backtoblading

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Broken bones

Don't worry! I'm not writing this due to injury. I am fine. Well as fine as I have been in a while. But it does occur to me that my rambunctious youth is a price I pay for everyday. In addition to pain from Lyme, I wake up every morning with pain from previous injuries. How many? Well let's count (this doesn't include hematoma or other serious bruises). Deviated septum and orbital socket chip: age 13 Broken hand, ring and pinky finger: age 13 Broken pinky (other hand while left hand was in cast): age 13 Fracture jaw: age 15 Concussions: age 16, 17, 18 (loss of eye sight), 25 Broken rib: ages 15, 18, 25, 26, 32 Broken heel age 18 Shattered pelvis, hip, pubic bone, femur (months in traction in hospital/rehab): age 19 I have a few ligament/tendon injuries but luckily no torn ACL/MCL bullshit. Anyway, let's just say I have a reason to be sore most mornings.

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Yay for vandalism! It was time to get a nice curb waxed for relearning grinds. I chose to do it right and rub brick and lacquer the curb. WOW it works sooo well. This technique wasn't around when I was skating back in the 90s. We would wax the hell out of a ledge and it would barely slide. The rub brick makes such a different. I will admit that I felt super awkward doing it. When I was 14 I wouldn't think twice about modifying my surroundings for skating. We waxed everything. We skated everything. We broke into buildings, hopped fences, dodged security guards. We didn't care. Now as a 34 year old working professional I'd feel like such an idiot if the cops busted me spraying lacquer on a curb. Location is everything. The curb I skate is at a nearby office complex and it's on the backside of the parking lot so no one will care. It's much different than the destruction of property we did when I was a teenager in order to skate plazas, colleges, and sometimes public property. I'm sorry but there was a house that had the perfect c rail leading from their front door to their driveway. There is no way we weren't going to hit that!

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My shin guard! I always used to bang my right shin up very badly. I would get horrible hematoma that would fill with fluid. Luckily I bought bulletproof brand shin guards back in the day. Theses things are indestructible! I was rooting around my basement for some curb wax and this guard was sitting there waiting for me. I'm Im so glad I found it cause I haven't seen anything comparable on the market and I've been reluctant to learn frontsides on the mini ramp with out a shin guard. SCORE.

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I found this hilarious commentary of my favorite skate video of all time. The Hoax 2 defined my middle school years and the commentary brought on much nostalgia. 

#hoax 2 #aggressive inline #inline skating #arlo eisenberg #senate #hyper wheels #rollerblading #90s kid

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Saturday morning at the Burton bowl! Living in Burlington Vermont means we have winter 5 months out of the year. It's not the best for skating. The good thing is there are 2 skateparks with in a mile of my house. There are two more if I'm willing to drive 15 minutes. Knowing the new concrete park would be packed at 11 am, I drove over to Burton snowboards to skate their bowl. It was great. It's not as deep as the concrete bowl at the other park and it made of more forgiving skate lite. I also rode their mini ramp. I'm focusing on frontside and backside stalls and am becoming more comfortable. I can drop in with no problem now and can roll and jump in too. I'm progressing every day! Also, it was great to exercise for over an hour and never once feel like I was actually exercising.

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I hate mornings and love sleep. Nevertheless, if I want to start skating again I need to get used to hitting up the skatepark early before work. I managed to make it there by 6:45 this morning and no one was around.  The park will be overcrowded later in the day and I don’t want to be the dorky old dude on rollerblades learning how to skate in front of 100 skateboarders.  When I was 16 I could roll up to any skate spot and throw down. I had the skills to demand respect. These days I’m super wobbly and feel really awkward even with out anyone else at the park. Doing something as simple as frontside and backside stalls on the mini bowl was difficult but I’m quickly regaining balance.  I mustered up the courage to drop in on the big bowl and will be riding that a lot. The park is designed for skateboarders and most of it has really tight transitions that aren’t great for blades. The big bowl feels more natural even though its big and scary (concrete). I’d like to get knee and elbow pads and get used to skating it more. There are rarely skateboarders in it so even when the park is packed, I can probably skate the bowl with out getting in the way.  I’m also stoked that this will get my legs a lot stronger. Pumping transitions made me realize how weak my legs are but I expect them to get stronger quickly.

#vert #bowl #burlington #rollerblading #ramp skating #vermont

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New skates (and helmet)! My previous pair of Roces skates were totally beat. They’ve been sitting for years and skate terribly. I ordered a pair of Razor Cults and can’t wait to use them. I never skated Razors before but they seem like they have an old school vibe and are somewhat similar to my favorite skates, the Majestic 12s.  I also almost never skated with a helmet but now that I’m old, I’m cautious. The short period about 8 years ago when I tried to get back into skating, I gave myself a bad concussion while doing a zero spin over a manhole cover. It was a simple trick that I’ve done a thousand times before. I hit a flat spot in my wheel and rang my bell REALLY hard. I had headaches for months and I don’t plan on doing that again. Also, I want to skate the concrete bowl at the Burlington skatepark so I really need to have a helmet. 

#rollerblading #vermont #aggressive inline #inline skating #old school #razor skates

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Blading for Health

Hey peeps, I figured I would do an intro post to explain the reason behind this blog. I created this as a journal to track my skating and health progress. I’m not sure if anyone will read it but I know that journaling is very beneficial. If I’m the only reader, that’s totally fine. The quick run down is that I’m almost 35. I need to lose about 20 pounds and get bored with most exercise routines. 

In addition to needing to lose weight, I’ve been suffering from Lyme Disease and Lyme co-infections for over a year. These diseases have left me with little energy and lots of pain. I have arthritis in my neck and back as well as a swollen foot. Despite the pain, I know the best thing for me is to be active. A lot of sports have a limited range of motions and I wanted to get back to skating because you have to move in a variety of ways while skating. In addition to skating, I also do some yoga which helps.  My goal is to move more. Stretch more. Gain strength and flexibility while having fun. 

#rollerblading #lyme disease #chronic lyme #inline skating #aggressive inline