Me and Wheels don’t really get along.

Cars and I generally don’t like each other and though i can drive them in an emergency i don’t find them particularly easy to navigate with or around. And, while bicycles make me perfectly comfortable despite my general disbelief that they can even stay upright with me perched on top, i learned this weekend that Rollerblades are obviously in collusion with their four-wheeled cousins as opposed to having an uneasy agreement with me as their bi-wheeled bretheren do.

Matt & Ayelet seemed pretty sure i’d be able to skate without much ado, but they neglected the fact that i hadn’t ever really been rollerskating or iceskating so that we were starting from scratch. Locomoting was not entirely difficult, but it hurt as my ankles turned and tilted in skates too narrow for my feet. Stopping proved to be challenging, and no easier on my ankles. Falling was easy; i just made sure to fall backwards and i absorbed the impact again and again with my well-cushioned backside with nary a bruise to be seen. However, i wasn’t going to make it down the 3 mile trail and back again with a combination of unsure 10-meter glides combined with full-throttle ass-first plummets to the ground, so i traded Sara the skates for a bike that was too tall for me to mount; to get onto the seat i had to start pedaling with the right pedal at its peak so that i could hop onto the seat as i pushed it down and around.

I like bicycles, and the hum of tires on asphalt while the world is reduced to road and breeze and fireflies. I rode ahead of them until my legs got tired and then i just kept pace while singing harmony with Ayelet and talking about vodka with Matt. There wasn’t any falling, but i suppose it was just as easy a thing to do.


Falling is always easy.