Week of Mar. 20 - 26 - Special Rollerblade Edition!

Special Rollerblading Edition!

I have decided to devote this week's blog to rollerblading because quite frankly, nothing else exciting has been happening lately. At least not on a daily basis anyway. The big exciting news of this week came on Monday when Katie called and told me she would be coming home for a short time on April 5! Her friend in the Army is getting shipped out so he's having a going away party to which we are invited.

Now, on to the rollerblading! I have long wanted to share the random observations I have made during my hours of rollerblading, but could not figure out a way to connect them to the rest of my week. So instead, I'll take a couple of month's worth of rollerblading observations and cram them into one week's worth of blogging space.

This week saw a tremendous advancement in my distance skating. Previously I would skate east on the trail until I hit 22nd Ave. N. Which coincides with the 5 mile mark. That works out to a nice 6 mile round trip, plus a small warm up and cool down trip around my block. I learned the importance of the warm up and cool down from Personal Fitness, and it is probably the only thing I learned in high school that I have applied to a real life situation. Don't worry pre-calc, I'm sure some day I'll actually have to calculate the amplitude of a sine wave. Anyway, on my old skates this used to take about an hour. Since I got my new skates, however, I started cooking along at a much faster pace and this circuit took much less time. On Wednesday I decided to do a couple of things differently. First, I decided to go north on the trail, which I usually don't do, and second I decided to go for a 10 mile skate. Also, I elected to dig out my wrist guards and put them to work. I know this signals a death of my youthful invincibility, but at the same time I refuse to wear a helmet, or knee and elbow pads. I'm just cautious, not a sissy.

The part of the trail I usually skate on is quite smooth with the few rough patches outlines by orange paint. Conversely, the northern part of the trail seems to be modeled after the surface of the moon and the hazards are playfully camouflaged. On the other hand, while the northern part of the trail is framed by people's backyards and is mostly residential, whereas the east part of the trail is largely industrial, and when the wind blows just so you can enjoy the fragrances and often intoxicating aromas that these businesses vent onto the trail. At one time it was just a railroad track, and no one cared how many paint fumes gushed out of auto body shops. But now that it is a pathway for recreation and people seeking to be healthy, and the irony is not lost. One final note about the north section of the trail regarding the overpasses over the busy streets. They seems to have been designed before rollerblading was popular, because some comedian engineered into them these hilarious bumps that shake and rattle out your confidence by the time you reach the bottom of the hill. What fun!

After my 10 mile skate north on Wednesday, I thought I might find out what 10 miles looked like heading east and then south. Turns out it looks rather plain, and I still had some time and energy, so I decided to see what a 12 mile skate would feel like. It feels a lot like my legs turned to rubber. But the 6 mile mark is down by my old bus stop from middle school, which brought back memories. I skated over the section of the trail where Josh Bellotti and I read the note Daina Crafa gave me that signaled the end of our brief but memorable two week relationship. Ah yes, those were the days. I have since decided that 10 miles is a good number for my exercise needs. I like the pavement and scenery heading east, and having to cross 22nd Ave. North is worth the risk. I especially like skating on the overpass by target over Park Street, because it takes me over a section of Tyrone's Restaurant Row, with Shell's, Don Pablo's, Lonestar and Steak N' Shake off to the north, and Outback and Crabby Bill's off in the distance to the south. I get such a feeling of superiority by skating on en elevated thoroughfare and looking down on all those people who are shuffling out of their cars to consume 1,200 calories of food they did not even both to make themselves all in preparation for the physically demanding task of waddling back to their cars and driving home to plan themselves in front of the TV!

I need to address my fellow trail users, particularly those who get geared up and ride their little competition bicycles. I see these people whiz by in their ultra tight Spandex suits, and I get to thinking about where those suits came from. It is as though there is a whole superhero support infrastructure that is just waiting for a population to serve. Until such time as the entire Justice Leauge of America shows up and needs outfits, these companies are keeping their skills sharp by making hideous garb for the go-fast bikers and utility belt style iPod and water bottle holders for the rest of us. I can sleep better at night knowing that if somewhere a boy is being bitten by a radioactive spider, there is an industry waiting to clothe his so he can fight crime!

Special Rollerblading Winner & Loser

Winner: The American flag. Specifically, the one that flies out front of Shell's which tells me which way the wind is blowing when I start blading. If the winds is blowing in a favorable direction, the trip home will be like riding a magic carpet. A magic carpet that is being pulled by a Ferrari.

Loser: People who let their dogs crap on the trail. On the actual paved for-humans-only section of the trail, people actually let their dogs crap rather than ushering them off into the grass. I don't mind so much of a dog craps in the grass and the owner is too lazy to pick it up; the only people who wander through there anyway are hobos and transients.