Inline Skates
a.k.a. HOW THE F**K DO YOU STOP IN THESE THINGS???
It's official. I thought goalie skates were the ultimate reminder of how easy it is to skate in regular hockey skates, but I was wrong. Inline skates are.
The feel of them is actually really similar to goalie skates in that they're VERY heavy and don't have any rocker to them to make you more mobile. The difference is that in goalie skates, if you're out of control, you just glide into the boards and stop yourself. And your worst obstacle is another person or the nets. In inlines, any stopping must come from yourself because there are no boards and your worst obstacle is 2000 lbs. of moving steel that can crush you like a bug.
I just did a .75 mile loop of the streets around my house and since it's Sunday morning, I think I saw one car (nowhere near me) the whole time. There were more people out walking than driving, so that was a relief. I wore my bike helmet but no other protective gear. That won't happen again. I almost bit it several times and I need to learn to stop, which is invariably going to require some risk-taking and falling.
Anyway, it was scary but could be a lot of fun once I build up some skill and confidence. But I sure do miss the reliable flatness and coolness of the ice. :)
My team is playing hockey tonight but it's not a league game that I've already paid for (gotta pay extra), and my wrists are starting to feel better, so I don't want to bang them up again. Just enjoying a relaxing weekend without stressing myself out about hockey.
BTW, if you didn't see this week's Ace of Cakes where the Stanley Cup visits the bakery and they make a huge Stanley Cup cake, it's worth hunting down on the Food Network. I was kinda choking back tears when they presented the cake. It was pretty amazing.
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6 comments:
Inline skates terrify me. I definitely have run into a few parked cars before.
That cake was amazing.
I LOVE to skate, no matter the form. Burns and I have that in common that we don't seem to feel that stopping is important. (He lets his two sled dogs pull him while he's on inline skates...)
I'd just go ahead and call 911 before I put my skates on if I planned to let my 100 lb dog pull me on my skates. It is utterly inevitable that I'd end up with broken bones and/or dead from that experiment.
It sounds like a fun idea, but I don't know if I'd let SLED dogs do the pulling.
Alright... try this...
Which ever foot you consider your "strong foot," much like being left handed or right handed, everyone has a stronger leg and foot as well.
Which ever one is your strong leg and foot, drag that foot to slow down and stop. Just drag the wheels sideways along the ground.
It works, trust me. I've been using inlines since they came out. Original pair literally had bolts as the axles. Plain old, hardware store, find them everywhere bolts.
Drag your foot. If all else fails, tuck and roll. :-)
As for the padding, once you get it down, the padding just makes you feel silly.
Good luck.
You know, Buddha, I'd actually read that stopping technique and they kind of poopooed it because it wears the wheels down, but if you say that's the way to go, then that's the way I'm going. I did just this morning order a set of cheap pads, just to get me over the hump, but I can see where after a while, you'd be okay with ditching them. I've got a while before I get to that point.
It was almost as bad as my first ever ice skate, which was terrifying. Especially when i got to my first intersection and stuck my foot out in front of me to slow myself, like I do on the ice, and nearly went ass over tea kettle.
Bolts! Wow. Those skates must have weighed 10 lbs each. :)
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