Rollerblading

So I got my first dirtbike at 8 and pretty much stayed away from human powered anything until I was very fat and out of shape in my 30s.....so with that in mind, let me see if I can try and understand the hierarchy... @stb222 and @jimvreeland help me out here...

bmx'rs/dirt jumpers/etc hate flatlanders....where does the trials crowd fit into this?
skateboarders hate razor scooters
universally everyone hates rollerbladers
 
JimN said:
Because it's fun and I like it, and I don't care what people think about me.



I watched this video on youtube and thought it was pretty interesting:


X-games definitely blew it up, though I always thought skateboarding was more exciting and interesting to watch. I've never been to a skate park, not sure if they were a thing in my area when I was a kid.



Lol, I heard this joke from my brother in high school as "What's the hardest thing about rollerblading in Central Park?" Funny enough, I was in Central Park over the weekend and thought how awesome it would be if I had my rollerblades 🤣

What's the hardest thing about wearing spandex and playing bicycles in the woods with a bunch of other men wearing spandex?
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it died because it took too long to changes your skates lol. That guy seems pretty spot on.
 
Operation back from the dead was a success, good news but dampened by two bad ones…1 full size smaller than what I wear now and left boot had been squatted in by a family of rodents. No structural damage to either the fabric or the plastic but plenty gross. Blasting with compressed air took care of the appearance, now to some serious antibacterial to take care of the nasties…

Solomon Speedster 1997 circa, are they any good? @JimN, you’re the expert, what say you?
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I was into skating as a way to blow off stress in grad school. I'd work from like 7:30 in the morning until around midnight or even later almost every day and then I'd be too wired to go to sleep. So I bought a pair of skates I really couldn't afford and started skating all over the Lehigh campus in the wee hours of the morning whenever I couldn't sleep. I spent one Sunday morning teaching myself how to use them (I'd never even used quads before that) and then just went out and started riding everything I thought looked interesting. I was pretty miserable in school so I didn't give a shit if I got hurt or anything, so I was willing to do whatever and I'd heard from someone that the campus was a great playground for skating. I learned everything by trial and (quite frequent) error. I even made my own pair of street skates out of the ones I had by removing the middle wheel and eventually replacing the others with smaller wheels. By the time I finished school, I was able to do quite a bit on those skates - jump steps, grind the library stair rail (it was maybe four feet long and although there were two in a row separated by about a three foot gap that I just never got the balls to try and do it all at once.) I literally learned how to balance on a rail by reading an article that described how you do it and then just trying it again and again until I felt less shaky. (Yup - quite possibly the lamest way anyone ever learned how to do that - a so-called "outlaw" move that I learned by reading a manual! 🤣) For the most part, I liked to just go up to the iron gate where the frat house row started and take the walkways down to the bottom of the campus jumping everything I could on the way. My right elbow still clicks everytime I twist it from the dozens of hard falls I took over two years. I don't know why I just stopped when I finished school - I guess after I moved away there was just nothing quite like that campus around. But it's probably for the best - the thought of skating that way again at my age terrifies me.
 
1speed said:
So I bought a pair of skates I really couldn't afford and started skating all over the Lehigh campus in the wee hours of the morning whenever I couldn't sleep.
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1speed said:
I liked to just go up to the iron gate where the frat house row started and take the walkways down to the bottom of the campus jumping everything I could on the way.
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1speed said:
the thought of skating that way again at my age terrifies me.
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Lol, I was at Lehigh 1999-2003, and I lived up on that hill for two years. A guy in my fraternity would ride a longboard down to class, and I always thought he was nuts.
 
JimN said:
Lol, I was at Lehigh 1999-2003, and I lived up on that hill for two years. A guy in my fraternity would ride a longboard down to class, and I always thought he was nuts.
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I was there 95-97 and there was a guy who rode a longboard there in 97. He used to come screaming down the hill on Taylor Street. I remember this dude had blonde dreds. Given the timing, it could be the same guy if that's what your frat brother looked like!
 
Another LU alum here (2001-2005). Both @JimN and @1speed chose the wrong sport there. Great mtb trails right on campus that were born in the '90s. I too dabbled in "aggressive inline" as a teenager but realized very quickly that I was way better at bikes.
 
serviceguy said:
Operation back from the dead was a success, good news but dampened by two bad ones…1 full size smaller than what I wear now and left boot had been squatted in by a family of rodents. No structural damage to either the fabric or the plastic but plenty gross. Blasting with compressed air took care of the appearance, now to some serious antibacterial to take care of the nasties…

Solomon Speedster 1997 circa, are they any good? @JimN, you’re the expert, what say you?
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Salomon makes a solid skate. You probably won’t find much better in stores these days.
 
Not sure, mine are 9.5 US but 43 1/3 EU. One strap broke, I guess my rolling bladder rollerblader career came to an abrupt stop before even being restarted. Not picking up another hobby.
 
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