Are Rollerblades Making a Comeback? I’ve Seen the Signs On America's Sidewalks (Or At Least Ones Near Me)

The other day, I was just minding my own business, driving somewhere, when I eased to a stop at a stoplight. Pedestrians crossed the street in both directions in front of me, when I suddenly noticed that one of them was doing so in a much more fluid and faster fashion.

Almost as if he was gliding across the asphalt.

"Holy sweet mother of crap!" I shouted. "That guy is on rollerblades!"

There's been a real stigma around rollerblades over the last decade or so, and that's a shame because I always loved them. Having grown up playing hockey, I loved nothing more than ripping around the neighborhood on my rollerblades."

But then one day, society decided that rollerblades weren't cool anymore, like they were in the '90s when it was on track to become a national pastime.

However, I took this rollerblader before me as a one-off. I figured it was some hipster who was just blading ironically. I've seen people opting for novelty transportation before. Back in college, I remember seeing a kid riding around campus on a unicycle. 

There's no other reason to ride a unicycle other than the novelty. There's nothing practical about unicycles.

I thought this dude was just goofing around by rollerblading, so I drove off to my destination and thought nothing of it.

But then, two days later, I was driving around again — what a man about town I am — and I saw something in peripheral vision that blew my mind again.

On the opposite side of the street's sidewalk, I saw a woman decked out in a helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, a high-vis vest, and, most critically, rollerblades.

Two sightings in forty-eight hours. 

Imagine seeing Bigfoot twice in forty-eight hours. That's how I felt, except that if I snapped a photo, they wouldn't have been as blurry. 

They would have still been blurry because of motion blur, but not like Bigfoot blurry.

This shocked me. I thought rollerblades were dead. Never to return as a form of recreation or light transportation. But there it was in front of me.

Twice.

Are we primed to make a return to the salad days of rollerblading? (Getty Images)

It's High Time Rollerblades Came Back In A Big Way

This is a great thing. I think we're on the cusp of a rollerblade-aissance the likes of which we haven't seen since Chumbawamba was still topping the charts.

There was a two-decade stretch when rollerblades were really only seen in ads for medications and on the feet of ex-Clippers owner Donald Sterling's girlfriend in that one weird paparazzi shot.

Remember that one. The one with the visor? Weird.

But it looks like things are changing.

I felt the same way about seeing a resurgence in rollerblading as I did when "dadbods" became cool for like a month a few years ago. It's nice to be ahead of the trend curve every now and again.

The only problem? I haven't owned a pair of blades in like six or seven years.

So, I think I'm putting my plans to buy a skateboard at the age of 30 on a temporary hold, and I might pick up a pair of rollerblades instead. 

At least  I already know how to use them.

And I'm probably way less likely to get injured, which is nice.