“Without adventure, civilization is in full decay.”
- Alfred North Whitehead
Late last year, I heard of a team protesting the inline skating discipline of a race by wearing wigs and clown costumes during the inline skating leg. It was an American team in a European event, but I don't recall specifics. I remember thinking: good for them, I hate the idea of inline skates and adventure racing.
One month later my perspective has shifted.
While home for Christmas, I joined my sister's family on a family trip to the roller skating rink. She has 3 kids, aged 5-12, and it turns out the roller rink is an easy solution to keep everyone happy. I went along, mostly to spend time with everyone, but also out of a morbid curiousity. You see, I had never set foot in a roller rink. Roller skating passed me by as a kid, there was too much soccer to be played, and I never got into inline skating when that became fashionable in the 1990s.
So, I went with my sister's kids and rented inline skates for $2. I was unsteady at first, but after a couple laps I got the hang of it and if it wasn't for the cheesy 80s music I would've been all smiles. And why do they turn the lights so low in there? It was 11 AM and this place looked like Boogie Nights meets Barney. But I digress. The point is, the skating was fun and it turns out this old dog can learn new tricks after all.
There was a race here in Switzerland last summer that included inline skating as a discipline; I intended to just run that leg but the race organization said I couldn't. I opted to skip the race, partly because of the skating requirement. I know many in and around the sport of adventure racing who hate the idea of inline skating, and I used to consider myself one of them, but now I've changed my outlook.
Besides this introduction to skating over the holidays, we're planning on doing some cross country skiing this winter and that's got similarities with skating that can't be denied. Furthermore, I met a guy from the local climbing gym who is a professional inline skater (yes, he's a pro inline skater -- they have those in Europe apparently!). These last few months have helped me change my tune regarding skating and next time, when a race includes inline skates, I won't be so quick to dismiss it.
I don't think I'd go so far as to include inline skating as a leg in a race I was involved in planning . . . I know way too many people who would never let me hear the end of it or "protest" the idea by wearing wigs and clown costumes . . . but let's just say my eyes have opened to possibilities.