We skated on a bit to take a little break in a park. Bathroom, water, skate removal to rest the feet, skate talk, etc. I sure needed that.
Author: AgingSkater
Skate Day, Part 2
The first place Asha had us practice the stepping plow stop was tricky. It was stepped slope where the flat areas were covered with those bumpy plates you see at crosswalks. I do not know what they are called, typically yellow, bunch of raised circles on them.
Was an interesting challenge primarily because we all sucked at it, but it also became a little more technical with those flat sections with the bumps. You had to do the plow stop until you got to those plates, then quickly scissor over them to prevent falling on your face, then immediately on the other side of it go back into the stepping plow stop. Trying to do this, with a skill you are learning, and still maintain control of your speed, is difficult.
Skate Day, Part 1, a Fall
I do not have a whole lot of photos from the day. I was more worried about not dying on the terrain.
We started out early; 7am. I figured I would head out a little bit early since I was not exactly sure how to get to the meeting point. I had planned to scout it out the night before, but that was the day I did all the walking, my ankle was hurting, and I wanted to avoid making it worse.
I left my room around 6:30 and headed to the elevator. The elevator stopped on the way down to pick up two more people; both of whom had inline skates and all the gear that goes with it. Perfect, somebody to show me where to go.
Hills
I am not a big fan of hills on inline skates. The point between being in control and passing that point where you can slalom your way down or easily stop comes faster than you might think. At least it does for me, maybe I just need more hill practice?
I am in luck, sounds like there is some hill practice in store for me.
Meet Ficus
Public Transportation
Public transportation around here looks pretty well done. There are an incredible amount of buses anyway. I checked out their website, and it looked like the cheapest and easiest way to use the system was to buy a Go Card:
Process is simple enough. Buy a card, add money to it, tap the terminal when you get on the bus/train/ferry, and tap a terminal when you leave. 7-11 sells the cards, and I already found that.
Happy Phone
I have never seen my phone this happy with me before:
Usually I am FAR below what it thinks I should walk in a day. I do skate a couple of times a week, and it doesn’t track that… Still, I’ve never seen it all green and happy before.
