Speaker 1: 0:09

Hey there, welcome to how Do you Skate, the ultimate destination for all skating enthusiasts. We cater to everyone, from beginners to pros. Whether you love inline and ice skating or prefer quads and skateboarding, we have it all covered, and we bring you exclusive interviews with professionals, talented amateurs and influencers in the industry. So sit back, relax and get ready for an exciting journey into the world of skating.

Speaker 2: 0:40

Welcome to this week's episode of how do you skateate. I'm your host, sean Egan. My guest today is my good friend Will Dowdy. How are you doing today? Oh, pretty good, and you, I'm doing all right. It was a long night we had last night.

Speaker 3: 0:57

Yes, the answer to the question that is, the name of this podcast is Passionately.

Speaker 2: 1:02

Exactly. So when did your whole skating start?

Speaker 3: 1:07

I know we've talked a lot, but I don't think I actually know the the origin story of your uh skating career so like when I was a little boy my dad was cleaning out like a like a flood restoration in a basement and they gave me these, uh, those metal wheels that you slipped on the outside of the skates. I was like four or five years old, so I enjoyed the heck out of those, but my mom, I think, probably threw them away. She didn't like me getting hurt, you know. Uh. So then I went again when I was seven, but then in my teens I I skated 48 hours a week every week for like three and a half years or something like that, and uh, I, I, uh, I really fell in love with skating. Back then I started, like in the speed side, but there was this really funky, weird skater and he taught me how to do a lot of like fluid motion.

Speaker 2: 1:58

That I think is shown up today very cool and I know we discussed, talked about a little bit last night, but you had like little breaks and stuff. So, yeah, you've been skating for god. I know you're a little bit younger than me, but you've been skating for almost as long as I have, or if not longer yeah, I've been skating for on and off like for 40 years, so that, uh, I'm.

Speaker 3: 2:24

So. It's 43 years ago. I got on skates the first time, a couple of times in between, and then my teams, I really picked it up for probably, like I say, three and a half to maybe even as much as five years. As much as they were open, I would go cool now it's.

Speaker 2: 2:48

Uh, I know you've had breaks in between, but was there ever a period when you had that break that it just like completely like left you and you didn't think about it until you did it again, or yeah, absolutely so.

Speaker 3: 2:57

I uh, you know, uh, I can't recall when I would go with my son. He's 21 and we used to go for a small period of time, but I was a lot heavier and every fall felt a lot worse. So I didn't skate again for a long time and I had forgotten all about how a skating rink in Aurora. So when I went and I remembered how much I loved it, I picked it back up. That was like in 2021.

Speaker 2: 3:30

Okay, so kind of like right in the middle of the pandemic or like right after.

Speaker 3: 3:35

Just after, there was still plenty of mass restrictions in places, in different places, and what have you. But it was just after. Uh, they, they released everything, and you know what I mean when I say the. Uh, the biden administration came in yeah.

Speaker 2: 3:53

So now were you skating like outdoors when you got back into it, or was it just strictly at the rink?

Speaker 3: 3:59

I've always skated basically strictly at the rink, except for the skateboarding to and from friends' houses and stuff like that. I used to use skateboards as transportation and everything.

Speaker 2: 4:13

So you're a multifaceted skater.

Speaker 3: 4:16

Yeah, and to that point, like you know, as you know, we're friends. I've listened to every one of your podcasts and everything. Go for a longboard. When you decide to go, uh, skate skateboard style, go ahead and try longboarding, because you know you're tall enough. That longboard is going to be the thing you want to do. Like a small longboard, yeah, uh, the opportunity to work like a skateboard. But you'll be, you'll have the, the legs and the space for your legs and everything. So what you're saying is I'm fat, no, you're tall, you're really tall. I always marvel at how tall some of the people skate are you and Vernon, better known as Denver you guys are so tall I'm like, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2: 5:00

Well, I don't know if we were blessed with height, or I don't know if you would call it a blessing. It could be a pain sometimes.

Speaker 3: 5:09

That's why I say oh my God, because I can only imagine what it is to fall from way up there.

Speaker 2: 5:14

Yeah, not only that, though it's, we got bigger feet. So, like a lot of companies, don't make the skates in the size Like I can go, and I can go k2s and I can do um, the specialty bont boots for speed skating, but, like a lot of regular roller skates, I can't find a size 13, and I think denver may be may be 13 or 14. Yeah, so I believe it. But I believe it now because when I first met you, the first thing you said you're like, yeah, I'm just a grumpy old man. And then you started skating again and then you said you were a grumpy old man who skates yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 5:57

And then you teased me recently that every time you see me I've got the smile on my face.

Speaker 2: 6:01

So I know you screwed that one up.

Speaker 3: 6:04

Yeah, no, kidding. Yeah, no, it's, it's. It's really amazing Because my wife like, yeah, you need to go skating a lot of times and she enjoys me skating because I'm so much more like well balanced and and everything. Yeah, you know it's easy to get grumpy when you make choices to be an average person, but you're not really average you know Exactly.

Speaker 2: 6:26

So now, what was? Was it just life and everything that was causing your grumpiness, as we call it?

Speaker 3: 6:33

Yeah, no, it's all the media, you know. I mean, when we grew up, you know we had friends and acquaintances much like you experienced within the community of the skating rink that you know you. You might not ever have any conversation, but you would never have any ill will either. But, you know, everything in the media had me believing that everyone hated everyone and that every you know, and that you know, I'm, I'm, I'm uh, of the uh hated gender with the wrong color skin and all that other stuff. But none of that seems to matter at all in real life, and I work overnight, so my exclusive, like, contact with the world was through media, you know, and they definitely want you to feel like we're so much more divided than I think we might be in real life. I don't, I don't know, though, because I work overnight.

Speaker 2: 7:24

And that's the nice thing about the skate community it doesn't matter what gender, what um, your ethnicity is. It's kind of like we're all family. It's, yeah, we all kind of stick together, we all talk to each other. And it's like one of those places um, like I was having a conversation with someone last night that when they come, even as a group of females, they feel safe because nobody's trying to pick up on them Right? It's not like a bar where you know, hey, can I buy you a drink or anything. It's just, you know, we talk, we interact with each other. But there's that safeness at a roller rink too, cause we know, no matter what happens, we all got each other's back.

Speaker 3: 8:07

Yeah, and I think a lot of the facades have to fall off because we're all just trying to avoid hitting the floor the wrong way.

Speaker 2: 8:14

Exactly Everybody Me and Dylan like locked skates. We almost went down and actually ended up taking another girl down last night, which I feel bad about. But I went back, made sure she was okay. But it's not like we hit her hard, we just knocked her off balance. Yeah, you mean Jackson? No, dylan, he was the other one. He's got the lightest skates and he really skates fast and very, very artistic skating. I'm surprised he didn't stay for flow motion, but he's a really good skater. He had the baseball hat on, skinny guy like Jackson. So okay, okay. So now, another story that you brought up that I want people to hear about is your skates that you had for 30 years. How old were you when you got that pair of skates and what happened to those skates?

Speaker 3: 9:12

Yeah. So I was like probably right in the area of like 15, 16 years old when I got those skates. They were older than my oldest kid and I have six grandkids, so they're older than all of my generations and they were in my car. I basically keep my skates with me at all times because I just never know if I want to break them out. I work in a place where I have the opportunity to sneak a skate here and there if I want to, and so I keep them on me at all times.

Speaker 3: 9:44

But I had them in my car and my car got stolen. So, uh, yeah, I got a little touch of ptsd and what have you. But uh, I was lucky enough to go on ebay and find the same plates and so I got two different sizes and, uh, I took the size I might have thought to return and I attached them to a pair of Nike Air Force Ones, or something they're called, that I had found in my shed that one of my son's friends had left behind when he moved out. So you happened to mention that a couple of days back, a couple of shows back, and I was like, hey look, he just talked about me.

Speaker 2: 10:24

Well, you're probably gonna need to make a pair for uh tony on a honor roll skate crew right.

Speaker 3: 10:30

And then shortly afterward I saw somebody else had put together the same exact thing and, uh, size eight ladies. I was like wow, same exact colors and everything.

Speaker 2: 10:41

I was like that's really amazing, you know yeah, now did it take you a little while to get used to being, because, as skaters, we have our skates and we're comfortable in our skates and then when we get new stuff it takes a little while to get used to. Did it take a little while to get used to the new setup?

Speaker 3: 10:59

so the the real important, like transition, where that you're asking about, I gotta always say it, always say the rentals. Those were killer. I felt like I was a two-year-old. I couldn't do anything without taking everything and adjusting everything on it, because they're so tight you can barely use them and what have you. So that was the one that was really tough to try to adjust to, and I found a pair on a Facebook marketplace for $15, but because they were mine and I could adjust them, take the toe stops out and make them like mine specifically, they did the. They served the purpose.

Speaker 3: 11:35

But, uh, each, each one is, like you know, different and I I uh loved my skates so much that you know I felt like a snob about them and what have you. But when it's all said and done, I think I've seen some of these skaters that, since you started your podcast, I've started to listen to and watch on the YouTube channels and all those different locations. You know it's not really about the skates, it's about the person, because whatever you do, you are going to do them. But those rentals, oh god, they were killer.

Speaker 2: 12:08

I stumbled like a two-year-old learning how to walk yeah, I gotta get a pair of quads, because this thursday I'm actually playing rink hockey with the westminster team, so and my son's coming back to play that was the only reason I'm going back is because he's coming. It's kind of a fun activity to do together because you and your daughter go skating quite a bit too. She's, she's into it and I can. I can see a lot of the similar styles in her skating technique as yours. I mean, she's not as advanced as you yet, but I can see her surpassing you in the future oh yeah, if she continues to go, uh, I think that that's definitely a possibility.

Speaker 3: 12:49

I know that, uh, I got her to go like only a course of maybe like five or six times since school let out in 24, uh, and but now I I might be having her boyfriend come. She's actually the only person that I ever feel like I I taught how to skate every. Otherwise I had this thing. My wife and I discuss. I skate with you. You know, like you've mentioned on the podcast before, skating is like 99, maybe even more than 90, mental, and so what I do is I just skate around with you and if I can skate with you and have a conversation, you get out of your brain and then you start to like be able to able to like turn it into muscle memory and figure out how you're doing it without concentrating on it. Then it just like sort of comes naturally.

Speaker 2: 13:35

Exactly Now. I know for me. Sometimes, when I have a bad day skating, I mean I'll be quiet, but skating does a lot just mentally, allows you to think things out. Does the same thing work for you when you're at the rink?

Speaker 3: 14:38

Yeah, kind of. I mean, I think it's maybe a little bit more in the opposite direction, though it lets me clear my brain.

Speaker 1: 14:44

Yeah, because.

Speaker 3: 14:45

I've always got a whole bunch of thoughts on my brain.

Speaker 3: 14:48

I'm always looking around seeing what's going on in my environment and what have you around seeing what's going on in my environment and what have you?

Speaker 3: 14:56

So when I go roller skating, as you know I I put the earphones in and I just kind of lose myself and get lost in it, and I love the nights when it's packed, as much as I hate them too, because when the people fall in front of you and you're moving fast, it gives you the opportunity to test your dodge game. You know, or learn, how to jump, yeah, yeah, yeah, I haven't done much in the way of jumping, but I have been trying to like get to that because, uh, you know, that's definitely a uh, something that's always marveled me when I see anybody doing any kind of jumps just on the flat stuff or even, like you know, the rollerbladers, the the first one you did, that guy uh and the and the parks and all that kind of stuff I don't know how you yeah, I don't know how you come off your wheels, because it's already like difficult enough to be on wheels, you know.

Speaker 2: 15:48

Then you like jump up and land too you know, yeah, and we've been skating for so long that it's just a natural part of us is is we don't have to think when we're skating, because it's just so natural to us.

Speaker 2: 16:01

So so to be able to jump, someone goes down in front of you, you jump. Especially sometimes you don't have that opportunity. Uh, when I was first started skating again out here, my friend Q went with me and I told him I'm like if you fall in front of me, just lay flat, don't sit up. And he's like, well, if I sit up, I sit up and I'm like I'm jumping over you. If you sit up you might get kicked in the head. So right, but yeah, I mean, it's just a, it's been just a fun year for I think, both of us in developing our friendship over this last year, with skating and everything, it's been like I've seen you, like I said, like you were kind of grumpy when I first met you, like you could see it in your face, but now it's like you're smiling all the time, you're laughing. I think a lot of it has to do with just that.

Speaker 3: 16:51

It's when you get to the roller rink it's like you, you can go by yourself and you know you're going to run into a bunch of friends yes, it is exactly that, like, so, like, I say, I work overnight, so, uh, part of that that, uh, continence was, is, is, uh, some something similar to isolation. You know, yeah, my parents, I, I, have elderly, handicapped parents. Their love language is to scream and holler. You know, we, you, being Generation X, you know we grew up with like Archie Bunker and all that kind of stuff and as a result of those guys, I was, like you know, always kind of like, yeah, I just I'm an out in the shadows and do my best not to be observed.

Speaker 3: 17:33

I, I, what I like to think, but, uh, you know, when it, unfortunately, that same thing is like reversed on the wheels, when I'm skating, I, I, I still feel like I'm alone. But then, you know, it feels so humbling when people come up and give the compliments and I'm like I, you know, I also joke around. I've told you before the the young lady asked me if I have a name for what I do and, with the tongue-in-cheek kind of disappointment, I thought I was dancing.

Speaker 2: 18:02

Yeah, I didn't know I had different names at all, because I remember when I first started going to the roller rink, a lot of the style that's considered artistic or jam skating and all that we called it rexing. Okay, so, I mean, back in the day it was just known as rexing. That's when you get all fancy with your feet on skates and everything. And then I got out here and I think out of all the shows I've done, terrell Ferguson is the only one that actually used the term rexing. Yeah, so, and it was kind of cool to hear that. But then again, each area might have something different, because I grew up skating in California and, from the sounds of it, you pretty much grew up skating with Skate City most of your life, because it's been around for quite a while, hasn't it?

Speaker 3: 18:50

Yeah, absolutely so, that's exactly right. Quite a while, hasn't it? Yeah, absolutely so, that's exactly right. This uh skate city that I used to go to is now a sally beauty salon on a 6, 9 to 25 and it was so rough that they go.

Speaker 3: 19:01

They closed it down because of the gang activity and I've always marveled because like that never happened while I was there. I've just always been so blessed in my life that things like that will take place, but I'm never there when they happen, you know. Yeah, well, I mean that life that things like that will take place, but I'm never there when they happen, you know yeah, well, I mean, that's that's like sometimes some of the concern with the aurora, uh, skate city.

Speaker 2: 19:23

It's that you can't bring in bags and if you bring in a purse it has to be a clear purse. I know, just because of the area that it's in. It has nothing to do with the actual skating rink itself, but the area and I know when it comes to skating we just like to have fun and have a very safe environment that we can do our thing in and not be judged. I mean, I think, I think we actually, as far as the roller rink goes and the skate community, have better judgment-free zone than Planet Fitness does.

Speaker 3: 19:59

Oh, I believe. So I mean, I don't know. Okay, I just caught that. Yeah, I mean, I agree.

Speaker 3: 20:06

I think that, like you know, there's something about knowing that that ground can meet you like that at any point in time. That makes you just like humble yourself like that at any point in time. That makes you just like humble yourself and then, like, once you've exerted yourself, you don't have the again. The facades haven't built back up, even as ingrained as they might be on any occasion. So, and then the other aspect is, like you know, nobody has to interact with another person.

Speaker 3: 20:32

So you know, if you see something that you don't like or whatever, it's nothing more than a nod or a glance at, and then away from you know. If you see something that you don't like or whatever, it's nothing more than a nod or a glance at, and then away from. You know. So there's also those different aspects. So I mean, it's definitely been nice to do it and see everybody trying to enjoy it themselves. I love seeing anybody trying to like roller skate and enjoy it. It's a it's always a heartbreaking thing when you see them crying and wanting to give up. You know, yeah, I just think it's the best thing that you can do, you know.

Speaker 2: 21:07

And the thing I like about our community since we're in the same skate community, as my listeners could probably already tell is that we reach out If we see people, if you see someone struggling and you go up to them like, hey, you're doing good, just keep it up, don't give up. All of a sudden, you can just see the confidence in them change just because they just got that little compliment from one of us, or we teach them how to do. Because there was were you with us that night where there was a bunch of girls in and a few of us were teaching them how to skate and I don't remember if you were one of them, but it was just like all of a sudden then. It's just like they were on fire to start skating. And then, julie and Felicia last night, they keep coming because we keep talking to them and interacting with them and it's you come back to a place where you feel safe and comfortable and I think we've done a really good job of doing that for people that aren't regular skaters.

Speaker 3: 22:07

You definitely have. I know that I have repeatedly wondered to myself if I'm coming across as egotistical. I kind of call him little sean. He's the mechanic that we haven't seen for a while yeah, because I think he broke his ankle yeah, at the, at the I guess role.

Speaker 3: 22:25

I've never gone there and I don't know that I ever will, because I'm like, yeah, alcohol and roller skate maybe not a great combination, but uh, yeah, so when, uh, I mean I agree that combination, but uh, yeah so when uh, uh, he was teaching there, so I think uh trying to teach some girls, so that might be what you're talking about. But yeah, I almost don't interact with people unless they kind of force me to.

Speaker 3: 22:49

I put my earphones in and I lose like track of everybody and everything and I move like like I'm all alone around everything or everyone, as though they're just stuck in the way you know um I, I don't.

Speaker 3: 23:03

I don't believe that I'm showboating, but I know that subconsciously there's probably some arrogant showboating going on in there, because a lot of the music that I listen to has those uh tones when I'm doing it, because it's just, it's so fun to be able to like decide that it's okay to be graceful. You know, uh, being, uh, being graceful is something that some of us are like oh no, that's not macho, that's not masculine. But then you start to like think of the martial arts or, uh, any of that kind of stuff, and you're like, well, no, there's some, there's some real grace in the way that we move, you know yeah, just in dancing too, and I don't see anything egotistical or showboating or anything.

Speaker 2: 23:44

You get in, you get in your groove, you do your style. It's the same thing if you go to uh arvada on thursday nights, because that's much more of a, much more of a um, it's kind of like quasi jam skating. You get a lot more of the artistic. It's kind of like quasi-jamscating. You get a lot more of the artistic and jamscaters there on Thursday night. And then you know in Aurora on Friday and Sunday nights that it's mainly jamscating and artistic, and so each rink's kind of got its own little style of what they have. So, which makes it really cool too. And you can't say you're always in your headphones, because I know brooke plays songs that you get into and that you take your headphones off. I've seen it.

Speaker 3: 24:24

You can't lie to me yeah, that's definitely true, but I also noticed that she like competes for it.

Speaker 2: 24:29

She's like always trying to find the way to make them, make me keep them off which is cool because it's just that whole interaction that it's just I love and it's like about the skating community. It's like you know you don't have the inlines pissed off with the quad skaters or the quads pissed off with the inlines. You every once in a while, if you go to one of the earlier sessions, you get one of the parents that kind of think that you're out to kill their kid and I'm like and I skate slow during the kid sessions just for that fact, because you don't know which direction they're going.

Speaker 3: 25:02

Right, yeah, so that's the only reason that I'll ever go is if I have my daughter. Otherwise, I only go to the adult nights because you know the everything you just said. And then there's so much more. Like you, uh, I'm an old man, so I'm looking around, going like man. We would have been in so much trouble for the way that the things are going down out there, like you know whether it be jumping out in front in the rink like uh. So right before you uh called, right before we started this, I was going back to the jacob kirby one and he was talking about how he messed his knee up. Real bad, because they'll just right into the rink without looking at all.

Speaker 2: 25:42

You know, it's no different than the freeways here in colorado. People just get right on the freeway without change lanes, without looking too, so you, you could tell when they're at the roller rink yes, exactly.

Speaker 3: 25:53

Well, that's what I was going to say, is I often think to myself I cannot carry the skating out onto the highway. I got to be different. In the highway, you can't make the car dance the same way as you can your skates, you know.

Speaker 2: 26:07

If you can, then you're allowed to have an ego. After that, I'm just saying Right, right.

Speaker 3: 26:28

So now that, since you grew up out here, tell me a little bit about how you've seen skating evolve just in the Colorado scene since you were a kid, since you've kind of been involved in the scene for the last 30 years, so, like, skate City has always been around. It's been a place that I was able to go to. They used to have a place and it changed names and they changed everything about it, but it was called funplex and that place had a skating rink in it also. That was the second time I had gone. Skating was so that location okay, uh and uh, so that so.

Speaker 3: 26:55

But the it's also kind of like that niche thing, you know where, you know a lot of people have done it, but most people don't. Um, you know it's uh, not like the movies where almost everybody's gone to a movie, you know uh. So there's that. But I think that like, uh, like you, some of your other guests have mentioned, it's it's, it ebbs and flows, so uh. The other aspect is that, like when I was growing up, in the roller skating rink there was a like a step, especially that first one, that ended up getting shut down. They would not allow you to use inlines inside there because they were afraid that it would mess up the uh, the floors. So I mean, that's also that how long ago it was. You know what I mean and so I was just something.

Speaker 3: 27:42

I don't know if it was one of your shows or if it was somebody else, but it was the idea that like once upon a time the skating rinks tried to like make you like lock into the skating rink and not like you couldn't really skate outside. So that's the part of why I've never really skated outside. I mean, I the first time I did was out of the rink that we attend together all the time, and as I went out I realized, like, with no toe stops, I've never, uh, I like perfected t stops or any of that stuff, because it just doesn't something that I've ever thought about. I mean, like you said, we move naturally, so however I stop, I don't know what I'm doing, but I know that whatever I can do on those smooth floors inside might tear up my wheels outside, you know, yeah so uh, I was terrified going out into that parking lot like, oh no, what am I gonna do?

Speaker 2: 28:32

yeah, a lot of people like I. If I take the skates that I'm at at the rink, I actually have another set of wheels to put on for outdoors. So a lot of us actually switch between indoors and outdoors and I know growing up we would get up early, take BART which is our barrier rapid transit, our BART trains out to San Francisco, skate Golden Gate Park all day, come back, change to our indoor wheels and then hit the rink from like 6 to midnight. So it's like one of those things where when you're dedicated and you know as well as I know, as you get older the hobby becomes more expensive because we want the better wheels, the ceramic bearings, the stuff that makes you go faster. So even like our skates you know I would say the skates that I skate on now probably $450, $500 just with all the modifications and everything.

Speaker 2: 29:31

So it's one of those things that as you get older it progresses. And even I tell people I'm like, just get yourself a starter, like I was telling Julie and Felicia last night. I'm like, check out Moxie Skates, because they've been trying to find like a pair, but they want to do the artistic skating and Mindy was talking about you know you want one that kind of has a heel and that kind of stuff. So she was talking to them about different kinds of skates, of has a heel and that kind of stuff. So she was talking to them about different kinds of skates because mindy skates on moxie, so it's just trying to point them in the right direction and if they keep coming every week they're only going to get better.

Speaker 3: 30:08

So yeah, no, uh, myself, and I can't remember the guy's name off the top of my head, but another guy had both told him. Uh, that facebook marketplace. So you know, like you mentioned it can. It can be expensive, but, like those skates we mentioned a little while ago, uh, they were the only ones I I bought and I bought them in like 92. My mom, my parents, bought them for me like 92 or something like that, and uh, 91 maybe even they cost around $1,000, but they lasted. All I ended up having to do was I had worn out the trucks where the kingpin goes through, so I had to replace my trucks. That was like 40 bucks and then those bearings eventually went bad. But the bearings are like 40 bucks for the Red Bones and that's what I normally, uh do.

Speaker 3: 30:58

I did have some blue ones. I can't remember. I think they were the big balls, I think is what they were called. Okay, uh, the they were. I think in this case that I lost. So you know, I've kind of rebuilt this, the thing that I that you see me rocking now the nike ones, the, and they're not quite as good, but they're really good. I mean, it's really close. I mean, you know, I'm gonna have to put like somewhere in the area of uh like 12 to 1500 into the boot if I'm going to have the same boot made and it'll be like four to six weeks. No, four to six months, because they'll be uh, what do you call that? Custom made?

Speaker 2: 31:37

yeah, now what was? The brand of the ones that you lost. Do you remember the brand name so?

Speaker 3: 31:42

yeah, so it was a sure grip, magnum uh plate on a ridell. Uh, uh, I want to say it was a 850. Okay, yeah, so it's. Uh, it's a discontinued boot, but since they color lab and they make the skates custom, you can do the same thing, because they're all essentially the same thing. It's just that some of them have like a strap over the top and some of them have an integrated system within the skins of the skate that pulls the heel in, and then others have like a similar thing, but it's on the skins of the skate that pulls the heel in, and then others have like a similar thing but it's on the outside of the skate yeah so I don't know.

Speaker 3: 32:23

You know, like I say, I was like recognizing that I had been snobby about those. But then when I went to the 15 uh dollar ones and threw my scraps off the old ones onto those, I started to uh be able to master those as in an equal way, although the fabric doesn't hold your foot. So that was an interesting thing to experience also a little adaptation there yeah, so I've never tried anything else.

Speaker 3: 32:51

But uh, the rentals and that particular thing, cause even if I had six pairs of skates in my life, two of those were the same thing that I, that I just lost and the one that I've just built. Essentially, it's all really about that. That plate, the boots you know you could like. As you saw, I put a regular shoe on it.

Speaker 2: 33:14

It's been working out you know, yeah, and you know, with our skills that we can take a regular shoe on it.

Speaker 3: 33:19

It's been working out, you know, yeah, and you know, with our skills, that we can take a rental and turn it into a pretty sweet skate. Yeah, it's like essentially that's what Mr Kirby was saying the rocks on you is a nylon plate, which is what the rentals are.

Speaker 2: 33:34

Yeah, I mean I skate when we do the rink hockey and it's funny because I can actually skate better backwards on quads than I can on my skates. But then I got a 100-millimeter wheel, so it's not that easy, yeah, but it's. Yeah. I think with me, with my height and my weight and everything, that I would definitely have to go with the metal plate when I get quads, I don't think that nylon will last very long.

Speaker 3: 34:02

Even if it does. I mean it's just the overall like idea of, like you know, invest once in that way you have it. Because if you buy the cheaper thing I mean, unless you're going with the use products off of, like you know, ebay or Facebook or Poshmark or any of those places, unless you're going, like you know, super cheap, like that, it's better to just go ahead and pay the money for the first time around. Like I say, those, uh, those that I got, they were like, uh, those plates were right in the area of like 125, 130 now, which really blew me away because they were such an expensive skate back then. I think back then that same plate, brand new, while they were still producing them, was like three or four hundred, yeah, you know. So it was really amazing to come across those. I was like, well, yay, you know, it's okay.

Speaker 3: 34:50

I I guess it was time to get rid of them, because I joked around that I've had those skates so long that you could smell them. They had a smell about them and it didn't matter what kind of febreze or lysol or whatever you put them in. Whoo, somebody use these, exactly I think. I think the thieves if they, if they, if they opened, it might have just been like oh, what the hell is in there, you know.

Speaker 2: 35:17

I can see that. I can see that. Did they ever recover your car?

Speaker 3: 35:22

Yeah, so they recovered the car and I haven't figured out what's going to be happening with that, but as soon as they told me, I raced over there and my skates weren't in there.

Speaker 3: 35:31

I was like oh, no, so I hope that whoever got them is actually using them and it fixes their life the way it kind of, you know, kept us a lot of us out of trouble as you were discussing. You know, yeah, you know, it makes you like even, uh, even recently, like you know, growing up we, a lot of us probably never, ever thought about putting on any pads or helmets or anything like that. But in this, uh, last few years, I've decided that I wear knee pads at all times because, uh, I kept falling exactly the same way at the skating rink over and over again right there on the outside of the joint, and I like skating too much. I don't want to mess it up, you know, yeah, so I actually have them on all the time. Because I also found out is, if you've got knee, uh, knee pads on, you have no problem getting down on your knee and then getting back up and getting down and getting back up yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2: 36:28

The only time I usually wear a helmet is if I'm skating outside with speed skates and um during speed skating practice. And I did fall in speed skating practice and hit my head, which is what I had my helmet on, so that was a lucky moment for me.

Speaker 2: 36:44

And then I just laid there because I felt stupid for falling, because it was like I was coming off and I hit, like they had that little block on the exit, like right at the bottom, and my skate clipped that when I came off backwards. So then I just went down and I felt stupid yeah.

Speaker 3: 37:03

So, if you've ever noticed, I kind of like to skate right there against the wall. That's from the skate, the speed skate route of it all, because I noticed all the falls that ever took place in speed skating was that uh edge clip on the outside wall.

Speaker 2: 37:19

They hit that, their belly rolling all the way down the road, you know yeah I like to do that I was gonna say I get pretty close to that wall sometimes just because you don't have a choice.

Speaker 3: 37:29

So yeah, yeah, no, it's definitely like a part of it. So back then they they had speed skate during regular sessions, which, uh, I thought was gone all altogether.

Speaker 2: 37:39

But when I went to roller city I found that they have, uh, they make that available during regular sessions also oh nice yeah, I know uh, we used to have like the boys fast skate and the girls fast skate at the roller rink and a lot of the times. So we'd get two songs, each of us would get two songs, and I would go and I'd pick like the nine minute metallica song for one of the songs, just so we got more time out there. And then someone else would pick another like super. So we had like 20 minutes out there just to skate fast, which was fun, because that's where if you can't skate fast, they wouldn't let you on the floor. They're like if you cannot skate fast, do not skate this. You know it was for the more advanced skaters, which is kind of cool that they do.

Speaker 3: 38:26

So our skating rink did it Boys and girls. They did a unit what do you call that? Co-ed or whatever they call that. They did both sexes. But they did it by age groups instead, and they still do at that roller city place. They do it by age groups so like everybody 13 to and under can go out now, everybody uh, 13 through 16, everybody 17, uh through adult or whatever you know and uh. So they'll each get like either a full song or a partial song. But I can still remember it was always one of two songs back then in those public session speed skates, highway to hell or back in black. It was always one of those two songs, if not both it's got to be metal be just because of the speeds.

Speaker 2: 39:11

It's like you're not going to skate fast at justin bieber or justin timberlake. I'm sorry, it just doesn't work. So right, you're probably right, although skate fast at Justin.

Speaker 3: 39:18

Bieber or Justin Timberlake. I'm sorry, it just doesn't work Right. You're probably right, Although you know I found that. I found it really funny when they played Delilah, how, even though it's like a nice mellow song, it's got a rather quick tempo.

Speaker 2: 39:29

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 39:30

You know, if you, if you, if you perceive it that way, at least you know.

Speaker 2: 39:34

Yeah, exactly, so perceive it that way, at least you know. Yeah, exactly, so I I like roller city just because of the fact that they don't have the walls. I love that. Yes, because you, you were out there at shuffle skate, weren't you? Yeah, I did, I, I, I did go there yeah, I, I ended up winning lights for my skates, but I will never put lights on my skates, oh really, yeah, it's kind of like my car. It's like I like the quiet because I don't want to attract attention.

Speaker 3: 40:00

So yeah, I think that's kind of been in my mind because, as I toyed with the idea of it, uh, I saw somebody on facebook, uh the other day who was asking about, uh, which one of the skate cities he should have his birthday party at, and he was using something similar to what looked like glowing glow stick nunchucks, but like the full size nunchuck. I really enjoyed the idea of that because that was something I but but that'd be like, well, like what I might do during flow motion on a night when I'm all alone, cause I'm back to that thing where I'm not really trying to capture everybody's attention. You know, yeah, I'm just trying to forget that anything's going on, ever, you know exactly.

Speaker 2: 40:44

So now, who is one of your biggest influences for skating? Like, I know, you found the skates, but what? Who was the influence that drove you to go further with it?

Speaker 3: 41:00

Well, I would kind of honestly say like one of two things, for, like you know, one sense, in a very truthful way, you are because, through your podcast I've heard about Diamond Walker and the people that you that had the Olympic things or everything. I was never like into the skate culture, I just skated, I just really enjoyed skating. So I didn't know, like, aside from the biggest names like tony hawks or not, as I don't know if you remember that guy, uh, he was one of the first like name, uh, brand, uh, uh, skateboard producers and yeah. So it was way back in like the 80s actually, I think. Uh, but uh, the.

Speaker 3: 41:50

So there was a guy named Jeff and I don't know anything more than that, but he had this really like noodley way of the way he skated. It was, it was something similar to Groucho Marx and those kinds of things and the way that he would move his body and what have you. And so that's a part of like the stuff, the stuff that I do, I think, in base, so to speak, but you know, nowhere near as noodley as the young lady at the Westminster place. You know, I can't help, since I've never introduced myself, I don't know her name. I know that the mother, the father and her skate there.

Speaker 2: 42:29

Yeah, that's Arvada.

Speaker 3: 42:31

They're at a lot yeah and, uh, that young lady I I call her the windsaw girl because she has got her most. She's got the most unique form of skating I've ever seen, ever and you have to be careful when you skate by her well, that's what I marvel at is like I don't know that you do. She seems to have everything in perfect control, because she does that regardless of the people around her, and I've never seen her kick anybody.

Speaker 2: 43:00

I got hit once, Just going to say oh did you? Yeah, I was skating. But then I came around a lot quicker because of the speed that I skate. But she did manage to. I did manage to run into her hand, so right, but I think that's normal.

Speaker 3: 43:16

I mean, I definitely have done a lot of that. The worst one, though, was some way or another uh, three different times where I just like full body smack right into somebody and we go down, and I don't know why that ever happens, except for I must not be paying any attention. Like I say, I really get lost in it, you know.

Speaker 2: 43:40

Had to be one of the good songs. Yeah, exactly. So now we've discussed part of your equipment, but do you have reds in your skates now?

Speaker 3: 43:54

Yes, okay. So that was one of the first things I did to get back to being able to skate was I made sure to buy a set of Reds, because those marketplace ones they were like an Adidas knockoff, which I found also really funny, because the guy says that nike or adidas and I had the adidas knockoff and the nike, uh, homemade you know, and uh, they had some like thk in there and they were very, very slow bearings and they had really soft wheels which, come to find out through all the research and stuff, the softer the wheel, the slower it feels, and so that was just driving me crazy. I'd literally come to a stop trying to do the store stuff I normally do at speed. I'd come to a stop because of those things. So that was the first thing I did was get those and then, um, as soon as I could do it, I got the same wheels I had lost off the other ones. They're like a 97a, okay.

Speaker 3: 44:53

They're uh, uh, backs, uh, backspin, I think is what they are. Yeah, backspin, okay, but I like the way they stick to the ground. So, like you mentioned the uh inlines or what or what have you, the inline people are so much faster and I can almost keep up with them as long as my wheel sticking my orange wheels from the original skates from way back back. They, uh, they're like us, like maybe in the 80s or the 60s, okay, somewhere. And so they're they. They slide real easy and, uh, I would be right there on their tail and I hit a corner and I just like slide out and they laid, end up laying down, you know, like damn that wasn't what I was trying to do I've been there many a times.

Speaker 2: 45:38

It happens to even the inline skaters. But oh yeah, and I know you ordered plates, but what? What kind of plate did you get? Like what's, what's your uh plate? And we know you're using Nikes.

Speaker 3: 45:50

Yeah, right, right. So the plate that I got, it's an old, new stock. I don't know how they end up coming up online every now and then, but it's called a SureGrip Magnum, okay, and it's a magnesium plate. Um, the, the, the current model, that is basically the same thing. They make it in aluminum or in uh uh magnesium and that's the avanti.

Speaker 3: 46:18

But I have not ever like got on those or tried those. But I can tell from all the different research that that's what they transferred the magnum into. Okay, I like the magnum because it's got like a, a real paddle uh type of, uh setup like a dumbbell kind of, so that it's I. I felt that it would be easy to uh have like more metal control across the sole of your foot and, as you know, I kind of like do the tap dance stuff on it. So, uh, I had some plastic cubs I got out of a play it against sports for like cheap price, you know. I had them on there and after like two months or so I broke, cracked through one or two of those wheels.

Speaker 3: 47:02

So, yeah, so I have to go for metal hubs because of the way I skate and what have you.

Speaker 2: 47:08

Yeah, I mean equipment is important and that's like one of the reasons why I like to find out what people use, just because I don't think people realize how important, especially if you're going to pursue this as like a major hobby or, like me, where it's actually starting to transition into a profession for me, absolutely so it's. You want transition into a profession? For me, absolutely so. You want the good equipment and I like to see what the beginners are using as opposed to the pros and see if there's any crossover. And it's just nice for people to know and kind of get ideas and that way, if someone's getting into it and wants to start putting a skate together have all these different resources that they can look up now right.

Speaker 3: 47:53

Yeah, no, that's a really great way of doing it. Uh, I've enjoyed listening to that and the uh different guests include that have said, yeah, I really preach maintenance but I never do anything about it because, you know, uh, I've never even even thought about doing that. Uh, and I was at the uh mile high rollers doing the things I do and I somehow exploded a set of bearings, but thankfully they had a merch guy there that had the bearings, because at that point in time the rinks didn't have bearings. Uh, now I've noticed that they they have the bearings and I'm so grateful because, you know, I didn't know you could blow them up, but I could blow them up, you know exactly yeah, I almost fell.

Speaker 3: 48:38

Uh, I caught, I caught. Somebody else had blown theirs out and there were, uh, the, the beans all over the floor here was it their own skate or was it one of the rentals? Uh, no, no idea, because it didn't seem like anybody had noticed, so it could have even just been a single ball that fell out, you know.

Speaker 2: 48:54

Because I heard somebody lost some beads. I think it was a bearing.

Speaker 3: 49:00

Yeah, it was definitely beyond a shadow of a doubt, a bearing, because after it caught me like two times within a like less than a foot space.

Speaker 2: 49:10

I was able to locate it and pick it up and it was definitely a bearing, a, a bean, whatever you call the little bearing yeah, well, and now, last but not least, what is your advice to up-and-coming skaters that want to want to do this, either as a hobby, or try to compete, or whatever?

Speaker 3: 49:31

you know what you want to do on the skates, practice it in your shoes and on your feet. That's, that's probably like the biggest thing, that you're trying to do something special. I tell people that I feel that the best way and my favorite way to skate in general is the, the, they. They call it the, uh, the bubble, and you know I I basically liken it to swimming, what I do when I skate and I call it the butterfly stroke. But that thing, right there, you can first you get it simultaneously, then you do one, then you do the other, and you never have to lift your feet when you're skating. You actually do not have to lift your feet at all when you're skating, and so I think that that's the most important thing is just get out there, enjoy it, start off without lifting your feet at all, like you're on a swimming pool, moving your feet across the water and causing ripples. I'd like to tell uh mr kirby had said or like the you're on the escalator and the floor is moving. You just have to step that the way you know. So just do it and remember, like you know, it's not as if you get used to falling.

Speaker 3: 50:46

If you know you're going to fall, then it's's not scary. There's all kinds of ways to enjoy it. You know the community part, the exercise part. I went from smoking three packs a day to smoking less than a pack a day once I started roller skating again. So that's, like you know, just one example of how much it has improved my personal life in every way, shape and form just to participate in roller skating again. That's awesome. So I think that that's like definitely one of the things that I love about what you're doing, in that you know almost all of them make mention of how much mental health benefits there are to it. So just do it. Just know you're going to fall. Know sometimes you're going to hurt yourself a little bit, but if you learn how to fall and you're not afraid of it, you'll minimize injury and you'll maximize the energy of all the fun and everything that is good about it. Exactly.

Speaker 2: 51:52

Now I just found you on Facebook. Is there social media that people could follow you on or see your journey?

Speaker 3: 52:02

Yeah, I mean. So I've been posting on my Facebook a lot more. I accidentally gave this lady the wrong name and that feels so weird, but my name is William Dowdy and you can find me with a picture of my face on Facebook. And then my name on Instagram is Will Dowdy and again it's a picture of my face. So, you know, it's kind of that arrogant smirk that I think causes people to look at me. But that's who it is and you know, I don't suggest you go there if you're easily like offended because I am a Christian.

Speaker 3: 52:45

I believe we're like going through a bunch of stuff because of the way that our nation is no longer christian and a lot of my posts might reflect that. So I might be setting something up at some point in time, uh, like to where it's nothing but my roller skating, yeah, so that that way people can enjoy it. Uh, I'm also uh, I don't know, I have a YouTube channel that I've posted my squirrel Okay, A few dozen videos of a squirrel that I had had for a short time, a long time ago, Maybe a video of my son when he was like just older than a toddler, and then like a few, maybe a dozen videos of me roller skating Nice and then like a few, maybe a dozen videos of me roller skating.

Speaker 3: 53:31

That'd be like the safest place to look at what I do without being offended by what I think.

Speaker 2: 53:37

Just remember he said if you're offended easily, don't follow Right. Well, I appreciate you coming on today.

Speaker 3: 53:45

So I really appreciate you asking me. I mean, I'm I really enjoyed you doing this show. It's it's opened me up to the fact that there's like that culture, the names, the different influences, the different people uh that are out there, uh, the different ways that that people uh utilize roller skating specifically. But I love how you do it with the ice skating and the uh the skateboarding and all that and uh, yeah, the the longboard. Remember, if you're going to get yourself a skateboard, look at the longboards. They'll, they'll be a lot easier for you to be able to like, enjoy, unless you're trying to trick and go in the drop-ins and the bowls and all that you know you know I'm gonna have to get both, just so I can have a different skate for everything.

Speaker 2: 54:30

So yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 54:32

Yeah, no, I, I, I, I. I marvel at the fact that just as long little as like four years ago, I was using a longboard. I'd walk my kids to the bus stop. They think. I think they would ride it to the bus stop, they so yeah.

Speaker 2: 54:47

Very cool. So this is going to be the latest episode, so I appreciate it once again and look forward to seeing you next Friday night. Are you going to go tomorrow night at Arvada for?

Speaker 3: 55:01

adult. No, you know, I basically run the flow. They tell me that I'm running the flow motion at the Westminster. So from 8 to 9 at Westminster I go there, and since I work at 1 o'clock in the morning on my regular job, I have foregone going to Arvada for a while now.

Speaker 2: 55:21

Okay, well, and there's another way to find him. If you live in Colorado, show up at Skate City Westminster on Fridays and Saturday nights for Flow Motion.

Speaker 3: 55:32

Yep, I'm almost always there. Well, thank you sir. Thank you, have a great day. It's been a pleasure you too, you, thank you, thank you.