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What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

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Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#141

Post by Supermancho »

foldr wrote: post #47
the_third_wave wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened is that I moved to the Swedish countryside and as such was confronted with hills and unpaved roads. When I lived in the Netherlands I used skates for transport in lieu of a bicycle because they're far easier to take along on public transport. I skated to the station, skated into the train, skated off it after 1.5 hours and 150 km, skated to my job and repeated this on my way home. I was just as fast as…

‘Homophobia’ is the standard term in English for prejudice against gay people. It does not mean ‘fear of homosexuals’ (regardless of etymological considerations).

> It does not mean ‘fear of homosexuals’ (regardless of etymological considerations).

It does mean "fear of being perceived as homosexual". There are backwards people. The stigma that some may ascribe, is rarely removed. If they are in a position of power, this can hurt you professionally or socially, despite modern moral standards.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#142

Post by smnrchrds »

emodendroket wrote: post #138
the_third_wave wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened is that I moved to the Swedish countryside and as such was confronted with hills and unpaved roads. When I lived in the Netherlands I used skates for transport in lieu of a bicycle because they're far easier to take along on public transport. I skated to the station, skated into the train, skated off it after 1.5 hours and 150 km, skated to my job and repeated this on my way home. I was just as fast as…

"Homophobia" also refers to more generally negative attitudes about homosexuality, not just the fear the name suggests.

To add to this, -phobia suffix is used to express aversion, not just fear. For example, hydrophobicity.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#145

Post by odessacubbage »

apgwoz wrote: post #51

The decline of (popularity) Aggressive Inline is talked about in this documentary “Barely Dead” ( https://youtu.be/DArRi_PooDc ). Spoiler alert: it has to do with being canceled by the X-Games, which reduced exposure, which reduced new kids coming on the scene. Really, it just went underground. There are still aggressive skates being produced by many companies, with a wide selection of wheels, frames, etc. There are…

another part of this that is important imo is that inline was in a large degree absorbed by its more successful analog: freeskiing.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#146

Post by noduerme »

faeyanpiraat wrote: post #110
the_third_wave wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go for it, wear some wrist protectors and you should arrive in one piece. That is the only protection I use given that it actually work as intended and broken wrists are fairly common in all forms of skating.

The first thing hitting the concrete when falling is your palms, so having a glove with plastic protection will help not losing any skin from your palms. Also wear a helmet.

When I was a 13 or so, in the early '90s, I took an "extreme rollerblading" class on the weekends. The class started by teaching various kinds of stops (T-stop where you drag one skate behind you sideways, spin stop ...no one ever used a brake), and then moved on to going down stairs, performing jumps, and so on. We were required to wear elbow, knee and wrist guards as well as helmets. But one thing they taught us early on was how to fall correctly, or come to a falling stop. You want to try to go down with a kneepad first followed by the wrist guard, so you're using the knee to brake. This was something we practiced.

It's been over 20 years since I was on rollerblades and I don't even know if I'd have the balance anymore, but I wouldn't do it without at least one knee guard and both hard wrist guards.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#147

Post by odessacubbage »

mikestew wrote: post #11
bobbytit wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Specifically the one famous joke (that even made it onto The Sopranos).... What is the hardest thing about roller blading? Telling your parents you're gay. I never knew a joke could change the course of history.

But why was rollerblading ever associated with homosexuals to begin with? As one who did not know anyone in the 90s who was both a rollerblader and an out gay person, is it a "yeah, but looks gay" thing? I dunno, seemed like one of those things one says when they can't afford rollerblades, or can afford them but sucks at it and gave up.

rollerblading had a lot of associations to sub-activities from prior cultural zeitgeists like rollerdisco that are frankly, very silly. it was also more respectable and sport-like in the eyes of the general public, and following the teenager's universal laws of cool: if your parents and grandparents do it, it's not cool.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#148

Post by Joeri »

teekert wrote: post #143

I went to the skate park with my son (in the Netherlands) it was crowded but all the kids were on these [0]. There were some skateboarders but I was the only on on inline skates… (I’m 39). [0]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=stunt%20steps&iax=images&ia=images

This makes a lot of sense to me. Steps (and to a degree skateboards) have a much more forgiving learning curve than inline skates. When they slide out from under you, you can just jump off and land on your feet. When inline skates slide out from under you, you tend to fall hard. What's surprising is that inline skating ever gained any popularity at all, not that it fell out of favor.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#149

Post by teekert »

Joeri wrote: post #148
teekert wrote: post #143

I went to the skate park with my son (in the Netherlands) it was crowded but all the kids were on these [0]. There were some skateboarders but I was the only on on inline skates… (I’m 39). [0]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=stunt%20steps&iax=images&ia=images

This makes a lot of sense to me. Steps (and to a degree skateboards) have a much more forgiving learning curve than inline skates. When they slide out from under you, you can just jump off and land on your feet. When inline skates slide out from under you, you tend to fall hard. What's surprising is that inline skating ever gained any popularity at all, not that it fell out of favor.

I also bought a skateboard with my son but it’s pretty hard, the skates you can use on the road and make some KMs/miles, a freestyle skateboard is much harder to get good at in my experience. The steps seem to be much easier to get started with indeed… But I’m biased.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#150

Post by the_third_wave »

noduerme wrote: post #146
faeyanpiraat wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first thing hitting the concrete when falling is your palms, so having a glove with plastic protection will help not losing any skin from your palms. Also wear a helmet.

When I was a 13 or so, in the early '90s, I took an "extreme rollerblading" class on the weekends. The class started by teaching various kinds of stops (T-stop where you drag one skate behind you sideways, spin stop ...no one ever used a brake), and then moved on to going down stairs, performing jumps, and so on. We were required to wear elbow, knee and wrist guards as well as helmets. But one thing they taught us ea…

I nearly entirely rely on the T-stop, most of my skates never had any brakes and I removed it from the ones which did since it is only in the way and of questionable efficacy. The disadvantage of dragging a skate is the enormous wear it puts on wheels but apart from that it serves me well. Knee protection might work for some but I never felt the need and just feel those things are in the way, the same goes for elbow protection. Having skated for decades without damaging either knees or elbows I'll probably be OK but by all means use them when you're just starting off, I did this as well.
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