skatelog

Commuter skate, 11 mi round trip. Used the old skates because my ankles were so beat up from the weekend. Beautiful weather, but a little headwindy on the trip home.

first run on new skates

Did an inaugural run across Stanford on my new K2 Radical 90 skates, the usual 11 mile loop to the top of the Matterhorn and back. GPS shut off about halfway out, so no stats or logs today. The skates felt good, although very different than my Mod 7.5's. They are very firm, both in the boot platform and the wheel hardness, and I could feel every little ripple and bump in the road. The large 90mm wheels made the overall ride smoother though. The long wheelbase made it harder to do quick cuts and turns, but made the glides much more stable. The biggest difference for me though, is the low boot cuff. I'm used to having some pretty solid boot support, and my ankles really noticed the difference. It was flippy floppy all the way home, very tired. Guess I have some work to do.

I'm wondering about that top speed thing...must have been when we hitched a semi coming down 280...

All hail the sun king! It's spring at last... A leisurely run, including watching Steve install his new wheels. Good, very good.

Cold gray morning today. Me and Steve, blasting across Atherton to RWC and back. The bridge is still out on Barry Lane, no getting through there with anything except hip boots and ladders. Polhemus was a smooth ride, Park was a pretty nice sprint past the Circus Club, resurfaced not too long ago.

Marina was at the farmer's market, watching her son Greg play guitar in the Peninsula School bluegrass band. Those kids are good. One girl sang a song she wrote, accompanying herself on guitar. It was poignant and her voice, while young, had a sinewy unusual quality that might turn out to be something special. A bit like Lucinda Williams must have sounded, when she was 15.

Marina's husband asked about my skates, "It has a lot to do with the surface, doesn't it?" I told him, it's *all* about the surface.

Not the most energy-filled day.

Lovely day for some punishment! After a month off the wheels, both legs and lungs were feeling the pain quite nicely. Did the usual run across Stanford campus and up the Mayfield Matterhorn and through to Raimundo, but then looped out to Page Mill and up to Junipero Serra. Sunday morning traffic was light, probably as many bikes as cars. One biker proposed a race, but I politely declined, heh! I tried to pace him, but I could only keep up for about 50 yards before I had to let him go ;-)

No falls is good falls. Gonna be sore later though.

Some skating photos from Stanford, taken with my tiny new Sony DSC-T1 camera.