So what's your coming-to-derby story?

Well I "inherited" a pair of skates from my grandma, and I skated a ton as a kid.  Megahurtz was at my house for a party back when Rose City Rollers were first getting started and she saw my skates in the foyer.  She asked me to come skating with her, which I didn't know meant roller derby.  She told me to bring safety gear, pads and stuff, and I just thought she was being really careful.  So I showed up with my construction pads, my kayaking gear, and my grandma's skates.  That's when I realized I was being recruited for roller derby.  They had us "neophytes" skating with some of the girls on the team and at one point they told the new girls to come off the track.  I was like "me?  Should I go?" and they said "no no, you stay."

How did you come up with your name?

My friends were putting together kayaking vids, and since my last name is Sol they started calling me Sol Train while they were taping me.  They didn't tell me at first 'cause they thought I'd be mad, but once I found out I laughed, and when I joined roller derby I kept the nickname.

What's with the horns on your helmet?

I love costuming!  I love horror films, and dressing up, and being silly.  I had these latex horns lying around, and I stuck them on my kayaking helmet, which I also use for roller derby.

Speaking of horror... any truly gruesome injuries?

I had a really bad compound wrist fracture a couple of years ago.  I went to block this girl and she pushed back.  I bounced off Doc [a ref] and I tripped over the rope and fell.  When I looked down at my arm my wristguard was shattered and my hand was pointing in a weird direction.  The doctors put my fingers in this stainless steel Chinese finger trap contraption and hung weights from my arm to try to straighten out the bones in my wrist.  Lots of swelling, lots of pain, and I was out for 8 weeks.

You're quite a character.  How does your larger-than-life derby persona differ from what you're like off the track?

You know, some people change how they act depending on who's around them.  I'm not like that.  I like to be in the present, be myself all the time.  I don't really have a "roller derby persona." I'm the same all the time.

What's your favorite strategy on the track (one that you don't mind sharing)?

I like to hit jammers just when they think they've cleared the pack.  They think they've made it past me, then... wham!  I like to send them out of bounds and slow down so they have to come in at the back and go through the pack again.  It's all about the mind-play.

Last thoughts for us derby fans?

I just love the campiness of derby.  It's so fun and silly.  It's just silly.  It's gotten more and more serious over the years, but us rollergirls still feed off the energy of our fans.  We like it loud!