First Solo Rollerski, a Minor Disaster

Two women bikers asked me if I was training for
something. They thought I looked pretty funny
with my poles sticking up.

I decided to mix it up and went rollerskiing instead of running. I rode my bike to the intersection of Como Ave. the University of Minnesota Transitway, a dedicated bus route between the Minneapolis and St. Paul UMN campuses. Here, I switched from sandals to ski boots and started. The first obstacles were several major expansion joints on the north slope of the bridge across the BNSF tracks. I was thinking to myself that I would better unstrap my skis for the downward portion of this stretch. The bridge curves westward to Mineapolis and fortunately, the concrete turned into blacktop on the downward slope, without any joints.

I decided to ski to the Gopher football stadium and then do some intervals up the slope to the top of the bridge. Except for a couple of bridges with more expansion joints it was pretty smooth sailing. I was on the home stretch towards my turn-around point when I got a tad off balance and sat down, in slow motion. Not slow enough since the tip of my left thumb and the knuckle and nail of my right middle finger had a close encounter with the rough blacktop surface. The thumb tip was ripped off and my nail was neatly punctured  on the middle finger. It was amazing how uncomfortable these two small wounds made me feel. I did not take the time to scrutinize my injuries till I got home, but it felt like many more fingers were compromised.

T'is nothing but a flesh wound. Still, I did buy some full-finger
leather gloves at Menard's for my next outing.

Both fingers were bleeding profusely and I was dripping all over myself. The bicycle gloves I wore became squishy and the grip on my poles slippery. I did make an effort to do three repetitions up the bridge but then decided to get home and take care of my injuries.

The approach: