Rollerskatedreams Reporting!

Hey skaters!  I am returning from the dead with a brand new post, how bout that hmmmm??? Yeah I could give you a bunch of excuses but how about no.  How are you doing skaters?  Been getting your roll on?

As the new year approaches, what I would love SOOO much is to buy some new skates.  Man my poor old skates.  Remember when I bought them, 40 posts ago or something in 2010?  I remember the first time I wore them at the rink, I thought these are too heavy for my legs.  Haha memories!  I have such a love for these skates but if you recall, they had a hard life before they got to me.  They lounged in some closet in the midwest for years and years before finding their way to sunny California.  Not to beat a dead horse but these are my Snyders I am talking about.

So once I got the hang of tearing up the wood in these babies, I set about damaging them as is my way.  No not really but yes really.  I am so bad about skate maintenace (new years resolution list forming).  I tend to put them in my trunk and take them out again when I hit the next session.  BAD BAD SKATER.  After the first six months, I took them to the cobbler and he's like WHOA.  What was happening is that my boots are so old, the leather was separating from the ankle up.  The leather was just super old and giving out.  So at that time I paid to have leather sown over the cracks/separations.  I always lift my skates from the plates now, never the boots.  I even bought some leather conditioner but you know I never use that stuff.  Ugh my poor babies. 

Now my tongues never had any sheepskin or other protector on them, so that is where my next problem comes in.  From tying my skates, I got all these really deep, hard grooves in my tongues.  Over the course of a night, the shoelace would begin to make contact with my skin leaving some lovely welts on the front of my ankles.  Not that I would take them in, that would be way too proactive.  No I cut up some of my knee high socks and fold them a few times over the problem area at my ankle.  Problem solved!!

I really do need to get some new skates bcause one of these days these babies will just give out on me.  My buddy has a shoe stretcher and he has stretched my boots for me a couple times. He says "do you have a sentimental attachment to these boots?  If not, buy new boots".  No it ain't sentimental, it's pure laziness!

I will put that on the list - buy new skates.  It takes so long to break skates in, it's quite terrifying to think of going that far back to basics.  I have seen some drop dead gorgeous skates in the Riedell catalog, and they come with a pretty little price tag too - ouch!!!

I will do a better job of updating in 2013.  Just know that I am skating, that I adore skating, that hasn't changed. Computer access, that's something that can change.  Remember friends:  Don't hate, skate!

Skate or Die

Good morning skate family! I am writing today in very high spirits, I have been having lots of wonderful skating adventures and having the best time.

Skating on Tuesday was so fantastic.  Although I have only been wearing my Douglass Snyder skates for three weeks, I feel like I have already acclimated to wearing them.  My skates were still hurting me, so one of my friends suggested that I cut up some make up sponges and put them on my toes.  Wow, worked like a charm!  Tuesday was my first time not having pain with my skates, and it was so awesome.  I was skating fast, I was doing my roller dancing, and just basically feeling like a million bucks in my bad ass skates.

Last weekend I skated up at Moonlight Rollerway in Glendale, CA.  What a funny and interesting rink.  Very small with a super low ceiling, probably about the same size as Skate World.   The rink is maintained in a 1950's style (including no locks on the bathroom doors) so that movies can be filmed there.  It was a family night, but these kids behaved so differently from the kids in San Diego. Skating was extremely uniform, certainly no texting while skating (so rampant here).  There was a sign at the entrance that said "no fast or reckless skating", and this rule is clearly followed.  I'm not used to skating so slow; I never got a warning but I definitely got some stern looks.  But it was so easy to backwards skate amongst those kids because they didn't dart around at all.  There was a bucket in the middle of the floor with cones around it from a leak in the ceiling. It was pretty funny, every  now and then the DJ would come on the mic and say "avoid the bucket".

So Moonlight was okay but I didn't think it was all that like people have said.  To be fair, Audlt Night would probably be way better.  The following day was supposed to be the Race on the Base but it got rained out, it was pretty crappy.  The rain was very intense.  To make up for it, I located an afternoon session at another rink so the trip wouldn't be wasted.

Went to the Fountain Valley Skating Center on Saturday for their afternoon session 11:00-1:30.  This rink is HUGE compared to Skate World, and I just loved it.  The lovely wood floor is unfortunately painted over, but I loved it just the same.  It's so nice to skate on such a big floor and be able to really practice some steps before you get to the turn.  This rink appeared to have fairly strict rules as well; I went in the middle to practice my crazy legs and was immediately told that skating in the center is not allowed.  There were three little kids having lessons so my skating there would "interfere" with the lessons.  Whatever.  Skating was fun, the music was top 40 but definitely more upbeat, so I can work with that.  When I saw the lessons had ended, I made a plea to the DJ to allow me to skate in the center, and she begrudgingly said yes hahaha.  I quite enjoyed ths rink and would love to hit it up for Adult Night, but it's on Thursday and neither of these rinks hold a candle to Skate Depot in Cerritos. 

I'm so excited to turn the corner with my Snyder skates.  I had four different people pay me compliments on Tuesday night, and I really feel it is because of the skates.  Even though they are so heavy, I have adapted to them quickly and what can I say, I'm just in love.

Skate It Out

Hey there, skating last night at Adult Night was the bomb!  I had such a fun time.  Do you remember my cool Douglass Snyder skates I bought off eBay so long ago?  See blog post here.  Wow, can't believe I bought those skates almost a year ago now!  Those skates gave me so much trouble.  The worst thing about wearing them is how slow they make me skate.

BUT!  I decided to give them another go last night.  I've been hearing a lot about how special they are and how well I will be able to skate once I get used to them and break them in.  I laced them up last night.  Gosh, how different they feel on my feet.  My usual Chicago skates have wheels that are significantly softer, making it easier for me to grip the floor.  These wheels are so hard!  When I go into a turn, I can just feel them wanting to slide and it's pretty darn scary.  The skates are also so heavy, probably about 3-4 lbs. each.  It's a lot of weight to pick up compared to my light weight Chicago skates.

The best thing about wearing the skates is that after an hour or so, I did feel pretty good on them.  I was able to keep up around the floor frontward rexing, and do my dance skating as well.  But after two hours, I had some pretty awful pain in my right foot.  Feels like I need to stretch my skates again.  I think the most important thing that came out of the whole experience is that I feel good wearing these skates.  I really feel confident that in time, I will be able to master them.

Skate Depot in Cerritos tomorrow.  YES!  I just can't wait.  I'm not going to wear the Snyder's though.  I've got to be able to hold my own with the good skaters up there.  I can skate so much faster with my Chicago's.  Hopefully by summer I can wear the Snyder's in Cerritos.  Just have to wait and see.

Raining today in San Diego and rain predicted for all the rest of the week.  Boo!  I really want to skate at the beach this weekend but I guess it is winter, after all.

Free as a Bird

Hey I finally got my "new old" skates repaired. Remember many months ago when I bought my bad ass skates on ebay? I had tried to wear them and it turned out that a tear in the tongue was what was torturing my feet. I had to take them to a particular repair shop as there aren't many that work on roller skates. It took me forever to get out there and drop them off, but they repaired the tongue quickly and cheaply. Last night was my first time wearing them at the rink in months.

I was excited because I knew I would have three months more skating experience from when I had worn them last. As you know, I have been skating much faster in recent weeks, but that is on my old skates. These skates have really heavy plates on them and super hard wheels, making them very slick on the wood. So I laced up and was pleased to see that the skates felt great on my feet. Of course there was a learning curve but overall, the skates felt fantastic. So smooth!

I tried to pick up my pace a bit closer to what I have been accustomed to. Whoops, not too good at braking in these skates! Have to practice that. My level of control is greatly reduced but I will get it back with time. I had some major close calls coming around the corners because I can't slow down the way I'm used to. One of the areas I felt strongest was when I was backwards skating. Just felt much more confident with the new skates. But don't feel bad about my old Chicago's, they will still get their roll on at the weekend as my outdoor skates.

In other news, I skated in the Pacific Beachfest last weekend. What a blast! I had a fantastic time. The floor on the stage was really nice for skating, and they let us skate around for a few minutes to get a feel before we began. Honestly, walking up the rickety steps to the stage was the scariest part. It was awesome to look out and see the crowd gathered to watch us. Once the music started, I just got into the zone and had a blast. Looking out and seeing my little boy in the audience was a great feeling. He was proud of his mommy. I didn't fall although I did have a bit of a close call in the middle of the Fly. Still though, didn't fall!

Roll With It

Hello Skating World! I know I have been out of touch and you all are suffering. I can tell from all the emails you guys have been sending me, begging me for an update. The world needs to know what I am up to! I understand and I am here to calm you with my tales of roller wonder.

I have been skating up a storm, like usual. I was at the beach last weekend, which was a lot of fun. I took my son so that was challenging. He is asking for some skates, it's too cute. Skates for tiny toddler feet are super expensive, so we'll stick with the plastic for now. I did a lot of practicing on the continuation and the duck walk. Ugh so hard but I am very slowly improving. Need to practice, practice, practice.

Adult Night on Tuesday was super fun. The whole Skate This group was there and I wore my new Skate This shirt. The group lined up to do downtown and I was actually able to keep up for a few minutes! It is a real rush to do downtown with a big group like that, there must have been 10 people. It was very cool. Paul really wants me to get up to speed on it before the heart of the summer gets here, and his help is so invaluable. He will call out the steps right before they come up if I don't know them so I can try to stay on the beat, it's really helpful.

In other news, I got some new skates, new to me, some old vintage skates that were recommended to me. They are very cool and I have been informed they are quite professional. People in the know sure give my skates tons of attention! The thing about my skates is they have these Douglass Snyder plates that are apparently quite special. Above is a picture of my skates, and here's a shot of my fancy plates:

I'll be skating at the beach on Saturday. I've never done the Mission Beach thing before, I've been going to Mission Bay, so it should be interesting. I will just do my thing and not worry about the tourists watching me, and hopefully I will have some opportunities to learn some new things. If I'm not too tired, I'll be skating at the rink that night. Viva la Skating!