Lenny and I went skating today.  Not ice skating mind you but good old fashioned wooden rink skating.  It's the type of rink where almost everybody is wearing quads.  Lenny and I wore inlines.  Skating on a smooth wooden surface is amazing…it's been so long (I think grade 7 was the last time and I played Rampage more than anything back then) that I completely forgot what it was like.  There's a few comparisons that I draw between ice and wood:

1. Wood requires more work to keep moving.
2. Wood is more forgiving and less forgiving in the corners.  To expand, you need to keep your crossover going throughout an entire turn.  On ice I can (if I want) keep a single edge throughout the entire turn which is nice from time to time.  On wood you will lose a lot of speed in the corners.  You can also fix errors in your technique as if you let your push under ankle touch the floor you may go down immediately or you'll get a severe bobble.  In just 15 minutes of skating my cornering technique has raised my ankle up so I can get a better edge.
3. Speaking of edges, WHERE ARE THEY?  Very frustrating not having an edge but instead having to use friction.
4. Wood is more forgiving of straight pushing technique but now is a good time to develop the fundamentals.
5. Since wood requires more work it's a good place to work up the stamina and endurance for the ice.

I may go to a softer wheel rating for indoor skating so I can get a better grip but I was pretty happy with tonight and I hope ya'll go as well (for the locals that is).

The place where we skated is known as "Rollerama".  It's in Cambridge just off of highway 24; more details here.  Call to double check times as some dates are now unavailable due to it being summer.