Skating in Bakersfield

So, I went with the Moseley's skating at their skatepark in Bakersfield. I brought my skateboard and pads and helmet and stuff (okay, it's been a long time since I've worn any of those...), but at the same time, I was wondering what the point was, feeling pretty confident that I wouldn't actually try anything at the skatepark. Skating at a skatepark seems too much like doing tricks or something, and I know I'm not at that level. Basically, all I do is skate on pretty straight areas, with maybe a few hills here and there.

I skated on the flat parts and watched the kids do the ramps and stuff. With a little pressure from the girls (a lot from Stanzi), I decided that I was going to do one of the ramps and then when I got to the top, I just kept thinking about the last time I went down a hill and how freaking scary that was. So, I wound up not going down the ramp. (Well, I went down sitting on my board. Thank goodness Bill didn't have a camera. And I still wound up falling off my board- I have a bruise!)

I promised the kids that I'd go down the ramp the next time I come up, and while I don't know when that will be, I better get practicing doing some hills. It might help if I skated more than every two weeks. I am determined to get to Manhattan Beach to skate at least once this week, during the week. That might make me less stressed out about my work, too.

Hills are scary

So after my little issue with speed wobbles, and after talking with Mr. Bill for a little while about how to fix the problem, I decided to go back to the little hill in Manhattan Beach to see if I could get through it without any speed wobbles. I bent my legs, spread my feet apart and started down the hill. No wobbles. However... near the bottom, my board started having a mind of it's own and turning where it wanted, at a pretty high rate of speed. So, I bailed. Going really fast. I was going pretty fast when I hopped off, thinking I would stop, when really I needed to run. My right leg is pretty sore and my board crashed into the wall. But hey, I survived.

It's been a looooong time

My last blog was in August. It's November. That's about how long it's been since I've *really* skated too, but today I got out there, with a lot of thanks to John. He texted me Friday and asked if I wanted to skate this weekend. My first inclination lately is to say no to anything anyone asks me to do, but instead I said yes. We met up in Manhattan Beach and I was a little worried. I'm always worried about trying somewhere new because while I have some control of my board, if a place is really crowded, I'm just not sure I'll be able to not run into someone.

That being said, it was an awesome day. John has got to be the most patient person in the world. I'm still pretty slow, but John just rides a little ahead, does tricks and tries not to fall right in front of me. (That's a request I've made of him so I don't wipe out too.) Wendy came by too, which is awesome, because it's always good to have another female skating around me, since I see so few of them.

The Manhattan Beach strand is a great place to skate. Wide sidewalks, totally smooth, not very many people and even a few downhill spots to try and get comfortable with some speed. I got some speed wobbles today when I skated, so I need to work on that. Freaked me out a bit, but I'll keep working on it.

We've decided to make this little outing weekly, so next week, hopefully, I'm going to get a new video going with my two skater friends. :-)