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Inline Just in Time

From the moment the author first donned a pair of inline skates during high school, she coveted a pair of her own. Not until last summer, however, did she give in to her desire to purchase a pair of skates and learn the basics. What prompted her to give in? She had decided to participate in her first adventure race, the Salomon X-Adventure World Cup, which took place in Aspen last July. Faced with the prospect of several inline skating segments, she realize that the time had come for her to get out there on the paths to test out her new wheels.

Now that I actually needed skates, instead of simply wanting them, I realized that I’d better do some research before dropping the money to buy a pair. I found some helpful background information on the Internet. I came away knowing that I would be spending roughly $150-$200 for a decent pair. The rest of the information, I have to admit, overwhelmed me a bit. Terms like “durometer,” “rockering” and “ABEC ratings” reminded me of how I felt when I first starting rock climbing – utterly clueless. “Just give me the skates!” I thought to myself.

One thing that had always held me back from delving into the inline world was my persistent and lifelong fear of speed, or rather, my fear of uncontrollable speed. Skate brakes just seemed so totally ineffective from what I’d seen, not to mention scary to learn how to use. So when I found a pair of Rollerblades (Ketalphas) with Active Braking Technology (ABT) – meaning no tipping my foot back to brake – I was sold. To activate the brake, I would simply slide my braking foot forward while bending my non-braking leg. And they fit nicely, too!

After outfitting myself for battle – pads and a helmet were necessities, as far as I was concerned – I headed out for a 10-minute road test, which quickly turned into an hour-long adventure in discovering the freedom of inline skates. This proved amazingly fun, despite my utter inadequacy at going downhill. Luckily, I’m no dare devil –I gladly hand-over-handed my way down the guardrails of the steep paved bridges near my home.

I spent the next few weeks getting adjusted to my new toys, skating around on the flattest, smoothest surfaces I could find and loving almost every minute of it. Fairly quickly, I developed that strange, anxious desire to test the limits of my ability. With that in mind, one day I decided to explore a new path that I hadn’t tried before. I skated out against the wind, not really noticing the subtle uphill tilt of the entire path – until I turned around.

Oops! Too late, I realized my mistake. Faced with heading downhill on a curvy path, I gritted my teeth and gave it a whirl. As I started rolling down the pavement with the wind at my back, picking up speed, I quickly recognized that I had absolutely no ability to stop. Brakes – forget about ’em! Somehow I knew they’d send me flying if I tried to engage them. Looking ahead, I saw a sharp curve that led to an underpass. I saw the cement banking of the wall. So I did what any sensible person would do. Continuing to pick up speed, I chose my landing area with care, headed for the edge of the pavement and dove headfirst into the grass.

Amazingly, it didn’t hurt at all – soft as a mattress, the lush green grass cushioned my fall. Chagrined, I picked myself up and started to roll down the rest of the hill, this time applying the brake the whole way down. Not much fun, but at least I wasn’t speeding out of control. I made it home uneventfully, but with an important lesson learned – I must learn how to stop without the brakes! ABT brakes or no, inline skate brakes, in my humble opinion, are a sorry excuse for a fast way to stop. My brother, an inline skating maniac, confirmed my suspicion that learning to stop without brakes is absolutely necessary for safe skating. In fact, he recently emailed me extensive directions on learning the T-stop.

A year later, I have to admit that I learned to T-stop shortly after this incident and subsequently removed the ABT brakes from my skates. And that hill that once seemed so terrifying? To me now, it’s a fun, easy and slow downhill cruise – it’s amazing what a difference a year can make!