.

Then he had a week of practices for the Huck Jam, which hit 29 cities in 45 days and finished Sunday. During open dates in the Huck Jam, he found time to compete on the Dew Tour (he is in fourth place) and the Gravity Games, along with making appearances for his sponsors.

``As far as I'm concerned, I'm continuing my education,'' he said. ``I graduated from high school, and I went straight to professional skateboarding. I'm experiencing different cultures and languages. A lot of people have no idea what the rest of the world is like.''

Macdonald says he's learned. And although a hotel room is more likely to be his home, sleeping in your own bed makes those trips home even more special.

``I love San Diego and coming home to San Diego,'' he said.

Keith Lair, [phone], ext. 2272

keith.lair(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Los Angeles and X Games 11 is the latest stop for skateboarder Andy Macdonald, who spends as many as nine months a year on the road.

(2) Skateboarder Andy Macdonald has won 18 medals in X Games competition.

Markus Paulsen/Shazamm/ESPN

Box:

X GAMES ELEVEN LOS ANGELES