It´s sad, so sad...

Barely back from Barcelona and allready tomorrow I´m on businesstrip for a week to the other side of the world. This time I have to leave my loved ones behind. But I will get over this immense sadness. Will leave them in someone´s care who knows how to treat my babies right. They will be pampered and get some new coating for the summerseason.

Barcelona update

Second day in Barcelona. Yesterday took a trip to the marina and the boulevard and skated for about 2 hours underneath the palmtrees. Hahaha this is the life! Skating the centercity is more difficult because some areas and streets are just unskateable (at least for quadrollerskaters). But there are lots of Plaza´s where I can groove some of my moves. Gotta go now, sun is shining and is calling for me.

Cruisin' 'n' Bruisin'

Yesterday I got myself bruised knees, some losing of skin on my finger and a backache. Getting used to it, sort of. In some odd way you learn how to fall. I always seem to make the perfect slidings when I'm on a streetcourseroll. The streets don't like me. WELL I DON'T LIKE THEM EITHER!

We had a perfect day with sun and some cool wind. The course lasted about 2 hours and took us through a part of The Hague. Don't know really where we went, was to caught up in watching the black asphalt (not the best kind) underneath and right in front of my wheels. There were lots of holes, cracks and pits that decorated these roads. Only then the question comes to mind why the hell they wait so long before they start repairing. But most important we started and ended with some rollerjammin' on some funky music and that, for sure, was the main reason we were all present.
Fell asleep only half an hour after I got home, about 8 pm. Would not expect anything else after skating this last wednesday, thursday, friday, and sunday with an average of 6 hours a day. Really tired now, got to get some rest. I'm off to Bareclona in a few hours, needless to say but I say it anyway: WITH skates!!

The Afterhour

This is sick!! Last night I had myself a relaxing evening, doing nothing for a change, just my remote control in one hand and some lemonade in the other. By the time it was 11 pm I started to get ready for bed, brushed my teeth....and put my skates on. Started dancin', tried some of my new steps. 1 am I plumped down on my couch. 15 minutes later I climbed my bed with my eyes already half closed. Gosh, I must be really tired, my feet do feel heavy....stupid bitch forgot to take off her skates.

Master's Masterclass

So I'm a smart one. Everyone is fairly tired from celebrating Queensday yesterday. Going to bed way too late with quite likely some alcohol to wear off. I did my celebrating the day before and so got into bed very early (and very tired by the way) so I could at least make it trough the Masterclass, which is more important to me then spending the evening before on the streets and in cafes trying to make conversation when everyone else is too drunk to even stand up straight.

Normally we have the first part of warming up our muscles, balance-exercises and endurance training. Now listen carefully: since this is Masterclass, it is not to be compared with the Thursday 45 minute Calypso lesson. You need to have stamina to complete only the first hour of this Masterclass. A beginner (just starting out and not yet in control of the basic steps) will flunk completely. The pace is much quicker (not the music). Calypso lessons will take it slow, first the basic parts of 1 move, then in the complete step in slow motion and then in full speed if you can keep up.
Masterclasses starts at full speed with Lawrence, no slow explanation, no slow-motion (this is only when new steps are taught). The warming-up does not consist of 10 x times 'the forward' and then for fun let's say 5 x the 'groovy'. No can do. 3 full minutes of 'the flip' continued by 3 full minutes of 'the groovy' followed by 3 full minutes of a flip-groovy combination. Then a shake of the legs and quickly moving on to a full 3 minutes of sideward. This goes on and on with all sorts of combinations. Of course we bend and stretch a lot in between for a few minutes but even these stretching-to-the-limit exercises will tire you. Then after about 50 minutes..., trust me you are totally warmed up. We take a break for about 10 minutes and then Brian takes over.
In general he’s the one that teaches us new exercises, the dance steps and the synchs. So besides having the stamina and the physical condition to make it trough the first hour, you also need to have the enthusiasm to learn more, the technical skills to make the steps happen, the fun and memory to do the synchs, the mental force not to give up if it doesn't work out the first time you try, and last but not least the funk to work the body.

Due to certain circumstances, this lesson was not led by an equally divided amount of time between both my Quadsk8 teachers the way it usually is, but for most of the time it was led by Brian. And that is a bit different. Everybody was already worried and expected the worst because the warming-up and endurance training takes place simultaneously with the dance steps, synchs and new exercises. Which consequently means...you start at full throttle and go on like this for two hours in a row. We had one lesson before like this and in the end we were deadbeat. He was so very kind in giving us some breathing time in between, to keep the liquids in our body leveled, the consumption of some sort of sportsdrink is heaven by then, but no longer than 2 minutes at a time.
After 2 hours of pumpin' trucks, poundin' floorchipping and grindin' the wheels (although he said he wouldn't make it as hard this time 'cause of queensday the day before), everybody was deadbeat again. Some even stopped a few minutes earlier but not I, I refuse to let myself down. But we all enjoyed the lessons again and learned some new steps and synchs to practice at home. Everytime I end my classes on these Saturdays and regain my breath with a feeling of satisfaction I know why they call it Masterclass!

For your information Masterclass is NOT an obligation in any way, but a commitment you can make with yourself, to come and follow the lessons if you want to. You can quit any time you like. But in case you haven't noticed yet: Not planning on doing anything like that. Having way too much fun building up my iron discipline!