Posted 10:29 AM by Blah blah

More Skating Pictures

Hey, Patrick posted these pix of our rollerblading lesson, yesterday! Boy, they are embarrassing! We practice at Netscape headquarters in Mountain View, where they have a bona fide roller hockey rink. We worked on improving our step turns and crossover turns. My braking still needs a LOT of practice. At the end, Patrick tried something new. He had us play TAG on skates! (You may see our tag photos at the bottom of the page.) We had to stay within the two blue lines of the hockey rink. For more experienced people like me, he gave me a handicap. I had to keep one skate on the ground at all times and was only allowed to "scull" forward. Sculling is where you keep one skate straight in front of you for gliding, while you angle and push off with the back skate. Patrick used to coach kids in roller hockey, and he said kids got MORE wild than the adult hockey players. They got extremely competitive and passionate once they were in a game. People in my lesson started doing that too. It forced the shy, fearful people to take risks and move!

Yesterday we skated the usual two hours, then we skated to this doughnut shop where we always have breakfast and talk. But then Patrick kindly added two MORE hours of skating. He led us to Shoreline Park in Mountain View (see photos), one of the most beautiful parks down here, which has windsurfing, golfing, bike trails, a beautiful pond, and a historic house. You can rent sail and paddle boats there. It was time to apply our training to the real world!

I'd taken my friend Sheryl rollerblading here for her birthday. Rollerblading is such a great sport for personal contact, cuz beginners have to grab your arm...hehe...

We happily dodged little kids on scooters, serious mountain bikers with tight pants, and old ladies sauntering by the water. Shoreline has two steep hills, and I fell at the bottom of one of them the last time I was here. Yesterday I skated gingerly down both hills and could feel myself getting more stable than before. We kept seeing this Chinese dad riding this tiny electric scooter with his two little daughters, one in front and one in back of him. Where's the exercise, man, we thought?

Patrick is the funniest storyteller, by the way. He will tell you all kinds of tales of coaching kids, skating injuries, skating tricks he did in San Francisco, hockey fights, etc. He's highly entertaining. Since one day a week is not enough, I'm organizing at least one weekly practice outside of the group lessons. We'll try to skate three times per week.

Check out Patrick's photos. One of the girls in the class is his friend Ladda. She's from Thailand and has introduced him to many Thai events. Here's Patrick with a pretty singer. Pix of the recent peace rally in SF. A ball in honor of the King of Thailand.

After four hours of skating, you work out your ankles, lower back, and legs. When I finally took the skates off, I waddled bowlegged like Donald Duck and felt like I'd just had my legs wrapped around a horse. With a gorgeous, sunny view of the lake, a deep breath of crisp breeze, and nursing a very sore butt, I felt life was good.