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This is the "Week on Wheels" free weekly London skating email newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your email inbox each week.
From: Week on Wheels <wow /at/ lfns.co.uk>
Subject: [wow] Wirgin on Wheels: Situations Vacant Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:20:03 +0000 This week, on wheels * This week: 'Best of London' and a trip to Maida Vale * Last week: Rolling in sunshine - or not! * The Last Enemy: We came, we stood around a lot, we went away again * The ups and (mostly) downs of skating on hills * Boring legal bit == THIS WEEK == Subject to successful completion of sacrifice to Tlaloc, on FRIDAY Bren will be running a 'Best of London' skate. This is an ideal opportunity for those who haven't joined us on a Friday before to experience the thrill of the LFNS without those embarrassingly fast bits at the end. This skate is graded red (medium) throughout. There will be no black (fast) section - though Bren reserves the right to throw in a few sprints. Bren has designed a route that is a little bit touristy, passing some of London's famous landmarks. Bring your cameras! Total distance is about 12 miles. http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20070302 Maida Force prevail: On SUNDAY Ruth is taking us north to her happy hunting grounds in Maida Vale. It's a while since she's led a skate there, so we wobble around a bit as we move toward Regents Park and our traditional jaunt alongside the canal. Half time on Warwick Place (nearest tube Warwick Avenue). Maida Vale skates traditionally attract snow, or at least the forecast of same. Fingers crossed! http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20070304 == VIRGIN WANTED == The London Skate community is anxious to recruit a virgin to assist with an important ceremony before the weekend. The ceremony involves a ritual offering to god Tlaloc. Tlaloc lived in a Tlalocan with his companion, Chalchiuhtlicue (She Who Wears a Jade Skirt), the goddess of freshwater lakes and streams. Tlaloc's name translates as 'He Who Makes Things Sprout'. Volunteers for this highly prestigious (but very short term) position, should contact us via the feedback form on the web site. Preference will be given to those who can supply their own ritual knives. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlaloc == THE LAST TAKE. ER, JUST ONE MORE. AND ANOTHER == LAST WEEK both skates wer rained off - surely you noticed? But a (self-)select few people still got to do some skating, in an industrial lot in Battersea. The six-hour route took in four laps around the block, some slalom between a Steadicam operator and a pedestrian who repeatedly ran out into the road (what was that about, hey?), and the sight of a burning CCTV camera. "When the van driver comes around the corner, I want you to circle around it, shout at the driver, plaster stickers on the windscreen, bang on the panels, and then go off down the road" "Please don't swear, the BBC don't allow it" Not the usual LFNS fare, no (we'd have picked better roads and louder music), but an entertaining evening, and the hot food and drink at half-time was very welcome. Expect to see it (the series, not the hot food) on BBC1 in October, is the word. http://www.box-tv.co.uk/boxtv/default.asp?page=&Article_ID=15&AR=AR http://www.flickr.com/photos/magichow/tags/thelastenemy/ "I like the sign that said 'I am NOT a NUMBER'... looked at the envelope with my money in it... not my name, just the number 21... guess I am just a number" ===MASTERING DOWNHILLS=== You either love them or you hate them. But hills can be fun for everyone. Downhill skating is a technique like any other, so practice these tips to build your confidence. One of the main fears of skaters when going downhill is the feeling of being out of control. Panic causes accidents. IMPORTANT: Skates can hit 40+mph when going down hill so padding up is a very good idea. If you feel uncomfortable with what you are doing, look for instruction from a qualified instructor. *Start small* Find a hill you want to conquer, climb a fifth of the way up it and try the descent. Apply your brake before you go too fast. So to start with, put your brake on, not to stop but just slow a bit. Don't let the speed get way from you; apply your brake again before that happens. Once you get used to that, you will find that you use less brake less often and so will be going faster. You never want to be going so fast you could not stop if something happens. So when going down a hill with lots of junctions, think about cars coming out in front of you or lights changing on you. If you find you get speed wobble, move you feet a little back and forwards to relax your legs. With smaller wheels this will happens sooner - this is a sign you are close to you and your skates' limit. *Getting bigger* Speed wobble ... is all in the mind. When you are going fast in a glide, skates will always react to the surface they are skating on. This is just "chatter": if you are relaxed and let it happen then they will correct themselves. When you try to correct it, you get speed wobble - chatter happens faster than you are able to react to it consciously, so you overcorrect and back until you are wobbling uncontrollably. So the only way to stop speed wobble is to be relaxed. Scissoring. If you are in scissor, it is very difficult to keep your weight on both heels - the bigger the scissor the more difficult. But a small scissor is recommended nevertheless, otherwise you'll hit cracks or other gaps with both feet at once. Aim to have 1 to 1.5 wheels of one skate protruding further forward than the other. That way you can always have weight on heels even in a tuck. Tucking. To get maximum speed you must reduce your frontal area. To get the right position, crouch with the back of your upper arms on your knees, so your elbows are directly in front of your legs. Bring your hands together to make a triangle. When yuo come out of a tuck, do it carefully: when in the tuck position, your head is either level with or lower than your heart, and yuo don't want a dizzy spell at the bottom of the hill. Steering in a tuck. To steer right, move your hands left and vice versa. This makes you shift your weight onto the opposite edges making turning easy. Try to lead slightly with the inside skate. Just like skiiing, really *Still faster ...* There's a good hill at Le Mans. Lots of teams are looking for entrants. For example, see http://www.serpentineroad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23171 === SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE PENGUINS* === Feedback, comments, complaints, suggestions, please drop us a line through the feedback form on the site. To unsubscribe, see the link in the page footer. If you email us, it will bounce. http://www.lfns.co.uk/feedback.php#contactus Material in this email is protected by copyright; it may be reproduced unchanged in full provided that credit is given. All trademarks acknowledged. The LFNS is not responsible for the content of external web sites. Unless they're ours, but most of them are not. * Are you sure we got this bit right? - Ed. -- Sent from the London Friday Night Skate - http://www.lfns.co.uk/ Check out any time - see http://www.lfns.co.uk/unsubscribe.php?list=wow |
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