Wanna hear a joke?
Q: What’s the hardest part about rollerblading?
A: Telling your parents that you’re gay.
Hahahaahaha. But…wait…seriously.
Little did I know, all those years, pushing the rink floor and the pavement on those rollerblades through the University of Illinois campus quad in Champaign, down the Lakefront, and all through that great city of Chicago that I would have to have that conversation with my parents that I was dating a woman.
Since then, I’ve rollerbladed the hills of Wyoming, the parks of Las Vegas, the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and now the Parkways of Reno/Sparks. Reno and Sparks have some amazing bike trails which double as rollerblading heaven.
Terry, from Reno 911 knew how great these streets are for rolling. Especially by the Taco, Taco, Taco.
Just this past weekend, I drove myself down to the Rosebud Nature Study Preserve at Veterans’ Parkway and Pembroke Drive in Sparks. There, I strapped on me ole trusty K2 blades and rolled for a pleasant 20 minutes south, over creeks, past fields of cows, passing underneath the Parkway, and to South Meadows Parkway, where the trail ended.
I could have kept rolling down the perfectly manicured, smooth sidewalks which line this southern part of Veterans’ Parkway, but I didn’t know if my new knee agreed. I had my ACL replaced this time last year and I’m still trying to figure out what it will allow me to do. I turned around and made it back to my car. It was about 7 miles in 40 minutes. Not bad. And I didn’t have to worry about traffic except at well-kept stoplights.
I hardly noticed the cars passing by. I saw a LOT of friendly bikers. It was one of the first beautiful days of Spring. I sang 80’s songs to the cows as I paraded past.
If you love the 4-wheeled boots like I do, I encourage you to check out some of these trails. Wear your brightest neon clothing and rainbows while you sweat and firm up that booty. See you out there!
Erica Pionke's Guide to Reno LGBTQ 
3 replies on “Reno Rollerblading”
Erica!!!! Hi how are you? Would you like to write a blog post about our upcoming Scarleteen Queer Sex Ed summer intensive? We want to drive attendance and it would be great to have an article to link to… Let me know if you are interested and I will send you info! Stacey
On Thu, Mar 31, 2022 at 7:25 AM Erica Pionke’s Guide to Reno LGBTQ wrote:
> Erica Pionke posted: ” Wanna hear a joke? Q: What’s the hardest part about > rollerblading? A: Telling your parents that you’re gay. Hahahaahaha. > But…wait…seriously. Little did I know, all those years, pushing the > rink floor and the pavement on those rollerbla” >
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Yes! Let’s get together and write a post!
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[…] in my blog like Our Center and Reno Little Theater and things that I wrote about in my blog, like rollerblading, and people that I met, like the Twampson Sisters and Dino Valentino, and, of course, my […]
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