I want a pair of roller skates. Talk me out of it

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

I roller-skated a fair bit in grade school and high school. Got decent at it, though I never quite mastered skating backwards.

Fast forward a couple of decades and I had kids. Now, at first, there was actually a roller rink in our area that, one morning a week, would do “stroller skating”. Seriously. You’d take your baby in a stroller out onto the skating floor. It was fun.

I tried rollerblading as well (before kids, actually) and never manage to get comfortable with it. Rougher surfaces, and a lot of roller rinks would not allow rollerblades. And I guess I was getting too old to not care any more about falling and getting up - whereas, as a young kid, that was part of the experience.

I tried rollerblading again when my daughter was 10 or so - we even took lessons together. I still had trouble getting over the fear of falling, and wound up giving it up.

So my thinking is:

  1. Are your bones in decent shape? (I would not dare, now, at age “been 29 for a looooong time” and with mild osteopenia).
  2. Do you have safe places to skate?
  3. Do you have any other health issues which would suggest that falling would be a Very Bad Idea?
  4. And are you talking roller blades (inline) or the traditional rectangular layout? I think I’d still do fine with the traditional layout.

eta: Aha - on re-reading, it sounds like you’re interested in the regular skates vs inline. I’d say go for it!

42

Bringing this one forward because I think I’ve found the ideal roller skates:

I am very familiar with Wifa skates, as my ice skates are Wifas (though they have John Wilson Coronation Ace blades). In my experience, Wifas get used to your foot, and you get used to their fit, and the both of you get along very well. These roller skates seem to be beautifully handmade skates, and I see no reason why the Wifas that I knew then wouldn’t obtain now. I cannot comment on the default trucks, but I’m sure that the outdoor ones are just fine for the park. Maybe even for dance.

Thoughts?

43

I put my pointe shoes on the other day. (Grandwrex really like that stuff)
The shoes are old but still flexible and the bone is still good.
Up I went. Omg. That hurt so bad!!
My ankles are still good. Knees? Eh. So so.
But my feet. Oh lord. Never again.

Don’t buy til you try.

44

I started ice skating when I was 6, but I didn’t try roller skating until high school. I definitely agree with the above but, of course, I can’t make it an all inclusive claim because other people may react differently.

45

Just make sure you also get a brand-new key. Or you won’t be able to try them out, you see.

46

I’d strongly suggest a bone density test for osteoporosis. Adults can have weak bones and not know it.

Otherwise a helmet and pads are advised for anyone skating or rollerblading.

47

My BFF bought a pair of skates a year or so ago. She wore them twice before falling and breaking both wrists. She still has gripping problems and weakness in her hands.

Happily, she had almost 6 months of PTO saved up…not anymore.

Her husband threw the skates away.

48

When The Daughter was in middle school, she wanted a pair of in-line skates. I excluded myself from the conversation, and turned the whole thing over to Mr VOW.

The two of thm shopped and found the skates, and got knee and elbow pads.

She fell on the sidewalk in front of our house. Her Daddy took her to Urgent Care for her busted wrist.

~VOW

49

I was an avid inline skater for years and miss it.

I’m upvoting this move.

Meanwhile, an incremental approach would begin with a Brand New Key.

50

I really don’t have the chance or choice, @Beckdawrek . Nobody in my little city carries quad skates (rollerblades are all over the place, so no sporting goods store carries anything but), and I am not about to travel over two or twelve or more hours to try before I buy.

These skates are available by mail-order, or in-person, though I cannot make it to Vancouver, typically. Though the site does have a phone number I can call, and I plan to use that. They do allow returns, so there’s that. I can order a size up, to accommodate my foot’s wide width.

And yes, I do have a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, and wrist guards. I’ll need them, as the asphalt I plan to skate on is a lot less forgiving than the ice I used to skate on. Hope to shed those as I get more sure of myself, but in the beginning–yes, all the pads and helmet I can get.

Worth making a phone call, anyway.

51

Don’t do it! The same thing could happen to you that happened to me.

When I was a kid, I had a pair of metal skates (the old fashion type that you clamp to your shoes, with a key). I used to skate all around the neighborhood. I was fast. I was acrobatic. I was cool. Jimmy James Dean-cool

When I turned pre-teen, I took the wheels from my skates and put them on a skateboard I made in my dad’s wood shop. I wasn’t as good a skateboarder as a skater, but I was OK.

I few years later, I got interested in girls and disinterested in skating. I still had my Schwinn Continental for transportation, then upgraded to a motorcycle later on.

Fast-forward a few decades. I’ve now got 2 young daughters, and it was time to show the girls just how cool and graceful their dad used to be on a pair of skates. So, I took them to our local roller rink. I’d never skated on a roller rink before, nor used in-line skates, but surely it couldn’t be much different than skating on the street with old-timey skates, right?

Wrong. The first thing I noticed when we entered the rink is how incredibly fast the skaters were skating. OK. No problem. I was pretty fast skating down the street when I was 10, I’m sure muscle memory will kick in and I’ll be flying like the wind around this rink immediately.

My muscles must have had Alzheimer’s. They let me down—hard. I made a complete fool of myself (yes, hard to believe). I could barely stand up on the infernal in-line skates, and the rink was way too slick and slippery.

It’s pretty ego-deflating when you expect your kids to point at you, cheer, and proudly proclaim, that’s my dad, look at him go! But, instead, they point and laugh at you, then help you off the rink, giggling all the way. They, on the other hand, took to skating right away, skating better than I ever did in my prime. Damn kids.

I tried to redeem my reputation the following year, taking my little brats darling daughters to an ice-skating rink (yes, they have them in Florida). Oh, man, I used to skate on the iced-over creek near my house when I was a kid, like Peggy Fleming (in my mind at least).

Well…that went about as well as the roller-skating fiasco, which is to say, not well at all. The image of a led balloon comes to mind.

So, my advice is to not attempt re-living past glories, like skating when you were a kid. The mind may be willing, but the aging body says, uh uh—not gonna happen. Besides, there are better things to do as a mature adult, like reclining in your Lazy-boy with a bottle of beer.

52

I’m pretty hopeless at any sort of skating, and the stories in this thread have convinced me that I don’t need to try too many more times - I’ve not yet broken a bone in my 38 years on this Earth and I’d quite like to keep it that way. Then again, I regularly ride a bike on busy roads, which probably carries a similar risk of injury, so I’m probably inconsistent. To the OP I say go for it, if you consider the enjoyment outweighs the risks.

Missed this the first time round - so, does your butt still have a crack in it?

53

Yes, and the doctor says it always will!

54

Um, doesn’t everybody’s butt always… oh, never mind