So yesterday started 'serious' training for me. Not eating crap. No more boozing it up. (So obviously I was hung over from the night before.) My friend Greg and I decided to add rollerblading to the other physical conditioning stuff. So yesterday evening he brought me out to this paved trail in the woods that I had no idea existed. It was pretty cool, I saw six different deer, lots of raccoons and a skunk.
We got to the top of this bridge about three miles in and decided perhaps we should head back. It was starting to get dark and I was beginning to get the feelings of blisters starting on my feet. I hadn't been skating in a long while and was on brand new skates. We start back down the hill. It's really steep. A dad with two little girls on bikes passed us on the way down the hill. I tripped.
The next five seconds were incredibly long, because I knew I was going to fall and I knew it was going to hurt. I tried applying the break to no avail. I said 'fuck' in a normal, conversational tone of voice. I tried to grab on to the chain link fence next to me to attempt to slow myself. Obviously to no avail. Instead the interruption in my, up until this point, straight downward progress was now altered to the point where I was spun around violently and smashed face first into the fence and concrete breaker before bouncing off and to the ground, where I think I rolled once before completely stopping.
The dad and his little girls came back to see if I was okay while Greg was scraping me off the ground. I recalled that I had said 'fuck' and wondered if they had heard me. I didn't really care either way. We got off of the hill without further incident and then I fell again for completely no reason once we were on the flat. Greg just looked at me and said "That sucks!" Because yeah. What sucks about falling right after you're turning around after skating three miles into the woods is that you then have to skate three miles out of the woods while bleeding and embarrassed. A deer ran across the path about seven feet in front of us. I though how much it would suck if I ran into a deer.
I really actually didn't get banged up too bad considering. I have a big purple bruise on my lower lip, which is all swollen and my arms are all scraped up and there's a small scrape on my back, but I'm mostly fine. What bothers me is that I am going to have to go on that hill again sometime soon and I'm scared of it now.
anthony [email] said at 11:36 AM 06-03-2008: I have a two large scars on one of my elbows. One stems from riding a bike down a hill at full speed, and the chain breaking leading me to skid on my elbow and knee for about 10-15 feet down the road. A couple walking came over to ask if I was OK, and I wasn't but my pride said I was so I hobbled several blocks home to my girlfriend and I sat there in the shower bleeding all over myself feeling like an idiot as she used tweezers to pick pieces of asphalt out of me. In hindsight I should have gone to get stitches but instead I spent several weeks bleeding through gauze. There are still black specks mixed in with the scar. I still ride my bike down hills but faster now.
meredith [email] said at 11:52 AM 06-03-2008: Ow. That sounds much worse than my fall. I hit the wall a couple times while I was still mostly upright and on the way down rolled also, so I didn't skid quite so painfully as you I don't think.
I have five scars on my body that are looking like permanent ones. One is from chicken pox, one is from falling off of a riding lawn mower when I was ten, one is from Jake the cat and two are from rollerblading. I don't think the ones I've just acquired will be permanent.
anthony [email] said at 12:33 PM 06-03-2008: Have you ever considered that rollerblading might lead to your death?
I should have a scar from this but I don't. When I was ten, my best friend and I were riding a four wheeler on my grandparents' farm and I decided it would be a good idea to ramp it off a pile of sand. We flew off with the four wheeler running over the both of us. We were bleeding and both had tire track shaped rubber burns. Sometimes I wonder how I or many of my friends aren't dead yet.
meredith [email] said at 1:46 PM 06-03-2008: I have actually always thought either an old lady driver or a bus would be the death of me. But I suppose either of those could kill me just as well on rollerblades.
Dude, it IS a wonder you didn't die. When I worked for the Louisiana Farm Bureau, my boss had a clipping service and they would send him newspaper clippings of anything having to do with farms or farm equipment even remotely. Every time he went through them there was always a little side article about some kids who were killed on their four-wheeler.
anthony [email] said at 3:00 PM 06-03-2008: Thankfully I was able to overcome my shortsightedness and the glory that is tragedy. We all need things to aspire towards.
meredith [email] said at 1:48 PM 06-03-2008: You know... I have fallen in many different and painful configurations. It's so interesting. I still would rather rollerblade around the city than bike. The reason is that I fear being doored.
Todd said at 3:35 AM 06-07-2008: Not to sound too Freudian or anything, but riding a bike - having a piece of metallic machinery underneath, in front of, and behind oneself - just seems to provide this sense of protection. Granted, if someone were to open a door quickly, a bike might be harder to quickly veer around said obstacle, compared to roller blades. But, the bike itself - if angled properly - could create a nice impact zone for hitting the door. Plus, it would probably do some nice damage to the person opening the door if not the door itself, thus reminding the person next time to look in their mirror before opening their door blindly. Whereas, it's kinda just your body if you're on rollerblades. And a body is soft - not a lot of damage done to the other party, really. You know, the value in crashing is really about teaching someone a lesson, I think. And mostly through property damage.
meredith [email] said at 5:43 PM 06-08-2008: See, I feel like you go so much faster on a bike. And like you become a larger animal, with more to hit. More to watch out for. And that you'd be falling to the ground from a higher place. I'm probably stupid and bikes are probably much safer than rollerblades.
Todd said at 10:14 PM 06-08-2008: Yeah, I guess bikes make for a little more unwieldiness; kinda like being a small pachyderm cruising the street. Whereas being on rollerblades is more like being a tree, but like on a lazy susan or something. I guess both have their tactical advantages, and vulnerabilities. I guess an advantage to rollerblades is that you could just kinda stop, drop, and roll in an emergency, esp. if you have pads and a pack of Charmin back up in there. On a bike, I suppose brakes are an advantage, but you're right, you would fall from a higher distance, and not so progressively as one might with blades on, AND you're entwined with rigid, metallic tubes that move, spin, and can lodge themselves in an orifice or 3.
I'm thinking the ideal would be either rollerblading inside a large hamster ball and/or straddling a long q-tip.
