Great Practice Tonight

Ok, I am tired.  I just got home from tonight’s practice with Piedmont and I felt like I got a great workout.  The pace line started out “extremely fast” according to the person that was skating behind me.  Tony typically has certain skaters lap the pack… and for some insane reason I decided to pass up through the pack and take a tern lapping the pack.  Richie Reynolds went with me which gave me a little extra motivation.

After the pace line we did 10 laps 4 times.  I wish you could have seen the enjoyment on Tony’s face when he said “Ryan, I told you to go with the first group… this second group is going to hurt!”  I guess we had a little miscommunication.  The second group had Mariah, Cheeks girlfriend and a handful of other folks that have been skating much more than I have.  When I skate a race at practice I could care less about getting first.  My primary goal is to hurt and to get a good workout.  That being said I led out each of the ten’s and felt as though I did so at a speed that would allow me to get a workout and would also make the other skaters work harder than normal.  And yes, I had on my 84’s tonight.

I talked to Cheeks for a bit about his blog and mentioned that he should write about young skaters and their tempers (due to something we witnessed at tonights practice)… something we both have a lot of experience with.  I also told him that he should write about the 17/18 year old Michael Cheek.  You do know he has worked his butt off to get where he is right?  He didn’t just put on skates like Harry or Mantia and become an instant star.  I think he has a good story to tell, a story that might motivate a lot of people.

The other Cheek (Joey) also stopped by practice tonight.  It is crazy to see how successful he has become.  At the end of the day it is great to see that both brothers have succeeded in their own right.

Don’t you just love when you are skating and your legs hurt so bad you feel like you just can’t push anymore?  I don’t think there are many sports that can give you that feeling.

Talk to you soon.

So….

You know, it sure is funny how life can deal you a bad set of cards every now and then. It has been an extremely up and down week for me and I should let you know that as of Monday (11/26) I became unemployed. I have sat here looking at my incredible new pair of skates trying to decide if I need to sell them to come up with some extra money or if I can survive without the money. The quick and easy answer is that I need to sell my brand new pair of skates.

I can’t tell you how bad this decision sucks for me but it is the right decision at this point in time. Once I get back on my feet I absolutely plan to re-purchase the skates and continue my comeback. You know that feeling you get when you haven’t skated in a while and you just can’t wait to go to practice? Yea, I have that like crazy right now which makes letting the skates go is that much harder.

So here is what I have for you, and keep in mind the products have been skated on one time and are pretty much brand new.

Challenge boot (Size 9 US, 41 Eur)

Pilot frame (4×110)

G-series wheels (110’s)

Ideally I would like to get $650 for the complete set. I am willing to split the set-up but will have those conversations on an individual basis. If interested please email me at ryan at ryanshell.com.