Memories of Monday night at Scooters

First as Candy, (see Dream Chaser on Wheels over on the right) pointed out Scooters actually started last night at 8pm, but we are supposed to arrive at 7:30, not 7 as I had written earlier. This is good and bad. Good I don't have to sit in rush hour traffic quite as long. Bad in that I did not get home until well past 10, closer to 11 I think. Getting up this morning was hell on Earth. If someone had planted a large stick of TNT under my bed this morning, they would have been doing me just the biggest favour since in the invention of the running shoe. Surprisingly I was not that stiff though, maybe that Glutamine Georg (to my knowledge he has no site or blog) suggested to me actually does work.

The skate I did was fantastic for me, my technique improved, I noticed that. But last night was a real wake up in terms of skill. My cross-overs need an awful lot of work. Early in the practice we were doing some warm up laps and first I find it very hard to stay in control on the opening few laps because after the track cleaning (vinegar is wiped on the floor) the surface remains slick for a little while until the vinegar has a chance to evaporate. After the track dried it did not take long before one bad set down nearly made me wipe out. Sarah Hopkins (to my knowledge no blog or website) was right behind me, on her suggestion I pulled out of the pack and ended up doing circuits in the middle of the track. Its a real blow to my ego to watch everyone else sail past me. On the other hand, shortly after that warm up double-A (see aaronarndt.ca by Aaron Richard Arndt on the right) gave everyone the option of skate with him on the outside or work on technique on the inside, coached by Peter Doucet (see Speed Skate World). To my surprise an awful lot of people joined me on the inside, only a few skated with Aaron. Most remarkably my outdoor coach, Eric (see EGCskates) joined us as 'just another student'. Its an odd feeling to be a student with your former teacher sitting almost right beside you as a student as well.

If I took anything from last nights practice it is, when doing a cross over, use the muscles just above the thigh to move your inside knee away from your body towards the centre of your turn, thus forcing you on your outside edges on your inside skate.

After the cross over work we did relays. Munro gave me a good piece of advice, when the 'pusher' is coming up behind you, stop skating and just glide, that way you will not fall when you are pushed. I also learned that some people in the club really ought to take safety a little more seriously. I will not dare say names, but there was a person there who is just too reckless. Chances are a fall won't hurt, but near the end of the relays I got really tired and did a few poor set downs, this person was too close to me and nearly crashed. I keep thinking of Travis Shaw at times like these, he got a compound fracture from smashing into a wall at Scooters that left him out of his skates for lord knows how long. I don't need to win a relay nearly as much as I'd like to be skating outdoors in May.

After skating I drove Kevin (see Finding the Dream) home. Kevin likes to listen to trance music and usually so do I. But for some reason, probably because I wanted to relax I made him listen to a comercial classic music radio station. I was lucky, they were playing a piece by Mozart, I cannot for the life of me remember what it is called but it is part of Mozart's requiem mass. If I was sent to a desert Island and could have one CD of music with me (and a CD player) I would want Mozart.

A friend of mine, Ali (no blog) sent me the following food for thought, its a Clock with some very unsettling statistics. At some later date I am sure I will pack in a good rant on that. I may also rant at some length on why I will be voting Liberal, well I'll be pinching my nose when I do that part, but I will be voting for Stephan Dion with pride.