New Wheels

Oh the encouragement of a very wise friend I have remembered - It’s my blog and I can talk about whatever I like here and if you don’t like it you won’t read. Neener neener neener.

So our next Roller Derby Bout is Friday March 9th and everything is a whirlwind of running drills finding enough skaters to fill in for the injured and getting promotional material finished and in hand, which happened today and no I can start on April’s stuff. I only have ten days before the next board meeting and I want to have April’s promo material finished (or darn near finished) so I can get a nod from the board collectively. You see, all these women have day jobs and this last week has been spent chasing down a majority of votes individually via e-mail, myspace, fax machine and in person for EVERY piece of print material I needed an approval on. Screw That! I’m going to be ready BEFORE the board meeting next time even if it kills me and it may. The photo shoot for April is done so artwork is the only thing left in my way. I’d tell you how cool it’s gonna look but its top secret.

I bought new wheels for my skates. I bought blue Witch Doctors after reading several reviews and reading that’s what Melicious uses. My old wheels are Zingers, they’re very hard and very fast but super slidey and fifteen years old. I jammed once in the last bout (two weeks ago) and no matter how fast I went it didn’t matter because I couldn’t stay in bounds, the centripetal force was the devil – so I bought something that was supposed to be grippier without sacrificing any speed. I put them on my feet for the first time on Tuesday night and not only are they grippey and slow but they seem to be twice the size of my old wheels. I went from 58mm to 62 and I was tripping all over myself. I skated again in them last night and they feel a little faster yet. I’m determined to get at least 8 hours into them before I make a decision on them. It was like going from a twelve speed racing bike to a mountain bike, clunky and tough but much safer when flying down a mountain with your life cradled in a helmet.

I went out to a new bar with the girls last night to scope it out for one beer. We are always looking for a better place to have an after bout party you see the perfect place doesn’t exist. We pull in 1200 people to the actual event and I think about 1/3 of those follow us to the after party plus staff and roller girls and their significant others, we need a giant bar that is clean and well staffed and empty enough for a crowd like that on a Friday or Saturday night to come rushing in through the doors and want beers right now. Oh and they also have to LIKE us. Not everyone is capable of treating Roller Girls with respect and we take that very seriously. We are athletes and while it’s ok to find an athlete attractive it’s not ok to imply that she would dance on the bar for you and some roller girls might not be offended by the implication but some might slap you in the side of the head for it. We are diverse and individual just like any team, too bad some people don’t ever see past the uniform. Any minute I’m going to start singing “I Am Woman, Hear Me Roll”.