I keep thinking about posting, and not doing it. D'oh!
The big news is that Sick Town got the CDC (our warehouse practice space) back! I'm sure we will be booted out again come grass seed season (which this year happened in June), but I hope that until then we will have our very own practice space. It's cold as hell, it has no plumbing, but it's home!
The great thing about the CDC is that the floor is nice and grippy, so I can wear my hard wheels and skate fast. Last night we did time trials, and going the regular direction (which is counterclockwise), I was either right on or just slightly below pace. I made 5.5 laps in one minute, 10.5 in two minutes, and 14.75 in three minutes. On the three-minute skate, I got stuck behind a slower skater for a bit; I'm *not* blaming, but if I can avoid that, I should easily be able to shave off that last 15 seconds. (The standard is 5 laps a minute -- for minimum skills we have to do 25 laps in 5 minutes.)
We did this as a pyramid, and on the way down, we skated clockwise. I had no trouble at all making my laps skating clockwise, even though I was pretty tired by that point. I've said it before, but ... if only derby were done clockwise!! My crossover is *so* much better on that side. Oh well.
We're going to have a minimum skills assessment in the first or second week of December. I'm hoping for second -- more time to get ready. I think I will be able to pass most of the things I failed on last time. The only things I'm really worried about are booty blocking and the crossover. I'm nervous about the test, of course. It's funny -- I never got test anxiety in school. I wasn't even nervous about the SAT. But derby testing stresses me right out. I guess I have more confidence in my brain than in my body. :-)
Since it's been a year, roughly, since I started, I'm going to post later today about my progress and thoughts.
