RollerSkating/RollerBlading

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well I went roller skating at the rink for the 5th time today. I discovered that Sundays are great- only about 20 skaters at any given time on the floor, as opposed to about 50 on Sat's and Fridays. So, for me wednesdays and sundays are the best.
So far, I've only had one painful fall and a bruise, that was two sessions ago.

I had really GOOD session today!
---First- I learned that skating with my feet more in a centerline actually helped me keep my balance better than the lunging forward from side to side with a wide base. Counter-intuitive perhaps, but the beneficial effect was immediate. Now I feel more steady on my feet.
---I learned how to bend down carefully and pick up debris from the floor without falling down on my butt...this means I don't have to watch for and dodge the same stupid little pebble or candy wrapper a hundred times during the two hours.
---I said the H*ll with trying to stop myself by dragging one toe stop (that was taught to me on that first day and seems to be the usual beginner's way to learn to stop)...instead I learned how to do a "T-Stop" today with my feet at right angles and it was much easier to keep my balance while stopping. I practiced that about 75 times slowly, and am getting the hang of stopping in mid floor now at a slow speed. (i always first check behind me to make sure the coast is clear for suddenly stopping!) I'm still a baby skater though, have a long ways to go.

Also, my leg muscles are getting used to this skating with the knees bent thing- legs now get less tired while skating, and I don't have to rest as often.
All in all, a very productive roller day for me!

Poo....now I have to wait all the way til next weekend to go again.

[Jolt]

Well, I had a bang-up ice skating session today--literally. It definitely felt easier now that I have better-fitting skates--no more wobbling. However, I kept catching the toe pick and tripping myself up, three times to be exact! So now I have matching (well, sort of--the right is a lot worse) bruises on each elbow from that being the area that took the brunt of two of the crash-landings. Flying forward through the air and landing on your forearms and stomach is not a fun way to fall!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Ouch, Jolt! Are you sure you don't want to wear some combination of wrist, elbow, or knee pads during all this learning phase? Perhaps you can borrow some for a while?

So, did you actually get new ice skates, smaller ones? Where did you get them, what did you do? Cough up the story, girl! I love hearing about people getting new equipment.

[Jolt]

Ouch, Jolt! Are you sure you don't want to wear some combination of wrist, elbow, or knee pads during all this learning phase? Perhaps you can borrow some for a while?

So, did you actually get new ice skates, smaller ones? Where did you get them, what did you do? Cough up the story, girl! I love hearing about people getting new equipment.

That might not be such a bad idea, dorky as it is for ice skating (much dorkier than wearing them for outdoor rollerblading, for example). Considering I'm there to get some exercise and therefore not exactly going slowly, when I crash I can hit pretty hard! As for the "new" skates; I went to a local secondhand sports shop and picked up a decent used pair there for a good price. They even threw in sharpening for free--not bad! Now I just need to figure out how not to trip over the toe picks and take a nosedive (or come close to taking one and scare the heck out of myself). I don't remember having that problem before; maybe these skates have bigger toe picks that I just need to get used to.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

That might not be such a bad idea, dorky as it is for ice skating (much dorkier than wearing them for outdoor rollerblading, for example). Considering I'm there to get some exercise and therefore not exactly going slowly, when I crash I can hit pretty hard!

Wow, I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to put on some pads for the first dozen sessions or so. That ice is hard! And as cyclists, we all know enough to wear helmets despite some folks thinking they are dorky.
Roller bladers on the street wear pads to protect from road rash when they skid on the asphalt. But for example roller derby skaters in nice smooth rinks still wear pads to protect the bones from impact since they crash into each other and fall a lot. Me, I can crash and fall just all by myself without even any help from doing roller derby!

Now I just need to figure out how not to trip over the toe picks and take a nosedive (or come close to taking one and scare the heck out of myself). I don't remember having that problem before; maybe these skates have bigger toe picks that I just need to get used to.

Aii!! That reminds me exactly of what happens when my roller skates hit some little pebble or piece of gum on the rink....BAM your skate just skids and stops right on it for a second and it's hard not to go flying forward. I can't imagine catching those scary toe picks on the ice. YIKES. At least with roller skates the rubber toe stops are high enough that you really can't catch them during normal skating. Maybe if you look at a current bunch of pictures of ice skates for sale on the web you will able to compare your skates to them to see if your toe picks are unusually low or something.

This doesn't have much to do with your toe pick issue, but... I was watching a little girl (about 7) roller skating the other night and she kept losing her balance badly every few seconds. On watching her for a while and trying to figure out why she was having so much trouble, I noticed that she tended to bend her knee and lift her back foot up high every time it went back at the end of a stroke, like she was walking in deep snow or something. I noticed that every time she flipped her back foot up high it caused her front foot (the one she was actually rolling on) to slip and sometimes go out from under her. The back foot flip up thing was throwing her weight balance off as she skated along. I guess I learned something from that. Skates are heavy!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Woo-HOOOOOOO!!!! I just got off the phone to Canada after ordering my OWN roller skates!
No more funky rink rentals for me after this week!
The Canadian outfit is run by women and they recommended a certain type skate based on my long narrow foot and other factors. Here is my skate:
http://www.rollergirl.ca/usdcart/ima...ve-red-500.jpg
Nice all leather boot and deluxe wheels and bearings. Am hoping for bright green wheels however- if they have them in stock. if not then the red wheels will be used and they'd be nice too.
I can't wait! I'm so excited! Haven't had my very own pair of roller skates since i was 9.
If I'm really lucky I will have them in time for the Sunday skate session.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Last night at the rink I was so happy gliding on my very first new skates since I was 7 years old- it makes me feel connected once again to a happy aspect of my childhood.
Forty-five years ago, me and my best friend would skate the sidewalks in Greenwich Village- skate everywhere on my all-metal teeth-rattling "Superskates", pigtails flying back, skate in Washington Square Park, round and round the fountain where Bob Dylan and Joan Baez were all sitting and playing guitars and being beatniks....we were 7 years old and we laughed at them and all their beatniks poet friends who obviously didn't really know how to have fun....how would we know they would one day be famous?
Roller skating brings back that time to me and give me back that sense of spiritual freedom. Riding my bike does the same thing- except that I was slightly older (12) when we moved to a rural place and I got a bicycle. But same feeling- getting away from the depressing home scene and just being FREE on wheels with the wind and sun on my face, nobody to answer to, no place I had to be, all burdens lifted for the moment.... just free. Those magic feelings from childhood...it is a great gift that I can actually recapture the essence of them and feel that happy innocent freedom in my heart again.
That's what my new skates mean to me.

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