Butt-sweat

So happy right now! A friend of mine came over for dinner and then we headed down to school so I could practice a bit. Pretty sure the janitor wouldn't approve but daaamn that floor was nice to skate on! So smooth compared to the asphalt from my first time. It was almost too smooth though, my wheels didn't really grip very well. I can't wait to try out the floor where we will be practicing, I wonder what it's like.

My friend was an excellent coach and we practiced skating, stopping, getting upp from sitting on one knee, pushing with my toestops and we also tried him gently tackling me while I was just rolling, to see how it felt. All in all we were there for about an hour.

Oh and I tried out my 'tailsaver' (a tailbone pad) for the first time. Didn't fall on my butt so I don't know if it works, but I feel less scared of falling which I hope leads to me daring to go faster. It was so warm though, I sweated right through my tights! :D

Bambi on ice

Today it snowed. This sucks. Despite the freezing temperature outside I decided I just couldn't wait to try on my skates a bit more. So I biked down to a parking garage and warmed up for about 15 minutes... Felt horribly silly doing jumping jacks in the deserted garage, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

I felt pretty shaky when I put the skates on, but it actually went really well! I skated around (well... skated is a bit of an exaggeration... stumbled is probably a better description hehe) for about 30 minutes and I didn't fall a single time, even though I was pretty damn close more than once! The asphalt wasn't very smooth though and these wheels definitely aren't made for outside skating because ouch, I felt every stone. And I think I put my jacket in someone's pee. But apart from that;  YAY!

AAAAHHHH!

On my way home from uni I was so tired I was almost hoping my gear wouldn't arrive today. But when I came home and found a note from the postman I got so excited I could hardly contain myself. Must've looked quite silly standing in line at the post office with a huuuge smile on my face...

I was so nervous when I unpacked the box, but the roller skates fit! But my pads didn't... As I mentioned, I ordered the 187 killer pro pads and they feel very clumsy and large, even though they're too small in circumference. So I will try to sell or exchange them and probably pick another brand. Perhaps the ones designed for derby? If anyone has suggestions they are very welcome!

So my initial reactions are that 

1. Holy crap this is difficult

2. The skates are so heavy, I had no idea!

Friday night

Handed in paper for uni. Had amazing dinner. Now eating sweets and teaching my mom the basic rules of roller derby.

Ps. My gear was shipped out yesterday! :D :D :D

Order update

Well, at least I got an email from them today saying that the helmet I had selected was out of stock. I might have asked them to hurry up in my reply....hehe. So hopefully they'll ship it out tomorrow. Seriously, these days of waiting... longest days ever.

Send. My. Stuff. Now.

"Order processing"

WHAT DOES IT EVEN MEAN? Just pack the gear and ship it!

Kind regards,
girl who's checked her order status 20 times in the last 48 hours...

Fighting my way through the gear jungle

For once I wasn't all sensible. I decided to buy gear before I've ever tried standing on a pair of skates. And how easy is that? Not easy at all, I can tell you this much. I've spent HOURS researching pros and cons with all the different brands of skates and pads. At first I wanted a pair of pink & black Anarchys (cause they look awesome) but as I did some more reading I realized they're probably not very good. So instead I went for the Riedell R3's which seem lika good beginner skate. I also decided on the long gumball toe stops.

So this past Sunday I sat down to order. I wanted to order from the Swedish shop but as they haven't replied to any of my emails I was afraid the shipping would take for ever. And I didn't want to order from the US as I've heard several horror stories about the insane amounts you have to pay to get it through customs. A friend of mine in Norway hade to pay 650 NOK! Oh the horror. So I decided to go for an English shop. I spent about 2 hours trying to find a bloody shop that had all the gear I wanted which seemed IMPOSSIBLE! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Finally I got a tip about Kickflipboards where they sell rookie packages.

I decided to upgrade on the pads as I really want to be well protected. (When I showed some friends today I realized I must've had a complete brain snap as that package was one of the most expensive ones. What was I thinking!?) Anyways, I went for the 187 pro-pads as I read somewhere that it was like "falling on kittens" - hehe. I've been told that the wheels on the R3:s suck, but I figure I gotta find out what kind of surface I'll be practicing on before I buy new ones.

It got....pretty pricey. But hopefully totally worth it. Now I'll just have to wait and see and hope everything fits!

From 0 to 100

As the headline tells this happened pretty fast. I've known about roller derby for a few years and I've thought it's insanely cool but I've been too much of a chicken to even imagine myself skating. It was actually my mom who suggested I should start playing to "toughen up"... Heh. Since then I've been completely obsessed with reading blogs, watching documentaries, reseraching skates and pads. I also went to my second bout, which was two of Sweden's best teams; Stockholm Roller Derby vs Crime City Rollers, which was awesome. How very convinient then, that a team has started up here and will have try outs in less than a month. HELL YEAH! Lets do this!