queerdeerskates
Queer Deer Skates
A journal chronicling my roller skating journey!
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Skating journal 3/4/23
Okay so clearly the daily journal thing is not gonna happen, but I do want to keep using this blog more, so I'm gonna try and just sort of post updates whenever.
I've been skating mostly at the park recently! I got some new stuff in, including 99a Park Flow wheels and some super cute mini Heartstopper toe stops from Grindstone <3
They're adorable and they match my skates sooooooooo well. Shoutouts to my sibling for pickingg the color. I haven't actually gotten to skate on 'em yet (they just arrived today!) but I'm really looking forward to it :)
I've been improving my park skills a lot lately! I'm becoming more confident in my plate stalls (from flat ground). I can also 180 off a block, and even 180 from a toe-stop stall on the transition. I was feeling a little wobbly a couple sessions ago, so I tightened my trucks a quarter-turn. I'm feeling much more stable now, but it's a very noticeable difference when I'm trying to build momentum. I might fiddle with them a bit more to try and find a middle ground, but I think mostly I'll benefit from just building leg strength. One thing I will say is that this setup isn't ideal for dancing. The way I have everything set up, my boots are pretty close to the ground, so toe work is pretty tough. I was hoping the mini stoppers would be an improvement there, but they're actually the same depth as regular stops, just a smaller circumference. I'm TRYING to save money and not buy a dedicated dance setup... but it's sooo tempting, especially knowing that a bunch of skates are on sale right now.
But I've saved the most exciting news for last! I've been really struggling with inclines basically since I started park skating, and I haven't had much opportunity to improve at them because of the way my usual park is set up. Last Thursday I trekked out to a slightly further away park where the equipment wasn't sandwiched between big drop-ins. I'd only been there once before and it was crowded then, plus I was new to skateparks, so I hadn't gotten to do much. When I went on Thursday it was much emptier. There were a good number of banks, and I was able to go down some of them! It was very scary, but facing my fears is part of why I want to skate. I managed to stay upright and everything! I wasn't brave enough to try the higher or steeper banks, or any transition ramps, but I'm proud of myself for the progress I did make. I'm going to try and go there more often, hopefully at times when it's not too crowded. I'm pretty happy with how I've been progressing lately - I'm trying to keep my expectations relatively low, so I don't get discouraged when I hit the next plateau, but I'm really enjoying the progress I'm seeing now.
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Roller Skate Parts in Detail
As a companion to my “buyers guide” parts explanation, this post explains more specific components of those parts & what they do.
Kingpins
Kingpins are where the trucks attach to the plate. Trucks are where your wheels are attached, so the angle of the kingpin will affect how “high” or “low” your wheels sit compared to your skate & the ground.
Low degree kingpins, like 10°-20°, make the wheels sit directly underneath you. They have more stability at higher speeds, but aren’t as good at tight/quick turns/moves. Low degree kingpins are the most common type in general as the stability is helpful for newer skaters.
High degree kingpins, like 33°-45°, have the wheels sitting the furthest away from each other. They give quick response to your movements & allow for sharp turns. High degree kingpins are seen most often on skates designed for roller derby, but they’d be useful for anyone who wants more control while skating.
Cushion/Bushing
Cushions (also known as bushing) go onto the kingpin between the trucks to keep them in place & act as suspension for the skates. Plates are either “single action” or “double action” which relates to the cushions.
Single action plates only have 1 cushion on each kingpin, above the truck & closest to the plate. They provide less resistance which allows for more responsiveness when doing quick moves. Single action used to be more common in the 70s, but are seen much less often now unless you’re specifically looking for them. They’d benefit speed skaters the most, as other skating styles usually do better with double action.
Double action plates have 2 cushions on each kingpin, one above & one below the truck. They’re more maneuverable & flexible, which benefits pretty much all skating styles unless you personally prefer your skates to stay stiff for the sake of quick moves. Because of this, double action is the most common type of plate.
Cushions come in different hardness the same way as wheels. Softer cushions (78A-83A) allow for agility & quick movements/turns. Harder cushions (88A-93A) are more stable especially at higher speeds, and therefore are the most common type seen on skates.
Cone vs. Barrel Cushion
Cushions for roller skates come in 2 types, cone & barrel. Cone cushions allow for more agility as they move/flex more. Barrel cushions are more stable, and as result are the most common type of cushions.
The plate will be designed to hold a certain type, so you’d have to check your specific skates to see what kind of cushions it has.
Some skates have both cone & barrel cushions, with the barrel being above the truck closest to the plate & the cone being below the truck. Other than that, skates will usually come with only barrel cushions.
Axle
Axles are the part of the truck that wheels & bearings go onto. Most axles are a standard width of 8mm (also the standard for most skateboard axles) but skates in the 70s used to more commonly have trucks with 7mm axles. Some speed skaters also use 7mm axles as it makes their skates more lightweight and gives bearings less room to wiggle around.
The axle width will determine what size bearings will fit onto the trucks. Again it’s mostly standardized with different sizes being uncommon, but 8mm axles will fit 8mm bearings (also called 608).
One aspect that can differ more often is the LENGTH of the axle. This doesn’t impact what size bearings will fit, but it will impact whether certain wheels will fit on your truck because if the wheel is really wide and your axle isn’t very long then you’ll run out of room to actually screw/secure the wheels on properly.
Bearings
Each wheel has 2 bearings, so a pair of roller skates has 16 bearings total. Most commonly, roller skates will come with ABEC-5 608 (8mm) bearings, but there are a few differences they can have.
Bearings are often listed with an ABEC rating, but the ABEC (Annular Bearing Engineering Council) is for measuring tolerance in high-powered machines so the speeds reached on roller skates will never really make that rating an accurate factor for how well they work.
As long as they can spin freely and aren’t covered in dirt/grime, then any ABEC-5 608 bearing will work pretty much exactly the same on roller skates.
Some 608 bearings will have a letter/letters after it like S, Z, ZZ, or SS. All these letter(s) mean the same thing, which is that the bearing is sealed.
Sealed bearings don’t have a removable seal/shield, so doing any cleaning to them can only affect the outside parts. If they accumulate too much dirt/grime inside and stop spinning very well, unfortunately the only option at that point would be to buy replacement bearings because again there isn’t a way to take off the shield to clean inside (without breaking it). Though because it is sealed, there’s less chances for dirt/grime to get inside in the first place, so overall cleaning/replacement shouldn’t have to happen that often (depending on how much debris you usually skate on or how regularly you skate).
Other bearings, usually higher cost ones, will have the letters RS (removable shield). These allow you to take off the seal/shield to clean the inside parts, which helps ensure the bearings you spent a bunch of money on will last as long as possible at their best performance. Lower cost bearings don’t really need this option as cleaning the outsides is usually enough, and even if you had to replace those it wouldn’t cost as much.
Aside from the most common & typical bearings, there are 2 higher cost types that (most of the time) will provide better performance: Swiss & ceramic.
Swiss bearings are any type of bearing that was made with a certain set of attributes related to bearing casing, inside race & outside shields. These attributes usually indicate higher quality, but the term “Swiss” is often given to bearings without proof of the quality that should match that. Even if the bearings are from somewhere trustworthy, the difference in performance they provide may not impact your personal skating noticeably enough to justify the price unless you frequently skate at high speeds.
Ceramic bearings include balls made of silicon nitride (also known as ceramic), which is more lightweight but also more durable than standard steel. They don’t require oil/lubrication like regular bearings, have less friction, and can withstand a lot of wear & tear while staying at top performance. If you’re looking for high performing bearings & are willing to pay a higher cost, then this is the type of bearing to look for. Some ceramic bearings are labeled ABEC-9, the highest ABEC rating, but the reason for that is the ceramic/silicon nitride material so the rating itself isn’t really the important part.
Wheelbase
Wheelbase is the distance between the center of both truck axles. Longer wheelbases provide more stability, and shorter wheelbases provide more agility. As there’s so many other more easily adjustable parts that can improve agility (including your own skills), it’s better to err on the side of stability in terms of wheelbase by sticking with a longer one.
You can switch the plates your skates come with, but because the boots have screw placements in specific spots you have to measure to make sure the new plate will fit. Usually the measurement is based on wheelbase, but since each manufacturer has their own process it’s not guaranteed all plates will fit even if the wheelbases match.
Toe Stops
Pretty much the only way to get customizable toe stops is if you get adjustable ones (not fixed/bolt-on).
Adjustable toe stops come in many different shapes, the main types being rounded or flat. They also come in different sizes (big or small), and additionally each one has a different stem length (the part that screws into the skate), either long or short.
Rounded toe stops have a smaller contact area, which makes them more agile and can be used to quickly change directions. Flat toe stops are more stable with a larger contact area, which allows for aggressive stops.
Bigger toe stops are easier to make contact with & have a solid platform. Smaller toe stops are agile & don’t get in your way.
Long vs. short stem depends on your personal preference & skating style. If you want quick/easy access to your toe stops by keeping them close to the ground get a long stem. If you want to do maneuvers on your toes at higher angles without toe stops getting in the way then get a short stem.
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Skating journal: Days 55-???
WOW, it's been a long time since I've posted here. A lot has happened!
I've done wayyyy too much skating to detail everything here (though I do want to get back in the habit of writing up my individual sessions), so I'll give some broad strokes. I've been working on...
Park skating. I go to the skatepark a lot more often now! I try to go to adult night once a week, but the weather isn't always cooperative (and sometimes I'm just tired, lol). I've been improving at a lot of park skills: getting comfortable on transitions, improving my fakie stance, toe-stop stalls on transition, plate stalls on flat ground, and 180 jumps. I haven't gotten up the courage to drop in or even roll in yet, but I'm getting there!
Manuals. I can do heel-toe manuals pretty consistently, though it's harder with my left foot in front than with my right foot in front. I want to improve my weaker side because I think it will help with some of the things I want to start working on!
Downtowns. I'm still not great at them - I don't practice them very often - but I'm improving.
Backwards skating. I've actually made a lot of progress on this recently! I'll get into why in a moment.
Transitions. I FINALLY am getting the hang of them - they're much smoother now, and I can even do them with a little bit of speed. I've been watching Shorty's Skate Series on Youtube and some of her tips about stance have helped a lot. In particular keeping my knees bent all the way through and keeping my core engaged have been a huge help. I've also been working on getting comfortable in sidesurf position - I can't hold that stance for any length of time, but treating it as part of the transition makes the whole thing easier to pull off. I've also had an easier time looking backwards before the transition - which does make it much easier - because of the practice I've been getting with fakie skating at the park.
Now for the biggest and most exciting news...
NEW SKATES!!
These absolute beauties are my brand new Bont Parkstars, and I'm IN LOVE WITH THEM. As usual, I did a little bit of DIY on them - the stripes on the sides were gray, but I dyed them my signature colors of green/purple and blue/pink (though the pink came out more purple-ish...) I can't overstate how much I adore these skates.
I knew when I bought my Zones that they were a size too big, but decided to prioritize width over length. They worked just fine for the level I was at when I got them, but I've improved since then to the point that they were starting to hold me back. I didn't realize just how much until I put on my Parkstars, and everything got so much easier. In particular, being on skates that were too big meant that I didn't have good control over my edges, which made me feel slippy and clumsy when I was trying to turn, and made it almost impossible to skate backwards. With these skates, I can turn on a dime and backwards skating is downright easy. I mean, I went from barely being able to do backwards bubbles to managing baby crosspulls. It's been such a gratifying and joyful experience. Today I tried out a new lacing pattern on my Parkstars and it really locked my feet in place, and suddenly everything clicked. I've always wanted to be able to skate backwards because I imagined the tactile feeling of it would be really lovely, and now that I'm on skates that allow it, it's every bit as wonderful as I imagined. today I tried out a new lacing pattern on my parkstars and everything really clicked into place. Between this and my transitions becoming more natural, I'm feeling so much joy in my flow.
I bought the stock Parkstar package, which includes the boot mounted on the Bont Tracer plate. I got it with 78a Glide wheels, but I do want to buy some 99a Park Flow wheels soon. That said, after skating on borrowed 93a wheels meant for indoor skating... The Glides feel like butter. I don't regret getting them even if I do need to get another set for park skating. The Tracer plate feels dreamy compared to the Powerdyne Thrust on my Zones. And of course, the boot is massively comfortable, holding my foot in place without squeezing my toe box. I haven't heat-moulded them yet (I'm a little scared to), but I'll write up the process if I do! I also ordered Bont slide blocks at the same time, which have allowed me to work on plate stalls.
I ordered these from Department of Skate, which I highly recommend. The store owner is very knowledgeable and kind. She helped me make sure I was measuring my feet correctly and getting skates that would fit well.
Ever since the Parkstars arrived, I've been in an absolute honeymoon period with skating. I don't like to buy my way out of problems, but skating is a sport where equipment matters, and I had reached a point with my Zones where my skills had outpaced what I could do on them. Subsequently I've seen extremely rapid improvement now that I'm wearing skates that are appropriate for my level. I don't expect things will continue to improve quite this quickly, but it's been a wonderful experience and completely re-energized my love of skating.
I went skating three times this week, which is a lot more than I've been doing. Today I skated at the outdoor rink and met a group of mostly newer skaters who are practicing there. It was really exciting to make friends with them all! One skater had just started getting the hang of backwards skating, and it was so cool to watch them improve over the course of the session.
I really can't overstate how happy I am right now - I love my skates, I love the improvement I'm seeing, and I love skating!!!
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Skating Journal: Day 54
I did a little bit of skating in my house yesterday, but I'm not counting that as a day. I only counted the house session the other day because of unlocking a new trick. I did have a good time though - my new wheels were so slidey!
Today I was able to go to the outdoor rink (my beloved). There were already a few skaters there when I got there, which was really exciting! I was too shy to talk to them, though. I always worry about coming off as aloof, but really I'm just nervous.
I did kind of want to keep to myself though, because it's been way too long since I've gotten to just skate around to my own music. I had thought about doing some drills, but mostly I just skated around in a circle - again, it's been too long since I've gotten to just flow. And my body could also tell it had been too long, because oh my gosh my leg muscles have gotten weaker. I undid and redid my trucks on my left skate before going out today = I'm not sure if it helped. My left leg is just really atrophied I think, especially my hip flexor (the usual culprit). My stamina was also shot - I got tired out really easily and had to take a few long breaks. I tried to do a manual at one point and my legs were just too damn tired. But I still had a good time!
There were a few other quad skaters and one inliner when I arrived. Some other inline skaters and a BMX biker showed up while I was there. The inline skaters seemed pretty new, which is exciting - I like to see new people getting into the hobby! The BMXer was doing some really cool stuff - he did this trick where he basically made his bike do a cartwheel while he was standing on the little outcroppings in the middle? I dunno, it was neat.
I took a while to warm up. It's always kind of frustrating to me that by the time I'm warmed up and ready to really skate, that's about when I have to go. Today was no different. But I did get some transition practice in. My wheels were not nearly as slidey on the concrete than on my hardwood floor at home, so stuff that had been easy when I was messing around at home was much harder today. Also, wow, every single little crack felt so much bigger than it does on my Pulse wheels! I really wan tto try going to a skating rink sometime. Getting to slide around on wood floors with more space than my living room seems so fun. Transitions on the concrete were more difficult than they were at home, and I was really in my head for a lot of my session today so it was tough to commit. But eventually I loosened up a little bit and was able to better get the hang of doing transitions where I had my wheels sliding around.
After practicing transitions for a bit, I was resting near the other quad skaters. They invited me to their groupchat, which is another local skate meetup chat - different than the local discord I'm in. I was excited though because i actually knew a couple people in this thread through completely other means. I'm always happy to get new skating friends so I'm really glad they invited me!
Overall today was a really good day. It did prove to me that I need to get out and skate more often in order to keep my leg strength up. So I'm looking forward to skating even more!
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Skating journal: day 53 - manuals unlocked!!!
I didn't have a full skating session today, just messed around in my house some because I was excited about my new wheels, but LOOK LOOK LOOK I CAN DO MANUALS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
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Skating journal: days 49-52
I haven't gotten to skate very much the past week or so and I've been a little lacking in motivation. But after my last skate session on Wednesday I'm excited all over again!
A week ago last Sunday I met up with a couple folks from my local skating discord at the skatepark closest to me. It was a good time, but that park is pretty small, so it's difficult for me to be in when it's crowded. There were a couple people there from my discord plus a bunch of skateboarders. They were very nice, but I really worry about screwing up somebody's run by barreling through the park without knowing what I'm doing, so I spent at least as much time sitting and watching as skating. It was pretty hot as well, so that didn't help. I was still doing my little baby transition ramp practice, but if nothing else it was a nice social experience. The discord folks were really sweet and encouraging. I went up to the top of one of those little flat-top pyramids at one point, but when I was contemplating going down I realized it wasn't as little as I had thought, and I was too scared to skate down it. So one of the discord folks (I'll call them R) helped me slide down on my knee pads and said that it wasn't weird to get scared and they'd done the same thing before. They've been really kind in helping me get comfortable and introducing me to other skaters - I think they're enjoying being a mentor.
I went back the next morning when the park was empty. I didn't make much progress from where I'd been, but I at least got in more actual skating time. Before I put my skates on I walked all over the park, up and down all the boxes in the middle and everything. There's one little transition-y hill that's lower than the other middle ramps. I think I'll be brave enough soon to go up and over that, but I wasn't on Monday. I kept at my transition practice though and I'm happy with that. I finished Northanger Abbey while I was there. Eventually a skateboarder showed up as well, but since it was just the two of us we were able to stay out of each other's way.
I didn't skate for almost a whole week after that until the Sunday morning of this week. I hadn't skated on flat ground by myself in a while, so even though there was a meetup at the skatepark I went to a tennis court instead. The nearest park that has tennis courts has two sets of fenced-in courts with two nets each. There was a group of seniors using one of the courts, but the other was free! I had forgotten my headphones at home which was a bummer, because I really wanted to flow with some music, but the tennis players were actually pretty fun to listen to. They had a lot of banter going on and were clearly a group of good friends, and that's always nice to see. Or hear, as it were.
I got in a lot of transition practice on Sunday and worked a little bit on downtowns, manuals, and dribbles. I wouldn't say I'm getting good at any of those yet, but I can do them, at least while holding onto something for balance. It's just a matter of improving my balance so that I can hold manuals, and then drilling until everything comes naturally.
I also had a bit of a revelation. I've been feeling that my left inside edge is weak. But I noticed that I tend to push on that edge when balancing on my left foot. I tried gliding on a slight downhill on my left foot while trying to keep it absolutely centered, and sure enough I drifted counterclockwise. I asked some more knowledgeable people for advice, and it might be either my cushions, or maybe my leg is just weak. I need to take my cushions and trucks out and make sure they're all fitted up correctly, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.
Wednesday night was really exciting. A bunch of local skaters meet up at one of the skateparks on Wednesdays because they have an adults-only session. I hadn't been before but I resolved to go this week. There were a lot of people around, but it was bigger than the park by my house, and even better, there were lots of little out-of-the-way spots where I could practice without getting in anyone else's way. R showed me around and let me borrow a set of wheels that they don't use very often. They're pink Radar Pop wheels, which are a 93A hardness, and coming from my 78A wheels it was a big change! Transitions were SO much easier, oh my gosh. My Atom Pulse wheels are super sticky, to the point where I have to pick my feet up if I want to turn around. These wheels were hard enough to slide on the concrete, which meant I could do "open the book/close the book" transitions properly. It was so fun!! I've been thinking of getting some harder wheels for a while now, and now I definitely want to - partly because I want to give R's wheels back sooner rather than later, and partly because having gotten a taste of it, now I want an even harder set with more slide to them.
I also got to practice a lot of fun stuff and meet a lot of cool people! R showed me how to pump, so I added that in to my practicing on the transition ramp. (It's so annoying how "transition" is both a type of ramp and the act of turning around, lmao.) I got higher up on it than I've ever been before, and it wasn't even scary! I even got the courage a couple times to try and roll into the ramp fakie and come down forwards. That was exciting, but I wasn't brave enough to do very much of it - I want to give it some more work soon! There was also this little spot that wasn't a dedicated ramp but was where the floor of the park sort of naturally banked up towards the sitting/bag-putting area, which was higher up. I tried to go up this a couple times and wound up on my toe stops because of the steepness, but I took this as an opportunity to try and learn toe-stop stalls. I wasn't very good at them, lol. I'm still figuring out how to shift back onto my wheels without causing problems for myself. It's kind of hard to describe. Basically, if I've stalled on my toe stops, I need to then lean back into a fakie stance so that I can un-stall. But I keep rolling on just my toes, and sometimes just one foot will start rolling, and basically I'm having trouble with it. But near the end of the night, I was able to do it right a couple of times.
Unrelated: moment of silence for the millipede that I noticed crawling around that someone skated over. I wish I'd gotten it off the skating surface when I first saw it.
But, millipede tragedy aside, I had a really good evening. I made some real progress, which I hadn't done at a skate park before, and I even made some friends. I'm excited to go back there - I'm not always free on Wednesday evenings, but I'm going to try and go as often as I can.
I'm starting to think about getting some dedicated park skates. I love my Zones, and I'm having fun learning to dance on them, and they're fine for the baby park stuff I'm learning now. But they're not really a tenable park skate long-term. They don't have any ankle support, and the nylon plate they're on isn't a good idea for stalls. I think I want to save up for a pair of Bont Parkstars. After speaking with a fitting expert (the inimitable Velocityraptor of Department of Skate), I think they should be just the right size for my wide feet, and they've got good ankle support and are generally considered a good park skate. I've had my eye on them for a while and being sure that they're a good fit has only made me more confident that they're the skate I want. I've been thinking a lot about color options and haven't come to a conclusion yet. I'm also thinking a lot about plates. I could save a lot of money buying the Parkstars as a complete skate, rather than just buying the boot and mounting it to something else, but I've heard the plate they come with can be difficult for park skating and doesn't fit a lot of slide blocks well. On the other hand, Bont has come out with a slide block specifically for their plates. But on the other other hand, I'm a little bit drooling over the white coating on the Avanti Magnesium plate. I think skates and gear should be chosen on like a 70/30 split of functionality and looks, so I'll need to do more research and ask around some more about what's really going to function best for me. I have plenty of time to make a decision though, since I need to spend some time saving up for new skates. Even the prospect has me excited.
On a note unrelated to skating, but is a wheeled thing that's exciting to me: as a teenager, I had a nice bike that I used occasionally but rarely appreciated enough. I live pretty far from where I grew up, so I had my mom help me get my bike mailed to me, and it arrived today! I think I'll use it a lot more now than I did as a teenager - I grew up in a suburb and it was difficult to get anywhere worth going without a car, but now I live in a small town and there's a lot of stuff that's the right distance for biking, including stuff like the grocery store (which is so close that I hate to drive there, but far enough that I hate to walk home with groceries). It's been a long time since I've ridden a bike but I always really liked it when I did, so I'm looking forward to having that available!
Basically, despite some decent sessions, I've been in a bit of a skating slump, but a great session and wanton materialism have gotten my spirits back up. I've been thinking about skating nonstop since Wednesday, and I can't wait until I can get out there again!
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Skating journal: day 48
OMG, I had such a fun skating session Friday night!!
Some of the people in the local discord were going to the outdoor rink to work on jam moves, so I went over right after work to join them! It really is my favorite place to skate and I haven't been there in forever and I missed it sooooo much. It was late enough that the sun was behind the trees so it wasn't too hot either.
The discord folks had a bluetooth speaker and were playing Beyonce's new album. It was so much fun to skate to. One of the people there was working on dribbles, so I asked them to show me how to do them. It's very! difficult! But I managed to do a couple while holding onto the wall. They also showed me how to downtown, which is exciting because I always see videos of that move and it looks like a lot of fun. And it was a lot of fun! I'm still not very good at it - obviously - but I definitely improved during the session. They showed me how to do manuals, too! (That's when you go up on only your front or back wheels. The one they showed me was the easiest one, heel-toe manuals, where you stand on your front heel and your back toes.) I had to hold onto the wall for those as well. Getting comfortable on my toes is definitely my new goal.
The discord folks were so nice!!! On top of teaching me a bunch of stuff they were also just really friendly. One of them offered to lend me some harder wheels. Since the rink concrete is pretty smooth, I think it might be fun to try harder wheels out. It would probably make things like transitions a lot easier. My wheels don't slide at all, which is what I wanted as a super newbie beginner, but if I'm going to learn more dance moves then I think having some slide in my wheels would be helpful. They also offered to lend me their spare jam plugs, but I don't think I'm ready for that yet. ._. If I get some smaller wheels though I might have to pick up some short stem toe stops. Either way it makes me happy I did that toe stop swap a few months ago. (I told the discord folks about it and they were very impressed!)
For as much as I like skating around other people I'm pretty shy about actually going to skate meetups. But I'm glad I went to this one! I'd really like to be friends with the other skaters in the area so I'm excited to get to know more of them.
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Skating journal: days 46 & 47 - skate parks again!
I can't believe I forgot to write about my first time back at a skate park, lol. In my defense it was late and I was tired.
I'm in a discord group for roller skaters in my area. They're mostly park skaters and they're usually at one park or another in the evening. I don't usually go because I'm afraid of skate parks and especially busy skate parks, but about a week ago I decided to join them. I had had a pretty bad & stressful day because of one of my other hobbies (I'm planning a ttrpg campaign and it's only going okay) and I was thinking that going skating might help me feel better. I went to the rink I usually go to and it was empty. Normally I would have been excited that there wasn't a practice going on, but I didn't want to be all by myself. I prefer skating around other people, even if they're not actually there to hang out with me. So I went to the park where the discord group was hanging out, even though it was half an hour away. I actually had to call my friend on the drive over because I was so nervous.
The park was pretty crowded. I actually couldn't figure out where the discord skaters were. It was so cool though! It was a really nice evening and the park was well lit. There were a ton of inline skaters doing all kinds of crazy tricks. I was... mostly scared. There wasn't a lot of flat ground and there especially wasn't any flat ground that wasn't in the middle of somebody's run. The whole park was on a hill too, so you couldn't get from one end to the other without going up or down something. I had watched the new Dirty Deb video on what to do your first time at the skate park, and she recommended finding a non-transition ramp to go down and practice getting the flow of the skatepark. There were plenty of those around, but they all were so high or steep that they made me really nervous. I finally found the tiniest, babiest incline to go down (seriously, I think it was about as steep as the natural slant of the ground at the rink). It was near another flat ramp going up, so I could go down my little baby ramp and then up the next one as far as momentum carried me, then go back down that ramp fakie (that's just park terminology for backwards). I'd made a little improvement at going down a ramp fakie the first time I went to a park before I hurt my knee, but I had to basically re-learn it all over again. Also, the spot where my baby ramp was was right in the middle of a run that a bunch of the inliners were working on. It's definitely okay to be in the same general area as somebody else, but I don't have a good sense yet of what counts as being in the way or not in the way at a skate park. On top of that I was so nervous I could barely skate on flat ground. So I did my little baby run a few times, but mostly I sat and watched the inliners. They were SO cool. One of them ran across my path once and was really apologetic and also super encouraging. And the tricks they all did were amazing!! I really hope I can be that cool someday. I did run into one person from the discord and they were super nice too.
I didn't end up skating very much, but I was still so stoked when I went home. My goal had been to go to a skate park and skate and not injure myself, and I had done all of those, so I was pretty happy with my success.
Then I promptly got my period and didn't skate for a whole week, which was VERY annoying. But I kept busy with lots of other hobbies. I completed two sewing projects in the last few days, which is as many as I usually do in a year. Today I finally felt energized enough to skate again, and I even got off work a little early, so I decided to face my fear and go to the nearby park where I had hurt myself.
I figured the park was likely to be pretty empty mid-afternoon on a weekday, which was good, because I'm still not really used to it to the point where I'm comfortable when it's very busy. There were only a couple of teens there on scooters, and they left not long after I arrived. I was so nervous (and out of practice) I could barely skate. But I took some time to let myself warm up, and things got much better. This park is pretty small, it's basically a square with some ramps around the sides and platforms in the middle. I could skate around the square on flat ground. My main object though was improving my fakie skating. I can skate backwards okay if I transition from going forwards or start from standing still, but going up a ramp and coming back down is different. There's a nice low transition ramp near one corner of the square that I was practicing on, the same as my first time there before I hurt myself. I could skate up to the ramp, let momentum carry me partway up, then come down fakie. It's super baby stuff, but it's difficult! I only fell on the ramp once today, and I didn't get hurt. I did manage to fall skating on flat ground too, but I was alright. I'm gonna need to get better pads though. Mine are starting to get really scraped up and frayed.
I did improve my fakie stance a lot today. By the end I could get about halfway up the ramp (which was maybe four or five feet tall), come down fakie, and keep skating backwards as long as I wanted. I'm not actually sure how long I was there. Half an hour to an hour I think. Eventually some skateboarders showed up, and that made me nervous, but I was able to keep going for a while. Then a parent and kid on bikes came in and I decided it was busy enough for me to go home. The poor kid had a fall while I was putting my gear away and got the wind knocked out of them, so they and their parent went home too. They were really little, maybe seven? And they were way braver than me. It's fun to see little kids learning to skate or bike or other stuff like that.
I had an audiobook in today instead of music. Most of the time I prefer music for skating, but since I was so focused on drills instead of rhythm or flow, this was alright. I've been on a Jane Austen kick the last few days. Since there's been so much discourse about the new Persuasion movie I decided to listen to the audiobook during my weekend sewing project. And I really liked it, so I listened to Emma while I did my next sewing project and made some storytime crafts for work. I just finished Emma this morning, so I started Northanger Abbey while I was skating this afternoon. Out of the books I've read so far (which includes Pride and Prejudice way back in high school), I think Mr. Knightley is my favorite love interest - though, no offense to Emma, but I actually think Jane got a better deal marrying Mr. Churchill. I really like that guy's sense of humor. But so far Catherine Morland is my favorite protagonist. We love an ADHD kid who only reads novels.
I've been so bad about not doing the drills I said I was gonna do. I should really go to the rink and work on stuff in an environment that doesn't freak me out. But I also don't want to make skating a chore, so if I was in the mood to try a skate park today then I figure that's what I should do. And I definitely had a good time! I'm proud of my improvement and I'm looking forward to skating at parks more. I'm going to have to figure out a skill progression, though. Skating at the park really scares me, as much as I enjoy it and want to get better at it, so I want to figure out how to progress in a way that feels controlled and safe.
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Skating journal: day 45
Today there are practices scheduled all day at the hockey rink, and there were people using the tennis court, so I tried out a new spot. There's a big k-8 school in my town with a running track, so I went over there to check it out. There were some other people using the track as well: an old guy on a walk, a family with bicycles, and a parent teaching their young kids to skateboard. It was a fun vibe! I really prefer skating around other people over skating alone, even if those other people aren't skating (though it's fun if they are).
The track surface was blacktop, which I hadn't skated on much, and boy was it difficult. It was so bumpy that my glasses kept vibrating, which made it a little difficult to see. It was also tough to get up any kind of speed, or to maintain it. Some areas had big cracks, which were scary - I wiped out on one of them that had grass growing in it, which is the first time I've fallen properly backwards in a while. The skater adage of "pick a cheek" came in handy and I managed to avoid hitting my tailbone. I've got a little bit of scrapeage on my thigh, but it's no biggie.
I ended up mostly skating up and down the one decent patch of asphalt where I could actually get a little bit of a flow going. It helped that that was also the one shady spot, lol. But the shade disappeared as the sun came up, and even the good stretch of floor was pretty tough to skate on. I didn't stay very long. It was still a good time, though. One of the kids in the bike family got their training wheels off while I was there, which was fun to watch.
I had big plans for skill drills today, but I decided not to try on the scary blacktop. What I had wanted to do was drill forward and backwards transitions, backwards skating, and scissors, and start working on T-stops and maybe dribbling. I did work on scissors a tiny bit, but mostly I was focused on being able to skate at all on the blacktop. I'm hopeful I'll be able to do all those drills soon, though. Looking at this skill tree that someone on Reddit made, I realized I've got most of the level 1 and level 2 skills down, and some of the level 3 skills as well. I'm not interested in cannonballs because of my fucked up knees, so T-stops, backwards skating, and moonwalking (I think that's the same as dribbling? People seem to use the terms interchangeably, but I feel like I've also seen people say they're different...) are my next skills to master. Carving is also listed here, and I'm not sure if the person who made this list means on flat ground or on a ramp. I'll have to do some research and figure out what they might mean.
I think the track is a bit of a bust - or at least, I'll only go there if I want to practice skating on challenging terrain - but I've still got some ideas for skate spots. the school itself has some covered outdoor walkways that might be good for drills. And there are a couple other places in town I can try out. I kind of with my town had more of an urban skating culture. From what I can tell, most of the skaters around who coordinate with each other are mainly park skaters. I really want to be a park skater someday, but I wish it were easier to find skating friends for flat ground & to explore with. I'm also hoping there will be more rink hours open once school starts again...
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Skating Journal: Days 41-44
So, I got back from a long-ish trip a few days ago. I had 2 more skating sessions before the trip, one of which I don't want to talk about for Reasons, and the other was just boring and short. I didn't bring my skates on the trip, but the two sessions I've had since getting back have been really exciting!
I got home Friday night, and I went skating Saturday afternoon. It was the first time since getting injured that I was able to have a real, hour long session. I got to go back to the outdoor rink, and took some time to just get used to having skates on my feet again. I was feeling pretty wobbly and anxious. I couldn't bring myself to turn sharply, and my weight distribution on my feet wasn't quite the way I wanted it to be. I was glad to be skating again, but it was a little disappointing.
Then... I fell. I overbalanced trying to turn and splatted onto my side. I had been nervous about falling - but it wasn't bad at all. It was a totally normal fall, and I didn't even get a bruise. Honestly? It helped a lot. It relieved some of my anxiety - I know that falling isn't a big deal if you do it well, but my body really benefitted from having the reminder. After that, I was able to skate around more freely.
I didn't expect to try backwards skating or transitions any time soon, but I was in the mood to do some work going backwards, so I figured what the hell, why not. I went back and forth across the rink a couple times doing backwards bubbles. Then I decided to try a transition. And I could do it! My transitions are still not very grateful, but I had definitely expected to lose them in the time I was healing. I was SO excited that I could still do them! I practiced transitions for a little while, and then one of my favorite skating songs came on (Free from Florence + The Machine's latest album), and I skated around, going forwards and even backwards as well. That seemed like a perfect end to my session, so I packed up. It turned out I had good timing because it started to rain just as I left. A couple of kids showed up as I was leaving, one on inlines and one on quads. I got to watch them skate for a couple minutes while I packed my gear up. They were so good! I always worry that I'll feel bad or inadequate when I see better skaters, especially if they're younger than me. That's true in most of my hobbies, but not with skating. Seeing really good skaters is honestly inspiring. It makes me want to keep getting better so I can do awesome tricks and have fun like them.
I was busy for the next couple of days, but I got to have a 45 minute session after work today. There was a practice scheduled at the rink, so I tried out a new spot - my first time skating on a tennis court! It was definitely a different surface. It felt both smoother and rougher than the concrete rink floor. There was a sort of in-your-face smoothness to the whole ride, but I could feel the little vibrations from the surface... I dunno, it was weird and different. But fun!
I mostly practiced transitions and skating backwards today. I watched a Dirty Deb video earlier about transitioning from backwards to forwards. I only got up the courage to try once, but something she said really helped my backwards skating. She was talking about the edge work involved in going backwards, and how to push into your outside edges while holding an A position in order to skate backwards. I tried to mimic the way she moved in the video, and I think it helped a lot. My transitions improved a little bit, I think, but not a ton. Currently, the only transition I can do is to turn counterclockwise by lifting my left foot, putting it down in an almost sidesurf-y position, and then lifting my right foot. It's not the most graceful thing, and I think I need to work on really controlling my weight transfer. At one point I got stuck with my right heel on the ground and spun a full 360 degrees. I didn't fall or break anything, which is good, but it was definitely weird. That said, I would love to be able to do spins on purpose.
I also practiced my edges going forward. It was good to get that work in, re-learning my skates after being away from them. I can kiiiiind of do a crossover at this point, but I definitely need to do some work on balance and edges and turning still.
Today was an unexpectedly tiring session. I think it's because the edge work I was doing was basically squats on skates, lol. Can't wait until I can crush a watermelon between my thighs :)
I'm glad to be mostly back to normal with skating. I'm not ready to go back to a park just yet - I want to improve my transitions a bit, and my backwards skating quite a lot, first - but I'm hoping I can soon. I also want to start learning some full on dance moves in the near future. I think once I'm really confident in my transitions, backwards skating, and crossovers, I can start digging into moves and tricks. I'm getting better with every session, and I'm excited to keep improving!
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Skating Journal: Day 40
It was probably not a good idea for my knee and ankle to go skating on Monday, but I did it again today anyway! I'm genuinely trying to take things slow and work within my limits, but not skating has just been SO frustrating, it's worth it to me to take the damage from short skating sessions over healing faster but not being able to go skating at all.
I went to the outdoor rink today. I checked the schedule ahead of time so I knew I'd be going during an open skate time. It's still booked for various practices annoyingly often, but at least I figured out how to find the schedule online so I don't go all the way there just to have to turn around.
I'm definitely still getting back into the groove of things, as well as still healing. My ankle isn't at 100% yet, and my knee is hurting a bit as well. It hurts more after skating than while skating, but it would probably be a good idea to stop putting so much pressure on it... At any rate, I'm definitely behind where I was before I got hurt. In addition to having to work around the injuries, I'm just a bit less confident and well-balanced than I was before. It's hard to describe in so many words, because there are no specific things that I can think of that are worse. It's more of a general deterioration in body awareness, muscle memory, etc. My turns weren't as sharp, I was less able to gain and maintain momentum, and I was less confident overall. It was still a good time, though.
I only skated for around 20 minutes again. This time though rather than because of my ankle it was mainly because I was feeling lightheaded. I've been having issues with lightheadedness & vertigo for a little while now. I didn't get to a point where I actually felt dizzy while I was skating, thankfully, but there were some indicators that that might get to that point. I decided to play it safe and quit for the day, because the last thing I need is to get dizzy and fall over on an empty rink. It was frustrating to have to leave so early, especially for a reason that I wasn't expecting. But I had a good time all the same. I hope my knee and ankle are all the way back soon so I can progress a little more quickly!
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Skating Journal: Day 39 (back in action!)
It's been way too long but I'm FINALLY back!
My leg has been making huge improvements the last few days. I finally went to the doctor on Thursday, and I don't know if it was the knee exercises she gave me or just the placebo effect of having seen someone, or maybe the fact that a bunch of stressful stuff at work was finally over, but I've been getting MUCH better since then. This morning I could straighten my knee out all the way without using an exxternal aid. It still hurt a bit, but it was a mark of serious improvement. My ankle has been a bit slower - mostly, I think, because I stepped in a pothole earlier last week and aggravated it again. But it's been improving too. A couple days ago it couldn't really hold weight at all. Now I can stand on my toes on it for a few seconds - which I took as the indication that I was ready to skate.
It probably would have been a good idea to wait a couple days more before skating, but it was so much fun that I can't regret it. I'm really happy with how much muscle memory I've retained. I was worried I'd be back to bambi-on-ice status, but I can still skate decently with both striding and sticky skating. I'm having some difficulty building and maintaining momentum without picking my feet up, which is something I was getting pretty good at before. And I think I'm going to have to put in some work to get crossovers back (though I didn't really try to do them because I didn't want to put that kind of pressure on my ankle). I didn't attempt transitions at all, so that remains to be seen. But I can keep myself upright, my posture is okay, and I can hold a glide on both legs and turn on my left leg (I didn't try my right leg). I'm really happy about all of that!
I was feeling pain on my ankle when I put pressure on my right inside edge, which made striding difficult. I didn't want to strain it too much, so I only skated for about 20 minutes, and I'm icing it now that I'm back home. Work is going to keep me from skating tomorrow,but that's okay - it will be good to give my ankle a day to rest. I'm hoping to skate more later this week and build back up to the length of sessions I was doing before, while working back up on the progress I've lost. I'm not sure when I'll be confident hitting the park again, but I really want to go back there. All in all though I'm just happy to skate again!
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Skating journal: 2 weeks post injury check-in
So it's been 2 weeks since I injured my leg. I'm healing, but things are going much slower than I'd like them to. My ankle is almost back to normal, but my knee is still having problems. I'm pretty sure I injured my mcl (not my acl, thankfully) and it's difficult to get my leg fully straightened. It's definitely getting better - there are ways I can bend it now that I couldn't earlier - but it's got a ways to go. I wear a brace most of the day, but I can't stand sleeping in it, so I'm not being as good about it as I should be. I finally caved and made a doctor's appointment for later this week. I'm pretty sure it just needs rest, but I guess it's better to be certain.
I'm trying to treat this as an opportunity. Since it's my right leg that's messed up, I've got lots of chances to work on my strength/balance on my left leg. I've noticed some improvement! I can stand still on my left leg for a full minute now. I still mostly lean towards my outside edge, though. I want to get really stable on my left inside edge, so that when I can skate again, I can improve my crossovers and learn to do figure-8s!
I was worried at first that getting out of the habit of skating frequently would make it harder to pick up once I healed (ADHD is like that sometimes). I won't know for sure until my leg is better, but I have a bit more confidence now. I think about skating all the time, and I've even had dreams about it. I've been watching skating videos and trying to learn more about carving, which is what I was trying to do when I hurt my leg. I really, really can't wait to skate again. I'm going to take things slow when I can start again. I'm going to start off at the park patio & the outdoor rink, and save the skatepark for once I'm sure I still have my bearings. I don't know if I'll have regressed at all by the time I get back. But I'm really looking forward to skating again, whenever the time comes that it's safe again. Fingers crossed that time is soon!
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SkateLife is real
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