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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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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Bring Back the Blades, An Additive Adventure Entry

Yes, that is my shadow. I have yet to recruit a professional photographer to shoot my blading.In Conjunction With OutsideTV.com and Osprey Packs

It’s January 28th. My new skis are tuned and fat. In Colorado today, like most days of the winter, the sun is out. The mountains are choked in snow. It looks like a fine day for rollerblading.

It was my Physical Therapist who started it. My back rehab has been going so well I thought I was ready to advance to skiing bumps. She suggested starting with rollerblading. “Have you ever done it?” she asked.

“Is the Pope Catholic?” I responded.

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