Vertical Rollerskating

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Message 13366 (7. Sep. 2010 19:54) (All next)

biffsk8er (videos by biffsk8er) (pictures by biffsk8er)
Regret.
I feel really bad about my Sunday night skate session.

I was doing a 360 spin, over a volcano obstacle, at the new Brushy Creek skate park when calamity struck. The street course has always been an issue since there are no well defined lines to take in this park. Skaters continually crisscross, from all conceivable angles, as they skate the street course.

As I waited for an opening to do my run, kids kept hanging out on top of the volcano, which kept me from going. A few skaters, who were aware of my dilemma, started yelling for them to move. When they did, another skater snaked my run. I realized that if I followed him through, I too, would get my run! Otherwise, I could already see skaters coming from the other end of the park who would soon be in my way once again.

I had already failed this trick 3 times, and each time I was closer to success. As I approached the volcano, I was gaining ground on the other skater since he rode the cone of the volcano instead of airing it. I decided that it didn't matter.....'focus on the trick and avoid him after I land'. As I started into my spin (in the air), I heard him sliding out. Crap.

As I came out of the spin, I was able to spot my landing... and my new obstacle; a skateboarder leaning over towards me stretched out into the splits, with one foot still on his board. I had no way to not come down on him with all of my weight. I was able to twist a little bit so as to try to not slam directly into him. My right arm pit landed around his neck, causing him to be pressed down toward the ground. It also pushed him back, and he popped up and backwards, slightly banging his head on the ground.

Turns out that his hitting the head was not that big of a deal, but the way he was writhing on the ground, I was seriously worried that I might have paralyzed him!! After he finally recovered enough to talk, it turned out that he was just coming back from a broken jaw surgery less than 6 weeks old. He said he could feel that it was re-broken on his right side.

I feel terrible. I have never been the cause of someone elses skate injury before, other than my own. And, on top of that, to re-break someone's jaw!! It is worse knowing that I was just getting impatient. I should have waited for him to clear the obstacle. I've always used caution when it comes to skating near others and I chose to ignore my better judgment.

I am not trying to get sympathy. I also do not need anyone to lecture me. I know what I did was wrong. I just needed to get this off of my chest. Maybe, by sharing this, it will help to prevent any similar mishaps from occurring to any of us in the future.

And the real kicker is that I landed the trick perfectly. It wasn't worth it.

The volcano in question :

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  • biffsk8er: Regret. (7. Sep. 2010 19:54)
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