I got myself a pair of rollerblades last month as an experimental way
to enjoy being outside more. I also got a longboard. Turns out, I
love the rollerblades, and I kind of only sort of love the longboard.
My mom tells me I had skates as a kid, but I don't really remember
them. So as far as I'm concerned, this is the first pair of skates
I've ever really owned.
I got a full set of protective gear: knees, elbows, wrists. And I
already had a helmet from riding my bike.
One neat thing about the person I am now, is that I don't really care
what other people think about me. I can imagine a younger version of
myself not wanting to wear all this protective gear out in public
because I was afraid of not seeming "cool" or something.
So, as with most things, there is a ton of content on youtube about
how to rollerblade. I watched a bunch of videos about how to go
forward and how to fall and how to stop. My first couple outtings
were really all about just those things. I figured out falling really
quickly. Took me 2 or 3 trips to really get a push-and-glide. And I'm
still working on my stops. I can T-Stop pretty okay now, but not
great.
I can really whip around the park now. It feels great. And it's good
exercise. Gets the heart rate up and gets a sweat on, which is great.
I need some of that now that I can't really run anymore now that it
always hurts my shin and ankle.
I can roll off curbs pretty comfortably. Can do some turns. Started
working on my crossovers this week. They still kind of scare me and
trip me up, but I can do the basic move if I concentrate on it, so
I'm trying to slip it into my regular without thinking of it too much
so it gets more natural.
I want to get better at crossovers because they're kind of fun and
they also build speed, and I like going fast.
The next thing I want to try to do that I'm still kind of scared of
and also don't understand at all is skating backwards.
I like my rollerblades! I'd go out every day if I could. But I can't
always. And it's winter of course, so sometimes it's snowy or icy.
But I go out 2 - 3 times a week so far for 1.5 - 2 hours.
It has also allowed me to listen to more audiobooks while I'm out, so
that's cool. I've finished two audiobooks so far already this year
and have started a third.
== Rollerblades II ==
So yesterday I skated about 45 minutes. Cut it short then because I
started to get a blister on my foot. Came home and noticed a lot of
wear on the inside of my wheels, mostly on my right foot, because
that's the foot I brake with the most.
The wear suprised me. I don't know how long wheels are supposed to
last, but i've only been skating for a couple weeks. Are you supposed
to replace them every 2 months?
Asked rollerblade discord how often you're supposed to rotate your
wheels, and they said, Whenever it looks like they need it. So,
Achievement Unlocked! I did my first bit of skate maintenance and
rotated my wheels using the 1-3 2-4, worn side out technique
suggested by a ddg search.
Took them out for a spin today. It felt weird at first because the
outside edges were now so worn that if I rolled onto an outside edge
it felt like I was going to roll all the way over, so I concentrated
on staying on the center and on the inside edge, and it felt fine for
the most part as long as I was careful about that.
Turned on Map My Fitness which I had downloaded the night before
because I wanted to see some stats. I skated 8.8 miles in an hour,
which is a 7:44 pace. So there's that.
Discovered that I'm no longer afraid of rolling off that one curb, so
I did that a couple times. Sort of did a crossover once but not
really, but did think about doing it a lot, which I guess is the
first step to actually doing it. Working on push and glide, and
skating on one foot, and generally gaining some speed.
Good sesh! Kind of agitated my blister a little bit again. I had put
on running socks under my wool socks, and took breaks to make sure my
skates were tight. That helped. Might need to take a few days off
though.
Oh, and when I finished, my wheels had worn down enough so that they
had evened out and even worn a little bit on the inside in some
places! They're going to wear all the way down in no time! I think I
need to be careful to push less with my toes and more with the middle
of my foot.
