I started skating when I was 4 years old taking lessons at a local rink in rural Ohio. Even though I didn’t enjoy it at first by the time I was 6 I loved it and looked forward to going to the rink and skating for hours. It was someplace I could be alone with a crowd of people, be independent, play pinball and video games, and once per day they had a session where I could skate as fast as I was able.
When we moved to Georgia, I didn’t skate anymore, I took up skateboarding, but it was never much more than transportation. So, no skating from 12 until in my twenties.
In the Navy I discovered inline skates while in Charleston South Carolina. I loved skating in Charleston, it was a very flat place with lots of pavement and back alleys to have fun in. I spent many days in my skates in the early morning and didn’t take them off until late at night. I tried to continue skating when I got to Guam, but the streets there are paved with seashells that destroy skate wheels and there was no place to buy replacements, so I didn’t skate much.
Once out of the Navy I had other things on my mind and didn’t try to get back into skating until I was 50 years old. I was overweight and out of shape, skating wasn’t the fun that I remembered.
Then life smacked me in the face, and I involuntarily lost 80 pounds and needed to find a way to exercise. I tried the skates that I had and was amazingly able to clumsily skate around a parking lot. I skated the flat parking lot a few times and then moved on to the roads of neighborhood. I still felt clumsy and fell down a few times, but it was getting to be fun.
Then I saw Bill Stoppard announce a new version of the Adapt GTB skates. I followed the instructions on the Adapt website for measuring my feet and discovered that my skates should be a size smaller than what I had, that was a surprise. I used to skate in Roller Blade size 11s, the Sebas are size 10, and the Adapts I bought are a size 9 and fit perfectly.
I now believe that skates should fit so that every part of your feet is cradled by the skates, your toes shouldn’t be crushed, but you also shouldn’t be able to freely wiggle them. That also means that your skate are going to have a painful break-in period even with heat molding. Once they are broken in the control and comfort you have will amaze you.
Now I am skating 3 plus miles 3 or 4 times a week with a 10 mile stretch here and there. I still feel clumsy and still fall every now and then, but with more time in the skates I get a bit better every time I skate.