Freeline 2

Time for the freeline update.

Bought my freelines a month or so ago, and I've been out on em half a dozen times since. Can't say I'm an expert yet - worse I'm thinking I have a long ways to go.

Let's get to it.

We talked about the 4 foot excursion on that first ride... oh yeah, and the giggling.

The 2nd ride went much better. The first attempt was, you guessed it, a 4 footer. I was actually on the phone at the time, trying to escape a 3 year old. There wasn't much I could do to evade his clutches but to try again.

So I pushed off again... and... magic. It was everything I have heard describing snowboarding on new snow. Floating, gliding, and acceleration. I had to grit my teeth and hold tight, tears streaming down my face from the blast of the 4 mph wind. The glide lasted a block and a half, a little shaky and more than a bit scary. Its amazing how fast 4 mph feels when you're standing on dinner plates the size of your shoes with wheels attached to them.

The exhilaration of the first ride was not diminished by repetition, nor by the difficulty in mastering the technique.

from night 2 through each successive ride, I was able to glide as far as the slope would take me. One of the hardest lessons? These legs of mine aren't nearly as strong as I would like to believe. The first thing you realize is that each foot takes effort to keep under you. If you were to let things take their natural course, you would be doing the splits in about 0.3 seconds, so the first responsibility you delegate to your legs is to oppose such action. After 3-4 rides, the muscles lining your inner thighs are just starting to burn. after a couple weeks, they don't burn as badly, but you definitely realize that that burn isn't going to be all that short lived either.

Now that I have some ride time under my belt, It is easier to see how the learning will progress a little at a time. Still haven't figured out the whole creating forward momentum thing. Watching the vids and comparing the action to my experience I think it will be easy to figure the action as the strength in my legs increases.

Reading on the internet I heard that changing out the bearings would be a good idea. Lowers the friction and makes it easier to push forward AND glide. I read a few articles and ended up buying a hybrid bearing from Rush. 1 ceramic bearing and the rest super high tech metal. Just a hand test, rolling the wheel before and after, the difference was night and day. Rolling a wheel with moderate force would spin it for 5-8 seconds originally. After the upgrade the roll time with the same force of spin was 17-20 seconds. Trying the difference out on the street gave me more than 30% less drag. Less drag = more speed, and as anyone that knows me can attest, I have a serious need in that area!

So far my progress has all been made on what I would consider a bunny hill. I have less than a 1% grade that stretches for a couple of hundred feet. Even so each ride is exhilarating.

The giggling hasn't stopped. The only thing that I am looking forward to more than my next ride, is the option NOT to have to WALK back up the hill.

I'm sure to post a vid when I finally figure it out. I will keep you posted.

Ben