Apparently.
I was super psyched to whip out my roller blades from 1996 and take them for a spin for the first time in 15 years. I think this is the year for me to “get back on the horse” so to speak and rediscover (er, re-learn how to do…) things I used to love doing – bike riding and roller blading for example. So I bought a new bike and dug my blades out of our Texas garage where they have been warmly and comfortably stored for over a decade without use, and moved them to Ohio with us. Ted used to blade often in high school and in college. His blades are no newer than mine, but they’ve definitely been used more recently and frequently. Last year while he was living in Lansing he even switched out his old wheels for a brand new set. Someone’s on top of things (hint: it’s not me.)
Not only had my roller blades sat unused for 15 years and not seen the light of day from their hot Texas garage, but they still have the original set of wheels on them (vintage!), and I also had no idea I was supposed to have been rotating the wheels periodically all these years. Um, my bad. Obviously, as if the above criteria were not enough to nominate me for the sports-equipment-owner-of-the-year award, I also didn’t realize that rubber eventually expires. I somehow thought that years of neglect would lead to good things during my first time out blading since I was a kid.
Clearly, this was not the case.
Much like my first time on a bike since I was a kid, getting used to roller blading again was less than pretty. Both took me a lot of trail and error, negotiating, remembering, and pushing myself to stop being a pansy. I bladed slowly at first and once I got the hang of it, I started getting faster and my strides became smoother…then slower and choppier. Then my wheels wouldn’t roll and I became concerned that I was seriously out of shape. Until I looked down and saw my rubber wheels, shredded, with nearly half the rubber missing on nearly every wheel.
Impressive! At least I take comfort in the fact that my extreme struggles weren’t due to pansy-ness, the excessive heat index, my lack of mad roller blading skills, or my being way out of shape, but rather to wheels that should have been replaced about a decade ago.
Oops.
With that we cut our daily exercise agenda short (the best laid plans right?) and went over to Dick’s Sporting Goods to see what they could do for us. Now I may be waving my cheapskate fly high here, but since when did roller blade wheels get so expensive!? And until I can pony up the courage to fork over $40 for a new set of wheels (which may be soon), we’ll be sticking to biking. And I was so looking forward to taking up blading again! Though perhaps it’ll be much nicer in the fall when it’s 60 degrees out instead of 105.
Good thing I’ve got my bike Carmela! :-)
Let this be a lesson to you all: Yanking something out storage after 15 years and expecting it to work like a charm? Probably isn’t going to happen. So in the meantime (you know, to make yourself feel better about cutting your exercise session short) help yourself to hearty bowlful of Haagen Daz Sweet Chai Latte ice cream because it is sinfully delicious and definitely makes you forget about exercising.
