About ten days ago the folks at inline skating asked whether I wanted to race at a meet on February 11th. They thought I could probably race on quads. "Sure!" I thought to myself. "Sounds like fun!" Prior to derby I have only ever played racing sports and I kind of miss it. It was then discovered that I could not skate in this meet on quads. The speed skaters gave me a microsecond to feel disappointed about that before offering to find me some inline skates I could borrow. Why not?
I spent the intervening ten days imagining what it would be like to skate on inlines. In my head they would feel like butter and I would immediately be zooming around on those giant wheels they have, passing my derby friends and keeping up with the pace line for once. Of course, that vision has absolutely no correlation to the events that actually occurred this evening.
Good inline skates are partially molded from carbon fiber to fit the foot of the person buying them. If you're borrowing good inline skates, you're basically borrowing another persons' foot. If you had told me six weeks ago that I would find skates less comfortable than breaking in my Riedell 595s I would have laughed you off the floor. It's possible. Fortunately, my feet fell asleep almost immediately which left me with only the <ahem> small issues of having to relearn what it feels like to use the edges of my wheels and where my balance ought to be. I lasted an hour before switching them out with my quads.
I was feeling a little frustrated until Amber (the instigator of the entire scenario and owner of the skates) told me not to be, and that most people last about 10 minutes during their first time on inlines. She also mentioned it would be easier if I would suck it up and go faster. Trusting my weight and simply doing a skill at a faster speed is my nemesis on skates. I know it works for all kinds of skills, not just this one and that it would help me not have to work as hard. Still, fear looms large in my mind. I might fall! Maybe next time I'll fall on purpose and get it over with. 11 days until the meet. Woot!
As I was leaving Amber helpfully mentioned that she would bring an inline skin suit the next time for me to borrow. I think they're required for racing.
Oh fuck no...
<originally posted on 1.31.12>
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