Rolling With The Cool Kids

The new bladesAn Additive Adventure Entry In Conjunction With OutsideTV.com and Osprey Packs

It’s taken three months, but it’s happened. I was spotted.  Rollerblading.  It was just as awkward as it sounds. I was skating on 30^th, or trying to skate amidst the gravel byproduct from recent construction. I rolled past a woman walking on the sidewalk and was just about to turn up my shuffle when her voice cut into my head.

   “Majka?”

I’d like it to be known that I could I have run—skated—away. I have those skills. But I stopped and talked shop. Yes, I was rollerblading. Sarah was going to yoga.  Did she ever blade? No. Want to? No. And so it went until we said goodbye and I took a hard left to hit the bike path. My new pink rollerblades are fast on the downhill and as I leaned back on my right brake I realized my opportunity. I could save the situation if I did something cool. But I didn’t know how to do anything cool on my skates, and so I just made sure not to fall....

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So That’s What You Mean By Fat

Turn Madness in the Adamants, BCAn Additive Adventure Entry In Conjunction With OutsideTV.com and Osprey Packs

...The secret to being a great athlete is having a list of excuses always at the ready, but never using them. I had plenty of excuses built up by the time I got to the bottom of the day’s fist run: I grew up in Minnesota, powder made no sense, my father was Polish… I didn’t want to use them. Really. But when I got to the bottom and saw everyone else smiling and laughing and talking about how good it was, I had no choice but to be honest. Cindy asked me first. “How are the new skis?” Her smile was so big and expectant it broke my heart. But I had to tell the truth....

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Trifecta, An Additive Adventure Entry

Majka Burhardt Ice Climbing, 1996 season, age 20. Ready for a seson switch? In Conjunction With OutsideTV.com and Osprey Packs

I am a grudging participant in the multi-sport revolution. I live in Boulder, and my opposition is thus poorly chosen. Boulderites switch deftly between a morning ski, an afternoon mountain bike, and an evening climb of the flatiron by headlamp. Over the past six years of living here I have learned that I am good for a two-fer, but that the trifecta continues to elude me. It’s therefore time for new rules.

1: Rollerblading is a sport.

2. Hula hooping counts.

Work with me. Wait—hold on. I just hula hooped. It’s 7 am and I’ve already got one sport down.... 

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