RoadSkater.Net - Comments for "North America"

Since You Asked

In reply to 24-Hour Inline Montreal Race Report:

The official names of the Montreal race are "Les 24h Roller Montreal" and "The 24hrs Inline Montreal."

I've been speedskating for 2 years, although I played hockey as a kid and have always been comfortable on skates. Previously, running was my racing addiction of choice -- 9 marathons and a 50-mile ultra. I was training for a 100-mile race when I got injured and bought a used pair of K2 4x80 rec skates for cross-training. I quickly learned that I liked going fast for a change and a few months later I raced at the 2005 NorthShore. I put a 2-hour expected finishing time on my entry form and got slotted near the back of the field (wave 6, I think). It was a pleasant surprise to pass skaters the entire race and finish in 1:34. I was hooked!

Montreal was my second race. I would love to do A2A, NYC100K, Defi, etc., but my travel budget is shot and those races will have to wait. Also, to be honest, I'm a little sick of skate training right now. I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the summer improving my technique and doing other sports I've been neglecting. In October I will start training for next year's Montreal 24hr with an eye toward first place and 300+ miles.

I got my first pair of speed skates last October -- a 5x84 setup with Powerslide R2 boots and 13.4" K2 Straight 84 frame. I race on Hyper +G 85a wheels and Twincam ILQ-9 bearings. The R2's are quite comfortable; even though I had swollen ankles and a couple of large blisters by the end of the 24 hours, ankle/foot pain did not affect my performance. I will be buying a new setup soon, probably custom boots (maybe one of the Bont 3-pt?) with a 4x100 frame. I think I'll start on 90s and evaluate from there. If you have any advice, I'd love to hear it.

I did a lot of long-distance training for Montreal. The centerpiece of my training plan was a weekly long skate that got progressively longer, culminating in a pair of 11- and 12-hour overnight skates (6pm-6am) of 130 and 142 miles. Not only were these long skates great training, but they helped me sort out the myriad details of 24-hour racing (pacing, nutrition, hydration, protecting my feet, etc.) and built mental strength (read: tolerance for boredom). Next year I will use a similar plan, with more speedwork to boost my cruising speed.

I have mostly recovered from the 24-hour. My ankles were back to normal after about a week, and the blisters have callused and peeled. My left big toenail is completely loose but hasn't detached at the base, so I'm keeping it taped down so it won't catch it on anything (yeeouch!)

Thanks for welcoming me to the site, and happy skating!

Les 24 Heures Roller Montreal 2007

In reply to 24-Hour Inline Montreal Race Report:

Another excellent achievement and report, thanks Lawrence! Your last lap being your fastest - that's so funny! That's a great testament to 'pacing yourself' or 'not going out too fast'. How are your feet coming along...are you back on your skates yet?

Awesome 24-Hour Third Place Overall Lawrence

In reply to 24-Hour Inline Montreal Race Report:

Hi and welcome, Lawrence! Thanks for sharing your story of the Montreal 24-Hour Inline Skate (I don't know the official frenchy name, I fear, does anyone? We should get that into a title of a posting perhaps so people will see these great endurance stories. Also digging might help too.)

Lawrence, I have a few questions (please forgive if I missed the answers or forgot them from your post):

How long have you been skating?
What was your previous record outside of this event, on the roads?
Have you done A2A, le Defi, NY100k?
What kind of equipment do you skate in, what do you like and hate about what you've used along the way?
How much distance training did you do in preparation for the 24 solo?
What else would you like to tell us? We're interested!

Thanks again for your story, and for joining here to share it!

What an Amazing Accomplishment

In reply to 24-Hour Inline Montreal Race Report:

Thanks for the detailed report, Mark. That's a tremendous achievement and I enjoyed learning all the details. You really did something to be proud of there. I hope that your recovery is still going well.

A word from #3

In reply to 24-Hour Inline Montreal Race Report:

Hello people of RSN type! My name is Lawrence Pelo, nom de skate More Cowbell, and I recently lost a friendly but pitched battle to Skatey Mark for 2nd place at the Montreal 24hr (final score: Mark 274.1 miles, me 268.8 miles). What follows is my race report for the SkateLog forum. It's not as detailed or as entertaining as Mark's post, but I hope you enjoy it. I'll also post some further comments and reactions to Mark's piece.
*****************************************************************
LONGEST...
SKATE...
EVER!

268.8 miles in 24:06:49 (11.1 mph), HR 74%.

What an amazing day! The race started under beautiful sunny skies on a dry surface in moderate temperatures. (None of this was to last, but how kind of the skate goddess to let us start in pleasant conditions.) I had expected most of the solo skaters to start fast, but I was still surprised to find myself in last place after the first lap, with nearly the entire field out of sight. "That's okay," I told myself. "Just stick to the plan."

Halfway through lap 4, a paceline of four solo skaters lapped me. They ripped past at 16+ mph, jockeying and swinging their arms as though the DECC was around the next bend. Solo skaters lapped me many, many times over the first several hours. My thoughts alternated between "What am I doing wrong?" and "What the f--k do these guys think they're doing?" Stick to the plan, stick to the plan.

I didn't feel good. Nausea was a constant companion, and several times I feared I would vomit if I forced down one more sicky-sweet gel or bottle of sports drink, but everything stayed where I put it. My legs had some bounce but several muscles felt like they could cramp at any moment. My skates' familiar hotspots slowly burned blisters into my left heel and right arch. I gobbled sodium/potassium caps and concentrated on making it through the next hour. You can always skate one more hour, you see.

By nightfall I had risen from last (17th place) to eleventh place. A few hours later, after a steady rainshower soaked the track, I took my first real break (that is, I sat down) to change wheels and socks, bandage my blisters, and pull on a pair of long johns, which killed the cramps. As I left the paddocks, my sister told me I was in seventh place.

I had thought the deep night would be the toughest section, and it was. Hour upon hour of darkness and wet pavement, and four times an hour the surreal scene of the exchange zone -- a Fellini-esque carnival of staring headlamps, shouting in two languages, glow sticks and blinkers in every possible color and shape, and my blessed crew ringing the cowbell. At the halfway point I had skated 134 miles. I slowed to save energy for the daytime push. While my opponents rested on their butts, I rested on my wheels and kept moving forward.

As the race wore on, I learned the value of drafting. This must sound ridiculous to you more experienced skaters, but I had barely ever drafted before and I had to learn on the fly. What a revelation! Unfortunately, it was difficult to find a draft; most of the relay skaters were too fast, and the solo skaters were spread too thin. I estimate I skated by myself 80% of the time -- my biggest strategic error of the race. Most relay skaters were happy to pull, but distressingly often I had to hunch uncomfortably behind some tiny québécoise rec skater who obviously disliked having a sweaty, panting man lurking within inches of her rear end at 3:00 a.m.

The sun rose and dried the track. I took my second real break to change wheels and clothes, and my sister told me I was running fourth -- one spot off the podium. With six hours to go I increased the pace and soon I gained and then cemented the bronze medal. Weary but happy, I began to cruise and relax.

With 51 minutes to go, something strange and wonderful happened. I stopped to exchange water bottles, and as a result of crossed conversations; miscommunication with my crew; and exhaustion-induced stupidity on my part; I became convinced that not only was I was four laps behind leader Eric Gee, but that Eric had left the track. If I could spin four laps before the clock struck 24 hours and then add another lap, I would win the solo division.

This was not true. I was actually four laps behind the second place skater (that is, Mark), who was still skating; I had no real chance to improve my placement. But I thought I could win, and that spurred me to the finest athletic achievement I have ever produced: with 254 miles and 23 hours of skating in my legs, I crushed five laps in 57 minutes and crossed the finish line gasping and twitching. During that final push I maintained my heart rate at 93-97% of maximum, and my 96th and final lap was my fastest (15.5 mph). I wouldn't have thought it possible. But Speedy was right -- I was stronger than I knew.

There is so much more to tell. But why not find out for yourself how fantastic this race is? If you love speedskating, you must do this race at least once, either on a relay or as a solo skater. For those of you who did the relay this year and are thinking about soloing next year, I encourage you to make the jump. Train hard and follow a smart race plan, and you will amaze yourself.

And now for the thank-yous:

Thank you to my crew, especially my wonderful sister Dawn, and also Renee, Andrea, and Maria. I literally could not have done this without you.

Thank you to my American Invasion compatriots: Mark (2nd place), Bryan (AustinSkater), and Brian. We didn't sweep the podium, fellas, but two out of three ain't bad.

Thank you to the SkateLog team! It was awesome to meet everyone, and your support kept me rolling. I wish I could have spent more time with you guys. Congratulations on your achievement!

Thank you to the Skater's Quest teams, especially Howard (Intrepid), Donald, and the young woman taking photos who shouted encouragement every lap Sunday morning. Keep it rolling, Howard! You rock.

Thank you to Christine (sk8crazy), for your kind words and encouragement.

Huge thanks to Andrew, Randy, and George of Canadian Racing and Performance (CRAP), who arranged several custom full-lap pulls and made me an honorary member after the race, complete with T-shirt and a "You are one sick f--k" from George.

Thank you to all the anonymous skaters who tossed a "Go solo!" or "Allez solo!" my way as they zipped past.

Thank you to my Wash Park homies Spero, Eddie, and Rick. It might be a little while before you see me out there again, guys.

Thank you to all you SkateLoggers who offered your support over these months of training and dreaming and worrying.

Thank you to anyone who helped whose contribution might have slipped my mind at the moment.

And now for a few numbers:

Calories expended: 15,235 (635/hour)
Calories consumed: 7,200 (300/hour, less than I thought, with no ill effects)
Fluids consumed: 10.0 liters (417 ml/hr)

Toenails I will lose: 3

First 8 hours: 93 miles (11.7 mph)
Middle 8 hours: 77 miles (9.7 mph)
Final 8 hours: 98 miles (12.2 mph)
Time spent not skating (potty, water/food pickup, equipment/clothes change, etc.): ~60 minutes

Congrats!

In reply to 24-Hour Inline Montreal Race Report:

Congrats on a job well done! A fantastic achievement that I'm sure you'll remember for a long time.

Reading about that first lap was unreal. I can hardly believe people were seriously skating that fast starting out for a 24 hour event. I mean I know we all have adrenaline when we start, but 18mph? What were they thinking? Shows just how strong the pressure of the crowd is. I guess it's probably hard to judge your competition if you have never done an event of this type before. Then there's wanting to stay in the draft, the effect of teams vs solo, etc. Probably a hard dynamic to sort out. Sounds like you did the right thing before you burned too many matches!

I'm also surprised that you mentioned (offline) that no one used those famous Defi' rain boot covers. After all, it is Montreal. ;-) Maybe the Defi people and the 24 hour people are two different crowds.

Reading the description of the aftermath was heartbreaking. I am glad you made it back ok despite being alone the whole time.

Toenails and blisters are one thing, but please make sure you give yourself enough time to heal (esp things like that tendon) before doing serious skating. Your call, but remember enough rest/recovery is as important as the skating time. Don't let your obsession for skating cloud your long-term judgement. ;-)

Looking forward to skating with you again!

physical & mental fatigue

In reply to 24-Hour Inline Montreal Race Report:

I have to say, I felt surprisingly good for the majority of the race. I think the cool temperature helped tremendously. My mind started to get a little low around hour 7, but the Red Bull countered that nicely. I felt strong & alert all through the first 13 hours, when I made my first stop. Even after that I felt good, all through the night. The sleep deprivation never really hit me.

Probably somewhere between 16 or 18 hours is when I started feeling the effects, and at that point it was mostly physical. The blisters were pretty bad from the rain, and my feet started to ache just from being on them for so long. Mentally, I was still pretty alert though. My brain definitely started to turn to mush in the last couple hours. It was getting warmer, and the sun was pretty intense. (At least it felt like it was.) I never felt like I wanted to quit until those last two hours. I had to dig pretty deep to keep going.

I think events like these really show what someone is made of. Sometimes you get an injury or have something come up (like stomach problems) that you truly can't prepare for and have to stop. But I've seen many people quit events "just because". Maybe they knew they weren't going to do as well as they hoped, so they just stopped. Everyone has different goals in doing any kind of event, but I think it takes a lot of heart to finish an event even when you know you aren't going to do as well as you wanted to. I always say it will take putting me in an ambulance to keep me from finishing A2A. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but pretty close to the truth. That was one of the reasons I skated that last lap with Brian -- I had signed up for a 24-hour event and I decided I would be doing myself a disservice if my watch read less than 24:00:00 when I stopped it. Or maybe I'm just stubborn... :-)

- SM -

98 Laps!

In reply to 24-Hour Inline Montreal Race Report:

How cool of 24inline.com to post the participants' data! 98 laps of anything is a remarkable achievement. 98 laps!! I would imagine that would really mess with your mind after a while.

How long before the crash? Jalapeño chips!

In reply to 24-Hour Inline Montreal Race Report:

Fantastic article worthy of some digg.com action. I'm sure this will be a long-term favorite, and thanks for sharing it here. It sounds like your feet took the worst of it! Ouch! I sealed the bottoms of my boots where the Verducci have extra mounting holes and they don't get nearly as soaked as before. I don't know if that's a factor with your setup, and of course if it rains enough you're going to be soaked, and if you sweat enough, your feet will be soaked anyway.

I have lots of questions but for now my main one is kind of a silly one but something I'm curious about. How much harder was the second half, say, compared with the first half? I'm asking for some vague guess like 3x as hard or whatever. How many hours did it take before you had any sort of mental "breakdown" of sorts, meaning sleep deprivation or something like that. These questions are not put so well but that's what I'm wondering.

Oh yeah! Jalapeño chips! I recall from our second long skate day that I had bought jalapeño chips and they REALLY hit the spot big time late in the day. How strange is that? They were one of the highlights of the afternoon and when I think about them now I associate them with skating. Funny. I could see how after skating forever and having mostly gooey stuff, they'd clear the head via the tastebuds rapido.

more results

In reply to 24-Hour Inline Montreal Race Report:

I just realized that clicking on my name on the results page took me to another page with all my lap times on it... Very cool! I was hoping that they would post that data...

http://www.24inline.com/team.php?subsection=results&teamid=264

- SM -

results are up

In reply to 24-Hour Inline Montreal Race Report:

I just checked and the results are finally up...

http://www.24inline.com/results.php

Total distance was 441.4 km, or 274.3 miles. My fastest lap was the first one, just over 11 minutes. (Compared to 13-14 minute laps for most of the event.) Lawrence's fastest lap was his last lap! Talk about a strong finish!

A couple more details I left out of the report... Total time was 24:02:15. I took 4 breaks (40:15, 26:41, 21:09, 14:25) for a total of 1:42:40. Average HR was 139 (including breaks), Max was 176. (Probably on the first lap.) The range I was trying to stay in was 120-145. Total calories burned was 19,104. I'm not sure how many I consumed during the event, but it was probably around 500/hour (600/hour at most.) So figure 12,000 calories ate/drank.

Oh - speaking of calories, the first few hours I noticed my burn rate was showing up as around 900/hour which is insanely high for me. (600/hour is a more sustainable rate.) So I was pretty concerned there for a while. Still, the overall rate was around 800/hour. I'm not sure how the hrm came up with that, since my heart rate wasn't *that* high, but oh well.

- SM -

A Fascinating and Exciting Read!

In reply to 24-Hour Inline Montreal Race Report:

What an exciting report. You answered so many questions I had asked myself about you doing this event as a solo. I was wondering how the organizers kept it 'fair', or if they could, at all. I had tried to imagine how you must've felt, skating the same loop for 24 hours straight, through the night, rain and all, and this brings me a little closer to being able to grasp a tiny concept of the foot & leg pain, exhaustion and delirium. Congratulations on your incredible feat (feet!). And thanks for letting us in on the great camaraderie between you, Brian and More Cowbell Lawrence.

Greensboro NC Marcia Woodfield Inline Skating Workshop Postponed

In reply to Roadskater.net Marcia Woodfield Inline Skating Workshop for Multiple Sclerosis June 2 2007:

Hi y'all. Unfortunately the only date we had didn't work well for some of our most likely to join skaters. Thanks to our newest skate friend, Andrew, for signing up, and for the rest who signed up or showed interest.

I hope we can try this again. I think we could learn a lot from Marcia and the best way to stay on topic when around friends who skate is to make a skate workshop and use the lunches and dinners for the rest of the world's topics.

I'm sad because I hoped to raise some money for Multiple Sclerosis, but I'll try again and will do other things to raise money as well. I got a nice donation from a regular contributor who has a matching gift employer as well, so that was a nice lift in the context our workshop not working out.

It won't be long until the T2T training rides begin, and I'm looking forward to those, especially the one in Clemmons. Between that and the Tour de Lions course, those are a couple of favorites. And I look forward to seeing the rest stop staff, who I don't see when I go into the MS office (the NMSS office I should say, to distinguish from the software).

In any case, thanks to Marcia for trying. We'll look forward to seeing you in person and in the race results.

Scheduling a Workshop is Always Tough

In reply to Roadskater.net Marcia Woodfield Inline Skating Workshop for Multiple Sclerosis June 2 2007:

Oh that's too bad! Some other folk have schedule conflicts too. Hopefully we can get our minimum and do another one later! Marcia was only available on this particular weekend this time of year for scheduling reasons.

I hope we can get ten to join us for our multiple sclerosis fundraiser, as it's a great opportunity for us to have her here for private, focused skating and learning time. Even those around Marcia lots up in New York City know that a full day of skating and skate talk with her is hard to come by with our busy lives going on in the background (or foreground).

And of course, there's no other way to get in eight hours of skating in one day...other than Athens to Atlanta for some of us! Thanks for the good wishes, skatey-mark, and we'll surely miss you.

Sounds fun

In reply to Roadskater.net Marcia Woodfield Inline Skating Workshop for Multiple Sclerosis June 2 2007:

I unfortunately won't be able to attend -- I'll be up in Michigan visiting family that weekend. Hopefully you get enough people to sign up for this to happen. Marcia's great and very fun, so I'm sure it will be a great weekend...

- SM -

Inline Skating in Downtown Mt. Holly & Belmont, NC

In reply to Any paved/skate trails in Spartanburg/Gaffney/Greenville areas?:

Here is a helpful suggestion from NC skater Bryan about skating in downtown Mt. Holly and Belmont, NC:

"...downtown Mt. Holly during the evening hours… roads are quiet and smooth, lots of hills. But watch for cops, they’re not too friendly toward augmented pedestrians. I myself have skated UNC-Charlotte; It’s great, but seriously hilly. Some parts are flat
enough to skate safely, though..."

Inline Skating in Downtown Greenville, SC

In reply to Any paved/skate trails in Spartanburg/Gaffney/Greenville areas?:

Here's a helpful suggestion from Jeremy in Asheville, NC, about skating in Greenville, SC:

"There is a decent road/trail system in downtown Greenville that the local skate club uses for its group skates. It runs from the city center out towards I-85, although
pairing with the roads adjacent to the park makes it more fun. For details, the best place to call is Alpine Ski Center. They used to be the main skate retailer in the area, and can certainly give you directions and more info. 864-241-0550"

I wish :-)

In reply to Found some photos of Texas Road Rash 2007:

Thanks for the complement, eebee... However, it only looked easy :-)

A few pictures that I liked:

The finish sprint (I didn't have to sprint since I didn't have a pack but I really wanted to test my legs): http://image59.webshots.com/759/4/56/19/2930456190054477580RpaHAs_fs.jpg?track_pagetag=/page/photo/sports/skating&track_action=/ViewActions/FullSize

In the lactic acid hell after the finish sprint: http://image57.webshots.com/457/2/83/16/2611283160054477580ZWtihf_fs.jpg?track_pagetag=/page/photo/sports/skating&track_action=/ViewActions/FullSize

And yes, this is how easy it was: http://image53.webshots.com/553/1/26/94/2696126940054477580FSyncJ_fs.jpg?track_pagetag=/page/photo/sports/skating&track_action=/ViewActions/FullSize

when you find it, let me know

In reply to Found some photos of Texas Road Rash 2007:

"Just gotta get a job where I can take about 10 weeks of vacation a year so that I have time to do all the important (skating) stuff! :-)"

Hey SkateyMark when you figure that one out let me know! Don't forget it has to pay way more than enough for flights, restaurants, hotels, event fees, new speed boots once a year if necessary, personal chef, oh and a car + gas to get to and from training! I think the Germans have that sorted out...no wait, it's only 6 weeks vacation they get per year :-)

Thanks for the write-up, Artem. You sure had the camera fooled: as I was scrolling through those photos you pretty much look like you're cruising along leisurely in most of them!

Good job Artem!

In reply to Found some photos of Texas Road Rash 2007:

Congratulations on your great finish! Sounds like you're off to a great start this year, and I'm sure you'll be nipping at my heels in no time! Learning when to chase and when not to is difficult, and just comes with experience. I guess ideally you would have noticed the two guys attacking earlier and not had such a large gap to close. Then the three of you could have probably held off the chase pack...

Sounds like a great event... I hope to do it one of these years. Just gotta get a job where I can take about 10 weeks of vacation a year so that I have time to do all the important (skating) stuff! :-)

- SM -

A quick TRR 2007 report

In reply to Found some photos of Texas Road Rash 2007:

Good eyes, eebee! I did do the event and it was a blast! I just got home due to some unforeseen adventure that Delta airlines threw my way by cancelling my return flight but I hope that I am coherent enough to have a fairly comprehensive report :-) I got to Austin, TX on Saturday afternoon and took my rental over to Round Rock where the race was supposed to happen next day and where the registration was. The registration was set up next to Chipotle and seemed like a very smooth operation. I have picked my packet up in no time and was delighted to see Brian and Andrea. We chatted a little bit about the race course (since Brian has done it several times and for me it was first) and winter training. Brian mentioned that between his work and other commitments he was not getting adequate training and was going to skate in the Fitness category. I was registered for Advanced. After a little while Brian and Andrea had to leave to celebrate Brian's birthday and I hung around for a little longer. Finally, I have left the registration site, checked into the hotel that was only a few miles from the course and set off to explore Austin. The evening was not very eventful since all I was interested in was getting some pasta and sleep J However, I did stroll on the 6^th street (mostly by mistake, but now I know that it does not have any affordable Italian restaurantsJ ) and settled for a spaghetti and meatballs dinner at Carraba’s. I did, though, drive to the Old Settler’s Park that night to make sure that I knew where to go in the morning…I got to the Old Settler’s Park at 6:45AM on Sunday and it was just getting to live. I ate my breakfast Powerbars and had a big cup of coffee before starting the warm-up. The site was quickly filling up with skaters and I was definitely getting excited about the upcoming race. The race was from a stagnant start with no waves. Pro’s were standing first, followed by Advanced skaters and then Fitness. At first, I was a little concerned about the start since it was into a short but fast downhill and I was concerned that with 180 people anxiously running down this hill, we could see some carnage. This was not the case though, as everybody seemed to make it through the start in one piece. Now, let me describe the course a little bit so there is a better understanding of what was going on during the skate. As I mentioned, there was a short, fast downhill off the start followed by a long (about ¾ of a mile) gradual hill. The hill was not too bad, and it was easy to maintain a good speed there, but it was not flat. The hill was followed by a gradual ¼ of a mile downhill into a false flat. The false flat led into a downhill that was about ¾ of a mile and then into a gradual uphill for another half a mile. Basically, there were two very nice recovery areas and the rest of the course was all about grinding up gradual (by NO means any big) hills. The full marathon was 6 laps and was 28.4 miles long (vs. 26.2 standard marathon).Back to the race now. As I said, I have started right behind Pro’s and it was really smooth. When we’ve got to the first uphill I was staying with Pro’s and it seemed fairly easy. There was not a lot of jockeying going on and everything seemed fairly slow. However, as my head was going through thinking how easy it was, my heart was not really happy as I was clocking myself around 95% of my maximum. I stayed with the Pro pack (which probably included most of the advanced skaters at the time) for about ¾ of the first lap and decided to drop off since I was not going to last very long redlining like that. I finished the first lap alone and my idea was to stay calm and see if another pack catches me or if I catch up to anybody. I have noticed another skater up the road when I was a quarter into my second lap and started slowly reeling him in. I caught up to him shortly after he caught another skater that fell off the front. Thus, we had 3 skaters in a pack. It didn’t last long as we were chased down by another pack of 4-5 skaters who settled behind us. I have stayed with this pack of 7-8 skaters almost through the end of the race. Interestingly, everybody in the pack was quite and just did their share of work without too much cheer or chit-chat. On the first few laps there were some sprints for photo-ops at the finish line J but on the last two laps we have just settled into a rhythm that seemed to be sustainable for everybody and kept going. On the last lap, in the beginning of the first grinding uphill, two guys from the pack have decided to go on a flyer while others were getting water and Gatorade from an aid station. I have realized what have happened when the farthest guy was probably 200-250 yards up the hill. That’s when I’ve made the biggest mistake of the race. I have sprinted up the hill to chase them. I have easily caught and passed the closest flyer but couldn’t quite get to the one that was ahead. By the time I realized that I was dead I was 30 yards behind that guy and the rest of my pack was sitting very comfortably in my draft. I had to pull out and hope that I recover enough on the upcoming downhill… which I did not. I stayed with the pack for another couple of miles but I had to let them go as I was not able to keep up with them. I have finished the final lap alone at 1:35. Later, I found that I placed 3^rd in the Advanced Men 30-39 category. Brian took 2^nd place in his category.

After the race I hung around the start/finish area, had a plenty of bananas and left around 1 PM to catch my flight. I did stop by Rudy’s BBQ for lunch and it was GREAT! J Of course, to balance things out, Delta has cancelled my flight so I had to spend another night in Austin and was able getting home only today in the afternoon. However, with the cheese grater (the trophy) in my skating backpack and a few valuable lessons from the race I was very happy how the 2007 season started… Let more racing come...

EDIT: It looks like I was 10th among all Advanced skaters. Yay! Top 10 placement in the first race of the season :-) (besides division placement)

Just gave myself an early Christmas present!

In reply to Greensboro NC Eddy Matzger Roadshow Registration Open:

I'm signed up! Just put my deposit down... Do we really have to wait until April?!? ;)

- SM -

Greensboro Eddy Matzger Roadshow Inline Speed Workshop

In reply to Eddy Matzger Roadshow Inline Speed Workshop Greensboro NC April 6-8 2007:

The April date will be a great kickoff for the '07 outdoor season. My shorttrack ice season will have just ended a couple weeks earlier. I will do what I can to make it back to NC.

Jeff Barbour

Eddy in NC!!!

In reply to Eddy Matzger Roadshow Inline Speed Workshop Greensboro NC April 6-8 2007:

Hmm . . . this date may actually work for this Jersey-girl . . . looking forward to more details!!! Claire

Maybe skatefarmer will tell us the straight stuff

In reply to Eddy Matzger Roadshow Inline Speed Workshop Greensboro NC April 6-8 2007:

I think skatefarm.com is not ready yet and skatecentral.com doesn't show 2007 yet either. I just got the official notice today, but when I took Eduardo to the aeropuerto de Greensboro last Friday it was one of the topics we covered.

Much of the talk was about his visit to the Federal Magistrate regarding incidents on the Blue Ridge Parkway and his friendly discussions with the local Sheriff regarding our beloved sport of roadskating. I may have more on this later, but if you know Eddy, you know his approach is not as confrontational as others might wish or as you may have heard it described. I think he believes an informal approach in the beginning is best to demonstrate the safety and viability of our participation where bicycles are allowed.

Sometimes reporters unintentionally add their own spin to comments, as I am aware from coverage of comments I made about doing A2A on "the day we said we would" in 2006.

In any case, I'm hoping our new member, skatefarmer, will find time to post from around the world now and then.

Skateylove,

Blake

Eddy Matzger Inline Speed Workshop in Greensboro, NC

In reply to Eddy Matzger Roadshow Inline Speed Workshop Greensboro NC April 6-8 2007:

Yes, this is terrific news for the local inline scene. Thanks for posting this Blake, and for what was quite likely a lot of behind-the-scenes work making it happen.

Where do I sign up?

In reply to Eddy Matzger Roadshow Inline Speed Workshop Greensboro NC April 6-8 2007:

I'm In! Is there anyplace to officially sign up yet?

Great work getting us on the schedule!!! That's awesome!!!

- SM -

Skates for freestyle slalom

In reply to Naomi Grigg - Freestyle workshop:

I wore my Salomon Rec skates with 84mm wheels for the class and sunsequent practices (brake removed.) Naomi recommended the Rollerblade Twister for freestyle for its shorter frame and the support of the boot. They are pretty much the only freestyle skate available in the US market right now. The frame is 200mm and it comes with 76mm wheels. She recommends rockering the wheels so that the front and rear are 4mm smaller.

As I mentioned the stroll is really good for speed practice so I asked her the same question - whether I should practice it in my speedskates - she said that would make the manouvre around the cones almost impossible, but that practicing in rec skates improves edge control once you put your speed skates back on.

Here is a link so that you can see the stroll it is called different names by different people but the trick is the same. http://funky.man.free.fr/English/Slalom/tricks/doublecrazy.mpg

The one that is the easiest to learn and most impressive looking is the crazy - mine is getting smoother everytime I practice it, although not quite as smooth as this guy! http://funky.man.free.fr/English/Slalom/tricks/crazy.mpg

Naomi's workshop

In reply to Naomi Grigg - Freestyle workshop:

KJG - what skates did you use to do the workshop in - your speedskates, or an old pair of rec skates? Are you doing the drills in your speedskates to get more agility on them (which sounds superb, by the way)? Seems like all that fancy footwork is indeed easier on a shorter frame, but I was just wondering.

Great Naomi Grigg freestyle slalom workshop!

In reply to Naomi Grigg - Freestyle workshop:

Just wanted to let you all know what a great time we all had at Naomi's workshop. It was a full house and everyone went away with hugely improved freestyle skills. We learnt the crazy, chap-chap, mabrouk, italian and stroll and then off the cones the barrel roll and grapevine.

I have been practicing with the ikea cups since the workshop and can see the slow improvements. I really feel like this is improving my confidence with my edges and Naomi showed us how the stroll has direct correlation to the double push.

Naomi plans to come back to the US next year and we are already practicing! She is planning to hold a US battle to get all the US cone skaters together as well. If you get the opportunity you should definitely take the workshop - whatever you feel your going in skill level is you will benefit!