April 2017

I recently started listening to podcasts on my long commute to work. One of the best discoveries so far has been the “how to be unpopular” podcast. This podcast really dives deep into the rollerblading culture. Despite having skated for over 10 years, this is something I really knew nothing about. I've started to think a lot more about my own experience of skating, and thought this might be of interest to some people (a very minute number of people, but still…).

This is supposed to be a small history of the sport of “aggressive inline skating”, as experienced by me. For lack of a universal name for this sport, I will be calling it skating.

My first pair of skates were actually roller skates. Pink roller skates. The only ones left in my size but I didn't care! Allegedly it didn't take too long before I was jumping ramps on these. Age? Around 4 or 5. The only thing I can remember is buying them. Another memory is being told by a neighbourhood kid that I was using them incorrectly. Apparently you are supposed to keep both feet planted firmly on the ground and shuffle them forward and back.

In podcast 186 (check number) there is a conversation about how people past the initial boom got into skating (and a number of “sick edits” were mentioned).