LONDON FRIDAY NIGHT SKATE TM
& SUNDAY STROLL TM

From: wow /at/ lfns.co.uk
Subject: [wow] This week, wheel be off to France
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 14:26:43 +0100

This Week, on Wheels

* This week: no skates this weekend
* Last week: we really do give a duck
* Next week: One-way Wimbledon Stroll July 9th
* Marshal profile: Markus
* Starting street skating
* The Return of the Matzger

== THIS WEEK ==

We're not skating this weekend. Well, we are, but only in foreign
parts. Friday is a one-way trip to Le Mans, so remember to bring
shoes (and a tent, spare wheels and bearings, an alarm clock,
passport, extra-strong tent pegs, Compeed, a copy of your medical
certificate, a sleeping bag ...). Sunday is a 4.2km loop around the
Le Mans Bugatti circuit, followed by another and another and another -
please stay left if you're going to brake in the turns and let the
faster skaters past. As usual, we'll be back at the start point by
about 4pm. If you should fall behind the rear marshal he will
overtake you without compunction.

If you are in Le Mans this weekend: (1) good luck; (2) don't go out
without your helmet and your timing chip. If you're not, have fun
doing whatever else it is you were going to do, and if it involves
a street skate, it's nothing to do with us.

NEXT WEEK: normal service resumes with the regular London Friday Night
Skate on July 7th and the one-way Sunday Stroll to Wimbledon on July
9th. And the LondonSkate - not being on a weekend - will be going
ahead as usual on Wednesday both this week and next. See you there.


== LAST WEEK ==

It says "relaxed" on the LFNS web site, but really, who were we trying
to kid? A brisk skate in a roughly north-east direction. Half time
was at Angel, followed by a run down City Road and London Wall -
London's City Limits in modern and mediaevel times.

                           http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20060623/18

The Sunday Stroll was a special super-chilled skate aimed especially
at the many new skaters attracted to street skates by the glorious
weather. Natasha took us on a gentle seven mile trip with half time at
Westminster Cathedral. We seldom stop here but the paved plaza makes a
brilliant half time with shops and Starbucks nearby.

The atmosphere was very relaxed, with music provided by several
backpack sound systems, and lots of happy smiling faces. It was great
for those marshals at the back to see people who had struggled at the
start of the skate take off later as they discovered their inner
skaters and rolled with the best of them. Some people are now skating
with their instructors who provide support and advice, so the Stroll
is turning into a seven mile skating lesson.

And, OK, fair cop: we said it was suitable for new street skaters, but
we weren't expecting "duck walk" to be taken quite as literally as it
was by the family of, er, ducks, that turned up outside the pub
afterwards. With the assistance of a police superintendent and a
sergeant we marshalled them back down Grosvenor Crescent and across
Knightsbridge into the park. One of the marshals had a taxi driver
barreling down the bus lane looking like he wasn't going to stop -
until he clocked the policemen, that was.

                           http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20060625/54


== ANYONE FOR TENNIS? ==

The Sunday Stroll on July 9 will be a special one-way trip to
Wimbledon, timed to coincide with the last day of Wimbledon Fortnight.
The theme is - obviously - "tennis", so please dig out your tennis
whites and bring along a racquet. We might even try to organise
Roller Tennis on Wimbledon Common.


== MARSHAL PROFILE - Markus ==

* Happy Birthday Markus! *

Lead Marshal Markus has been skating for 14 years and ascribes his
incredible fitness to a childhood spent scrambling up and down the
hills of his native Switzerland. Since then he has skated in eight
countries on two continents, partly because, as he readily admits, he
has a "general tendency to 'go places' on skates regardless of if they
have surfaces". This is something that anyone who has skated one of
the (in)famous 'Markus routes', complete with cobbles, bridges and
stairs, will easily understand.

Markus has a day-job in IT (practically compulsory for skate marshals)
but he is also an instructor with his own outfit - a lot of you might
remember him from the Citiskate lessons he teaches. He particularly
enjoys teaching freestyle and "how to skate on cobbles". (Why am I not
surprised?) In his time, Markus has taught karate and snowboarding but
it looks like he's sticking with skates for now.

When he's not working or, er, working, Markus edits an SF/Fantasy/IT
book review website and designs tattoos. (Check out his calf for a
sample.)

Markus lives in East London, sharing a house with another marshal and
his two 5-foot long pet snakes. So when he says, "Why don't you come
up to my room and see how long my snake is?" that's exactly what he
means.
                                     http://www.skating.thierstein.net



== STARTING STREET SKATING ==

Most people getting this will have been on a few street skates by now
but we still get new skaters joining us every week. If you're one of
them or you have a friend who wants to know about street skates, this
is for you.

* So what's it all about then?

It does exactly what it says on the tin. You skate. On the street.

You've tried out your in-line skates in the park and you want to
stretch your legs a bit. You want to go faster! You want to go
further!! You want to have MORE FUN!!!

You've seen the odd skater weaving in and out of traffic and you've
thought, 'Hey, that looks cool. I'd love to skate on the road like
that - but I don't want to die as young as they will.' So you join a
street skate.

Street skates take a group of like-minded people and allow them to
skate together along the streets of London, protected from the
traffic. There are three main street skates in London - Wednesday
evenings, Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons. All of them are
marshalled with volunteers in hi-vis vests blocking side roads and
doing their very best to stop traffic hitting you and (just as
important) you hitting either traffic or pedestrians. We travel along
carefully planned routes and we let the police know we are coming.

* How good do you have to be?

That depends on the skate. If you have to ask the question (or if you
have no experience of London street skates), we'd recommend you start
with the Sunday Stroll. The Stroll is designed for first time street
skaters - it is shorter (around 6-8 miles) and slower than the other
skates. And it runs in daylight (on Sunday afternoons).

You will be skating in a group of people so it is important that you
can keep up. The speed varies a bit from week to week, depending pm
how many people turn up and how bad the marshals' hangovers are, but we
try to keep it reasonably slow. Remember that eight miles in two hours
and think of a reasonable jogging speed. If you're not sure, turn up
and try it. If you can't keep up, just drop out and practice in the
park for a bit - you'll be fast enough in no time.

We do expect you to be able to turn and stop confidently because there
are people around you. And we do run down some hills (there's more
than you'd think in the centre of London) so you must be able to stop
on a slope. (There's a slope runs from Speaker's Corner to the Hyde
Park Corner end of Serpentine Road. If you can stop at the bottom of
that, you're fine.)

We hope we'll see you soon. We'll be giving you more details of the
how, where and when of the Stroll in the next Week on Wheels.


== EDDY'S IN THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM ==

Many marshals have attended and recommend the Eddy Matzger course,
which this year is on the weekend of July 21-23. Eddy is a
professional inline racer and self-confessed adrenalin junkie who's
skated Korea's Death Arch and climbed the pyramids in Egypt. He's a
tireless ambassador for inline skating and has boundless energy and
enthusiasm.

Eddy's taught thousands of students over the years, and caters for
beginners and speed skaters during the same session. He's encouraging,
patient and a great showman. He makes the double push look like going
out for a stroll in the park.

In previous years, Eddy has skated with us on the Friday night so we
hope to see him again on the LFNS this year. Skaters then assemble in
the Victoria pub for a short briefing and to pick up Eddy's skate
packs and goodies. The course takes place on Saturday and Sunday in
Hyde Park (Serpentine Road and Kensington Gardens), where Eddy videos
and gives feedback on skate technique.

If you want to learn the double push technique, or just want to perfect
a few areas like crossovers or skating faster with less effort, then
this may be the course for you. Book through Eddy's website.

                                          http://www.skatecentral.com/

(Note that the Marshal's Association - that's us - have no financial
interest in this course. Our only connection is that a bunch of us
enjoyed doing it in previous years)


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