A friend of my 10-year-old's introduced her to inline skating recently and hooked her immediately. Her new addiction would mean more equipment for the family, but with all of the ice skating and skiing we do during the winter months, I figured it would be a great sport for us to try.
"Mom, why haven't you ever rollerbladed before?" my 10-year-old asked.
"Well, when I was younger we rollerskated. Rollerblades are newer and I just never got around to trying them," I replied.
"What are rollerskates?" she asked.
OK, I am officially old.
"Well, they are boots with four wheels on them."
"Mom, these have four wheels too!" she said, laughing at me.
After checking my skates I replied, "Oh yeah, I hadn't noticed that. Well rollerskate wheels are not in a single line, they're kind of set up like car wheels..." And so went my daughter's education about 1980s-era rollerskates.
My husband decided to pass on learning to inline skate. He doesn't care so much for looking ridiculous in public. I, on the other hand, seem to do that a lot. So after buying our skates (we were lucky enough to find used ones for the kids), we set out to explore our paved trail options in the Portland area while my husband enjoyed a quiet afternoon working on a home improvement project.
The girls and I settled on Deering Oaks Park in Portland for our first outing. The park had grass on either side of the interior, mostly flat, paths. I thought if we couldn't figure out how to stop, we could skate into the grass and fall down. Before I learned to stop on my snowboard, I often ditched myself in the snow. Grass isn't quite as soft but is a much more appealing option than pavement, or say, hitting a parked car.
It took about 15 minutes to put on our safety gear along with the skates — more time than I thought it would. It was a bit of a production once we had all our gear on to then adjust it for comfort.
I also realized that when we downhill ski, everyone wears similar gear so you're just one of the crowd at the mountain. When inline skating among other visitors in the park, you stand out. Padded knees and elbows, unbendable wrist guards along with skates and helmets tend to do that. It was then that I could appreciate my reserved husband's lack of enthusiasm to make a spectacle of himself skating at the park.
Although inline skating seems like ice skating, pavement is not nearly as smooth as ice. There are cracks and potholes to dodge along with sand, rocks and twigs. And all of them can land you on your behind or, at the very least, make you look less-than-competent trying to regain your balance. I did a lot of flailing initially and was glad my husband missed that part of my learning curve. The kids had no problem navigating the pavement and I thought maybe it was because they were shorter and had gravity working for them. OK, maybe that's a lame excuse but I needed some explanation as to why they were better at it than me.
A small hill on one of the paths in the park provided yet more adventure. Actually, it was a real stretch to call it a hill but it allowed us to pick up speed without feeling out of control. The kids insisted that we skate up and down several times before we explored the rest of the park.
The small bridge was also fun for the kids since it added some variety to the paths. After an hour of skating, we headed back to the car. We took a path that bordered the street since it was a more direct route than going back through the park.
That was not a good idea.
The sidewalk had lots of cracks, a man-hole, a small hill (steeper than the others we had skated on in the park) and was fairly narrow. At one point I grabbed a street sign to slow myself down and nearly swung myself into the street. I decided my lack of stopping skills made me unsuited for sidewalks, although the kids managed just fine. For me, the difference between dragging the toe stop of an old rollerskate versus lifting the toe to engage the inline skate's brake (it's on the back of the boot) is a very different skill and one I had a hard time learning to do.
On the ride home, my 10-year-old insisted we go skating again the next day. "It is sooo much fun!"
So the next day we went to the Spring Point Shoreway Trail in South Portland. We parked at Bug Light Park and ended up skating in a circle around the park several times. The kids enjoyed seeing the big cargo ships in port, the lighthouse and the replica of the Liberty Ship Bow. The trail was smooth and mostly clear of rocks and twigs although we did have to dodge some lettuce, tomatoes and olives, much to the amusement of my 8-year-old. We probably skated about a mile total, but the trail extended beyond the park if we had wanted to cover more mileage.
On another day, we skated on the Eastern Prom Trail in Portland, which was another nice trail. The kids liked the smooth, flat surface but found the distance a challenge. The benches on the trail to view Casco Bay made taking rest stops pleasant and easy. We skated about 2 miles round trip, about half of the mileage we could have covered there if we had more endurance.
We also made a trip to Old Orchard Beach to skate but realized quickly that was a mistake. There wasn't a paved boardwalk conducive to inline skating there. Clearly I was thinking of the West Coast when I came up with that idea.
Inline skating is great exercise and the Portland trails we explored offered not only a nice surface to skate on, but some beautiful views to enjoy as well. We're still on the lookout for more paved trails in Maine so if you have a suggestion, let us know.
Originally published in the Maine Sunday Telegram, May 2006
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