Keep on Rollin’
When I was a little girl, I used to spend every Saturday morning at the local roller rink. With my purple fuzzy pom poms and neon blue wheels, I thought I was the epitome of cool, whizzing around and around and around to the likes of Queen and Blondie. But over time, I outgrew my skates, the rink closed down and roller skating ceased to be a part of my weekly schedule.
Fast forward many, many years to this summer, when I was looking for a fun, inexpensive activity to pick up, preferably one that didn’t require a steep learning curve or team sports (I’m not much of a ‘joiner’). I found my ancient, beloved roller skates in my basement and while they obviously didn’t fit, I found a great online site that sold wicked cool modern versions. I debated between inline and quad skates, but finally settled on the old-fashioned kind. I’m not one of those people who can effortlessly switch between roller blading and ice-skating; I figured quad skates would give me more balance.
So, I bought a pair, laced them up and figured I was good to go, which I was, for about 5 seconds … until I lost my balance, fell spectacularly and spent the next 10 minutes picking gravel out of my bloodied knees (and cleaning my dirty wheels). Apparently, roller skating is not like riding a bike — you do forget over time, and I found myself searching for a crash course (so to speak) in the mechanics of how to skate. Once I regained my balance, my next dilemma was figuring out how to break in my new skates and, soon after, how to deal with blisters (note to self: buy some Moleskine!).
I also decided to move my training inside after a few more cuts and scrapes, but soon realised skating on carpeted surfaces was virtually impossible. Luckily, there’s a roller rink not too far from where I live, and my skates were suitable for both indoor and outdoor use — I didn’t even have to change the ball-bearings. Now I’m good to go, and even have my old Queen and Blondie tracks queued up on my iPod to skate along to. Next up: skating backwards!
Do you roller skate? Roller blade? Ice skate? Which do you prefer, and why?
Fionna
Thank God! I started roller skating when I was 13, loved it, and was so sorry when it “went out of style”. Add to that starting high school, an increase in my studies and the usual part time jobs, well, time just wasn’t there. Then when I realised I had kept my old white skates with the blue wheels, my old desire to skate came back, but unfortunately, roller blading was in and I, in my twenties, didn’t want to be the “odd one out”. So I tabled that thought. Those skates keep returning to my mind. When I saw this topic, I almost cheered out loud! I hope I’m old enough now to not care what others think, lace up my skates and get moving! I miss it so much! I do prefer roller skates to roller blades simply because my sense of balance is better with four wheels per foot. Besides, I’m not putting out the bucks for new ones until I’m certain this “fad” is going to be around for awhile.
You know, Roller Derby is back in full gear! I’m part of the Pile O’ Bones Derby Club (Regina), and it is the greatest thing ever! The game is still the same, but the rules are a little different. I, myself, prefer roller skates over blades, although I do them both. The sense of balance is a lot better on skates than on blades. But yeah, if chicks are interested, they should definitely check and see if there’s a derby league near them!
I recently got back into roller skating myself and I love it!! I miss the old days and this is a way to take me back to those days where you can just escape for a couple of hours. Not to mention that it is really good exercise! I am looking forward to going back again!