Thursday, December 23, 2010

New skates = sore bum

I got birthday skates this year. This was a very well-informed, extremely needed gift from my folks and I'm thrilled. They gathered intelligence using my husband and my friend and league-mate Dee, who owns Bruised Boutique, and got me EXACTLY what I wanted. I now have Riedell 965 boots mounted on XK4 DA45 plates (short/forward mount). I can't even begin to say how touched and grateful I am that they did that.

After skating on a slightly larger plate mounted all the way back on my skate for so long, I felt like I was re-learning some basic skating habits last night. At least once it became apparent that my "hanging out and listening between drills" body posture will have to change - I kept tipping backwards and fell on my bum at least once. Thank goodness I remembered my butt pads this time.

The plates are nicely maneuverable and snappy. I'm sure the shorter plate helps, and man, these 45 degree trucks are excellent. I always loosened my trucks as far as they would go before the wheels hit the boot, and even fully tightened these are looser than my old ones. I'll probably experiment with softer cushions to see how far I can push this, because I love wiggly skates.

I'm pleasantly surprised at how easy these are on my feet given their newness. I hope this comfort lasts - I'm always suspicious of insta-comfort boots and their long-term fit. However, my friends who wear these boots have all said that they don't stretch like crazy, and the padding inside doesn't smoosh and flatten out, leaving too much space. Fingers crossed.

6 comments:

hippiejo said...

Totally jealous of your new rockin' skates! So nice of your fam to get them :D

Anonymous said...

Hi there, I was wondering if you'd be willing to give some advice to some "fresh meat." I just joined derby 2 weeks ago, and I really love it when I'm there practicing. But the stuff surrounding practice is rather vicious, and fm are rarely spoken to. I guess I'm asking if I should hang in there or not. I mean I joined to make friends, not be treated like I don't exist. Do I really want to be friends with mean girls, or are they just putting on an act? I'm an assertive, aggressive person, but I'm not mean. Maybe I'm not made for the sport?

Unknown said...

Hey there - I'm so sorry it took me this long to respond! I must have turned off the "notify me of new comments" feature on my blog without realizing. My bad.

I know it's been months since you posted this, and I hope that things have gotten better for you. It's crazy hard to start out in any new venture, but something as physical and all-consuming as derby is especially tough. Some leagues have really obvious mean girls who treat derby like a trip in the way-back-machine to junior high, and I'm sorry to hear that your league sounds like such a place. :(

It's easy to say "screw those jerks" for someone who is outside of the experience, so I won't say anything as simplistic as that. Definitely don't change yourself to become friends with people who treat you like crap, though - they'll just take pieces of you away until you can't look yourself in the mirror without being ashamed of what you've become.

Are they really aggressively mean, or are there any quiet ladies who are stand-offish because they're shy? Some of the nicest people I've met through derby came off as uptight and snobby at first, but after I got to know them I learned that they were really nervous and shy around new people, and some were just as intimidated by me as I was by them. I can come off that way sometimes when I'm around new people.

Are there any kindhearted people on the league you can trust? Sometimes even one or two friendly faces can help you survive until you find your place in a new social group. These could be other people who started when you did, or they could be vets who've been everywhere and done everything. Hell, they could be skaters or officials from other leagues too if there are any in your area. If there are other local leagues you could also see what their social environment is like too in case one of those would be a better fit.

Sometimes the best way to survive is to take solace in the sport and wait to see if the social aspect is worth it. If you love skating, competing, and kicking butt, stick it out if you can. Again, this is coming months later, so I hope this has worked out well for you since you posted. My fingers are crossed for you dude. <3

Anonymous said...

965 boots, nomnom, is one of the boots I dream on having someday (SEDS got me already), and bruised boutique is fantastic, I bought my skates with them as well.
Im following you here, if you feel like it you can visit my roller derby blog as well

pnnylane said...

Hi,
I run a blog all about roller derby :) Maybe you've heard of it Derby Girls Blog , We're always looking for contributing writers- writers can publish there own posts and add all there own images. There is no limit ot how often you can post either. And here's the really cool thing- we get over 50K unique visitors a month, so it's a great way to really be heard and to drive traffic back to your own blog. My idea is that it would be really cool to have all derby writers coming together in one space :) I know that would make my life easier to follow and read all the stuff I love! Anyway, if you're into the idea hit me up at pnnylane@hotmail.com if not- super happy I got to check out your site! Rock On! :) -Zippy

Daphne said...

Love your new skates! Hope you've been having fun with them!