Project: Roller Girl

There's no doubt about it, Roller Derby is a sport.  When you play Roller Derby, you get sweaty, you sprint around the track, you stretch yourself into positions reminiscent of a pretzel...all whilst looking like a rock star (or shock star, as the case may be)... and you know why?  Because of brands like Pivot Star, Iron Doll, and Derby Skinz.  That's right folks, today we are going to talk about Roller Derby fashion: what it is, what it does, and how to rock (shock) it!

Really, the fashion of Roller Derby?  Yes!

When I first started skating, I looked at the fishnets, panties, and tutus and thought they didn't seem very practical.  Fishnets looked sexy and left some pretty cool - albeit painful - track burn patterns,  but they didn't provide much support or function.  Real panties didn't usually last very long and some didn't find them family friendly.  Then there were the tutus...let's just say, it can be difficult to take an athlete seriously when wearing an unflattering bolt of tulle around their midsection.  Fortunately, it didn't take long before some entrepreneurial women met the growing demand and a new style of women's athletic clothing was born.

There are quite a few Roller Derby specific brands of clothing out there, so I'm just going to focus on the 3 I've been able to test out during my skating career: Derby Skinz, Iron Doll, and Pivot Star.  In order to keep this article short enough to read in half an hour, I'm just going to give some pros and cons of each brand.  If you have questions that are not answered here, feel free to ask them in the comments of this post and I will answer them for you there.

Derby Skinz

Derby Skinz Shortz

Pros:
TONS off fabric patterns to choose from and more added on a regular basis.
Wide array of size options (awesome selection for larger skaters!).
Lots of styles to choose from.
Customizable for reasonable prices.
Prices for shorts runs from around $20 to $45.

Cons:
Different fabrics can make a difference in what size a skater wears.
Flat butts remain flat unless wearing some Ruffle Buttz.

Final Word:
Durable construction and flexible fabric allows Derby Skinz products to last a long time and look fabulous on or off the track.  My favorite Derby Skinz product are the High Waisted Capriz.  Pair them with any shorts and keep that tummy sucked in!

Iron Doll Lift and Separate Shorts

Iron Doll

Pros:
Wide array of size options.
Lift and Separate shorts make it look like any skater has an awesome derriere (even a billboard butt like mine!).
The Reversible Scrimmage Jersey is the best I've found.  It is heavy duty, so it won't fall apart like others out there and is reasonably priced-even with your name/number on both sides!

Cons:
Doesn't have the wide selection of fabric patterns like Derby Skinz, but tons of colors are available in flat and shimmer finish.
Can take 6-8 weeks to get custom/bulk orders (such as uniforms) due to their popularity.
Sizing is tricky, shorts seem to run big but the tops run small so try them on before purchasing or shoot me a message so we can figure out what size will work for you before you spend a bunch of dough.

Final Word:
If you suffer from uni-butt (think uni-boob, only lower), you need to get some Iron Doll Lift and Separate shorts, STAT!  Also, purchase one of the Scrimmage Jerseys...it will probably be the last one you ever need to purchase.

Pivot Star

Pivot Star Sin-e-Star Hoodie

Pros:
Chica Bomb shorts ($35) provide great coverage-no peep show here!
Sleeveless hoodies ($49) are all the rage, if you don't have one yet-get one.  They are great to warm up in and are super cute at after parties.
Francey Pants ($54) are finally available with a bunch of cuff colors.
All Pivot Star products are made of quality materials and there is attention to detail in their construction, so be prepared to have one of these items for life.
Customized colors available but may need to be purchased in bulk (such as uniforms).
New Uniform line makes getting new uniforms for skaters who just made it onto your team easy and affordable!

Cons:
Limited sizing and some items run a bit small.
Can be on the pricey side, but the quality makes up for it.
Not a wide selection of stock color choices for many items.

Final Word:
For those of you who want quality clothing that will keep all your naughty bits covered, check Pivot Star out.  My personal favorite items are the Sin-e-Star sleeveless hoodie and the Francey Pants.


I hope you now have an idea of what to look for when in the market to purchase your next pair of shorts, leggings, or hoodie!  Now, I know some of you are still only reading because you want to see if you won a pair of Bounce toe stops (if you don't know what I'm talking about, check out my last post)!  I asked you to go post "Bounce me Crazy!" on the 2N1 Skate Shoppe FaceBook page to enter for your chance to win, and we had quite a few of you enter.  Alas, I was only able to pick 3 of you to win, so congratulations Jasmine Michelle, Evan Jean Lawrence, and Mindy Quadmother Craig!  Shoot me an e-mail at 2N1SkateShoppe@gmail.com with your address and you should get your new Bounce toe stops in the mail shortly.

I'm working on a new contest, so keep checking my G Spot as well as the 2N1 FB page for an announcement.  In the meantime, 2N1 will be having a CYBER MONDAY sale tomorrow with 20% off all in-stock items.  Just use the code "cyber" when checking out (we aren't that clever).  So if there is something you've had your eye on to purchase, tomorrow is a great day to get it!

Until we skate again,
Shocker

Bounce!

I've tried several different toe stops throughout the past 5 years and have found quite a few that I liked; Gumballs, Big Blocs, Li'l Blocs, and Bionic Super Stoppers.  Until recently, I was using the Bionics and was quite pleased with them...then I tried some Crazy Bounce toe stops.

Crazy Bounce Toe Stops

My first practice on these started off with a bunch of suicides involving sprinting and turn around toe stops. The first thing I noticed about the Bounce stops was that I was able to run and stop on them without having to break them in like other stops I've worn.  They performed really well straight out of the box, which I attribute to the holes on the running surface of the stops as well as their pliability.  When you push off the stop to take off on a run, the stop creates a flat surface so it feels really stable.  Once you are done pushing, the Bounce toe stops rebound to their original shape and are ready for action.

Something else I like about the Bounce stops is that the actual stopper is nice and thick.  When I was screwing them onto my plates, I ended up turning them for about twice as long as I usually would with other stops to get to the point where they were the same amount of distance off the track.  If you are like me and like to have your stops close to the track, when using Bounce toe stops, you won't have to worry about your toe stops stems or plate's toe stop inserts stripping or about your stops falling out due to not having enough threads screwed into the plate.

I have been skating on these toe stops for the past 5-6 weeks and they look about
the same as when I took them out of the box.  Pretty amazing considering, at one point, I was replacing my Gumballs every other month.  I'm interested to see how long these will last and if they will gradually wear down or end up losing chunks.  Once I find out, I'll come update this post.

Photo by David Bedard - Over a month of use on these puppies.

Bounce toe stops have now become my top recommendation for new skaters as well as veterans and are my only recommendation for skaters needing new stops on bout day.  To understand why, here are the Pros and Cons that I came up with:

Pros:

• No break in period.
• Won't pop off the stem.
• Nice thick stop with a long stem.
• Slow to wear down (so far at least).

Cons:

• Retail at $25, which is a bit more than Gumballs or Super Stoppers.
• Only come in one size and color.
• So popular, we keep selling out!

The October G Spot post offered a chance to win some rolls of KT Tape to readers who posted reviews on the 2N1 Skate Shoppe FaceBook page.  So, without further ado, the winners are Charlotte Mahoy, Zack Sherman, Rebecca Kathleen Buss, Shayla Hamilton Urevich, and Melissa Manna Micoogullari!  To claim your prize, send me an e-mail at 2N1SkateShoppe@gmail.com with your mailing address and what your top 3 preferred colors of KT Tape are and I'll get your prize to you ASAP.

This month, I am please to be able to give away some Bounce toe stops!  To enter this contest, just go to the 2N1 Skate Shoppe FaceBook page and post "Bounce Me Crazy!"   I'll announce the winners when I post my next G Spot article, which is titled "Project: Roller Girl" and will focus on Derby clothing.  If you have any specific requests for items you would like me to review, please send me an e-mail at 2N1SkateShoppe@gmail.com or post a comment here. 

Until we skate again!
Shocker

Now That's Some Tasty Juice!

At the end of my last post, I asked G Spot readers to suggest review items, and they (you) delivered!  I have enough items to test/review to keep me busy for quite a while and, as promised, I will randomly give a gift basket worth over $100 from 2N1 Skate Shoppe to one of my fans who made a suggestion.  So, without further ado, congratulations Barbie OHavoc!  Shoot me an e-mail at 2N1SkateShoppe@gmail.com with your address and I'll get the goodies in the mail to you.

Juice Wheels Logo, Pretty Sweet Right?!

Now, I'd like to tell you a story.  A few months ago I received a set of wheels in the mail.  They were wheels I had never seen before from a company I had never heard of, but they had a sweet martini glass logo so I was quite intrigued.  I took to the dubbya dubbya dubbya to try to find more info on these mystery wheels, but still couldn't find anything...the mystery deepened.  Finally, I just said, "what the heck!" while slapping some bearings into the puppies and set off on my new Juice Cosmo Wheels.

I was skeptical when first testing out the Cosmo wheels.  The floor on which I was going to first test them was known for being super sticky, so I wondered if they would be too sticky, but I ended up skating 27 laps in 5 minutes.  That's only one lap fewer than my personal best and I had just returned from taking a couple months off from skating so I was quite pleased.  I was also pleased that it only took about 7 laps before the Cosmos were broken in.  That's the quickest I've ever experienced wheels breaking in, and I've tried out a lot of wheels!

After trying them on a sticky floor, I needed to see how they performed on a slick floor.  The track I found was not only slick but dusty as well, so I was prepared to be sliding all over the place.  Boy was I wrong!  Not only was the roll still incredibly fast and smooth, but they had amazing grip and a controlled slide.  It's almost impossible not to go fast when skating on these wheels, and as a big girl who is used to having to really work to get some speed, I have no problem with that.  These wheels are really giving my previous favorites, Crazy Play Slim 59mm, a run for their money!  (If you are interested in reading more about my experience with the Crazy Play wheels, check out my article on them, Crazy at Play.)

Juice Wheels got their website and FaceBook up and running a few weeks after sending me the tester wheels, so I was finally able to acquire the rest of the wheels they make in their Martini, Spiked, and Jolt series of quad wheels. 

Juice Cosmo 93a

Cosmos are the middle durometer offered by the Juice Wheels Martini series. The Martini line includes Sapphires (91a), Cosmos (93a), and Appletinis (95a), all are 59mm high by 38mm wide, and retail for around $120 for a set of 8 wheels.  That is a little steep compared to other wheels on the market, but it is because they are composed of dual poured urethane and a radial design core.  This dual poured urethane causes more wheel surface area to remain on the track longer than other wheels while the radial core retains and releases energy from your stride, which is why skaters are able to achieve amazing grip without having to compromise speed as sometimes happens with softer wheels.

I have been recommending the Juice Martini series to many of my fellow skaters for them to try out.  The Sapphire wheels have hit it off with my clients who don't weigh much or who need extra grip,  while the Appletinis are working better for skaters who want less grip, are heavier, or skate on extremely sticky surfaces.  For skaters who are just looking for an all around great wheel that works on many surfaces, the Cosmos have been a hands-down favorite.

Juice Monster 95a

Juice Wheels also offers two other wheel lines, Spiked and Jolt.  The Spiked line of wheels include AMP (91a), NRG (93a), and Monster (95a).  Spiked wheels retail at $100 for a set of 8, so they are more affordable, and while they still have the radial designed core, they don't have the dual poured urethane.

Juice Jolt 80a

Jolts are Juice's hybrid offering with a durometer of 80a and they come in two sizes, 62mm and 59mm.  They are $80 for a whole set and have worked well for skaters on super slick/dusty floors.  I haven't yet had the pleasure to try out any of the Spiked or Jolt wheels, but if they perform anywhere near the Martini series, I know I'm in for a treat!



One final note about Juice Martini Wheels: their marketing is genious.  They named the wheels after drinks, their packaging has a picture of a martini glass on the front, and on the back of their package they have "Supplement Facts" that read like nutritional information.  It all ties together quite nicely and has a theme I can get behind.  The only issue I have is that they didn't continue this theme with their Spiked and Jolt wheels and instead went with electricity inspired names.  At least the Spiked wheels have the Juice martini glass logo on the surface area.

To summarize my experiences and those of my fellow skaters who have tried the Juice Martini series of wheels, here is a list of pros and cons:

Pros:

• Excellent speed (can't say that enough)!
• Amazing grip that doesn't interfere with speed.
• Nice and lightweight.
• Great on many different surfaces.
• Pretty sweet marketing and packaging design.

Cons:

• Only comes in 59mm.
• Cost could be a little steep for some skaters.

If you are now interested in trying out some of the Juice Martini series wheels but want to try before you buy, you can check them out from the 2N1 Skate Shoppe Wheel Library for a $20 deposit.  If you aren't sure which ones might work best for you, send me an e-mail at 2N1SkateShoppe@gmail.com and I'll do my best to help you out.


For my next giveaway, I have 5 packs of KT Tape Pro to give away.  These KT Tape Pro packs come in 10 cool colors and include 20 pre-cut strips which makes applying them super easy.  You can use this stuff for just about every injury and the website has tons of video instructions which makes applying the strips super easy.



If you want to be in the running to win some, all you have to do is go to the 2N1 Skate Shoppe FaceBook page and write a review about anything related to 2N1.  You can write it on a product, service you have received, or even the 2N1 website, up to you.  I'll announce the winners in my next G Spot post.


Until we skate again!
Shocker