Skating in Washington State

[Ice Ramps]

Ok fellow skaters, I'm back from Afghanistan! For those just tuning in here is the background story:
http://www.skatelogforum.com/forums/...ad.php?t=39232

I never met the 100 mile in one skate goal, I was probably deployed/skating in the wrong time of year, by the time I worked up to being in good enough shape to make the attempt I had lots of snow and Ice to deal with.

Anyway I have been back for about a week and a half now. I skated twice before today's workout but once was at a public session at Skateland in Olympia (small floor but gripped very well could have used harder wheels there) and a 2nd time at Tiffany's Skate Inn in Puyallup, WA (Large rink and awesome floor)

I did not sleep well last night and got to sleep around 2AM but after the wife talked me into stopping at Krispy Kreme yesterday I promised myself I would skate this morning so without further elaboration here is "Day 1"
Roughly 16 miles but I reset my Garmin after a brief warm-up to test two different route distances.

Distance: 15.09 mi
Time: 1:20:00
Avg Pace: 5:18 min/mi
Time: 1:20:00
Moving Time: 1:18:53
Elapsed Time: 1:31:31
Avg Pace: 5:18 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 5:14 min/mi
Best Pace: 3:23 min/mi
Avg Speed: 11.3 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 11.5 mph
Max Speed: 20.2 mph
(Graph showed a brief spike at 28.1 but you know how these Garmins are)
I'll need to see that spike more than just once before I believe that.

I'm back in full custom Verducci's that are ancient (1996) with 6.5 spacing and using a Z-frame w/ 4x100 still. I have flat feet and tend to pronate inward especially on the stock Bont's I was using. These skates had my arch support built into the skate so until I get new custom skates I'm going to stick with these.

I skated laps on my unit's Motor Pool parking lot, each lap was roughly .45 miles. Everyone was off duty today so I had no traffic to worry about.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/166518010

-Dale

[PBLsQuad450]

Welcome home Dale! Thanks!

[Ice Ramps]

Thanks its great to be back! A couple of glitches I forgot to mention, there was drainage cover on the ground which while covered with a steel plate there was a border around it they at first glance appears to be concrete. It's not while skating over it my right blade chassis sank down between two pieces of rubber, I managed to transfer weight over to my left foot in a hurry and that resulted into almost a hard stomp, Left knee is a bit sore, this happened about mile 11/12. I'm good though just need to ice it some tonight perhaps. The other thing is a couple of times my wheels tried to follow the rut in between some of the slabs. I have a few other spots to try out, this one has perks of being all mine and no traffic to worry about.

Oh I forgot my headphones and sun glasses this morning too so that was another reason I stopped at 16.

-Dale

[online inline]

Yeah, welcome back.
Let me know if you can make the 35 min. drive north to Cedar River Trail in Renton, and we can roll it.
It;s about the nicest trail in the area, not at all congested, either. Well worth the drive in and of itself.
If you'd rather get a taste of Seattle, that;'s an extra half hour north. I skate that area a lot more commonly, but either works for me.
Be seein' ya.

[Ice Ramps]

Originally Posted by online inline

Yeah, welcome back.
Let me know if you can make the 35 min. drive north to Cedar River Trail in Renton, and we can roll it.
It;s about the nicest trail in the area, not at all congested, either. Well worth the drive in and of itself.
If you'd rather get a taste of Seattle, that;'s an extra half hour north. I skate that area a lot more commonly, but either works for me.
Be seein' ya.

Sold! Now its just a matter of when. My Daughter is 10 and skates pretty good so I may have to bring her too or wait until my wife is off work and/or get a sitter. I'm sure there will be days where I will take her but I wanna be able to cut loose some too.

Halfway considering a night skate here on base tonight....hmmm

-Dale

[Foot2big]

Welcome back home Dale!

[Ice Ramps]

Despite being pretty sore from this morning's 3.5 mile run (with last man up sprints) I tried out the new path across the street from my home in a new housing area on base. My 10 year old Daughter, Maria skated with me so it was short 3.74 miles and average speed was only 7mph but I had a few sprints in there of up to 23 mph. While skating Maria met a friend also skating on the same path. Turns out the whole loop is right at 1 mile. Here is a few pics of the path and the kids, Maria took a couple of me but they turned out horrible lol.








Anyway a place to skate next to my house so no excuse anymore! Maria is/has gotten pretty decent on her skates while I was deployed so time to buy speed skates for her too!

-Dale

[PBLsQuad450]

Hey Dale, this may be one of the best posts ever... And yours have been most of the other best... She is adorable!! My girl is 13. A dancer who I can't get to skate because her coaches tell her that she should not develop he thighs or butt. Both skaters mainstays. Thank you for sharing your journey!

[Ice Ramps]

Originally Posted by PBLsQuad450

Hey Dale, this may be one of the best posts ever... And yours have been most of the other best... She is adorable!! My girl is 13. A dancer who I can't get to skate because her coaches tell her that she should not develop he thighs or butt. Both skaters mainstays. Thank you for sharing your journey!

I'm glad to share my skating experiences, especially when it involves meeting other skaters! Kids are the best! I love it when kids get into skating! They are the real future of our sport not crusty artifacts like myself! lol Seriously, I often wonder what the future of our sport will be? I took my Daughter and two of her friends to Tiffany's Skate Inn in Puyallup, WA last weekend and was we paid $4 dollars for her friend to rent the worst pair of inline skates I have seen in awhile. Anyway This girl's B-day is coming up and she been a close friend of my Daughter's so guess what we got her? Yup K2 inline skates!

Not to side track my own thread but anything we can do to help grow our sport the better! I hope one day to see it back to its mid 90's high or better!

-Dale

P.S. Hmmm your Daughter is a dancer? Sounds like you can steer her to artistic ice/inline for a bit! Then over to Speed too....... you know for "cross-training"

[motosk8ter]

Hey Dale,

Welcome back to the World! I bet the surfaces you are skating on feel a lot better than the runway! Krispy Kremes, a bad addiction. I got hooked on vanilla malted milkshakes. Don't ask me why but it was my way of being home. Sounds like your skating is evolving and it is awesome you can be out there with your daughter.
Phil

[Ice Ramps]

Hey Phil,

Weekend life got in the way of skating! A friend of mine has a M35A2 6x6 ex army surplus truck, we needed help putting large single tires on it. Well he ended up having a alternator go bad and his little project quickly turned into a weekend long pain in rear end! Full of stripped nuts, broken screws and other surprises. Spent the weekend turning wrenches and working on a truck that was not even mine. Not at all what I had in mind for the weekend. I was supposes to meet Barry (Online Inline) in Renton this weekend and had to cancel. Today is Monday and its raining, I just managed to get a few miles of skating in the rain. Not the most enjoyable experience. The road was better than the trail. The trail had wet pine needles and other such issues. Also my I-pod froze so I just called it quits, just had to google search how to reset a froze or hung i-pod. It works now though, I'll try again a bit later I guess.

-Dale

[motosk8ter]

Grief, freezing iPads! You are going to love Texas except in the summer. Bet it feels good to be in US cold. We found a house and put some money on it. Nice little neighborhood with low traffic. Should be good for skating and not too far from the trail we currently live near although I will have to drive to it to skate. New Mexico weather has to be better than Washington's for skating. Sounds like you spent most of your time under a US Army retired truck. That's what happens to you when you retire!

[Ice Ramps]

Originally Posted by motosk8ter

Grief, freezing iPads! You are going to love Texas except in the summer. Bet it feels good to be in US cold. We found a house and put some money on it. Nice little neighborhood with low traffic. Should be good for skating and not too far from the trail we currently live near although I will have to drive to it to skate. New Mexico weather has to be better than Washington's for skating. Sounds like you spent most of your time under a US Army retired truck. That's what happens to you when you retire!

lol not retired yet Phil! I think I still got another 3-4 years left in me before I submit my retirement paper work. Oh about the I-pod "Froze" was a bad description, "locked up" might have been the better term. I had to reset it to get it to work again.

-Dale

[slowsk8]

Welcome home, should be at the rink in Auburn tonight (Tuesday) if you have time. 6:30 to 8:30

[Ice Ramps]

Originally Posted by slowsk8

Welcome home, should be at the rink in Auburn tonight (Tuesday) if you have time. 6:30 to 8:30

Rain check for next Tuesday? We have plans for tonight.

-Dale

[slowsk8]

Originally Posted by Ice Ramps

Rain check for next Tuesday? We have plans for tonight.

-Dale

I should be there, no more skiing midweek.

[Ice Ramps]

Saturday: I had wanted to link up with Online Inline today but He had arranged a Seattle skate and I did not find out in time. When I did find out I still had to put skates back together since I cleaned the bearings the night before. Basically had no reaction time. I did take Maria to a friends B-day party at the rink on FT Lewis. (We bought her friend K2 inlines as a gift) anyway I skated about 2 hours there. Looks like the base just built a outdoor skatepark next to the roller rink, so I will have to hit that up too at some point.

Sunday: Took Maria and her friend Julia to the trail across the street to skate. We got about 4 miles in before Maria had her first bad spill, there is small downhill portion and she hit some twigs or nine needles on the bottom of the hill so she has some road rash. Does not appear to be any bruising on day two.

Monday: I managed to get another 4 miles in just before it became completely dark. There are lots of deer coming out of the woods near the trail, the first time I zipped by they darted back in. The second time I passed them they just stared at me as I passed a mere 10-15 feet away. Anyway it occurred to me that I could actually collide with one if I was coming down the hill in the dark so I called it quits early. Perhaps once I get used to the track better night skating won't be an issue. Seems they have some lights but they are set on by a motion sensor. By the time they click on I am past them already.

-Dale

[Ice Ramps]

Originally Posted by slowsk8

I should be there, no more skiing midweek.

Hey slowsk8,

Turns out my Daughter has two more night meetings of girl scouts before my Tuesday's become open again.

-Dale

[Ice Ramps]

Its been a cold/rainy week so not much skating. This weekend looks like it will be decent. Hopefully Online Inline and I can finally link up for skate! I did get a 12.6 mile bike ride in, as well as a 6 mile ruck/road march in too (with 45 lbs rucksack) right at 15 min mile pace. All the skating in Afghanistan helped out because I was leading my group, my platoon SGT put me up front "because I had the Garmin watch" but he was in back wondering "what the heck got into Chief?" Later he admitted he wanted me to lead because he was hoping for a slower pace LOL boy was he wrong!

-Dale

[online inline]

Hey, dale. Leave the rucksack home, but maybe we can hook up. I have a couple of different people trying to get together with me, probably sunday mostly, so let's keep it open. saturday is a better bet. Itching to go..,