I attempted skating on the Virginia Beach boardwalk yesterday and today. To be honest, I don’t love trail skating. It’s just not as fluid and stress-free as I’d like it to be. My aspiration is to be like those skaters that can groove and move fluidly to the beat–never mind the little pebbles, cracks, and bumps.
Sort of like this Redditor.
https://www.redditmedia.com/r/Rollerskating/comments/y7pai2/trail_skating/?ref_source=embed&ref=share&embed=true
I feel like I’m good enough to cruise down smooth concrete and attempt transitions, dips, side surf, crossovers, and spins.
But for me, all the concrete obstacles look massive! Tiny cracks emerge like crevasses; little pebbles like giant boulders.
In my first day skating down the boardwalk, I skated pretty slowly, taking care to stagger my feet or to step across each crack (of which there were many!). By the second day, I was more comfortable getting some modicum of speed, but I did not have it in me to attempt any tricks. I was in full defense mode and couldn’t really enjoy the skate, especially while dodging curious onlookers and sand spots. I know they say it takes practice, but as of right now, I just don’t see how I will be able to fly over all these trail gremlins seemingly plotting my demise!
All in all, I did prefer skating on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk to skating along Miami Beach–which was all bricked and had little hills (where I almost crashed and died–jk).
I rolled on my Moxi Fundaes, so maybe that was part of the problem. I felt the hardness in my knees after 30 min. Some tips I read on Reddit include rolling on softer wheels and swapping in sports insoles. I’m in the process of cleaning my softer Radar Energy wheels, and my Moxi Gummy wheels are gathering dust in some corner. Riding on 78A wheels next time!