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Skating | ||
I've always enjoyed skating but I first really started trying to learn something beyond going around in circles sometime around '84-'85 at the long-since closed Hot Wheels rink on Stassney. I also skated occasionally at Skate Ranch in Oak Hill, which was eaten by the Mopac/290 expansion years ago. This was a large rink with a beautiful wooden floor. After more than ten years, there still is no wooden floor in Austin to take its place, and still no skating rinks in South Austin. This is all on quad skates - before roller blades caught on. If I want to have fun, I skate on quads, if I want a workout, I get the roller blades.
Now, I do most of my skating at Playland on Tuesday eveings (adult night), with the occasional forray to Skate World on Rutland. When I'm in the mood for a workout, I head for the veloway and do a few laps on rollerblades. Amazingly, the veloway is often ranked among the top ten skate sites in the country. Its a great resource to have right here in town.
I've throught about taking some ice skating lessons as a way to work on technique, but just haven't gotten into it yet.
Other places to skate in the area include Skate World Northwest on Anderson Mill road. In all the years I've been skating I've never been there, but I hear its a nice rink. There are rinks in Round Rock, Seguin, and San Marcos - never been there either, though San Marcos is almost as close to my home as the Playland rink. There is a rink at the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex on the east side of town. Unfortunately, it is an example of what happens when management tries to get a wooden floor on a cheap budget. Yes, there is a good reason why skating floors are not made out of epoxy painted plywood. The warping on the floor's surface reveals the support structure below the floor.
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