City Skating Beginning

Tonight I went on my first night city skate. It's something I have been wanting to do for a while but a mixture of cold, rain, timing and fear meant that I had been able to put it off.

We met at a park in Prymont and skated through darling harbour, up (and down) George street, through Hyde Park, down Martin place, across The Rocks ... pretty much everywhere.

I was pretty nervous to start with, the surfaces varied, there were cars and people to dodge, but mostly I was scared of the hills. And for good reason. I mean when your on skates and you find yourself going out of control you can't just jump off. It's a matter of stop, hit or fall. Hopefully falling with some grace and no injuries. The highlights were: (other than just making it finally)

- Getting the hang of skating up and down kerbs.
- Shooting the duck through Hyde park.
- Falling in front of the pub as I tripped over my toe stop that had fallen off.
- Carving down Martin Place.
- Knee sliding to a stop so I didn't cross a busy driveway.

I'm a new and complete fan of outdoor skating and what better place than to do it through the city. And it was all made even better by the fact that everyone was so friendly and helpful. They even ordered us after a particularly bumpy bit of road to check our wheel nuts and stoppers.

I hope this was the first of many. I hope that next time I'm a little smoother, a little more confident, and a little braver.

And once again, I'm so thankful for finding skating against. It's bringing so many amazing challenges, lovely people and ways for me to really see what I'm made of.