August 6, 5am, wake up, shut off the alarm, get out of bed. Clothes and gear all laid out the night before, skates checked and everything tightened. Getting everything ready to go out filling the hydration pack with ice and water, packing nutrition while forcing my body to eat a banana and Oatmega bar at 5:30 am. I was really excited for the day because I was going to check out some extended new parts of trails and routes I have never been on, I'd found myself in a motivational slump and was hoping venturing into new territory would help me get over it. Everything ready to go I sat on my couch, put on my skates, kissed my wife see you later, threw my homemade headlamp on my helmet and I was out the door. I ended up doing 61 miles that day and during that time I found myself much more introspective than I typically am, probably because it was the day before my birthday and I don't get crazy with parties but I always find myself self evaluating and looking back on the previous year. Once I got in the zone I just kept skating, but more than one set of wheels was turning that day.
I thought about a lot, mostly skating's presence and influence in my life. So many different things to think about, here I was alone on stretches of country road watching the sun rise as I skated further into the day confidently owning the bike lane or shoulder. I always remembered just thinking about how it would be to skate these types of conditions and here I was doing just that now. How did I even get to this point, somewhere along the way I began opting to do miles over my morning skatepark sessions that I used to be so keen on. I still remember when I was so pumped on my first 5 mile skate day, I never thought I'd be doing 40-50 miles as a more or less standard ride. It all started because I wanted to be in better shape and I can't even begin to say how lucky I am that I already happened to skate and that inline skating is one of the best cardio workouts one can do, up there with running and cycling, and much easier on the joints than running.
So my new found addiction to mileage was taking me all over the city and surrounding areas, and towns, in places I have never really been or been to in that much detail. I now know that you haven’t visited a city until you've skated through it's heart and veins. So for a while I was content to just skate around wherever I could find a wide enough paved surface and just have my fun, that was until I discovered the A2A 87 mile road race. I now had a goal. I will always have the memory of participating and completing the entire 87 mile course. From training and finishing to all the struggles, doubts, and troubles before and during the race, I'll always have that memory and it was all worth it and I did on my skates.
Ironically, even though it has pulled me away from aggressive skating a little, the distance thing all started for weight loss in hopes of increased performance for aggressive skating. Even though aggressive skating has taken a back burner, I find myself much stronger and controlled when I'm in the park or streets grinderblading. However it wasn't just the distance skating, I also began to incorporate HIIT training and kettlebells into my routine and little by little my garage is now a personal gym complete with bars, rings, varied kettlebells and other things. I created a positive feedback loop for myself, the distance skating helped me lose weight, I got better at aggressive skating, I started to hit the gym, I got better at aggressive and distance skating, I got better at the gym, etc and so on. I find myself craving gym or distance skating all the time and have been on a steady schedule with those for some time now. Because of inline skating I find myself in the best shape of my life a few days in on 31. I feel great and just want to skate as long as I can.
It's amazing to me that something that has been a huge part of my life for so long can continue to give inspiration and fun in new ways after all these years. Gives me hope for the future too, I know I won't be able to jump gaps and grind rails or ledges forever, granted I will for as long as I possibly can but this distance skating thing has a longevity factor that makes me confident about skating many years to come.
Check out the full route of that day here
https://www.endomondo.com/routes/780750383
