RollerSkating/RollerBlading

[Miranda]

Hey Miranda,
(you know, Miranda is my middle name!)

Thanks for sharing that post. Sounds like you and your GF know how to have fun.

I have not been skating for a few weeks since they closed the sunday hours at the rink for the summer- I loved going on sundays. Gotta get back into it- been enjoying my new bike too much lately.

Here is one of my favorite clips- Gene Kelly dancing on roller skates- watch the whole thing as he gets fancier as it progresses. What an amazing man!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aus1PA5-SyI


I have two identical pairs of Riedell Carrera skates. Carreras are sort of mid-range skates. I keep one set for indoor and the other pair set up for outdoor skating on rougher pavement. The outdoor setup has very wide axles and large rollerblade wheels. They cruise over pebbles and sticks really well. But still I am better skating in the rink. I am not a great skater, but I have fun.
Here are my indoor and outdoor setups:

BSG... Thx for posting the pic of your dual set up! I would have never thought of putting roller blade wheels on a traditional skate axel. I think DD would like to skate outside more, but I told her I don't think mom can handle those skinny wheel track skates. Now I may have an alternative. I think my GF just skates in her indoor ones. I can't see that though. Seems like it would ruin the wheels nice smoothness.. I love your safety gear too, btw. I broke a few bones as a kid and my right wrist was one of them... from rink skating. So many little bones in there, it never healed totally the same. I'm right handed too. As an adult it bothers me on and off for certain things. I looked at some simple wrist protectors for DD just at a charity resale store, but think I'd better get myself some. It's sorta like riding my bike. It's not my own riding abilities that I worry about causing a crash... it that of others around me. Those fearless little kids that dart all over are a major crash hazard (my own kids included).

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I would have never thought of putting roller blade wheels on a traditional skate axel. I think DD would like to skate outside more, but I told her I don't think mom can handle those skinny wheel track skates. Now I may have an alternative. I think my GF just skates in her indoor ones. I can't see that though. Seems like it would ruin the wheels nice smoothness..

Actually, you can't just slap tall roller blade wheels on regular quad axles- they will rub the boot sole. You'd have to buy this 'conversion kit' like I got:
http://www.skates.com/QuadLine-8482-...-p/qdl-100.htm
they comes with special WIDE axles that place the tall blade wheels outside the width of the boot instead of under it like most quads. It is wide and takes some getting used to to skate on. But the end result is that you can glide over just about any rough pavement and stray cracks and pebbles won't stop you in your tracks.
If you skate over rough surface in normal (harder) indoor quad wheels, it's not so much that your wheels will get chipped and ruined (which they will after a while) but more that any little pebble or twig or crack will bring your skate to a dead stop and you go flying forward on your face.
Roller blades go right over that rough stuff. Outdoor wheels really need to be bigger and softer than indoor wheels.
If you have some extra quad skates already and want to use them as outdoor skates, it's best to either buy big fat softer quad wheels like this (which will fit with your current standard axles:
http://www.skates.com/Kryptonics-70m...ls-p/krw70.htm
OR, get the conversion kit above with the super wide axles and use them with roller blade wheels.

Those little kamikaze kids- yes I know them well- they are the biggest hazard but I am learning to anticipate their suicide moves and swerve around them.

[Miranda]

Thx BSG ...this has turned out to be a very educational thread for me, besides just the memory lane fun factor!

I don't own my own skates yet again (after mother dissed my groovy pair, boo hoo). But that gives me some ideas of how to set things up.

I do know what you mean about tripping on stray things. Boy, someone losing their pocket change on the rink floor is a mess. I can totally see the need for the wheel design now for outside.

Btw... the vid of Gene tap dancing in his skates was great. I used to be able to do the backwards criss cross, but well... that's a bit rusty now. His spiffiness reminds me of the last roller blader I saw...

It was at one of our camping parks and he had the biggest pair of monster quads I have ever seen for one thing... BUT, my gosh, his shorts were black skin tight latex/pvc/leather something or another. I kinda wanted to pull over and ask him if it was for bum protection, or merely a style preference. Maybe both?

EDIT: I have no idea how I scrolled past the pic of the dolls getting a fast skate stair ride... wheeeew, chalk that up to yet another incident of me lol at the pc like a hyena... DD says, well mom, it looks like that one made it, Ruby I assume... sometimes it's a good thing to be the one doing all the work.

[Jolt]

I went rollerblading today with a friend and skated for about 2 1/2 hours! The rink wasn't too crowded and I managed not to wipe out once (unlike ice skating). I think I might have a sore rear end tomorrow...