NationStates Jolt Archive


Speed Skating

Naturality
09-04-2007, 02:40
Back in the 80's I use to compete in roller skating (now called quad). I wore Riedell 1000's (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lowpriceskates.com/ProductImages/quad/boots/Riedell_125.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lowpriceskates.com/browseproducts/Riedell-125-RS-1000-Boots.html&h=300&w=400&sz=26&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=n9CmUTaKsYy9hM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Driedell%2B1000%2Bquad%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DJxM%26sa%3DN) - but in white (not the original pic , but it looks just like my pair(still have em). I used Labeda wheels. Went through a few pair, but my usual were split color.. like pink and purple or purple and black.. not the turbo wheels with the aluminum cylinder in them, just the regular old Labedas. As for the plate.. I never had the lighter weight 'fast' plate. I bumped the heavy steel one, but I'm glad I did now.. worked my legs and back out even that much more.

The 1000's weren't the best, but they were alright. The pair I would've preferred to have was the 595 (http://www.newskates.com/index.asp?initemuid=4080&fcmd=item&inmenu=menu) with a plastic (or fiberglass?) plate. We didn't use toe stops (but were required to have them in some rinks) .. we stopped by hockey sliding.

I hold some very fond memories from that time in my life. And firsts of many. We were young enough to still be somewhat innocent, but old enough to know what was going on (well ..what was going on that could affect you at that age anyway). We use to have all night skates (bet that's unheard of now.. many a girl lost their virginity during those .. doh) I stopped going to the rink shortly after my friend and me got our drivers licenses, even though I had already been allowed to drive some, the license gave us much more freedom. Some from the rink had already left.. either from getting pregnant, going to college, going to work. There weren't really no good byes .. we just faded away from each other.

Like with most people, sound or smell brings back memories with the most vigor. And I heard something I hadn't heard in a long time tonight ..but it isn't one of these (couldn't find it on you tube).. but it brought back two that were played often. At my rink we usually ran with AC/DC.. Meanstreak.. or Heatseeker (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh1VjKT9dJg) .. a close rink that we use to skate against often played Jam On It (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqodwDl2xZM). This is the first time I'm seeing the video for that lol. But as I said in my sig, this video is cut. It was much longer.

But .. back to the skating. My rinks floor had no shellac. A must for most rinks. And there wasn't a competition held at our rink because we didn't have it. Plus our rink was 'skinny' .. we were long on the straightaway but short on curves.. where of course shellac would come into play. We learned to grip anyway. When we'd go to a 'better' rink we'd have to get use to the auto gripping. We learned to fast hop or jump if you will, past people. Where the other teams were using smooth long strokes on corners.. we'd quick hop around them. But.. they were actually skating the right way.. covering more ground per push etc. and expending less energy while doing it. But we still beat em sometimes hehe. fun.. fun.

Did any of you use to roller (quad) skate.. or do you now? In the 80's was this type of skating popular in the UK .. Europe, Aus, Canada?