That is the sound of weight being applied to a broken wheel as it turns around its bearing. I was making that sound until early last week, when I swapped out a #3 for an old wheel of roughly the same size. That was the sound that the very same wheel was making this morning, and also the sound that my #2 on the other foot was making by this afternoon.

Apparently, I am hard on my wheels. I don’t know what exactly is happening, but I am starting to suspect my rocker. At a guess, if I drop off a curb, the bulk of my weight is spread across two wheels instead of four. Trying to decide how to deal with this, I see two options: going with a flat rocker, which will kill my turning radius, and finding a wheel that handles stress better.

I would assume that a solid hub would be a good approach, assuming it can evenly distribute any sort of force across the whole of the hub, rather than cracking at a weak point. Alternatively, a softer wheel may spread the impact through the urethane before the shock hits the hub. Of course, the softer wheel would wear down faster. While I was down at Cheapskates, I noticed that the bulk of the aggressive wheels were solid pieces. There might be good reasons for that. Looking at the on-line retailers, I noticed that several race wheels are also solid core, citing lower drag. Sure, but I am not going to worry about that. Just give me something that I am not going to break.

It might be a good idea to contact some of the companies that make these wheels. I would like to know if there is anything I can do to stop the problem outright. I cannot guarantee that I will never drop off a curb again, so another solution needs to be found.

I’ve been a bit slack on my skate maintenance. The bearings have been noisy and I know they need to be cleaned, wheels rotated. While I was in town today, I picked up some new laces, since one of mine is on the edge of breaking already, figuring that I could use the excuse to get into gear on the rest of the stuff.

I may have been slightly overzealous. I pulled the frames from the boots after I stripped the laces and the insoles. I wanted to check for any damage while stripping them. The frames are a bit scuffed, but nothing worrying. However, I did notice something after a few minutes.

There’s a rivet missing. It allows the cuff of the boot to pivot at the ankle. I don’t know how long it’s been gone. I may have been skating that way for ages. It’s on the left foot, which tends not to get stressed the same as the right, but I’d hope that I would notice something like that. There’s no evidence lying around to indicate where I lost it; it’s not in the house. If I knew where, I may be able to piece together why, but that’ll likely remain a mystery.

Now for the next problem: what do I do now? Can I get the rivet replaced? I have no idea who to get in touch with to find out. I’ll have to start with K2 directly and see what they say. I’ve had factory work done in Christchurch on some K2s, so I may be able to get this dealt with. If all else fails, I may have to beg the machine shop at work to fashion something for me. I don’t want to buy a new set of skates at the moment. I like my Soul 7s and I’d like to use them for a while longer. Having said that, I probably wouldn’t complain if someone gave me a pair of Frontmans.

My chiropractor asked me an off-topic question last night: Is there a good place nearby to get wheels for inline skates? Her boyfriend had asked around at a couple skateboard/snowboard/surf shops around Wellington with no luck. She knew to ask me.

Unfortunately, the in-store selection is limited and expensive, but I have used them for emergencies. Alternatively, there is sk8 who supplies hockey gear, based in Christchurch. The don’t supply the harder wheels, but for general skating, it wouldn’t be a problem. She seemed happy with that answer.

Normally, I’ll order wheels from the US mail-order companies. If I talk to a few friends and see who needs what, we can even buddy up to save on shipping. It’s far from ideal, but it works. Maybe I should consider setting up an import business. It’s scary to think that I may be serious.

I just came back from an evening skate with some of the more adventurous skaters I know. It was a good time, but I had to bail out early, due to hunger and fatigue. On the way back to the house, after grabbing some food from Deluxe, I came back up Taranaki. I’ve made this mistake before, but I haven’t yet learned my lesson: I can’t cross onto Webb Street. There is no pedestrian crossing, which means that I can’t take the shallower incline of Hopper St. By the time I killed my lungs getting to the top of the hill, I wasn’t ready to sprint out the downhill home-stretch.

The last couple hundred meters is a lot of fun. The break in the traffic is enough to jump ahead and keep to the road – there should be about 10 seconds of no cars. It’s a fun skate when you’re not busy blowing up your lungs trying to stay in front of traffic.

It’s dangerously tempting to think that spring might be edging its way into the southern hemisphere. The days are certainly getting longer again, which could never come too soon, in my opinion, and it’s warming up enough on the weekends to be out in shorts and t-shirts1. We’d taken a couple hours on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend to lead some people on slightly longer outdoor skate routes, which gave me a bit of a chance to add to my skating photos.

It’s far from a summer-time panacea, however. Mornings are still bitterly cold when there has been a clear night. There are still southerlies that’ll bring cold wind and rain our way, as well. But there is certainly more hope this year to get outside compared to last year. Just ask the ice cream shops how much they’re selling…

¹ For short periods of time and when you’re keeping active enough to not notice the wind.

A couple friends and I are collecting a series of routes through Wellington that can be put onto a brochure for people interested in skating around the region. Naturally, we have our normal standby paths – around the waterfront, through town – but we want to present more variety and something outside of the downtown core. We’ve discussed some possibilities and are in the process of doing some hands-on research.

It’s impossible to just look at a map and mark out routes. Road and footpath condition, hills, traffic and accessibility all play a part, which requires a visit to evaluate. With a short supply of available time during the week and iffy weather patterns, I’ll more easily get through the list by running instead of skating. It can still be hard to judge incline and decline, but it’s still possible to judge surface conditions. At a running pace, I’ve even got some time to enjoy the scenery.

I’d started this morning¹, looping through Newtown to Kilbirnie. My plan is to aim for two more trips through Miramar and Seatoun by the weekend.

¹ I was fantastically lucky. Not only did the rain abate to a gentle trickle, but the traffic through the Mt. Victoria tunnel had been blocked off for cleaning and was just reopening as I was going through. A total of 3 vehicles went through the tunnel while I was in there, so it was neither noxious nor deafening – a very pleasant change from the norm.

I’m messing around with my skates again. I just received another order from Inline Warehouse, this time with wheels, bearings and axles for the Soul 7’s that I ordered from them before. I’ve been riding them stock for the last few months, which was a change on its own: a much shorter frame changed the balance points substantially. Now, it’s a whole new game.

The first change is to get rid of the brake pad. I’ve always had it there, even if I don’t always need it. I can stop a few different ways, but when I need to stop fast, I rely on my brake. The next couple weeks are going to have to be a bit slower, at least when outdoors. I’d been meaning to remove the brake pad for quite a while, but hindered by the lack of a proper axle to replace the brake mount with. K2 uses a flush-mount axle design that seems to change with generations of skates, which has made it impossible to find a spare at the local skate shops. As a result, I had to order a set of 8 in order to get the one that I needed. So, I’ve got 7 spares.

The second change is a bit of a rocker. I put two different sizes of wheels on the skate: 76–80-80–76. The distance isn’t huge, but the difference is going to take some getting used to. It almost feels slushy as weight shifts forwards and backwards, and I have no idea how it’s going to feel when I try to stride out in a straight line. Now if only the world would send me some good weekend weather, I’ll do my best to spend the day not falling on my ass.

As an aside, when one buys a set of wheels and bearings, it’s a good idea to also buy spacers. I was lucky enough to have a year-old set of wheels that were lying around that I could cannibalise for the spacers within. The bearings were already partially frozen, but there’s no problem in recycling the spacers.

This is exactly how games start – playing around before or after some other sport. In this case, a game of children’s basketball was on at the Kilbirnie Recreation Centre, so the nets were still lowered and there was a basketball lying around when we started skating. It was quite natural to try dribbling while skating and only slightly less natural to try shooting. Before long, we were playing an ad hoc game of rotating 2-on-1, two defense and one offense. Russ suggested that 2-on-2 would have been better, so that you could pass instead of just fake and drive. He’s possibly right, but it was a lot of fun as it was.

Looking around Google for inline basketball links pops up quite a bit. Not as new as we thought, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. Actually, the rules seem to make for a very fast game. Might have to give it a try.

This morning was the perfect day for them. It was warm and calm as I got to the bus stop; my first thought was that I should be skating into town. If it wasn’t for the fact that I have french homework to finish before class at 6:00, I would have brought them. When our bus broke down, the regret was complete: we’d been picked up by a bus that only goes somewhat close to the work bus stop. It’s only a 10 minute walk or so, but it would have been fun to zip off down the footpath towards the office. Sure, there might have been a slight detour, to make the time on skates worthwhile, but I was late either way. Throw in a half-hour slalom practice over lunch and I’d be sweet for the day. At least until I got back to the city, after work.

The lesson to learn is that I really should have another set of skates at the office¹.

¹ Technically, I have two other pairs of skates, but I need to sell those off. Or trade them for another set of urban skates…

I wear K2 skates. It’s pretty much that simple. When I went home in August, I picked up a pair of Salomons, but even then, I wanted to get new K2s. I finally ordered a pair of Soul 7s from Inline Warehouse. Almost 1/3 of the cost was shipping, but they still weren’t expensive compared to a lot of the skates you find in New Zealand.

I’ve had them on for about half an hour so far, spinning around the parking lots over the lunch break. The first thing that I noticed was the shorter chassis. At 247mm, they are about 2cm shorter than my Salomons. I’m going to have to be a bit careful with my balance until I get used to them, but they are so much more maneuverable. My skating won’t be prettier over night, but it’ll a lot easier to drag my feet around in circles. The speed tests are going to have to wait until I get back from work, but anything with brand new bearings is going to feel faster.