LONDON FRIDAY NIGHT SKATE TM
& SUNDAY STROLL TM

From: wow /at/ lfns.co.uk
Subject: [wow] (2000) Watts on Wheels: Name that bike!
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 14:57:01 +0100

This Week, On Wheels

* This week, Last week: LFNS and Stroll news
* Watts in a name? Win champagne!
* Profile View - Kensey
* Skating Pubs
* All Mixed Up - Music and requests


== THIS WEEK ==

=== LFNS: SMOOTH SURFACES AND DOWNHILLS ===

On Friday, we're off, following the setting sun, round Little Venice
and through fashionable Notting Hill, where we're stopping for half
time. From then on, it's a twisting, turning adrenaline drive down
Church Street, through Chelsea and Victoria. We're promising lots of
smooth surfaces and great downhills before the final push and a sprint
down Green Park. It's going to be a scorcher, so bring plenty of
smiles and water.
                            http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20060728


=== THE ONLY SUNDAY SKATE IN THE VILLAGE ===

This weeks Sunday Stroll is off to the City with a half time stop at
Tower Gateway. Bren, this week's Lead Marshal, managed to find a road
called 'Little Britain' (it's near St Barts), so has included that in
the nine mile round trip. So we will be the only street skate in the
village.

(Next week Bren is planning to lead the skate across the English
Channel. Or was that someone else from Little Britain?)

                            http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20060730


== LAST WEEK ==

=== EASTERN PROMISE ===

Wow what a skate! Amazing weather, route and atmosphere conspired to
make this one of the best skates of the year so far. A lap of
Marylebone (did you notice?), then a fairly leisurely skate along some
lovely tarmac up through Fitzrovia towards the City Road. Half time at
Moorgate saw another freestyle demo from the LSFC/SkateLondon team,
then some fun sprints back along London Wall, the Strand and the
Embankment to arrive back at Hyde Park just after ten. Big thanks to
Hans for stepping in as Guest LM at the last minute.

                            http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20060721/1

=== UP NORTH (SOMEWHERE) ===

Sunday's Stroll set off to explore the northern reaches of the
Metropolis. Having advertised that we were going in the Camden
direction (although the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed the
route was heading somewhere else). Despite the heat, everyone managed
to scale the heights of Pentonville and we made it to Barnard Park in
Islington, music bike and all.

It was our first half-time visit to this little park and people
appreciated the grass (what little was left) and the trees. And they
appreciated the ice cream van that turned up as we were about to set
off so much that it took us a while to get going again.

A smooth run back down some gentle slopes took us through Bloomsbury,
Fitzrovia and Marylebone. It was a gentle run, in keeping with our
chilled summer strolls, with everyone enjoying the sunshine and the
blast from the music bike (and the blasts from the water
pistols). Back to the park by 4.00, allowing plenty of time for a
refreshing pint (or two) to cool down in the afternoon heat.

                            http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20060723/1

== COMPETITION TIME: NAME THAT BICYCLE ==

If you've been out on a Sunday recently, you'll have seen the first
trial runs of our new bike. All it needs now are few more screws, a
bolt tightening here, a cable adjusting there - and a name.

When we were working on it, we called it a few things - mostly
unprintable. So now it's your turn. Come up with possible names for
the bike. The marshals - democratic chaps and chapesses that they all
are - will vote for the best name and the winner will get to name the
bike at its official launch. We may even find a bottle of champagne
for you to celebrate with.

Anyone on the Week on Wheels mailing list can make suggestions and you
can enter as often as you want. If we get two or more entries with
the winning name, the tie will be broken by selecting one of them at
random.
                         http://www.lfns.co.uk/cgi-bin/name_that_bike.cgi


== PROFILE VIEW - KENSEY ==

Kensey (rumoured not to be his real name) is one of our newer lead
marshals, starting with the infamous 'Ginger Skate' that marked his
birthday this year.

Kensey should know the streets of London pretty well as he's spent his
whole life in the city. Despite this he actually started skating (very
badly) in New York a decade or so ago. After a long spell off the
wheels, his skating started again about three years ago, and he hasn't
stopped since (except once or twice for traffic signals and once for
an old lady crossing the road).

Fiercely anti-lycra, but occasionally to be found taking part in races
anyway, Kensey loves street skating above all else, including
completing a London to Brighton recently. In another life he can be
found designing video games, even playing them sometimes too. And
there are times when he's been known to play the guitar and sing -
have no fear we will not be playing this so-called music on the skate!

Currently teaching almost his entire family to skate, Kensey is most
easily recognised by his strawberry blonde hair, which many people
still erroneously insist is, in fact, ginger. The fools.


== BREN'S GUIDE TO SKATING PUBS ==

Wonder where all the marshals disappear to after the skates? Well,
it's a not very well kept secret that there are a couple of
watering holes located either side of the park that have been adopted
by the London Skating scene.

The newest, and probably most convenient to the start/finish point of
both the LFNS and Sunday Stroll, is the Wilton Arms (71, Kinnerton St,
London, SW1X 8ED Tel: 020 7235 4854). The pub is in a mews just behind
Knightsbridge (see the link below for a map). The Landlord and staff
are friendly and, by now, quite used to crowds of skaters arriving on
a Friday evening looking for a quick drink. Their kitchen is open
during the week (not Sundays) and serves your standard pub grub. The
landlord has requested that we keep the noise down a bit on Friday
evenings, as a majority of the mews houses are residential.

                                                 http://qurl.net/EC

The traditional home of skating (it actually boasts the skating
connection in its brochure) is The Victoria, (10a, Strathearn Place,
London, W2 2NH Tel: 020 7724 1191). The Vic is located to the north of
the park, close to Lancaster Gate. Nearly every night of the week you
may well bump into another skater there. Chris and Helen (the
managers) run a great family pub. Skaters are welcome, with the
Library room upstairs acting as an unofficial clubhouse on most Sunday
evenings during the winter. The Skate scene have held many events at
the Vic, including the Christmas Karaoke party, Post HallowenSkate
party and the skate auction that helped raise monies for
SkateLondon05. The pub does fantastic food, which is all freshly
prepared.

We don't promote drinking alcohol on the skates, but a quick pint
afterwards is fine - you need to replace all those lost calories
somehow! Please be aware of the pedestrians who seem to like these
pubs too. One comment we remember from the recent refurbishment of the
Vic was the request by the locals to install cattle grids just before
the entrances. Chris just responded saying that it was a good idea but
we would just speed up and jump them!
                                                    http://qurl.net/ED

== IN THE MIX ==

On the London Friday Night Skate and Sunday Stroll the music mix is
different every week. So how do we keep it turning over? That's down
to our music manager, DJ Joby. A typical 'in house mix' is born on a
Monday night as Joby uses his skating night off to set to work at his
computer. Using inspiration from fellow marshals, skater feedback and
trips to raves in Amsterdam, Joby mixes up the tunes using
professional mixing software. Each skate requires two 50 minute mixes,
usually slightly different, to keep the skaters happy. Joby also
endeavours to match the mix to the route and Lead Marshal's
style. Monday night is the scratch night where the initial mix play
list is thrown together and the result sounds pretty rough. Joby will
then listen to this on the way to work during the week and gradually
refine it till it's ready for the weekends skating. Then it is
downloaded onto a flash drive and slammed into the LFNS bike ready for
the masses.

Following the skate music feedback from the skaters is noted down and
a decision is made whether to archive the mix for playing again or
retire it to the big mix warehouse in the sky.

It's a tough job and one where we would welcome your help and
ideas. Feedback via the web site in the usual way -

                           http://www.lfns.co.uk/feedback.php#contactus


== TIME, GENTLEMEN, PLEASE ==

That's it for this week. If you have comments or questions about
anything here, don't reply to this mail: it'll bounce. Use the
feedback form on our site. To unsubscribe, use the link in the mail
footer - right at the bottom after the copyright notice

                           http://www.lfns.co.uk/feedback.php#contactus


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