Local business owner Cheryl Cryer is skating through life

As a little girl in the late 1970s, Cheryl Cryer remembers lacing up her white roller skates and making endless laps at the nearby roller rink with her cousin. All of her friends had bicycles, but when it came to getting around town, Cryer preferred her roller skates.

Today, she still chooses her roller skates, four wheels under each foot and the wind breezing through her hair as she enjoys a 10-mile skate through the Tri-Cities.

“I probably go 100 miles a month,” Cryer said, whether its roller skating around the community or along smooth trails such as the Fox River Trail.

The owner of two Batavia businesses, Urban Apothecary and Fat Sam’s for Pets, even keeps a pair of her roller derby skates on display in a rack in the shop and she is always happy to chat about the health benefits of roller skating.

Roller skating and roller derby inspired her mission to find a topical pain relief, a popular item sold in her shop. She tinkered with recipes, asking her roller derby friends to try the balm until she found the perfect formula.

“My topical pain relief was born out of a need to address strains, pains of athletes and people,” Cryer said.

Cryer has faced her own health challenges, and more than a fair share of injuries, but she also credits roller skating for her maintaining physical and mental fitness. She’s tried yoga, and other fitness outlets, but she always comes back to the benefits of roller skating, with her favorite option to skate outside whenever possible.

“Sometimes I need to skate it out, or work it out,” Cryer said. “Skating outside is a way to keep healthy and keep my mind positive.”

For Cryer, it’s a way of life to be on roller skates.

“I got married on roller skates at the Lombard Roller Rink,” Cryer said, adding that her husband, Brad, shares a passion for roller skating and roller derby too.

Today, Cryer owns a collection of skates for use indoors, outdoors and derby as well as at least 10 vintage pairs of skates she keeps out of sentiment. When outdoor skating she prefers the four-wheel, super soft wheels that can handle skating over debris like small rocks and tree twigs.

Some of her favorite local roller skating destinations include Mount St. Mary Park in St. Charles, Peck Farm in Geneva and the Gilman Nature Trail in Aurora. She is happy to skate on her own to get a coffee or meet up with friends for a nine or 10-mile trek.

“I skated a marathon in my quads,” Cryer said.

While some hang up their skates in their teens Cryer found new ways to enjoy life on roller skates, whether its skating for distances or mixing it up in a roller derby.

These days she prefers coaching and refereeing when it comes to roller derby. Cryer is a coach and trainer for the Aurora 88s, helping out at the Aurora Skate Center with their newbie program, teaching them how to play roller derby. Cryer said she’s been with the team for the last 14 years. Nurses, lawyers, students and, like Cryer, small business owners, all don their helmets, lace up their skates and show their athleticism on skates. Cryer is quick to point out, it’s a rough sport, and it’s not just a hobby, with costs for skates around $800 as well as costs for insurance.

“This is not a bar room sport. These are professional women out there,” Cryer said.