Skatey things in San Francisco, part 1

The sign says "Why walk when you can roll?"
GOOD QUESTION.

 This weekend was particularly rainy, and derby training was cancelled because the shed we trained in flooded and everything got wet. The track is pretty slippery already, so trying to skate on wet plastic tiles? No thanks. I was supposed to get a ride to training with some of the BAD ladies, and we were meeting at a local skate shop as our pickup place. Oh well. No harm going to the skate shop anyway, yes? :)

Cruz Skate Shop is in the Mission district in San Francisco. There's a really good BBQ place on the corner too with great pulled pork and mac and cheese, but that's another story. Anyway, I really like brick and mortar skate shops. This one did mostly skateboard stuff, but they had a nice selection of derby skates as well. I didn't get a photo of them this time around because I ended up buying other things and not really perving on skates, but I did get to grope some $700 Antiks. They felt very nice, for the record. Also, most skatey things are cheaper here than they are in Australia, so I might try to stock up on things. Ze Boyfriend, for example, got some safety gear and his wristguards here (Pro-Tecs) were like $14.99 plus tax, while in Australia they're selling on Derbyskates.com.au for something like $27. I wanted to try some of the new Hired Hands that 888 was apparently making in ridiculously small sizes, but they didn't have any. Also, I was REALLY tempted to buy yet more wheels, but I didn't really need them (for now).

I was served by Steffin Razor, who was skating with BAD but transferred from Sillicon Valley Roller Girls. I told her I just started skating there too and she was saying how BAD was mega serious on fitness (so all that crazy stuff I talked about in my last entry is normal fitness training for them!) and how they really step it up and they're much tougher than other leagues. She's been skating for about four years, so I'm sure she knows what she's talking about. We also talked about roller derby in Australia and how the paint came off Atom wheels really quickly (because she saw my Super-Gs and was like "what are those, Atom Whites?") and Blood and Thunder and other fun things. Yeah, she was cool. :)

Steffin at work in the store with my skates. The guy with the mo also
recommended the lunch special at the BBQ place around the corner
from the shop.

I did want to buy some new bushings though because I had been skating on my stock ones which were ridiculously hard. Steffin gave me a bunch of advice on different kinds of bushings (there's round ones and conical ones and then different coloured ones depending on your weight and what position you play and then also what plates you're on) and in the end I got the orange Powerdyne Magic Hop-Up Kit ones. I'll do a product review later. I also had my skates with me, and she offered to actually change the bushings out for me as well, which was mega awesome! So I let her take my skates apart and she went through and gave me a basic lesson in skate anatomy while she replaced the bushings. It was cool having someone who actually knew what they were doing actually putting the bushings on; they're conical so I would have had a 50% chance of fucking it up I think. Steffin also pointed out that the pivot on the stock plates are straight pin ones, but on the higher end plates (like the Powerdyne revenge and reactor plates) they have ball and socket pins, so you get more control in your turns and whatnot. Maybe I'll have to upgrade to those...

Random old skates in the shop that you could roll around in!
(Also, note presence of FiveOnFive in the corner.)

I  also wanted some new toe stops, and they have a whole bunch that are like gumballs but not really. They had gumballs too, and Steffin said that she skated on those and they were great. A lot of people I skate with are on those, so I'm sure they are. They also had these Snyder toe stops which were huge (like bigger than gumballs) and ones that had one pre-flattened end so you ran on a flat toe stop thingy, which was weird. I settled for some Powerdyne Moonwalkers because they were just as light as the gumballs and seemed a bit grippier (apparently on account that they have holes in them?) and also because they came in red. Yep. Product review to come on those too. But Steffin also put those ones in my skates for me, and she said that our tennis ball toe guards were a really good idea. Ha.

Oh, and then she told me "the secret" for toe stops. Ever wonder how much you need to screw your toe stops in? Well, apparently you make a triangle with your toe stop and your front wheels, and then your back wheels should be about three inches off the ground. She showed me on my skates with a tape measure and everything, but because my skates are tiny that basically means screwing the toe stop all the way in. But not actually all the way in; some times the screws are too long so if you do screw them all the way in and stomp on your toe stop you can break the top of the plate on your skate and the screw can go through the fabric into your boot. Apparently that happened to someone at SVRG when Steffin was there. Ouch. So, almost all the way in, but not all.

Anyway, I think I spent like 40 minutes at Cruz, as well as actually making purchases. It was fun, and I liked getting pro tips and talking shop. The only weird thing was that I was in there and then some random homeless person walked by and yelled something about how we were all skaters or something at us and then probably something about Jesus (I didn't understand what she said) and then kept walking. Oh well, it is the Mission, right? Since we meet there to get rides to training, I am sure I will be back. Oh yeah, and you get a discount if you tell them you skate with BAD/RR! Yay.

EDIT: Apparently I thought I spent 40 minutes at Cruz, but ze boyfriend informs me that it was more like two hours. Oh well.