I Bought New Skates!

Not much exciting to add lately.  I ordered my new skates, the Riedell Minx that I posted earlier.  I tried them on and they were like heaven, except slightly too big, and Rich didn't have any in my funky half-size with him.  So now I'm waiting for them to arrive from Cleveland.  I got a great team discount and he is switching out the stock wheels with the Atom Lowboys for free!  Wonderful!

I'm having some more knee problems lately, completely out of the blue, but I'm taking it easy to avoid any more doctor's visits.

I have 95% mastered the 180 degree toe stop that I've been working on for months.  I can do it great at slower speeds, but when I get going fast I go all chickenshit and bail out.  One day... *Shakes fist*

Tomorrow is our season kickoff party.  We get to learn who we're playing this season and what other goodies we might have planned for this year.  I'll post the full schedule when I get it.  Right now we have the dates, but not the opponents.

That's it for now!

This was going to be a short post…

Today was one of those good practice days, even though I started it off by eating a chicken salad wrap right before practice (never again...). For about a half hour I thought I might explode. Luckily, no explosions from me, but the mystery stinky farter from Tuesday's practice let out a little gagging toot during pack skating. (I'm assuming it's the same person.)

I must be getting faster, because every time I would go around a turn I would skid out a bit, although I know the dust was giving everybody grip problems. I just like thinking that I'm "too fast for the track".

I totally forgot to take pictures tonight of the warehouse. It'll look better when it's been cleaned on Saturday, but I would have liked a picture of the dustiness. Maybe I'll get a picture of my skates before I clean them off. I'd do it now, but I am so beat right now. My hair is wet like I've been in the shower. So disgusting.

Our Riedell rep, Rich, is coming down from Cleveland on Sunday to sell us all kinds of goodies. I'm thinking about getting some new skates because my old ones, while comfortable, are a bit on the big side and are starting to fall apart. It's actually a pretty interesting story.

I was in a show at the Loveland Stage Company at the time of the fire. I was using my skates in the show and decided to leave them in the dressing room over the two-day break, because I know that otherwise I would have forgotten them. Sure enough, my skates were still in there when the building burned. Luckily, the dressing rooms were in a newer part of the building and were protected by fire doors. However, when my skates were recovered they were covered in soot and soaking wet. I spent days trying to dry them out and clean them up (I did wear them in the final performances), but the water and smoke damage has severely weakened the leather, and the trucks are very prone to rusting.

I love my skates and feel very emotionally attached to them, so I don't want to completely destroy them. I was never going to skate on them again, but my new 265s did not work out last year. They were very painful on my arches.

I'm very interested in getting the 965 boot this time around (this is the "Minx").

I have lace covers on my current skates, and I really want them on my new skates, which is why I like the 965. I also heard that they are pretty comfy once they're broken in.  I like the ankle cushioning as well, since my skates tend to be looser there.

I'd like to have my skates custom dyed, but I have no clue what I would get. I was thinking yellow and black because I love yellow and they would make me think of Bumblebee (Autobots transform!). Maybe like this but in yellow instead of blue:

I really wish they had a silver color like my current skates, but the closest metallic they have is a pretty blue-green that I might consider.

I know I want aluminum plates (nylon plates SUCK!) and Atom Lowboy wheels.  I'm skating on Atom's Omega 2.0 right now, and I'd like to try the Lowboys to see if they really are slightly grippier.

I'm going to be so broke. Minx skates start at $499 without custom colors, and the wheels are another $120. Plus, I should have doctor's bills coming any day now from my two trips earlier this month (thank you ear infection!). At least I can try them on and wish that I had them, right?

BTW, check out Riedell's site, featuring Sadie and her blue custom skates.

Back In The Saddle Again…

We're ba-ack! It's the beginning of a brand-new season and I can officially be called "veteran" (w00t!). That's a proud moment: when you realize that against the odds of injuries, illnesses, and pure exhaustion, you actually made it a whole year. To be honest, though, this past season really flew by.

I can't believe we're at it again! This year we have 19 newbies. Last year I started with some 8-10 ladies; I don't really remember how many because some of them dropped out right away. I heard the number 50 being said quite a bit. I'm not sure if that's truly the number of active skaters we have or not, but that's basically enough for three teams (14 rostered skaters x 3=42).

Yesterday we moved into a new home. It's this really big warehouse that has a very similar floor to the Gardens. The two main differences are the dirty, dirty floor (which will be cleaned on Saturday) and four beams right in the middle of the floor, but once we find some padding for those it'll be no problem. Our bouts will still be at the Gardens, but it's nice to have a place that is truly ours. If I remember I'll snap some pictures with my camera tomorrow.

I've decided that this year I'm going to try to lose some of this extra weight. As much as I want to be that big, brute blocker, I'm not built like that. I have this tiny little frame and I was well overweight when I first started derby. I'm still overweight. It affects my speed, agility, endurance... everything. *Cue sad trombone*

Last year I started derby weighing about 160 lbs. Yes, I'm telling the truth, I have no shame. I really didn't lose much because I "compensated" for the exercise by overeating. I would get home from practice at 11pm and eat a huge meal. This year I'm not allowing myself to eat after practice (I can have a protein shake), and I'm just really watching my portion sizes throughout the day. It's already working. I started this year at 155 lbs., and today I was down to 145.5. That might seem like a lot in a short amount of time, but I gain and lose very easily, and I feel great! My work pants are falling off!

Whip It!

I just wanted to let you know how much I loved seeing Whip It! this past week!  It is such an amazing movie with a great cast of talented actors, great writing, and a compelling story.  It's not Schindler's List or anything, but it takes that teen girl "duck-out-of-water" formula and makes it exciting, and throws in a few twists to keep things interesting.

The derby scenes in particular are amazing.  The way they're shot is very true-to-life and I'm pretty sure that the actresses did most of their own stunts.  I'm using the word "stunts" loosely here, since everything they did has been done by every derby girl I know.  (Except maybe for that two-person leg whip.  That was stunning!)

I was really impressed by the cast.  Not only did they spend months in daily training learning the ins and outs of derby, but the acting was superb.  Kristen Wiig in particular had me cracking up every time she was on the screen.  (She has an extended monologue about having crabs that is just unbelievable.  Really.)  Ellen Page is adorably clueless until she learns to be her own person ("I can grow the balls!")  And Drew Barrymore is that chronically injured player that every team has.  She appears in a neck brace, on crutches, and with a profusely bleeding nose.  When she's not being hurt she's being ejected from the game for punching opposing players.

I feel very honored to have met at least two of the skaters in this movie, Kat Von D'Stroya and Jackie Daniels.  Kat skates for the "Black Widows" and is very recognizable by her many tattoos.  Jackie skates under her own name in the movie, and at one point kicks Bliss' ass as jammer.  My whole team started spontaneously clapping, forgetting that Jackie was supposed to be on the "enemy team".

It was great to see this movie with most of the Cincinnati Rollergirls (minus Sadistic Sadie, who got whisked away on a romantic vacation, and is now engaged!  Congrats Sadie!)  We got to hang out with a lot of our favorite fans, including Earl, who runs Rabid Derby Fan...

and Bob, who took this awesome picture of the two of us and put it on his blog at 5chw4r7z.blogspot.com.

I also was interviewed for the evening news, which is always nerve-wracking for me, but turned out pretty well!  You should be able to find it on Facebook here.